AUBURN — Debbie Bodwell, vice president of Residential Mortgage Services Inc., announces the receipt of the Homeownership Partner of the Year award presented by Rural Development. The award was recently presented by the director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Program in Maine, Virginia Manuel.

Between Oct. 1, 2009, and April 30, 2010, Residential Mortgage Services provided 295 loans for families in rural Maine, totaling more than $41 million. Of those loans, only 7.9 percent have been labeled as delinquent — more than 25 percent lower than the state average of 10.6 percent. James Seely, president of RMS cited the Auburn office as being the major producer in Androscoggin County.