http://www.caarblog.com Insight for as far as you can see... Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:02:51 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en FHA last week announced major underwriting changes to strengthen its reserves while maintaining the agency's critical position in the mortgage market at a time when its federally backed loans comprise about 40 percent of the market. Among the changes: an increase in the up-front mortgage insurance premium by 50 ... http://www.caarblog.com/?p=472 NAR is contributing $550,000 to relief of victims of the Haiti earthquake, and is calling upon its 1.2 million members to help. "REALTORS® help build communities and there is no better time than now to do that in Haiti," says NAR President Vicki Cox Golder. NAR is donating $500,000 to ... http://www.caarblog.com/?p=471 IRS Releases New Forms, Instructions The IRS has released IR-2010-006 providing a revised Form 5405 to reflect the changes to the tax credit made in the extension and expansion legislation enacted in November 2009. The release reminds taxpayers that all tax returns claiming the tax credit must be filed manually ... http://www.caarblog.com/?p=470 In October 2009, FHA announced that its capital reserve fund had fallen below the congressionally mandated level of 2 percent. The drop in capital reserves has led Congress and the Administration to call for changes to strengthen FHA. The  week  of  January  18,  2010, FHA will announce major ... http://www.caarblog.com/?p=469 2009 Year-End   Where Are We Now? Home sales, compared to 2008, continued to show improvement in the second half of 2009. At mid-year, sales were down 28%, but by year-end sales were only 8.7% below the 2008 levels. In the 4th quarter of 2009, sales (696) were ... http://www.caarblog.com/?p=468 Why they sold, what they sold, how they sold it, and how they found a real estate professional are among the details about sellers that NAR Research looks at in its latest Home Buyer and Seller Survey. http://www.caarblog.com/?p=467 Here’s a link to the podcast of the 2010 Officer & Director Installation that took place on Thursday, January 7th at the DoubleTree Hotel. Great speech by Greg Slater, our new 2010 President. http://www.caarblog.com/?p=466   You can better understand temporary FHA condo rules released a few weeks ago through FAQs the agency has released. The temporary rules ease concentration and owner-occupancy requirements and make changes to pre-sale rules and to the agency's spot loan approval process. http://www.caarblog.com/?p=465 Commercial real estate will see negative absorption, higher vacancies, and declining rents, NAR's latest commercial analysis shows. Financing still poses the main challenge to stabilization. The market for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) has improved, but volume is insufficient to match maturing debt. Read more in an NAR Research commentary. http://www.caarblog.com/?p=464   Despite a slow market and a slight decrease in the resale value of most remodeling projects, the smartest home improvement investments may also be some of the least expensive. Results from the 2009 Remodeling Cost vs. Value Report show that small-scale exterior projects are the most profitable at ... http://www.caarblog.com/?p=463