FHA

On Thursday, Congress moved to raise the loan ceiling for mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration on Thursday, despite some lawmakers' fears of artificially propping up the market.

The reverse mortgage was invented to help seniors facing economic hardship access the equity in their homes. But these loan products are complicated, expensive and ripe for abuse, which lead a reader named Fred to ask DailyFinance's Laura Rowley for some advice. Here's what she told him:

If you've been saving your pennies and primping your FICO score in hopes of getting into the housing market while the getting's good (i.e., while home prices and interest rates are low), it must seem like there's a "new rule" of the new, post-bubble market to learn every time you turn around. And...

The administration's proposed revamp of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is actually an offering of multiple policy options, essentially passing the political hot potato to the Republicans. Problem is, any fix is sure to make mortgages costlier, with potential harm to the housing market.

Sales agreements for previously occupied homes rose 10.4 % in October. But that one spark of hope comes against a backdrop of declining prices, bulging inventories and ongoing legal issues around foreclosures. Don't count on a real estate recovery next year.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo were among banks that tightened credit standards for mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration in a move that may put a crimp in the U.S. housing recovery by effectively eliminating 6.3 million people from the potential home buying pool.

The inventory of homes for sale is at an 11-year high. Interest rates are bizarrely low -- under 4.4% on a 30-year-fixed rate loan, at last report. One would think that buyers would be burning up the market, but many are finding it difficult to actually close the deal. Here are five reasons buyers...

Historically low mortgage rates are making houses more affordable in terms of "the monthly nut," but other considerations can trump simple affordability, and ignoring those hidden costs and risks can turn buying a home into a potential financial disaster.

Looks like low cost, low down-payment FHA-backed loans will be around for some time to come -- good news for potential home buyers, not such good news for those who argue that the more money borrowers invest upfront, the less likely they will be to walk away when threatened with foreclosure. Right...

The percent of mortgages backed by the FHA that are in default has risen by a third over the last year. Many of the troubled mortgages were granted in 2007 and 2008, and mortgages typically perform worst in their second and third years.