Dec 17th 2012 12:40PM
For much of the last year, the housing market has generally been on a slow but steady path toward improvement, and that trend continued in November. A number of federal initiatives to make consumers struggling in the housing market more financially capable seem to be working, according to the latest housing scorecard from... Continue Reading »
Aug 15th 2012 10:00AM
Before the housing bubble burst, Anthony Ugaro lived across from a country club in Bloomfield, N.J. "I was playing golf every day. I thought I was a duke," he said. But the good life began to unravel for Ugaro, 65, when the military veteran lost his job at an electronics company in 2009. Soon after, he was diagnosed with... Continue Reading »
Jun 25th 2012 1:06AM
By Samantha Henry A New Jersey appeals court blasted Bank of America this week, chastising the company for the way it handled the case of a woman the court found to be making a good faith effort to hang on to her foreclosed home. In upholding a lower court decision, the New Jersey Superior Court's appellate division... Continue Reading »
Jun 15th 2012 11:20AM
Like a dark, ominous cloud, the menace of a foreclosure onslaught has loomed portentously over the U.S. real estate market in recent months, threatening to wash away a fledgling recovery. Now it looks like the storm has hit -- but this time we may be ready for it. After more than two years of sputtering, the... Continue Reading »
Feb 3rd 2012 4:30PM
On the eve of the Nevada primary, in which housing policy will weigh heavily on residents of the foreclosure-ridden state, PBS' "Need to Know" takes a closer look at what the housing crisis looks and feels like for locals. In the video special below, which airs in full at 8:30 p.m. EST tonight, the "Need to Know" team... Continue Reading »
Dec 20th 2011 3:35PM
SALT LAKE CITY -- A man who owned a loan modification business in Lehi and St. George is being accused of defrauding homeowners to pay for personal expenses including entertainment and his wife's plastic surgery. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says 34-year-old David Shawn Moffitt faces nine felony counts of... Continue Reading »
Nov 22nd 2011 1:00PM
SAN FRANCISCO -- A criminal investigation into mortgage swindlers has expanded beyond deceptive advertising on Google's Internet search engine to root out con artists who were luring their victims on Bing and Yahoo, too. Monday's news of the widening probe confirmed that the Internet's three largest search engines had... Continue Reading »
Nov 15th 2011 4:20PM
By Arthur Delaney Georgia Judge Dennis Blackmon is fed up with bailed-out banks refusing to help strapped homeowners. "Sometimes, only the courts of law stand to protect the taxpayer. Somewhere, someone has to stand up," Blackmon wrote in a five-page Nov. 2 order in Carroll County Superior Court. "Well, sometimes is now,... Continue Reading »
Nov 11th 2011 9:30AM
California expanded its $2 billion program to help homeowners avoid foreclosure to those with second homes as well. The California Housing Finance Agency established the four Keep Your Home programs using money from the Treasury Department's $7.6 billion Hardest Hit Fund. Before, borrowers were restricted from... Continue Reading »
Oct 7th 2011 4:40PM
Lori Macakanja, a former housing counselor in Dunkirk, N.Y., pleaded guilty this week to mail fraud and theft of government money meant for modifying delinquent mortgages. Some 136 clients of her company, HomeFront Inc., gave Macakanja a combined $300,000 for promised modifications. She used the money for her own use,... Continue Reading »
Sep 26th 2011 11:10AM
The calls started last November. Speaking in Spanish, a representative from New Century Solutions in Lake Forest, Calif., pitched Jose Chirino to purchase a forensic loan audit. For $2,995, the representative said, an audit could help the San Jose, Calif., homeowner get a much-desired loan modification and principal... Continue Reading »
Sep 8th 2011 4:00PM
Kate Hanni is no stranger to public advocacy. After she was trapped in a plane on the tarmac for more than nine hours, she formed Flyers Rights, the largest nonprofit advocacy group for airline passengers' rights. The result was the passage of the Airline Passengers Bill of Rights and the three-hour tarmac-delay limit for... Continue Reading »
Sep 2nd 2011 9:00AM
The Obama administration announced more disappointing numbers for its signature anti-foreclosure initiative and said Thursday that it would continue to withhold payments from two banks running the program. Just 14,000 homeowners received trial modifications under the Home Affordable Modification Program in July, the... Continue Reading »
Aug 9th 2011 12:30PM
WASHINGTON -- Fewer homeowners entered preliminary mortgage modifications under the Obama administration's signature foreclosure prevention initiative in June than in any month since April 2009, according to government data released Friday. June saw just 15,000 new trial modifications under the initiative, which the... Continue Reading »
Jul 25th 2011 1:10PM
A lawyer in Tallahassee, Fla., is at the center of what some experts are calling a new take on mortgage relief scams, according to the St. Petersburg Times. Nearly 6,000 struggling homeowners seeking mortgage modifications have agreed to work with a Florida-based law firm in the hope of settling their outstanding debts.... Continue Reading »
Billionaire David Siegel's Unfinished 'Versailles' Mansion in Florida to Resume Construction
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