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WASHINGTON, DC - August 3, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Department of Justice today convicted two defendants for their roles in a South Florida mortgage fraud scheme that took advantage of homeowners on the brink of foreclosure and left many without ...

WASHINGTON, DC - August 3, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced today the launch of the National Mortgage Servicing Settlement’s first public servic...

LANSING, MI - August 2, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Michigan residents at risk of losing their homes due to faulty foreclosure processes and poor servicing of mortgages will get financial relief under legislation signed today by Gov. Rick Snyder.

WASHINGTON, DC - August 1, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senator Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a member of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, made the following statement today in response to a decision by Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - August 1, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications increased 0.2 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 27, 2012.

Washington, DC - July 31, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Commercial/multifamily mortgage origination volumes during the second quarter of 2012 were up 25 percent from second quarter 2011 levels, and up 39 percent from the first quarter of 2012, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 30, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. district court has halted a nationwide scam operating from the Dominican Republic – but pretending to be in Chicago – that allegedly peddled fake mortgage assistance relief to financially distressed Spanish-speaking homeowners in the United States.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 26, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Only 6,000 of the 140,000 eligible Ohioans have initiated a foreclosure review process which could put as much as $125,000 in their pockets. During a news conference call today, U.S. Sen. Sherrod B...

Washington, DC - July 26, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today reported that the National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders, used as an index in some adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) contracts, was 3.67 percent based on loans closed in June. Beginning in March, FHFA is calculating interest rates using unweighted survey data. There was a decrease of 0.11 percent from the previous month. The complete contract rate series can be found at http://www.fhfa.gov/Default.aspx?Page=251.

LOS ANGELES, CA - July 25, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced defendants who ran a national loan modification scam were ordered to pay more than $4 million in penalties and restitution, including $2 million to ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 25, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications increased 0.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending July 20, 2012.

WASHINGTON, DC - July 25, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- An Alabama real estate investor pleaded guilty today for his role in conspiracies to rig bids and commit mail fraud at public real estate foreclosure auctions in southern Alabama, the Department of J...

Chicago, IL - July 23, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Leading community organizations report evidence of a two-tiered mortgage market characterized by high rates of government-backed loans made both to borrowers in communities of color and to borrowers of color in their new report, “Paying More for the American Dream VI: Racial Disparities in FHA/VA Lending.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 23, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- On February 9, 2012, the Justice Department announced that the federal government and 49 state attorneys general reached a $25 billion agreement with the five largest mortgage servicers in America, to address mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure abuses. While the majority of the settlement funds will go to various forms of relief provided directly to borrowers, $2.5 billion may be used by state governments to fund foreclosure prevention services including housing counselors, legal aid and other similar public programs as determined by the state attorneys general.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 23, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- CHFA has been notified by the State Commission on Education regarding changes to the listing of Priority and Transitional School districts and Subject-matter Shortage areas that go into effect on July 1, 2012 for the Teachers Mortgage Assistance Program. The changes are as follows

Washington, DC - July 19, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congresswoman Linda Sánchez (CA-39) today announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is awarding a total of $1.95 million to two local non-profit organizations to help more than 700 at-r...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 19, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Leading community organizations, including Chicago’s Woodstock Institute, report evidence today of a two-tiered mortgage market characterized by high rates of government-backed loans made both to borrowers in communities of color and to borrowers of color in their new report, “Paying More for the American Dream VI: Racial Disparities in FHA/VA Lending.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 18, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mortgage applications increased 16.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage...

WASHINGTON, DC - July 18, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Qualified entities interested in purchasing pools of severely distressed loans formerly insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) can now submit applications for the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program, an expansion of an FHA disposition program that sells pools of defaulted mortgages headed for foreclosure and provides the opportunity for the purchaser and borrower to avoid a costly foreclosure. According to loan pool information released today, approximately 3,500 loans will be sold in four metropolitan areas that are among those hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis – Chicago, IL; Newark, NJ; Phoenix, AZ; and Tampa, FL – aligning with other neighborhood stabilization efforts to help those communities recover as quickly as possible. The program is part of the Obama Administration's broader strategy to encourage public/private partnerships to stabilize neighborhoods and home values in critical markets. Details on the Distressed Asset Stabilization Program can be found at www.hud.gov/fhaloansales.

Chicago, IL - July 17, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced that up to $3 million in funding from the national foreclosure settlement reached this year will be used to fund new mortgage foreclosure mediation programs in Il...