Mortgage applications plummeted last week, according to a survey released by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) yesterday. For the week ending September 26, the loan application index was 455.4, a decrease of 23 percent from one week earlier, and 28.

A recent mortgagee letter released by the US department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to crack down on a practice termed buy and bail, which the Federal Housing Administration has observed as a rising problem.

East Greenwich, Rhode Island-based Marinosci Ceritto & Shapiro, P.C., formerly known as Marinosci Tiernan & Ceritto, P.C., recently named attorney Jason Shapiro as partner. Shapiro joined the firm in August and brings with him years of legal expertise within the real estate arena, mortgage foreclosure law, creditor rights in bankruptcy, eviction law, civil litigation, and REO real estate closings.

After markets took a tumble Monday following the House’s rejection of congressional leaders’ $700 billion proposal, lawmakers refused to abandon their pledge to bail out Wall Street. With a full day of deliberation behind them, the U.

In a press release issued late last week, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston announced the creation of HUD’s new Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), which will provide targeted emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities.

Yet another bit of bad news hit the housing sector yesterday – Standard & Poor’s reported continued record declines in the prices of existing homes across the United States and a continuation in the trend of double digit declines across many cities.

The House’s surprising rejection of the financial sector rescue proposal sent stocks tumbling yesterday afternoon, triggering one of the worst market days in history and stamping out more than a trillion dollars in shareholder wealth.

Wingspan Portfolio Advisors LLC, a Dallas area-based mortgage servicing specialist, announced yesterday that it has opened its doors to assist lenders and servicers plagued by seriously delinquent loans.

Real Estate Disposition Corporation, an Irvine, California-based real estate auction company, raised $38,000 in a two-minute auction of nine guitars autographed by the rock band, REO Speedwagon. The auction preceded an REO Speedwagon performance at the 5th Annual Five Star Default Servicing Conference & Expo at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas.

The new bailout legislation was seen as a breakthrough in bipartisan consensus early this morning, but by this afternoon, it was abruptly struck down, as it came up 13 votes short of passage. The final House vote was 228 to 205 against the measure.