You don’t have to wait for WinTOTAL 5.0

Written by on July 6, 2004

Coming in a special update we'll release later this month, you'll find a revolutionary new print engine that we actually developed for the new WinTOTAL 5.0. Rather than hold it for release with WinTOTAL 5.0 - which anyone with a support contract will get for free - the productivity enhancement and time savings this new engine offers was important enough that we wanted to get it to you as soon as possible.   Read more...

New Fannie forms in WinTOTAL this week

Written by on July 6, 2004

Recently Fannie Mae has released test versions of new iterations of the URAR (1004), 2055, 1073, 1075, 1004B and 1004D. WinTOTAL users with support memberships will have the new forms Thursday evening - for free - as part of an Instant Customer Update.   Read more...

What slowdown? Even rate hike won’t stop home buying surge

Written by on July 1, 2004

Mortgages, car loans and business debt should become more expensive after the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve's decision to raise the federal funds rate - the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans - by a quarter point. Mortgage rates, among other things, react to changes in the federal funds rate, which has been cut six times since the disaster of September 11, 2001. This week was the first time the rate has been raised since May 2000.   Read more...

MLS import from REALTOR.com® to be disabled

Written by on July 1, 2004

Homestore®, owns, or has, licensed trademark rights to the words REALTOR®, REALTOR.com® and operates the REALTOR.com® website. Homestore® maintains that it owns the factual information you upload to the REALTOR.com® site, and not you. Accordingly, we have been told to cease and desist allowing you to enter your listings' MLS number and display your REALTOR.com® listing on your Agent XSite for your prospective buyers. Homestore® requires instead that if you upload your listings to REALTOR.com®, that they be displayed in proximity to your competition's listings on the REALTOR.com® site, and nowhere else.   Read more...

Rates will rise, but business will continue to boom

Written by on June 29, 2004

Mortgages, car loans and business debt should become more expensive after the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve meets tomorrow and, as widely expected, raises the federal funds rate - the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans. Mortgage rates, among other things, react to changes in the federal funds rate, which has been cut six times since the disaster of September 11, 2001. Consensus seems to be that the Committee will raise the rate by at least one-quarter of one percent, the first time the rate has been raised since May 2000.   Read more...

New 2055 test form, two more released; Fannie says it intends to reduce overall number of forms

Written by on June 29, 2004

Fannie Mae released June 24 three more revised appraisal report forms: a new 2055, and new co-op forms 1073 and 1075. As with their release of test versions of a new URAR, 1004B and 1004D June 3, their stated goal is to allow/require appraisers to "report the results of his or her appraisal in a more concise manner than our existing report formats," it said.   Read more...