Shares of Fannie Mae may be active after the shares drop during the day in the wake of the mortgage lender's request for further financial aid from the U.S. government.

Anticipating eventual market pick-up, Wells Fargo is trading option ARMs for interest-only loans, while economists question whether it's an improvement.

These are butt ugly: click for larger graphics Charts via RM Chart by

While the Realtors and Home Builders and Mortgage Bankers all bask in the glow of the home buyer tax credit extension/expansion, we all need to turn our attention to the real drag on a housing recovery: Foreclosures.

The [un]employment report headline numbers were ugly, but the internals are even less encouraging ... Employment-Population Ratio Click on graph for larger image in new window. This graph shows the employment-population ratio; this is the ratio of employed...

From the : The unemployment rate rose from 9.8 to 10.2 percent in October, and nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline (-190,000), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The largest job losses over the month were in construction,...

This list of Top 5 Loan Modification Myths is reproduced from the New York Real Estate Lawyer blog written by The Devery Law Group. It is geared towards borrowers in single-family homes, but I think owners of commercial property can benefit from some...

Members of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) approved a proposal this week to develop a new model for determining the regulatory treatment of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). The new model will produce ratings designations for approximately 18,000 RMBS owned by U.S. insurers at the end of 2009. ...

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Here’s another one of those stories that will make your blood pressure boil: Instead of moving forward with broad regulatory protections of economics system, we are undoing effective regulations that protect investors. Floyd Norris has the details. Under...

submits: There are so many rescue programs going on, I am losing track. Thanks to reader Patrick for notifying me of this; I have been so busy staring at the mirror (while clicking heels 3x) slowly repeating "prosperity is back" I sometime forget...

If you were curious about the recent news regarding Goldman Sachs' () and Warren Buffett’s () interest in acquiring the tax losses of Fannie Mae (), the details are in Fannie's 10-Q. This deal was agreed to and inked a month ago. It is still pending...

November 5, 2009: Statement of FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco Concerning the Possible Transfer of Fannie Mae Low-Income Housing Tax Credits to Investors

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae, the largest provider of funding for U.S. home loans, on Thursday said it would again tap the Treasury to plug a net worth deficit after bad mortgages and foreclosure prevention efforts resulted in a $18.9 billion net loss...

Commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations for the third quarter of 2009 were 12 percent lower than during the second quarter of 2009, and 54 percent lower than during the same period last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations. "Tight credit conditions coupled with scant demand for new loans meant that commercial and multifamily mortgage originations remained low in the third quarter," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research. "A pull-back by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their multifamily activity outweighed increases in commercial/multifamily lending by life insurance companies and commercial banks, leading the overall index lower on a quarter-over-quarter basis. Every investor group and property type saw year-over-year declines in origination volume." ...

Home equity lenders faced with losses from the U.S. property slump are holding out for more money in distressed sales, slowing transactions needed to support a recovery, real estate agents and analysts say. These secondary lenders are gaining power in negotiating payments from "short sales," a growing part of the market where homes are sold for less than the balance of outstanding loans....

The Federal Housing Administration abruptly delayed the release of a long-awaited independent audit of the financial soundness of the agency, citing potential problems with the accuracy of some of the study's economic models. The audit, compiled by Integrated Financial Engineering of Rockville, was scheduled to be released Wednesday, and the agency's top officials planned to brief reporters on its results. But on Tuesday evening, the agency postponed the event, saying the report had yet to be finalized. In a separate statement Wednesday, FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens said the delay was related to economic scenario tests that the agency requested "above and beyond" what was originally to be included in the audit so that the FHA could "better understand a broader range of risk scenarios." ...

The “Michael Jordan of trading” is now table-poundingly bullish on gold. And the Reserve Bank of India may have just made him look like a prophet… John Paulson (no relation to Hank) is widely viewed as the most successful money manager of our times. Paulson...

Bond dealers who advise the U.S. Treasury on its massive borrowing needs gave the government something new to worry about today: The Federal Reserve. In a presentation to the Treasury by its borrowing advisory committee, which represents the Securities...

The supply of homes available for sale in 27 major metropolitan areas at the end of October was down 2.8% from a month earlier, according to figures compiled by ZipRealty.