Yearly Archives: 2009

October 20, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement after the Obama Administration’s announced move to provide support to housing finance agencies across the nation. This action will help restart the housing market for low to moderate income first-time homebuyers, including in California, which has been among the hardest hit by the real estate crisis.

Washington, DC - October 20, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-35), Chairwoman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, recognizing the impact foreclosures are having on the country, called on the attorneys general from the nation’s 50 states to bring suit against lenders in order to force more loan modifications.“We need aggressive action to force lenders to modify the predatory loans that they made. State attorneys general and civil rights groups are taking the lead in preventing foreclosures by filing lawsuits against the originators of these predatory loans, and I commend them for their action,” Chairwoman Waters said

Legislation would prohibit discrimination against adoptive and foster parents based on sexual orientation, marital status. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, today introduced H.R. 3827, the "Every Child Deserves a Family Act." In the same manner that we ended race discrimination in adoption, this legislation would prohibit states and child welfare agencies from denying or delaying adoption or foster care placements solely based on the sexual orientation or marital status of the potential parents.

Washington, DC - October 16, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee and a leading advocate for Gulf Coast recovery efforts, issued the following statement today after President Obama visited New Orleans to assess the city’s progress and heard from residents about the challenges they continue to face:“More than four years after Hurricane Katrina, I remain concerned about the recovery of the Gulf Coast in general, and the City of New Orleans, in particular. Katrina was one of the deadliest storms in our nation’s history, taking over 1,800 lives, displacing more than one million people, severely damaging over 300,000 housing units, and causing at least $81 billion in damages.

Sacramento, CA - October 15, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today issued a consumer alert warning California homeowners to avoid individuals and businesses that charge up up-front fees for foreclosure relief services in light of a just-enacted state law that makes this "abusive practice" subject to prosecution.

San Bruno, CA - October 15, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- This workshop is designed for inspection professionals including : home inspectors, building contractors, insurance adjustors, roofing contractors, energy auditors, and building maintenance professionals.

San Francisco, CA - October 13, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently honored innovative green building design ideas that reduce the environmental and energy impacts of buildings. These concepts aim to help architects and builders reduce more than 88 million tons of building-related construction and demolition debris sent to U.S. landfills each year and the climate impacts of buildings and building materials

SANTA ANA, CA - October 13, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF) family of companies and America’s largest provider of advanced property and ownership information, analytics and services, today introduced its free patent-pending ePropertyWatch Professional service, which is designed to help real estate and mortgage industry professionals stay in touch with customers and drive repeat business and referrals.

SANTA ANA, CA - October 13, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- First American CoreLogic, a member of The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF) family of companies and America’s largest provider of advanced property and ownership information, analytics and services, today announced that it has built the mortgage industry’s most comprehensive national fraud data repository to help clients combat all types of mortgage fraud and to further enhance the predictive performance of its anti-fraud solutions.

Sacramento, CA - October 12, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- MERIT, a leading provider of professional community association and rental management services, promoted Joe Price to Northern California Vice President of Community Management. Price will be responsible for leading the Northern California division while positioning for growth in the East Bay, Central Valley, Stockton and San Francisco markets.

SACRAMENTO, CA - October 12, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- New home sales in California remained at historic low levels in August signaling that the state’s housing sector may be slow to recover from a stubborn recession. The California Building Industry Association reported today that sales in new-home communities of 10 units or more, though better than July’s steep decline, were 13 percent below August 2008

October 12, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- To help prevent California homeowners and homebuyers from being negatively impacted by the fraudulent mortgage practices that have arisen in the aftermath of the national foreclosure crisis, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed legislation to increase protections for consumers in the lending market and provide law enforcement with more tools to crack down on deceitful mortgage practices. These bills aim to strengthen California’s reverse mortgage laws by providing senior homeowners with greater consumer protections when considering reverse mortgage agreements, make it a felony to commit fraud in connection with a mortgage application and promote responsibility and accountability in the real estate market.

Aliso Viejo, CA - October 9, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- MERIT, a leading provider of professional community association management services, recently hired Sherrie LeVan as residential property manager for the firms expanded rental property services. MERIT Rental Property Management, Inc. expands MERIT’s current portfolio of services to include leasing and property management for single-family, condominium and urban residences

New office was designed with sustainable green design principles. San Diego, CA - October 9, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- MERIT, a leading provider of professional community association and rental management services, announces the relocation of their San Diego office due to rapid growth in the region. The relocation also created the opportunity for MERIT to design the new office space with sustainable green design principles

Washington, DC - October 9, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, chaired by Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), held a hearing today on “The Future of the Federal Housing Administration’s Capital Reserves: Assumptions, Predictions and Implications for Homebuyers”. FHA plays an increasingly important role in the nation’s housing market. Recent news articles have raised concerns about the FHA’s capital reserve fund, the account the agency uses to pay insurance claims to lenders when borrowers default on home loans. Assistant Secretary for Housing and FHA Commissioner David Stevens, testified today regarding steps FHA is taking to boost capital reserve levels.

Washington, D.C. - October 9, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) voted for two key measures for service members and veterans. H.R. 1016, the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, speeds the delivery of funding for veterans health care and H.R. 3590, the Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act, assists service members looking to buy or sell their homes and extends home-buying incentives.

Defendant Used Fraudulent Deed to Obtain More Than $130,000 in Equity from Residence in Bankruptcy Proceeding. SAN JOSE, CA - October 8, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Vallejo, Calif., resident Myra Holmes was indicted by a federal grand jury with concealment of assets and bank fraud, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced.

SAN JOSE, CA - October 7, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- CALIFORNIA REALTOR® EXPO 2009, the state’s largest real estate trade show, opens today at 5 p.m. at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, Calif. Running Oct. 6-8, CALIFORNIA REALTOR® EXPO 2009 features more than 50 cutting-edge seminars, hot new products, and networking opportunities for California REALTORS®. CALIFORNIA REALTOR® EXPO 2009 also offers more than 150 exhibit booths and is expected to attract more than 7,000 attendees. Educational seminars range from hands-on computer training and social networking for business to short sales and home staging.“CALIFORNIA REALTOR® EXPO 2009 provides an invaluable networking and educational opportunity to California REALTORS®,” said C.A.R. President James Liptak. “The event has something for everyone, whether a new REALTOR® curious about how to thrive in California’s ever-changing market, or a seasoned veteran looking for new ways to boost their bottom line.”

SAN JOSE - October 7, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Forty-six percent of California REALTORS® surveyed report they use some type of social networking Web site to stay on top of trends in their business, according to the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ (C.A.R.) annual “Use of Technology Survey,” released today at Tech Tuesday. The most popular social networking site among REALTORS® surveyed was LinkedIn (34 percent), followed by YouTube (13 percent) and MySpace (12 percent).

October 7, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the awarding of more than $68 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) weatherization funding to non-profit, local government and community action agencies throughout the state. This funding is federally designated to help low-income families weatherize their homes, which decreases utility bills and saves energy while stimulating local economies. Administered by the State Department of Community Services and Development (CSD), California’s low-income Recovery Act weatherization program was one of the first 15 state plans federally approved by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)