Real estate rates climb for fourth week

Positive economic news fueled the fourth consecutive week of rising mortgage rates, according to surveys conducted by Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com.

In Freddie Mac's survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.77 percent for the week ended today, up from last week when it averaged 5.73 percent. The average for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 5.34 percent, up from last week when it averaged 5.32 percent. Points on both the 30- and 15-year averaged 0.5.  more...

'The Apprentice' shares real estate secrets

SAN FRANCISCO – Yes, that is Donald Trump's real hair.  more...

Real estate heads for deep change

SAN FRANCISCO – Next year at this time real estate executives will be talking about how much the housing market has changed with significantly slower home sales, and how much more involved traditional, full-service companies will be in trying to capture the online consumer – if comments from a panel of industry participants give any indication.

"I think there's going to be some turns in the market – and some more than others," said Harley Rouda Jr., CEO of Real Living.  more...

ENeighborhoods launches print campaign

SAN FRANCISCO – Eneighborhoods has launched a new Web-based marketing service that enables real estate professionals to quickly and easily create fully automated, personalized, color direct response marketing campaigns, the company said Wednesday.

The new service automates the direct mail process for real estate agents so they can produce and distribute personalized print communications to prospective clients.

ENeighborhoods also compiles home and neighborhood information and has announced a series of turnkey direct response marketing programs that incorporate up-to-da  more...

East Coast real estate markets improve in June

Home sales and prices across Massachusetts, Virginia and South Carolina rose in June from their year-ago levels, according to Realtor associations in those states.

In Massachusetts, sales of detached single-family homes totaled 6,084 in June, up 0.5 percent from 6,051 sales posted in June 2004, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors reported. Sales of condominiums were up 19.1 percent from a year ago, with Realtors reporting 2,775 closings in June compared with 2,329 in June 2004.  more...

Help-wanted ads grow modestly

The Conference Board's help-wanted advertising index, a key measure of job offerings in major newspapers across America, inched up to 38 in June. It was 37 in May.

In the last three months, help-wanted advertising declined in seven of the nine U.S. regions. Steepest declines occurred in the Mountain (-13.1 percent) and East South Central (-7.5 percent) regions.  more...

Stewart posts record revenues, boosts earnings

Stewart Information Services Corp. posted record revenues in the second quarter and strong gains in earnings, the company announced today.

Revenues for the three-month period ended June 30, 2005, were $651 million, the highest in the company's history, and an increase of 15 percent over the $565 million reported in the same period last year.

Second-quarter net earnings were $37.2 million, or $2.04 per diluted share, up 24 percent from a year ago when earnings totaled $30 million, or $1.65 per diluted share.  more...

Overnight real estate rates stand still

Long-term mortgage interest rates were unchanged Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 4.26 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average held at 5.33 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate remained at 4.91 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up slightly at 3.76 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield gained to 4.47 percent.

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

Prudential executive wins Inman Innovator award

SAN FRANCISCO – Earl Lee, president of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates, received a special Inman Innovator Award for "Individual Innovator" Wednesday during Real Estate Connect 2005. The Innovator awards honor cutting-edge technology, business models and pioneers in online real estate, brokerage and mortgages.

Lee oversees the development, strategy and vision of a real estate network of more than 1,800 offices and 58,000 sales professionals.  more...

Combo of print, Net ads does the marketing trick, speakers say

SAN FRANCISCO – Using a combination of print and Internet advertising – with a dash of behavioral marketing thrown in – were innovative real estate marketing strategies advocated by a panel at the Real Estate Connect 2005 conference Wednesday.

"A multimedia platform is necessary," said Ken Green, group director, sales for the New York Times, speaking at the Connect convention, which focuses on innovation and trends in the real estate industry. "If you just stay in your core area, it's not going to work."  more...