U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be in Phoenix Thursday for a Mortgage Fraud Summit. The event is part of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force formed by President Obama last year.
The Phoenix event will be the second summit for the task force. The first was held in Miami in February of this year.
Mortgage fraud [...]

Phoenix’s cluster of brick mini-mansions called Chateaux on Central has a new owner. Wisconsin-based MSI West Investments paid $7 million for the 21 homes with elevators and rooftop terraces.
The high-profile project was started during the housing boom. Then plans called for the homes, some with turrets and wine cellars, to sell for $2.8 million and [...]

Short sales are many homeowners best option to avoid foreclosure, which is why these lender-approved deals are at record levels in metropolitan Phoenix.
But sellers considering short sales should know all their options and the credit and tax ramifications from the deals first. That’s why the Arizona Department of Real Estate worked with industry experts across [...]

More U.S. homeowners are receiving mortgage modifications, according to the latest report card on the program from the federal goverment.
The number of permanent modifications climbed to 170,000 in February from 116,000 in January, according to the U.S. Treasury Dept.
There’s been criticism from housing advocates that many three-month trial modifications started by lenders have not been made permanent. [...]

The HOPE NOW Alliance, working with the federal government’s Making Home Affordable Program, are in Phoenix again hosting a free "Homeownership Preservation" event. It starts today and runs through tomorrow Friday March 12th.
A similar event was held at South Mountain High School last summer.Homeowners facing foreclosure can receive free housing counseling at the events.
 
The current [...]

The Arizona Housing Department is waiting to hear how much of the $1.5 billion in additional foreclosure aid, announced by President Barack Obama in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, the state will receive.
The U.S. Treasury Department is supposed to announce this Friday (tomorrow) what share of the money each of the five states, including Arizona, [...]

Of the $1.5 billion allotted by the federal government to help states hardest hit by housing bubbles that burst, Arizona will receive $125 million.
Arizona is one of five states to receive the money, all states where home prices have dropped more than 20 percent. The money was divided among the states based on drops [...]

The federal government has added a year to the Home Affordable Refinance Program, known as HARP.
 Part of the $75 billion housing aid package, HARP allows homeowners who are underwater, meaning they owe more than their house is worth due to falling home values, to refinance to a lower interest rate.
 Now, homeowners who owe up to [...]