CRL Releases Report "Indymac: What Went Wrong?" As IndyMac Bancorp battles questions about its financial stability, a new report from the Center for Responsible Lending provides evidence that IndyMac put itself in a hole by engaging in unsound and abusive lending during the nation's mortgage boom. Full Story
New-Home Sales Decline In May In the latest evidence of severe and ongoing weakness in the nation's housing market, sales of newly built, single-family homes fell 2.5 percent in May, largely offsetting a gain they recorded in the previous month. Full Story
Justice Department Files Fair Housing Lawsuit Against Landlords The Justice Department filed suit against the owners and managers of an apartment complex in the northeast for having and enforcing policies that discriminate against families with children in violation of the Fair Housing Act. Full Story
Untapped Lead Sources By Thomas Mitchell While real estate professionals all across the country are moving into the Short Sale market niche, many of them are struggling on just how to develop sources to connect with those sellers in trouble. Full Story
Exciting, Exotic, Enticing & Dead, Dreary, Dull by Jay Medley Color preferences have changed over the years and homeowners are constantly changing their palettes based on their mood, "what’s in", and the lasting impression it leaves with potential buyers. Full Story
Wiki Becomes Foreclosure Resource by Bill Shue Real Estate Wiki, the "Wikipedia" type encyclopedia and resource for real estate, has just expanded its pool of foreclosure related information this week with over 200 additional entries, definitions, clarifications and explanations. Full Story
Open The Door With Social Leverage By Thomas M. Mitchell All things being equal, people want to do business with their friends. All things being not so equal they still prefer to do business with their friends. Put another way – if you are specializing in a niche market you need lots of friends in that market – you need "social leverage". Full Story
Interest
Rate Trends
Mortgage Rates Reverse Trend and Fall Off This Week Thursday, July 03, 2008 Freddie Mac released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.35 percent with an average 0.6 point for the week ending July 3, 2008, down from last week when it averaged 6.45 percent. Full Story
Industry Press Releases
Fact Sheet: Helping Responsible Homeowners Across America Thursday, July 03, 2008 White House Press Office The Federal Government must not prolong necessary corrections in the housing market, bail out lenders, or subsidize irresponsible borrowing and lending, at the expense of hard-working people who have played by the rules. Full Story
REALTORS React to Withdrawal of Transfer Tax Proposal Thursday, July 03, 2008 Colorado Association of REALTORS The president of the Colorado Association of REALTORS, released the following statement regarding the announcement that Initiative 103, the Colorado Housing Investment Fund proposal to place a new tax on the transfer of real estate, would not be appearing on the November ballot. Full Story
New Green Homes Sell Faster with Higher Value Thursday, July 03, 2008 GreenWorks Realty Analysis shows that green homes sell in up to 18% less time and for 28-37% higher value per square foot, according to one authority. Full Story
No Paws Left Behind Founded to Help Pets, Homeowners During Foreclosures Thursday, June 26, 2008 No Paws Left Behind No Paws Left Behind, Inc., a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to bringing awareness to and finding solutions for the growing phenomena of "foreclosure pets", announced the launch of their organization and Web site, intended to help foreclosure victims find shelters for their pets. Full Story
