Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently extended their foreclosure forbearance programs to give short-term aid to unemployed homeowners, but housing counselors warn that these borrowers will need to look at longer-term solutions.

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Hyper partisanship and the messy battle to raise the debt limit has caused the approval ratings of Congress to sink. A recent CBS News/New York Times poll even had the disapproval rating of Congress at 82 percent, the highest in decades.

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A rebound in mortgage rates from last year’s near-record low has reduced consumer demand for home loans and refinancings, leading Wells Fargo & Co. to join other industry stalwarts in laying off loan processors and related workers.

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“The Obama administration proposes to reduce the “footprint” of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by reducing the ceiling on loans that the two government-controlled lenders can guarantee as of October 1, 2011. Current federal law allows the two agencies to guarantee mortgages up to $729,750 in some high-home price areas. The administration recommends that Congress [...]

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Late yesterday, President Obama signed a resolution that included a provision extending through fiscal year 2011 the current conforming loan limit of $729,750 for high-cost areas, including many in California. The same limits will also be extended to loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration.

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Friday “Prisoners Cash In On the Homebuyer Tax Credit“: According to the latest reports out this week, while the government has been slow to convict tax credit fraudsters, they’ve apparently been quite swift in granting existing prisoners — even many who are serving life sentences — $8,000 each for the homebuyer tax credit! Thursday “Update1: [...]

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Faster Sales Coming For Foreclosure Buyers Foreclosure buyers got a Christmas Eve goodie from Fannie Mae, a new strategy that’s likely to make foreclosure purchasing very much quicker. The catch? A bunch of lenders are about to be very unhappy. Until the recent real estate meltdown, foreclosures were a problem but not too much of [...]

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Image by respres via Flickr Making Home Affordable program expanded BY INMAN NEWS, THURSDAY, MAY 14, 2009. Inman News The Obama administration will encourage troubled borrowers who don’t qualify for loan modifications or can’t keep up payments on a modified loan to pursue a short sale or deed their property to their lender in order [...]

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