HUD releases new anti-flipping rules

Only the actual owner of a home can sell that home with Federal Housing Administration financing, and in an attempt to discourage flipping, homes sold within 90 days of purchase won't be eligible for FHA financing, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development ruled Wednesday.

The rules provide that property acquired by the seller is not eligible for the buyer to obtain an FHA-insured mortgage unless the seller has owned that property for at least 90 days.  more...

Electronic real estate closings debut in Indiana

It took a simple "click-to-sign" process for several Indiana consumers to close their mortgage loans on June 6 and 7, as Stewart Title teamed up with First Republic Mortgage Corp. and Trustcorp Mortgage Co. for three electronic closings using Stewart's SureClose online transaction management system and eClosingRoom, the company said today.

The closings also included Stewart's first electronic notarization of a closing transaction.

Electronic closings are key in the movement towards eliminating paper from real estate deals.  more...

LandAmerica buys default mortgage servicing tech firm

LandAmerica Financial Group has bought MSTD, a Web-based company whose flagship product is default mortgage servicing technology, the company said Monday.

Baltimore, Md.-based MSTD, founded in 1999, is an application service provider providing a Web-based default servicing platform to residential mortgage servicers.

BackInTheBlack, the company's flagship product, is a business intelligence system used by some of the nation's largest financial institutions as well as other lenders with significant loan portfolios, LandAmerica said.

The technology combines rules-based d  more...

Twin Cities real estate sales drop 9%

Home sales in the Twin Cities, Minn., area tumbled for the second straight month in May, while median home-price growth continued to slow, according to three metro Twin Cities Realtor associations.

Realtors reported 5,039 closed home sales last month, down 9.3 percent from 5,553 closed sales in May 2005. During the same period, the median home price gained 1.1 percent in the 13-county metro area, rising from $227,501 to $230,000.

Closed sales in Anoka County declined once again, down 20.4 percent from last year to 460.  more...

Real estate listings site launches social networking tool

CityCribs, on online marketplace for apartment rentals and sales, has launched CribYourSpace.com, a social networking tool.

The new tool is "designed to showcase property rentals and homes for sale through online classified ads, personal e-mails, blogs, Web pages and social networks (such as MySpace, Friendster and Zorpia)."

Users who visit the new site can fill out a form with a headline and a description and can upload up to six pictures and a video tour of the fea  more...

Overnight real estate rates in holding pattern

Long-term mortgage interest rates were mostly flat again Monday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield inched up to 4.98 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average held at 6.18 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate inched up to 5.88 percent. The 1-year adjustable was unchanged at 5.25 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield held at 5.02 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...

Investigation into Oxley's ties to Freddie Mac scandal urged

A nonpartisan watchdog group has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate what it calls a series of potential violations of federal criminal law by Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, relating to alleged illegal fundraising activities by Freddie Mac.

The Campaign Legal Center (CLC) asked the Justice Department to look into Rep.  more...

Ohio women indicted in alleged down-payment scheme

Two Ohio women were indicted Wednesday in the Southern District of Ohio for alleged bank, mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to launder money in connection with a scheme that allegedly involved fraudulent down-payment assistance to buyers.

According to the indictment, Stephanie Corsmeier and Stacey Lester "facilitated the transactions involved in the scheme to defraud."

In response, in a statement, Stephanie Corsmeier, Stacey Lester and American Security Title Co.  more...