Reuters - U.S. mortgage applications rose last week, led by increased demand for home purchase loans even as interest rates climbed for a fourth consecutive week, an industry trade group said on Wednesday. Read more…

Reuters - Pending sales of existing U.S. homes fell 0.5 percent in November but held above the low hit in July, suggesting the housing market is stabilizing, a real estate agents' trade association said on Thursday. Read more…

AP - Rates on 30-year mortgages were unchanged in the first week of the new year after posting three consecutive increases to close out 2006. Read more…

Most rear-facing infant car-seats on the market failed crash tests using stricter standards than the government uses, Consumer Reports said Thursday. Read more…

AP - Home-mortgage financier Freddie Mac said Friday it expects to report losses for the third and fourth quarters of 2006, citing interest rates declines. Read more…

Browsing through the real estate listings in Youngstown, Ohio, is a bit like taking a trip back through time. Read more…

For the digerati, the annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas is about to begin. Read more…

General Motors released photos of a convertible Chevrolet Camaro concept vehicle Thursday. The car will be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show on Sunday. Read more…

AP - Choung Yang-suk just bought a condo in the city's Koreatown district — far from her home in South Korea — and plans to retire there in a few years to be near her two grown children. Read more…

Reuters - A Republican senator critical of Fannie Mae, the mortgage finance giant that recently restated over $6 billion in flawed earnings, said on Monday that the company's top regulator should release a report on Fannie's lobbying efforts. Read more…

As a FSBO seller, you are responsible for handling all of the aspects of selling your home. So, how do you go about showing the property to interested buyers? Read more…

Read full story for latest details. Read more…

Reuters - U.S. mortgage applications skyrocketed during the first week of 2007 as interest rates fell for the first time in five weeks, lending support to the view that the housing market is stabilizing, an industry trade group said on Wednesday. Read more…

Home buyers and sellers have already seized much of the power once in the hands of exclusively of real estate professionals. But they're about to get stronger still. Read more…

U.S. home prices may have dipped over the past year, but many American workers would still struggle to afford a median-priced home in major cities, a new study said Wednesday. Read more…

We hear lots of stories about the pain: Read more…

BusinessWeek Online - When Sam Zell, the founder and chairman of Equity Office Properties Trust , announced plans in late November to sell his real estate investment company to Blackstone Group for $36 billion, including debt, some had wondered why he accepted a premium that was only 8.5% above his company's Nov. 17 trading price of $44.72 per share (see BusinessWeek.com, 11/20/06, "Sam Zell: A Question of Timing"). Now Blackstone's rivals might be closing in to battle for a piece of the action. Read more…

Sure, we've all heard the quips: Behind every successful man is a disbelieving mother-in-law. Read more…

AP - Kenneth Duberstein, a prominent Republican consultant who has been a director of mortgage giant Fannie Mae since 1998, resigned from the board on Friday, the company announced. Read more…

Reuters - Ventas Inc. is offering to buy Sunrise Senior Living Real Estate Investment Trust's (SZR_u.TO) private pay assisted living communities for US$1.8 billion including debt, the companies said on Monday. Read more…

FT.com - The South Korean government on Monday unveiled its much-heralded measures to encourage companies to invest more abroad, exempting domestic investors from capital gains tax on overseas equity earnings and easing restrictions on foreign real estate purchases. Read more…

FT.com - The tussle for control of Countrywide, the UK's largest estate agent, was thrown into confusion on Monday after a meeting to vote on a 3i-backed management takeover proposal was adjourned. Read more…

Reuters - The U.S. House of Representatives voted Tuesday to waive a cap on the number of reverse mortgages that a federal housing agency may insure for older Americans who want to turn their home equity into cash. Read more…

AP - Japanese stocks rose Wednesday, led by real estate, construction and steel companies as investors awaited the outcome of a two-day policy meeting of Japan's central bank. Read more…

As a managing director in charge of software-equity research at CIBC, Melissa Eisenstat worked 70-hour weeks, spent 70 percent of her time on the road, and, she recalls, "when Bill Gates sneezed, I was frantic." Read more…