Federal Regulators Sue Big Banks Over Mortgages

Federal Regulators Sue Big Banks Over Mortgages
By Nelson D. Schwartz, New York Times, Sept. 2, 2011

A bruising legal fight pitting the country’s most powerful banks against the full force of the United States government began Friday, as federal regulators filed suits against 17 financial institutions that sold the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac nearly $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities that later soured.

6 Good Reasons to Buy a Home Now
By Kiplinger.com, Sept. 6, 2011

Here are six good reasons to buy a home right now.

Uncle Sam is a Reluctant Landlord of Foreclosed Homes
By Lorraine Woellert and Clea Benson, Bloomberg, Sept. 5, 2011

For sale or rent by distressed owner: 248,000 homes. That’s how many residential properties the U.S. government now has in its possession, the result of record numbers of people defaulting on government-backed mortgages. Washington is sitting on nearly a third of the nation’s 800,000 repossessed houses, making the U.S. taxpayer the largest owner of foreclosed properties.

Obama Re-Election Threat Spurs Search for New Ideas on Housing
By Lorraine Woellert, Bloomberg, Sept. 1, 2011

President Barack Obama and his aides are increasingly worried that the ongoing housing crisis is undermining an economic recovery and could become an obstacle to his re-election.

Robo-Signing Redux: Servicers Still Fabricating Foreclosure Documents
By Kate Berry, American Banker, Aug. 31, 2011

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 practice continues nearly a year after the companies were caught cutting corners in the robo-signing scandal and about six months after the industry began negotiating a settlement with state attorneys general investigating loan-servicing abuses.