Housing experts were none too kind to President Obama after his non-specific mention of housing in a major jobs speech last week, but it appears that his jobs bill, the more heavily promoted policy of the speech, does contain aid

The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), in collaboration with the city of Houston, is launching the “Houston Historic Districts Homefinder,” a new MLS that allows homebuyers to search for homes in a decidedly historical manner. “As a potential homebuyer,

Freddie Mac has finalized requirements on a new “Standard Modification,” a loan modification program for delinquent homeowners who did not meet requirements for the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Officially launching in January, the new program will begin

The Market Composite Index, a study of mortgage loan application volume that is compiled by the Mortgage Bankers Association, rose 6.3 percent last week, bouncing back from a disappointing 4.9 percent decline the week before. Despite historically-low interest rates, mortgage

Keeping track of expense reports can be a grueling and time-consuming process. This was a particular problem for Tia Alexander, owner of the Texas real estate agency, the Crane Group. Alexander, who regularly accumulates massive amounts of receipts in

September is the National Association of Realtor’s “Realtor Safety Month,” and to coincide with the month, real estate website AgentGenius conducted surveys and interviews to assess Realtor safety in 2011. The site’s findings were both frightening and educational. Andrew

Continuing in its goal of creating universal lending documents for the mortgage industry, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has begun a fourth round of product testing this week, focusing on two different loans that appear on the same

In an unorthodox move that resists recent narratives on the supposed benefits of historically-low interest rates, Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher has come out against the monetary strategy, citing it as a probable reason for the economy’s sluggish

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the major delinquency rates for multifamily units fell in four of the five major investor groups, which includes FDIC-insured banks, life insurance providers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The rates

According to analysts at Barclays, a global financial services provider, the new housing plans recently announced by President Obama amount to a revamp of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), not an all-out expansion. Fears over the President’s comments

National price gains were up 4 percent in Clear Capital’s latest Home Data Index, a monthly report that analyzes housing data in the West, Midwest, Northeast and the South. All four sectors of the market showed quarter-over-quarter price gains, with the

New historically-low interest rates, positive builders indexes, and speculation and analysis of President Barack Obama’s housing policies were some of the top national stories this week on Houston Agent magazine’s

Federal loan limits are set to decline on Oct. 1, and New York Congressman Gary Ackerman, along with 36 other lawmakers, is lobbying to stop that from

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) launched the First American Improving Market Index (IMI) today to track metropolitan regions showing significant signs of growth. This comes as good news to a housing industry that has become accustomed to

In a much-touted speech on the economy last night, President Barack Obama largely skipped the topic of housing, opting instead to comment what many had predicted: that the White House was looking to revise its “Home Affordable Refinance Program” to

The Multifamily Production Index (MPI), a statistic compiled by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) that measures multifamily unit construction, increased for the fourth consecutive quarter, another sign that the multifamily market is