Among the many things the Old Dominion University study suggested is that “paint” could actually lessen the chances of a house being sold. Not the actual paint of course, but only the word “paint” on the advertisement. Painting is but inevitable in rehabbing homes.

Thomas A. Thomson, the study’s coauthor, warned sellers that advertising a house’s new features may actually harm its chances. “It’s kind of like putting lipstick on a pig,” said Thomson, who is also the director of the Real Estate Finance and Development Program at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

A study of some 60,000 residential real estate transactions in Texas showed that listings that mentioned “new paint,” among other features, sold less than listings that did not mention them. Other “harmful” words include new carpet and roof work.

Take note though that the recommendations were intended for private home sellers and not for investors who are into home rehab. However, they do make a good point. Adding new paint and roof work will make buyers think “Why did they have to do some roof work on it? Maybe it has other problems.” They can’t help but question these things.

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Lawmakers revealed that they will be holding hearings in September to find ways to recover some of the $145 million the government has spent so far on the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac).

Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., said that the Congress wishes to find “innovative ideas for recovering the costs.” The statement came just after the Treasury announced that it will hold a conference on August 17 for the overhaul of the mortgage system.

Apart from the plan to find methods to recoup taxpayers’ money, legislators also want to examine more ways to improve the country’s system of providing mortgages. Some analysts believe that such reform can lead to significant changes in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or even their eventual abolition.

Congress is seeking “a complete restructuring of the tangle of housing finance tools so that we move forward in a way that protects taxpayers, prevents economic turmoil, and appropriately serves all aspects of the housing market,” Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee some $5 trillion-worth of home loans. This is equivalent to about half of all the mortgages in the country, or around 31 million home loans.

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As part of the new rules, brokers who work for agency-regulated institutions must register with the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry. They are also required to have their fingerprints scanned before they can conduct business in the future. The new regulation will be implemented on October 1, while the registry is expected to accept registrations by January 28, 2011.

The new regulation was announced after the Feds, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Office of the Thrift Supervision, the Farm Credit Administration, and the National Credit Union Administration finalized rules under the Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 (SAFE Act) this week.

Meanwhile, Americana Mortgage Group president Bob Moulton praised changes in financial rules, saying that they “cleaned up” the mortgage industry. However, he warned that the strict financial regulatory reform has reduced credit availability for mortgage lending.

Reports said thousands of mortgage brokers, who came under intense scrutiny in the aftermath of the burst of the housing bubble, have agreed to undergo mandatory education and credit checks since the SAFE Act was implemented two years ago. Many of them have also taken state and federal testing just to retain the right to handle mortgage originations.

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An online writer, however, tried to illustrate how much that money really amounts to. He chose $1 trillion because it was the amount of the fiscal deficit. That means the governments spent that much more than it took in. Be ready house rehabbers, here we go.

One of the examples the writer used was single family homes. The national median price for existing single-family homes in May was $179,400, according to the National Association of Realtors. And with that price, you’d be able to buy 5,574,136 typical American homes with $1 trillion. Could you actually imagine how much land it would need to host 5.6 million homes? This example is perhaps easier to understand for those in the flipping property business but it still in unbelievable, right?

And for house rehabbers who love cars (who doesn’t?) you’ll be able to buy 40,816,326 new cars costing $24,500 each. That’s equivalent to around 30% of the 135 million cars in the country.

Another example those flipping property will find interesting is the salary of households. The median household income in the U.S. was $52,029 in 2008. With that, you can replace the annual incomes of around 19.2 million American families.

We house rehabbers will never probably earn $1 trillion by flipping property. But hey, just thinking out loud.

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Data released by RealtyTrac Inc. showed that of 206 metropolitan areas with a minimum population of 200,000, 154, or almost 75%, reported an annual increase in foreclosure activity. The report also showed that the threat of foreclosure has spread beyond the cities that were mostly affected by the burst of the housing bubble, indicating that the country’s problem with lender-repossessed homes is worsening further.

The state of Florida led the increase in foreclosure activity, accounting for nine of the top 20 metropolitan areas with the highest foreclosure rates. According to the firm, the Sunshine State’s Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompani Beach metro area received the most number of foreclosure-related warnings during the first half of 2010.

RealtyTrac senior vice president Rick Sharga blamed the country’s high unemployment rate for the growing number of foreclosed homes. “The face of foreclosure is driven much more now by unemployment than in the past, and it’s moving out from the places where we’ve been focusing on in the last few years. The combination of a weak job market and a weak housing market is making it difficult in some of these areas,” he said.

Sharga added that with the growing number of repossessed homes, it is quite unlikely that the housing market will see a “meaningful and sustainable” increase in home prices over the next three years.

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“Our respondents indicate that the effect of the oil spill is being felt across Florida despite the fact that oil is currently only showing up on beaches in the Panhandle,” a University of Florida (UF) official said. Timothy Becker, director of UF’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, made the remark as the center released its quarterly survey.

“The devastating effect of the spill on the Panhandle’s economy has created a giant cloud of uncertainty that is affecting all markets across the state,” he added. Staring in gas in April, the Deepwater Horizon has so far spilled between 90 million and 180 million gallons of oil.

Apart from the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the study also believes that Florida’s unemployment rate will continue to haunt the real estate market. Becker said that until the state starts seeing an improvement in job rates, the local real estate market is unlikely to see a rebound. “Unemployment drives everything for the real estate market, and while unemployment has gotten slightly better this past quarter, it’s not a significant difference.”

At present, Florida hold’s the fifth highest unemployment rate in the country. The figure stood at a seasonally adjusted average of 11.4% in June, slightly better from May’s 11.7%.

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The 15,500-square foot property is where the actor and director reportedly entertained his Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, and other fellow friends from the show business industry. But that’s not the only reason why you should persevere in your rehabbing business and buy this house (although that seems like a remote possibility as you will need a few years to amass that much money).

When you fix and flip, you sometimes meet houses that appear to be weird on the exteriors. They then shock you further with the interiors. This is that type of house. Outside, the main house looks like an industrial warehouse made from corrugated metal. Once you see its interiors though, you’ll be amazed. It has a loft feel and features some really cool furniture and fixtures.

It has a glass-enclosed bathtub and a lot of huge oriental rugs, which were probably from places the “Easy Rider” visited. The house has very high ceilings and exposed wood beams. There’s a sense of masculinity in it that’s really reminiscent of the late actor.

“Shocking by interiors,” let’s just coin that term, is probably dangerous in rehabbing homes because buyers tend to be easily turned off by ugly exteriors. The better thing to do is to perhaps make both the exterior and interior look good.

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The Treasury Department said that the August 17 conference will discuss possible measures to fix the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac), the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) it control of in September 2008. It follows the government’s decision to seek public comment on how to mend the system in April.

The government is hoping that the conference will spark a “comprehensive housing finance reform proposal for delivery to Congress by January 2011.” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that the proposal should be one that “protects taxpayers, institutes tough oversight, restores the long-term health of our housing market, and strengthens our nation’s economic recovery.”

“Now is the time to build on the foundation we laid with the historic Wall Street Reform legislation President Obama signed last week and aggressively move forward to improve our nation’s housing finance system,” said.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played crucial roles in the 2008 mortgage crisis, which led to a deep economic recession. They account for almost three-fourths of the mortgage market and invested $5.9 trillion into the sector. So far, the government has spent $84 billion dollars on Fannie Mae and $61 billion on Freddie Mac after the crisis to save them from insolvency.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey Goldstein, the department’s undersecretary for domestic finance, said that apart from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the reform will also cover Ginnie Mae (Government National Mortgage Association), the Federal Housing Administration, the Federal Home Loan Banks, and a “significant private sector role” in originating, funding, and servicing mortgages.

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The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values rose 4.6% in May year-on-year as home buyers rushed to close deals to qualify for the federal tax credit program. The increase, which was the biggest since August 2006, exceeded earlier estimates of below 4.5%.

According to the report, 13 of the 20 cities listed in the index showed an annual jump in home prices. The biggest price increases were recorded in California, with the cities of San Francisco and San Diego registering gains of 18% and 12%, respectively. As compared with the previous month, 19 of the 20 areas covered by the index notched an increase on an unadjusted basis, led by a 2.7% gain in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a 2% surge in Atlanta, Georgia.

S&P index committee chairman David Blitzer said the first-time home buyer’s tax credit program still has a noticeable effect on the housing market despite its expiration on April 30. “There may still be some residual impact from the home buyers’ tax credit. It still looks possible that the housing market might bounce along the bottom for the foreseeable future, before showing any real improvement that will filter through to the rest of the economy,” he added.

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Use mirrors effectively when rehabbing homes. That’s mirrors with an “s.” A mirror creates an illusion of space. Installing large mirrors on some walls actually make the room look double its actual size. One trick you can try is by placing two large mirrors facing each other. When waling in between the two mirrors, it appears as if the space of the room is endless.