Government

Although economists say the country would be in far worse shape without it, the federal government's $700 billion bailout package approved by Congress in October 2008 was widely criticized at the time for the cost taxpayers would be forced to bear. That projected price tag, though, has been steadily declining as the financial sector has found firmer footing. The Congressional Budget Office now puts the cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) at just over 3 percent of the $700 billion initially allocated - $25 billion.

Last week the Treasury Department released a detailed report of Elizabeth Warren's schedule beginning October 20 when she became the White House advisor for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The calendar confirms a few things: first of all, Warren has been extremely busy.

The Government Accountability Office just completed a study of what is called ""bank walkaways"" - when a lender initiates foreclosure but then doesn't complete the process because the cost outweighs expected proceeds from the property's sale. Officials argue the practice intensifies market deterioration and complicates stabilization efforts. But the agency found that abandoned foreclosures are rare - representing less than 1 percent of vacant homes between January 2008 and March 2010 - but concentrated in specific areas of the country.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have instructed their selling agents to move forward with transactions involving foreclosed properties in cases where sales were suspended due to potential problems with the legal paperwork. The GSEs were forced to temporarily halt the sale of certain properties when news surfaced that some of the nation's largest servicers had been employing so-called robo-signers. Now that case reviews have uncovered no evidence of improper foreclosures, Fannie and Freddie are moving to proceed with REO sales.

Maine attorney general Janet T. Mills announced last week that negotiations with GMAC Mortgage LLC and Bank of America had resulted in a temporary halt in foreclosure sales in the state. The two lenders have agreed not to proceed to judgments on any pending matters in Maine until they have completed an internal review of their foreclosure procedures and discussed the procedures with the attorney general.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) has sent a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) requesting Acting Director Edward DeMarco to provide full details of how taxpayer dollars are being spent to pay for lawyer's fees and legal costs for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Neugebauer says he's concerned that the taxpayers are picking up the tab for ongoing legal counsel for the very executives who drove the GSEs into conservatorship. The congressman wants a report from FHFA no later than December 31.

Freddie Mac reported Wednesday that mortgage rates remained stable this week, rising only slightly from the rates reported last week. A separate study from Bankrate reports rates dipped slightly this week. This week's Freddie survey shows 30-year-fixed-rate-mortgages averaging at 4.40 percent. Bankrate's study puts them at 4.58 percent.

Home prices in the U.S. continued to fall in the third quarter, with declines in most parts of the country, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). FHFA's purchase-only house price index is calculated from mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was 1.6 percent lower in the third quarter when compared to the second. Analysts warn that we may have entered a second downturn, although likely shorter and less severe than the one that brought the financial system to its knees.

Though the California Department of Real Estate's motto is ""Providing Service, Protecting You,"" the site has a major flaw when it comes to protecting consumers. The Sacramento Bee ran the names of more than 250 people who had been charged with a real-estate related crime in the past year through the Department of Real Estate's licensee database. What they found was shocking.

In October, the Florida Housing Finance Corporation launched a program designed to help unemployed and underemployed homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgages. The pilot program is currently being offered to Lee County homeowners but will be expanded statewide in early 2011. This week the corporation announced they will open the eligibility requirements for the program, allowing homeowners who are up to 180 days delinquent on their mortgages to qualify for the service.