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Fannie-Freddie deathwatch begins

By Lou Barnes, Friday, August 22, 2008.

Mortgage rates bottomed again at 6.5 percent, as they have since May, maintaining a consistently wide spread to the 10-year T-note, which bottomed at 3.8 percent. It will take a substantial negative economic event or news to break below these rates.

Economic data were thin. The July index of leading indicators fell hard, the outsize 0.7 percent drop entirely due to rising claims for unemployment benefits and a big slide in building permits.  more...

Realtor.com sees search surge in some markets

By Inman News, Friday, August 22, 2008.

Real estate search site Realtor.com has seen a jump in online searches within dozens of market areas in July compared to the same month last year, with surges in searches within some markets that have experienced heavy foreclosure activity, like the Stockton-Lodi, Calif., area, and Las Vegas.  more...

California building permits set to hit record low

By Inman News, Friday, August 22, 2008.

California builders are likely to pull only about 72,000 permits to build new homes in 2008 -- one third the number issued in 2005 and the lowest number since tracking began in 1954, the California Building Industry Association said today.

Single-family permits issued in July totaled 3,023, down 48 percent from a year ago and 25 percent from June, CBIA said, citing statistics compiled by Construction Industry Research Board. Multifamily permits totaled 2,145, down 40 percent from a year ago and 19 percent from June.  more...

VA backs no-down loans up to $729K till '09

By Inman News, Friday, August 22, 2008.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is raising the ceiling for no-down payment home loans it will guarantee to match local limits used by Freddie Mac -- currently as much as $729,000 in high cost areas.  more...

Inman News seeks 'Most Influential' nominations

By Inman News, Friday, August 22, 2008.

Inman News is seeking your nominations for the 100 most influential individuals in real estate and the 25 most influential bloggers. The deadline for nominations is Friday, Sept. 12.

Inman News wants to hear your picks for the best and brightest leaders and bloggers who fit the "most influential" bill.

Click here to fill out an online nomination form: http://www.inman.com/most-influential.  more...

HomeGain launches AgentView marketing platform

By Inman News, Friday, August 22, 2008.

Real estate technology and marketing company HomeGain this week launched AgentView, a subscription-based online marketing platform that allows agents to promote for-sale property information, their profiles, blog postings and local information in an agent-branded diplay on the HomeGain.com site.  more...