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COLUMBIA, MD - February 25, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Enterprise Community Investment, Inc. (Enterprise), a national leader in community development and affordable housing, today secured $62 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). Enterprise is one of 99 Community Development Entities receiving an allocation of the $3.5 billion in NMTC awarded as part of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Authorization and Job Creation Act of 2010. This new allocation brings Enterprise’s total NMTC awards to $672 million, $595.5 million of which has previously been invested in low-income communities nationwide, making it one of the largest allocatees of NMTCs in the country

Washington, DC - February 25, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A stabilization trend is taking place in commercial real estate sectors, but in most...

WASHINGTON, DC - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Desiree Brown, the former treasurer of a private mortgage lending company, Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit bank, wire and securities fraud for her role in a more than $1.9 billion fraud scheme that contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and TBW.

February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- General Treasurer Gina M. Raimondo today announced that the state’s annual Unclaimed Property list has been produced under budget this year. The list of 21,000 names, with total claims worth about $9.7 million, is also reaching Rhode Islanders earlier than in past years

Washington, D.C. - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Scott Brown (R-MA), Mark Begich (D-AK), James Inhofe (R-OK), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Robert Casey (D-PA), and John Cornyn (R-TX) have introduced bipartisan leg...

Washington, D.C. - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the former treasurer of the one-time largest non-depository mortgage lender in the country with aiding and abetting a $1.5 billion securities fraud scheme and an attempt to scam the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Sales of newly built, single-family homes declined 12.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted, annual rate of 284,000 units in January, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Commerce Department. The decline largely offsets a big gain in sales activity that was recorded in the previous month due partly to an expiring tax break in California."While poor weather conditions likely played a part in keeping potential buyers on the sidelines this January, we do expect consumer demand to improve somewhat along with job-market gains heading into the spring buying season," noted Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a home builder from Reno, Nev.

Washington, DC - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) --Although home values have continued to fall over the past few years, housing affordability has significantly decreased for working owners and renters, according to an annual report released by the Center for Housing Policy, the research affiliate of the National Housing Conference. The report, titled Housing Landscape 2011, provides an in-depth look at housing affordability trends for working households between 2008 and 2009 focusing on the effects of employment, income and housing costs

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday issued a final rule and requested public comment on a second rule under Regulation Z to revise the escrow account requirements for certain home mortgage loans. The revisions to the regulation, which implements the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), are being made pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. house prices fell in the fourth quarter of 2010 according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s (FHFA) seasonally adjusted purchase-only house price index (HPI). The HPI, calculated using home sales price information from Fannie Mae- and Freddie Mac-acquired mortgages, was 0.8 percent lower on a seasonally adjusted basis in the fourth quarter than in the third quarter of 2010. The unadjusted national decline was 2.2 percent. Over the past year, seasonally adjusted prices fell 3.9 percent from the fourth quarter of 2009 to the fourth quarter of 2010

Washington, DC - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency today reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some ARM contracts, was 4.71 percent based on loans closed in January. This is an increase of 0.13 percent from the previous month.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 24, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Akinola George, 40, of Washington, D.C., has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of bank fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank/mail fraud in a scheme that led to $2.4 million in losses.

Alpharetta, GA - February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Homeside Properties, Inc., an Associa company, recently expanded its already diverse company profile by adding six new community associations to its client portfolio.

Washington, D.C. - February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The NAIOP Research Foundation has made individual state reports available that detail the state's data for commercial construction spending, employment and personal earnings in a 2009 vs. 2007 comparison.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications increased 13.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending February 18, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Housing Law Project, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and the Housing Justice Network have petitioned the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to stop forcing lenders to give misleading and deceptive information to tenants in foreclosed homes – information that leads tenants to forego rights guaranteed to them by the federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA)

Washington, DC - February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The uptrend in existing-home sales continues, with January sales rising for the third consecutive month with a pace that is now above year-ago levels, according to the National Association of REALTORS

BISMARCK, ND - February 22, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Industrial Commission of North Dakota and the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency (NDHFA) honored former bond counsel Maurice “Maury” E. Cook at the 20th Annual Statewide Housing Conference. Cook was recognized for his visionary leadership in the creation of the Housing Finance Agency and for his dedicated service to the state of North Dakota.

BEDFORD, N.H. - February 22, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority recently named its “Top 10” loan originators for 2010. These individuals originated more than 146 loans and generated over $23 million in first-time...

February 22, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Homeowners in the Seattle-Tacoma, Wash., metro area paid a median of $1,576 in monthly housing costs in 2009, compared with $1,019 for renters, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Renters, however, typically paid a higher percentage of their household income on housing costs than did owners (30 percent compared with 23 percent). These figures come from the 2009 American Housing Survey (AHS), which provides extensive data on the quality and characteristics of the housing supply in selected metropolitan areas around the nation. Data for these areas are published on a rotating basis. In addition to Seattle, data were released today for the New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Northern New Jersey, and Detroit metro areas.