News

2008

June

24

• Love the home you're stuck with. When prices were soaring, credit was flowing and selling was as easy as jamming a FOR SALE sign into your front lawn, the simplest way to upgrade your home was to sell and get the

23

• Cities fight foreclosures with unusual tactics. Just two months ago, Aaron Brokenbough had no clout and little say when lenders moved to foreclose on his home. His Philadelphia row house was scheduled for a sheriff's sale, the end of the road

21

• FHA targets downpayment 'gift' programs. What's wrong with down-payment "gift" programs in which all or most of a home buyer's equity stake comes from the seller, funneled through a third party? And why is the federal government determined to ban

20

• Arrestan cientos por fraude inmobiliario. Una investigación federal de tres meses concluyó jueves con el arresto de unos 400 sospechosos vinculados con el negocio inmobiliario, en una ofensiva contra el fraude hipotecario que ha contribuido a la crisis de vivienda

19

• D.C. foreclosures soar past most. The Washington region now has one of the fastest-growing foreclosure rates in the nation, as 15,613 homes went into foreclosure during the one-year period ending in February, an analysis to be released today has found. Although

17

• Real estate agents court Gen Y. Jacky Teplitzky used to turn to all the time-tested tools to drum up business for her New York-based real estate firm, Prudential Douglas Elliman. Billboards. Mailings. Advertising. Not anymore. The brutal real estate slump has

• Mortgage lenders pledge more help. Major mortgage lenders have agreed to streamline and speed up the process for assisting distressed homeowners, according to new guidelines set to be released today. The guidelines will address the complaints of homeowners and housing

• La economía aprieta a los hispanos. La delicada situación económica de Estados Unidos está afectando a más del 80 por ciento de los hispanos mayores de 45 años, incluso aquellos que supuestamente están preparados para enfrentar el retiro.

16

• Electricity bills going up, up, up. Here's a shocker: Electricity bills are heading up. Way up. Utilities across the USA are raising power prices up to 29%, mostly to pay for soaring fuel costs, but also to build new plants and refurbish

15

• Winter worries come early. It may seem crazy to fret about winter, with summer’s official start just days away. Yet the rising price of winter is on my mind, as it is for many of us who heat

• Starting your first job?. To the hundreds of thousands of young people who have landed entry-level jobs that come with health insurance and a retirement plan, I offer my congratulations. Things are tough out there right now, so you

• Peer-to-peer lending for home loans. Homeowners who are having trouble borrowing against their house are starting to look to an interesting new source for cash: strangers. Online networks have emerged in recent years that allow people to find loans or

• Steps to take for surviving job loss. Unemployment can strike anywhere, any time. And as we see right now, it's striking more often. The national unemployment rate in May had its biggest one-month jump in more than 20 years, rising a half-point to 5.5

14

• Anatomy of a meltdown. The Washington Post begins a three day series: Forces converge to fuel the biggest American housing boom since the 1950s: plunging interest rates, exotic new Wall Street securities that flood the mortgage industry with cash,

• Home equity losses not felt evenly. As a homeowner, seller or buyer, what should you make of the Federal Reserve's latest report on Americans' declining home-equity positions? Panic? Mild concern? No big deal? The dollar losses involved were huge and sobering.

12

• Mortgage investors to chip in for homeowners' counseling. Mortgage investors are rolling out a plan to pay housing counselors who assist troubled homeowners in avoiding foreclosure. Nonprofit counselors have long depended on charities and governments for funding. They see the change as a

11

• Urge educación financiera. La crisis inmobiliaria ha puesto de manifiesto la urgencia de promover la educación financiera entre la comunidad hispana y el tema de cómo proveer y ampliar esa educación se discutió en una

09

• California slow to reform mortgage industry. As the worst foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression drags down the California economy, the Legislature is making only limited progress this year on proposals for sweeping changes in the home mortgage industry. Amid fanfare

• No-money down mortgages still available. Despite the bursting of the housing bubble, it's still possible to buy homes with no money down. In fact, it's possible to borrow up to 105 percent of the purchase price, leaving the buyer with more

07

• Never pay in advance to fix your credit. Picture this: You're eager to take advantage of today's troubled real estate market and buy a foreclosed house at a fire-sale price. But you don't have much money for a down payment. And your credit