The PMI Group, the embattled mortgage insurer, granted Fannie Mae mortgage servicers with short sale rights late last week, a measure that allows further access to the pre-foreclosure sales strategy. Typically, a mortgage insurance company must approve short sales

It’s no secret that underwriting standards at banks made an about-face following the market scares of 2008, and that some agents have experienced difficulties selling homes in the new lending environment. A new development, though, would undoubtedly be the loosening of

Chris Eigel and Michael Pierson, principals of Prudential Rubloff Properties, are pleased to announce the formation of Rubloff Insurance, a full-service insurance division to be led by industry veteran George H. Moloney III. Rubloff Insurance will be located at

The state of Illinois, in conjunction with Cook County, has launched a new, $55 million initiative aimed at rehabbing vacant, foreclosed properties and converting them into affordable housing. Officially called the “Illinois Building Blocks Pilot Program,” the initiative will specifically focus

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced on Thursday that the Obama administration is still hard at work on an extensive financial plan to overhaul Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored entities that have received more than $151

What were the results of the latest Case-Shiller? How did construction spending pan out in 2011? And what sector of housing is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) not involved in? We take a look at this week’s real

Just three weeks after word leaked that the Treasury Department, in conjunction with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), would be launching an REO conversion program to sell its 250,000 distressed properties to investors as rentals, the FHFA has

CoreLogic yesterday released its Home Price Index (HPI) for December, a survey of not only the pricing data for December but of the entire 2011 home value landscape. Including distressed sales, the HPI reports a 4.7 percent decline in

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has dramatically reduced the projected costs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to taxpayers in its latest estimations. According to a HousingWire piece on the latest CBO Budget and Economic Outlook report, taxpayers can

Real estate broker Kay Wirth of RE/MAX Unlimited Northwest in Crystal Lake has been named the 2012 Illinois Realtor of the Year by the Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR). A Realtor for more than 25 years, Wirth is a

The Obama White House yesterday offered details of its mortgage refinancing plan, an initiative first announced during the president’s State of the Union Address, claiming it could save homeowners an average of $3,000 a

Construction spending in the U.S. finished 2011 in a strong way, with December’s $816.4 billion annual rate the highest for spending in four months, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. A 1.5 percent increase from

With a combined 46 years of real estate experience, veterans Susan Swift and Lori Wyatt, previously with Keller Williams, are two new members of Coldwell Banker who will be serving the Chicago market. Wyatt is heading up the Lincoln

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) received 2,300 mortgage complaints in the month of December, and 38 percent of them pertained to loan modifications and foreclosures; and according to recent reports, those complaints do not go unanswered. The CFPB has received in

The real estate community can nominate architects, developers and others for the Chicago Association of Realtors “Good Neighbor Awards,” all the way through February. The Good Neighbor Awards help the public appreciate real estate’s role in responsible urban development and

First American Properties is considering the construction of 39 rental apartments in downtown Winnetka. The area had formerly been part of a larger project to build 31 luxury condominium apartments at the site by New Trier Partners. Discussion concerning