Real Estate News
New York foreclosures up; Miami, LA market better (Reuters)
Reuters - New York home foreclosures rose in August from July, signaling a potential drop in prices, but the Los Angeles and Miami markets showed a slight improvement, real estate research website PropertyShark.com said on Wednesday. More »
Hovnanian reports deeper quarterly loss (Reuters)
Reuters - Hovnanian Enterprises Inc reported a deeper quarterly loss that lagged Wall Street estimates, hurt by record foreclosures and poor consumer confidence, sending its shares down more than 4 percent. More »
Egyptian tycoon charged with murder
Egyptian real estate tycoon Hisham Talaat Mustafa was charged on Tuesday with paying $2m for the brutal killing of Lebanese pop singer Suzanne Tamim in a Dubai flat in July. Tamim, 30, was stabbed several times and her throat cut, allegedly by a retired policeman paid by Mustafa. Mustafa runs the Talaat Mustafa Group real estate conglomerate, worth several billion dollars. He is also a stalwart of the ruling National Democratic Party and member of the Shura Council Egypt's upper house of parliament. More »
GMAC slashing work force, reduces mortgage lending (AP)
AP - Lender GMAC Financial Services said Wednesday it will close all of its 200 retail offices and lay off about 5,000 employees as part of plan to reduce its mortgage lending and servicing operations because of the housing market downturn. More »
2 brokers accused of $1B subprime fraud (AP)
AP - Federal prosecutors and regulators on Wednesday accused two former Wall Street brokers of defrauding customers by making more than $1 billion in unauthorized purchases of securities tied to subprime mortgages. More »
Ex-Credit Suisse brokers accused in ARS scheme (Reuters)
Reuters - Two former Credit Suisse brokers were charged on Wednesday with fraud and conspiracy over deceptive sales of subprime-related auction-rate debt, government officials said, part of an industrywide probe of the securities. More »
GMAC to cut 5,000 jobs at ResCap mortgage unit (Reuters)
Reuters - GMAC LLC said on Wednesday it plans to cut 5,000 jobs at its Residential Capital LLC mortgage unit, or 60 percent of that work force, and shut its 200 GMAC Mortgage retail offices to combat persistently weak housing and credit markets. More »
US charges 2 Credit Suisse brokers in bln-dlr subprime fraud (AFP)
AFP - Two Credit Suisse brokers were indicted on fraud charges Wednesday in connection with more than one billion dollars in unauthorized purchases of subprime-related securities, authorities said. More »
US names 2 Credit Suisse brokers in bln-dlr subprime fraud (AFP)
AFP - US regulators filed civil fraud charges against two Credit Suisse brokers, alleging they made more than one billion dollars in unauthorized purchases of subprime-related securities. More »
UPDATED: Landers Purchases Three Harley-Davidson Dealerships
Little Rock's RLJ-McLarty-Landers Automotive Partnership is adding a motorcycle franchise to its stable of auto dealerships. More »