SACRAMENTO, CA - October 26, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- New-home construction dipped again in September leading California homebuilders to strengthen the call for the Legislature to extend the successful homebuyer tax credit, the California Building Industry Association announced today

C.A.R. calls for swift adoption of Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson amendment to extend home buyer tax credit. LOS ANGELES, CA - October 26, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) today called for the U.S. Senate to swiftly adopt the Dodd-Lieberman-Isakson amendment, which would extend and amplify the hugely successful first-time home buyer tax credit until June 30, 2010.

October 26, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement after Green Cities California, the collaborative of 10 cities and counties acknowledged as sustainability leaders, launched a Web site today that will serve as a resource for other communities striving to go green

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - October 22, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage counseling agencies will receive $2.6 million to hire more counselors over the next two years, and help the hundreds of thousands of California homeowners facing interest rate resets and the threat of foreclosure. The California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC), along with financial institutions and two foundations, today announced grant awards to 40 nonprofit mortgage counseling agencies through the California Home Ownership Preservation Initiative to help them better respond to the overflow of clients their offices are serving

Washington, DC - October 22, 2009 - (RealEstateRama) -- During the House Financial Services Committee mark-up of H.R. 3126, the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act, the Committee approved an amendment offered by Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) to sunset the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC).

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.