underwater

In the last few years, outreach events by banks and nonprofits have been held all over the country, offering help to distressed homeowners. But even when they get personal invitations to these events, the vast majority of people who need mortgage modifications or short sales aren't showing up.

If you're looking to score a great deal on a house, you may want to wait a bit longer: U.S. home prices dropped 3% in the first quarter, their sharpest quarter-over-quarter decline since late 2008, according to real estate tracking service Zillow, which now says prices won't begin to rebound until at least 2012.

Fewer Americans are having trouble paying their mortgages now compared to a year ago, according to a new survey. The bad news? Fewer Americans have mortgages. Some of those who were struggling last year have since sold or foreclosed.

The drop in home values caused by the mortgage crisis has resulted in one positive outcome: Prices have fallen so far that home affordability is back to pre-housing-boom levels, reports Moody's Analytics. But a quarter of households with a mortgage are underwater on their loan.

Jerilee Wei never expected to be living next to a cow pasture when she bought her home in Lakeland, Fla., in 2007. In her upscale community, newly constructed houses were selling for between $300,000 and $425,000. Then one morning she woke up and found some cattle had moved in.

Fewer U.S. mortgages are now classified as underwater -- where the home is worth less than the amount owed on the loan -- driven by a greater number of foreclosures, a new report shows. The percentage of single-family homes with negative equity mortgages fell to 21.5% in the second quarter, from...

Negative equity is linked to higher foreclosures. About a quarter of households with mortgages already owe more than their homes are worth. If prices slip further, up to half of all homeowners may end up underwater -- a scary prospect for Americans' financial health.

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.

A new form of mortgage fraud called "flopping" is spreading as banks increase the use of short sales to cut their losses from the growing number of home foreclosures.

If you're unemployed or your home is severely underwater, help is on the way. The Administration announced additional options for struggling homeowners to get help and explained the program during a press briefing Friday. You won't be able to call your lender right away, but you can call...