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!  

Do all the changes HUD's made or is planning to make to FHA loan guarantee programs have your head spinning?

You've read about them in Inman News in recent weeks -- the one-year waiver of the 90-day waiting period for resales, the proposed ban on seller-funded down payment assistance, the introduction of risk-based premium pricing on July 14 (in conjunction with the expansion of the FHASecure initiative to allow refis of delinquent ARMs).

Now, K&L Gates attorneys Phillip Schulman and Krista Cooley have put together a detailed summary of those changes and others that are less significant but could also trip you up. HUD proposes to reinstate its previous standards for late case endorsement loans, for instance, requiring lenders to document a six-month consecutive payment history. Also covered in the K&L Gates client alert: replacement of the MCAW with a new form, and new guidance on using non-FHA approved brokers on home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) loans.

UPDATE: Shulman and Cooley will host a 1-hour Webinar at 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday July 1. If you're interested you gotta register by June 30.

Twitter.

 Just mentioning it will cause all kinds of conversation. At Inman News, we are all about conversation and participation.  That is why you can follow @InmanNews and receive updates of the headlines and breaking news from around the industry.  You can even send your feedback or input to me about all things Inman (Inman.com, headlines, articles, Connect).  I welcome all replies and direct messages. 

I have been personally trying to increase the reach of the Inman News Twitter account.  Last week, I added hundreds of new folks to the list of Inman Twitter friends.  I was also very appreciative of the fact that I received hundreds of new followers in return.  

So, to reward all the fine folks who are following Inman News on Twitter, here is what we are going to do. . .

We are giving away one FREE ticket to Inman Real Estate Connect 2008 in San Francisco to one of our Twitter followers!  

If you want a chance to win, here is what you have to do:

1)  Sign up for Twitter (if you haven't already), and MAKE SURE you are following @InmanNews

2)  Simply tweet "I want @InmanNews to send me to Real Estate Connect SF '08!"  (Make sure it is an "@" reply, otherwise, I'll miss it, and it won't count)

3)  I'll compile a list of all of the Inman News Twitter friends who post that tweet between NOW and Midnight, PST on Sunday, June 29th.

4)  On Monday, June 30th, I will randomly draw the name of one of the Twitter friends who have entered. 

5)  The winning twit-wit will receive a FREE ticket to Inman Connect SF '08.  The free ticket includes a pass to the pre-conference workshop of your choice, as well.

How easy is that?  One tweet, that's all it takes, and you could find yourself rubbing elbows with the leaders of the real estate industry in San Francisco July 23rd-25th, 2008 at Inman Connect.  The ticket will be on us, you just have to pay for your own lodging and travel arrangements.

If you have any questions about the contest, you can always send a direct message to @InmanNews, or you can just send me an "old-fashioned" email:  daniel.rothamel [at] inman.com.  

Email entries and direct messages won't count, so if you want a chance to win the free Inman Connect SF '08 ticket, you had better get to tweetin'!  Tell all of YOUR twitter friends, too!

Oh, one last thing--  there will only be one entry per Twitter friend.  I'm not going to stop you from tweeting the message as much as you want, but it will only count once.  :-)