360 Mortgage Group, a privately owned mortgage banker based in Austin, Texas, announced the hiring of Kim Bessette and Jennifer Warthen. The two new wholesale account executives will focus their efforts on supporting the mortgage broker communities in Florida and California, respectively.
Read More »Veros Releases Price Forecast, Predicts Appreciation in 75% of Markets
Veros' future home price index (HPI) forecast projects significant strengthening and improvement across most markets.
Read More »FHFAOIG: Freddie Mac Servicers Failed to Report Escalated Complaints
According to a report from the FHFA Office of Inspector General (OIG), Freddie Mac and eight of its largest servicers, which service 70 percent of the GSE's mortgages, received over 34,000 complaints that became escalated cases during a 14-month time period ending November 30, 2012. In examining those cases, FHFAOIG says it found a failure to implement guidelines for escalated complaints. For example, seven out of the eight servicers did not resolve all escalated cases within the 30-day requirement.
Read More »WCS Lending Appoints Head of Affinity Relations
WCS Lending, a privately held mortgage bank headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, named Ivan Choi as head of affinity relations--a position created with him in mind.
Read More »Commentary: Headlines and Bottom Lines
One of the most interesting results of poring through economic data reports is that the details often tell a different story than the headline. Coverage of the recent report on housing permits and starts, for example, was dominated by the increases in both metrics, suggesting a revival of the housing sector, a response some analysts suggested is due to tight inventories of existing-single family homes on the market. However, a closer look revealed a more important phenomenon.
Read More »Real Estate Group Makes Recommendations on CRE Tax Reform
The Real Estate Roundtable, a group of leaders representing real estate businesses and trade associations, published a release urging lawmakers to take a pro-growth approach to tax reform that considers the commercial real estate (CRE) sector's role in the larger economy. In a letter, the group says a restructuring of taxes should recognize "commercial real estate's vast economic contributions" and include "transition rules" to minimize disruptions to real estate.
Read More »NAHB Improving Markets Index Grows to 274
The National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) Improving Markets Index (IMI) showed no signs of slowing down in March.
Read More »Zillow: Home Values Up 5.8% in February
Zillow's Home Value Index registered a national value of $158,100 last month, which represents a slight 0.1 percent increase from January.
Read More »Existing Home Sales, Prices Up in February
Existing-home sales rose 0.8 percent in February to 4.98 million, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday. Economists had expected the sales pace to climb to 5.01 million from January├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós originally reported 4.92 million. January sales were revised up to 4.94 million.
Read More »Trulia: Gap Closing Between Cost of Buying vs. Renting
Data from Trulia shows that once all costs are factored, buying a home is 44 percent cheaper than renting at this point.
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