A federal grand jury has convicted a Woodbridge man of running a mortgage fraud scheme that resulted in the foreclosure of at least three homes, including one in Woodbridge and one in Haymarket. The jury convicted Godwin Asifo, 55, on Thursday of two counts of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud. According to an affidavit on file at U.S. District Court in Alexandria, between May and June of 2006, Asifo arranged the sales of a house in the 3900 block of Tecumseh Court in Woodbridge, one in the 5711 block of Caribbean Drive in Haymarket and one in the 42400 block of Rockrose Square in Ashburn to “straw buyers.“

A former Richmond-area branch manager for a mortgage firm was sentenced yesterday to 45 months in prison for defrauding mortgage companies and investors in a complicated, long-running scheme. U.S. District Judge Richard L. Williams also ordered Stacey Lynn Chamberlain, 42, of Unionville in Orange County to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution and refused to let her turn herself in to begin serving her sentence at the end of August.

The city of Richmond will receive $2 million to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed homes for resale to lower-income families. The funding is part of a $17.5 allocation from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program announced yesterday by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to address the mortgage-foreclosure problem throughout the state. Kaine allocated $7 million from the fund in April.

The Obama administration expanded its $50 billion mortgage-aid program yesterday, announcing new measures that would help homeowners avoid a foreclosure if they don’t qualify for other assistance. The initiatives are intended to streamline the process of selling a home that is worth less than the mortgage, or transferring ownership of a home to the lender.

A former Richmond-area branch manager for a mortgage firm has been charged with defrauding five mortgage companies and investors of up to $1.4 million. Stacy Lynn Chamberlain, 42, of Unionville has been charged with bank fraud, 18 counts of wire fraud and interstate transportation of money taken by fraud. Chamberlain was arrested today and faces a maximum of 360 years in prison and $5.25 million in fines if convicted. Her March 3 federal indictment was unsealed today.

Some Hanover County residents who are behind on their real estate taxes have gotten phone calls and mail saying their homes will be sold at a county auction next month. County officials say the calls and mailings are false, and that there’s no county auction scheduled for Feb. 28, the date given to the homeowners. The calls have been coming from clients of TaxSale Lists.com, a Web site that aggregates and sells public information about delinquent taxpayers to third-party companies, said Hanover Treasurer Scott Miller.

Two Richmond-area lawmakers are proposing legislation to make it harder for mortgage brokers to cheat buyers.

The news isn’t all bad for mortgage-industry professionals. Adecco USA, a professional staffing agency, says it is looking for more than 250 mortgage professionals in the Richmond area to fill temporary positions for clients. The demand for loan officers and loan-application reviewers has jumped recently as interest rates have declined, setting off a surge of mortgage refinancing, said Jacqueline Chen Valencia, a spokeswoman for Adecco.

Mortgage bankers are slammed, as people seek to lock into 30-year conventional fixed-rate mortgage loans with interest rates at 5 percent or less. In recent years, the interest rate on such fixed-rate loans has hovered at about 6 percent.

The government has offered another plan to help troubled homeowners. Once again, critics say it doesn’t go far enough.

Countrywide Financial Corp.‘s agreement last month, which requires it to relax the terms of 400,000 mortgages, was good news for struggling homeowners. But a New York law firm says the settlement isn’t fair to the people who invested in Countrywide’s mortgage-backed securities, and it’s trying to drum up interest in challenging the settlement.

LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., which last week said it agreed to be acquired, yesterday reported that its third-quarter loss widened on noncash charges and the deterioration in the mortgage market. The Henrico County-based title insurer and real estate services company reported a loss of $599.6 million, or $39.45 per share, for the third quarter, compared with a loss of $20.8 million, or $1.28 per share, in the same period a year ago.