Mortgages

If someone fell asleep in 1980 and woke up today, that person would be astounded at the progress the last three decades have brought. However, if someone fell asleep in the appraisal industry in 1980, and woke up in the appraisal industry of today, that person might barely notice a difference.

The national vacancy rate for single-family homes fell in 2011 as foreclosures slowed and sales of empty units increased by 14% over the past four quarters, according to new government figures released Tuesday morning.

Once again the S&P/Case-Shiller index has found that home prices are creeping downward. But just how bad is it? As of November 2011, average home prices across the U.S. are back to where they were in 2003 - despite the lowest interest rates in half a century.

I'm a firm believer that the "power to buy" shapes home prices, except for when you're in the middle of a nasty housing recession. Of course, low rates don't hurt either. (And then there's underwriting standards.) Meanwhile, the new S&P home price index is out and no surprise there: values are still inching downward, albeit at what looks like a slower pace.

It is no secret that a happy employee or sales person is a motivated one. But what are the things that make your staffers happy? OfficeTeam, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based temporary staffing placement firm conducted a survey which asked outside of compensation, what aspect of your job is most tied to your satisfaction?

While interest rates are low and residential inventory for sale is at an unprecedented high, it is more challenging than ever to obtain an affordable mortgage and qualify first-time homebuyers. Geographic variations on the other hand offer opportunity to leverage the demand through state- and local-level solutions that fit local market needs.

Lender Processing Services has filed a motion to dismiss charges made by Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto against the company and two subsidiaries for fraudulent business practices.

Banc of Manhattan Capital, Woodland Hills, Calif., entered the correspondent mortgage channel late last year, buying $50 million worth of product in the month of December.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released its first semi-annual report to Congress Monday, outlining the steps it has taken to get the bureau off the ground in its first six months.

Quicken Loans Inc., Detroit, funded $10.7 billion of home mortgages in the fourth quarter, a 14% gain from the same period a year ago.

As Rep. Scott Garrett seeks to pass the first significant financial reform law since the Dodd-Frank Act, a lot of forces are aligned against him.

A proposal by the Obama administration to help more struggling borrowers refinance into cheaper loans is prompting questions: Could it prompt an increase in interest rates, after a long period of low rates? And is this a program that can relieve the housing crunch, or just another Band-Aid?

The expansion of the Home Affordable Modification Program is getting a lot of applause even though judging from past performance it may not get a standing ovation when the new deadline expires in December 2013.

Commercial banks have experienced an increase in demand for commercial real estate loans since October, according to a Federal Reserve survey released Monday afternoon.

One of the co-chairs of the new federal/state Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group is preparing to file cases in the next few weeks against Wall Street firms involved in the packaging and selling of MBS.

Economists at Fiserv expect rising home sales will lead to higher values in half of all U.S. metropolitan areas over the 12-month period ending September 30.

Certain categories of specially serviced U.S. CMBS loans are likely to keep increasing through 2012, according to a recent Fitch Ratings report.

Interactive Mortgage Advisors, Denver, is auctioning off a $157 million package of Freddie Mac bulk servicing rights for a client.

In this election year, there certainly is no shortage of political rhetoric and drama in every debate and speech we encounter, including the recent State of the Union address by President Obama. In the address, President Obama addressed the latest of this administration’s efforts to thwart the woes of the housing market.

Facebook is about to go public. Whoopee! Here's how an IPO works: all the private equity firms that have been funding a startup's operations get to cash out, recovering their seed money and then some. I'm not a Facebook user, but I get the model, though my doubts about the company stem from this basic belief: what's to prevent a bunch of low-cost competitors from offering the same service?