Home

Mortgage fraud scams alleged in Kansas

By Inman News, Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

Kansas officials have sued five companies for allegedly fraudulent mortgage rescue schemes that included "redemption rights" scams in which homes were leased back to troubled borrowers.

State Attorney General Steve Six said Apple Asset LLC of Overland Park and Rush Properties LLC of Olathe would buy a homeowner's redemption rights, lease their house back to them,  and then sell the house for a profit when the homeowner couldn't afford to buy the house back.  more...

Demand for refis, purchase loans up

By Inman News, Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

Applications for mortgage refinancings jumped 15.2 percent and demand for purchase loans was up 6.7 percent the week ending July 3 after adjusting for the Independence Day holiday, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Total application volume for both types of loans was up a seasonally adjusted 10.9 percent from the previous week and 7.2 percent from a year ago on a non-adjusted basis.  more...

Mortgage insurer IDs weak markets

By Inman News, Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

Thirty of the nation's 50 biggest metro areas have a greater than even chance of seeing lower house prices by the end of March 2011, according to an analysis by mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc.

PMI's market risk index -- which is based on price-appreciation trends, affordability, unemployment, interest rates and local economic conditions -- projects that 46.7 percent of 381 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) are at risk of price declines in the next two years.  more...

Better Homes and Gardens revamps site

By Inman News, Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate LLC has relaunched its year-old consumer Web site, reducing the amount of space devoted to branding and raising the visibility of property search in order to drive more traffic to affiliates.

"Our old site used too much of the home page real estate for branding so consumers were very confused as to what they should do first on our site," Jason Steele, vice president of interactive marketing said in a blog post.  more...

'Phony lawsuits' didn't help homeowners

By Inman News, Wednesday, July 8, 2009.

A foreclosure consultant and attorney are accused of filing lawsuits to forestall foreclosure proceedings on behalf of more than 2,000 homeowners in California, then abandoning or failing to prosecute hundreds of the cases.

Consultant Paul Noe Jr. and attorney Mitchell W. Roth "ripped off homeowners desperate for help by charging unconscionable fees for phony lawsuits," California Attorney General Jerry Brown said in announcing a complaint against the two. "Instead of aggressively pursuing the lawsuits, Noe and Roth strung them along so they could continue to rake in fees."  more...