IndyMac ups stake in reverse mortgage business

IndyMac Bancorp, the holding company for IndyMac bank, has completed its acquisition of Financial Freedom Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of IndyMac Bank.

Michael W. Perry, IndyMac's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a company statement that the acquisition would make IndyMac the largest provider of reverse mortgages in the United States.

Reverse mortgages allow homeowners aged 62 and older to convert home equity into cash.  more...

Martha Stewart sentenced to 5 months in prison

Martha Stewart, the celebrity homemaker who made a fortune from her own cooking and home decorating ideas, today was sentenced to five months in prison and two years probation for lying to Federal investigators.

U.S. District Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum also ordered Stewart serve five months of house arrest and pay a $30,000 fine.  more...

San Francisco real estate craze continues

San Francisco Bay Area home sales surged last month to their highest level in more than 16 years and prices also hit new peaks, according to real estate information service DataQuick.

A total of 14,104 new and resale houses and condos were sold in the nine-county region in June. That was up 17.3 percent from 12,028 in May and up 34.4 percent from 10,492 for June last year, according to DataQuick.

Last month's sales count was the highest for any month in DataQuick's statistics, which go back to 1988.  more...

Real estate: The week ahead

• The National Alliance to End Homelessness Annual Conference is slated for July 19-21, in Washington, D.C. The event is geared toward AIDS housing providers, state and local government officials, family transitional housing providers, supportive housing providers, homeless people, advocates, federal officials, service providers and employers.  more...

Ellie Mae technology links to Freddie Mac

Mortgage technology provider Ellie Mae's latest system enhancement will provide a streamlined connection to mortgage giant Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector automated underwriting system.

The connection, through Ellie Mae's ePASS Web transaction platform, will provide lenders two-way functionality between Loan Prospector and the originator's desktop. It will eliminate the need for file exports, redundant data entry and entering data outside of the loan origination system.  more...

Weichert grows real estate franchise network

Weichert Real Estate Affiliates expanded from 70 affiliate offices last fall to a current 115 offices in 14 states, according to an announcement today.  more...

Mortgage innovation prevents owners losing homes

Mortgage servicing innovations over the past 10 years have helped keep families of all income levels in their homes after a mortgage default has occurred, according to a new study by Freddie Mac.

Additionally, the study found, the earlier financially stressed borrowers start a repayment plan or negotiate a loan modification, the more likely they are to keep their home.  more...

Overnight mortgage rates stall

Long-term mortgage interest rates were flat Thursday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield remained at 4.48 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average stayed at 5.7 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate slipped slightly to 5.11 percent. The 1-year adjustable was up at 3.38 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield dipped to 5.21 percent.

Rates are current as of 7:15 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.  more...