Goldman Sachs offers a great chart breaking down America's 131.8 Million Homes into categories of occupied (listed / unlisted) or vacant (listed, season / recreational properties not listed, for rent, sold unoccupied, or held off market).

To view the diagram, click here.

In People ex rel Cuomo v. First American Corp, the Court of Appeals denies the argument that NY can't regulate appraisals and instead says, while ruling on alleged fraud and violation of real estate appraisal independence rules concerning the issuance of mortgages, that both Federal and State authorities may ensure that real estate appraisal reports comport with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP).

The implication of this ruling is that appraisers should be mindful of increasing oversight by both Federal and State authorities. More so, Appraisers should be knowledgeable of the USPAP and continually review its interpretations and amendments. To review the USPAP, click here.

Just like they have been doing for at least a year in short sales, banks are now offering a portal for homeowners and/or their representatives to apply for a mortgage modification through an online, streamlined, organized and optimized application process. This should mark the beginning of the end of the fax shredder days of modifications where the lender says they never received anything and they blame the homeowner's neglect for the denial of a modification. While the short sale portal utilized is traditionally administered by a third party company, Equator, the modification portal appears to be administered in-house by way of the homeowner's existing online mortgage account, which should create more tailored offerings to the client's specific needs. We highly endorse this move by the banks and believe technology will eliminate much of the he said / she said about document transmission, which is the main crux behind most modification denials to date.