Housing

University of Iowa associate professor Katherine Porter has found that many homeowners in foreclosure who file for bankruptcy protection still face fees from mortgage companies that often have no documented merit. She spoke with Kai Ryssdal.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is charging Washington Mutual and a major real-estate appraisal firm with inflating home values nationwide. Bob Moon reports Marketplace looked into this -- over two years ago.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has sued a real estate appraisal company called eAppraiseIT for allegedly colluding with Washington Mutual to inflate home values. Jill Barshay reports.

A leading real estate index says prices for existing homes fell in August at the fastest rate since 1991. Meanwile, consumer confidence plunged last month to the lowest level since Hurricane Katrina. Amy Scott reports that some economists are seeing signs of a recession on the horizon.

Commentator Tyler Cowen says American banks have managed to protect themselves from the subprime crisis even better than you might have imagined.

Former Treasury Secy. John Snow says he doubts that a so-called superfund set up by big banks to cushion the mortgage meltdown is going to work. Kai Ryssdal talked with Reuters columnist James Saft to find out why not.

Despite Countrywide's $1.2 billion loss in the 3rd quarter, its CEO says the black ink is about to start flowing again. That word sent its shares soaring. Steve Tripoli reports on whether people bidding up those shares are drinking more than their share of the Kool-Aid.

Congressional Democrats have issued an economic report on the mortgage meltdown and called for the Bush administration to prevent 2 million foreclosures in the next two years. But not all economists agree with the fine print. Jill Barshay reports.

Congress is projecting losses of over $100 billion in housing wealth from the subprime mortgage crisis, and not all of that comes from foreclosures. Jeremy Hobson reports a good chunk of loss comes from falling property values.

The latest official estimate on losses to the Southern California wildfires stands at $1 billion. And that's just in property damage. Still, the odd result in the long run may be an economic shot-in-the-arm. Bob Moon reports.