Foreclosures

Homeowners associations seeking unpaid dues are seizing on a court decision allowing them to foreclose on properties ahead of banks, and the FHFA is litigating to defend Fannie and Freddie mortgages. Private lenders, meanwhile, are trying to keep the problem from spreading to more states.

Almost 80% of the metro Milwaukee area's most-active real estate markets saw an increase in the average home price in 2014, and real estate analysts expect the trend to continue this year.

Mobile boards hung with candy-colored pages announcing the day's foreclosure hearings still stand sentry on the fourth floor of the Palm Beach County, Fla., courthouse — makeshift organizers erected during the unbridled early days of the housing crisis.

Thousands of struggling Michigan homeowners who got a break on their mortgage during the financial crisis will get a letter this year with a bit of bad news.

Although foreclosures had peaked in 2010 in many states and metropolitan areas, statistics show a different story for Maryland.

Recently disclosed emails and documents give the clearest evidence yet that high-level banking officials pushed subprime mortgage loans knowing some Detroiters couldn't pay them — helping spark a foreclosure crisis that devastated the city during the Great Recession.

Freddie Mac is selling $410 million of deeply delinquent U.S. home loans in its second sale of the debt.

The national mortgage delinquency rate dropped in December after a significant uptick the previous month, according to Black Knight Financial Services.

Rising home prices have helped the nation’s homeowners by increasing equity and lifting more of them out of “underwater” mortgage situations.

More South Florida homeowners became "equity rich" by the end of 2014, giving them options they haven't enjoyed since the housing boom.

Altisource Portfolio Solutions promoted John Vella to the new position of chief revenue officer in a bid to grow beyond its relationship with embattled former parent Ocwen Financial.

MGIC on Tuesday reported an increase in its quarterly earnings, as the company slashed its losses and boosted net premiums.

Michigan homeowners facing a loss of their houses to foreclosure will find it easier to solve their financial problems as a result of a package of bills signed by Gov. Rick Snyder.

The city of Owensboro, Ky., has plowed through a complicated process that led to a mass foreclosure action against 21 problem properties, most of them residential. Now, the city has its sights on another set of similar problem properties for foreclosure.

Local officials could have a new weapon, courtesy of state government, in a drive to thin out empty residences and buildings in St. Joseph, Mo.

A recently launched program in New York state is helping distressed borrowers avoid foreclosure.

The former vice president of Appalachian Community Bank in Ellijay, Ga., has been found guilty of a fraud that helped force the bank to close in March 2010.

Facing the prospect of losing its license in California, Ocwen would be wise to settle its probe by state regulators in a timely manner, observers said. If it doesn't, the mortgage servicer could lose significant revenue and might even face a cash crunch.

Foreclosure filings on U.S. properties fell 18% in 2014 compared to a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.

While put-backs and litigation risk are widely recognized as factors that have contributed to tight credit conditions, another factor — high servicing costs for nonperforming loans — is being overlooked.