Alex Ulam

Based on the five-year adjustable-rate mortgage, the HarmonyLoan lets homeowners reset their interest rates to the prevailing market rate every 120 days, without fees.

CoreLogic quantifies the share of short sale transactions that should make lenders say "hmmm"; distressed transactions still drive much of the housing market; and more.

Thanks to a little-discussed provision of Dodd-Frank, legislators, regulators and the public may eventually get a more comprehensive picture of the mortgage servicing industry.

Answering such questions may be critical to craft effective policy responses to the housing crisis. But it's hard to get definitive answers, because data on mortgage performance is incomplete and often expensive.

The FDIC files suit against two companies for failure to provide oversight of appraisal; new report finds evidence of redlining on refi loans in communities of color.

As the mortgage industry girds for life under the Dodd-Frank Act, two legislated products are capturing bankers' attention.

With sales weak, Beazer Homes, a top builder, resorts to buying distressed properties in Phoenix and renting them out; B of A exec drops science about short sales; and more.

A California assemblyman wants banks to pay towns $20,000 for each foreclosure; an essay published in Wake Forest Law Review makes a case for moralty of strategic default.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has warned lenders and others against misleadingly using its name, logo or initials or those of the Federal Housing Administration.

Adzookie will cover loan payments for homeowners who allow the advertising firm to paint its logo on their houses; Ginnie Mae tightens guidelines; and more.

To maintain an important inducement for mortgage putbacks, Freddie Mac has warned its seller-servicers to stop cutting side deals with mortgage insurers.

Regulations scheduled to take effect this month have prompted the top two home lenders to overhaul loan officer compensation by tying it to sheer volume to a greater degree than before.

Lenders are worried that forbidding the use of distressed sales as comparables will lead to the kind of inflated valuations that contributed to the housing crash.

Lenders are worried that forbidding the use of distressed sales as comparables will lead to the kind of inflated valuations that contributed to the housing crash.

Bank of America's servicing settlement, with 11 state attorneys general in October 2008, is an object lesson in how not to make peace with a mortgage servicer.

North Dakota's housing market deemed best poised for recovery; nearly half of economists foresee a nationwide double-dip this year; and more.

As the mortgage servicing settlement talks stall, some observers are wondering whether the two main parties — the banks and the attorneys general — would be better off without making a deal.

As the mortgage servicing settlement talks stall, some observers are wondering whether the two main parties — the banks and the attorneys general — would be better off without making a deal.

Union Bank's got no beef with risk retention; banks place highly in "Best Company" contest ... wait, no, check that — it's "Worst Company"; and more.

Due diligence reports from the securitization boom could worsen the financial industry's litigation headaches — and conceivably expose firms and individuals to criminal charges.