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Hiring bonus: we'll buy your house

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

Homebuyers who are worried they will lose their job after taking on a hefty mortgage can take out insurance policies that will cover their payments for a time if they become unemployed.

But what's an executive who lands a high-paying job that forces him to relocate to do if he can't sell his house for what he bought it for?  more...

New rules for higher-cost loans

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

New rules targeted primarily at mortgage lenders making higher-cost loans take effect Thursday, more than a year after they were finalized by the Federal Reserve.

Many lenders have already adopted some of the changes as in their own best interest, such as verifying borrowers' income and assets and assessing their ability to repay a loan after it resets to a higher interest rate.  more...

Real estate influence and its followers Premium Content

By Liz Frantz, Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

Twitter posts were flowing last week about TechFest 2009 the seventh annual "gathering of the most forward-thinking and innovative minds from independently built and maintained real estate multiple listing services."

Jasmine Ruthdotter (@bubbleessence), a project manager for Oregon's Regional Multiple Listing Service, told Garron Selliken (@garrons), founder of M Realty and Homequest, "Your new way of defining neighborhoods was mentioned in #mlsfest this morning. Sounds exciting."

Ruthdotter also tweeted, "Interesting discussions on indexing. Looking at an INCREDIBLY fast MLS system right now! 8 (milliseconds), who knew?"  more...

Case-Shiller: third month of price gains

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

Home prices rose for a third month consecutive month in July, and the rate of annual decline continued to shrink for the sixth month in a row, according to the S&P/Case Shiller home price indices published by Standard & Poor's.

An index tracking prices in 20 metro areas showed prices increased in 18, by an average of 1.6 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis. Looking back a year, the 20-city composite was down 13.3 percent -- a smaller drop than the 15.4 percent decline seen in June.  more...

Loan mod bandits Premium Content

By Marcie Geffner, Tuesday, September 29, 2009.
Flickr image by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattimattila/2660481273/">Matti Mattila</a>.

"DONT LET YOUR LENDER TAKE YOUR MONEY! MODIFY YOUR HOME LOAN TODAY!"

That was the slogan--in large capital letters and sans the necessary apostrophe in the first word -- that loomed on a billboard over Century City, a tony neighborhood near my home in Los Angeles.

The billboard showed a masked bandit dressed in black-and-white prison stripes and a knit cap. On his back was a banker-style moneybag, complete with a big dollar sign on it.  more...

Realogy debt plan moves forward

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 29, 2009.

Real estate franchise and brokerage company Realogy Corp. said Monday it took out $515 million in loans in a debt restructuring that will reduce the company's debt by $70 million.

Realogy was acquired by an affiliate of Apollo in April 2007 in a leveraged deal that left the company burdened with debt.  more...