News

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 17, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Restoring the flow of acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) lending that has been choking off credit for home builders and impeding job growth took center stage today as 500 builders from across the country converged on Capitol Hill for the annual NAHB Legislative Conference."Our message to Congress is simple and straightforward," said NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen, a home builder from Reno, Nevada. "Unless we resolve the ongoing credit problems for home builders – the vast majority who are small business owners who employ less than 10 workers – the industry will lose even more jobs, resulting in longer-term economic damage."

LINCOLN, NEB. - March 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) --The recently-released 2006-2010 CDBG Investments and Impacts brochure contains eye-opening statistics related to Nebraska’s strategic use of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG).

ALBUQUERQUE, NM - March 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Representative Martin Heinrich (NM-1) fought to prevent potential increases in New Mexico homeowner’s insurance payments—and he won. There has been growing concern from local flood cont...

WASHINGTON, DC - March 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Teresa Kelly, a former operations supervisor in Colonial Bank’s Mortgage Warehouse Lending Division (MWLD), pleaded guilty today to conspiring to commit bank, wire and securities fraud for her role in a fraud scheme that contributed to the failures of Colonial Bank and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker (TBW).

L?HU'E, HI - March 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- County officials announced that a new fee for garbage collection service will take effect on July 1. Notices about the implementation of the residential refuse collection assessment (RRCA) were mailed this week to all Kaua'i property owners along with their real property assessments

WHAT: Deputy Attorney General Lisa Wolf will lead a Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention workshop at the Hamilton County Resource and Information Fair on Thursday, March17th from 4:30-5 p.m. The workshop will provide information on the alternatives to foreclosure, settlement conferences, and important foreclosure prevention contacts in Indiana.

March 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Financial pressures on contractors grew worse in February as prices for key construction materials rose sharply even as prices construction firms charge for completed projects remained stagnant, according to an analysis of producer price index figures released today by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Association officials said the price squeeze will make it harder for the construction industry to recover and urged federal officials to act on a series of recovery measures the group outlined yesterday

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- A new resource for builders and remodelers looking for answers on the critical question of how to detect and remediate problematic drywall imported from China in recent years is now available from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)."Imported Problematic Drywall:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications decreased 0.7 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 11, 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today announced that John A. Courson, the association’s President and CEO, will be leaving the association, effective June 1, 2011. Courson will be replaced by David H. Stevens, Assistant Secretary for Housing and Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in May. Stevens had announced earlier that he would be resigning from his position at HUD. He will leave HUD on March 31, 2011.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 16, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Nationwide housing starts and issuance of permits for new housing construction both posted disappointing declines in February as concerns about a growing number of factors caused builders to pull back on production of new homes, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Commerce Department. Total housing starts declined 22.5 percent from January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 479,000 units, the second-slowest pace on record. Equally disconcerting, total permit issuance for new homes fell 8.2 percent to a record low pace of 517,000 units in February.

BEDFORD, N.H. - March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- At its recent meeting, New Hampshire Housing’s Board of Directors approved the commitment of nearly $7.5 million in tax-exempt bonds, federal HOME Investment Partnership funds and Greener Home Prog...

FRANKFORT, KY - March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Visitors to this year’s Kentucky Crafted: The Market will have the opportunity to shop for art on a grand scale. A special exhibit featuring handcrafted pergolas, garden sculptures, ceramic mural work, doors, light fixtures, chandeliers, hardware, stair rails, sinks, stained-glass windows and architectural signage will be presented in the center of the exhibition hall.

Washington, DC - March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) “Neighborhoods Go Green! Scaling up Sustainability” exhibit opened in Washington, DC. The exhibit uses LEED for Neighborhood Development, the first comprehensive benchmark for green neighborhood design, as a framework to explore the key elements of a sustainable community. Co-curated by USGBC, the Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) and Farr Associates, “Neighborhoods Go Green!” is on display at the Washington, DC headquarters of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

Washington, DC - March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- “Owning a home offers myriad benefits throughout the year, but some of the financial advantages of home ownership are most apparent at tax time,” said NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I. “As many of today’s hard-working American families are feeling a financial squeeze, the tax benefits that can come from owning a home can be a welcome relief.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- As the April 18 federal income tax filing deadline approaches, many American home owners are realizing the financial benefits of homeownership—savings that can add up to tens of thousands of dollars over several years."The mortgage interest deduction is one homeownership tax incentive that has been part of the tax code for nearly 100 years," said Bob Nielsen, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders and a home builder from Reno, Nev. "Incentives such as this have helped millions of American families be able to afford a home of their own."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Chairman Johnson, Ranking Member Shelby, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify this morning. Last month, we released a report outlining our vision of the next steps for reforming the housing finance market. My testimony today summarizes the content of that report

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- After four consecutive months hovering at the same low level, builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes improved by a single point in March, rising to 17 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI). This is the highest level the HMI has reached since May 2010, when the survey period corresponded with the final days of the federal home buyer tax credit program.

San Francisco, CA. - March 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- International law firm Nixon Peabody LLP has expanded its Affordable Housing practice on the West Coast with the arrival of new partner Tuan Pham. Mr. Pham joins Nixon Peabody’s San Francisco office from Goodwin Procter, where he also served as the hiring partner for the San Francisco office and a co-chair of the West Coast Diversity Committee.

Washington, DC - March 14, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- NeighborWorks America, one of the largest community development corporations and the sponsor of one hundred full-service Home Ownership Centers around the U.S., today announced that more than 16,700 families became homeowners last year through the efforts of NeighborWorks organizations.