Homeowners facing foreclosure can dial 3-1-1

Baltimore residents in danger of falling behind on their house payments can now dial 3-1-1 for advice from a mortgage education and counseling program.

A similar 3-1-1 program in Chicago helped 1,304 families stay in their homes, saving banks an estimated $77 million in foreclosure costs, according to a report on the three-year Home Ownership Preservation Initiative.

Baltimore's $800,000 program is spearheaded by the Baltimore Homeownership Preservation Coalition, and will offer edu  more...

Beverly Hills ranks as most expensive U.S. real estate market

Nine of the 10 most expensive real estate markets in the country are in California, and Beverly Hills tops the list, according to a home-price study released today by Coldwell Banker.

The average sales price of a home in Beverly Hills is $1.8 million. Meanwhile, Minot, N.D., ranked as the most affordable market among 317 U.S. markets surveyed, with an average sales price of $132,333, according to a report based on the company's Home Price Comparison Index.

The cumulative average sales price of homes in the U.S.  more...

Survey: Homeowners still expect prices to go up

Homeowners may have overly optimistic expectations that their homes will continue to appreciate as the housing market cools, according to a survey by investment bank RBC Capital Markets.

Nearly half of those polled expect their homes will continue to appreciate by at least 5 percent a year for several years -- down from 60 percent of those polled last year.

But only 13 percent of those surveyed have potentially risky adjustable-rate and interest-only mortgages, and 25 percent said they'd already paid off their mortgages.  more...

Real estate site lets users choose the news

A new real estate news site, RealEstateVoices.com, allows its users to submit stories and vote for the top headlines.

"Think about it like this: Instead of a team of newspaper editors dictating what are the most interesting stories you should read, you and your fellow users submit and vote upon stories -- whether from newspapers, blogs or elsewhere -- to form a sort-of frontpage of real estate reading for that particular day," according to a Web site description.

The news site, modeled after  more...

Rates fall sharply, borrowers fail to take advantage

Despite a sharp decline in interest rates, overall mortgage applications were down 4.9 percent last week on a seasonally adjusted basis from the week before, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported today.

The seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased by 5.5 percent to 375.9 from 397.9 the previous week, and is now at its lowest level since November 2003.  more...

New-home sales drop 17.4%

The sales rate for new single-family homes dropped 17.4 percent in August and the median price dropped 1.3 percent compared to August 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported today.

New homes sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.05 million in August, which is 4.1 percent above the revised July rate.  more...

Fraudulent mortgages used to buy Canadian drug houses

A Canadian mortgage broker has been sentenced to a year in jail for submitting forged documents with loan applications, some of which were used to buy homes that were used in indoor marijuana-growing operations.

Danh Van Nguyen of Surrey, British Columbia, pleaded guilty in May to six counts of using forged documents to arrange fraudulent mortgages. Prosecutors alleged that Nguyen's Vancouver-based Express Mortgages used fake letters of employment and pay slips.  more...

Buffalo landlord headed to prison in mortgage fraud case

A Buffalo, N.Y., landlord who agreed to pay $1.5 million in restitution and penalties and plead guilty to mortgage fraud has been sentenced to one year in prison.

Robert J.  more...

Overnight real estate rates: Down further

Long-term mortgage interest rates continued lower Tuesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield rose to 4.58 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average sank to 5.75 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate declined to 5.47 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 5.26 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.72 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...

Mavent lands $10 million in venture capital funding

Mavent Inc., which develops software that helps mortgage brokers check that loans comply with hundreds of laws and regulations, is set to receive a $10 million infusion of venture capital.

The company said the latest round of financing, led by private equity firm FT-Ventures, brings the total institutional investment in Mavent to $25 million. The latest infusion of cash will support continuing product development and the rollout of services to new customers the company did not name.  more...