Homebuilders' confidence remained at a historically low level in March as the weak economy continued to weigh on the market for new single-family homes, according to a report released Monday.

President Obama's eagerly anticipated foreclosure prevention program went into effect on Wednesday. It targets 9 million borrowers for help - are you one of them?

When Brian Gavitt, a physician, and his wife Gayleen, a stay-at-home mom, started to eye homes in Sacramento last winter, they knew they were looking in the hardest-hit areas of the housing bust. So the couple, who were relocating from Lansing, figured they could land a fantastic bargain in no time at all.

Simmons to run against Conn. Sen. Christopher Dodd
Examiner.com
Dodd is chairman of the Senate banking committee that oversees the mortgage and banking industries. He's under investigation by a Senate ethics panel for mortgages he got from Countrywide Financial Corp. when he refinanced his Washington and East ...

We Dare Not Blink: Canada's Duty to Arrest George W. Bush
Pacific Free Press, Canada
A culture of corruption in contracting for security services, war relief programs, reconstruction in war- devastated countries have unjustly enriched favored predators abroad while at home mortgage lenders, banks, insurance companies and corporate ...

US recession 'will end this year'
The Canberra Times, Australia
A government fund of 500 billion dollars is stabilising the mortgage market, and business lending is picking up, Bernanke said. "And I think as those green shoots begin to appear in different markets, and as some confidence begins to come back, ...

San Lorenzo Community Church enters 135th year in town
Tri Valley Herald, CA
... Through Organizing — a national network of faith-based community organizations that seek solutions to problems facing urban, suburban and rural communities — met with legislators to discuss affordable health care and the foreclosure crisis. ...

FACTBOX-Tortuous path of China's property policy
Forbes, NY
Oct 22 - China announces a series of policy changes: lower mortgage rates, reduced down payments, lower transaction taxes. Since mid-September -- China cuts preferential housing mortgage rate five times, in line with interest rates cuts aimed at ...

Dick Cheney Isn't Helping
New York Observer, NY
He also made sure to single out two Democrats – Chris Dodd and Barney Frank – for sabotaging Bush’s efforts “to deal with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problem some years before” their troubles came to light. And when King confronted him with a slew ...

Usd strengthen at the Asian open
FXstreet.com The Foreign Exchange Market, Spain
Bernanke also said that the Fed is "effectively" printing money rather than using taxpayer funds for these initiatives aimed at mortgage markets, commercial paper, asset-backed securities and other segments of the credit system. ...

What Could Have Averted the Housing Bubble?
Conde Nast Portfolio, NY
Alternatively, says Ip, Greenspan could have taken the regulatory approach: requiring 20% downpayments or mortgage insurance for all mortgages, for instance, or requiring stricter underwriting at the originator level. But of course, these moves, ...

Who's to Blame?
MyFox Dallas, TX
Congress, which continues to support a mortgage tax deduction that gives consumers a tax incentive to buy more expensive houses. Real estate agents, most of whom work for the sellers rather than the buyers and who earned higher commissions from selling ...

Reverse brain drain? Filipino execs return home amid crisis
Pinoy, Philippines
He said one of the biggest challenges for Filipino immigrants wanting to work back home is finding a job that would pay for their mortgage abroad. “Most of them have accumulated debt and have mortgage to pay,” he noted. On the other hand, Zulueta said ...

The foreclosure picture suddenly darkened again in February.

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Read full story for latest details.

Question: I've been told real estate investment trusts offer great diversification. But do they really? Last year REITs lost 38% - that's a bit worse than the S&P 500. --Brian M., Greenwich, Conn.

As the spring buying season begins, luxury homebuilders are not anticipating a fresh start.

Gordon Brown promises new deal for credit crunch victims
Times Online, UK
Professional people who lose their jobs in the credit crunch could be fast-tracked into teaching within six months, Gordon Brown will say today as he tries to relaunch Labour's public service reforms. Promising to recruit the brightest and best into ...

Picatinny credit union sues Fannie Mae for return of mortgages
Dailyrecord.com, NJ
The lawsuit states Michael J. McGrath, US Mortgage’s president and CEO, arranged the mortgage sales to Fannie Mae under the guise of being Picatinny Credit Union’s assistant vice president. Forte wrote that at no time was McGrath an assistant vice ...