Central Ohio real estate sales surge

Central Ohio home sales in August climbed 8.9 percent from a year ago, putting some sizzle into the late-summer selling season, the Columbus Board of Realtors reported today.

Realtors documented 2,875 home sales last month, up from the 2,639 homes sold in August 2004.

"Closing activity was fair but not great in the June and July, which reflects more on home-buying activity in the spring months" said Doug McCloud, president of the Columbus Board of Realtors.  more...

Katrina keeps tight leash on real estate rates

Despite uncertainty over whether the Fed will continue to hike the cost of money in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, long-term mortgage rates edged up this week, according to surveys conducted by Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com.

In Freddie Mac's survey, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.74 percent for the week ended today, up from last week when it averaged 5.71 percent. The average for the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 5.32 percent, up from last week when it averaged 5.3 percent. Points on both the 30- and 15-year averaged 0.6.  more...

Florida pair in their 60s accused of real estate fraud

A South Florida pair was arrested and charged Tuesday on an 18-count real estate loan and bankruptcy fraud indictment, officials said.

Edward Garnett, 62, and Shirley Akey, 69, both of Fort Lauderdale, were each charged with conspiracy, loan application fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney's office. Garnett was also charged with bankruptcy fraud.  more...

Fidelity to merge real estate loan unit with Certegy

Fidelity National Financial will merge its mortgage processing unit with credit and debit processor Certegy in a deal that will give Fidelity majority control of the new publicly traded entity, the companies said today.

Fidelity said it expected the new company to pull in revenue at a rate of nearly $4 billion a year and pegged its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization at $1 billion.  more...

Colorado real estate agents face fraud charges

Two Colorado real estate agents were indicted Tuesday on charges related to fraud on illegal home loans, officials said.

William E. Mendez, 40, of Lakewood, Colo., and Claudia M. Mendez, 33, of Lakewood, face charges of wire fraud related to falsifying documentation to illegally obtain home loans for people who did not qualify, a U.S. Attorney said.

Also named in a second superseding indictment was Benedicta Gomez, 48, of Denver, for allegedly preparing the false documents for the bogus loans.  more...

Lawmakers tap Fannie, Freddie for hurricane relief

Two key House lawmakers on Wednesday added to a bill tightening regulations on mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to a provision directing funds to Hurricane Katrina victims, MarketWatch reported today.

Under a proposal by Reps. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, and Richard Baker, R-La., a House bill would send some after-tax profits earned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to victims of the hurricane that hit Baker's home state and others on the Gulf Coast, media reports said.  more...

New tool helps uncover second-mortgage risk

LoanPerformance, a subsidiary of First American Real Estate Solutions, today announced the introduction of SecondLook, a new service that aims to uncover the existence of second mortgages added after origination.  more...

NRT acquires 40-office real estate franchise

NRT Inc., the nation's largest residential real estate brokerage company, has acquired the assets of one of the largest Coldwell Banker franchisees in the country, NRT announced today.

CMLB Ltd., which operates as Coldwell Banker Success Realty in Scottsdale, Ariz., will now be owned and operated by NRT.  more...

Overnight real estate rates stand ground

Long-term mortgage interest rates were mostly unchanged Wednesday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield gained to 4.16 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average inched up to 5.3 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate held at 4.86 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 3.88 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield increased to 4.45 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  more...