March 2011

(Source: Associated Press/AP Online) LONDON – Police have arrested nine people, including two of Britain’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, on suspicion of fraud in connection with the 2008 collapse of Iceland’s Kaupthing bank during the global financial crisis. Britain’s Serious Fraud Office [...]

SALT LAKE CITY (Source: KSL.com) — Many Americans have applied for the federal government’s loan modification program, meant to keep them in their homes. Instead, less than a quarter of those who signed up have gotten any help. The banks [...]

Las Vegas, NV (Source: KTNV) - A large percentage of Nevada homeowners now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.  Many are unable to make their mortgage payments because of reduced incomes or payment increases on adjustable rate [...]

(Source: Leader-Telegram) -A former waitress at an Eau Claire restaurant will spend a year on probation for altering several customers’ credit card slips to give herself larger tips. Cassandra J. Pio, 20, of Wisconsin Rapids pleaded no contest Monday in [...]

(Source: By The Philadelphia Inquirer) – The resignation of the Philadelphia Housing Authority board of commissioners was needed to remove the cloud of mismanagement and distractions at the agency. PHA Chairman John F. Street and four other board members finally [...]

(Source: By Pete Carey, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.) – Short sales, in which homes are sold for less than is owed on them, have become such obstacle courses for buyers and sellers in California that fewer than three in [...]

(Source: By Jim Buchta, Star Tribune, Minneapolis) – March 05–Doug Duncan has been Fannie Mae’s vice president and chief economist since April 2008. He has a complicated job. He manages its economics and mortgage market analysis group and he keeps [...]

(Source: By Andrew Edwards, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Calif.) – Selling a home through a “short sale” can be such a difficult process that less than 60 percent of such deals are ever completed, according to the California Association of [...]

(Source: The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania) – I came across a mortgage scam I hadn’t heard of before. It happened in Nevada, but could happen anywhere. I’m surprised I haven’t run across this before. It’s pretty slick.

(Source: The Florida Times-Union By David Bauerlein) – Edward J. Rukab says it might have been “bailout fever” that convinced him to apply for a mortgage modification.

(Source: News Sentinel) – As one of the few backers of low-down-payment mortgages in a time of stringent lender underwriting, the Federal Housing Administration has become a primary means of financing for U.S. home buyers.

(Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer By Jennifer Lin and Mark Fazlollah) – After months of turmoil, federal housing administrators took temporary control of the Philadelphia Housing Authority on Friday, putting a well-known former city official, Estelle Richman, in charge of an [...]

(Source: Knoxville Journal-Express By Sarah Trefethen) – Terry Buffum went looking for help and almost lost her house.

(Source: Morning Star By Matt Tomsic) – Foreclosures over updaid dues and assessments by local homeowners and condominium associations have more than doubled since 2008, though the filings have waned recently, a StarNews review of New Hanover County foreclosure filings [...]

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Source: News Sentinel By Christina RexRode) – There’s a hallowed rule in U.S. housing policy: If you own a home, you get a tax deduction on your mortgage interest.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -(Source: Charleston Daily Mail By George Hohmann) – It’s every homebuyer’s dream: Pay cash and move in mortgage free. The West Virginia Housing Development Fund, an expert in low-cost mortgages, is poised to do just that.

(Source: Waterloo Courier By Jeff Reinitz) – Two former employees of a failed farm equipment dealership have been sentenced to prison for their connection to a scheme that prosecutors said bilked millions from banks and farmers.