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Builder confidence in the single-family 55+ housing market remains in positive territory in the second quarter with a reading of 57, up one point from the previous quarter, according to the National Association of Home Builders' (NAHB) 55+ Housing Market Index (HMI) released today. This is the ninth consecutive quarter with a reading above 50.

Working with homeowners and businesses in communities across Michigan, Consumers Energy is focusing on delivering energy reliably by clearing trees away from power lines

“Today, by finalizing revised mortgage servicing rules, the CFPB has taken an important step toward improving protections for distressed borrowers,” said John Rao, staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “Many homeowners will find it easier to save their homes from foreclosure because of these new rules.”

Consumers Energy has donated nearly $18,000 of furniture, appliances and other office items from its recently retired J.C. Weadock generating plant to Bay County Habitat for Humanity and two other Bay County nonprofit organizations.

Marina Walsh, Vice President of Industry Analysis in the Mortgage Bankers Association's research and economics department, is being honored today as one of Housing Wire's 2016 Women of Influence. This list recognizes a wide range of 43 women who have made an outstanding impact on the mortgage industry as a whole.  Walsh currently leads several ad hoc surveys and programs at MBA focusing on industry benchmarking and servicing

The American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) Summer 2016 Law Review (Volume 24, No. 2) features the results of an empirical study that found “stunning and unacceptable” levels of randomly distributed justice at the trial court level. The study examined 218 essentially identical adversary proceedings filed by Heritage Pacific Financial, LLC, a debt buyer, in California bankruptcy courts against makers of promissory notes who had filed chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy petitions.

Mortgage applications decreased 3.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 29, 2016

The Research Institute for Housing America (RIHA) today released a new report, The Affordability of Owner-Occupied Housing in the United States: Economic Perspectives, which looks at four major forms of affordability indexes, compares their methodology, and tests their validity in predicting current and historical features of the housing market. RIHA is a 501(c)(3) trust fund founded by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and devoted to independent research of housing and mortgage markets. The study was authored by Donald R. Haurin, Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Ohio State University

This past Friday, Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) filed the Reply Brief on the Merits in Murr v. Wisconsin and St. Croix County, PLF’s latest high-profile property rights case at the U.S. Supreme Court.The case is now fully briefed, and the justices are expected to schedule oral argument for some time this fall.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) have announced the number of veterans experiencing homelessness in the United States has been cut nearly in half since 2010. The data revealed a 17 percent decrease in veteran homelessness between January 2015 and January 2016 — quadruple the previous year’s annual decline — and a 47 percent decrease since 2010.

Some 75 colleges represented, including Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona State, Colgate, Grambling and Indiana

Members of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Building Systems Councils are celebrating Building Systems Week from August 1 -5. This week-long event aims to educate NAHB members and consumers on the advantages of systems-built homes as opposed to traditional stick building

ABI’s popular 24th Annual Southwest Bankruptcy Conference will be held Sept. 8-10 at the Four Seasons Las Vegas in Las Vegas. An outstanding faculty of leading judges, noted academics and prominent industry professionals will present workshops on a variety of topics. The conference will feature ABI’s popular Great Debates series and a Judges' Roundtable featuring Q&A with 14 bankruptcy judges.<

Consumers Energy will be joined by local broadcast media, law enforcement officers and governmental officials to host an early morning kick-off Tuesday, Aug. 2, promoting the 33rd Annual National Night Out.

Construction spending decreased in June for the third month in a row but most segments posted solid increases in the first half of 2016 compared to the same period in 2015, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials said spending appears to have leveled off after a strong early start to the year prompted by mild winter weather conditions in many parts of the country

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) announced that in May and June of 2016 it welcomed 16 new regular members to its ranks, which currently numbers more than 2,200 member companies.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations, second quarter 2016 commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations were one percent higher than during the same period last year and 17 percent higher than the first quarter of 2016

Mortgage applications decreased 11.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 22, 2016.

Since the October 2015 implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's ‘Know Before You Owe' mortgage initiative, Realtors® have raised red flags(link is external) over challenges in gaining access to what's known as the mortgage "closing disclosure" form, or CD. The CD is delivered to homebuyers in advance of their closing and contains important financial information related to their purchase.

Statement from MBA President & CEO David H. Stevens on the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau's (CFPB) proposed updates to the TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure "Know Before You Owe"