NAR techies create online data-sharing cop

National Association of Realtors technologists are making progress in developing a new tool that can automatically test compliance with multiple listing services' online data sharing and display policies.

PolicyPage – a sort of software-based RoboCop for MLS Internet Data Exchange (IDX) compliance – is designed to automatically scan MLS members' Web sites for key features that indicate whether members are playing by the rules.  more...

Builders gain confidence in October

Builder confidence in the market for newly built single-family homes rebounded by a couple of points in October to the same level at which it was gauged prior to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index released today.  more...

Real estate sales slip for sixth straight month in S.F. region

Sales in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area dropped for the sixth month in a row in September, while median prices for the region dropped 0.5 percent from August to September, according to a real estate research firm.

Meanwhile, year-over-year median price increases have ranged from 17.6 percent to 20.5 percent, DataQuick Information Systems announced today.

A total of 11,205 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the Bay Area region last month.  more...

Wells Fargo real estate loan banking revenue nearly triples

Gains in mortgages and other lending helped Wells Fargo, the nation's No. 2 mortgage lender, produce a 13 percent jump in quarterly profit, helping offset losses from consumer bankruptcies and Hurricane Katrina, the company said today.

Mortgage banking revenue nearly tripled amid a surge in home loans, Wells Fargo reported today, helping the company score net income of $1.98 billion for the third quarter, or $1.16 a share.  more...

Web site showcases fair housing info

The Illinois Association of Realtors has created a new World Wide Web site, www.TheHousingSite.org, to provide consumers with information on state and federal fair housing laws, the association said today.

The Housing Site provides consumers access to information related to fair housing laws and regulations regarding: housing, advertising, real estate practices, lending, rental practices, credit and insurance.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex,  more...

Freddie Mac launches effort to revive Atlanta neighborhoods

Freddie Mac has teamed up with two real estate industry leaders to revive Atlanta's Gwinnett County neighborhoods by rehabilitating empty foreclosed homes, providing affordable mortgages and down payment assistance.

The IMPACT Group, mortgage lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, Brand Bank and their partner mortgage giant Freddie Mac are sponsoring the Building a Better Block Gwinnett initiative, the companies said today.

The group aims to revive neighborhoods by rehabilitating dozens of empty foreclosed homes, providing af  more...

New ZipForm partnership to further streamline realty biz

ZipForm has partnered with Auto-RE to automate real estate business processes, the companies announced Tuesday.

ZipForm's electronic forms software saves users time and helps reduce data-entry errors by allowing data to be entered once and used multiple times in all documents associated with a transaction. The partnership with Auto-RE aims to let the transaction data flow even further.

Auto-RE automates the entire business service ordering process of the real estate agent.  more...

Electronic notary service gets the nod from California

WWNotary, a provider of electronic notary services, has been approved by the California Secretary of State to produce electronic seals, the company said today.

The company's product, DigaSign, makes it possible to sign digitally at occasions such as real estate closings using a special inkless pen and what is known as a biometric pad.  more...

Real estate price increases boost home builder's 3Q income

Home builder and mortgage banking company NVR Inc. today announced net income of $189.4 million for the third quarter, up 28.3 percent from third-quarter 2004.

Consolidated revenues increased 18 percent to $1.37 billion for the third quarter of this year compared to third-quarter 2004. New orders increased 7 percent to 2,897 units for the third quarter of 2005 when compared to the third quarter of 2004.  more...

Real estate data provider partners with relocation network

OnBoard LLC has partnered with SIRVA to provide online school and community information to the global relocation company's Web sites, OnBoard announced Tuesday.

The Web sites that will utilize OnBoard data include SIRVA Relocation, Allied Van Lines and northAmerican Van Lines.

OnBoard provides customized real estate information, community and school information, among others, to the real estate industry.

Consumers considering a move anywhere in the United States can vi  more...

HUD streamlines FHA real estate loan process

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has streamlined the process for originating Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages with a new Lender Insurance Program.

The new program enables high-performing lenders to endorse FHA mortgage loans for insurance without a pre-endorsement review by HUD, the agency said Monday.

This expedited procedure is part of HUD's overall effort to make FHA loan processing easier and more cost-efficient so that lenders will be better able to offer FHA-insured loans and expand the affordability of affordable financing for potential ho  more...

Overnight real estate rates pick up

Long-term mortgage interest rates climbed slightly Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield gained to 4.5 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average fell slightly to 5.59 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate edged up to 5.19 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 4.23 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield advanced to 4.71 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...