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Pulte, Centex boards OK $3.1 billion merger

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 8, 2009.

Pulte Homes Inc. and Centex Corp. say a planned $3.1 billion merger will make the combined companies the nation's largest home builder with the strongest cash position in the industry.

The merger -- already approved by both companies' boards of directors -- will create a single company with $3.4 billion in cash and $1.8 billion in net debt. The companies together closed 39,000 sales in 2008, with revenue of $11.6 billion.  more...

New York Times announces real estate API

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 8, 2009.

The New York Times has announced the creation of a new Real Estate API (application programming interface) that provides developers with access to a database of sales and listings data for real estate in the New York area.  more...

RealEstate.com joins Hitwise top-20 list Premium Content

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 8, 2009.

A monthly traffic ranking of real estate Web sites showed the leading portals firmly entrenched in March, with just one site entering the top 20, and only six sites breaking into the top 100.

RealEstate.com -- the listing and valuation site operated by LendingTree LLC -- was the lone newcomer to the top-20 list in March rankings published by Web metrics company Hitwise.  more...

Beware non-experts bearing expert advice Premium Content

By Kris Berg, Wednesday, April 8, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/56624456@N00/3118400365/">Silverisdead</a>.

I was recently asked to write a consumer article for another site on loan modifications. This was an assignment which should have easily have been knocked out with five fingers over a cup of coffee while I used my other hand to clear my feed reader and finish a crossword puzzle.

Instead, my 600 unwritten words haunted me. For three weeks and with the deadline looming, I was a tormented soul in full procrastination mode who suddenly found she had more pressing priorities -- like waxing the cat.

The problem is that I am not an expert on loan modifications.  more...

Cobroke Nation asks, 'What are you showing now?' Premium Content

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 8, 2009.
CobrokeNation.com screen image.

Robin Greenbaum was talking with a friend last year about an idea for a new business last year.

She had a vision to build a real estate version of Facebook, she recalled. Not convinced that would work, the New York City Realtor hatched another idea. "My 'ah-ha' moment was, 'I don't need Facebook. I can build the Twitter of real estate.' "  more...