Once again, Zillow.com is making headlines. This time, however, it is because the company is the target of a lawsuit brought by LendingTree.com claiming that the online real estate marketplace used LendingTree’s patented formulas when it matched borrowers with lenders. Zillow and three other companies are named in the legal complaint. LendingTree is seeking to recover “lost profits and other Read full article »
Tag archives for Target
LendingTree Targets Zillow and 3 Other Competitors in Patent-Infringement Lawsuit
category: Real Estate News
Jewel Thief Poses as Home Buyer to Gain Entrance to Homes, Access to Valuables
A jewel thief in the Fort Worth area has been posing as a potential buyer for properties to make entering homes easier. The alleged thief, named Steven Breed, is suspected of many thefts over the past decade, including one recent heist in which more than $20,000 in jewelry was stolen. Breed, a minister, prefers to be shown the insides of his Read full article »
category: Real Estate News
tags: Decade, Heist, Home Buyer, House Agents, Jewel Thief, Jewelry, Real Estate Agent, Realtor, Target, Wallets
California Foreclosures Impact, Displace Tenants in Large Volume
Tenants Together, a statewide organization for renters’ rights in California, recently estimated that over 200,000 tenants were displaced by foreclosure last year in California alone. Tenants were mostly displaced by single-family home foreclosures, reported the group, but multi-family building foreclosures are also on the rise according to the group. Since most loan-modification programs target owner-occupied properties, it seems likely that this Read full article »
category: Real Estate News
tags: Articles Index, California Foreclosures, Eviction Notice, Federal Government, Foreclosure California, Home Foreclosures, Landlord Responsibilities, Leases, Lenders, Loan Modification, Notice Period, Reading 1, Rented Properties, Renters Rights In California, Single Family, State Group, Statewide Organization, Target, Tenant Protection, Unforeseen Consequences
The Politics of Real Estate
Few industries are as profoundly impacted by the political machinations in Washington as the real estate industry. Whether it's old legislation like Jimmy Carter's Community Reinvestment Act or Barack Obama's massive mortgage bailouts, the U.S. political machine has a huge impact (usually bad) on the business of real estate.
Ideally, we could ignore politics. But here at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter, we insist on seeing the world with clarity - including the reality of Washington's aggressive involvement in every facet of our business, from mortgage lending to real estate sales license; from loan modification regulations to appraisal requirements... every piece of our business is profoundly impacted by politics. So rather than stick our heads in the sand and ignore reality, readers of the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter choose to be informed and prepared.
Mortgage Industry News
Few things change more rapidly than the mortgage market, and with the increasing dominance of GSE's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the mortgage business, it's more important than ever to keep up. Here are a few recent mortgage news updates:
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Mortgage News
- HAMP Success Tally Slowly Growing
- Western States Working Through Foreclosure Backlog Quicker than Eastern
- Biggest Down Payments in the Country Found in New Jersey
- President Bypasses Congress, Appoints Director of the Consumer Protection Bureau
- Federal Reserve Recommends Expanding GSEs to Turn Housing Market Around
- Mortgage Rates Likely to Remain Low for a While Longer
- Top Former FDIC, Wells Fargo Execs Say Fannie and Freddie Must Go
- FHA Continues to Extend Anti-Flipping Waiver
- More Homeowners Using Delaying Tactics to Slow Down Foreclosures
- Now that It’s Passed: The True Cost of the Payroll Tax Cut
About Bryan Ellis
Bryan Ellis is an Atlanta-based real estate analyst and publisher of the widely read newsletter "The Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter". With over 200,000 subscribers - including real estate investors, agents, brokers, appraisers and other real estate professionals - the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter is among America's largest sources of unbiased coverage of politics and public policy for the real estate industry.
Bryan Ellis serves as editor in chief for the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter and is assisted by an extraordinary staff of writers, researchers and editors who are each real estate experts in their own right and who assure that the news we report is well researched, factual, and highly relevant to today's real estate industry.
Bryan is very happily married and has two wonderful daughters. He makes his home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. You can contact the team at the Bryan Ellis Real Estate Letter here.