Lew Sichelman

It appears that Florida's housing market is starting to shake off some of the doldrums caused by the mortgage crisis, as buyers start to come out of the woodwork.

Missing for nearly three years and thought to be possibly extinct in South Florida, the official bird of the housing boom – the construction crane – has been spotted again in downtown Miami.

Housing production took a sharp and sudden decline in the nation's most populous state in July, posting the lowest level of permits since January 2009.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is seeking relief from the dual tracking system under the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act that sets different qualification requirements for loans originators, depending on where they are employed.

The largest state organization of real estate professionals in the country has urged the mortgage community to improve the short-sale process, suggesting, among other things that they set realistic time frames in which to make their decisions and then stick to them.

The loan-limit countdown has begun. In lieu of lower loan limits on conforming loans and mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, some lenders have already stopped taking applications for financing in amounts above $625,500.

July was a "typical" month for housing sales in the Houston metro area, according to the local Realtors group. But because of last year's federal tax credits, which tended to push sales forward to beat the April 30 deadline, July's sales figures look somewhat stronger than they actually are.

When it comes to qualified residential mortgages, industry and consumer groups like to say they are united, arguing that too strict a QRM definition will result in disqualifying many otherwise creditworthy borrowers. But not everyone is of that mindset.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is seeking relief from the dual tracking system under the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act that sets different qualification requirements for loan originators, depending on where they are employed.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is developing a set ofpolicy changes that would require reverse mortgage lenders to better underwrite Home Equity Conversion Mortgages. But lenders may beat HUD to the punch.

An Obama Administration official and a Seattle attorney squared off at the American Association of Residential Mortgage Regulators annual meeting in San Francisco, with one claiming that "dual track" servicing has all but ended but the other saying that's not the case, at least not in the Puget Sound area.

State mortgage regulators should get ready for a swarm of consumer complaints against lenders this fall, a California lawyer who focuses on unfair lending practices and foreclosures warned.

The debt ceiling debate not only brought the nation's economy to its knees, it also put a crimp in housing sales in the Nation's Capital, where activity had been climbing steadily for several months.

The average price of existing homes in the Houston area reached a record $228,650 in June, according to the local real estate group, as the number of transactions increased for the first time since January.

The Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals has voted to reaffiliate with the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

The National Association of Home Builders is developing an index of "healing housing markets" in an attempt to offset the negative press that casts a pall over the entire sector whenever national price statistics are released.

The number of contracts signed for existing houses in Baltimore dipped a bit in June, but it was still the best June in Charm City in four years, according to the local multiple listing service.

The long expected boom in banks unloading their REO and nonperforming loans may finally be afoot.

Although the U.S. government may soon default on its debt obligations, home buyers in the Capital area are stepping up to the plate to buy homes.

Fear among home buyers – even bargain hunters – that prices will continue to fall is holding the housing market in check, according to the latest survey from HouseHunt.com.