The Reverse Mortgage Gets a Makeover
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A new type of reverse mortgage is attracting the attention of affluent borrowers. But they need to be aware of the tradeoffs.

Still Renting After All These Years
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The trend toward rentals shows no signs of easing—even among those who could easily afford to buy a home.

Resolved: Think Less About Money
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My No. 1 financial goal for 2011 is to stop thinking about money so much. I realize that may sound funny coming from someone who thinks and writes about money for living, so let me explain.

KB Home Posts a Profit Despite a Decline in Sales
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KB Home said on Friday that its orders for new homes and its completed sales fell sharply in its fourth quarter.

Florida Bank Becomes the First Failure of 2011
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Regulators on Friday shuttered a Florida bank, the first closure of 2011 after 157 banks succumbed last year to the struggling economy and mounting bad loans.

YOUR MONEY: In College, Learning About Money
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One of the more difficult questions of the mortgage collapse was just how much blame individuals should take for signing up for loans they didn’t understand. Yes, many mortgage brokers steered people into harmful products. All sorts of banks, meanwhile, paid the brokers more when they put borrowers into subprime loans, and those same lenders simultaneously abandoned many of their underwriting standards.

Massachusetts Ruling on Foreclosures Is a Warning to Banks
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Legal experts said that while this ruling did not set a precedent for other states, the outcome will be closely watched across the country because it is the first such ruling from a state’s highest court. Investors viewed the ruling as negative for banks; an index of financial company shares fell almost 1 percent on the day.

Two Sentenced For Mortgage Fraud
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Scott M. Gaib, 38, of Lancaster was sentenced to 18 months in prison and his wife, Erica S. Gaib, 37, also of Lancaster, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for their roles in a mortgage fraud scheme they used to obtain loans in connection with the purchase and refinancing of eight properties in central Ohio

Hiring outlook brightens as layoffs decline
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“The economy is gaining momentum, and the job market, which has been the recovery's caboose, is starting to catch up,” said Zach Pandl, an economist at Nomura Securities.

At Banks, New Fees Replacing Old Levies
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Banks are looking at new ways to raise fees on basic products like debit cards, cash machines, and checking accounts, as regulations curtail other charges.

OPINION: Who Wants a 30-Year Mortgage?
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AS we all move forward with our New Year’s resolutions, it’s a good time to remember the promises our politicians have been making about the American mortgage market. The Obama administration, at a conference last August on the future of housing finance, pledged to have, come January, a plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants that are now wards of the government. Congressional Republicans, in their recent position paper, made an even bolder resolution: to build a mortgage market that “does not rely on government guarantees” and “does not make private investors and creditors wealthy while saddling taxpayers with losses.”

Attorney General Tom Miller Reneges on Promise to Prosecute Mortgage Fraud
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The five largest loan servicers, including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., may be the first to settle with the 50 state attorneys general probing foreclosure practices, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said…..The group isn’t pursuing a criminal investigation, Miller said. “Our focus is to reform the servicing process and that’s inherently civil, not criminal,” he said.

Would-be buyers could find it harder to get into a home in 2011
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The drumbeat from the housing community was loud and clear in 2010: There was never a better time to buy a home. For most of the past 12 months, home prices tumbled, mortgage rates ticked downward, and the inventory of available traditional and distressed homes was plentiful. But would-be buyers, even if they were able to overcome job worries, found that the hurdles to obtain a loan were formidable. They remained on the sidelines, and housing analysts opined that if the broader economy improved and unemployment fell, pent-up demand would be unleashed, credit guidelines would ease and home sales would improve.

Bank of America braces for WikiLeaks
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Bank of America does not know for sure that it will be the target of the next data dump from Internet provocateur WikiLeaks. But, in the wake of the site's recent release of State Department cables that embarrassed a number of political leaders, the bank is launching a damage control effort just in case.

Landlords Upgrade Rent Monitoring
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Landlords are beginning to act more like airlines—using supply and demand to make quick adjustments to rent prices.