In an effort to improve is relations with the housing industry and fellow MLS providers, popular website Zillow has hired real estate veteran Bob Bemis as the company’s vice president of partner relations. Bringing 25 years of experience with

Home builder confidence in the single-family home market rose for the the fifth consecutive month in February, according to the latest NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), reaching its highest level since 2008. Barry Rutenberg, the NAHB chairman and a home builder from Gainesville,

There are 1,325,334 foreclosed homes on RealtyTrac right now, and through December 2011, one in every 634 housing units received a foreclosure filing. Though some banks have only added to their foreclosure proceedings – and as we wrote yesterday, there could

We’ve been covering the state attorneys general mortgage settlement for the last couple of days, and analysts have uncovered an interesting nugget of information that spells good news for the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The finances of the FHA

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released its 2013 budget yesterday, and as can be expected from an agency of HUD’s size and scope, there are dozens of pages in the budget proposal highlighting the many initiatives

The recently-announced mortgage settlement is being heralded by state attorneys general and government officials for its $26 billion deal to help hundreds of thousands of troubled homeowners, but as a recent CNNMoney article reveals, there may be unintended consequences

“McMansions,” the derogatory name given to overly-large, mass-produced suburban homes, were as much a feature of the housing boom as subprime loans and credit default swaps, with new developments of such homes seemingly springing up wherever land was available. But as

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke offered measured comments on housing in a speech at the National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB) International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida on Friday, describing a market more in transition than one that has

Housing affordability reached record heights in 2011, according to the National Association of Realtor’s (NAR) latest Housing Affordability Index (HAI),reaching its highest levels since the index was first launched in 1970. Based on median home price, median family income

A quick glance through the news feeds these past couple weeks yields many good developments for the housing market. Along with improved residential construction numbers, strong local sales and a rebound in consumer confidence, there were huge jumps in multifamily

The Federal government and state Attorneys General have reached an agreement with the five largest mortgage services to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. The $26 billion dollar agreement is unprecedented and  will provide financial relief to homeowners

A recent report out of Bloomberg says that BofA is struggling to keep up with the deluge of mortgage refinancing applications that have followed revisions to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), so much so that they are asking

The finances of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and the affects that delinquent loans have had on them, have been a constant source of media coverage the last couple of months, with some predicting the future bailout of the agency

The National Association of Home Builder’s (NAHB) 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI), a specialized index that follows the 55+ housing market, posted year-over-year gains for the fourth quarter in 2011. Along with gains in construction and a 29-city addition to the

Milwaukee-based home loan insurer Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. (MGIC) may have posted a loss of $135.3 million for the fourth quarter in 2011, but that’s down from $186.7 million in 2010, a decline of nearly 30 cents a share

Strategic defaults, a Chapter 11-esque move in which homeowners walk away from their property and stop paying their mortgage, are happening with increasing regularity in today’s housing market, and if current legislation is any indication, they are happening much