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FBI announces mortgage fraud arrests

By Inman News, Thursday, June 19, 2008.

In an acknowledged bid for publicity to deter future crimes, the FBI today announced it had charged 406 people involved in 144 unrelated mortgage fraud cases since March 1 as part of an effort dubbed "Operation Malicious Mortgage."

The FBI said most of the cases involved lending fraud, foreclosure rescue scams or mortgage-related bankruptcy schemes, causing about $1 billion in losses. Five dozen people were arrested in 15 judicial districts on Wednesday alone.  more...

Spider-themed network lures investors

By Inman News, Thursday, June 19, 2008.

A poisonous spider is not the typical mascot for an online real estate networking site. And the founders of Black Widow Network are well aware of that.

The site is geared toward real estate investors, a group that is known for striking quickly and taking aggressive steps when it comes to deals on properties -- see the parallels now?  more...

No bottom yet for California's new-home market

By Inman News, Thursday, June 19, 2008.

Sales of new California homes slide 44%
The pace of home sales at California new-home communities continued to remain slow in April, but year-over-year sales declines shrunk slightly for another consecutive month, the California Building Industry Association reported today.

The monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence report showed that new-home sales in April were 44 percent below April 2007. While a significant decline, the drop is an improvement from the year-over-year decline of nearly 49 percent in March.  more...

Gen Y buyers are knocking

By Inman News, Thursday, June 19, 2008.

Real estate and Gen Y
USA Today reports that real estate professionals are using YouTube and Facebook in an effort to drum up business among Generation Y buyers. "This younger generation is so technology-savvy," Jacky Teplitzky of Prudential Douglas Elliman tells USA Today. And "they are changing the way real estate is being marketed and how brokers must use technology to successfully get to this group."  more...