Auto-RE selling paperless technology

Rights to technology that's designed to help real estate professionals automatically complete paperless contracts and forms generated by dozens of different software applications is on the market for about the cost of the median priced home in Boulder, Colo.

The technology behind Auto-RE.com -- not the company itself -- is available for a starting bid of $350,000, said company president Kent Lewiss.  more...

Capital Title's revenue down nearly 20% in Q2

Capital Title Group Inc., a fast-growing Arizona firm that plans to merge with Land America Financial Group, today reported second-quarter revenue was down 19.8 percent from the same quarter last year, to $84.9 million.  more...

Most Home Corp. consolidates units

Most Home Corp. today announced that the company has merged and consolidated four of its existing Canadian subsidiaries into one operating company now called Most Home Real Estate Services Inc.

Previously, Most Home Corp., the parent company, owned and operated four Canadian subsidiaries that included Most Referred Real Estate Agents, Most Home Technologies, Executive Wireless, and Most Home Real Estate Services, which have all been consolidated to form Most Home Real Estate Services.

Jim Secord, president of Most Home Techn  more...

Freddie Mac agrees to cap mortgage portfolio

Freddie Mac said today it will follow a recommendation to cap its retained mortgage portfolio until the company begins releasing quarterly financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles some time next year.

As part of the continuing fallout over accounting scandals at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, both government-backed mortgage repurchasers have now capped their lending portfolios, as recommended by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise  more...

Profits sink at IAC/InterActiveCorp

Second-quarter earnings fell sharply at IAC/InterActiveCorp, the parent company of online lending service LendingTree and RealEstate.com, a consumer real estate portal.

The media and Internet company reported net income of $53.8 million, or 17 cents a share, down 91 percent from $618.1 million, or $1.77 a share, during the same period a year ago.

Second-quarter revenue grew 18 percent to $1.6 billion from $1.37 billion a year ago.

IAC's lending segment contribu  more...

New York home sales lose strength

Sales of existing single-family homes in New York fell in June from their year-ago levels, while the median home price increased significantly, according to preliminary single-family sales data accumulated by the New York State Association of Realtors.

Sales in June reached 10,166, down 5.7 percent from the June 2005 sales total of 10,782.  more...

Pending real estate sales fall from a year ago

A National Association of Realtors index that gauges pending home sales increased in June for the second straight month but is down 9.6 percent compared to June 2005.

The Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in June, increased 0.4 percent since May to 113.9 from an upwardly revised level of 113.5 in May, but is 9.6 percent below June 2005, the trade group reported.

Residential real estate construction spending falls in June

The rate of spending on private residential construction in June dropped about 1 percent since May but was roughly level with the June 2005 rate, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

Residential construction spending was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about $641.6 billion in June.  more...

Resale real estate shatters records in Canada

Existing-home sales in Canada's major markets in the first six months of 2006 surpassed all previous records for the first half of any year, as for-sale inventory hit an all-time high, according to statistics released by The Canadian Real Estate Association.  more...

Charlotte, N.C., tops list of housing hotspots

A recent industry survey has identified a dozen metropolitan area hotspots where most residential property listings are selling in 30 days or less, and 46 percent of sellers are getting 100 percent or more of their asking prices.

The survey, conducted by HouseHunt, also found that 78 percent of home sellers are still getting multiple offers, and annual home-price appreciation in the hotspot areas average 5 percent to 10 percent.

Charlotte, N.C., topped the list of hot housing markets with the median price for an existi  more...

Phones ringing at foreclosure prevention hotline

A national hotline set up by mortgage lenders to help homeowners stay out of foreclosure has fielded more than 2,000 calls from Ohio, where foreclosures have reached "crisis levels," the Homeownership Preservation Foundation reports.

The average foreclosure can cost a mortgage company $50,000 or more, said Walt Fricke, president and executive director of the Foundation, when the hotline was launched in February.