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Yardi Systems acquires Point2

By Glenn Roberts Jr., Thursday, September 30, 2010.

A major player in the online collection and distribution of real estate listings information is under new ownership -- the second such deal in as many weeks.

Yardi Systems, a real estate investment and property management software company based in Goleta, Calif., has acquired Saskatoon, Canada-based Point2 Technology Inc., a software company specializing in the distribution of property information and other tools and services for the residential real estate and heavy equipment industries.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Yardi Systems officials were not immediately available for comment.

Just days ago, on Sept. 21, Realtor.com operator Move Inc. completed a deal to acquire Threewide Corp., which operates ListHub, a national property listings syndication platform that distributes an estimated 2.4 million property listings from about 270 MLSs and 38,000 brokers to a group of about 70 real estate websites.  more...

Fannie, Freddie, FHA loan limits extended

By Inman News, Thursday, September 30, 2010.

Congress has approved legislation extending for one year the existing loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration, allowing the loan guarantee and insurance programs to continue backing loans of up to $729,750 in markets with the highest cost of living.  more...

Chase puts hold on 56,000 foreclosures Premium Content

By Matt Carter, Thursday, September 30, 2010.

In what's been dubbed the "robo-signing" scandal, JP Morgan Chase and Co. has joined GMAC Mortgage in temporarily halting foreclosure proceedings in judicial foreclosure states, following allegations that workers the companies employed failed to follow the proper legal procedures in filing paperwork demonstrating that the lenders had the right to foreclose.

In the past, such allegations -- often brought by attorneys representing homeowners in disputed foreclosure proceedings -- have mostly delayed, not stopped foreclosure proceedings.

But the robo-signing allegations could affect other lenders who rely on a paperless loan registration system developed for the industry by Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. (MERS), slowing foreclosure proceedings in courts nationwide.  more...

Former employee sued for client data theft

By Global Edge, Thursday, September 30, 2010.

Editor's note: This item is republished with permission from Global Edge Marketing Ltd. View original post.  more...

RealtyTrac: Share of foreclosure sales drops in Q2

By Inman News, Wednesday, September 29, 2010.

Embargoed until 9pm tonight

Homes in the process of foreclosure accounted for 24 percent of all residential real estate sales in the second quarter, according to a new quarterly report by foreclosure data site RealtyTrac.  more...

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate grows in California

By Matt Carter, Wednesday, September 29, 2010.
Flickr image courtesy of <a href="http://www.lumaxart.com">lumaxart.com</a>.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Realogy Corp.'s Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate LLC continues its rapid expansion, with company officials today announcing a 20-year franchise agreement with a former Prudential Real Estate brokerage that has 1,900 agents working out of 36 offices in Northern California and Nevada.

Handling $2.8 billion in home sales in 2009, Pleasanton, Calif.-based Mason-McDuffie Real Estate Inc. -- which has done business for the last 13 years as Prudential California Realty and Prudential Nevada Realty -- was ranked by REAL Trends as the 19th-largest brokerage in the U.S. by sales volume. The company claims to be the sales leader in the San Francisco area's East Bay market.

Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services Inc. -- which oversees Prudential's real estate franchise network of about 60,000 sales associates and 1,700 offices (as of June 30) in North America -- was prepared for the switch, announcing a new affiliation with a 200-agent brokerage in San Ramon that expects to sign Mason-McDuffie agents who wish to remain affiliated with the Prudential brand.  more...

Sawbuck expands to Houston

By Inman News, Wednesday, September 29, 2010.

Online brokerage company Sawbuck Realty has expanded to Houston and partnered with local brokerage Prudential Gary Greene Realtors, the company announced this week.

Sawbuck also partnered with a local brokerage in its last expansion to Phoenix, Ariz., in July. As with that partnership, Houston area buyers will be able to search for-sale homes and recent sales by property type, neighborhood, or address on Sawbuck's website (in standard or mobile format) and then a Sawbuck adviser will connect the buyers with agents at the local brokerage to handle their transactions.

Sawbuck's website also offers prospective buyers local market data, new-home listings, bank-owned and short-sale property listings, and information about contracts, price changes, and open houses. The Houston expansion adds more than 305,000 homes, including 42,000 active listings, to Sawbuck's database.  more...

Loan demand remains weak

By Inman News, Wednesday, September 29, 2010.

Demand for purchase mortgages rose last week by a seasonally adjusted 2.4 percent from the week before, but was off 32.4 percent from a year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in releasing the results of its latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey.

For the week ending Sept. 24, demand for refinancings was down 1.6 percent from the week before, although requests for refinancings still accounted for 80.7 percent of all mortgage applications.  more...

'Refis for everybody' bill revamped

By Inman News, Wednesday, September 29, 2010.
Flickr photo courtesy of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soschilds/790808573">Viajar24h.com</a>.

A bill introduced this week by U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., would allow virtually any owner-occupant with a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to refinance at today's low rates -- regardless of whether they are underwater or in default.

HR 6218, The Housing Opportunity and Mortgage Equity (HOME) Act, would affect up to 30 million mortgages held or backed by Fannie and Freddie, Cardoza said in a press release announcing the bill's introduction.

Language in the bill would prohibit Fannie and Freddie from requiring appraisals of properties to be refinanced. Loans servicers would be paid fees of up to $1,000. Fees for refinancing would be rolled into the mortgage and penalties would be waived.  more...

Realtor.com relaunches Premium Content

By Inman News, Wednesday, September 29, 2010.

A redesigned Realtor.com officially launches today, with site operator Move Inc. touting a "new platform built with proprietary technology and a new property database" aimed at streamlining the process of finding properties and Realtors.

The new design -- the first in nearly two years -- integrates Move's active listings, new construction, rentals and recently sold property databases, allowing users to access all from the search box on the Realtor.com home page. Although that content had previously been available on Realtor.com, the company has said it wanted to make it easier to find.

"Streamlining the search experience as we've done on the redesigned site brings these once disparate search items together and vastly improves the speed at which data is surfaced in a more organized fashion," Move Inc. CEO Steve Berkowitz said in a company announcement.  more...

A peek at Trulia's iPhone app update Premium Content

By Andrea V. Brambila, Tuesday, September 28, 2010.
Trulia iPhone app screenshot.

Real estate search and marketing company Trulia.com is set to release the newest version of its mobile application for the Apple iPhone. The company expects Apple to approve its updated app as soon as Thursday.

Trulia launched its iPhone app in September 2008. Since then the app has been downloaded more than 400,000 times (total for all versions). 

Trulia spokesman Ken Shuman said that the app is drawing "serious homebuyers," which is key, even if "We might not have the most downloads in the App Store."  more...

The skinny on finance for women

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Tuesday, September 28, 2010.
Image courtesy of <a href=http://macmillan.com/>MacMillan.com</a>.

As you may know, the smart/savvy woman consumer demographic holds a special place in my heart. It's how I self-identify, and this was the group I primarily served in my real estate business. I even wrote a couple of real estate guides for this group, on grounds that the informational cravings and lifestyle needs that women seek to feed in the course of buying a home are quite different than those of men.

As a result, I'm always interested in personal finance materials that are obviously targeted to women, and have found them to vary very widely when it comes to the gimmick-to-substance quotient.  more...

2 Ohio Realtors killed at showings Premium Content

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 28, 2010.

Authorities in Ohio have charged two men with the Sept. 20 murder of a 67-year-old Realtor who was showing a vacant home in Youngstown, and issued a warrant for a man wanted for questioning in the murder of another Realtor showing a home 40 miles away on the same day.

Police say the murders are unrelated, although one of the men charged in the Youngstown murder has also been charged along with his brother in the Sept. 15 robbery of another real estate agent showing an apartment.

Robert Brooks, 25, of Youngstown, and Grant Cooper, 21, of Hubbard, are charged with the murder of Realtor Vivian D. Martin, 67, who was scheduled to show a vacant home in Youngstown at 1:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20.  more...

Real estate price index rises 3.2% in July Premium Content

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 28, 2010.

A monthly Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Index tracking 20 metro areas rose 3.2 percent year-over-year in July, with half of the markets showing decline.

Las Vegas had the largest year-over-year drop in July, according to the report, and that market has experienced a 57 percent decline since its peak in August 2006, with index drops in 44 of the past 46 months.  more...

Foreclosure starts, inventories grow Premium Content

By Inman News, Tuesday, September 28, 2010.
Flickr photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewbain/3899715321/">taberandrew</a>.

Foreclosure starts continued to accelerate in August as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac enforced more aggressive timelines on early stage delinquencies, loan data aggregator Lender Processing Services Inc. said in releasing its latest monthly loan performance report.

The pace at which seriously delinquent homeowners transition into foreclosure -- in many cases after leaving the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) -- also continued to pick up, LPS said.

The 282,528 foreclosure starts initiated by lenders in August represented a 29 percent increase from the low for the year, seen in April, and was the highest level since July 2009.  more...

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