States urged to adopt federal guidelines for non-traditional mortgages

States should follow the lead of federal banking regulators and adopt guidelines for nontraditional mortgages that include better disclosure of loan terms to consumers and more conservative underwriting standards.  more...

Illinois considers changes to anti-predatory lending program

Illinois officials responsible for implementing a controversial anti-predatory lending program in predominantly black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Chicago have scheduled a Nov. 27 hearing to hear complaints that it's driven away lenders and chilled housing sales.

The Predatory Lending Database Pilot Program, which requires some borrowers in 10 Chicago ZIP codes to receive credit counseling before signing off on a home loan, took effect Sept. 1.  more...

Prices flatten in San Francisco area in October

The median price for homes in the San Francisco Bay Area held steady in October compared to the same month in 2005, according to real estate research company DataQuick Information Systems, while sales were down 24.1 percent.

A total of 7,979 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county region in October, which was up 0.9 percent compared to October but down from 10,508 for October 2005, DataQuick reported.

The sales count in October was the lowest for the months since October  more...

Fannie Mae to pay ex-CEO Franklin Raines $2.6 million

Fannie Mae will pay $2.6 million to settle a pay dispute with former chief executive officer Franklin Raines, the government-sponsored mortgage repurchaser announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

From 1998 to 2003, federal regulators said Raines was paid more than $90 million, including $52 million in bonuses tied to earnings that have since been restated.  more...

Survey: Renters prefer to be maintenance-free

A survey of renters by online apartment-search site Apartments.com found that 43.6 percent of respondents choose to rent primary because they prefer "maintenance-free living," according to a company announcement.

Meanwhile, 23.6 percent of renters responding to the survey said they choose to rent primarily because it's less expensive than homeownership, and 19.4 percent cited the flexibility to relocate as their primary reason to rent.

About 5.1 percent said apartment amenities were a primary reason to rent, 1.7 percent sai  more...

Weekly mortgage applications rise

Mortgage applications were up last week as interest rates fell, according the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest survey.

The market composite index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 647.5, an increase of 4.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 620.9 one week earlier.  more...

Google Base gathers more real estate listings

Windermere Real Estate is the latest regional brokerage company to make property listings available to consumers searching Google Base for real estate.

The company announced it provide continuous feeds of all its listings to the Google Base classified listing service. Windermere has 330 offices and 8,400 associates with listings in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming and Washington.

"Where your customers are is where you need to be," said Geoff Wood, CEO of Windermere.  more...

Overnight real estate rates slip

Long-term mortgage interest rates leveled out Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 4.57 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average dipped slightly to 5.73 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate slipped to 5.47 percent. The 1-year adjustable was unchanged at 5.34 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.66 percent.

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