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Congress weighs reprieve for seller-funded gifts Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

STOCKTON, Calif. -- A last-ditch effort to head off an Oct. 1 ban on the use of seller-funded down-payment assistance with FHA-backed loans is picking up steam as a compromise bill, that would mend rather than end the practice, gains momentum.

HR 6694, which would allow home builders to continue funneling down-payment assistance through nonprofit groups to home buyers using FHA loans, is certain to pass ...  more...

Bear Stearns, mortgage unit settle FTC charges

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

The Bear Stearns Co. LLC and subsidiary EMC Mortgage Corp. will pay $28 million to settle federal allegations that the companies "misrepresented the amounts borrowers owed, charged unauthorized fees, such as late fees, property inspection fees and loan modification fees, and engaged in unlawful and abusive collection practices" in servicing consumers' home mortgage loans, according to a U.S. Federal Trade Commission announcement today.  more...

Study: Dubai offers world's highest home prices Premium Content

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the most expensive international market for homes, while La Jolla, Calif., is the most expensive U.S. market, according to a price study released by the Coldwell Banker brokerage company.

The study compares homes with similar sizes and attributes in 315 U.S. markets and in Puerto Rico, Canada and a sampling of other countries where Coldwell Banker has operations.  more...

NAR drops expectations for home sales, prices

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

The National Association of Realtors is expecting total sales of resale homes this year to drop 11.4 percent compared to 2007 and the median price of resale homes to fall 7 percent -- both projections are down from an earlier forecast.

The association is calling for 5.01 million sales of resale homes this year, compared with 5.65 million in 2007 and 6.48 million in 2006.  more...

Pending Home Sales Index falls in July

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

A National Association of Realtors index that gauges pending sales of resale homes dropped 6.8 percent in July compared to the same period last year.

The Pending Home Sales Index, which is based on contracts signed in July, dropped 3.2 percent compared to June 2008, to 86.5. A score of 100 is equal to the average level of contract activity in 2001, which was the first year examined for the index.  more...

WaMu has new CEO, regulatory scrutiny

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

Washington Mutual Inc. is entering the latest phase in its struggle to survive the housing downturn and credit crunch with a new chief executive officer and under scrutiny by federal banking regulators.  more...

Realtors weigh in on Fannie, Freddie takeover

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

The U.S. Treasury Department takeover of mortgage entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could "short-circuit" the role of the entities during real estate downturns and lead to higher down-payment requirements and lower home-ownership rates, the California Association of Realtors cautioned in a statement Monday afternoon.  more...

August foreclosures top 100,000

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 9, 2008.

Nearly 102,000 homeowners lost their properties to foreclosure in August, up nearly 6 percent from July and more than 80 percent higher than in August 2007, according to data released Monday by Foreclosures.com, a provider of foreclosure information.

So far this year, lenders have repossessed a record 656,545 properties nationwide -- or 8.6 of every 1,000 households in the United States -- and remain on track to repossess more than 1 million nationwide by year-end, Foreclosures.com reported.  more...