Daily News - "Who did more subprime damage than Countrywide? Nobody" (5-9-09)

"Countrywide Financial Corp., formerly headquartered at 4500 Park Granada in Calabasas, topped the center's list of 25 lenders responsible for extending subprime mortgages to homeowners who might not otherwise have qualified for a mortgage. Those lenders accounted for nearly $998 billion of the $1.4 trillion in subprime mortgages made from 2005 to 2007"

AOL - "Obama Wants Fed as Finance Supercop" (5-9-09)

"The Obama administration told industry officials on Friday that it was leaning toward making such a recommendation, according to officials who attended a private one-hour meeting between President Barack Obama's economic advisers and representatives from about a dozen banks, hedge funds and other financial groups. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other officials made it clear they were not inclined to divide the job among various regulators as has been suggested by industry and some federal regulators. Geithner told the group that one organization needs to be held responsible for monitoring systemwide risk."

The Huffington Post - "Short Sales: Banks Blocking Way Out Of Foreclosure Crisis" (5-9-09)

"According to research firm Campbell Communications, only 23 percent of short sale transactions are actually completed. 'Three out of four potential short sale transactions fail, principally because the mortgage servicer takes too long to respond to the offer,' said Tom Popik, author of a February survey of real estate agents."

Los Angeles Times - "Court decision targets mystery closing fees" (5-10-09)

"A federal district court has handed down a ruling in a class action that could have a direct effect on the fees you pay to the real estate company at closing, whether as a buyer or seller. The decision targets one of the most common practices adopted by brokerage firms in recent years: charging consumers 'admin,' 'processing,' 'ABC' and other mystery fees ranging from $150 to as much as $500 per transaction. The fees are tacked on top of regular commissions and sometimes come as last-minute surprises on settlement sheets."

Redding - "Validity of home value Web sites questioned" (5-10-09)

"Take Zillow's home value report for the first quarter of 2009, for example. It revealed that values in Redding, which encompasses Anderson and Shasta Lake, declined 34 percent from a year ago to $197,193. Wait, though, Zillow doesn't rely solely on recent or comparable sales. The site contends there's more that goes into values than what a house sold for recently in a particular neighborhood - it eliminates the bias present in median sales prices."