News

Sales of single-family homes and condominiums in Connecticut fell by double-digit percentages in April, according to a new report released today by the New England real estate research firm The Warren Group.

For the first quarter of 2009, only six states saw an increase in home sales, and Florida was among the lucky few. According to Central Florida real estate agent Amy Ruff thanks to the lower price entry for quality homes and the $8,000 tax rebate for new homebuyers, it looks like buyers are making their way back into the market to snap up extraordinary deals on Central Florida homes.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) laid out the details of a new policy Mortgagee Letter 2009-15 ] on Friday that will allow first-time homebuyers to apply the $8,000 federal tax credit toward the purchase costs of an FHA-insured home.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated rulemaking proceedings to address loan modifications and mortgage servicing. The agency’s Mortgage Assistance Relief Services rulemaking addresses the proliferation of loan modification and foreclosure rescue services in the current economy.

Clark Street Capital, a Chicago-based provider of asset management and advisory services, announced on Monday the launch of its Bank Asset Network. The company says the online portal is the first buyer-centric database of its kind offering a secure, tailored venue for the investing public to purchase REO properties.

ISGN Corporation, a global mortgage solutions company headquartered in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, and Mishawaka, Indiana-based Data-Vision, a provider of Internet lending technologies, announced on Tuesday that they have integrated their loan systems.

As foreclosure numbers across the country continue to climb and temperatures heat up, the National Pest Management Association (NPMA), headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, is reminding homeowners and the industry to remain vigilant of an ancillary issue stemming from continued increases in vacated homes – potential mosquito infestations in the summer months, especially in and around those foreclosed properties with backyard pools.

The real estate auction Web sites BidSell.com and BidRent.com, as well as their Canadian counterparts BidSell.ca and BidRent.ca, have been put up for sale by Idea Labz, Inc., an Internet holding company based in Los Angeles.

Fitch Ratings took a closer look at servicers’ loss mitigation efforts among residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) in a special report= issued last week. The agency found that while home loan workouts to avoid foreclosures have increased substantially, re-defaults post-modification continue to be a problem for servicers, investors, and homeowners, with as many as three-fourths of those mortgages in the subprime category projected to fall back into default status within one year of the initial resolution.

According to the D.C.-based nonprofit homeownership research and advocacy group the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), a dismal milestone was reached over the weekend – the organization says one million new foreclosures have been filed so far in 2009.