Real Estate News – April 26, 2012




Seattle-based Zillow says the housing market has reached a bottom in more than half of the 30 metropolitan areas tracked in the company’s Zillow Home Value Forecast (via bizjournals.com): http://bit.ly/JChCLS


Big jumps in foreclosure activity in cities like Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, New York and Raleigh pushed the national numbers higher in the first three months of this year, according to a new report from RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure sales and data company (via CNBC.com): http://bit.ly/JZPySI


Costco shoppers will now find that they not only can buy their groceries in bulk at the warehouse retailer, but they can also shop for a mortgage too (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/JtpBr5


Solar panels cause clashes with homeowner groups (via boston.com): http://bo.st/IsucIe


Ally Financial will likely place its troubled mortgage unit into bankruptcy in the next three weeks (via nypost.com): http://nyp.st/IcqNCR


Authorities have charged a real estate agent with fraud for illegally using a client’s personal information to secure a mortgage on a property, then operate her business and collect rent from the same location (via nj.com): http://bit.ly/I9u4nb


A series of arson fires in Detroit is setting dozens of vacant buildings and homes ablaze. Firefighters, meanwhile, have a controversial proposal on the table: Let the vacant homes and buildings burn to help trim city costs (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/JARVfH