Secondary Market

Carrington Mortgage Services' lending division appointed Carl Grimes as branch manager of its office in Tampa, Florida.

LRES, a national provider of commercial and residential valuations and asset management, announced it is now serving the retail lending division of California-based PennyMac Financial Services.

A recent guidance from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reveals the agency's decision not to change the maximum loan limit for mortgages acquired by the GSEs in 2014.

Moving forward on another of its performance goals for 2013, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced Monday that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have completed a major overhaul of mortgage insurance master policy requirements. "Updating the mortgage insurance master policy requirements is a significant accomplishment for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," said FHFA acting director Ed DeMarco. "The new standards ... enhance the insurance protection provided to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which ultimately benefits taxpayers."

Title365 Company, a provider of title insurance and escrow services based in California, announced the hiring of Jeremy Harmon as SVP of national sales.

Bank of America and Freddie Mac jointly announced Monday an agreement resolving all remaining rep and warranties claims on loans BofA sold to the GSE through the end of 2009.

A new face has joined the Austin-based 360 Mortgage Group. Joseph Kowalewski has been brought on as regional manager of the East Region of the United States.

Appraisal Logistics, a Maryland-based provider of compliant appraisal management solutions for the mortgage industry, announced it has received the ISO 9001:2008 Certification for Quality Management Systems Standards by LQRA, passing a formal evaluation created to examine quality management standards in the financial services industry.

Stewart Title of California announced the promotion of current group SVP Bob Oakland to the position of president.

Now that Senate Democrats have changed the chamber's rules to block filibusters of executive appointments, analysts anticipate a much easier path for Rep. Mel Watt.