News

2011

October

25

• New rules would help underwater homeowners refinance. Almost 1 million more homeowners over the next two years might be able to refinance their mortgages and save hundreds of dollars a month under the Obama Administration's latest fix to one of its underused…

• A surge in poverty is reshaping suburbs. The poor population in America’s suburbs — long a symbol of a stable and prosperous American middle class — rose by more than half after 2000, forcing suburban communities across the country to re-evaluate their…

22

• Condo nation: Why so few Americans are buying homes. The housing market is rebounding — at least one piece of it. Construction of multifamily homes such as condominiums and apartment buildings surged a whopping 51 percent in September as demand for rentals continued to…

21

• Real estate agents learning fine art of 'cash for keys'. When Mary Poland-Smith went into real estate 14 years ago, she never imagined that part of her job would involve handing out “cash for keys,” to persuade former home owners or renters to vacate their…

20

• Citigroup to pay to investors in negligence suit. Federal regulators charged a Citigroup unit with negligence Wednesday, saying it sold a $1 billion investment product tied to the weakening housing market in 2007 without telling investors it was using the instrument to bet…

19

• Plan would refinance some underwater mortgages. A proposal to allow some creditworthy homeowners to refinance underwater mortgages has become part of settlement talks between government officials and major banks over botched foreclosure paperwork. California would be a major beneficiary of such…

• Attorneys general push for Cordray to lead consumer agency. The White House has enlisted a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general to help break a blockade by Senate Republicans of President Obama’s nominee to lead the controversial new federal consumer watchdog agency. The National…

18

• Banks start to make more loans. Despite all the bleak economic news, a funny thing has been happening in the financial industry over the last few months: the banks have quietly turned on the lending spigot. Loan growth is still modest.…

13

• Sharp rise in foreclosures as banks move in. More U.S. homes are entering the foreclosure process, but they're taking ever longer to get sold or repossessed by lenders. The number of U.S. homes that received a first-time default notice during the July to…

• Banks turn to demolition of foreclosed properties. The sight of excavators tearing down vacant buildings has become common in this foreclosure-ravaged city, where the housing crisis hit early and hard. But the story behind the recent wave of demolitions is novel —…

09

• New addendum could help appraisers give credit for green features. Here's some good news for homeowners who've installed energy-saving features but haven't been sure appraisers will credit them with higher valuations: Thanks to a new industry-issued appraisal addendum, the odds have improved that such upgrades…

07

• Homeownership: Biggest drop since Great Depression. The percentage of Americans who owned their homes has seen its biggest decline since the Great Depression, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The rate of home ownership fell to 65.1% in April 2010, 1.1…

• Conquering with complaints. Consumers today are more empowered than ever after they've been wronged by a company. That's because squeaky wheels have more and better ways to squeak. Effective complaining is a learned skill, whether it involves a…

06

• Freddie and Fannie reject debt relief. Home values have fallen so much in Arizona that almost half the people with mortgages there owe more than their homes are worth. So when federal money became available to help stem the tide of…

• Secret docs show foreclosure watchdog doesn’t bark or bite. Why has the administration’s flagship foreclosure prevention program been so ineffective in helping struggling homeowners get loan modifications and stay in their homes? One reason: The government’s supervision of the program has apparently ranged from…

05

• BofA may face HUD fraud claims for defective Countrywide loans. Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, should face fraud claims after its Countrywide unit submitted faulty borrower data for federally insured mortgages, according to an audit by a U.S. watchdog. Half of 14…

• Suit says banks, mortgage companies cheated veterans and taxpayers. Some of the nation’s biggest banks and mortgage companies have defrauded veterans and taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars by disguising illegal fees in veterans’ home refinancing loans, according to a whistleblower suit…

04

• Getting a mortgage workout shouldn't be this exhausting. Jackie Durra and her husband, Pedro Balladares, have been riding out the economic downturn as best they can. For a while they were both out of work, making it a challenge to pay the bills…

• Wall Street protesters hope to plant seeds. New York’s budding anti-capitalism protest movement began last month with a vague sense of grievance over the widening gap between the rich and poor in America. But in three weeks, it has provided fuel for…

• Fannie Mae knew early of foreclosure abuses. Fannie Mae the mortgage finance giant, learned as early as 2003 of extensive foreclosure abuses among the law firms it had hired to remove troubled borrowers from their homes. But the company did little to…