Real Estate News – September 13, 2011




Pop star Rihanna says serious structural defects in her Beverly Hills mansion has made it “uninhabitable,” and she is suing the seller, home inspector, her real estate company, among others for not disclosing the defects before the sale (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/q6i2k7


The Obama administration is expected to allow more home owners to take advantage of current low interest rates by expanding its two-year old refinancing program, the Home Affordable Refinance Program (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/ojVAVB


Minnesota has emerged as a problem area for mortgage fraud and helped lift national activity from the first quarter. But a national improvement from a year earlier was attributable to another three states (via sacbee.com): http://bit.ly/nEEOal


Third person pleads guilty in HOA fraud probe (via lvrj.com): http://bit.ly/rhN9bC


Banks shouldn’t be protected from liability for mortgage securitization as part of a national foreclosure settlement, said Minnesota’s attorney general, joining other states voicing concern over the issue (via BusinessWeek.com): http://buswk.co/psnPKp


A 101-year-old woman was evicted from the southwest Detroit home where she lived for nearly six decades after her 65-year-old son failed to pay the mortgage (via Forbes.com): http://onforb.es/o4RHFk


August numbers show that the Twin Cities housing market is slowly becoming more balanced, a realtor group said Tuesday. But it’s not there yet — Twin Cities home prices dropped again in August (via bizjournals.com): http://bit.ly/qAR20U