Headline News Archive
2007
May
14
- Test the waters before choosing retirement locale. You'd think Warren Bland would have had a smooth transition to retirement. After all, he spent three years researching 60 places in the USA and…
08
- Bank of America offers no fee home loans. Bank of America (BAC) said Monday it is offering no-fee mortgages nationwide for Americans buying homes. The second-largest U.S. bank said it won't charge for…
07
- Katrina victims find storm is not over. For Gloria Vallery, the 20 months since Hurricane Katrina have brought a succession of financial agonies. Too little insurance money to cover her property damage.…
06
- Lenders help homeowners catch up, stay put. Ernestine Witherspoon managed to hang onto her house in Northeast Washington even after she lost her job and fell far behind on her mortgage payments.…
05
- IRS 'kick homeowners while they're down' rule. For homeowners who are seriously delinquent on their mortgages and hoping for relief, the Internal Revenue Service has bad news: If your lender agrees to…
04
- House panel passes FHA reform. A U.S. congressional committee on Thursday voted to reform a Depression-era housing program that could save many subprime borrowers from foreclosure. The House of Representatives…
- Schumer takes aim at subprime lending. In a bid to stop a wave of foreclosures, Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday urged Congress to approve $300 million for counseling and…
April
30
- Flippers flop as housing market cools. n the rampant real estate speculation of the Las Vegas valley three years ago, people lined up outside Pulte Homes sales offices overnight as if…
- Title insurance costs: too high?. Title insurance typically is a large, mandatory cost for home purchasers and mortgage refinancers - often in the $1,000 to $2,000 range. But is the…
26
- The three worlds of mortgage lending. There is a language of money, complete with its own vocabulary. It's in your interest to know as much of the terminology as you can,…
25
- Home appliance purchases demand homework. You’ll probably spend a lot of time considering color and style when choosing a new home appliance. My wife and I did. Just don’t forget…
- Property taxes up as house prices fall. Property taxes will keep rising nearly everywhere for homeowners even as house prices are falling in many parts of the country, according to a USA…
23
- Lenders criticized for role in foreclosures. Consumer advocates have begun criticizing major mortgage lenders, such as Countrywide Financial Corp. and GMAC Financial, that also have in-house foreclosure businesses. It is "mind-boggling"…
- Electric deregulation's promise fails. BENTON, Ill. — This wasn't supposed to happen with deregulation. Electric bills were supposed to go down. Instead, Ellie Dorchincez can almost see the dollars…
21
- Negative impact of appraisal inflation. Have inflated appraisals helped fuel the surge in foreclosures on credit-strapped borrowers? Are such appraisals at the core of many mortgage-fraud schemes? The four largest…
20
- Home sellers end up owing in 'upside down' sales. Jeffrey Taylor and his wife bought their dream home in Purcellville for $538,000 last August. Now they have to sell it because they are getting…
19
- Safeguard your home from flooding. Some parts of the Northeast are still swimming in water from the weekend storm. We're going to tell you what you can do to protect…
- Freddie Mac helps homeowners refinance subprime loans. Freddie Mac, one of the nation's largest mortgage investors, plans to buy about $20 billion worth of mortgages that would primarily refinance the loans of…
18
- Regulators urge cautious approach in foreclosures. Federal regulators Tuesday urged lenders to be flexible with borrowers who are behind on their home payments, as mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie…
- States can't regulate national bank mortgage subsidiaries. The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that states may not regulate the mortgage-lending subsidiaries of national banks, in a case that pitted all 50 states and…
14
- Mortgage Mod Squad saves homes. With large numbers of homeowners falling behind on mortgage payments, lenders across the country are seeking ways to keep delinquent customers out of foreclosure. One…
12
- $1 Billion pledged to help fend off foreclosures. Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, an 18-year-old housing advocacy group, yesterday announced it would commit $1 billion to refinancing the loans of lower-income people at…
11
- Wall Street makes subprime restructuring tough. As lawmakers and regulators try to help strapped homeowners with "subprime" mortgages stave off foreclosure, they face an unexpected hurdle: Wall Street. Millions of subprime…
10
- New web sites aim to educate borrowers. At a time when many families are losing their homes to foreclosure, mortgage experts are offering new tools to help home buyers avoid making the…
- Lax lending aided mortgage fraud. Atlanta, GA — The man was one slick fraud artist. Phillip Hill lured people to fancy cocktail parties in a $1.9 million mansion. He asked…