Government

White House officials said that President Barack Obama is scheduled to unveil the administration’s new housing and mortgage relief program on Wednesday during a speech in Phoenix, Arizona, one of the areas hardest hit by the nation’s foreclosure epidemic.

St. Louis, Missouri-based Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative, a national alliance of mortgage bankers, has enlisted StreetLinks National Appraisal Services to provide its members with appraisal services and compliance expertise.

Both chambers of Congress approved the final version of the federal stimulus package late Friday. The bill now carries a $787 billion price tag. White House officials said President Barack Obama will sign the federal stimulus package into law in Denver on Tuesday.

Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Deputy Director John Pistole told a Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that mortgage fraud investigations are intensifying in both volume and scope as the economic crisis worsens.

Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced on Friday that they are suspending all foreclosure sales and evictions of occupied properties through March 6th, in anticipation of the Obama Administration’s national foreclosure prevention and loan modification program.

Leading policymakers, including the new Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, practitioners, and housing and economic experts from around the country came together February 12-13 in New York.

On Wednesday, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) – the primary regulator of federal savings holding companies and thrifts, including the nation’s largest banks and mortgage lenders – called on the more than 800 OTS-regulated institutions to suspend foreclosures on owner-occupied homes until the Financial Stability Plan’s home loan modification program is finalized.

Congressional leaders have announced that negotiations between House and Senate officials over the terms of the economic stimulus package have led to a sooner-than-expected compromise. The new bill, now pared down to $789 billion, will be put to the House for a final vote on Thursday, sent to the full Senate on Friday, and make it to President Obama’s desk for his signature by President’s Day next Monday, government officials said.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner outlined the Obama administration’s economic recovery strategy on Tuesday – dubbed the Financial Stability Plan – and on Wednesday, Geithner was called before Congress to defend the tactics he proposed.

According to a panel of financial experts at the 2009 Economic and Investment Forecast Dinner in Los Angeles last week, more pain lies ahead for the U.S. and global economies as they adjust from a long period of credit-fueled prosperity to a new era in which both economic growth and investment returns are likely to be lower.