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Federal stimulus package includes mortgage relief
NORTH BAY, Jan. 24, 2008 � An economic stimulus package announced today in Washington includes mortgage reform that could serve as a major boost to the local real estate market. The package, agreed upon today by Democratic and Republican House leaders and the Bush Administration, would increase the size limits for government-sponsored loans to as much a $729,750.
The proposal includes a one-year increase in the size of loans that can be purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac � government-affiliated companies and the largest buyers of mortgages on the secondary market � from $417,000 to up to $729,750. It would also let the Federal Housing Administration guarantee loans of up to $729,750, up from $362,000.
The changes would be especially helpful to homebuyers in high-cost areas such as the North Bay, according to real estate broker Ross Liscum, co-owner of Prudential California Realty offices in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park. More>>
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UK Mortgage Approvals Drop In December - BSA
(RTTNews) - UK's mortgage approvals dropped to 3.14 billion pounds in December to 4.23 billion pounds in November, a report from the Building Societies Association, or BSA, showed Monday. At the same time, building societies had net receipts of 1.89 billion pounds in December compared to 1.07 billion pounds in the previous year. In 2007, BSA received 16.1 billion pounds of savings inflows, which is almost double the 8.3 billion pounds inflow in 2006.
Meanwhile, net receipts to cash ISAs were 46 million pounds in December, almost half the 90 million pounds deposited in the same month of prior year.
Gross advances of the Building society accounted for 3.72 billion pounds, lower than 3.97 billion pounds seen in the previous year. Net advances reached 977million pounds versus 560 million pounds in December 2006. More>>
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Amstrad flat, looks to HDTV
Virgin UGC channel
EuroNews Mobile Video Alerts
MySpace claims copyright filter MySpace, News Corps social networking site, has started a pilot programme aimed at detecting copyrighted video content by using the audio on videos to identify and track them.
Using digital fingerprinting technology licensed from Audible Magic, the DRM provider, MySpace said it would screen video uploaded by users and block any video matching a fingerprint in MySpaces database. "MySpace is dedicated to ensuring that content owners, whether large or small, can both promote and protect their content in our community," said Chris DeWolfe, chief executive and co-founder of MySpace.
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Google accused of pirate aid
The WSJ reports Google is facing criticism from major media companies for cooperating with two sites accused of film pirating. More>>