Mortgage Crisis

President Obama's multi-billion dollar proposal to help homeowners involves providing them refinanced, government-backed loans. The plan is not without its doubters, however.

60 Minutes reports on Cleveland, Ohio's growing problem of abandoned homes, where 1/5th of all houses are now vacant.

After languishing on the market for years and steadily getting price-chopped, mansions and estates are hitting the auction block. Candace Jackson explains this has always been a last-resort move, and an unusual one for the wealthy.

Multinational financial services company Citigroup was bailed out by federal stimulus funds after taking large losses on bad mortgages. Today, Citi Foundation is helping fund projects in 10 metro areas to increase stability and prevent foreclosures.

Three economists with an understanding of the industry say that construction has finally hit bottom across the board (retail, housing, office) and is poised to come back with double-digit growth in 2011.

Christopher Leinberger argues that regardless of current coping strategies, the mortgage crisis is permanently reshaping cities and their edges.

Mortgage debt is crippling the housing market all over the country, and the homeowners who've taken on more debt than they can afford. Now, real estate interests and banking interests are battling over legislation intended to ease the pain.

Edward L. Glaeser says that the government policy of encouraging homeownership through tax breaks subsidizes Americans to buy bigger homes which waste energy.

The Federal Reserve announced that 32% of loan applications were denied last year, and applications on the whole were down by a third from 2007.

Homeowners threatened with foreclosure are increasingly finding that a simple legal tactic is stalling the process.

The Congressional Oversight Committee tasked with looking into the economic crisis says in a new report that there is a continuing risk of banks holding onto troubled assets, including real estate. Minnesota Public Radio talks to noted experts.

James Surowiecki dispels the myth that banks are better off renegotiating mortgage then foreclosing.

Schadenfreude is a German concept that means "taking pleasure in the suffering of others." Columnist Meghan Daum is experiencing 'debtenfreude'; the pleasure in watching house flippers and McMansion builders fall to the economic downturn.

New census data released Weds. shows that fewer Americans moved this year than in any year since they started keeping track back in 1947.

General Growth Properties, the 2nd largest mall operator in the nation, declared bankruptcy this morning. The company was felled by mounting debt from short-term mortgages it used to expand its holdings.

Its political and financial leaders have long insisted that Canada was insulated from an American-style subprime mortgage crisis. However, a Globe & Mail study reveals that western Canada is facing an "alarming" rate of foreclosures.

The revitalization of downtown Los Angeles took another hit this week, as real estate firm Meruleo Maddox Properties Inc., the largest private landowner in the area, revealed that it may have to file for bankruptcy protection.

In a recent feature in Time Magazine called 'Ten Ideas Changing the World Right Now,' no. 2 on the list is 'Recycling the Suburbs.'

With roughly 10,000 foreclosures in the last two years, Cleveland has been hit hard by the economic crisis.