Sales of existing homes rose in July even with constraints of affordable inventory, and the national median price is showing five consecutive months of year-over-year increases, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR).Click to continue

California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris has announced the arrest of two individuals in a $1.3 million Ponzi scheme that targeted Latino investors, many of whom were seniors. Edwin G. Salazar of Downey, Calif. and Michael Z. Zuniga of Fullerton, Calif. were arrested on 57 counts of elder abuse, grand theft and securities fraud. Salazar's bail was set at $100,000 and Zuniga's at $50,000. From January 2007 through June 2008, licensed insurance agents Salazar and Zuniga, doing business as OMEGA Investment Group of Downey, Calif.Click to continue

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has announced the first step of a Real Estate-Owned (REO) Initiative targeted to the hardest-hit metropolitan areas nationwide. Investors interested in participating may “pre-qualify” to establish eligibility to bid on transactions in the initial pilot phase as well as subsequent phases. The REO Initiative will allow qualified investors to purchase pools of foreclosed properties with the requirement to rent the purchased properties for a specified number of years.Click to continue

Bruce Olvin McBarnette of Sterling, Va. and his company, Summit Connection LLC, have been barred from rigging bids on public auctions and must pay civil penalties and consumer refunds for trying to fix foreclosure sales of properties in Durham and Mecklenburg, N.C. counties, announced North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper.

“Trying to fix public auctions isn’t the fair, legal way to do business,” Cooper said. “Bid rigging squelches honest competition and keeps buyers and sellers from getting a truly fair price.”Click to continue

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has sent letters to four of the nation’s largest lenders GMAC Mortgage/Ally Financial Inc., JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America calling on them to suspend foreclosures, foreclosure evictions and sales of foreclosed properties following revelations last week that major lenders were failing to properly review foreclosure documentation.Click to continue

Countdown To Buy, a next generation online real estate marketplace that offers fair and effective solutions to buy and sell properties, has announced that it has entered its 19th state with residential properties now being featured in the Florida marketplace. These recently foreclosed properties, which were added by an existing client, will range in price from $111,000 to over $174,000 and are located in Miami, Clewiston and Middleburg, Fla. Click to continue

Green River Capital, a real estate-owned (REO) asset management and loss mitigation provider for mortgage servicers, investment firms and banking institutions, has announced that it has launched a company that will focus exclusively on short sale program management, Green River Financial (GRF). In response to interest in this loss mitigation method, GRF is offering a pre-foreclosure short sale and deed-in-lieu program.Click to continue

Countdown To Buy, a next generation online real estate marketplace that offers a fair and effective way to buy and sell properties, announced that it has entered into a new pilot program with another leading lending institution to offer foreclosed properties located in Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. In addition, Countdown To Buy has received additional properties in both Connecticut and Texas from existing clients after successfully generating accepted offers in 25 days or less on all properties placed on the platform.Click to continue

Countdown to Buy, a next generation online real estate marketplace that offers a fair and effective way to buy and sell properties, has announced that it successfully generated accepted offers on foreclosed properties in 30 days or less. The properties supplied by a leading financial institution were listed on the company’s Web site on March 5 and located in the Dallas market.Click to continue

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has announced the agency is contracting with Michaelson, Connor & Boul Inc. (MCB) of Huntington Beach, Calif. to serve as a mortgagee compliance manager. MCB will be responsible for ensuring that Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved lenders and loan servicers convey foreclosed properties to the FHA in acceptable condition.Click to continue