Shaun Donovan is the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The nation's five largest banks have finally struck a deal with 49 states to settle charges of abusive and negligent foreclosure practices dating back to 2008.
Just 302,000 new homes were sold in 2011, 6.2% below 2010 and the lowest number of annual sales since the government started tracking home sales in 1963.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration own about 250,000 foreclosed properties awaiting resale. Hundreds of thousands of additional units will likely be taken over by the government and become available in the next few years. At least another 250,000 foreclosed properties are awaiting sale in the private market. This drag on the housing market is one of the reasons why housing prices continue to fall and new housing construction is stalled.
The federal government can't even give money away to help the unemployed pay their mortgage.
Foreclosure filings dropped once again in July, hitting their lowest level since November 2007, as processing delays and foreclosure prevention measures enabled a larger number of delinquent borrowers to remain in their homes.
The Obama administration has announced yet another initiative to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Getting a mortgage can be tough these days -- even people with near-perfect credit have been rejected for loans. But for some lucky borrowers, things aren't as bad as the doom-and-gloom crowd says.
What happens when you apply an 1884 law to BlackBerries? Mass confusion.
My wife and I are 62 and just starting to take Social Security. We're thinking about taking out a reverse mortgage and using it as a line of credit. The extra money could come in handy. What do you think? -- S.W., Red Oak, Texas
A Chicago, Illinois, couple, their real estate agent and a real estate broker face charges of violating the federal Fair Housing Act for refusing to sell a $1.8 million home to black radio personality and comedian George Willborn, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said.
The Great Recession drove more families into homeless shelters in 2009, a new federal report has found.
Between puffs of his cigarette, Aristo Lizica explains why he's all for a smoking ban in public housing -- including his own housing project on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. "When you smoke indoors, it hurts everybody," the 59-year-old says, leaning against an iron fence outside his building. "It's better for me to just make myself sick."
The director of the Puerto Rico office for the federal housing agency has been indicted on 40 counts of corruption, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Starting Jan. 1, new rules go into effect that simplify and clarify exactly what mortgage lenders will charge for a loan.
Housing counselors, who've received more than $400 million in federal funds to help mitigate the mortgage crisis, are helping troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure and lower their monthly payments, a study released Wednesday has found.
A controversial $3.9 billion federal program aimed at saving neighborhoods blighted by foreclosure is hitting hurdles that could threaten its effectiveness.
Homeless families in suburban and rural areas jumped by 56% in 2008, according to a government report released Thursday.
First-time homebuyers will now have access to quick cash to help them with their down payments.
One of the biggest disappointments of the foreclosure prevention fight has been HOPE for Homeowners, a plan Congress passed in an attempt to help as many as 400,000 underwater, delinquent borrowers from going into foreclosure.
Home prices are cheap. Affordability is at a record high. And the market is littered with distressed properties looking for a buyer.
Suffering from one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, Rhode Island is getting nearly $20 million from Washington to rehabilitate neighborhoods most affected by the mortgage meltdown.
The real estate market is so awful that buyers are now scooping up homes for as little as $1,000.
A tide of foreclosed properties has been sweeping into the beleaguered housing market, bringing down property values, dislocating families, and sending municipal governments scrambling to manage the crisis. But some buyers see a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in the gloomy headlines; they are buying up foreclosed properties at ultra-low prices.
The White House is using only $50 billion from the $700 billion financial industry bailout package to fund the foreclosure prevention program, a senior administration official clarified Friday.
If you want to green-up your home - and get the government to kick in for part of the bill - now may be the time to do it, thanks to the stimulus.
With Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner set to unveil a new plan to help banks and homeowners Tuesday, and the Senate tentatively prepared to vote on a $780 billion stimulus bill that day as well, this will a busy week in Washington.
This holiday season folks are thinking more about their bottom line than presents and mistletoe, and some are just struggling to keep their heads above water.
President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Shaun Donovan, New York City's housing commissioner, to be his secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
When you sit across the desk from someone with overwhelming debt, you can sense their fear before a word is spoken. And when their home is in jeopardy, the fear fills the room.
A decades-old solution to housing low income Americans may find itself depleted as landlords choose to opt out of it
Following the government takeover, a range of new programs are on the way for homeowners who can't afford their mortgages
Last year, borrowers took out more than 132,000 reverse mortgages - 50% more than the year before and almost 10 times as many as five years ago. Such loans, as you may already know, allow you to draw down your home equity if you're 62 or older without repaying it as long as you stay in your house.
City officials and community activists can't wait to get their hands on nearly $4 billion the federal government is about to inject into blighted neighborhoods suffering from record foreclosures.
A new report suggests that the government is making great strides in reducing the problem. But that depends on your meaning of the word homeless
A bill to help struggling homeowners is waiting to be signed by the President. Here are some top tips on how this bill can help you.
Mortgage brokers and loan officers are getting paid fat fees by lenders to put unsuspecting borrowers into expensive loans. And the new lending rules issued last week by the Federal Reserve do nothing to stop this abusive practice.
Interest rates on 30 year mortgages are above 6% - their highest levels since March. Is the end of low interest rates on the horizon? Here are some top tips on what you need to know if you want to refinance.
President Bush on Friday chose SBA Administrator Steve Preston to lead the government's housing agency at a time of crisis in the industry, praising him as a skilled manager
Housing counselors are often the last and best line of defense for borrowers facing foreclosure, and the $15 billion housing rescue bill now before the Senate allocates $100 million for foreclosure prevention counseling.
Mortgage costs just got cheaper for buyers in high-cost areas.
Foreclosures in your neighborhood affect your home's value even if you've been paying your mortgage on time.
One government response to the subprime mortgage crisis is up and running and on track to help a significant number of borrowers avoid losing their homes.
updated: Fri Sep 21 2007 03:44:00
CNN's Gerri Willis offers tips on setting up a home-based business.
Question 1: Will the lower rate affect the interest rate the credit card company charges me? - Kim, TX
American Home Mortgage filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. Mortgage banking company Homebanc announced it will shutter its doors. Other mortgage lenders are also sending out distress signals. Here's what you need to know if your mortgage lender goes out of business.
American Home Mortgage filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. And mortgage banking company Homebanc announced it will shutter its doors. Other mortgage lenders are also sending out distress signals.
A number of subprime mortgage lending companies are taking a hit to their profits or facing bankruptcy. Here's what you need to know if your mortgage lender goes out of business.
Regardless of the state of the housing market, Americans will always cling to the foreclosure dream - to buy that dream home for pennies on the dollar.
A man who pulled a hoax on Louisiana officials and 1,000 contractors by presenting himself as a federal housing official said Monday he intended to focus attention on a lack of affordable housing.
Who says there are no deals left in real estate? Government Web sites sell homes all over the country and many of them qualify as real bargains.
Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson apologized Wednesday for telling a business forum in Dallas, Texas, he had spiked a contract bid of a critic of President Bush.
The real problem in real estate transaction costs is greater than what's happening on Aquila Lane.
If your nest egg isn't big enough to support the retirement lifestyle you aspire to, you may be sitting on a valuable asset that can help you bridge the financial gap: your house. Buoyed by the 65%...
If your nest egg isn't big enough to support the retirement lifestyle you aspire to, you may be sitting on a valuable asset that can help you bridge the financial gap: your house.
This article originally ran in December 2003 and has been updated.
Predatory lending can take many forms -- from pushing unjustifiably expensive loans on consumers to charging excessive fees for lending services.
Not everyone is getting rich off of real estate: The number of foreclosed properties in many parts of the country is increasing, according to data tracked by Foreclosure.com.
Home builders, realtors and others are preparing to fight a Bush administration plan that would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase financing of homes for low-income people, a home builder group said Thursday.
More than 4 million sites provide free advice, but up-to-date listings will cost you. In general, stay away from sites that don't offer free trials. --CAROLYN BIGDA
With mortgage rates still as low as they are, financing a house is dirt cheap these days, right?
So, you think rocket science is difficult? Try understanding the mortgage settlement process.
The Census Bureau says home ownership is at record high with nearly 69 percent of all Americans owning their own home.
BEND, Ore. (CNN/Money) - Clearance! The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is liquidating 4,000 of its foreclosed properties in a special two-day auction at the end of February. Everything must go!
BEND, Ore. (CNN/Money) - Terri Moloney, a real estate agent in Gastonia, N.C., used to sell a couple of foreclosed properties a year.
Congress passed an important bill in October regarding publicly subsidized housing for the poor. You'll remember this, of course, from the banner headlines, heated debates on radio call-in shows, a...
Reverse mortgages certainly do sound like an enticing option for many older homeowners--and that's been part of the problem. Sorting out the details of these complex loans--which aren't traditional...
The heated-up housing market may affect not only the size of your down payment but also another big sum you'll owe when you buy a home--the escrow account lenders make you fund to cover property ta...
Here's a way to get a wedding present you can really use: In a little-known program offered by at least three dozen banks nationwide--including Fleet Mortgage (888-466-3353) and PNC Mortgage (800-4...
Q. I bought a condominium several years ago for $92,000. When I needed more space, I decided to rent it out and buy another house. Unfortunately, the real estate market sank, and I now owe $85,000 ...
Lately, more and more older home- owners are turning to reverse mortgages to supplement their retirement income. Think of a reverse mortgage as a spigot that allows you to pour your home equity int...
Q. I established a Uniform Gifts to Minors Account (UGMA) at a mutual fund for college savings for my daughter. Now my wife and I just had twin boys, and I want to start saving for them too. But in...
APPLYING FOR A MORTGAGE CAN BE AN exercise in intimidation. You open your financial records to a stranger who has the power to deny you the money for your dream house. Then at closing, the document...
Although mortgage rates are climbing, one cost of home ownership is scheduled to drop this spring--on April 24, to be exact. That's the effective date for new rules standardizing how lenders must c...
-- Herewith a few things one has learned as a result of looking into the Federal Aviation Administration's suddenly infamous sensitivity training program, which the American people learned about on...
We recently ran an ''Only in America'' item about various phrases (e.g., ''walk-in closet'') now viewed as verboten in real-estate ads because they might violate federal or state fair-housing legis...
Some mortgage seekers face a special hurdle: racial bias. According to studies by the Federal Reserve and others, minority applicants are turned down two to four times more often than whites. The J...
With a parting shot aimed straight at home buyers' pocketbooks, outgoing U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp has issued new guidelines that could cost you thousands...
One day back in the golden 1950s, when a juvenile version of the present writer was learning the ropes at FORTUNE, he found himself at a staff meeting called to discuss conflicts of interest. Eons ...
In the mid-1980s, homeowners trembled over the health risks posed by radon, the odorless cancer-causing gas that the Environmental Protection Agency estimates is found in unhealthful concentrations...
Sniff out bargains in government-repossessed homes by phoning the Resolution Trust Corporation (800-782-3006), which controls 19,000 single-family houses and condos; or get in touch with your local...
Some critics of price-level adjusted mortgages (PLAMs) ((Mail: A Caution from Kemp, July)) are alarmed because nominal payments can seem quite high if inflation accelerates. In real terms, however,...
What has gone before: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is rocked by scandal. It seems that ''influence peddlers'' have actually exerted influence on certain HUD decisions. Led b...
THE SIEGE BEGINS just before 9 A.M. on a sunny Thursday. Some 120 people -- police officers, Chicago Housing Authority employees, and other city officials -- surround 340 South Western Avenue, a di...
TIRED OF worrying about America's budget deficit? Now you can start worrying about the vast sums that are not on the budget. Uncle Sam's off-budget guarantees will climb from $2.1 trillion in 1980 ...
If you are helping your parents with their medical care or such everyday chores as shopping and housekeeping, chances are you regularly give them some financial support as well. Or if you don't do ...
-- Nexis, normally unflappable, seemed instantly daunted by the request we put to it the other day. We had asked how many stories in our favorite database featured the phrase ''affordable housing.'...
-- 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.
WHEN WERE YOU LAST at a dinner party where someone didn't raise at least one of these perennially favorite topics: (1) how that $47,500 subdivision split- level, bought in 1973, is now worth a cool...
IN THEIR Report to the Forty-First President of the United States of America, Gerald R. Ford, President No. 38, and Jimmy Carter, No. 39, offer this observation: ''Americans are ready to do what ha...
IN THE THICK undergrowth of federal spending, subsidies to business and state and local governments are some of the hardiest forms of plant life--and the most in need of weeding. They will have cli...
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