Industry News Blog

Appraisers are still feeling the swift kick from the mortgage industry while other vendors have seen some relief.  New regulations, bad business relationships and the inability to make as much money as they used to have become big blockers in the appraisal business. How can we possibly turn this ship around?

Click here to read an article at The Real Deal Online by Tracey Samuelson that discusses...

Reverse mortgage loan agents are being prosecuted for mortgage fraud which included inflating the appraisals of the properties involved.  One such incident involved raising the value of a Florida condo from $31,000 to $275,000 on a reverse mortgage and then not even paying off the existing mortgage, now a senior citizen is left in foreclosure.  Altogether, Louis Gendason, John Incadela, Marcos Echevarria of 1st Continental, and Kimberly Mackey, a title agent in Pittsburgh,...

At first blush most financially savvy individuals might think that putting a lower limit on government-backed mortgage loans would significantly hurt an already crippled housing market but that may not be true.  A new report reveals that the lower limits would only affect about five percent of those seeking a new home purchase loan -- even if they cut the loan limit in half.

Click here to read more about it in an article written by CNBC...

The National Association of Realtors released data on existing home sales which revealed a decline of almost four percent for the month of May.  While it is only 3.8 percent less than April 2011, it is down over 15 percent from last year at this time.  The disparity most likely caused by last year's rush to qualify for the home buyer tax credit put in place by the Obama administration. 

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