Former head of mortgage firm gets 37-month prison sentence

The former president of Phoenix-based American Bantrust Mortgage Services Corp. has been sentenced to 37 months in prison in connection with a $3.4 million bank fraud case.

Roger Duane Mason, 60, pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to commit bank fraud and was ordered to pay $3.4 million in restitution to the bank he defrauded in a check-kiting scheme, 1st National Bank of Arizona.

According to the U.S.  more...

HouseValues offers lead management technology to mortgage industry

HouseValues will begin offering a lead management system for mortgage professionals using the company's lead generation services, the company announced in San Francisco last week.

HouseValues has partnered with Leads360 LLC to provide mortgage industry clients with tools to aid in converting more consumer leads into closed loans.

The lead management application, Mortgage Market Leader, pulls in mortgage leads generated by HouseValues and allows mortgage professionals  more...

Real estate franchisors partner with listings search engine

Real estate search engine Trulia.com has beefed up its inventory of property listings that will show up in a consumer's search query when looking for available real estate.  more...

S.F. Bay Area real estate sales fall from record highs

Sales of existing single-family detached homes dropped 25 percent in the Bay Area from second-quarter 2005 to second-quarter 2006, Prudential California Realty reported, while the inventory of active listings increased 34 percent.

The time on market for single-family detached homes increased from 27 days in second-quarter 2005 to 43 days in second-quarter 2005.

Median prices for single-family detached homes, meanwhile, grew from $741,657 in second-quarter 2005 to $789,914 in second-quarter 2006, a 7 percent gain.<  more...

California's single-family housing starts plummet

Despite a significant increase in multifamily housing starts, California's overall residential real estate construction in June was down 10.9 percent from a year ago, the California Building Industry Association announced Friday.

According to data compiled by the Construction Industry Research Board, total housing starts, as measured by building permits issued, dropped to 19,175 in June, down from 21,523 in June 2005.

Last month, building permits were pulled for 12,292 single-family homes s  more...

C&F Mortgage suspects employees of embezzling $2.2 million

A publicly traded mortgage lender that does business in six eastern states said it would delay its second-quarter earnings report after uncovering evidence that two former employees embezzled $2.2 million.

Virginia-based C&F Mortgage Corp., a subsidiary of C&F Bank, said an investigation of the suspected theft is underway. The company says its insurance will cover any losses, minus a $75,000 deductible, and no changes to previously reported profits are expected.  more...

Atlanta is biggest market for FSBO real estate sales

An annual survey by ForSaleByOwner.com, a site that advertises for-sale-by-owner properties, found that homeowners in Atlanta are the most likely to sell their homes at the Web site without a broker.

Of all the homes listed on ForSaleByOwner.com last year, 3.8 percent came from Atlanta, the company reported. "This marks the first time that Atlanta, which ranked third in 2004 and 2003, tops the survey.  more...

Central Ohio: 'Still a buyer's market'

Central Ohio home sales rose 3.8 percent in June from their year-ago level amid record inventory, the Columbus Board of Realtors reported.

According to statistics, 2,872 homes were sold last month, up from 2,766 homes sold in June 2005. Year to date, Central Ohio has recorded 13,192 sales, which is 2.8 percent higher than the period last year.

At the end of June, there were 18,641 residential homes for sale, which is up 25.7 percent from June 2005, the board reported.  more...

Overnight real estate rates fall

Long-term mortgage interest rates dropped again Friday, and the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond yield dropped to 4.99 percent.

The 30-year fixed-rate average fell to 6.18 percent, and the 15-year fixed-rate dipped to 5.89 percent. The 1-year adjustable was down at 5.41 percent.

The 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 5.07 percent.

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

Mortgage rate figures are according to Bankrate.com, which publishes nightly averages based on its survey of 4,000 banks in 50 states.  more...