As investors look back on the past 10 years, many will realize better returns could have been found almost anywhere else besides the stock market, making stocks the worst investment choice for the decade.

The National Association of Realtors recently released the November Realtors Confidence Index (RCI), a key indicator of housing market strength based on a monthly survey of more than 50,000 Realtors.

As investors look back on the past 10 years, many will realize better returns could have been found almost anywhere else besides the stock market.

The U.S. Department of Treasury announced Tuesday that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) has now provided more than $4 billion in funding, in an effort to spur the development of affordable housing around the country. The Recovery Act has created innovative partnerships between federal and state governments to provide a much needed boost to local economies, said Neal Wolin, Treasury deputy secretary.

On Monday, the Supreme Court added Rule 93 to the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure. Effective January 1, 2010 this new rule will govern the operation of the foreclosure diversion program.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its monthly Housing Price Index (HPI) on Tuesday, showing housing prices in the United States rose 0.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from September to October.

In a recent announcement, Default Mitigation Management LLC (DMM), a loss mitigation company in Newport, Kentucky, recently announced new enhancements to its loss mitigation web portal.

In an announcement Tuesday, the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.) said it is extending its Mortgage Protection Program (MPP) for first-time homebuyers through December 31, 2010.

First American CoreLogic recently released its latest LoanPerformance Home Price Index (HPI), showing year-over-year home prices continued to decline in October but at a slower rate than previous months.

As the government looks to further stimulate the housing market in the face of a steadily rising national inventory of HUD foreclosures, huge savings are being realized on these properties, according to Annapolis, Maryland-based Heavy Hammer, Inc. The online networking and consulting company cited a recent study showing government foreclosures are routinely underpriced by 8 to 10 percent and said incentivizing aggressive valuations on these properties by third parties is creating opportunities of a lifetime for savvy first-time homebuyers.