Only time will tell how the residential real estate market will be affected by the expiration of the homebuyer tax credits, but a survey released Wednesday by Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, Inc., found that the sunset of these incentives is unlikely to deter future purchase activity. Among those who had recently bought a home, 61 percent cited low mortgage interest rates as ""very important"" to their decisions - an amount greater than either the tax credit or low prices.

What a difference a week can make. According to the Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), mortgage application volume fell 2.9 percent for the week ending April 23, 2010, after surging 13.6 percent just one week earlier. A major drop in refinance applications was the culprit of this significant week-to-week change.

Pinnacle, an international real estate management firm headquartered in Seattle, recently appointed Greg Signer as VP of operations for the company's East region. In this new position, Signer will be responsible for the oversight of existing owned assets, new developments, and new business development.

Chase announced Tuesday that it is opening a homeownership center in the Stockbridge area of Atlanta this week. The center, which is the second in Georgia, will offer one-on-one help to families struggling with their mortgage payments. With the opening of this new location, Chase now has 51 homeownership centers in 14 states and Washington, D.C. Borrowers struggling with Chase, Washington Mutual, or EMC Mortgage-serviced loans can schedule appointments at these centers or simply walk in six days a week to receive assistance from trained advisors.

After conducting an analysis of its recent sales data, Equi-Trax Asset Solutions LP, a national collateral valuation provider, found that lender demand for hybrid broker price opinions (BPOs) has notably increased over the last two years. Guy Taylor, CEO of Equi-Trax, said there are two major trends driving this surge in lender demand.

Hudson & Marshall of Texas, Inc, (H&M) announced Tuesday that it is planning to auction off more than 230 Kansas City Homes in a two-day receiver's auction to be held on May 14 and May 15. The properties to be included in the auction are valued from $2,000 to $94,000 and come with an insurable title and no back taxes or liens. And in an effort to quickly sell these homes, most will be sold absolute - no minimum and no reserve bids - to the highest bidder regardless of price.

As part of its ongoing efforts to stabilize neighborhoods across the country, Fannie Mae announced Tuesday that it has extended its seller assistance incentive on properties purchased through HomePath, the company's REO disposition operation. Through this program, qualified buyers receive 3.5 percent of the final sales price to be used toward closing cost assistance or their choice of selected appliances. The offer is available to any owner-occupant who closes on the purchase of an REO property listed on the HomePath Web site by June 30, 2010.

In the first quarter of 2010, the national homeownership rate fell to its lowest level since the first quarter of 2000, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The seasonally-adjusted homeownership rate of 67.2 percent in the first quarter of this year was 0.2 percent lower than the first quarter of 2009 and 0.1 percent below last quarter's rate. The last time the homeownership rate was this low was exactly 10 years ago in the first quarter of 2000 when the rate was at 67.1 percent.

The First American Corporation, a Santa Ana, California-based provider of business information, announced Friday that it has named Dan Smith as SVP of investor relations for the company's Information Solutions Group. Smith comes to First American with more than 18 years' experience in the financial services arena, most recently serving as VP and CFO of Freddie Mac's multifamily business unit.

In an effort to better assist lenders and investors in scrutinizing the valuation accuracy of their appraisals, Aliso Viejo, California-based PLATINUMdata, a collateral solutions provider to the financial industry, has updated its appraisal review product - REALview - to REALview Plus. In addition to providing all the capabilities of REALview, REALview Plus provides an automated method of ""best comparable"" selection and an appraisal quality score based on sales comp relevance, which can be used for bump logic workflow applications.