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President of Prudential franchiser to retire

By Inman News, Friday, December 5, 2008.

Laurie Keenan, president of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates Inc., a franchise network that had about 2,100 offices and 64,000 sales associates as of June 30, has announced that she will leave the company around the close of first-quarter 2009.

Keenan, who has served as president since January 2007, joined Prudential Real Estate in 1992 and earlier served as executive vice president, chief operating officer and vice president of network education and business development for the company.  more...

Report: Home prices to fall below fundamentals Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Friday, December 5, 2008.

A new report suggests that homes are no longer overpriced in the vast majority of markets, but concludes prices will continue to fall in areas hard hit by foreclosures -- in many cases overshooting market fundamentals on their way down.

IHS Global Insight's quarterly report, House Prices in America, looks at historical home-price-to-income ratios in 330 metro areas. The latest report concludes that homes were fairly valued in all but 33 of those markets at the end of September.  more...

Job losses to fuel foreclosures  Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Friday, December 5, 2008.

A record one in ten home loans were delinquent or in foreclosure at the end of September, some 2.2 million homes are expected to enter the foreclosure process in 2008, and with the economy deteriorating the outlook for next year is worse, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today.

Until recently, excess inventory, speculation and lax underwriting by lenders have been the prime drivers of foreclosures in states like California and Florida, the MBA said. States like Michigan and Ohio were hardest hit by unemployment and population loss.  more...

Feds warn of real estate fraud scheme

By Inman News, Friday, December 5, 2008.

Realtor Magazine, a publication of the National Association of Realtors on Thursday reported on a fraud scheme in which individuals have attempted to purchase real estate and vehicles using bogus documents.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General has "been made aware of incidents in Arizona and Colorado where ... fraudulent documents were used to attempt to purchase homes and an office building."  more...

Trillions in mortgage debt loom large

By Inman News, Friday, December 5, 2008.

Sean O'Toole is founder and CEO of ForeclosureRadar.com, a company that focuses on California real estate foreclosure statistics. He will speak about foreclosure realities and opportunities during the Inman News Real Estate Connect conference in New York City, which runs from Jan. 7-9.

He responded to a set of questions posed by Inman News:

What do you see happening in the real estate market in 2009?  more...