Real Estate News – July 25-26, 2011



More and more investors are pulling money out of retirement and saving accounts to use their own money to make mortgage loans to home buyers who banks reject. These hard-money lenders charge borrowers higher interest rates, but are becoming an answer for some home buyers who can’t get approved for a loan otherwise due to tighter credit restrictions (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/n97jqr


The Nevada Supreme Court altered the foreclosure mediation landscape in dramatic fashion earlier this month when, in two separate cases, justices made it clear lenders must follow two simple rules — bring all relevant documents to the table and make sure someone with loan modification authorization is readily available (via lvrj.com): http://bit.ly/qosW8u


Short sales, long waits: Buyers and sellers find process frustrating (via USATODAY.com): http://usat.ly/r3n6VE


According to a three-year study, the size of the nation’s flood plains is expected to rise between 40 percent to 45 percent over the next 90 years, signifying a large impact on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/qxqbDT


Home building likely won’t return to normal levels until 2014, and then only if housing prices rebound and foreclosures drop sharply, research from the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank showed (via Reuters.com): http://reut.rs/nZzQbn


Affordable housing developer MSP Real Estate Inc. has settled its lawsuit against New Berlin, Wisconsin after city officials agreed to approve the company’s long-contested senior housing development on Deer Creek Parkway (via bizjournals.com): http://bit.ly/rcqbGW


An Edina mortgage broker was charged Friday for his role in a $20 million mortgage fraud scheme that involved 57 properties (via StarTribune.com): http://bit.ly/nH5NRy


A Louisiana couple says they’re being sued by their homeowners’ association for refusing to take down a sign honoring their son’s military service (via foxnews.com): http://fxn.ws/ql0OKr


Will Post Office Closings Impact the Commercial Real Estate Scene? (via businessjournalism.org): http://bit.ly/oDZy61


Delaware Attorney General Said to Probe Mortgage Database MERS (via Bloomberg.com): http://buswk.co/qLX42e


Mortgage REITs have come under pressure in the past few days as they suffer collateral damage, so to speak, from the potential downgrade of U.S. government debt (via blogs.MarketWatch.com): http://bit.ly/oPPGjw