Jody Shenn / Bloomberg
About half of recent subprime and Alt-A borrowers may soon owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth or hold minimal equity, putting $800 billion of debt at greater risk of default, according to Barclays Capital.

Subprime loans from 2006 and 2007 that exceed the value of the homes jumped 5 percentage points to 19.8 percent in the fourth quarter, and may reach 26 percent by midyear if prices drop at the same pace, Barclays analysts wrote in a report yesterday. Alt-A loans, a grade better than subprime, would grow to 23 percent from 16.3 percent.

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David Mildenberg and Peter J. Brennan / Bloomberg.com

Bank of America Corp., seeking approval of its Countrywide Financial Corp. takeover, plans to modify at least $40 billion of mortgages during the next two years to keep customers in their homes.

The move will help as many as 265,000 homeowners, Liam McGee, president of the bank’s global consumer and small- business unit, said today in Los Angeles at a U.S. Federal Reserve hearing on the purchase. The company will donate $2 billion to communities in the next 10 years, including funds for organizations giving advice on foreclosures, he said.

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Brad Carlson / Idaho Business Review

Legitimate “foreclosure rescue” companies don’t attempt to get a distressed home’s deed, said Meridian-based attorney Lance Churchill, who teaches real estate investment and asset protection through his Frontline Seminars entity.

Idaho does not regulate foreclosure consultants specifically, he said. Foreclosure rescue is subject to Idaho’s consumer protection laws, and to some extent its credit repair laws depending on how a company advertises, he said.

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MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sales of existing homes fell in March while the median home price declined, compared with the price a year ago, as a severe slump in housing showed no signs of abating.

The National Association of Realtors said that sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 2 percent in March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.93 million units.

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Americans’ pessimism over housing crisis seen growing

Associated Press / MSNBC

WASHINGTON - A growing majority say they won’t buy a home anytime soon, the latest sign of increasing pessimism about the nation’s housing crisis, a poll showed Monday.

In a vivid sketch of how the sputtering real estate market is causing distress throughout the country, the Associated Press-AOL Money & Finance poll found that more than a quarter of homeowners worry their home will lose value over the next two years. Fully one in seven mortgage holders fear they won’t be able to make their monthly payments on time over the next six months.

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Kelly Bennett / Voice of San Diego

A jury sided Thursday with Carlsbad real estate broker Mike Little in a closely watched lawsuit that pitted a local couple against the agent that helped them buy a home. The couple, Vern and Marty Ummel, claimed that Little neglected to mention recent sales in their neighborhood, leading them to overpay by about $150,000 for their home in July 2005.

The case attracted national attention as it posed a hot question: What are the responsibilities of a real estate agent? The real estate camp was concerned that if the plaintiffs won Thursday, it would catalyze and focus a growing urge around the country to find someone to blame — and to hold financially responsible — when houses aren’t worth as much as their buyers once paid. Those who sided with the Ummels worried their case would be chalked up to rich people problems, a matter of a measly $150,000 in the scope of a million-dollar tract home near a golf course in North County.

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Mark Pittman, Alan Katz and David Mildenberg / Bloomberg.com

Bank holding companies including Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. have the thinnest safety cushion against losses in seven years.

The margin may erode further in coming weeks. Credit ratings on $704 billion of bonds have been cut this year following the collapse of the U.S. housing market. Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said last week that downgrades may compromise bank capital ratios enough that some of the largest institutions will no longer be considered well capitalized.

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Buyers can get deals, but process usually takes much more time

Jane Hodges / MSNBC

The Village at Green River in Corona, Calif., began marketing 19 newly-built townhouses in July 2007, just as the national real estate market began flagging. The average price of the homes, which vary in size from 1,400 to 1,640 square feet, was $505,000 at the time. Three price drops later, the homes finally began selling in March — at an average price of $309,000, says listing agent Dominic Kurtyan.

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Alan Zibel, Associated Press / Yahoo Finance

New Low for Pending Home Sales in February Is Latest Sign of a Still-Tumbling Housing Market

WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeowners and investors hunting for any indication that the housing market has bottomed out didn’t get it Tuesday, as the latest home sales data from a real estate trade group moved that sign further down the road to recovery.

The National Association of Realtors said pending U.S. home sales fell in February to the lowest reading since the index began in 2001. The trade group’s seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing homes fell to 84.6 from January’s upwardly revised reading of 86.2. A year earlier, the index stood at 107.6.

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