Washington State residents: Effective April 1, 2012, RCW 19.27.530 requires the seller of any owner-occupied single-family residence to equip the residence with carbon monoxide alarms in accordance with the state building code before a buyer or any other person may … Continue reading
Stunned Home Buyers Find the Bidding Wars Are Back Excerpt: From California to Florida, many buyers are increasingly competing for the same house. Unlike the bidding wars that typified the go-go years and largely reflected surging sales, today’s are a … Continue reading
Excerpt: MetLife Inc., the life insurer that’s eliminating most of the 4,300 jobs at its mortgage unit and selling deposits to reduce federal oversight, is finding it harder to escape risk from home loans. The loan-servicing operation is bracing itself … Continue reading
Home appraiser blacklists probed Excerpt: Clay Gregory is a Valley home appraiser who is spending a lot of time at home these day, but it’s not by choice. “I was put in a position where they pretty much demanded information … Continue reading
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to Streamline Short Sales Excerpt: The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to develop enhanced and aligned strategies for facilitating short sales, deeds-in-lieu and deeds-for-lease in order to help … Continue reading
Reverse Staging: A new trick in short sale fraud Staging a home for sale has become big business. Real estate agents know that presenting the home to appeal to the most buyers possible makes a huge difference in how quickly … Continue reading
Fiserv Case-Shiller: Home prices to fall 1% in 2012, rebound in 2013 “The double-dip in home prices that began two years ago continued through the third quarter of 2011, according to the Fiserv (FISV: 62.89 +0.45%) Case-Shiller Indexes released Monday. … Continue reading
“Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, speaking Friday at the International Builders Show in Orlando, Fla., said the wave of creditworthy households that are finding it difficult to obtain mortgage credit or to refinance is resulting in actions taken by the Federal … Continue reading
Excerpt: “Attorney General Eric Holder announced one of the biggest fair-lending settlements in U.S. history with Bank of America (BAC: 5.60 +2.38%) agreeing to pay $335 million to settle complaints levied against Countrywide Financial Corp. by the Department of Justice.” … Continue reading
Risk of employment or income fraud on mortgages increased 8.8% in the third quarter from the previous quarter and 50% from third quarter 2009, according to research firm Interthinx. Its general Mortgage Fraud Risk Index remained virtually unchanged for the … Continue reading
Excerpt: “Roughly 10.4 million mortgages, or one in five outstanding home loans in the U.S., will likely default if Congress refuses to implement new policy changes to prevent and sell more foreclosures, according to analyst Laurie Goodman from Amherst Securities … Continue reading
Written by Jonathan J. Miller, CRE CRP Excerpt: “As a real estate appraiser for the past 25 years, I’ve always viewed my role as a provider of a neutral valuation benchmark for clients to become empowered to make more informed … Continue reading
Excerpt: “Bank of America is slashing 30,000 jobs as part of an effort to reverse a crisis of confidence among investors. It’s the largest single job reduction by a U.S. company this year.” “What CEO Brian Moynihan is trying to … Continue reading
Five months ago Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the home of a couple, who didn’t owe a dime on their home. They had paid cash for the house. The case went to court and the homeowners were able … Continue reading
I make jokes all the time about the real estate prices. “Bring your nail bag! Just needs a little TLC! ONLY $900K!!!!” But seriously, this property will sell for nearly half a million dollars, because it is .75 acre, and … Continue reading