Mortgage Bankers Association - "Mortgage Applications Increase in Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (7-15-09)

"The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 10, 2009. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 514.4, an increase of 4.3 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 493.1 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index increased 15.3 percent compared with the previous week and decreased 2.7 percent compared with the same week one year earlier"

Bloomberg - "AIG Unit Sells Loans for as Much as $975 Million" (7-15-09)

"American International Group Inc.’s consumer lender will receive as much as $975 million selling mortgage-backed certificates to Credit Suisse Group AG after losing access to its usual sources of funding. The notes have a balance of about $1.6 billion, New York- based AIG’s American General Finance Corp. said yesterday in a regulatory filing."

Bloomberg - "Strategic Hotels Chief Says Corporate Cutbacks to Trim Bookings" (7-15-09)

"Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., owner of the Four Seasons in Washington, will probably see a decline in luxury bookings through this year as companies cut travel to avoid public reproach, Chief Executive Officer Laurence Geller said."

Bloomberg - "Rich Russians Returning to U.S. Property Lured by Lower Prices" (7-15-09)

"Russian millionaires are returning to the U.S. property market, lured by distressed sales and the ruble’s rise against the dollar, lawyer Edward Mermelstein said. 'The way many look at the U.S. right now is that it’s a bargain,' said Mermelstein, who has arranged about 300 real estate deals for buyers from the former Soviet Union since 2007."

Orange County Register - "Price cuts galore on Irvine homes" (7-15-09)

"Irvine home listings were almost twice as likely to be discounted in 92618 than in 92602, according to the latest figures from Trulia.com"

Orange County Register - "Can a perk help to sway a home sale?" (7-15-09)

"in Huntington Beach, a Lower Seacliff Estate homeseller is giving away a golf club membership worth up to $30,000, and a home in nearby Pacific Landing comes with a 55” HDTV — but only because there would be a gaping hole if the built-in set was yanked out of its custom entertainment center."

Inman - "$5.5M in refunds settles kickbacks lawsuit" (7-15-09)

"Refund checks are in the mail to more than 50,000 Californians who allegedly overpaid for natural hazard disclosure reports because the real estate brokerages that listed their homes were taking kickbacks from the company producing the reports. A total of $5.5 million in refunds are being paid out to consumers under the terms of a class-action lawsuit settlement. But the lawyers who filed the case ended up taking home nearly twice that much: $9.47 million in attorneys' fees plus $363,000 in expenses, or $9.83 million in total."

Reuters - "More cost cuts seen for US hotels as revenues suffer" (7-15-09)

"The U.S. hotel industry is likely to report fresh cost cuts this earnings season as sluggish business demand and lower room rates eat into companies' revenues. Analysts expect hotels' key sales metric, revenue per available room (RevPAR), to be sharply lower in the quarter as the continued drop in business travel forces hotels to rely more on price-sensitive consumers, who demand lower rates."