REO

The real estate software firm eBrokerHouse recently announced the launch of the company's latest software solution -- EBH Office Solution. The company explained that the new Web-based software allows entire real estate agencies to implement the eBrokerHouse back office management system and operate completely virtual and nearly paperless.

Infinity Valuation Services (IVS) announced Monday that it now provides a fully-automated inspection form to support its valuation services for distressed properties. The company works with thousands of real estate agents across the country to provide interior and exterior broker price opinions (BPOs), appraisals, and property inspections. IVS explained that as an integrated component of its BPO system, the new form now enables the company to tailor report information to streamline the inspection process.

In an effort to help investors overcome the barriers to successfully investing in bank-owned homes in the Chicago area, Mack Companies, a home redeveloper headquartered in Tinley Park, Illinois, recently introduced the Real Estate Cash-flow and Appreciation Program (RECAP). According to Mack Companies, RECAP represents the lowest cost, highest return on investment, and easiest approach for small investors to profit from high-quality, positive cash-flow real estate.

Strategic Disposition Group, LLC, recently launched OfferAssurance.com, a new online platform aimed at addressing the industry-wide concern of fraud in short sale and REO transactions and the need to improve capital recovery for institutional sellers of residential real estate by providing transparency. According to the company, OfferAssurance.com addresses potential fraud and abuse of fiduciary responsibility by having buyer agents, rather than listing agents, submit offers online, thus providing true transparency to the offer submission process.

A drop in homebuyer activity following the contract deadline for the federal tax credit helped trigger a noticeable decline in home prices between May and June, according to a study by Campbell Surveys. The company found that prices fell in three out of four property categories last month. Average prices tumbled by 6.8 percent for move-in ready foreclosed properties, 6.3 percent for short sales, and 4.6 percent for non-distressed properties. In contrast, prices for damaged foreclosed properties increased by 5.9 percent.

Habitat for Humanity International and the National Community Stabilization Trust have announced a new national partnership to help turn foreclosed and abandoned houses into affordable Habitat for Humanity homes. Through the Stabilization Trust's national Property Acquisition Program, the two-year partnership will give Habitat affiliates the opportunity to purchase foreclosed and abandoned properties from participating financial institutions on a ""first look"" basis, before the properties are broadly marketed and listed for sale.

The number of California homeowners entering foreclosure dropped to its lowest level in three years during the second quarter of 2010, according to MDA DataQuick. Lenders filed a total of 70,051 notices of default (NODs) with county recorder offices during the April-to-June period. DataQuick says its the lowest total the company has reported since the second quarter of 2007, when 53,943 NODs were filed. The company says price rebounds, motivated sellers, and accommodating lenders have played a role in bringing default filings down.

The new financial reform legislation provides an additional $1 billion for HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) - a nationwide initiative aimed at alleviating the effects of the foreclosure crisis on communities that are riddled with abandoned properties. In some cities, take a drive down any one street and you'll find three or more homes that have been boarded up and in some cases, commandeered by squatters and turned into havens for criminal activity. NSP was launched to address this very issue by allowing local and state government's to take back their cities and eliminate blight.

The National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) convenes its 63rd National Convention as economic volatility, high foreclosure rates, and continued unemployment contribute further to the already-precarious conditions of the nation's housing marketplace. Meeting July 29 through August 4, at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, conference attendees are expected to discuss innovative approaches and cross-sector strategies that can be employed to rebuild confidence in the nation's housing market, and at the same time protect financially-distressed homeowners.

In response to the influx of foreclosed homes on the market, the real estate auction firm Hudson & Marshall of Texas, Inc., is auctioning nearly 200 bank-owned homes this week in cities throughout Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada. This week's auctions started July 20 and will continue through July 24. The properties up for bid are valued from about $18,000 to more than $450,000, and all come with an insurable title and no back taxes or liens.