Obama Plans $75 Billion Outlay to Fight Foreclosures
Jack Healy, The New York Times

Seeking to stabilize the foundering housing market, President Obama is offering a plan to help as many as nine million families refinance their mortgages or avoid foreclosure, according to a summary released by the White House on Wednesday morning.

The plan, which is more ambitious than expected, would spend $75 billion to help keep as many as four million families in their homes, and would help as many as five million more refinance their mortgages to take advantage of lower interest rates.

A Florida Court's 'Rocket Docket' Blasts Through Foreclosure Cases
Michael Corkery, The Wall Street Journal

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Hoping to save her house, Saundra Hill Scott arrived at the county courthouse clutching dog-eared mortgage bills and letters from her lender.

She need not have bothered. The foreclosure hearing lasted less than 20 seconds, with Judge John Carlin asking her two questions: Are you current on your mortgage and are you living in the home? She answered no and yes and then offered to show him her paperwork.

Bailout Likely to Focus on Most Afflicted Homeowners
David Leonhardt, The New York Times

The long-awaited housing bailout will finally be announced on Wednesday.

In a speech in Phoenix, a signature real estate boomtown gone bust, President Obama will explain his plan to reduce foreclosures. And the key to understanding that plan will be remembering that there are two different groups of homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure.

Housing starts at record lows; mortgage applications jump
Martin Crutsinger, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Construction of new homes plunged to a record low in January as all parts of the country showed big declines in building, but mortgage applications jumped in the most recent week as rates dropped.

The Commerce Department says construction of new homes and apartments dropped 16.8% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 466,000 units. That's well below the 530,000 units economists expected, and was the slowest pace on records dating back a half-century.

Fed Chief's Boyhood Home Is Sold After Foreclosure
Michael M. Phillips, The Wall Street Journal

DILLON, S.C. -- Travis Jackson walks through his modest ranch house, admiring the kitchen's built-in spice rack and the red-oak floors. He draws back the curtains, and sunlight illuminates the pride on his face.

The young banker just bought Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's childhood home at a foreclosure sale.

Economists Try Target Practice in a Fun-House Mirror
Alessandra Stanley, The New York Times

“Everybody does it,” is what high school students say when caught committing an offense. And now that the economy has plummeted, it’s the defense offered by lenders, borrowers, brokers, investors, credit agencies, government regulators and elected officials alike.

Wall Street Does Need Incentives
Rob Cox, The New York Times

Congratulations to Congress for stimulating America’s most innovative financial wizards at the economy’s greatest time of need. Thanks to an 11th-hour amendment to the stimulus bill in the Senate, the fiscal alchemists of Wall Street are mobilizing their forces en masse.

Unfortunately, their imminent objective will not be to fix the financial system and get the global economy moving again. Rather it will be to find ways around this misguided piece of populist legislation and pay back government funds prematurely — a decision that risks bringing the banking system back into panic mode.

White House and major banks act on housing crisis
Maura Reynolds and E. Scott Reckard, The Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Costa Mesa and Washington -- With pressure growing for government action to stem foreclosures, the White House moved up to next week the unveiling of President Obama's housing rescue plan, while major banks said they would freeze seizures of homes for at least three weeks pending the rollout of the initiative.

For months, Congress has been pressing the executive branch -- first the Bush administration, now its successor -- to come up with a program to curtail the growing wave of borrowers forced to give up their homes. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner disappointed lawmakers as well as the stock market by saying the foreclosure plan would be delayed several weeks.

Treasury Looks to Aid 'Underwater' Mortgages
Deborah Solomon and Robin Sidel, The Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is looking for ways to let "underwater" homeowners refinance their mortgages, one of a series of ideas being hashed out ahead of an expected announcement next week, according to a person familiar with the planning.

The Treasury Department is mulling as many as 10 ideas to help deal with the housing crisis, and has yet to settle on any one approach.

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Again Extend Foreclosure Freeze
John Kell, The Wall Street Journal

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac once again suspended foreclosure sales of occupied properties, this time through March 6, to give loan servicers more time to help financially strapped borrowers avoid foreclosures.

The new moves are the latest steps to aid the housing market by the mortgage giants since they were seized by the government in September. They follow commitments earlier Friday from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. for weeks-long moratoriums on foreclosures.

Congress Strikes $789 Billion Stimulus Deal
Wall Street Journal
February 12, 2009

Congress and the White House reached accord on a $789.5 billion economic-recovery package that would shower hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief on individuals and businesses and spark an infrastructure building boom, from the nation's ports and waterways to its schools and military bases. The deal all but clinches passage of one of the largest economic rescue programs since Franklin Roosevelt launched the New Deal.

Signs of the Times: On Valentine's Day Give a Foreclosed Home
Reuters
February 12, 2009

This Valentine's Day, why not buy your loved one a foreclosed home? U.S. realty company RealtyTrac Inc's latest publicity email tells clients: "With more than 1.5 million foreclosure properties on our website, you're sure to find a sweet deal that won't break your heart." It adds romantically: "A sweet foreclosure deal beats a dozen roses or a box of chocolates any day."

Regulator Calls for Lenders to Stop Foreclosures
Washington Post
February 12, 2009

The Office of Thrift Supervision today called for the mortgage lenders it regulates to halt foreclosures until the Obama administration puts in place a program to help struggling homeowners.

Treasury’s U.S. Housing Plan to Fund Interest-Rate Reductions
Bloomber News
February 12, 2009

The Obama administration’s housing plan will use government money to help reduce interest rates for struggling borrowers, while asking lawmakers to approve more ways to modify mortgages, according to a person briefed on the proposal.

Foreclosure Protests at D.C. Offices Reflect Trend
Washington Post
February 11, 2009

Dozens of demonstrators with the community group ACORN barged into a District office that auctions foreclosed homes in upscale Chevy Chase yesterday and shut it down for an hour, chanting “No sales here.” In Rye, N.Y., and Greenwich, Conn., on Sunday, more than 300 people converged on the homes of two bank executives who opposed modifying loans to help homeowners and barraged the men and their neighbors with slogans.

For Some, It's Finally Time to Dive Into Housing Market
Wall Street Journal
February 11, 2009

First-time home buyers made up 41 percent of all buyers at the end of 2008, up from 36 percent in 2006, according to a recent survey from the National Association of Realtors. The new buyers are being lured in by home prices that are down about 25 percent from their peak levels in mid-2006, according to the S&P/Case-Schiller Index. In some markets, prices have dropped even further — slumping around 40 percent in Phoenix, Miami and Las Vegas.

Chinese House Hunters Tour U.S. in Search of Sweet Deal
USA TODAY
February 11, 2009

A special Chinese tour group is heading to the United States later this month to go bargain hunting for houses at foreclosure prices. “U.S. house prices are lower now, and we’ll also be looking at low-price houses auctioned off by the courts,” says Zhao Xinyu, a manager at Soufun.com, China’s leading real estate website and the trip's organizer. “We won’t force our clients to buy,” Zhao says of this first group of bargain hunters, who are paying $3,600 each for the trip. “But if it’s successful, we'll organize several more trips this year.”

Boston's Tallest Building Faces Foreclosure
BusinessWeek
February 11, 2009

New England's tallest skyscraper is facing foreclosure. The John Hancock Tower in Boston will be auctioned next month after lenders moved to foreclose on owner Broadway Partners, which has defaulted on some debt payments on the building it bought in 2006.

New Bailout May Top $1.5 Trillion
Washington Post
February 10, 2009

The gravity of the financial crisis confronting the Obama administration will come into stark focus today when officials unveil a three-pronged rescue program that may commit up to $1.5 trillion in public and private funds, and possibly more, lawmakers and other officials said.

Mortgage 'Cramdowns' Could be on the Way
Los Angeles Times
February 7, 2009

Proponents call them the crucial tool needed to get us out of the foreclosure morass. Critics say they could be disastrous -- pushing up interest rates on future mortgages, even for people with excellent credit, and creating huge new losses for already ailing banks.

In Florida, Despair and Foreclosures
New York Times
February 7, 2009

Desperation has moved into this once-middle-class exurb of Fort Myers, where hammers used to pound.