U.S. Housing Prices Fell Again in January
For more: http://nyti.ms/gjqRBF
The housing market remains mired in trouble, with plummeting prices and slumping sales. First-time buyers are fleeing, sellers are frustrated, builders are depressed and lenders are skittish about making new loans.

OPINION: Where the Bailout Went Wrong
For more; http://nyti.ms/hQW3VB
TWO and a half years ago, Congress passed the legislation that bailed out the country’s banks. The government has declared its mission accomplished, calling the program remarkably effective “by any objective measure.” On my last day as the special inspector general of the bailout program, I regret to say that I strongly disagree. The bank bailout, more formally called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, failed to meet some of its most important goals.

Foreclosure Aid Fell Short, and Is Fading
For more: http://nyti.ms/hP7C1h
Last summer, as President Obama’s premier plan to save millions of Americans from foreclosure foundered, the administration tossed a new life preserver to homeowners.

Regulators to Set Rules on Mortgage Securities
For more: http://nyti.ms/gf8vjq
Banks will be forced to retain some risk when they securitize all but the most conservative mortgages under rules that regulators are expected to vote on Tuesday. But the banks are likely to be given wide leeway in determining what risks to keep.

Skip the bank, buy a house with cash
For more: http://bit.ly/hLIWa3
An increasing number of people are paying for real estate with cash, making a surprising uptick in a market that was all but flattened two years ago.

Mortgage Servicers Resist But Cut Debts
For more: http://bit.ly/fhhm3T
U.S. banks are resisting efforts by state attorneys general to force them to cut the amounts owed by some borrowers facing foreclosure. Yet mortgage companies already have reduced home-loan balances for more than 100,000 borrowers.

Problems With New Good Faith Estimate Forms
For more: http://nyti.ms/ec3H1V
THE revamped Good Faith Estimate form, which arrived just over a year ago, has helped give home buyers and homeowners looking to refinance their mortgages a better understanding of their borrowing costs. But industry experts say the three-page, line-by-line disclosure — which lenders must provide within three days of receiving a loan application — still falls short of telling borrowers exactly what they will be paying. Some in the mortgage industry complain that it can even distort or obscure the true cost.

A Bounce Isn’t Enough to Recover From a Bubble
For more: http://nyti.ms/gblv1N
DESPITE recent volatility in global markets, domestic stocks have doubled in value in the last two years, the fastest such gain since the Great Depression.

It’s 2026, and the Debt Is Due
For more: http://nyti.ms/h0v6LN
The following is a presidential
address to the nation — to be
delivered in March 2026.

MY fellow Americans, I come to you today with a heavy heart. We have a crisis on our hands. It is one of our own making. And it is one that leaves us with no good choices.

Note to Banks: It’s Not 2006 Anymore
For more: http://nyti.ms/fsMDQX
NOSTALGIA is running high on Wall Street for the days when junk mortgage underwriting and opaque derivatives trading juiced bank profits. As regulators continue to devise the machinery of the Dodd-Frank regulatory reform law, major financial institutions are working overtime in Washington to bring the good times back again.

Mortgage Rates Increase; 30-Year Fixed at 4.81%
For more: http://bit.ly/ftwtbX
Mortgage rates increased in the latest week, with the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages edging closer to 5%, though it remained lower than a year earlier.

A Matter of Trust: Giving Away a Home
For more: http://bit.ly/eXigLd
Depressed real-estate values and changes in tax rules make this a good time for older homeowners to transfer property to their children using a specialized trust designed to save on gift and estate taxes.

Retirement 101: How to Figure Out What You'll Need
For more: http://bit.ly/fcoicX
Columnist Brett Arends offers six quick steps to find out whether you'll be eating cat food instead of caviar in retirement—and what you can do about it.

Fannie Report Warned of Foreclosure Problems in 2006
For more: http://bit.ly/eS4eXd
The report from an outside law firm hired by the company came long before regulators launched probes into the mortgage-service industry's practices.

Eyes Open, WaMu Still Failed
For more: http://nyti.ms/fI8cRk
In the crazy days of 2005 and 2006, when home prices were soaring and mortgage underwriting standards were crumbling, it took foresight and judgment to see that it was all a bubble.