Real estate investment trust to acquire mortgage co.

American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. announced this week that it has signed an agreement to purchase Waterfield Financial Corp., a subsidiary of Union Federal Bank of Indianapolis, which includes 46 retail, wholesale and correspondent mortgage loan production branches in 16 states.

American Home expects to purchase 100 percent of the capital stock of Waterfield Financial at a purchase price equal to the book value of Waterfield's net assets on the closing date of the acqui  more...

Land for real estate construction harder to find

Good land is increasingly hard to find, big home builders will grow bigger, and consolidation will continue in the home-building industry, according to a report released this week by McGraw-Hill Construction and Deloitte & Touche LLP's real estate industry group.

The report, based on a survey conducted by McGraw-Hill Construction's Industry Analytics and Alliances division, also found that high-end kitchen materials, tile flooring a  more...

Houston real estate prices hit high in December

The Houston housing market continued to thrive in December, as sales improved and the median single-family home price set a record, the Houston Association of Realtors reported.

The overall median price of single-family homes reached an all-time high of $147,000 in December, which was an increase of 6.5 percent compared to the prior year.  more...

CEO confidence improves

Chief executives' confidence, which had declined to 50 in the third quarter, improved to 56 in the final quarter of 2005, The Conference Board reports in its latest survey of CEOs.

The survey includes about 100 business leaders in a wide range of industries. A reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses.

"Much of the improvement in confidence can be attributed to the resiliency of the economy post-Katrina and the recent declines in fuel prices," said Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.  more...

Real estate listings land on cell phones

A company that builds real estate-related cell phone technologies announced this week that it has created a technology that allows home buyers to dial up multiple listing service information.

The new tool, called SMS/MLS (SMS is an acronym for "short messaging service," or text messaging), allows buyers to search for homes by address, neighborhood, MLS number or a company-created code assigned to a property.

QWASI Inc., which built the new tool, also created CellSigns, a product launched in 2005 that allows buyers to send  more...

NRT exec rallies real estate troops

NEW YORK – In a wide-ranging talk to the troops, Bruce Zipf, president and CEO of real estate brokerage giant NRT, exhorted an audience Thursday to embrace change while maintaining the personal aspect of the business.

"The real estate industry has undergone more change in the last 10 years since its inception," said Zipf during a presentation at Real Estate Connect. "But in many ways, that's positive because it's creating new energies and new excitement in the business.  more...

Real estate divas sing positive tune

NEW YORK – They represent female power to the nth degree – some of the most powerful women in real estate together on one stage. Overlooking the Great White Way, it was real estate meets Broadway.

They are real estate's "divas," but all had humble beginnings as described by Michael Saunders, founder and CEO of Michael Saunders & Co. in Florida.

"I came into the industry 30 years ago," Saunders said Thursday during a panel discussion at Real Estate Connect.  more...

Overnight real estate rates move lower

Long-term mortgage interest rates dipped slightly Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.41 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average slipped to 5.67 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate sank to 5.24 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 4.49 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 4.58 percent.

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

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...

New York woman gets jail, probation in real estate loan fraud

A New York woman convicted of forgery for submitting fake appraisals for $400,000 in bank loans for an apartment mortgage was sentenced Tuesday to five years' probation and six months in jail, the New York Journal News reported Tuesday.

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