NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. - January 17, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Balfour Beatty Communities, LLC, a leading provider of property management, development and related real estate services for the multifamily, military, and student housing markets, today announced its participation in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Better Buildings Challenge, an initiative asking U.S. companies, universities and state and local governments to step up and commit to significant reductions in both energy consumption and waste across their portfolio of properties. Balfour Beatty Communities has committed to reducing energy consumption across its portfolio of military, student and multifamily housing—44,000 homes across 26 states—by 20% over a period of 7 years.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 17, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Apartment market conditions weakened a bit in January compared with three months earlier. The market tightness (41), sales volume (41) and debt financing (42) indexes were all a little below the breakeven level of 50, although the equity financing index rebounded to 50. Higher interest rates may largely explain the modest decline in both sales volume and debt financing. With considerable equity capital continuing to look for apartment opportunities, a number of respondents noted a growing divide between would-be buyers and sellers on pricing.

BOCA RATON, Fla. - January 16, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Association of Real Estate Editors has issued a Call for Entries for the 64th Annual NAREE Journalism Competition for real estate and home and design writers and editors. Staff writers, freelancers, columnists, bloggers and editors are eligible to enter their work published, posted or aired in 2013. Entry deadline is March 1, 2014.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 16, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes fell one point to 56 in January from a revised December reading of 57 on the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), released today.

FRESNO - January 16, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the arrest of five individuals who allegedly ran a statewide housing scheme by using adverse possession laws to fraudulently seize at least 23 homes in nine counties.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 16, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Two former Miami real estate agents were sentenced today for their roles in a $2.4 million mortgage fraud scheme, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Energy Department announced on January 9 its first major software update to the Home Energy Scoring Tool, developed by the Department's Building Technologies Office and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). The Home Energy Score allows homebuyers to compare homes on an "apples-to-apples" basis and provides recommendations for energy efficiency improvements. In addition, homeowners and homebuyers receive a cost-saving estimate of how these improvements could reduce utility bills and improve a home's score

MOONACHIE, N.J. - January 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Rebuilding Together, a national nonprofit organization, is teaming up with Lowe’s to revitalize a Moonachie, N.J. neighborhood as part of Kickoff to Rebuild, a Super Bowl XLVIII-sanctioned event

SAN DIEGO, - January 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- DataQuick®, a provider of advanced real estate information solutions powered by data, analytics and decisioning, has announced substantial enhancements to CMV-Portfolio, the company’s automated property valuation model (AVM). The enhancements are desiged to improve valuation accuracy and increase by up to 20 percent the likelihood that an automated property valuation will fall within 10 percent of the actual sales price.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 15, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the availability of up to approximately $600 million in grants for non-profit organizations and consumer cooperatives that serve very low-income Veteran families occupying permanent housing through the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- New mortgage regulations resulting from the Dodd-Frank Act will harm homeownership, reduce credit, and prevent credit-worthy borrowers from obtaining an affordable mortgage, witnesses from Habitat for Humanity, community banks and credit unions told a House Financial Services subcommittee today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Realtors® are not only strong advocates for homeownership, but also for their communities, and many contribute countless hours of their time to enhance the lives of others. For six years now, Realtor® Magazine’s Good Neighbor Society has helped Realtors® expand and develop their charitable efforts through the Volunteering Works Grant and Mentoring Program. The program, which assigns expert mentors to Realtors® who want to expand their community service outreach, is now seeking entries

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The South Florida-based defendants in an alleged mortgage relief scam will surrender their assets and be banned permanently from providing mortgage relief and debt relief services to consumers under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission. This settlement represents the FTC’s largest judgment to date against a purported mortgage assistance relief provider.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has announced the availability of up to approximately $600 million in grants for non-profit organizations and consumer cooperatives that serve very low-income Veteran families occupying permanent housing through the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program.

Alexandria, VA - January 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) is pleased to announce the winners of its annual Industry and AHMA Awards. The list includes both individuals and organizations whose professionalism, dedication and accomplishments in assuring quality housing for low-income Americans raises the standards of he multifamily affordable housing industry.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - January 14, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, the ConsensusDocs coalition announced important updates to the standard arbitration provisions in their agreements. Twenty-one revised contracts have been published. Revisions reflect the applicable statute of limitations from state law and how it should apply to arbitration. Currently, there is a split in some state laws interpreting this issue. The revised language also now contains a “savings clause” in case it is unclear whether a claim must go through arbitration or the courts