RealEstateRama

Washington, D.C. - January 10, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) release on Thursday of a final rulemaking implementing key provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act cements in place important consumer protections in the mortgage market, CFA said today.

Reston, Virginia - January 10, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Below is a monthly summary of major legal decisions involving either the use of the MERS® System database or Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) and its role in the mortgage process. Please feel free to contact the MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. Communications department with any questions and visit the MERS Newsroom for a full list of news releases.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 10, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has created an energy analysis tool to help individuals and educators experiment with future energy use scenarios. The interactive Buildings, Industry, Transportation, Electricity, and Transportation Scenarios (BITES) allows users to explore how changes in energy demand and supply can impact carbon dioxide emissions and the current U.S. energy trajectory.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 10, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Day 3 of Building Innovation 2013—The National Institute of Building Sciences Annual Conference and Expo, activities continued with the Integrated Resilient Design Symposium, FEDCon® 2013, the second day of educational sessions at the buildingSMART alliance Conference and the kickoff of a new project with the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 10, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new rules generally strike a balanced, reasonable approach to mortgage lending and implement important consumer protections. The standard CFPB establishes for a safe, well-underwritten mortgage is appropriately broad enough to include the vast majority of creditworthy home owners, and it is clear enough for lenders and borrowers alike to understand. And the rules preserve legal protection for borrowers with the riskiest loans

ORLANDO, FL – Stiles Realty announced today the leasing of 49,000 square feet of office space to several fast-growing Central Florida firms at the Class A Baldwin Park Office Complex in Orlando. This brings the property to approximately 93 percent le...

Reston, Virginia - January 09, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. today announced that the United States Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Tenth Circuit held that Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) is a mortgagee in its capacity as nominee for the lender and its successors and assigns, that there is nothing impermissible in this arrangement and that “[a]t all times, the Note and Mortgage were united.”

WASHINGTON, DC - January 09, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- With 11 months of data reported, 2012 will clearly go down as a record year for favorable housing affordability conditions, and a great year for buyers who could get a mortgage, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 08, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 made statutory changes to how income limits are calculated for LIHTC and bond-financed properties. HERA protected owners from rent decreases in 2009, and established a new system for owners to hold their income limits and rents harmless beginning in 2010.

San Antonio, TX - January 08, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- USAA Real Estate Co. is pleased to welcome Thomas V. Bermingham as managing director of investments, overseeing acquisition, development and joint venture opportunities for USAA Real Estate Co.’s newly opened Northeast regional office, located in New York City. In his role, Bermingham will work with USAA’s investment management team to refine asset strategy in key northeast markets including New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Boston.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 04, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will help develop microbes that convert methane found in natural gas into liquid diesel fuel, a novel approach that if successful could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower dependence on foreign oil.

Houston, TX - January 03, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Crimson Real Estate Fund, L.P. (CREF), and its co-investment partner, USAA Real Estate Company, have acquired eight acres of land in west Houston to build a new headquarters for TGS-Nopec Geophysical Company (TGS). At approximately 97,500 rentable square feet, the 3-story office building and 408 surface parking spaces will be built on Clay Road, near Beltway 8.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 03, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Nearly 20 percent of recent movers identified “convenience to job” as the most important factor in their choice of neighborhood in 2011, according to the American Housing Survey, the definitive source of information on the quality of housing in the United States. For the first time ever, the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have made survey results available on the Census Bureau’s American

New York, NY - December 21, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law (Lawyers' Committee) and pro bono counsel McDermott Will & Emery LLP (McDermott) filed a lawsuit, Culliver et al. v. Alarcon Law Group, P.C. et al., in Kings County, New York on behalf of 17 homeowners from New York and nine other states against a network of for-profit loan modification companies. The suit alleges that defendants, led by New York attorney Rory M. Alarcon, defrauded vulnerable homeowners out of tens of thousands of dollars by falsely promising—for substantial upfront fees and also monthly membership fees—to obtain much-needed mortgage modifications on their behalf, but consistently failing to deliver results.

Washington, D.C. - December 21, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- A survey report issued just days before the threatened sequestration of federal funding forecasts the need for more, not less, spending in the year ahead to support of growing numbers of hungry and homeless families and individuals in America’s cities. The pending fiscal cliff and sequestration cuts to local social programs could stress already stretched programs designed to serve people in need as automatic cuts are expected if Congress and President fail to reach a budget deal prior to December 31.

NEW YORK, NY - December 20, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, the New York State Tenants & Neighbors Coalition joined a group of low-income tenants who live in government-subsidized affordable housing in New York State in sending over 1,000 postcards to House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, calling on them to fully fund the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget. Low-income tenants are extremely concerned about the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations, and potential cuts to the HUD budget that could affect thousands of low-income renters who rely on federal housing subsidies.

TEMPE, AZ - December 18, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Elizabeth Arden Spas has signed an 134-month, 13,021 SF lease at Tempe Gateway, 222 S. Mill Ave. in Downtown Tempe to serve as their retail operations hub for the U.S.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - December 17, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty released a report showing that, for many low-income renters, the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act is all that stands between housing and homelessness. But if Congress fails to act, that law will expire at the end of 2014.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - December 14, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The employees of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, have pledged more than $500,000 to support local charities during the lab’s annual holiday giving campaign.

WASHINGTON, DC - December 12, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-SD) held a hearing on the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s rental housing assistance programs. The Committee heard from HUD Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Sandra B. Henriquez