Donald TrumpDespite having withdrawn his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in May, New York real estate developer Donald Trump may still consider a run for president, he told CBS News yesterday, because “the country is going to hell in a handbasket” (see video after the jump). “I’m still thinking about it,” he told CBS’ Bob Schieffer. “We’ll see what happens.” [more]

Although an agreement on fixing the mortgage mess between state attorneys general and mortgage lenders was nearly crystallized, Obama’s new Financial Crimes Unit, revealed in the State of the Union address yesterday evening, could throw a wrench into the works, CNBC reported.

“This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans,” Obama said. [more]

From the September issue: Home energy efficiency and sustainability have been major policy priorities for the Obama administration, but lurking in the background are two consistent, pesky questions: Beyond the documentable savings on utilities bills, do such steps add to the resale value of a home? And do they make it easier or faster to sell property? Housing groups and housing officials say that definitive statistical data covering multiple regions of the country is scarce. But some localized research projects in Oregon, Washington and California offer promising hints. In a study covering existing and new houses sold between May of last year and April 30 of this year, the Earth Advantage Institute, a nonprofit group based in Portland, Ore., found that newly constructed homes with third-party certifications for sustainability and energy efficiency sold for 8 percent more on average than noncertified homes in the six-county Portland metropolitan area. Existing houses with certifications sold for 30 percent more.
[more]

The Congressional Budget office has thrown cold water on a U.S. initiative to refinance loans held by millions of homeowners, and stated its support for Edward DeMarco, the Federal Housing Finance Agency acting chief, who has drawn criticism for his skepticism of the plan, the Financial Times reported.

The initiative would effectively leave private investors with double in losses what borrowers would get in payment relief, researchers at the CBO found in a recent study.

“The study recognises the enormous losses private investors would suffer in a transfer of wealth to borrowers,” said Joshua Rosner, a housing finance expert and managing director at independent research firm Graham Fisher & Co. [more]

The Obama administration is giving unemployed homeowners in 27 states extra time to apply for a new $1 billion foreclosure-prevention program, due to a lack of qualified applicants, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Homeowners have until Sept. 15 to apply for the new Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program, and must be approved by Sept. 30, when the government’s authority to make new loans expires.
The program, designed to help up to 30,000 unemployed homeowners continue making their mortgage payments, has run into various issues, including delays in launching for several months due to difficulties in coming to agreements with state agencies.
So far, out of 80,000 people who have applied, only about 10,000 have met requirements. When the program finally launched in June, David Berenbaum, chief program officer of the Washington-based National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which is helping out with the program, admitted it would be challenging to enroll borrowers within such a short time. [WSJ]

The CEO of U.S. real estate company Realogy Corporation, owner of major brokerages the Corcoran Group, Citi Habitats, Century 21 and Coldwell Banker, is calling on the White House to hold a “housing summit,” the Wall Street Journal reported, an event that would address hurdles facing the housing market.
Such an event would give “the benefit of unfiltered, real-time market feedback,” Realogy CEO Richard Smith wrote in a letter sent this past Friday to President Barack Obama. “Now that the debt ceiling is behind the administration, behind Congress, they need to be focused on housing,” he said.
It is not immediately clear what ideas such a summit might produce, the Journal said. While some policymakers have campaigned for aggressive loan modifications, others say the government should back out of real estate markets. [more]

1. Meadowlands racetrack and Newmark Knight Frank’s Jeff Gural reach an agreement
[NJ Biz]
2. UWS residents protest Duane Reade‘s giant neon sign
[Racked]
3. Source says Donald Trump has no intention of running for president
[ProducerMatthew.com]
4. Donald Trump terms Obama unfit for his Ivy League education
[HuffPo]
5. Unemployed construction worker says he didn’t mean to set Sunset Park apartment fire
[NYDN]
6. Famed pizza king opens restaurant at 15 West 21st Street
[NYO]
7. Bail bond agents suffer through the housing crisis
[WSJ]
8. Brooklyn’s highest penthouse is rented for $6,300
[Curbed]
[more]

Home prices remain weak nationwide, according to the Obama administration’s March Housing Scorecard, released today by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Treasury Department. The report, which pointed to the most recent S&P/Case-Shiller housing data, shows that home prices are still down by 3 percent from a year ago. Raphael Bostic, the assistant HUD secretary, said that the market outlook isn’t good. TRD [more]

From the March issue: Fixed 30-year mortgage rates in the 5 percent range? Minimum down payments below 5 percent? Jumbo-size home loans for high-cost markets at regular interest rates? Kiss them good-bye — possibly sooner than you might guess. Take a snapshot of today’s mortgage market conditions and frame it. It’s highly likely you’ll never see anything like these favorable combinations of rates and terms again. That’s the inescapable conclusion emerging from the Obama administration’s “white paper” on optional remedies for the two ailing giants of housing finance — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — along with events already under way in the national economy. [more]

President Barack Obama is pushing Congress to rework an existing tax deduction for landlords who retrofit their commercial properties to create better incentives for promoting energy efficiency, NBC News reported. The plan, revealed today during a speech at Pennsylvania State University, is part of Obama’s post-State of the Union address tour, piggybacking on his call during the Jan. 25 speech to reduce the nation’s dependence on oil. Today, Obama set a goal of reducing energy use in U.S. commercial properties by 20 percent by the year 2020. [more]