ShortSales

Janet's a lawyer who's losing her home, and she knows: When it comes to foreclosure, bureaucracy and paperwork can be your friends. Her foreclosure process has lasted for nearly 900 days, and counting. For homeowners in dire financial straits, her story is a lesson in how to keep a roof over your head as long as possible.

In this cloudy economy, we're all constantly hunting through the news and statistics for silver linings. Here's one that looks promising: In the first nine months of 2011, personal bankruptcy filings decreased 10% compared to a year earlier -- but experts say it's nothing to cheer about.

Attitudes toward mortgage default are shifting in America. People who've never missed a payment on anything in their lives are walking away from underwater homes, even when they can afford their monthly payments, because staying doesn't make financial sense. But how good a business decision is a strategic default?

More than any other demographic, Latino homeowners were slammed by the mortgage crisis: Two-thirds of total Hispanic wealth in the U.S. evaporated from 2005 to 2009. But as the fastest growing demographic in the nation, they are also well positioned to power the housing rebound.

When Noemi Rodriguez bought a two-bedroom, 830-square-foot condo in the San Fernando Valley of LA, for $307,000, she had good credit and a steady job as a data processor. Then came the recession. Home values started tanking.She lost her job. The bills stacked up, and she was falling behind on her...

Though imperfect in many ways, the government does have a number of options for the average homeowner in need of assistance to avoid foreclosure. But the U.S. median home price in October stood at only $173,000, down a whopping 25% from a high back in 2006 of about $230,200. What happens if you...

This year it's with no small sense of embarrassment that I had to unload a commercial property as a "short sale." I hasten to underscore that I'm by no means a big-time real estate investor, despite how the first line reads. To make a long story short, for 10 years, I had been renting studio space...

The National Association of Realtors and other housing industry types are none too pleased with the effect that real estate appraisers are having on the market.The NAR reports that 17% of its members have lost a sale due to a low appraisal and 20% say that they've lost more than one deal. NAR chief...

People have been complaining that they found a buyer for their house but it's taking months to get approval for a short sale. Well, you may find it easier to get your bank's approval thanks to a new incentive program announced Thursday by the Obama Administration.Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner...

Most people in the real estate industry are in the midst of a tough run, but there's one segment of the market that's booming: foreclosure specialists.The New York Times reports that the 2009 Reomac conference in Palm Desert, CA attracted 3,000 real estate agents and property managers specializing...