News

Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions (FNRES), a division of Fidelity National Financial Inc., announced today that it is now offering its MLS customers reInsight Tax, a new solution that generates more comprehensive neighborhood and public record data, the company said in a press statement.

As mandated by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), as of October 1, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) stopped accepting seller-funded down payments. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently issued a report warning about programs being created to get around this new requirement.

Five financial trade associations released the results of an industry survey yesterday which examined more than 400 firms’ views of participation in the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Pending home sales in September fell on the heels of a strong gain a month earlier as credit tightened and economic conditions deteriorated, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). The association released its Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI) today, which is a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in September.

The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Realtors group is the first local real estate association in the United States to offer the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Green Designation Course. Specifically designed for member Realtors, the course provides an in-depth understanding of what green means for every aspect of real estate: residential, commercial, and property management.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled an aggressive proposal yesterday that he says will bring down foreclosure rates in the state by helping both borrowers and lenders modify existing home loans in ways that benefit both parties, and at the heart of his plan is a state-wide 90-day halt on foreclosure proceedings.

According to information released today from MORTECH LLC, a company that has provided research on lender attitudes and behavior and their use of technology for the last twenty years, early returns to the MORTECH 2008 survey show lenders overwhelmingly agree that the federal government had good reason to intervene in the operations of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when it stepped in and took conservatorship of the two companies on September 7 of this year.

There is some positive news regarding the weakened housing market, Rainbow City, Alabama-based RealtyBid.com reports. The good news is that there are still thousands of buyers with a large appetite for appropriately priced homes, and the growing success of RealtyBid.

Borrowers who took out mortgages in the first half of 2008 showed a strong preference for fixed rate mortgage products due to a decrease in fixed mortgage rates and the continued tightening of lending standards, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA’s) Mortgage Originations Survey released today.

Cranbury, New Jersey-based Visionet announced today that it is offering an updated version of its VisiRetention solution to facilitate refinancing through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUDxs) Hope for Homeowners (H4H) program.