Alex Ulam

By most accounts, a full-blown commercial real estate crisis has never materialized, and recent numbers suggest the forecast is improving.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., one of the country's largest providers of title insurance, has agreed to pay $4.5 million to resolve charges that it paid kickbacks to real estate brokers.

The U.S. unit of Toronto-Dominion Bank said Wednesday that it plans to hire the additional loan officers throughout its footprint from Maine to Florida over the next six to eight months, despite an overall decline in origination volume and slumping home prices.

Of the small pool of homeowners still refinancing their mortgages, a growing share are trading in lower monthly payments for the opportunity to pay down their debt faster.

The overall level of current and performing mortgages improved in the first quarter to 88.6%, up from 87.6% in the previous quarter and 87.3% a year earlier, according to the latest mortgage metrics report issued by the Office of Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision Wednesday.

New study shows that by better serving underbanked consumers, banks and credit unions have the power to raise property values; after several delays, the Uniform Collateral Data Portal is up and running; Wells and B of A donate properties to Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

A new avenue of attack may be opening up for investors seeking to force big banks to buy back billions of dollars in mortgages: drag the trustees into the fight.

B of A sends letters to 5,000 Oregonians erroneously claiming they’re late on their property taxes; Report shows nation’s shadow inventory is on the decline; Mayoral candidate in Tucson, Az., takes housing crisis into his own hands

Ocwen Financial's ability to quickly resolve troubled loans is likely to ultimately benefit investors when it buys Litton Loan Servicing. In the short term, though, expect chaos.

Ocwen Financial's ability to quickly resolve troubled loans is likely to ultimately benefit investors when it buys Litton Loan Servicing. In the short term, though, expect chaos.

U.S. consumers are more upbeat about their home-buying prospects than residents of other countries; Baltimore takes iron-fist approach to dealing with blight; Royal Bank of Canada embarks on aggressive promotion of home equity loans.

Reaction to lawsuits aimed at several of the nation's largest appraisal management companies suggests the role of appraisers in the banking industry may soon change — again.

Two federal lawsuits against appraisal management companies could become weapons for mortgage-backed securities investors seeking to make lenders buy back soured loans.

New York State is considering legislation that would carve out an exception for check cashers from its 25% cap on interest rates for short-term loans, a move consumer advocates say is a backdoor attempt to allow payday lending in the nation's third-most populous state.

Banks don't usually say they're sorry when they settle cases in which law enforcers accuse them of mortgage abuse. Sometimes the banks don't even like to use the word "settlement."

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.