DQNews - "Bay Area home sales rise again; median price up slightly over March" (5-21-09)

"Bay Area home sales posted a year-over-year gain for the eighth consecutive month in April, with robust sales in lower-cost inland areas once again compensating for anemic sales on the coast. The median price paid, which is down 41.3 percent from a year ago, edged slightly above the prior month for the first time since fall 2007, a real estate information service reported."

CNN - "Renewed HOPE for Homeowners" (5-21-09)

"One of the biggest disappointments of the foreclosure prevention fight has been HOPE for Homeowners, a plan Congress passed in an attempt to help as many as 400,000 underwater, delinquent borrowers from going into foreclosure."

Bloomberg - "Mortgage Rates Fall in U.S. for 30-Year Fixed Loans" (5-21-09)

"The average rate for a 30-year loan fell to 4.82 percent from 4.86 percent a week earlier, Freddie Mac, the McLean, Virginia-based mortgage buyer, said today in a statement. The 15-year rate averaged 4.50 percent, down from 4.52 percent."

Orange County Register - "Ditech owner may get more bailout money" (5-21-09)

"The Wall Street Journal reports GMAC LLC, owner of Costa Mesa-based Ditech.com, is poised to get $7 billion more from the Treasury Department, the first installment of an aid deal that could reach $14 billion."

Orange County Register - "11 more Irvine homes are headed to auction" (5-21-09)

"Eleven more Irvine homes are now in default on loans and scheduled to go to auction, according to legal notices printed May 21. Here is a sampling of some of the properties in default"

Orange County Register - "O.C. buyers shun adjustable mortgages" (5-21-09)

"One of the most stunning trends within recent Orange County homebuying turmoil has been the virtual elimination of adjustable-rate mortgages (or ARMs, in banker lingo) as a tool in purchasing a home. According to DataQuick, 2.5% of Orange County home purchases financed in April had variable-rate mortgages of some sort. It’s the 5th consecutive months where the adjustable share was under 3%. Compare that to the 4 years ending in the summer of 2007 when every month adjustable-rate financings were involved in more than half of all purchases. Some months, ARM use exceeded 80 percent of all financings!"

Inman - "Much ado over IDX indexing" (5-21-09)

"The Internet Data Exchange (a real estate data exchange format, also known as IDX) solution that I am currently using is not being indexed by Google, but some of my competitors are using indexed solutions. Yet, when I Google the address for a property I have listed, information about the property comes up. For one address I found seven references -- all on page one and in positions two through eight in Google's search results. A Google Maps results will always comes up in the top position. Anyone who is using Google to search for homes by property address is going to instantly find several links to my listings and all of the information about them, and they will find me, too."

Inman - "Survey: Foreclosures seen as bargains" (5-21-09)

"A growing number of would-be homebuyers see foreclosed homes as bargains and are willing to consider purchasing one, according to an online survey conducted by Harris Interactive for Trulia Inc. and RealtyTrac Inc.Among the 2,397 adults surveyed between May 1-5, 40 percent said they would expect to pay at least 50 percent less for a foreclosed home, compared with 31 percent of those surveyed in a previous survey in November."