Yahoo - "Home prices sink at record clip; foreclosures keep mounting" (4-29-08)

"In a bad omen for sellers and lenders this spring home selling season, the erosion of house values is accelerating and foreclosure filings are doubling, new data showed Tuesday. A closely watched index of home prices in 20 cities fell almost 13 percent in February from a year earlier, a record for the seven-year-old S&P's/Case-Shiller Home Price index. The report follows news that foreclosure filings between January and March also hit a new high, and comes a day after the government said the number of vacant homes on the market also hit a record."

Bloomberg - "Bonds, Stocks Show Bernanke Fixing Financial System" (4-29-08)

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is persuading investors that the financial markets are working again. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 7.88 percent since the central bank backed the purchase of Bear Stearns Cos. on March 16. Companies sold $45.3 billion of debt last week, the most ever. High-yield bonds are poised for their best month in five years and mortgage securities are outperforming Treasuries for the first time in 2008."

Bloomberg - "More Subprime, Alt-A Mortgages May Head `Underwater'" (4-29-08)

"About half of recent subprime and Alt-A borrowers may soon owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth or hold minimal equity, putting $800 billion of debt at greater risk of default, according to Barclays Capital. Subprime loans from 2006 and 2007 that exceed the value of the homes jumped 5 percentage points to 19.8 percent in the fourth quarter, and may reach 26 percent by midyear if prices drop at the same pace, Barclays analysts wrote in a report yesterday. Alt-A loans, a grade better than subprime, would grow to 23 percent from 16.3 percent."

Forbes - "Worst Cities For Homeowner Debt" (4-29-08)

This article contains a chart listing information like the median home price and the total mortgages of each city

The San Diego Union Tribune - "State budget '$20 billion out of whack'" (4-29-08)

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said yesterday that the state budget is “$20 billion out of whack,” a startling figure that doubles some previous estimates. A shortfall of that size in a projected general fund of $101 billion would create more pressure for deep cuts and tax increases to balance a budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1."

Market Watch - "Countrywide posts $893 million first-quarter loss" (4-29-08)

"Troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. continued to hemorrhage money in a toughening housing climate, reporting Tuesday that it lost $893 million in the first quarter compared to a profit of $434 million during the same period last year."

Yahoo - "Homes facing foreclosure more than doubled in 1Q from 2007" (4-29-08)

"The number of U.S. homes heading toward foreclosure more than doubled in the first quarter from a year earlier, as weakening property values and tighter lending left many homeowners powerless to prevent homes from being auctioned to the highest bidder, a research firm said Monday."

Realty Times - "Real Estate Marketing Strategies - Getting Your Clients to Buy Now!" (4-29-08)

"Have you been feeling frustrated at clients who don't seem to be able to make a decision? At the beginning they seem interested in buying, either they've contacted you or you contacted them. Then as they see some homes may begin listening to the news about today's marketplace, they start to get cold feet."

Realty Times - "Mortgage Fraud Now An Organized Crime Staple" (4-29-08)

"Fraud associated with home loans first cashed in on the greed that came with the previously booming housing market, when some buyers would do anything to own a home. The cons used falsified applications, inflated appraisals and other techniques to get home loans approved on the home buying end."

Realty Times - "Condo Trends: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly of Condo Fees" (4-29-08)

"The problem with condo fees, is that the monthly expense is rolled into your debt-to-income-ratio by mortgage lenders and can affect your buying power. For instance, if you have a condo fee of $300 per month, your purchasing power could drop by $50,000 if you were buying a home with a 6 percent mortgage on a 30-year note."

Orange County Register - "Closing HELOCs could bite banks, report says" (4-29-08)

"KBW said there’s an additional $1.2 trillion in outstanding debt on credit lines and home-equity loans. To put the numbers in perspective, the total of $2.2 trillion (used and unused HELOCs and home-equity loans) equates to 20 percent of outstanding first-mortgage debt and roughly 85 percent of outstanding non-mortgage consumer debt ($2.5 trillion), the report found."