News / Features

Declining Attitudes in the Housing Inventory Debate

Throughout 2011, housing inventory had been on a steady decline, a development that should be welcome, given the constant analyses on the excess housing supply as a result of boom-era overbuilding. As details emerge over the nature of those

Freddie Moves Forward with Own REO Plan

The White House and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) are hard at work on a distressed housing program that would convert REO properties into investor-managed rental homes, and though the program seems to be going well in its initial

Morgan Stanley Predicts Monster Job Growth for REO Plan

The White House’s REO conversion plan got a huge endorsement yesterday from analysts at Morgan Stanley, who predicted that the program could create more than one million new jobs. According to a HousingWire summary of the analysts’ findings, the

Short Sales Post Significant Increases in Q4 2011

Hope Now recently released its State Loss Mitigation Data for December 2011, a wide-ranging report that studies the various components of the U.S. first-lien residential mortgage workout, such as delinquencies, foreclosure starts, completed foreclosure sales, loan modifications, and other

Dianne McCoy is New Director of Professional Development at Prudential Gary Greene

  Prudential Gray Greene Realtor partners, Marilyn Eiland and Mark Woodroof, are excited to announce that industry leader Dianne McCoy has joined the company in the newly created position of director of professional

Fairness Not an Option for Americans and the Mortgage Settlement

The $26 billion mortgage settlement, despite its hefty price tag and extensive (if not laborious) composition, received its fair share of criticisms almost immediately after being issued, with housing advocates and community organizers railing against the settlement’s perceived shortcomings.

MBA Hardly Delinquent with Latest Mortgage News

Mortgage delinquency rates in the fourth quarter showed improvement in the latest Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) National Delinquency Survey, with a number of the nation’s home loan market offerings reporting some of the healthiest data in years. Jay Brinkmann, MBA’s chief

Foreclosure Markets Thawing in New RealtyTrac Report

The U.S. foreclosure markets spent much of 2011 on hiatus, cowering in the corner while banks handled the robo signing controversy and settled the substantial lawsuits that resulted from the scandal’s numerous foreclosure-related mishaps. 2012 is a new year, though,

Residential Construction Begin 2012 in Positive Territory

Residential housing construction started off 2012 on good footing, building on December’s gains and rising in nearly every relevant area, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Housing

Housing Advocates No Fan of Obama’s Budget

President Obama released his 2013 Budget proposal only this week, but housing advocates are already coming out against the measure, citing reductions in services and revenue models that they claim are essential for housing’s future. On the association side,

Zillow Seeks to Bridge MLS Differences with New VP

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

Confidence is NAHB’s Valentine for Construction

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,

Katy Home Connections Team Received Master Certified Negotiation Expert Designation from Real Estate Negotiation Institute

Rosemary Derstler and Cynthia Berry at the Katy Home Connections Team of the Prudential Gary Green, Realtors Kathy office,  each received their Master Certified Negotiation Expert designation, an accomplishment that only one percent of real estates agents nationwide  has

Banks Pursue Unorthodox Bailout Strategy for Distressed Homeowners

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

Did the Mortgage Settlement Just Save the FHA?

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

Extensive Stabilization Efforts in HUD’s 2013 Budget

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

Oops! We could not locate your form.