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Monthly Archives: October 2007

More Than 200,000 Letters Sent to At-Risk Homeowners

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Beginning November 19, the nation's largest mortgage servicers will be sending HOPE NOW letters to at-risk mortgage borrowers, asking them to get help

Dodd Calls on Treasury to Increase Focus on Protecting Homeowners

Washington, D.C., Oct 17, 2007 -- Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson reiterating the need for lenders to modify subprime loans in order to avert massive foreclosures across the country.

Acting Attorney General Announces Results of Operation Home Sweet Home

WASHINGTON, OCTOBER 26, 2007 - The Justice Department announced the results of Operation Home Sweet Home, the Attorney General’s initiative to expose housing discrimination in America. In Fiscal Year 2007, the Department conducted a record number of undercover housing discrimination investigations, filed 30 lawsuits alleging unlawful housing discrimination, and obtained settlements and judgments requiring the payment of over $5 million in monetary damages to victims of discrimination and civil penalties.

Help Very Low-Income Elderly And People With Disabilities

WASHINGTON, October 26, 2007 - It will soon be easier for thousands of senior citizens and people with disabilities to find affordable housing, thanks to more than $643 million in housing assistance grants announced today by U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson.

"This Administration is committed to making sure our senior citizens and people with disabilities have opportunities to find decent housing that they can afford," said Jackson. "Neither group should ever have to worry about being able to find a safe place to live.

Americans for Prosperity Leads Coalition Effort Against Taxpayer-Funded Sub-prime Mortgage Bailout

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As Congress continues to debate the sub-prime mortgage issue, the free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity is leading a coalition representing millions of citizens to protect the best interests of taxpayers and homeowners.

Why do home foreclosure rates remain so high?

Oct. 23, 2007 -- As pressure mounts for Congress and the Bush Administration to restrict mortgage lending abuses that have saddled economically vulnerable families with mortgages they can not afford, the mortgage lending industry continues to funnel millions of dollars in lobbying and campaign donations to Congress, even as some of those mortgage institutions are struggling to stay afloat, a new Common Cause report shows.

Refinance Applications Increase In Latest MBA Weekly Survey

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 24, 2007 — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 19, 2007. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 656.5, a slight increase on a seasonally adjusted basis from 656.3 one week earlier.

Comptroller Testifies on House Subprime Lending Bill

WASHINGTON, October 24, 2007 -- Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan today expressed support for provisions in a House bill that would set national standards for subprime mortgages comparable to federal banking agency standards, and provide enhanced regulation for all mortgage brokers, but expressed concern about some parts of the proposed legislation.

HousePlansAndMore.com Adds Exciting New Features to House Plans Web Site

With more than 15,000 home plans to choose from, users may find the task of searching for a new home a bit daunting. But with HDA's new search features, finding that special luxury house plan is a breeze. Consumers are able to search by home plan style, size, and by estimated cost-to-build

NAR, SGA Find Americans Prefer to Spend More on Mass Transit and Highway Maintenance,...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three-fourths of Americans surveyed believe that either being smarter about development or improving public transportation are both better long-term solutions for reducing traffic congestion than building new roads, according to a survey sponsored by the National Association of Realtors and Smart Growth America.

Real estate professionals see rays of light in cloudy market

Local real estate professionals discussed how to ride out a currently stormy housing market that holds promises of better times ahead at the eighth annual State of Real Estate in the Coachella Valley presentation, held today at the Doral Palm Springs Resort.

Renters Four Times More Likely to Move Than Homeowners

OCTOBER 16, 2007 -- The U.S. Census Bureau has released a series of 34 tables on the 40 million Americans who moved between 2005 and 2006, including characteristics of movers by type of move.

Statement by Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. on Announcement of New Private Sector Alliance

Washington, DC, October 10, 2007 --Thank you, Secretary Jackson, for being here today. And thank you to everyone here today with one common objective – helping homeowners stay in their homes. We all know well the turmoil in today's mortgage markets. A combination of stagnant or falling house prices, low down payment mortgages and resetting adjustable-rate mortgage rates are creating real challenges for many American homeowners.

Full Senate Votes to Increase LSC’s Budget

Washington, DC, October 17, 2007 -- By a vote of 75-19, the full U.S. Senate last night approved the FY 2008 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) funding bill, providing a $41.4 million or 12 percent budget increase for the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the nation's single largest source of funding for civil legal aid for the poor. LSC would receive a total of $390 million, approaching the $400 million received in FY 1995, the high-water mark in the Corporation's 33-year history.

Senate And House Democratic Leaders Offer Plan To Stem Tide Of Home Foreclosures

Washington, D.C., October 2, 2007 —Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senators Chris Dodd and Charles E. Schumer, and Reps. Barney Frank and Carolyn Maloney today offered a plan to stem the rising tide of home foreclosures created by the subprime mortgage market crisis

Comprehensive Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Legislation Introduced in the House

Washington, DC, October 22, 2007 - Reps. Brad Miller (D-NC), Mel Watt (D-NC) and Barney Frank (D-MA) today introduced comprehensive legislation to combat abuses in the mortgage lending market, and to provide basic protections to mortgage consumers and investors. The bill, H.R. 3915, the “The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007” will reform mortgage practices in three areas.

Americans Trust Their Financial Institutions to Disclose Terms, Help Manage Finances

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- American consumers give their own banks and credit card companies a 76 percent approval rating when it comes to being fair when disclosing terms to customers; they also rank their own personal banks and credit card companies far higher than the federal government when it comes to helping them handle their overall finances, according to the Second Annual Financial Fitness Survey released by The Financial Services Roundtable.

National Association of Realtors(R) Revised 2007-2008 Statistical & Forecast News Release Schedule

National Association of Realtors(R) Revised 2007-2008 Statistical & Forecast News Release Schedule All released at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time except November Forecast/PHSI

Antitrust Division Launches Web Site on Competition in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --- The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice launched a new Web site today to educate consumers and policymakers about the potential benefits that competition can bring to consumers of real estate brokerage services and the barriers that inhibit that competition

Study: Wal-Mart Systematically Challenges Property Tax Assessments, Cutting Support for Schools and Other Government...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 , /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --- The first-ever investigation of Wal-Mart's local property tax records finds that the retailer systematically seeks to minimize its payments that support schools and other government services. That's the finding of Rolling Back Property Tax Payments, a report released today by Good Jobs First, a non-profit research center.

Business Real Estate Press Releases

Support Ukrainian Refugees

GFP Real Estate and Its Tenants Raise More Than $200,000 to...

GFP Real Estate is pleased to announce that its "Support Ukraine in Crisis" campaign raised more than $200,000 to support humanitarian relief efforts on the ground in Ukraine.

Recent Gov & Nonprofit Real Estate Press Releases