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TALLAHASSEE, FL - August 30, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, Joseph Smith, Jr., the national mortgage settlement monitor, released an interim report on homeowner relief that the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers have provided as of June 30. ...

WASHINGTON, DC - August 23, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Association of Realtors® applauds the Federal Housing Finance Agency for working with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to issue new guidelines that expand eligibility criteria and streamline the short sale process.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - August 22, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand and Congresswoman McCarthy announced today that FEMA has agreed to their call for an extension of the low-cost preferred risk flood insurance policies for Nassau County property owners. Under the existing flood insurance program, homeowners who live in an area designated as a flood zone are required to purchase flood insurance.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - August 22, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today, FEMA announced the extension of the Preferred Risk Policy eligibility under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) until further notice, as the Agency completes a study and analysis of the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, signed into law by President Obama on July 6, 2012.

CHICAGO, IL - August 6, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Governor Pat Quinn today signed two new housing laws to provide people with disabilities with more access to affordable rental housing, and to further protect homeowners from mortgage fraud. The suppor...

Washington, D.C. - July 20, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) introduced the Fast Help For Homeowners (FHFH) Act, H.R. 6153, to help speed up the short sale process, a necessary step to addressing the housing crisis. ...

LOS ANGELES, CA - July 20, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (C.A.R.) is supporting and urging the swift passage of The Fast Help For Homeowners (FHFH) Act, a short sale bill that will require subordinate lien holders ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 12, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Department of Justice today filed the second largest fair lending settlement in the department’s history to resolve allegations that Wells Fargo Bank, the largest residential home mortgage originator in the United States, engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against qualified African-American and Hispanic borrowers in its mortgage lending from 2004 through 2009.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - July 12, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law the California Foreclosure Reduction Act today inLos Angeles. The bills, AB 278 and SB 900, are designed to reduce unnecessary foreclosures in the state and were critical pieces of Attorney General Kamala Harris' Homeowner Bill of Rights.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - June 28, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- A housing bill introduced in the Senate could more than double the number of homeowners who refinance under a federal mortgage program and also more than double their potential savings, according to an estimate by researchers at Columbia University. To be eligible, homeowners must have a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac and be current on the payments

Farmington Hills, MI - June 14, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Today U.S. Rep. Gary Peters marked National Homeownership Month by discussing his bill, the Preserving American Homeownership Act, with local housing nonprofits and realtors at a press conferen...

Torrance, CA - June 14, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Thousands of Arizona homeowners are not aware of the many programs and options available to them right now, which can reduce their mortgage payments, reduce their interest rate, modify their current lo...

Albany, NY - June 14, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the Department of Financial Services (DFS) has ordered insurers offering force-placed insurance in New York to submit proposals for new premium rates after...

Washington, D.C. - June 12, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- More than 1.3 million homeowners have received foreclosure prevention counseling by local nonprofits and state housing finance agencies participating in the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) program administered by NeighborWorks America, one of the nation’s largest community development corporations. The latest report on the NFMC program also found that 51% percent of homeowners seeking help are women, and overall that 20% of the people being served by NFMC counselors have mortgage rates that exceed 8%. The national level for the 30-year mortgage has averaged less than 5% since April 2010.

Washington, D.C. - June 11, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- U.S. Reps. Gary Peters (D-MI), John Campbell (R-CA) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) introduced the Preserving American Homeownership Act of 2012. The crux of this legislation is the creation of a princip...

WASHINGTON, DC - April 23, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- The National Association of Realtors® is joining forces once again with the U.S. Department of the Treasury to offer aid to homeowners who are struggling to keep their homes and avoid foreclosure and to help Realtors® better assist clients through the short sale process.

Destin, FL - March 7, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Five years into the housing downturn, a larger number of homeowners with mortgages say they will walk away from their homes if their property values continue to drop, according to a new Housing Predictor opinion poll.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - March 6, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- In his State of the Union address, President Obama laid out a Blueprint for an America Built to Last, calling for action to help responsible borrowers and support a housing market recovery. While the government cannot fix the housing market on its own, the President believes that responsible homeowners should not have to sit and wait for the market to hit bottom to get relief when there are measures at hand that can make a meaningful difference.

Washington, DC - February 15, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- Federal and state governments recently settled a major agreement with the country’s five largest mortgage servicers: Ally/GMAC, Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo.

WASHINGTON, DC - February 6, 2012 - (RealEstateRama) -- In this week’s address, President Obama continued his call for a return to American values, including fairness and equality, as part of his blueprint for an economy built to last. This is why the President is sending Congress his plan to give responsible homeowners the chance to save thousands of dollars on their mortgages by refinancing at historically low rates without adding a cent to the deficit.