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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...