“Over a frantic weekend in mid-March, Ben Bernanke rewrote the rule book as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Like a military commander applying overwhelming force, he took steps then and over the next two months that some at the central bank are now calling the Bernanke Doctrine.” from International Herald Tribune
Personally, I don’t think Bernanke has [...]

There’s quite a bit of information on the internet talking about how the whole real estate market is on it’s way to a total collapse.  Well, maybe nobody says it’s a total collapse, but the implication is that if you buy you’ll lose everything, your children will be homeless and you’ll never recover anything you’ve [...]

A lot has been covered recently about how mortgage fraud was used in the purchase of rapidly appreciating properties in many market around the country with the expectation that everyone would cash out so it didn’t really matter if the numbers were fudged.  In a story from the Mercury News , the news is starting [...]

I wasn’t going to touch this news bit, but the spin being thrown was just too much to ignore.
“Rep. Laura Richardson claimed Friday that her Sacramento home was sold into foreclosure without her knowledge and contrary to an agreement with her lender. She said that she is like any other American suffering in the mortgage [...]

“Seven out of 10 troubled mortgage borrowers remain without a plan to work out their loans despite increased industry efforts to help them, according to a new report from a coalition of state attorneys general and banking regulators.” from a Washington Post article
If we look at actual industry efforts to help troubled borrowers, it doesn’t [...]

In a story from Housing Wire
There’s a lot said about Mozilo, and his apparent mis-step, but the underlying concept of hardship letters need to be addressed.
If you are facing foreclosure due to circumstances out of your control, you need  hardship letter based on your circumstances, not a form letter you grabbed from the internet.  A [...]

Link to release
The Office of Federal Housing Oversight released a report today on overall price declines for the 1st quarter of 2008.  Generally, the OFHEO HPI is slower to react than the Case-Shiller index in part due to the way OFHEO uses same property sales and refinances to determine it’s index, but also due to [...]

“The down real estate market is a wonderful opportunity for all Habitats,” said Gage Yager, executive director of Trinity Habitat for Humanity in Fort Worth, Texas. “As prices drop, we have the opportunity to acquire at prices that just weren’t available a few years ago.” from ABC News
Habitat for Humanity has long been building [...]

Happened to run across an article which was pretty much promoting a foreclosure bus tour in Illinois.  Maybe it’s just me, but I find the concept sort of repulsive.  The tour is, of course, promoted by a real estate company and is touted as providing “first time home buyers and investors the best deals in [...]

“The bill - a response to rising foreclosure rates statewide - sailed through the Assembly last week, but seems to have shallow support among Republican leaders in the Senate, where it may not go to a vote. Frustrated Senate Democrats on Wednesday held a news conference to demand that Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno [...]