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CAR offers free iPhone app

By Inman News, Tuesday, July 21, 2009.

The California Association of Realtors has developed an iPhone application that's now available for free download to members at the Apple iTunes store.

CAR -- which is also offering versions of the application for BlackBerry and other Web-enabled smart phones -- claims to be the first realtor association in the country to offer an iPhone app.

But the group says it will allow the scalable, data-driven application to be licensed and branded by other local and state real estate associations.  more...

Appraisers lost licenses, became agents Premium Content

By Inman News, Tuesday, July 21, 2009.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thetruthabout/2763078149" target=blank>TheTruthAbout</a>.

One in six appraisers whose licenses were revoked or surrendered in California and Florida since 2005 kept their real estate sales or broker's licenses, according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.

Some appraisers who lost their licenses also took positions in appraisal management companies, the center's investigation found. 

The ability of former appraisers to make the switch to real estate sales ...  more...

Another GMAC brokerage spin-off

By Matt Carter, Tuesday, July 21, 2009.

San Francisco Bay Area based luxury broker Pacific Union GMAC Real Estate will be sold to a smaller brokerage in the San Francisco Bay Area as part of ongoing efforts by its parent company to convert corporate-owned offices into independent franchisees.  more...

Bill would extend higher loan limits

By Inman News, Tuesday, July 21, 2009.

A spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee would extend the temporary $729,750 loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration in high cost housing markets through September 2010.

Congress first raised the limits last year after the secondary market for mortgages collapsed in the late summer of 2007, allowing Fannie, Freddie and FHA to to buy or guarantee loans of up to 125 percent of the median home price in high-cost areas.  more...