The mortgage meltdown has ravaged the finances of a crucial government agency tasked with propping up the housing industry.
The housing collapse has made it even tougher for blacks and Hispanics to get mortgages, according to a new government report.
1. Chances are good that you'll come across one. During the heyday of no-money-down lending, you were unlikely to have a buyer using a government-insured Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan, which lets borrowers purchase a home with a down payment of as little as 3.5%. Now FHAs are the only game in town for anyone who can't put down the minimum 10% many banks require to get a conventional loan.
With a growing number of homebuyers depending on government-insured loans, the Obama administration is taking steps to shore up the Federal Housing Administration program.
Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration can be a lifeline for low-income or high-risk borrowers. These loans have tiny down-payment requirements, competitive rates and easy credit-score hurdles.
The credit crunch has made it hard for anyone to get a loan these days - and borrowers who can only make a small down payment are facing even tougher odds.
If you dare to look out your window at houses for sale, you might be surprised at what you can buy and with how little money. Prices are falling, and inventory is plentiful; it's a buyers' market.
Everyone agrees that the only way to fix the financial crisis is to fix the housing market.
The government is expected to announce soon that it will devote up to $50 billion to directly address the source of the financial crisis: bad mortgages and millions of homeowners at risk of foreclosure.
The drumbeat for lawmakers to do more to boost the economy is growing louder. And the chances have increased that Congress could pass a second stimulus package during its lameduck session following the presidential election.
The mortgage meltdown has ravaged the finances of a crucial government agency tasked with propping up the housing industry.
The housing collapse has made it even tougher for blacks and Hispanics to get mortgages, according to a new government report.
1. Chances are good that you'll come across one. During the heyday of no-money-down lending, you were unlikely to have a buyer using a government-insured Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan, which lets borrowers purchase a home with a down payment of as little as 3.5%. Now FHAs are the only game in town for anyone who can't put down the minimum 10% many banks require to get a conventional loan.
With a growing number of homebuyers depending on government-insured loans, the Obama administration is taking steps to shore up the Federal Housing Administration program.
Mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration can be a lifeline for low-income or high-risk borrowers. These loans have tiny down-payment requirements, competitive rates and easy credit-score hurdles.
The credit crunch has made it hard for anyone to get a loan these days - and borrowers who can only make a small down payment are facing even tougher odds.
If you dare to look out your window at houses for sale, you might be surprised at what you can buy and with how little money. Prices are falling, and inventory is plentiful; it's a buyers' market.
Everyone agrees that the only way to fix the financial crisis is to fix the housing market.
The government is expected to announce soon that it will devote up to $50 billion to directly address the source of the financial crisis: bad mortgages and millions of homeowners at risk of foreclosure.
The drumbeat for lawmakers to do more to boost the economy is growing louder. And the chances have increased that Congress could pass a second stimulus package during its lameduck session following the presidential election.
Amidst all the chaos surrounding the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan, the federal government's other housing rescue program quietly opened for business Wednesday.
The $700 billion bailout legislation now under consideration by Congress calls for the Treasury Secretary to implement a plan to stem foreclosures by working with servicers to modify loans.
Following the government takeover, a range of new programs are on the way for homeowners who can't afford their mortgages
President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a sweeping housing bill that aims to boost the struggling housing market and bolster mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
President Bush signed a $300 billion housing rescue bill Wednesday aimed at helping troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure and supporting mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Senate on Saturday passed a $300 billion housing rescue bill aimed at helping troubled homeowners avoid foreclosure and supporting mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Senate on Saturday overwhelmingly passed a landmark housing bill that will offer up to $300 billion in loans for troubled homeowners and establish a government rescue plan for mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Congress passed the most significant housing legislation in decades Saturday, offering help to struggling homeowners and seeking to stabilize a troubled housing market
The House on Wednesday voted 272-152 to pass sweeping legislation that will offer up to $300 billion in assistance to troubled homeowners and throw government support behind mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
After months of debate on Capitol Hill, the Senate on Friday passed a comprehensive housing and foreclosure prevention bill.
A Bush administration official warned Monday that a proposal to have the government back more bad loans would hurt taxpayers and could make the housing crisis even worse.
When the Senate Banking Committee passed a housing bill intended to limit foreclosures, panel Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said he expected the measure could help 500,000 borrowers stay in their homes.
Congress moved a big step closer Tuesday to expanding government efforts to help at-risk homeowners.
Senate Banking Committee leaders said Monday that they have come to a deal on a housing bill that would prevent foreclosures, create affordable housing and revamp oversight of two of the mortgage market's biggest players: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
On Capitol Hill this week, lawmakers are set to continue to grapple with the best response to the rising tide of home foreclosures. But the Bush administration says it has a solution in place: A nine-month old mortgage refinancing program run by the Federal Housing Administration.
Key lawmakers spent Thursday trying to broker a deal on a bill that would allow the government to insure up to $300 billion of home loans and overhaul oversight of key players in the mortgage industry.
The momentum behind congressional efforts to let the government offer more aid to struggling homeowners has hit stiff resistance.
Politicians in Washington are busy arguing about the financial and moral hazards of coming to the aid of troubled homeowners.
A congressional proposal to have the government help homeowners refinance mortgages they can no longer afford will only help a small fraction of those who are at risk of losing their homes.
While Congress grapples with how to help troubled homeowners, the Bush administration is expanding a more modest effort to help at-risk borrowers.
A bill that would allow the government to guarantee new mortgages for homeowners facing foreclosure passed the House on Thursday, but it faces a veto threat from the White House and an uncertain fate in the Senate.
The House on Thursday passed a contentious foreclosure-prevention package, which still faces a veto threat from the White House and an uncertain fate in the Senate.
Americans remain split on whether homeowners about to default on their mortgages should receive special treatment to help them keep their houses, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll.
The House on Wednesday began debate on a housing package that would let the government back loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure - a move many Republicans have opposed and which the White House has threatened to veto.
The House on Wednesday will begin debate on a housing package that would let the government back loans for homeowners at risk of foreclosure - a move many Republicans have opposed and which the White House has threatened to veto.
A bill meant to help homeowners caught up in the spreading mortgage crisis received committee approval Thursday after Democrats fended off numerous Republican challenges to the bill.
A bill meant to help homeowners caught up in the spreading mortgage crisis received committee approval Thursday after Democrats fended off numerous Republican challenges to the bill.
Congressional Democrats and the White House are on a collision course over an ambitious proposal drafted to address the spreading mortgage crisis.
Congress appears eager to help more than a million homeowners facing foreclosure, but a proposal aimed at fixing the battered housing market could instead end up as the latest blow to a recovery.
Homeowners staggering under mounting mortgage debt and facing foreclosure could get cheaper, government-backed loans under Democrats' housing rescue plan
Congress isn't done debating how best to stem the foreclosure crisis, but one near-certainty has emerged: Lawmakers will pull together a housing bill that expands Washington's role in helping troubled borrowers.
I won't be getting an economic-stimulus tax rebate check, but I'm not complaining about it. Not only am I fortunate to make too much money to qualify for a rebate, but I'm getting something far more valuable than the maximum $1,200 my wife and I could have gotten. Thanks to a relatively little-noticed portion of the stimulus package, we'll be able to refinance our house more cheaply than we otherwise could, or presumably sell it for more.
At the center of all of Washington's efforts to rescue the battered housing markets is the formerly obscure Federal Housing Administration.
The Bush administration Wednesday outlined a plan to help homeowners at risk of foreclosure in an attempt to get out ahead of a more sweeping proposal by House Democrats.
Futures see-sawed Wednesday on more upheaval among some key financial firms and UPS' warning of a slowdown in the packages it carries.
The Senate began debate Thursday on a $15 billion bipartisan housing relief package that could get a final vote by next week.
A bipartisan housing stimulus bill could be debated in the Senate as early as Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.
The housing crisis took center stage in the presidential race this week. For good reason: Recent data show that nearly a million American households are at risk of foreclosure, 71% more than a year ago. Nearly 6% of all borrowers are past due on their mortgages.
By early April, both chambers of Congress are likely to tie the bow on a bill that would expand the reach of the Federal Housing Administration, which aims to provide safe loan alternatives to subprime mortgages and make homeownership more accessible.
President Bush, citing concerns about the country's economic future, called Monday for swift passage of a $150 billion program intended to counter slowing growth.
The economic stimulus plan announced Thursday by Congress and the Bush administration includes provisions that specifically address the mortgage crisis. It aims to make getting a mortgage easier and cheaper in high-cost markets, to facilitate refinancing and to prevent foreclosures.
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson used a speech Monday to defend a plan brokered by the Bush administration to "freeze" mortgage rates for some subprime borrowers and also to call on Congress to pass legislation to head off a housing crisis.
Criticized for not doing enough to stave off foreclosures, the White House seems prepped to put on a full-court press in dealing with the housing crisis.
A Senate bill that would expand the functions of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) could help upwards of 200,000 homeowners - though a similar House bill that passed last month is more aggressive.
Lend a hand to distressed homeowners? No way, say many, who worry the tab will come out of their pockets as taxpayers.
If your credit is weak or your savings anemic, here are two phrases you're likely to hear from mortgage loan officers in the next few years: FHA and mortgage insurance.
If home prices fall as forecast, the $23 trillion housing market could lose $3 trillion in value by August 2008, a leading housing economist and former mortgage bank president told lawmakers on Wednesday.
House lawmakers are planning to vote Tuesday on an overhaul of a federal agency that insures mortgages against default in an effort to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.
The House approved Tuesday a plan to expand federal backing of mortgages in hopes of helping struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Hundreds of thousands of homeowners who may struggle to make mortgage payments are likely to get some relief in coming months, including more options to refinance into lower-cost, fixed-rate loans and tax relief if they do face foreclosure.
The full impact of the upheaval in financial markets "has yet to play out," a top administration official said Wednesday, while stressing that the effect will be dampened somewhat by solid economic growth
Congressional Democrats promoting legislative solutions to the mortgage-market crisis said Wednesday that a Bush administration plan doesn't go far enough to protect homeowners who face huge increases in their monthly payments when rates on their adjustable mortgages jump in the months ahead.
The full impact of the upheaval in financial markets "has yet to play out," a top administration official said Wednesday, while stressing that the effect will be dampened somewhat by solid economic growth.
New tax relief and the ability to refinance adjustable rate mortgages could help many Americans who are in danger of losing their homes, President Bush said Saturday.
The light at the end of the subprime tunnel seems a long way off, but some lenders are trying to get there without losing too many customers.
SALEM, Ore. (CNN/Money) - "House rich, cash poor" is a common predicament for older Americans whose homes have appreciated in value while their incomes have failed to keep up with rising healthcare costs, property taxes and other living expenses.
The U.S. housing market shows no signs of slowing down as applications for new mortgages jumped 25.6 percent last week, and refinancing activity soared nearly 40 percent, says the Mortgage Bankers Association.
In this election year, President Clinton and Republican contender Bob Dole have vowed to provide tax breaks and other incentives to help more renters--now about a third of American households--beco...
Mortgage rates have been hovering near 25-year lows since July. So why haven't you bought a house or refinanced your mortgage yet? If you've been reluctant to apply for a loan because you don't thi...
The Federal Housing Administration is easing restrictions on a program that helps marginal borrowers afford a home. In October, the agency raised the maximum FHA-backed loan from $124,875 to $151,7...
For older homeowners in need of income, a reverse mortgage sounds tempting. You pledge a portion of your home equity to a lender, who then pays you a fixed monthly sum or opens a credit line that y...
Faced with $200 million in annual losses from loan defaults, the Federal Housing Administration is putting new rules into effect that will sharply increase the cost of its guaranteed mortgages for ...
Between now and Nov. 6, the legislators running for re-election to Congress will be making self-serving campaign speeches, shaking hands, making self- serving campaign speeches, kissing babies, mak...
In the February Money Helps column, it was suggested that perhaps I am too busy cleaning up HUD to approve the Federal Housing Administration insuring PLAMs (price-level adjusted mortgages), which ...
The Federal National Mortgage Association got a lot of attention last month when it announced that it would buy rollover mortgages -- fixed-rate loans that run for seven years with an option to ren...
Natalie and Kevin Lancaster have come about as close as you can to legally stealing a house. Theirs is a newly built four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath, 2,400- square-foot brick contemporary in the fast-grow...
Picking the ideal loan to bankroll your home improvement project isn't nearly as much fun as shopping for the perfect whirlpool tub. But to prevent your hard-earned bucks from being drained away by...
Le Corbusier, France's foremost 20th-century architect, called a house ''a machine for living.'' For someone who bought one a decade or more ago, when inflation was bumping up prices at annual rate...
-- Tip of the month: Credit unions have paid higher yields on money-market accounts than have banks or savings and loans this year, according to the newsletter Bank Rate Monitor.
Many discouraged young people feel like giving up on the American dream of home ownership. Incomes in most areas aren't keeping pace with rising house prices. Lenders have tightened their mortgage-...
Many discouraged young people feel like giving up on the American dream of home ownership. Incomes in most areas aren't keeping pace with rising house prices. Lenders have tightened their mortgage-...
If you or an older relative are house-rich but cash-poor, you might want to consider a reverse mortgage, a loan that pays a homeowner a fixed monthly sum and defers repayment of both principal and ...
The American middle class is getting priced out of the housing market. Numbing house prices have become a fact of life in the Northeast, California, Washington, D.C., Chicago, central North Carolin...
Like dandelions after a spring shower, those OPEN HOUSE signs on front lawns all over the country are being yanked out practically as fast as they sprouted. The seasonal house-buying binge has turn...
These are the best of times for housing, and the industry thinks the party will continue well into next year. The Department of Commerce reported that sales of new homes jumped 27.3% in March to th...
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