Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have the capital they need to not only ride out the housing downturn, but underwrite a lot of loans this year that should prove to be very profitable in the long run. That, according to James Lockhart, head of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), which oversees the safety and soundness of both companies.

Investors were hanging on Lockhart's every word today, because of a Lehman Brothers report that suggested proposed changes to an accounting rule by the Financial Accounting Standards Board might force Fannie and Freddie to raise $75 billion in capital.

Investors panicked Monday, with shares of Fannie and Freddie tanking on fears that the companies would have to issue more common stock to raise capital, diluting the value of existing shares. The stocks recovered some ground today after Lockhart said the new accounting rule won't force Fannie and Freddie to raise more capital.

In an interview with CNBC, Lockhart said Fannie and Freddie "are classified as adequately capitalized," having raised "significant capital" to cover recent losses. The capital already raised should "allow them to ride out the problems of the past years and underwrite this year what should be a very profitable book of business." Fannie has raised $15 billion, and OFHEO expects Freddie will have $5.5 billion it's agreed to raise in the bank by the end of the summer, Lockhart said.

In March, OFHEO relaxed strict capital requirements that were put in place in 2004 in the aftermath of the accounting and management scandals. The relaxed capital requirements -- although still tougher than those in place before the scandal -- gave Fannie and Freddie additional leeway to buy up $200 billion in mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. OFHEO said the companies had made progress in strengthening internal controls, and promised in May to continue easing capital requirements as the companies raised money to offset losses.

The Street's Marek Fuchs today lambasted the media coverage that spurred the run on Fannie and Freddie's shares, saying the Lehman Brothers report was largely positive and was mischaracterized by the media. The very real problems at IndyMac added to the confusion, he said. But Kevin Depew, executive editor of Minyanville.com, thinks that the "nationalization" of Fannie and Freddie is inevitable.

I like my job here at Inman News.  Being Community Manager means that I get to spend a lot of time interacting with the good folks who are our users and members.  The folks like you who make up the Inman Community. 

Besides just interacting with people, one of my favorite responsibilities is highlighting the incredible insight that folks from the Inman community provide on a daily basis here on Inman.com.  I get to do that every day in the Inman Headlines AM and PM emails, and in the Inman News Community Roundup.  I am charged with the responsibility of picking out what I think are the most insightful comments submitted by users and members all over Inman.com, and then highlighting them for the world to see. 

In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, here are two recent examples:

From a recent Headlines email: 

From a recent Community Roundup:

This is where I need your help.  Inman.com users do a great job of leaving awesome comments on the articles, comments, and in the groups.  But I need more.  Right now, perusing the comments takes a few minutes.  I want to be so inundated with great comments that I will have to agonize over the decision as to which to highlight.  In effect, I'm asking you to make my job harder.  How's that sound?

I want to be able to show the industry and the world just how great the professionals who make up the Inman community are.  On top of that, I want you to be able to enjoy all the benefits that come from that exposure.  In order to do that, you are going to want to make sure that you have your Inman profile all filled out so that when people see your super-duper insightful comment, they will be able to find out just who that smart guy or gal is.  Make sure that your profile is public, that way I can include a link to it, making it even easier for folks to find you. 

Inman.com is all about industry news, but it is also all about YOU.  It is about you interacting with other dedicated professionals and sharing your expertise so that everyone can benefit and improve. My job is to facilitate that process, and part of that is promoting all of the great work that our users and members do. 

So that's it.  I am actually asking you to make my job harder.  I want a barrage of awesome comments, a veritable cornucopia of industry knowledge and insight. I want to have to spend hours pouring over comments, agonizing over which ones to highlight.  All you have to do is just keep up the great work commenting, and maybe take it up a notch.  In return for all your hard work, I'll make sure that everyone sees what an awesome community of professionals exists here at Inman.  The more insight we can share, the more discussion we can generate, the more we call all benefit, and I would love to be able to highlight it for the world to see.

Since March, when HUD rolled out temporary increases in FHA loan limits authorized by Congress and the Bush administration, FHA endorsements (guarantees of mortgage loans) have taken off in the West.

These statistics, just released by HUD Region IX (which includes California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii), show a 62.5 percent increase from March to May. California's Silicon Valley -- where most homes were too expensive to qualify for FHA loan guarantee programs before the increase -- has seen the biggest percentage jump, while the Phoenix, Ariz. metropolitan statistical area (MSA) has seen the biggest increase in terms of raw numbers.

Couple of things to ponder:

1. Will these numbers go right back down if Congress doesn't extend the new limits (or decides the new cap of $729,750 is too high)?

2. How many of these borrowers relied on seller-funded down payment assistance, which HUD is seeking to end?

FHA endorsements Region IX

Moovest, a newly launched search site for investment properties, is banking on the power of bovine branding to spur its growth.

"When considering real estate, bovine (more commonly known as cattle), don't usually spring to mind," according to the company's announcement today. "We wanted something both unusual and memorable," said Dave Segrove, vice president of marketing for Moovest.com, in a statement.

The site caters to buyers and sellers of tenant-occupied real estate, or homes and buildings that are currently rented or leased by the owner, though the site does not require that properties have tenants in order to be listed at the site.

Real estate agents can participate at the site through a "MoovAgent" service that connects them with prospective buyers, according to the announcement. The site doesn't seem to have much content and/or functionality yet, though there are some pretty pictures of the site's cow mascots in some exotic and some not-so-exotic locations.

Jason Sandquist! 

Jason is a real estate agent and blogger in the twin cities of Minnesota. 

 The live drawing of the winner was well-attended, and a fun time was had by all.  I thought that I had recorded it so that I could share it with you all here, but alas. . .

Basically, we started with 140 ping-pong balls (one for each contestant):

After a few shuffles of the balls, a winning ball was drawn:

The winning #20 ball belongs to Jason.  There wasn't any confetti, but I'm sure he will appreciate his free ticket to Inman Connect SF '08 just the same.

To all of those who signed up to follow Inman News on Twitter, and entered the contest, THANK YOU! Keep your eyes on the @InmanNews tweets, because I plan to make it more interesting going forward.  You can also use Twitter as a way of sending me feedback or asking questions about the site, too.

Once again, thanks to everyone who played, and if you haven't already registered for an Inman.com account, what are you waiting for?

Over the weekend, a few more @InmanNews Twitter Friends threw their name in the hat for the FREE Inman Connect SF '08 ticket.  The entire list of contestants is below.  If you entered, make sure your Twitter ID is listed below, and take note of your number:

1. realestatechick    2. PhoenixREGuy    3. mattwilkins

4. MarkEckenrode   5. mortgageporter   6. NRVLiving

7. JamieGeiger    8. stakerg   9. danwoolley

10. gethomedenver   11. mlbroadcast   12. KrisTalk

13. LVRealEstate   14. DaleChumbley   15. SteveBelt

16. TimAyres   17. pasadenaviews   18. LubaSF

19. Rob_Thiessen   20. JasonSandquist   21. PropertyqubeDev

22. hthrflynn   23. MaureenFrancis   24. MikeMueller

25. RailLife    26. REASEO    27. KimWood

28. susangoulding    29. susieblackmon    30. homenetcafe

31. davbet    32. davidcharris    33. RealEstateCafe

34. MichelleDe    35. scottinmemphis    36. IPTVBoyz

37. toddwaller    38. suzytrotta    39. MadMartin

40. jbflory    41. c21tc    42. jbinfrisco

43. ClassifiedAds    44. RealSeekr    45. WickedBlog

46. MAARSeth    47. LaniAR    48. kenbrand

49. kevin_boer    50. GFDenver    51. CandyLynn

52. BradCoy    53. mjbanducci    54. GiaBFreer

55. sjagger    56. joespake    57. housechick

58. SteveScheer    59. billrice    60. staceyharmon   

61. JohnLauber    62. tmcneely    63. comomma

64. RealtorToby    65. nickzawicki   66. jondnicholas

67. rtmedia   68. jringgold    69. kendyl

70. tcar    71. obeoman    72. wharriman

73. YatterMatters    74. FabioRodriguez    75. HuckC21

76. topbrokeroc    77. RobertaMurphy    78. davidyack

79. Tiffrod    80. pambuda    81. brianrequarth

82. GretchenMerrick    83. blockrealestate    84. luckyrock

85. cwaterhouse    86. JimDuncan    87. DruBloomfield

88.  JulietJohnson    89. jfsellsius    90. terieee

91. propertydiva    92. RobinSherman    93. Reguru

94. MichaelSalas    95. rebeccalev    96. mkchronos

97. cyndeehaydon   98.  ckschweiger    99. dscherer  

100.  VendorAlley    101. JovanH    102. kidbrax   

103. sporter100    104. willowbellotti    105. porchlightscott   

106. aeverse    107. AlexChangSF    108. cwebb66   

109. Burbtimes    110. BillLublin    111. XtaRae   

112. nik_nik    113. sales4lee    114. jimreppond   

115. mattgosselin    116. KrisBerg    117. bcart1222   

118.  LesleyRealtor    119. caliryan1    120. ccmaine   

121. bstockdale    122. YourNJRealtor    123. losaltoshomes   

124. justinmassa    125. TBoard   126. Riversidehomes   

127. Robin4Homes    128. NinahHunter 129. DaniloB  

130. tosullivan3    131. COSrealestate    132. OhioRealtor

133. fsechzer    134. airam1    135. chrisramos

136. tinainva    137. 604homesguy    138. GundyGroup

139. ScottHartis  140. tylerosby   

140 contestants.  That is very impressive.  Way to go!

Make sure to watch the drawing of the winner LIVE, Monday at 12:30 PST (3:30 EST) on the Inman Community Live Channel.  

Good luck to everyone who entered!

Below are the latest contestants in the Inman News Twitter Contest.  All of the @InmanNews Twitter friends who have entered are eligible to win a FREE ticket to Inman Real Estate Connect SF '08.  You can check the rest of the list here, here, and here.  Twitter is still eating tweets at an alarming rate, so if you know you have entered, but don't see your name on the list, send me a Twitter direct message or send an email to daniel.rothamel [at] inman.com.

Remember, the deadline to enter is Sunday, June 29th at Midnight, PST.

110. BillLublin    111. XtaRae    112. nik_nik

113. sales4lee    114. jimreppond    115. mattgosselin

116. KrisBerg    117. bcart1222    118.  LesleyRealtor

119. caliryan1    120. ccmaine    121. bstockdale

122. YourNJRealtor    123. losaltoshomes    124. justinmassa

One last thing, the drawing for the winner will be broadcast LIVE on the new Inman News Ustream.tv Channel.  That's right, you can WATCH THE DRAWING LIVE!  I'll be broadcasting from my office in Virginia.  Wish I could have chosen some sort of exotic location, but I needed someplace that has 1) a reliable internet connection; and 2) space for a guy with well over one hundred ping-pong balls that won't disturb others. :-)

So tune into the channel at 3:30 EST (12:30 PST) on Monday, June 30th.  I'll be on the air then, and I'll do the drawing pretty soon thereafter.  I want to spend the first few minutes chatting with viewers about Inman Connect SF '08 and gathering some feedback about the Twitter contest.

So, remember:

1)  Get your tweets in by Sunday at Midnight.

2)  Make sure your name is on the list (and remember your number)

3) Tune into the Inman Community Live channel at 3:30 EST on Monday, June 30 to watch the drawing and chat with everyone.

 
See you Monday!

The Inman Twitter Contest now has OVER 100 contestants!  Way to go!

 Below is the list of @InmanNews Twitter friends who entered the contest yesterday.  Twitter is still eating some of the tweets, so if you know you entered, but haven't seen your name on the list yet, PLEASE send a direct message to @InmanNews, or send me an email to daniel.rothamel [at] inman.com.  I definitely don't want to miss anyone before the drawing on Monday.  

98.  ckschweiger    99. dscherer   100.  VendorAlley

101. JovanH    102. kidbrax    103. sporter100

104. willowbellotti    105. porchlightscott    106. aeverse

107. AlexChangSF    108. cwebb66    109. Burbtimes

And don't think that the @InmanNews twitter account will just be for promotional things like this.  We will be using it for all kinds of things going forward, and it should get quite interesting during Inman Connect SF '08. 

If you started following us because of the contest, GREAT!  Make sure you add all these fine people as your friends.  I know I have discovered all kinds of interesting folks as a result of the contest, and others have as well.  

Keep those entries coming!

After Day 2 of the Inman News Twitter contest, the list of entrants stands just shy of the century mark.  Below are all of the Inman News Twitter friends who entered yesterday.  Make sure your name is on the list, and take note of your number.  If you know you entered, but don't see your name, just send me a DM or another "@" reply.  If you haven't entered yet, do it now!

70. tcar    71. obeoman    72. wharriman

73. YatterMatters    74. FabioRodriguez    75. HuckC21

76. topbrokeroc    77. RobertaMurphy    78. davidyack

79. Tiffrod    80. pambuda    81. brianrequarth

82. GretchenMerrick    83. blockrealestate    84. luckyrock

85. cwaterhouse    86. JimDuncan    87. DruBloomfield

88.  JulietJohnson    89. jfsellsius    90. terieee

91. propertydiva    92. RobinSherman    93. Reguru

94. MichaelSalas    95. rebeccalev    96. mkchronos

97. cyndeehaydon

The first day of the Inman News Twitter Contest was quite eventful.  I was impressed with the number of Twitter friends that put their name in the hat to win a free ticket to Inman Real Estate Connect in San Francisco. 

I realized very quickly that the tendency of Twitter to occasionally drop tweets for no apparent reason could pose a problem.  Here's the best solution I could work out:

I am going to publish a list of all the new contest entrants every day until I do the drawing on Monday.  If you know that you sent out the "I want @InmanNews to send me to Real Estate Connect SF '08!" tweet, and you don't see your name on the list, just re-tweet it, or send me a direct message.  I'll make sure you are in.  I don't want anyone to be left out.

So below is the list of folks who entered the contest so far.  You will notice that everyone has a number.  You are going to want to remember that number ;-)  

1. realestatechick    2. PhoenixREGuy    3. mattwilkins

4. MarkEckenrode   5. mortgageporter   6. NRVLiving

7. JamieGeiger    8. stakerg   9. danwoolley

10. gethomedenver   11. mlbroadcast   12. KrisTalk

13. LVRealEstate   14. DaleChumbley   15. SteveBelt

16. TimAyres   17. pasadenaviews   18. LubaSF

19. Rob_Thiessen   20. JasonSandquist   21. PropertyqubeDev

22. hthrflynn   23. MaureenFrancis   24. MikeMueller

25. RailLife    26. REASEO    27. KimWood

28. susangoulding    29. susieblackmon    30. homenetcafe

31. davbet    32. davidcharris    33. RealEstateCafe

34. MichelleDe    35. scottinmemphis    36. IPTVBoyz

37. toddwaller    38. suzytrotta    39. MadMartin

40. jbflory    41. c21tc    42. jbinfrisco

43. ClassifiedAds    44. RealSeekr    45. WickedBlog

46. MAARSeth    47. LaniAR    48. kenbrand

49. kevin_boer    50. GFDenver    51. CandyLynn

52. BradCoy    53. mjbanducci    54. GiaBFreer

55. sjagger    56. joespake    57. housechick

58. SteveScheer    59. billrice    60. staceyharmon   

61. JohnLauber    62. tmcneely    63. comomma

64. RealtorToby    65. nickzawicki   66. jondnicholas

67. rtmedia   68. jringgold    69. kendyl

Okay, so that should be everybody from Day 1.  Remember that you have until Midnight PST on Sunday to enter.  The drawing will be on Monday.  If you know that you entered and don't see your name on the list, just tweet it again, or send a direct message to InmanNews.

Good luck to everyone who has entered!