Countrywide, a long time major player in the Sub-Prime market, is set to be taken over by Bank of America, one of the few remaining large banks capable of the takeover.
On June 5th the Federal Reserve announced its approval of the notice that would allow Bank of America to indirectly acquire Countrywide Bank. Under the approval notice, BoMA would acquire Countrywide Financial Corporation and thereby acquire Countrywide Bank, FSB. Other non-banking subsidiaries would also be acquired in the takeover, including credit extension and loan servicing, real estate and personal property appraisal, asset management and debt servicing and collection.
The deal would add Countrywide’s approximately $61.7 billion in controlled deposits to the $1.7 trillion that BoMA already holds. BoMA is the largest depository organization in the United States when measured by total deposits, controlling approximately $711.7 billion, or about 10.04 percent of the total amounts of insured deposits in the country.
>>>>> Click Here to view the Federal Reserve Press Release
The Real Estate Standards Organization, or RESO, has recently approved a draft of the updates to the standardized data format for distributing real estate listing information know as RETS, or the Real Estate Transaction Standard. RESO was started as a collaborative effort to promote standards in listing information across databases.
The new standards have been designed to let Multiple Listing Services and other industry organizations, including Zillow, Google and others, to more easily and effectively share property information and get that information to consumers more efficiently. The idea is to have the same information available for use on multiple real estate sites thus saving both time and money for the industry and the consumer.
Some of the partner organizations to the RESO will begin implementing the new standards immediately and then deliver feedback to the partners in August, when it is expected that a vote for final approval on the RETS will take place.
A Santa Fe real estate agent was abducted by a woman at gunpoint yesterday. The assailant is still at large.
The FBI has asked that a notice go out to all real estate professionals to help them determine if there have been any similar incidents reported nationwide. If you know of an incident please contact your local authorities or the FBI with this information.
In September during REALTOR® Safety Week the Masters Report posted on ways agents could help to protect themselves in the field. We encourage you to revisit that article by clicking here.
We again want to encourage you to visit the NAR Field Guide to Safety online. Here you will find important information on how to protect yourself at open houses, in the office, in the car and talking on the phone.
You can also go online to view a Safety Video prepared by NAR.
Searching the web to find government resources can add time and expense to a transaction. lexisONE® offers a State Resource Center on their Legal web site Directory. Agents can use these links and pages to quickly and easily locate state offices, such as the Secretary of State or legal search pages. All information is broken down by state and then by branch making site location as easy as possible.
Click Here to find all State Government home pages, legislative and judicial sites, state specific forms and even libraries and legal research sites. lexisONE® is a web based community designed for small law firms. However, the legal research and tools collected on the state resource center pages are valuable sites for agents.
Visit the lexisONE® State Resource Center to learn about breaking court decisions in your state. lexisONE® was launched in July of 2000 by LexisNexis® and is a leader in providing legal news from around the country.
>>>click here to visit the State Resource Center
For members who are always looking for new tools, it was announced this past week that eNeighborhoods would offer a free trial on their PowerSuite marketing system. With no setup costs or fees for the first 60 days, this offer is worth more than $350 to members.
The enrollment period for this offer expires December 31st, and members can learn more by visiting the eNeigborhoods site at http://www.eneighborhoods.com/NARfree1. eNeighborhoods is a REALTOR Benefits® Program partner. They provide marketing solutions to create high-impact BuyerTours, Neighborhood Reports, CMAs and more. Create high-impact presentations, reports and marketing materials for any neighborhood in the USA.
