RealEstateRama

Washington, D.C. - December 4, 2007 - U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is working to add an additional $1 billion in funds to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help families who are struggling with rising energy costs this winter. Sen. Menendez joined Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) in asking the president for an additional $1 billion in funding (Menendez.senate.gov/pdf/120307LIHEAPletter.pdf); he is also a co-sponsor of legislation Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-VT) introduced today – the Keep Americans Warm Act of 2007 would also increase funding to LIHEAP by $1 billion

When Doreen Cardin first put her house on the market, she was hopeful that the house would find a buyer right away. Cardin's husband, a mechanic, was unable to work. The loss of an income had proven tough for the young couple, who live 20 miles north of Seattle. They needed the money.

London-base global investment company LaSalle Investment Management told clients that the outlook for global real estate is strong, despite recent turbulence in the U.S. market and debt markets in general.

The assumption that the subprime mortgage crisis is limited to buyers with poor credit is mistaken, according to an analysis prepared for The Wall Street Journal, which examined more than $2.5 million in subprime loans made since 2000.

Americas Watchdog along with its Homeowner Consumer Center have just come up with a free and easy to understand guide, designed to help every homeowner with the mortgage process

Now that Alex Rodriguez has agreed to a new $275 million contract with the New York Yankees, the word in Manhattan real estate circles is that a $39 million East 80th Street townhouse may be in his future.

WASHINGTON - December 3, 2007 - In response to the Bush Administration's plan to help families avoid foreclosure, tens of thousands of homeowners are refinancing their exotic subprime loans with HUD's new government-backed mortgage product. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson today announced that more than 33,000 borrowers have already refinanced their subprime home loans with FHASecure, a government-insured foreclosure avoidance initiative created in September.

WASHINGTON, December 03, 2007 - Many buyers judge a house by its exterior, or so it seems from the results of the 2007 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report. Three of the four projects with the highest national percentage of costs recouped this year were exterior upgrades.

Washington, DC - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today sent the following letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calling for needed steps to end the foreclosure crisis.

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program is a flexible program that provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. Beginning in 1974, the CDBG program is one of the longest continuously run programs at HUD. The CDBG program provides annual grants on a formula basis to 1180 general units of local government and States.

If you’ve got a Web site, you’ve likely spent time and money trying to drive more traffic to your site. Maybe you’ve tried different strategies for search engine optimization, which typically focus on clever use of keywords to increase the chances your site will place high in search results.

The House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would help protect insurance markets in disaster-prone states from suffering devastating losses in the event of a catastrophic natural disaster.

On November 26, 2007, Global Property Showcase (GPS) will kick off a new exposition dedicated to bridging the gap between worldwide developers and consumers looking to purchase quality and amenity-rich real estate. This multi-city program will educate investors, 2nd-home buyers and property seekers to the various locales being represented with each global project, and of course, showcase each development in depth. Significant discounts will be given to those in attendance. The showcase is designed to engage (an expected 1,000 attendees in total) and provide guests with valuable insights and opportunities that serve to enhance their property portfolios.

WASHINGTON, DC — With Countrywide Financial Corp. increasingly turning to the Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) system for cash advances to stay afloat as other liquidity sources shun the company, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) urged the overseer of the federally-supported bank network to probe the underlying risk of Countrywide’s collateral and to issue new, system-wide regulations to reduce the banks’ exposure to risky or predatory loans.

Washington, DC, November 29, 2007 – For the first time in nearly thirteen years, U.S. home prices experienced a quarterly decline. The OFHEO House Price Index (HPI), which is based on data from sales and refinance transactions, was 0.4 percent lower in the third quarter than in the second quarter of 2007.

Detroit, MI – The U.S. Conference of Mayors unveiled today an economic impact report on the foreclosure crisis that forecasts sharp losses in the growth of gross domestic product and projects economic output losses for 361 metro areas -- referred to as gross metropolitan product (GMP).

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 28, 2007 The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending November 23, 2007. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 652.5, a decrease of 4.3 percent on a seasonally and holiday adjusted basis from 681.7 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 25.5 percent compared with the previous week reflecting the Thanksgiving holiday on November 22 and was up 24.6 percent compared with the same week one year earlier.

WASHINGTON, November 28, 2007 - Single-family existing-home sales were stable in October while the condo sector was down, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Lingering effects of the credit crunch were a drag on sales but the mortgage situation has improved significantly

Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) November 26, 2007 -- Eighty percent of people across the country who bought a new home last year used the Internet while house hunting, and they rated photographs as the most useful tool in their search, according to a survey of buyers and sellers by the National Association of Realtors. Since property photos are meant to be a sales tool, Fizber.com,

WASHINGTON, November 27, 2007 -- The National Association of Realtors® and the U.S. Conference of Mayors have named Fort Smith, Ark., a 2007 Ambassador City for its City of Fort Smith Homebuyers Assistance Program. The program provides potential buyers with credit counseling and mortgage readiness education.