Origination

A developer and restaurateur from Virginia pled guilty Friday for his role in a massive bank fraud scheme that contributed to the collapse of Bank of the Commonwealth, SIGTARP and federal officials announced Monday in a statement. Thomas E. Arney, 56, of Chesapeake, Virginia pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, unlawful monetary transactions, and making false statements, according to the statement. Arney faces sentencing on December 3, 2012 and could receive a maximum penalty of 20 years ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô five years each for the conspiracy and false statement counts.

The Federal Reserve said Monday that it may delay rules under Dodd-Frank related to stress tests for big banks until next year. According to a release, the change would hold off on implementation until September 2013, giving some elbow room to banks, state member banks, and savings and loans institutions with anywhere between $10 billion and $50 billion in total assets. The move follows a December 2011 rulemaking proposal to green-light rules and procedures for stress tests under Dodd-Frank.

Five new faces joined the board of directors at the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight on Monday. The five include former banking commissioners, politicians, attorneys, and academics, with Mississippi banking commissioner John Allison and former North Carolina Gov. James Holshouser notably joining the board. Although board members, the five will serve only in functional roles for the mortgage settlement office. None will bring any decision-making power to bear on the national settlement.

Online portal Loans.net has revealed data that indicates a significant uptick in loan applications and approvals during August. Attributing the rise to economic improvements and decreasing unemployment rates in the U.S., Loans.net reported a 30 percent elevation in website traffic in the second and third weeks of the month.

low job creation and tight loan availability are hindering otherwise positive growth in commercial real estate, the National Association of Realtors reported. While ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├àÔÇ£positive underlying fundamentals├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬Ø helped boost all of the major commercial real estate sectors, growth in some areas has been tempered by various issues, including job growth and shifts in demand. Demand has also been dampened by problems small businesses have in securing commercial real estate loans. The multifamily sector is the only one that has seen increased demand.

Wells Fargo announced recently that it will donate up to $500,000 in bank-owned homes to qualifying veterans and their families. The lender will hand over these properties to veterans and military families through the "Homes on the Homefront" program with Operation Homefront, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supplying onetime warriors with housing opportunities. Some of those qualifications require that recipients serve on active duty.

After seeing some of the worst of the housing crash, Florida is continuing its steady bounce back, Florida Realtors reported Wednesday. According to the group, the Sunshine State saw increases in pending sales, closed sales, and median prices in July, while inventory of homes and condos for sale dropped. Closed sales of existing single-family homes in the state totaled 17,420 in July, a 9.8 percent year-over-year increase. The statewide median sales price for single-family homes was $148,000, up 7.8 percent year-over-year.

Bank of America announced Friday that it's donating up to 1,000 properties for injured military veterans and first responders.

Just how important is disclosure to American borrowers? Very important, if the figures from a recent Harris Interactive survey mean anything. MortgageMarvel.com commissioned a survey of 2,214 American adults 18 years or older to learn that one full-quarter of Americans take disclosure into account when considering their next home loan. Sixteen percent wanted an easy comparisons process, 10 percent affirmed their interest in privacy, and 7 percent cited a want of real-time quotes.

Homeowners and officials in held a town meeting Thursday in Akron, Ohio, to discuss the impact of the housing crisis on their communities. The event, called ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├àÔÇ£#MyHomeMyVote,├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├é┬Ø was designed to put the housing crisis and voters├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ó concerns at the forefront of the wave of issues surrounding this year├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós election season. Attendees used the hash tag to tweet their representatives and other officials with their concerns. Held at the Akron-Summit Public Library and co-hosted by Empowering and Strengthening Ohio├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós People (ESOP), among other organizations, #MyHomeMyVote featured speakers such as Senator Sherrod Brown and Rep. Betty Sutton.