Yahoo - "California Foreclosure Sales Reach $12 Billion in First Half of 2007: Up 95% From January to June" (7-10-07)

"ForeclosureRadar(TM) (ForeclosureRadar.com) today released its June 2007 California Foreclosure Report. This unique monthly report includes previously unavailable auction sales data providing a far more timely and accurate picture of California's foreclosure marketplace. ForeclosureRadar(TM) is the first statewide foreclosure information service to track each and every foreclosure auction throughout the state on a daily basis. Other foreclosure listing services rely primarily on documents recorded at the county which delays the reporting of actual foreclosure sales trends by weeks or even months."

MBA - "Fannie Mae Requires New ALTA Forms" (7-10-07)

"Mortgage loans delivered to Fannie Mae for purchase or securitization must have title insurance policies that provide title protection, generally the standard ALTA forms. The standard ALTA title insurance policy forms were revised in 2006; therefore, Fannie Mae is encouraging lenders to begin obtaining title policies written on the 2006 ALTA forms as soon as possible in states in which ALTA forms are approved for use. Use of the 2006 ALTA forms in those states will be required for all loans sold and delivered to Fannie Mae on and after January 1, 2008."

CNN - "Handicapping housing's recovery" (7-10-07)

"The last time Fortune checked in with Bob Toll, founder and CEO of luxury-home builder Toll Brothers, was in April 2005, when we dubbed him the "new king of the real estate boom." The moniker seemed apt: Toll Brothers was reaping record profits, and the company's stock chart looked like Cisco's in the late 1990s, with shares soaring 470 percent in less than three years. Needless to say, much has changed since then. The homebuilding industry is mired in a slump - sales of single-family homes dropped 16 percent in May, hitting their lowest levels since 2001, and the stock prices of Toll Brothers (Charts, Fortune 500) and most other homebuilders have been halved (citing a glut, competitor KB Home (Charts, Fortune 500) saw quarterly revenue fall 36 percent last month). Fortune senior writer Jon Birger recently spoke with Toll about housing's uncertain outlook."

Bloomberg - "S&P May Cut Ratings on $12 Billion of Subprime Mortgage Bonds" (7-10-07)

"Standard & Poor's may cut credit ratings on $12 billion of bonds backed by subprime mortgages, citing expectations that losses will continue. The bonds are from 612 classes of residential mortgage- backed securities, S&P said today in an e-mailed statement. Ratings on collateralized debt obligations that contain the mortgage bonds are also under review, S&P said."

The Boston Globe - "Consumer borrowing jumps on credit card debt" (7-10-07)

"The Federal Reserve reported yesterday that consumer credit rose at an annual rate of 6.4 percent in May, far above the small 1.1 percent gain of April. The increase was propelled by a surge in the category that includes credit cards, which rose at a rate of 9.8 percent in May after having a tiny increase of 0.2 percent in April. The jump in credit card debt was the largest since a 14.5 percent rate of increase in November."

CNN - "Mortgage resets: Record bill coming due" (7-10-07)

"More than two million subprime adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) are poised to reset at much higher rates in coming months, worsening an already suffering housing market. Borrowers who took out hybrid ARMs in 2004 and 2005 to secure low 'teaser' rates for the first two or three years of the loan may see their monthly mortgage payments climb by 35 percent or more. Consumer groups and politicians worry that hundreds of thousands of subprime ARM borrowers will be unable to keep up with their mortgage payments and will lose their homes."

Market Watch - "S&P finally says subprime is mostly junk" (7-10-07)

"S&P, one of the three main credit-rating agencies that served as enablers of the subprime mortgage boom, announced Tuesday that it would lower its ratings on 612 bonds, a small portion of the mortgage-backed securities it had given its seal of approval to. See full story. But the bigger news is that S&P isn't going along with the charade any more. S&P said it would change its methodology for ratings hundreds of billions of dollars in residential mortgage-backed securities."

CNN - "Housing woes hammer Home Depot" (7-10-07)

"Home improvement retailer Home Depot cut its 2007 profit outlook Tuesday, citing continued weakness in the home building market and the sales of its supply business. Atlanta-based Home Depot, the No. 1 home improvement retailer, said it now expects earnings per share to fall by 15 to 18 percent to between $2.30 or $2.36 a share for the fiscal year. The company had previously estimated EPS of $2.54 a share for the year, but it said Tuesday that estimate included 18 cents a share that the HD Supply unit had been expected to contribute and which will now be missing from full-year results."

Bloomberg - "D.R. Horton to Report Net Loss After Orders Plunge" (7-10-07)

"D.R. Horton Inc., the second-largest U.S. homebuilder, will report a third-quarter loss after orders plunged 40 percent and said it sees no sign of a housing rebound. 'We expect the housing environment to remain challenging,' Chairman Donald Horton said today in a statement. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company is planning a 'significant' writedown in the value of its real estate and the shares fell to a three-year low."

Real Estate Journal - "Splitting the Cost of a Home When You Can't Go It Alone" (7-10-07)

"While most people want to own a home, young singles and couples often find it impossible to scratch together enough cash to make the purchase. More established folks, too, sometimes discover that the down payment for their dream house is just too big a nut to crack. It doesn't have to be that way. Simple financial strategies exist that allow disadvantaged buyers to split the cost of a house by sharing the wealth. 'We can do more when we join with other people's money,' says Marilyn Sullivan, a real-estate attorney in Arroyo Grande, Calif."