News

2008

May

17

• A new lease-purchase on life. The timing was all off for Catherine McAlpine and her family. She and her husband, Richard Eig, bought a house on a double lot in their Rockville neighborhood in September 2006, at the high-water mark for

• FHA changes driven by surprise finding. Who have better credit scores on average - home buyers with higher or lower incomes? Inside the country's fastest-growing home-mortgage program, the surprising answer is: People with lower incomes have slightly higher FICO scores. That

16

• Fraudulentos "rescates" inmobiliarios. La constante amenaza de enfrentar un embargo hipotecario obliga a muchos propietarios de vivienda a buscar alternativas que en algunos casos los exponen a estafas y a la eventual pérdida de su bien má

15

• Senator wants FTC to join Countrywide investigation. A top Senate Democrat on Wednesday asked the Federal Trade Commission to join other government and court agencies investigating Countrywide Financial, (CFC) the nation's largest home mortgage lender. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of

• Luxury foreclosures. For sale: Spacious home outfitted with six bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths, granite countertops, stainless-steel kitchen appliances, a three-car garage, exercise room and wet bar -- all for $875,000 in the Red Cedar West subdivision of Leesburg where houses

• ¡Me robaron la identidad!. ¿Cómo le robaron su información? ¡Es difícil saberlo! Hoy día, los delincuentes usan diversos métodos. Estos son algunos de los más frecuentes: Vigilan a las personas cuando escriben un

13

• A higher law for lending. The mortgage industry may be in meltdown, but at least one class of lender appears to be flourishing: Islamic finance companies that offer Muslim home buyers alternative arrangements such as lease-to-own deals so they can

12

• Finding house on the Web gets easier. As if home buyers do not have it good enough already, finding a house for sale on the Web is becoming easier. The triple threat of a weak market, legal pressure and increasing competition has

• Reclamos por los tornados. Los tornados ocurridos en Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri y algunas zonas del estado de Georgia recientemente, son un recordatorio de lo destructivos y mortales que pueden ser estos fenómenos climáticos que afectan a gran

• Mamá soltera y sus finanzas. No hay dudas que el Día de las Madres es una hermosa celebración. Pero, hablemos claro, para la mujer que tiene hijos, todos los días es Día de las Madres... aunque

10

• Moving: Beware of 'furniture ransom'. Leah Moore and her husband, Colby Nichols, assumed they would be in their new Chicago home in time for dinner. Why would they think otherwise? All their belongings were in boxes, they had little furniture

• Walkaway homeowners: Urban myth?. Bankers and housing market analysts are warning of a chilling new trend in the mortgage world: Homeowners voluntarily defaulting on their loans even though they can actually afford to make the payments. It's known colloquially

• Appraisal reform faces resistance. A legal brawl is breaking out over how homes are appraised, at what cost and by whom. The outcome could directly affect how much you pay for your next piece of real estate and how

08

• Fed, FTC propose new rules on poor-credit notices. Lenders would be required to tell consumers when they are being offered less favorable terms based on poorer credit scores under new rules proposed on Thursday by the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission.

• Seeking a mortgage workout? Be patient. It seems that mortgage servicers aren't satisfying anyone these days. Homeowners get fed up when they try to work something out with their servicers, to no avail. Real estate agents complain that mortgage companies drag

• Bush says he'll veto foreclosure relief bill. President Bush declared Wednesday that he would veto the foreclosure relief legislation under consideration in Congress, surprising Democrats who believed that they had administration support for key portions of the bills. In brief remarks after

07

• MoneyWi$e goes to Louisiana (Capital One and Consumer Action sponsor free financial literacy trainings). New Orleans — National consumer advocacy group Consumer Action and Capital One Financial Corporation announced that their joint MoneyWi$e financial literacy partnership will provide two financial education training meetings this week to community groups in

06

• Doubts raised on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As home prices continue their free fall and banks shy away from lending, Washington officials have increasingly relied on two giant mortgage companies — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — to keep the housing market afloat. But

• Bernanke: Let's fight foreclosures. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned late Monday that the federal government should do more to stave off home foreclosures that threaten credit markets and the economy, even as a Fed survey showed the percentage

05

• Mortgage investigation intensifies. Federal agencies are intensifying a criminal investigation of the mortgage industry and focusing on whether some lenders turned a blind eye to inflated income figures provided by borrowers. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the