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$15,000 homebuyer credit cut in compromise

By Matt Carter, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

A proposal to provide a $15,000 tax credit to home buyers was stripped from a $789 billion economic stimulus package that appears headed for a vote Friday, but a restoration of higher loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA loan guarantee programs appears to have made the cut.  more...

Median U.S. home price falls 12.4%

By Inman News, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

The median price of single-family resale homes sank in 88 percent of the 153 U.S.  more...

Mortgage rates easing again

By Inman News, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

The average rate on a conventional, conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 5.16 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending Feb. 12, down from 5.25 percent last week and 5.72 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said.

Interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are almost 1.5 percentage points below their 2008 peak, translating into a monthly payment savings of around $188 on a $200,000 mortgage, said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist.  more...

The shrinking real estate pie

By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, February 12, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/wheatfields/2587147000/" target=blank>net_efekt</a>.

We like to fix things, but I think it is important to find out what is broken before we go about the process of fixing it. Are we trying to fix something that is unsustainable or should we be building a new real estate industry?

In my town a large Ford plant will be closing soon. The factory builds large Ford trucks and nothing else. Demand for the trucks dropped and remains at an all-time low.  more...

IPhone app does mortgage rate searches

By Inman News, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

Mortgagebot LLC says a new, six-week old iPhone app for its mortgage-shopping Web site Mortgage Marvel generated 30,000 rate searches in January.

The iPhone application program, released in December, delivers mortgage quotes in real time, and is available at no charge at the iPhone App Store. Users can enter property-related data ponts to obtain detailed mortgage quotes anonymously.  more...

Party at your own risk

By Janet Portman, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

Q: I'm a tenant in a large apartment complex. Management regularly allows residents to rent out the clubhouse for private parties, and I'd like to do so for a graduation celebration for our son. The contract they handed me includes a provision giving them the right to administer breath tests to guests, and to even pat them down if security thinks it's warranted. I think these acts are grossly invasive of our privacy, and I'm wondering if they're legal. --Beth S.  more...

Short sale's dreaded tax bite

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

Q: I'm employed in the real estate industry, which means I'm no longer employed. I would love to keep my house, but have no income right now and I have not made a mortgage payment in five months. I understand that my lender will not likely modify my loan until I find another job. Based on that, I would like to put my house up for sale and do a short sale, but my lender said they will issue me a 1099 and that the mortgage debt they write off is taxable income to me! I can't afford to pay taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars. And what happens to all the back property taxes I owe if I do a short sale? Do I have to pay them?

A: Many of the very best Realtors and mortgage professionals have taken pay cuts or lost their jobs due to the recent changes in the market. One of the least reported impacts of the drop in home values has been the impact to an entire industry whose pay is based on a percentage of the value of the properties they help sell or finance.  more...

Judge approves $39 million Property I.D. settlement Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

A judge has granted final approval of a $39.3 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit that alleged real estate brokers recieved kickbacks for referring clients to Property I.D. Corp., a company that produces natural hazard disclosure reports.

More than 300,000 Californians who bought natural hazard disclosure reports from Property I.D. when they listed their homes with Coldwell Banker, Prudential California Realty, RE/MAX, Century 21 or ERA Real Estate between 1996 and 2006 could be eligible for full refunds.  more...

Homes.com: Detroit gets big boost in searches

By Inman News, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

Homes.com, a real estate search site operated by Dominion Enterprises, this week launched a top-10 list of market areas with the largest growth in search activity at the site from January 2008 to January 2009.

Search traffic grew the most in Detroit (up 52 percent); followed by Naples, Fla. (44.7 percent); Greensboro, N.C. (41.6 percent); Tulsa, Okla. (41 percent); El Paso, Texas (38.4 percent); Oceanside, Calif. (37 percent); Fort Myers, Fla. (34.7 percent); Columbia, S.C. (33.9 percent); and Murrieta, Calif. (33.3 percent).  more...

Late rent payments becoming major headache

By Robert Griswold, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

Q: I own several rental properties and have had tenants who had trouble paying the rent, but the economy seems to have hit my tenants very hard. Several tell me that their work hours have been cut back or they have been laid off. It is getting much more difficult to collect the rent. I am even accepting partial payments, as some rent is better than nothing. One of my tenants still hasn't paid any of last month's rent and admitted to me that he is considering bankruptcy. What should I do?  more...

'Fix-and-finance' a cure for foreclosures?

By Tom Kelly, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

Tom DiMercurio has spent nearly 40 years analyzing, managing and selling foreclosed properties. He is the brains behind BuyBankHomes.com, a Web site that provides foreclosure information to interested parties such as consumers, investors and real estate agents. When a bank finds itself with a ton of real estate-owned (REO) inventory, he's often called on to propose a liquidation strategy.

Now, DiMercurio is spending his own money in offering a solution to a national foreclosure problem that seems to be getting larger every day. He's made two trips to the nation's capital trying to get in front of legislators with an idea that he feels could stabilize neighborhoods torn apart by empty homes no longer properly maintained.  more...

Foreclosure filings down 10% in January

By Inman News, Thursday, February 12, 2009.

Foreclosure-related filings fell 10 percent from December to January, as foreclosure prevention efforts by lenders and the government appeared to be taking hold, data aggregator RealtyTrac said today.

Completed foreclosure sales were down 15 percent from the month before, and overall foreclosure-related filings in Florida fell 20 percent.

"The extensive foreclosure efforts on the part of lenders and government agencies appear to have impacted the January numbers," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.  more...