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| | How a housing crash hurts retirees You already know that the housing crisis has wreaked havoc with the economy and financial markets, not to mention the lives of millions who've lost or could lose their homes. But there may be a less obvious casualty too: your retirement prosperity.


Mortgage rates ease: Third week in a row Mortgage rates declined, easing for the third straight week, according to a report from mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac.


Lush lawn - higher home value Turn that yard into a fine green carpet and your whole house becomes more valuable.


GMAC slashes 5,000 jobs Read full story for latest details.


Pick-a-payment loans turn poisonous They're known as "pick-a-payment" mortgages or option ARMs, but their detractors call them pure poison. Now their default rates, which are already high, are about to explode, according to a Fitch Ratings report issued Tuesday.


Latest home prices - first quarter Single-family home prices dropped 7.7% in the first quarter in the largest year-over-year decline since the National Association of Realtors began reporting prices in 1982.


Where home prices are headed next The housing implosion is nowhere near over. In 75 of the 100 top U.S. cities, prices are expected to fall in the next 12 months according to Fiserv Lending Solutions.


Homebuyers turn screws on desperate sellers A rock-bottom price just isn't enough for buyers these days - it's a starting point. If the furnace is out of date, they'll demand a new one. Cracked driveways have to be repaved, and dirty carpeting torn out and replaced. All at the seller's expense.


2M borrowers avoid foreclosure Hope Now has helped more than 2 million at-risk borrowers stay in their homes during the past 13 months, according to numbers released by the coalition on Wednesday.


Unlocking your home equity The housing rescue package that Congress scrambled to pass in July was aimed primarily at stemming foreclosures and shoring up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But it also contains provisions that make reverse mortgages a better deal for older homeowners who want to turn their equity into cash.


Housing fix backfires Back in February, Congress passed into law a quick fix for the housing market. Unfortunately, it hasn't done much good.


Home prices plummet in a new record National U.S. home prices fell a record 15.4% in the second quarter compared with last year, according to a report out Tuesday.


Mortgage volume rises Read full story for latest details.


Mortgage fraud still soaring With the housing market in turmoil and lending standards tougher than ever, you'd think that the kind of unscrupulous activity that helped plunge the industry into crisis would be a thing of the past.


New home sales rise, but grim news lurks The housing sector offered another mixed bag of news Tuesday, as new home sales rose slightly in July only after June sales were revised downward, according to a key government report.


Five-fold jump in Thornburg profit Read full story for latest details.


Existing home sales rise, but prices still sinking Sales of existing homes rose more than expected in July, but prices continued to fall and inventory increased. That's according to the latest reading on the battered housing market by an industry trade group released Monday.


These homes for sale suck Mold, maggots and piles of festering trash - no wonder home prices are in freefall.


Housing: Frank talk from Barney Frank Spend 27 years in Congress and you're bound to encounter more than one financial train wreck. But as Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., sees it, the meltdown in the U.S. housing market poses as much of a threat to the nation's economic well-being as anything he's encountered during his time on Capitol Hill.


IndyMac borrowers to get relief The FDIC, six weeks after taking over mortgage lender IndyMac Bank, said Wednesday that it will start systematically modifying some of the bank's most troubled loans to keep borrowers in their homes.


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