Home

Bill would scuttle RESPA changes

By Matt Carter, Thursday, April 30, 2009.

A sweeping bill aimed at curbing predatory lending, which passed a congressional committee Wednesday in a 49-21 vote, has been amended to suspend implementation of new standardized loan disclosure forms and settlement procedures proposed last year by the Bush administration.

The real estate and lending industries have opposed the changes to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, or RESPA, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development has said would save consumers billions of dollars (see story).  more...

Mortgage rates stay at record lows

By Inman News, Thursday, April 30, 2009.

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate eligible for purchase by Freddie Mac tied a record low this week, averaging 4.78 percent with an average of 0.7 point.

That's down from 4.80 percent last week and 6.06 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said, and ties an April 7 low in records going back to 1970.

The 15-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 4.48 percent this week with an average 0.7 point,  unchanged for the third week in a row but down from 5.59 percent a year ago. It's the lowest the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage has been since Freddie Mac began tracking those loans in August, 1991.  more...

The cult and culture of Zappos

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Thursday, April 30, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lachlanhardy/83702051/">Lachlan Hardy</a>.

In the Zappos universe, managers are monkeys, culture is king, customers are fans, and work is fun.

And, for the record, Zappos is a real, profitable company. It is an online reseller of shoes, clothing and accessories including watches, handbags and eyewear, and it rang up $1 billion in gross sales last year.  more...

U.S. foreclosures go international

By Inman News, Thursday, April 30, 2009.

RealtyTrac, an online real estate site focusing on foreclosure and pre-foreclosure properties, this week announced a deal to put foreclosure-related property information on Enormo, a global real estate search portal.

RealtyTrac provides information on about 1.5 million properties that are in default, scheduled for auction, or have already foreclosed and are now owned and listed for sale by banks -- the site hosts about 3 million unique monthly visitors.  more...

MetroList MLS adds Dwellicious

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 29, 2009.

MetroListMLS.com, a public-facing real estate search portal created by a multiple listing service in California, has integrated Dwellicious, a real estate tool that allows consumers to "bookmark" properties they find online.

MetroList Services Inc., an MLS that provides service to about 25,000 real estate professionals in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Yolo, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties, draws about 300,000 visitors per month to its consumer Web site.  more...

Brokers OK'd to negotiate loan mods

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 29, 2009.

The number of real estate brokers authorized by California regulators to collect advance fees for negotiating loan modifications and short sales on behalf of homeowners has grown from less than two dozen in mid-November to almost 600.

California requires real estate brokers who negotiate with lenders to enter into agreements with borrowers detailing the services they will provide if they plan to collect their fees upfront. Fees collected in advance are placed in a trust account can only be drawn down as services are performed.  more...

Zillow debuts iPhone app  Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Wednesday, April 29, 2009.
Zillow's iPhone application

Imagine strolling through your neighborhood and, with a glance at your iPhone, finding out instantly how much just about any home you walk by last sold for.

What if your iPhone could also display your location on a map that pinpoints nearby homes for sale and any that have recently changed hands?  more...

New rules for Fannie, Freddie appraisals

By Inman News, Wednesday, April 29, 2009.

Many lenders aren't prepared to comply with new rules going into effect Friday governing appraisals on loans to be purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to a company that offers software for managing the appraisal process.  more...

20-city price index plummets 18.6%

By Inman News, Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

A monthly home-price index recorded unprecedented year-over-year drops in the price of resale single-family homes in February 2009 compared to the same month a year earlier, with 15 markets showing double-digit percentage declines.

The composite index for the 20 metro areas, down 18.6 percent year-over-year in February, did not set a new record -- breaking a string of 16 record-setting months.  more...

New loan mod program aimed at seconds

By Inman News, Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

Saying that half of at-risk mortgages have second liens that complicate the process of modifying them prevent foreclosures, the Obama adminstration today announced the government will share in the cost of lowering payments on second mortgages and provide incentive payments to loan servicers who go along.  more...

Self-Googling and the blended iPhone Premium Content

By Inman News, Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

Todd Waller (@toddwaller), a Realtor and co-founder of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Team366, shares a humorous video clip in which a pushy real estate agent doesn't take "no" for an answer. You'll never think of the question: "Did I ask?" in quite the same way.

Joel McDonald (@joelrunner -- the "@" denotes that a Twitter user name follows, and you can substitute this character with: "http://www.twitter.com/," followed by the username, to locate the URL), an online traffic consultant for real estate professionals, re-tweets (to repost a Twitter message, or "tweet," posted by another Twitter user -- often referred to as "RT" in Twitter vernacular) a post by @DonSchnure ...  more...

Report: BofA, Citi told to raise capital

By Inman News, Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

Results of the government's "stress tests" of the ability of 19 banks that hold more than half of U.S. loans to sustain losses through 2010 won't be made public until the week of May 4, but Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America are reportedly among those that may need to raise more capital.  more...

1,000 duped by 'Dream Homes' program

By Inman News, Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

More than 1,000 people in Maryland and other states were allegedly duped by a "Dream Homes Program" that promised to take over their mortgage payments in exchange for a half ownership interest in their home and a $50,000 investment in side businesses.

The program was actually a massive mortgage fraud scheme that attracted about $70 million in investments, according to a federal grand jury indictment of four defendants unsealed Monday.  more...

Century 21 launches advice forum

By Inman News, Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

Century 21 Real Estate LLC has expanded its social media marketing efforts with an online interactive advice forum that the company is comparing to similar offerings from Trulia and Zillow.

The new "Talks" forum is hosted on a new C21 Communities landing page on the company's main site, www.Century21.com.  more...

'Hot' markets for house hunters

By Inman News, Tuesday, April 28, 2009.

Cities in the "sand states" of Arizona, Florida, California, and Nevada dominate a list of most searched communities by ZipRealty users during the first three months of the year.

In its quarterly "Home Hunters Report," ZipRealty tracks data from 5,400 cities in 33 of the 35 markets the company operates to identify the most searched cities.  more...

12345678next ›last »