Foreclosure News & Opinion

Stay on top of the latest news and trends in the foreclosure housing market. Hand-picked editorials, stories and opinion from newspapers, magazines, blogs and internet sources worldwide.

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Forestalling Foreclosure

A plan backed by the Obama administration would help desperate homeowners stay in their houses while they renegotiate their deb ...more

Foreclosures Halted Until March at Citi and JPMorgan

The two big banks are awaiting the Obama administration’s plan to modify troubled home loans. ...more

Foreclosure Filings Surge in December

December filings of foreclosure notices jumped to 303,000, an increase of 17 percent from November and 41 percent from December of 2007, according to RealtyTrac. The jump indicates that the slightly lower rate of foreclosure activity reported in the prior three months was largely due to laws put in place in California and other states that delay the foreclosure process. Now that these laws have been in force for several months, foreclosures that were in the pipeline in September and October are finally being carried through ...more

Fed Adopts Program To Stem Foreclosures

With its bailouts of Bear Stearns and American International Group, the Federal Reserve took a vast portfolio of mortgages onto its books. Now, it is trying to use its control of billions of dollars worth of home loans to help prevent foreclosures. ...more

U.S. weighs strategies to stem home foreclosures

The Obama administration is promising an aggressive fight against the rising tide of home foreclosures, but officials have yet to decide what strategy -- or combination of strategies -- they will use. ...more

Costs and Tighter Rules Thwart Refinancings

Interest rates are falling, but many potential borrowers may not qualify for the best rates. ...more

Swindlers Find Growing Market in Foreclosures

A new breed of swindlers calling themselves “foreclosure rescue companies” is preying on desperate homeowners. ...more

Mortgage rescue or rip off?

If mortgage lending was the Wild West during the boom years, foreclosure-prevention counseling is the lucrative new frontier of the bust. Nearly 1.6 million borrowers are in jeopardy of losing their homes this year, according to economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com, and thousands of new foreclosure-rescue companies are rushing in to offer the troubled homeowners loan work-out assistance. For a price. ...more

Citi Reaches Deal With Lawmakers on Home Loans

In a move that would help troubled homeowners, Citigroup agreed to support legislation that would let bankruptcy judges adjust mortgages for at-risk borrowers, leading Congressional Democrats said on Thursday. ...more

Denmark Offers a Model Mortgage Market: There is a safe way to securitize home loans. (George Soros)

The American system of mortgage financing is broken and needs a total overhaul. Until there is a realistic prospect of stabilizing housing prices, the value of mortgage-related securities will erode and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's efforts will come to naught. ...more

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