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Agents go to town on foreclosures, REOs

By Inman News, Thursday, June 4, 2009.

With a focus on bank-owned properties, Kansas City, Mo.-based Century 21 broker-owner Mike Phillips was the nation's busiest real estate agent in 2008, completing 1,148 transaction sides, according to a survey of more than 7,000 real estate brokerages by REAL Trends.  more...

Keller Williams offering RealtyTrac data

By Inman News, Thursday, June 4, 2009.

Keller Williams Realty Inc. is providing limited access to data on pre-foreclosure, auction and bank-owned foreclosure properties from RealtyTrac through a separate landing page on the brokerage's national Web site, KW.com.

In announcing the partnership with Keller Williams, RealtyTrac said it will be soon add educational content on foreclosures "and other valuable resources to help the company's associates and customers."  more...

Post-it notes and the 'un-conference'

By Teresa Boardman, Thursday, June 4, 2009.

The first ReBarCamp was held in San Francisco last summer, the day before the Inman News Real Estate Connect conference.

The idea is the brainchild of Andy Kaufman, a Realtor in Berkeley, Calif., who has become the go-to person for ReBarCamp organizers nationwide. There is an official ReBarCamp blog with a list of upcoming events and a place to sign up.  more...

Plain vanilla loans back above 5%

By Inman News, Thursday, June 4, 2009.

Rates on "plain vanilla" 30-year fixed-rate mortgages shot back above 5 percent this week to a 25-week high, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

A surge in stock prices and burgeoning government debt is making mortgage-backed securities and long-term Treasuries look less attractive to investors, pushing up their yields.  more...

Home insurance: ins and outs of coverage

By Bernice Ross, Thursday, June 4, 2009.

Recently I wrote a column about the types of claims covered on your homeowner's policy. Our readers had a wealth of comments and questions. Here are just a few of the responses we received.

1. Earthquakes and fires in California
Pete Moraga, a communications specialist from the Insurance Information Network of California, explained the notion of "proximate cause." Moraga quotes the California Department of Insurance Web site:  more...

Double-dipping the loan-mod pool

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Thursday, June 4, 2009.

Q: About a year ago, I obtained a loan modification from WaMu that dropped my interest rate about 1.25 points, turned my adjustable-rate mortgage into a fixed-rate loan, and reduced my monthly payment by about $100 per month. I would like to see if I can get the payment down even further under the stimulus plan. Is there any reason I can't go back and request a second modification?

A: All loan modification agreements are different, so first things first -- read your entire agreement from the modification you got last year to see what, if anything, it says on the matter. It's rare for one loan modification to expressly prohibit another modification in print; what's not quite as rare is ...  more...

Tenant suspects manager of illegal entry

By Janet Portman, Thursday, June 4, 2009.

Q: My sister has lived in a rent-controlled apartment for 16 years. Over the past month there has been evidence that someone has been entering her apartment. Little things are disturbed, such as a picture on the floor that's moved to the computer and her printer changing from English to Japanese. We believe it is the manager because he is the only one with a key and the front door is always locked upon her return. In these tough economic times, we think they are trying to get rid of her so they can get more money for her unit. What recourse does she have? --Shirley G

A: Landlords with long-term tenants in rent-controlled cities are often anxious that these folks move on. When tenants don't leave voluntarily, there's no opportunity to raise rents to market levels. Many times, the allowable rent increases do not cover the landlord's increased cost of doing business.  more...

Partial rent payments spell trouble

By Robert Griswold, Thursday, June 4, 2009.

Q: I am a new landlord and not quite sure how to handle tenants that offer partial payments. About a year ago my wife and I were fortunate to buy an almost new rental house in our neighborhood as an investment property. It was a foreclosure property and we got a great deal. We had heard that being a landlord was really easy and would be a good supplemental source of income in our retirement days.

Everything went well at first and we quickly found a nice family who were great renters for the first few months. But then they had their hours cut back at work and we began to see excuses as they were clearly having problems meeting their rent obligation. When we served them a legal "Notice of Nonpayment of Rent," they asked us to accept their rent on a weekly basis until they could get their financial situation in order.  more...

Downturn widens homeownership divide Premium Content

By Inman News, Thursday, June 4, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/2988469720/" target=blank>woodleywonderworks</a>.

While the overall homeownership rate climbed during the housing boom, and minority groups narrowed the homeownership gap with whites, the crash has sent the homeownership trend into reverse.

Gains in homeownership gave under the weight of the subprime loan market meltdown. Fair-housing advocacy groups also blame reverse redlining, the insulation of minority communities and an insufficient financial education for tearing down the homeownership rate.  more...