Kate Berry

Chicago's City Council published an ordinance late last week that would require banks, mortgage servicers and institutional investors to maintain vacant properties before the homes have gone through foreclosure.

Freddie Mac said it will not dramatically discount its backlog of foreclosed homes, arguing that such steep price cuts could destroy the housing market.

The state attorneys general have a secret weapon in their negotiations with the largest mortgage servicers: the results of a HUD investigation into the banks' robo-signing practices.

Some of the largest mortgage servicers are still fabricating documents that should have been signed years ago and submitting them as evidence to foreclose on homeowners.

The Government National Mortgage Association said late Friday that it is expanding the parameters for loans to be repurchased from its trusts to include those that have successfully completed a three-month trial payment period.

It will take less time than previously expected for the housing market to clear the supply of distressed homes on the market, but that so-called shadow inventory will still be around for nearly four years, Standard & Poor's Rating Services said last week.

It will take less time than previously expected for the housing market to clear the supply of distressed homes on the market, but that so-called shadow inventory will still be around for nearly four years, Standard & Poor's Rating Services said this week.

Ocwen Financial Corp. is again helping itself financially by cutting distressed homeowners an unusual break.The West Palm Beach, Fla., servicer has expanded a program offering shared appreciation loan modifications, in which the mortgage holder reduces a borrower’s principal in exchange for a percentage of future appreciation. The idea has been around for some time. Most servicers have failed to persuade the largest banks and investors to reduce principal because of the potential for fraud and moral hazard.

Ocwen Financial Corp. is again helping itself financially by cutting distressed homeowners an unusual break.

Foreclosure doesn't usually mean coming down in the world, economists at the Federal Reserve have found.

Six Federal Home Loan banks have launched a salvo against Bank of America Corp.'s proposed $8.5 billion mortgage bondholder settlement, suggesting the payout may need to be triple that amount.

The California Association of Realtors declared victory in getting a bill signed into law that prohibits junior lien holders from pursuing a deficiency judgment on short sales.

As housing prices continue to slide, the loan-to-value ratios of always-performing loans have in many cases crept higher than those on defaulted loans, according to a new report from Moody's Investors Service.

The price of being a good neighbor can be steep for banks foreclosing on condominiums and homes in planned communities.

The Federal Housing Administration is considering tightening borrowers' debt-to-income ratios, a move that would prevent the most highly leveraged consumers from qualifying to buy a home.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, some mortgage lenders are choosing to relax underwriting requirements ever so slightly to offset a dramatic drop in loan origination volumes.

Robert J. Shiller, a Yale University economist and the namesake of the closely watched Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price indexes, has been called overly pessimistic for predicting home prices could fall another 25%.

Home purchases have picked up the past few weeks in Phoenix and Las Vegas, a sign that some of the hardest-hit housing markets may have hit bottom.

A Texas mortgage broker, Rodney Anderson, has single-handedly pushed for legislation that requires medical bills of $2,500 or less to be expunged from credit reports if the debts have been paid or settled.

A couple in Naples, Fla., showed up at a branch of Bank of America Corp. with two sheriff's deputies last week to seize assets, after the bank failed to compensate them for legal fees from a wrongful foreclosure.