After checking out the cool ways people are using the "Technology, Tools and Tidbits" group on the Community page of the new Inman site last week (see previous post), I decided it would be fun to create a new group on RESPA reform (OK, maybe not FUN -- nobody is quite that dorky -- but useful and informative, perhaps).

If you haven't been following RESPA reform, you might want to start keeping tabs. The proposed changes to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act -- if they ever see the light of day -- have the potential to change the way mortgages, title insurance and other settlement services are marketed to the consumer.

Drop by the new RESPA reform group, check out the links I've provided to get the discussion started, and join in.

A March economic report by PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. includes a brief analysis: "House Price Declines Have Been Bigger for Lower Priced Homes." This item in the report cites data from the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller house price index, which provides price data in two tiers -- upper-value homes and lower-value homes -- for 17 metro areas.

Twelve of these 17 areas experienced larger declines in the value of lower-priced homes compared to higher-priced homes from December 2006 to December 2007, according to the report, while two metro areas had nearly identical declines among both the high-value and low-value home categories, and two markets (Las Vegas and Miami) had larger declines in the price of expensive homes.

The report, by LaVaughn M. Henry, director of U.S. economic analysis for PMI, suggests that "the greater use of subprime lending in the bottom price tier of homes, coupled with the poor credit performance of those loans, are the primary reasons why house prices are falling more rapidly for homes in this price segment."

And the falloff in investor activity in Las Vegas and Miami "may have contributed significantly to a larger drop in more expensive homes in these two cities."

Meanwhile, a separate study released today (see Inman News) by real estate valuation and marketing company Zillow concludes that on a national scale, price declines were slightest among the lowest-value homes and highest among the highest-value homes in fourth-quarter 2007 compared to fourth-quarter 2006. That report splits homes into five value segments, each representing 20 percent of the total market.

Zillow acknowledges in its analysis, which is based on a compilation of value estimates for homes, that local markets can exhibit characteristics that run counter to this national trend. In markets like San Francisco and New York, "higher-priced homes have actually performed better" than lower-priced homes, as home values near city centers can hold their value better than in remote suburban areas where homes tend to be less expensive.

The seemingly contradictory reports had at least one Inman News reader scratching his head, though both reports are based on different sets of data.

Hardly news, perhaps, when everybody with a dollar left to lend is being more cautious about who they lend it to, but in case you missed today's Inman News story on private mortgage insurer Radian Guaranty Inc.'s decision to stop insuring limited documentation "alt-A" loans, it might still serve as a nice chaser for this 80-proof shot of insight into the underwriting of "liar loans."

The shot of insight comes in the form of a story in The Oregonian about a memo that originated from JPMorgan Chase, detailing how to fool the company's automated loan underwriting system, "Zippy," when making stated-income, stated-asset loans.

The memo recommended three "handy steps" to getting around Zippy's objections to a loan. From the story:

"Do not break out a borrower's compensation by income, commissions, bonus and tips, as is typically done in a loan application. Instead, lump all compensation as the applicant's base income.

If your borrower is getting some or all of a down payment from someone else, don't disclose anything about it. Remove any mention of gift funds.

If all else fails, simply inflate the applicant's income. Inch it up $500 to see if you can get the findings you want. Do the same for assets."

And yes, the memo is for real. Several mortgage brokers provided copies to state regulators (who have no jurisdiction over Chase), The Oregonian reported, and Chase verified the memo originated from within the company. The e-mail did not reflect official policy and it's unclear how widely it was circulated.

A Chase account rep who sent the "Zippy Cheats & Tricks" memo out this month in an e-mail message was fired, even though she says she did not write it, and that it was irrelevant because Chase had already stopped making stated-income loans.

As for Radian, the company says it will stop insuring alt A loans April 30. "While certain forms of alternative documentation used to verify assets and income are appropriate with a disciplined underwriting process, the stated programs will no longer be insurable," the company stated.

Have you checked out the "Community" page of the new Inman site yet? You can join a group (or create one) and start discussions or pose questions on topics you're interested in learning more about.

Here's a good example of how it can work.

Stacey Pfeifer, posting in the "Technology, Tools and Tidbits" group, asks "Do you Twitter and how is that working for you?"

The practical uses of Twitter -- which allows you to keep tabs on other users who post text messages about their everyday activities and thoughts -- might not seem obvious at first. You could probably a few days monkeying around with it and not see much of a point to it. It's fun, but what else can you do with it?

Stacey wanted to know how real estate agents might use Twitter, so she put the question to fellow members of the "Technology, Tools and Tidbits" group.

She got some good feedback -- and a link to a detailed blog post on the topic by Victor Lund.

Lund suggests that brokers use Twitter to "communicate en masse to all of your agents" in real time, announcing "important reminders, price changes, rate changes, new listings, sold listings, trainings, meetings, events, etc to all of your agents with one message. It can, in effect, act like a company 'Intranet' that delivers messages to each of your agent's phones in real time using text messaging."

Stacey also found another blog post by Joel Burslem, who suggests using Twitter to listen to your customers. Burslem shows how you can use another site, TweetScan, to do keyword searches and see what Twitter users are saying about Redfin, Zillow, or whatever you're curious about.

If Twitter is "a real-time, real-world glimpse into the minds of your customers," as Burslem says, the Community page of the new Inman site lets you pick the brains of your colleagues.

If you decide to Twitter, here's some help in figuring out what to do if people ask you whether you've joined blueteam or greenteam.

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson can't get a break these days. The guy floats an idea in the press that maybe FHA could create a new program to help upside-down borrowers -- by insuring 80 to 85 percent of a loan, instead of the full amount -- and the Bush administration acts like he's that embarrassing relative who gets loaded and jumps up on the bandstand at weddings.

Jackson told the Washington Times last week that he'd proposed the new loan guarantee program to the White House.

But a HUD spokesman now tells the Wall Street Journal that Jackson was "referring to one possible idea that has been out there for some time." HUD would not confirm Jackson's statements to the Washington Times -- even though he went to the paper and had a lengthy discussion with reporters and editors -- or that a proposal had been submitted to the White House.

The Journal says the plan was submitted to the Office of Management and Budget, but Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson also seemed eager to distance the administration from the idea, conceding vaguely that Jackson "is examining the potential for FHA to be a solution for these borrowers," the Journal reports.

Jackson may have been trying to keep Democrats from taking the lead on the issue -- Rep. Barney Frank has proposed legislation that would provide FHA with $300 billion in additional mortgage guarantees to refinance something on the order of 2 million upside down loans, with lenders recovering no more than 85 percent of a property's current value (see Inman News story).

The housing secretary's announcement to the Washington Times -- a conservative paper that can count on Bush administration officials like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice dropping by for exclusive interviews -- that HUD was considering a similar program was largely overshadowed by an off-the-cuff remark he made in the course of the interview.

"I'm an attorney, and I've had eight houses and I didn't read all that mess," Jackson said of the stack of paperwork involved with buying a home. "If I didn't read it — and I doubt anyone around this table read it — then we can't hold people responsible for not reading every line when they were closing their loan."

Jackson was trying to explain why HUD is proposing to simplify loan disclosures. But his admission that he doesn't read the fine print of his loan terms was widely disparaged by bloggers.

"Can you imagine your financial adviser saying something like that?" Bankrate.com's Holden Lewis wondered. "You'd find a replacement, pronto. But we're stuck with this housing secretary until January."

That's because the Bush administration, while it may not be backing Jackson's proposal to allow FHA to help upside down borrowers, is standing behind him as controversy over allegations of cronyism and favoritism have culminated in calls for his resignation.

There are four investigations into allegations that Jackson has, among other things, withheld funds from the Philadelphia Housing Authority after it wouldn't hand over $2 million in public property to a friend of Jackson's, and steered contracts to other friends through housing authorities in New Orleans and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

When Jackson refused to answer questions about those and other allegations at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on HUD's budget, Democratic Senators Chris Dodd and Patty Murray drafted a letter to President Bush demanding Jackson's resignation.

The administration is standing behind the housing secretary, but the Washington Post has now dubbed him "Stonewall Jackson" and the New York Times editorial board opines that he "is a little distracted right now."

Dodd and Murray were a little more dramatic in their letter to the President demanding Jackson's resignation.

"The nation is in the midst of a housing crisis and it is imperative that (HUD) be headed by a leader who can work tirelessly to find solutions to the problems plaguing the housing and mortgage markets," they wrote. "Unfortunately, the allegations surrounding Secretary Jackson, as well as his rejection of appropriate Congressional oversight of his Department, undermine his ability to effectively address the current housing crisis. During this critical period, the American people do not need a HUD Secretary that is distracted by the clouds of Justice Department investigations and reports of an empanelled grand jury."

Maybe now would be an opportune time to send Jackson back to China to hawk U.S. mortgage-backed securities?

The staff directory page at the Pacific West Association of Realtors shows that even typically drab Web pages with dozens of mug shots, names and titles can be fun ... and funny.

See if you can find something out of the ordinary when you peruse the management information systems staff at this site.

Inman's own Matt Carter just buttoned up a three-part Special Report giving a deep look at HUD's latest RESPA reform proposal, and how it meshes with issues that stopped reform from going through six years ago.

The full PDF is available and downloadable to Inman Premium members at this link.

The public comment period for HUD's proposed changes to RESPA, which center mostly on disclosures for mortgage borrowers, is open until May 18. If your company or organization is submitting a comment, please let Inman News know by dropping us an email to matt@inman.com.

When the market gets tough, many people look for ways to cut expenses so it's no surprise that tech videocaster extraordinaire Chris Pirillo presents the idea of conducting a real estate transaction without an agent in a recent episode.

Todd Carpenter, a mortgage industry insider and blogger at Lenderama, suggests a real estate agent should step in and debate the tips presented in the show.

Couple of issues here:

1. As Dustin Luther points out, the tech crowd approaches the real estate transaction differently -- they see it as an inefficient transaction that could be made more efficient through technology. (I actually think this feeling goes beyond the tech crowd.) And thus was born many sites like Zillow and Trulia. Ask any newer online real estate company what sparked its birth and you will inevitably hear a story along the lines of "When I bought my first house I thought it was an inefficient process and felt that more information needed to be available to me."

2. In the so-called information age where a lot of real estate info such as listings and valuations are readily available, younger consumers will need to understand more of the agent's value proposition beyond information gatekeeper. It may seem like we constantly go through this back and forth of consumers questioning whether they need an agent or not -- and some may be fine on their own -- but isn't that a symptom of folks not getting how an agent could help them? Or, this may even be based on subpar experiences with agents they've transacted with in the past.

So agents, here's your chance to explain the value to a group of young techies. Have at it.

I've been talking to some folks in the real estate industry for an upcoming special report about HUD's new RESPA reform proposal, and what I'm hearing are concerns that while this may be "RESPA light" with a focus on improved disclosures, there are some incentives for packaging that, the more people look at them, the more they remind them of the rule change HUD tried and failed to push through nearly six years ago.

(This post is continued in the comments section).

A Reuters news report details how some cities are grappling with the growing problem of vacant and abandoned homes -- a blighting side effect of the housing market downturn and rise in foreclosures.

The city of Buffalo, N.Y., sued dozens of lenders last month related to foreclosed and abandoned properties that were ultimately demolished, according to the report, while Syracuse, N.Y., began selling vacant homes last year for $1 each to non-profit groups and has since extended the offer to private companies.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told the reporter that homicide victims were found in some abandoned structures, while others had been used for dog fights and drug dealing, the article states.

Lengthy foreclosure processes and complicated chains of ownership can contribute to the idle time for the vacant properties.

Some real estate agents who work with bank-owned foreclosure properties have suggested that cities in some cases need to be more forgiving about imposing fees for a lack of maintenance on foreclosed properties, as there can be lag times in the processing of the properties before they reach the market as REOs.