More good news has surfaced in the housing market, this time in Florida. According to Florida Realtors, the housing market reported higher median prices, more new listings, and a stable level of inventory in March. Closed sales of single-family homes statewide totaled 20,081 last month, up 2.8 percent from March last year.
Read More »Florida Stock Promoter Charged with Defrauding Investors
The Securites and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed fraud charges against a former Florida-based stock promoter, Robert J. Vitale, who is currently serving a two-year prison term for lying to SEC investigators. The SEC's complaint alleges Vitale defrauded investors in a Florida real estate venture, sold unregistered securities, and acted as an unregistered broker-dealer.
Read More »Long & Foster Named Affiliate of the Year by Luxury Real Estate Network
The largest independent real estate company in the country, Long & Foster Real Estate, was named Affiliate of the Year in the large market category for 2013 by Christie’s International Real Estate.
Read More »New Home Sales Plummet 14.5% in March
Monthly data released Wednesday by HUD and the Census Bureau shows sales of new homes last month plummeting 14.5 percent from February to an estimated seasonally adjusted yearly rate of 384,000. The last time transactions ran so low was last July, when they came to 383,000.
Read More »Leading Economic Index Gains Momentum in March
The Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index (LEI) was updated Monday, rising for the third straight month. The LEI increased 0.8 percent in March to 100.9, outpacing increases of 0.2 percent in January and 0.5 percent in February.
Read More »FHFA House Price Index Rises Slightly In February
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its monthly House Price Index (HPI) for February, revealing continued growth even as winter weather slowed the market. The broad measure of the movement of single-family home prices in this purchase-only index went up by .6 percent, and with the exception of November 2013, marked nearly two straight years of increases.
Read More »Home Values Rise, But Remain Below ’07 Peak
Zillow’s Q1 Real Estate Market Report, released Tuesday, shows that home values across the United States are up 5.7 percent (to a national median of $169,800) compared to Q1 2013. Even more encouraging is that home values in 527 U.S. cities that saw declines of 10 percent or more during the recession are either at their peak or soon will be.
Read More »PCV Murcor Joins Shared Assessments Program
PCV Murcor, a provider of real estate valuations for the mortgage industry's lenders, servicers, and insurers, has joined the Shared Assessments Program. The member-drive industry body aims to create standardization, consistency, efficiency, and cost savings in the vendor risk management process.
Read More »Existing-Home Sales Slip in March
Total existing-home sales in March came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.59 million, according to estimates from the National Association of Realtors. March sales fell .2 percent from February’s downwardly revised pace of 4.60 million and hit a nearly two-year low. Compared to March 2013, the sales rate was down 7.5 percent.
Read More »Lawsky Questions Ocwen on Charges of ‘Self-Dealing’
In a letter sent Monday to Ocwen Financial Corporation's General Counsel Timothy Hayes, New York State Department of Financial Service’s (NYSDFS) superintendent Benjamin Lawsky questioned the financial giant on business dealings related to a relationship between Ocwen and Altisource Portfolio Solutions.
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