The veteran-, minority-, and woman-owned default services law firm founded by Marisol Morales, Esq., recently announced its expansion into Puerto Rico and a name change from Morales Law Group, PA, to Millennium Partners. The firm says the new name better reflects its expanded market reach and growth ( http://bit.ly/1eCbGyt)

ValuTrac, a software solutions company catering to the appraisal management and mortgage lending industry, hired Hank Pruett as VP of sales. Pruett has nearly 25 years' experience in appraisal management, title issues, and client relations and is knowledgeable in all types of appraisals, both reside ( http://bit.ly/1alNEZe)

What's ahead for housing in 2014? The economics team at Wells Fargo Securities is forecasting a pull-back in investor activity, and with the fundamentals underlying housing demand, job and income growth, and household formations making only modest strides in a relatively thin market, they say to loo ( http://bit.ly/1akGlRo)

Recent market activity suggests the housing sector will double its contributions to the country's economic growth in 2014. Fannie Mae released its latest forecast on Monday, predicting overall GDP growth of 2.9 percent in 2014 following 2013's expected growth of 2.6 percent. The GSE's economics team ( http://bit.ly/1j58u3Y)

Home equity loans and lines of credit are on the rise, as delinquencies continue to plummet across the nation, according to recent research from Black Knight Financial Services. The data and analytics division of Black Knight Financial Services--formerly the LPS Data & Analytics division--released i ( http://bit.ly/1j58u3X)

Credit Plus, a mortgage information company with headquarters in Maryland, announced it has expanded its Undisclosed Debt Verifications service to offer updates from all three credit bureaus. ( http://bit.ly/1hjyqFZ)

The latest news on the unemployment front is good for just about everyone: The government says 203,000 jobs were added to the economy in November and that the unemployment rate is down from 7.0 percent to 6.7 percent. ( http://bit.ly/1dq2PDi)

The national field services company AIM Your Way, LLC/America's InfoMart, Inc., welcomed two industry veterans to its executive management team. Anthony Golden has been named president and Todd Pawlinski was brought on as EVP of operations. ( http://bit.ly/1dpMRsQ)

Nearly 23,000 permanent loan mods were completed under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in November, according to the U.S. Treasury, bringing the total count of active HAMP mods to just over 922,000. Treasury officials also touted the government's Second Lien Modification Program (2MP ( http://bit.ly/1gAdmdq)

Bank stocks were reportedly up in Q4 2013, but under current market conditions, the investment firm FBR Capital Markets doubts most banks will live up to the hype when quarterly earnings are reported. FBR says weak loan growth and margin pressures will likely drive down mortgage banking results. Bas ( http://bit.ly/1gAdmdi)

Rosenberg & Associates, LLC, added two new attorneys to its ranks--Caroline Fields and Tracy Leyba. Both are recent graduates of the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and admitted to practice law in the state of Maryland. ( http://bit.ly/1gAdmdp)

The QM rules aren't the only regulatory issues making a splash today. Both lenders and borrowers either looking to take out a mortgage or refinance their current one will be affected by the change that goes into effect today. The Ability-to-Repay Rule (the ATR Rule) was created as a response to shod ( http://bit.ly/1aeHtTC)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released Friday its Employment Situation Report, revealing job growth well below consensus forecasts. According to the government report, the U.S. economy added 74,000 jobs last month. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted growth of 200,000, which would have ( http://bit.ly/1aeHvuy)

Mortgage Harmony Corp., the provider of Loan Retention Software (LRS) and the HarmonyLoan product, announced that its Rate Reset Protection software has been added to online applications on select mortgage products from Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed), the country's third largest credit union ( http://bit.ly/1dkx3aX)

Wingspan Portfolio Advisors, a diversified mortgage services company headquartered in Texas, named longtime industry expert Arleen Scavone to the newly created post of COO. Scavone has more than 30 years' experience in the financial services arena. ( http://bit.ly/1dkx5zy)