Point2 CEO steps down amid sexual exploitation charges

Wendell Willick, co-founder and CEO for real estate marketing and technology provider Point2 Technologies, resigned his position last week and this week entered a guilty plea for sexual exploitation of a teen from January 1996 to November 1999 while serving as a church elder in the teen's congregation, according to news reports and court records.

Willick is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 5 in Queen's Bench Court in Saskatoon, Canada.  more...

NAR, MBA urge government to continue backing terror insurance

Realtors and mortgage bankers are applauding House passage of a bill that would expand and extend for an additional 15 years the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act.

The Act, which allows the federal government to guarantee up to $100 billion in insurance coverage through private insurers in the event of a major terrorist attack, is set to expire this year and the Bush administration has threatened to veto attempts to extend it.

In a 312 to 110 vote, the House passed HR 2761, which i  more...

Mortgage rates up slightly this week

Long-term mortgage rates were up only slightly this week as markets awaited the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision Tuesday, Freddie Mac and Bankrate.com reported today.

In Freddie Mac's survey, the rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages rose to an average 6.34 percent from last week's 6.31 percent, and the 15-year fixed rate nudged higher to 5.98 percent from 5.97 percent.  more...

Economic outlook gloomier in August

A key barometer of future economic conditions fell sharply in August as both jobs and stocks rattled consumers' nerves, The Conference Board reported today.

The U.S. leading index dropped 0.6 percent last month to 137.8, with just one of 10 indicators -- real money supply -- advancing. Based on revised data, this index increased 0.7 percent in July and decreased 0.1 percent in June.

The leading index has been alternating between monthly increases and decreases in 2007, and, as a result, it is essentially at the same level as in January 2007, The Conference Board reported.  more...