Survey: Internet, real estate agents are key to finding homes

Most home buyers first learned about the homes they purchased through a real estate agent or the Internet, according to a survey conducted for Prudential CA/NV/TX Realty, while 5 percent of respondents said they discovered the properties in a newspaper.

About 18 percent of respondents said they found the home they purchased by viewing a yard sign or driving by the home, and 9 percent said they learned about the home through a friend.

About 36 percent of buyers who bought a home in the last three years said they  more...

LandAmerica profit falls on write-off

LandAmerica Financial Group Tuesday reported adjusted net income for the first quarter of $20 million, or $1.14 per share, compared with $17.7 million, or $0.99 per share, in the prior-year quarter.

The company's reported net income for the quarter was $13.7 million, or $0.78 per share, in comparison with $33.2 million, or $1.85 per share in the same quarter last year.

Net income for first-quarter 2006 included an asset write-off of $9.7 million, or $6.3 million after taxes, primarily related to the sale of the company's head  more...

First American revenue up, profits down

The First American Corp. today said its first-quarter profit for 2005 fell because of the costs of investing in new businesses, despite "unusually steep" revenue.

First American said it earned $69.7 million, or 71 cents per share, compared with $79.2 million, or 83 cents per share, in the year-ago period.  more...

Bankrate's first-quarter earnings rise

Bankrate's first-quarter revenue totaled $19.8 million, an increase of $9.4 million, or 90 percent, over the $10.4 million reported in the first quarter of 2005, the company announced Tuesday.

The company said that excluding stock compensation expenses, earnings for the latest quarter were 21 cents per share.  more...

New home sales drop 7%

The rate of new single-family home sales in March was about 7.2 percent below the March 2005 estimate, while the supply of for-sale inventory was up about 31 percent, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced today.

The agencies reported that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of new single-family home sales was 1.21 million in March 2006, a gain of 13.8 percent since February but a decline from 1.31 million in March 2005.  more...

Real estate purchases hit downtrend

Overall mortgage applications fell 3.7 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before, taking the Mortgage Bankers Association's purchase loan index to a 2-1/2-year low, the group reported today.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 4.4 percent to 389.4 from 407.4 the previous week and is now at its lowest level since Nov. 7, 2003. The refinance index decreased by 2.4 percent to 1,489.4 from 1,526.1 one week earlier.  more...

LendingTree exec indicted for alleged insider trading

A top executive of financial services company LendingTree has been indicted on federal charges stemming from insider trading tied to the purchase of the company by USA Interactive in 2003, media reports said Tuesday.

The indictment of the senior vice president, David Anderson, was filed under seal this month and was made public Monday when he appeared before a federal magistrate and was released on bond, reports said.

The indictment alleges that Anderson improperly disclosed information to others that led them to purchas  more...

Overnight real estate rates climb

Long-term mortgage interest rates were up Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield jumped to 5.07 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average increased to 6.11 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate gained to 5.78 percent. The 1-year adjustable held at 5.19 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield shot up to 5.16 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...