More discussion was raised in the House Financial Services Committee regarding regulatory reform to cram down mortgage loans. The legislation, if passed, would allow bankruptcy judges to retroactively cram down or modify mortgage loans to terms more affordable for the homeowner if service providers won’t perform more loan modifications.

Springing into action, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) promptly responded.  David Kittle, MBA Chairman, issued a blistering statement noting that should the legislation pass, it would destabilize the mortgage industry, an industry [...]

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On September 23, Secretary Shaun Donovan of U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the release of $300 million to almost 100 communities throughout the U.S.   The goal in distributing the funding is to prevent families from falling into homelessness and to quickly re-house families who become homeless.

The source of the funding?  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  So far, HUD has obligated nearly 75 percent of the department’s Recovery Act (RA) grants, a total of $10 billion.  [...]

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A phenomena not seen for some time is occurring once again in the Washington D.C. area, bidding wars over homes for sale.  For the cautious optimists these events along with other trends are seen as preliminary signs that the housing market is nearing its bottom.  Data from last month seems to support these claims.  Surprising gains were recorded in February for the three levels of home sales; new, existing, and pending.

While it is too early to say with certainty that [...]

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