President Bush and Congress have settled their differences on terrorist surveillance and Iraq war money. Now attention turns to a potential housing rescue, probably the last major initiative with any chance of passing before lawmakers scatter to campaign for re-election.
The Bush administration is temporarily suspending a 5-year-old rule intended to deter property flippers, as part of an effort to help speed the sale of foreclosed properties.
A Bush administration official warned Monday that a proposal to have the government back more bad loans would hurt taxpayers and could make the housing crisis even worse.
When the Senate Banking Committee passed a housing bill intended to limit foreclosures, panel Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said he expected the measure could help 500,000 borrowers stay in their homes.
Congress moved a big step closer Tuesday to expanding government efforts to help at-risk homeowners.
Senate Banking Committee leaders said Monday that they have come to a deal on a housing bill that would prevent foreclosures, create affordable housing and revamp oversight of two of the mortgage market's biggest players: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
On Capitol Hill this week, lawmakers are set to continue to grapple with the best response to the rising tide of home foreclosures. But the Bush administration says it has a solution in place: A nine-month old mortgage refinancing program run by the Federal Housing Administration.
Key lawmakers spent Thursday trying to broker a deal on a bill that would allow the government to insure up to $300 billion of home loans and overhaul oversight of key players in the mortgage industry.
The momentum behind congressional efforts to let the government offer more aid to struggling homeowners has hit stiff resistance.
Politicians in Washington are busy arguing about the financial and moral hazards of coming to the aid of troubled homeowners.
President Bush and Congress have settled their differences on terrorist surveillance and Iraq war money. Now attention turns to a potential housing rescue, probably the last major initiative with any chance of passing before lawmakers scatter to campaign for re-election.
The Bush administration is temporarily suspending a 5-year-old rule intended to deter property flippers, as part of an effort to help speed the sale of foreclosed properties.
A Bush administration official warned Monday that a proposal to have the government back more bad loans would hurt taxpayers and could make the housing crisis even worse.
When the Senate Banking Committee passed a housing bill intended to limit foreclosures, panel Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said he expected the measure could help 500,000 borrowers stay in their homes.
Congress moved a big step closer Tuesday to expanding government efforts to help at-risk homeowners.
Senate Banking Committee leaders said Monday that they have come to a deal on a housing bill that would prevent foreclosures, create affordable housing and revamp oversight of two of the mortgage market's biggest players: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
On Capitol Hill this week, lawmakers are set to continue to grapple with the best response to the rising tide of home foreclosures. But the Bush administration says it has a solution in place: A nine-month old mortgage refinancing program run by the Federal Housing Administration.
Key lawmakers spent Thursday trying to broker a deal on a bill that would allow the government to insure up to $300 billion of home loans and overhaul oversight of key players in the mortgage industry.
The momentum behind congressional efforts to let the government offer more aid to struggling homeowners has hit stiff resistance.
Politicians in Washington are busy arguing about the financial and moral hazards of coming to the aid of troubled homeowners.
A congressional proposal to have the government help homeowners refinance mortgages they can no longer afford will only help a small fraction of those who are at risk of losing their homes.
While Congress grapples with how to help troubled homeowners, the Bush administration is expanding a more modest effort to help at-risk borrowers.
A bill that would allow the government to guarantee new mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure passed the House on Thursday, but it faces a veto threat from the White House and an uncertain fate in the Senate.
The House on Thursday passed a contentious foreclosure-prevention package, which still faces a veto threat from the White House and an uncertain fate in the Senate.
Americans remain split on whether homeowners about to default on their mortgages should receive special treatment to help them keep their houses, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll.
The House on Wednesday began debate on a housing package that would let the government back loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure - a move many Republicans have opposed and which the White House has threatened to veto.
The House on Wednesday will begin debate on a housing package that would let the government back loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure - a move many Republicans have opposed and which the White House has threatened to veto.
A bill meant to help homeowners caught up in the spreading mortgage crisis received committee approval Thursday after Democrats fended off numerous Republican challenges to the bill.
A bill meant to help homeowners caught up in the spreading mortgage crisis received committee approval Thursday after Democrats fended off numerous Republican challenges to the bill.
Congressional Democrats and the White House are on a collision course over an ambitious proposal drafted to address the spreading mortgage crisis.
Congress appears eager to help more than a million homeowners facing foreclosure, but a proposal aimed at fixing the battered housing market could instead end up as the latest blow to a recovery.
Homeowners staggering under mounting mortgage debt and facing foreclosure could get cheaper, government-backed loans under Democrats' housing rescue plan
Congress isn't done debating how best to stem the foreclosure crisis, but one near-certainty has emerged: Lawmakers will pull together a housing bill that expands Washington's role in helping troubled borrowers.
For a firm that's gaining a reputation for cleaning up after financial disasters, BlackRock remains remarkably optimistic.
I won't be getting an economic-stimulus tax rebate check, but I'm not complaining about it. Not only am I fortunate to make too much money to qualify for a rebate, but I'm getting something far more valuable than the maximum $1,200 my wife and I could have gotten. Thanks to a relatively little-noticed portion of the stimulus package, we'll be able to refinance our house more cheaply than we otherwise could, or presumably sell it for more.
Lenders have helped nearly 1.2 million troubled home owners as part of a Bush-administration led housing rescue effort, according to numbers released Thursday by the Hope Now coalition.
At the center of all of Washington's efforts to rescue the battered housing markets is the formerly obscure Federal Housing Administration.
The Bush administration Wednesday outlined a plan to help homeowners at risk of foreclosure in an attempt to get out ahead of a more sweeping proposal by House Democrats.
Futures see-sawed Wednesday on more upheaval among some key financial firms and UPS' warning of a slowdown in the packages it carries.
The Senate is poised to pass a $15 billion package of housing measures intended to stabilize the housing market.
The Senate began debate Thursday on a $15 billion bipartisan housing relief package that could get a final vote by next week.
A bipartisan housing stimulus bill could be debated in the Senate as early as Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.
The housing crisis took center stage in the presidential race this week. For good reason: Recent data show that nearly a million American households are at risk of foreclosure, 71% more than a year ago. Nearly 6% of all borrowers are past due on their mortgages.
The federal government is keeping Bear Stearns out of bankruptcy. Are you next?
By early April, both chambers of Congress are likely to tie the bow on a bill that would expand the reach of the Federal Housing Administration, which aims to provide safe loan alternatives to subprime mortgages and make homeownership more accessible.
President Bush, citing concerns about the country's economic future, called Monday for swift passage of a $150 billion program intended to counter slowing growth.
New home sales posted the biggest drop on record in 2007, according to the government's latest look at the battered housing market, as a year that saw a meltdown in the mortgage market and a drop in home values ended with yet more signs of weakness.
Congress is expected to move swiftly on an economic stimulus package hammered out this week by House leaders and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. While individual tax rebates are the plan's centerpiece, Congressional leaders said the bill will include provisions aimed at spurring job creation and offering businesses tax incentives for equipment purchases.
The economic stimulus plan announced Thursday by Congress and the Bush administration includes provisions that specifically address the mortgage crisis. It aims to make getting a mortgage easier and cheaper in high-cost markets, to facilitate refinancing and to prevent foreclosures.
Congressional leaders and Bush administration officials agreed Thursday on a $150 billion stimulus measure aimed at keeping the economy from falling into recession.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson used a speech Monday to defend a plan brokered by the Bush administration to "freeze" mortgage rates for some subprime borrowers and also to call on Congress to pass legislation to head off a housing crisis.
Criticized for not doing enough to stave off foreclosures, the White House seems prepped to put on a full-court press in dealing with the housing crisis.
A Senate bill that would expand the functions of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) could help upwards of 200,000 homeowners - though a similar House bill that passed last month is more aggressive.
Already behind on your mortgage payments? No help there.
Lend a hand to distressed homeowners? No way, say many, who worry the tab will come out of their pockets as taxpayers.
If your credit is weak or your savings anemic, here are two phrases you're likely to hear from mortgage loan officers in the next few years: FHA and mortgage insurance.
The default rate on U.S. mortgages is stabilizing, an American housing official said Monday, adding she didn't expect last week's cut in U.S. interest rates to significantly affect the number of defaults.
Barney Frank and Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke want everyone to know this: They are not engaging in morally hazardous behavior.
If home prices fall as forecast, the $23 trillion housing market could lose $3 trillion in value by August 2008, a leading housing economist and former mortgage bank president told lawmakers on Wednesday.
House lawmakers are planning to vote Tuesday on an overhaul of a federal agency that insures mortgages against default in an effort to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.
The House approved Tuesday a plan to expand federal backing of mortgages in hopes of helping struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Hundreds of thousands of homeowners who may struggle to make mortgage payments are likely to get some relief in coming months, including more options to refinance into lower-cost, fixed-rate loans and tax relief if they do face foreclosure.
The full impact of the upheaval in financial markets "has yet to play out," a top administration official said Wednesday, while stressing that the effect will be dampened somewhat by solid economic growth
Congressional Democrats promoting legislative solutions to the mortgage-market crisis said Wednesday that a Bush administration plan doesn't go far enough to protect homeowners who face huge increases in their monthly payments when rates on their adjustable mortgages jump in the months ahead.
The full impact of the upheaval in financial markets "has yet to play out," a top administration official said Wednesday, while stressing that the effect will be dampened somewhat by solid economic growth.
New tax relief and the ability to refinance adjustable rate mortgages could help many Americans who are in danger of losing their homes, President Bush said Saturday.
Offering federal aid for strapped mortgage holders, the White House outlined proposals Friday to help borrowers hard hit by credit problems and the housing slump.
The light at the end of the subprime tunnel seems a long way off, but some lenders are trying to get there without losing too many customers.
SALEM, Ore. (CNN/Money) - "House rich, cash poor" is a common predicament for older Americans whose homes have appreciated in value while their incomes have failed to keep up with rising healthcare costs, property taxes and other living expenses.
What are your feelings pro and con about reverse mortgages?
The U.S. housing market shows no signs of slowing down as applications for new mortgages jumped 25.6 percent last week, and refinancing activity soared nearly 40 percent, says the Mortgage Bankers Association.
The Census Bureau says home ownership is at record high with nearly 69 percent of all Americans owning their own home.
In this election year, President Clinton and Republican contender Bob Dole have vowed to provide tax breaks and other incentives to help more renters--now about a third of American households--beco...
Mortgage rates have been hovering near 25-year lows since July. So why haven't you bought a house or refinanced your mortgage yet? If you've been reluctant to apply for a loan because you don't thi...
The Federal Housing Administration is easing restrictions on a program that helps marginal borrowers afford a home. In October, the agency raised the maximum FHA-backed loan from $124,875 to $151,7...
These days, Americans are more tense about their financial well-being than they've been in years. The most recent MONEY/ABC Consumer Comfort Index sagged near its all-time low in March, as 55% of t...
For older homeowners in need of income, a reverse mortgage sounds tempting. You pledge a portion of your home equity to a lender, who then pays you a fixed monthly sum or opens a credit line that y...
Even if you think you know which presidential candidate you prefer, you may be surprised by your answers to the dozen questions below. We ask you to to choose between the two major contenders' stan...
Faced with $200 million in annual losses from loan defaults, the Federal Housing Administration is putting new rules into effect that will sharply increase the cost of its guaranteed mortgages for ...
Ah, spring! Lilacs are in bloom, your hometown baseball team still has a mathematical shot at the pennant, and all across our fair land the mating call of that persistently optimistic species, Brok...
Between now and Nov. 6, the legislators running for re-election to Congress will be making self-serving campaign speeches, shaking hands, making self- serving campaign speeches, kissing babies, mak...
In the February Money Helps column, it was suggested that perhaps I am too busy cleaning up HUD to approve the Federal Housing Administration insuring PLAMs (price-level adjusted mortgages), which ...
The Federal National Mortgage Association got a lot of attention last month when it announced that it would buy rollover mortgages -- fixed-rate loans that run for seven years with an option to ren...
Natalie and Kevin Lancaster have come about as close as you can to legally stealing a house. Theirs is a newly built four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 2,400- square-foot brick contemporary in the fast-grow...
Picking the ideal loan to bankroll your home improvement project isn't nearly as much fun as shopping for the perfect whirlpool tub. But to prevent your hard-earned bucks from being drained away by...
Le Corbusier, France's foremost 20th-century architect, called a house ''a machine for living.'' For someone who bought one a decade or more ago, when inflation was bumping up prices at annual rate...
-- Tip of the month: Credit unions have paid higher yields on money-market accounts than have banks or savings and loans this year, according to the newsletter Bank Rate Monitor.
Many discouraged young people feel like giving up on the American dream of home ownership. Incomes in most areas aren't keeping pace with rising house prices. Lenders have tightened their mortgage-...
Many discouraged young people feel like giving up on the American dream of home ownership. Incomes in most areas aren't keeping pace with rising house prices. Lenders have tightened their mortgage-...
If you or an older relative are house-rich but cash-poor, you might want to consider a reverse mortgage, a loan that pays a homeowner a fixed monthly sum and defers repayment of both principal and ...
If you spent the 1980s telling anyone who would listen about your house's amazing appreciation, you had better find a new line of cocktail-party patter. Reason: prices of existing single-family hom...
The American middle class is getting priced out of the housing market. Numbing house prices have become a fact of life in the Northeast, California, Washington, D.C., Chicago, central North Carolin...
Like dandelions after a spring shower, those OPEN HOUSE signs on front lawns all over the country are being yanked out practically as fast as they sprouted. The seasonal house-buying binge has turn...
These are the best of times for housing, and the industry thinks the party will continue well into next year. The Department of Commerce reported that sales of new homes jumped 27.3% in March to th...
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