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By Les Christie | @CNNMoney | “The long national foreclosure nightmare is nearing its end, with foreclosure filings hitting their lowest level since before the housing bust.   Total foreclosure filings, including notices of default, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions, dropped to 127,790 in June, down 35% over the past 12 months, according to RealtyTrac. Overall, filings haveRead more

SUZETTE PORTER | “Buying a home is a big deal. Whether it’s your first time or you feel like a seasoned pro, getting what you want at the best price means keeping your eye on the details from beginning to end. A lot of the process involves personal decisions, starting with what type of home youRead more

Heather Perlberg & John Gittelsohn | “Jonathan Gray, global head of real estate at Blackstone Group LP, talks about Blackstone’s investment in residential real estate and the outlook for the U.S. housing and commercial property market. He speaks with Erik Schatzker and Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television’s “Market Makers.” (Source: Bloomberg) The firm, which already ownsRead more

BY: ESTHER CHO | “As Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue their efforts to prevent millions of foreclosures, delinquency rates are also declining, with 60-plus delinquencies down to the lowest level since the first quarter of 2009, according to a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).    So far, efforts from the GSEs have led to nearly 2.8 millionRead more

Huffington Post | “My father arrived in this country from Europe in the late 1940s with a love of all things American but was especially fond of the post-war boom in emerging technology. To satisfy this hunger, he bought himself a new-fangled Webcor reel-to-reel tape recorder replete with a throbbing green “magic eye” (to monitorRead more

by Kim Miller |  Palm Beach Post | “The founder of a Florida-based mortgage servicing firm was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday for her participation in a six-year scheme to prepare and file more than 1 million fraudulently-signed and notarized documents. Lorraine Brown, 56, launched the company DocX, which later became Jacksonville-based LPSRead more

By Michelle Conlin and Peter Rudegeair | (Reuters) – “Six former Bank of America Corp employees have alleged that the bank deliberately denied eligible home owners loan modifications and lied to them about the status of their mortgage payments and documents. The bank allegedly used these tactics to shepherd homeowners into foreclosure, as well asRead more

By JACKIE CALMES | WASHINGTON — “Despite signs of revival in housing, the Obama administration announced on Thursday an extension of its principal program for helping distressed homeowners to get mortgage modifications and avoid foreclosure. Jacob J. Lew, the Treasury secretary, and Shaun Donovan, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said the Making Home Affordable program, whichRead more

by Ruth Mantell | “States where lenders must go through the court system to move a borrower into foreclosure have the highest rates of troubled properties, according to data released Wednesday. In April the three states with the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes in April were Florida, New Jersey andRead more

By Mary Shanklin, Orlando Sentinel | A homeowner-advocacy group is pressuring Florida Gov. Rick Scott to veto a bill that would expedite foreclosures in the state starting July 1. The new state law would allow banks to complete foreclosures without court hearings, unless a homeowner requests to have a specific case heard by a judge.In the past, allRead more