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. Click to read more
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. Click to read more
a la mode, the nation's largest provider of software and technology to the people who power the mortgage transaction, has completed expansion of its headquarters here to accommodate a new data center and customer service department. Click to read more
a la mode has completed expansion of its headquarters here to accommodate a new data center and customer service department. The new data center houses more than 100 servers, and is supported by seven full-time MIS staff. A 485 horsepower turbo diesel-powered backup generator protects a la mode customers from downtime in the event of a local power loss. The generator powers a la mode’s entire 25,000 square-foot headquarters, including servers, when necessary. Click to read more
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. Click to read more
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. Click to read more
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. Click to read more
The Appraisal Foundation has developed a web-based survey of practitioners in the appraisal profession, which it has sent some 60,000 of you. Many of you have received the e-mail, but those who haven't, or who have yet to take a few moments to provide your input, the Appraisal Foundation urges you to do so. Click to read more
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. Click to read more
A hot topic lately in our e-mail and phone correspondence with customers and noncustomer appraisers, on Internet message boards, Yahoo! "user groups" and Internet e-mail lists has been appraisal technology provider sponsorship of conferences promoting Automated Valuation Models (AVMs), as well as dues-charging appraiser advocacy associations becoming involved with establishing standards for AVM usage in mortgage transactions so that they can be used more reliably in place of full appraisals. Click to read more
Send an e-mail to pr@alamode.com. Our team of industry experts would be happy to help with your next story.
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