Archives

WARREN, MI - March 3, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- State Senator Steven Bieda (D-Warren) announced today he has made available a taxpayer’s guide to property tax assessment to assist Macomb County residents. The guide, posted on Senator Bieda’s web-site at www.senate.michigan.gov/Bieda, focuses on taxpayer rights and explains the assessment appeals process

February 23, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Giuseppe Cracchiolo, 60, of Romeo, Michigan, was sentenced for his role in a mortgage fraud scheme to six months’ imprisonment, followed by three years’ supervised release, United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - February 15, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Joseph Carr, 56, of Lansing, Michigan, pled guilty to one count of bank fraud, U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis announced today. Carr admitted as part of his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh W. Brenneman Jr. that he defrauded Bank of America by recruiting “straw buyers” to apply for a mortgage loan for a home that he himself intended to occupy, and inflated the value of that home in order to increase the amount of the loan. In this manner, he was able to secure a loan of $175,000 for his own use. In his plea agreement, Carr also acknowledged that other related fraudulent activities resulted in losses of $1,147,250

WASHINGTON, DC - February 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Justice Department announced today that Dalton Township, Mich., will pay $62,500 to settle a lawsuit alleging that the township discriminated against a group home for persons recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The settlement was approved today by Judge Gordon J. Quist of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

January 21, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) today noted that the Michigan Department of Treasury is now processing Michigan Home Heating Credits (HHC) for the 2010 tax year. The credit assists low-income customers with winter energy bills.

January 10, 2011 - (RealEstateRama) -- Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth (DELEG) Acting Director Andrew S. Levin warns Michigan licensed residential builders, and maintenance and alteration contractors to be aware of a possible scam that involves a mailing they may have received which looks deceptively like a mailing from DELEG.

LANSING, MI - December 27, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- A recently released report shows homeownership counseling networks in Michigan and nationwide are bringing significant relief to over a million families struggling to avoid foreclosure, Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) Executive Director Gary Heidel announced today. MSHDA is part of a national effort through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) program bringing major counseling assistance to over a million families.

December 27, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth's (DELEG) Bureau of Energy Services Director Amy Butler, today announced that DELEG is awarding five different grants $15,000 each for Home Seminars and Tours projects. Home Seminars and Tours projects provide hands on examples for citizens on how to make homes more energy efficient

November 16, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a proposal by Fidelity National Financial, Inc. to sell rights to certain assets used in conducting real estate title searches. Fidelity is required to sell these rights to comply with an FTC Order that settled charges that Fidelity’s 2008 acquisition of three LandAmerica Financial subsidiaries reduced competition in markets for real estate title information services. This proposal resolves Commission concerns that Fidelity would be the only provider of title plant information services in the Detroit, Michigan, metropolitan area

November 8, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Applications are now available from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment for funding under the DNRE's fiscal year 2011 Scrap Tire Cleanup Grant Program. Property owners with abandoned scrap tires and scrap tires at collection sites are eligible for funding assistance under this program.

November 5, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Bureau of Fire Services (BFS) in the Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth urges consumers to change batteries in their smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors when changing their clocks to Standard Time (setting clocks back one hour) that officially begins on Sunday, November 7 at 2 am. Having working smoke detectors with fresh batteries can provide a family with crucial extra seconds to escape a burning home.

October 29, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) released the following statement as a status update on an investigation into allegations of illegal housing advertisement discrimination. The allegations related to a roommate wanted posting in a Grand Rapids area church which indicated a preference for a "Christian roommate."

Lansing, MI - October 19, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) announced today Ellen Kisinger-Rothi, Executive Director of Housing Resource, Inc. in Kalamazoo, is the recipient of the 2010 Carla Javits Award for her dedicated service and forward thinking in the Campaign to End Homelessness in Michigan

WASHINGTON, DC - October 18, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, both D-Mich., today announced that two Michigan housing development firms will receive a combined $6 million in federal awards designed to help develop affordable housing in low-income communities. Lansing-based Great Lakes Capital Fund Nonprofit Housing Corporation will receive $4 million and Detroit-based Southwest Housing Solutions will receive $2 million through the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Capital Magnet Fund.

LANSING, MI - October 18, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Governor Jennifer M. Granholm yesterday called on the nation's top lending institutions that service mortgages in Michigan to suspend all foreclosures pending investigation of possibly fraudulent foreclosure filings. The governor also repeated her call for the nation's top lenders to fully participate in the Michigan's Helping Hardest Hit Homeowners Fund to help homeowners avoid foreclosure