For Amazon the core to their business is data. In the US the core starting point for property data is the 900+ MLS’s that are the dinosaurs of the industry – for Amazon equally as major a hurdle to overcome as Trulia and Zillow have found. However Amazon is not purely a US company and therefore it is not inconceivable to see Amazon launch a real estate serendipity engine in the UK for example where comprehensive data already exists of users as well as listings.

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank could begin tapering bond purchases aimed at boosting the economy later this year. But he stressed that could change, depending on how the economy performs.

 

In prepared remarks for his semiannual monetary report before the House financial services committee, the Fed chairman said, "With unemployment still high and declining only gradually, and with inflation running below the Committee's longer-run objective, a highly accommodative monetary policy will remain appropriate for the foreseeable future."

 

Bernanke said that if the incoming economic data confirms a strengthening labor market and inflation moving back toward the central bank's 2 percent target, "We anticipated that it would be appropriate to begin to moderate the monthly pace of purchases later this year."

 

But he emphasized that this plan is not a "preset course."

 

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“ Partisan political gamesmanship by the Assembly Appropriations Committee penalizes struggling homeowners who sold their homes in a short sale in the past eight months, forcing them to pay state income taxes on money they never received.”

In one fell swoop today, Microsoft is becoming an extremely different type of company. Microsoft is pushing hard to recreate itself as a “devices and services” company and today it took a very big step in that direction by buying, you guessed it, Nokia’s mobile devices and services division.

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate conforming mortgage last week was 4.73 percent while the average for a jumbo 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 4.71 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

“ 10.7 million residential homeowners nationwide are deeply underwater, but another 8.3 million homeowners are on track to have enough equity to sell sometime in the next 15 months”

In a nearly unanimous vote today, the National Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors approved recommendations that will help realtor.com® compete head-to-head with third-party listing aggregators on building a comprehensive site, including more unlisted new homes and rentals.