By Andy Kroll

It's called the housing industry's "shadow market": those houses where the owner has defaulted on their mortgage but is in mortgage limbo because foreclosure proceedings have yet to begin. Right now, that shadow market looms large. More homeowners are falling behind on their payments but banks, lenders, and servicers are so backlogged and buried in paperwork that essentially they can't foreclose on people fast enough. As the Washington Post points out today, 5 to 7 million are eligible for foreclosure but haven't been taken back by lenders yet. The takeaway here? Despite what you've heard to the contrary, new waves of foreclosures are on the horizon, and the housing industry's quagmire—yes, it's still a quagmire—has a long way to go before getting back to even keel.read more »

By Renae Merle | Washington Post Staff Writer

The housing market is facing swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but have yet to lose their homes, and this is threatening a new wave of foreclosures that could hit just as the real estate market has begun to stabilize.read more »

Shopping the Mortgage Rate Before the Home Price

Home prices have not proved to be predictable, but they aren't the only factor buyers can consider.

By DAMON DARLIN

"IT'S a great time to buy a home."read more »

How do you save a city that is dramatically declining like Detroit? Well, for the mayor of Detroit the answer is simple - you bulldoze one-fourth of the city. Faced with a 300 million dollar budget deficit and a rapidly dwindling tax base, Detroit finds itself having to make some really hard choices. During the glory days of the 1950s, Detroit was a booming metropolis of approximately 2 million people, but now young people have left in droves and the current population is less than a million. The true unemployment rate for those still living in Detroit is estimated to be somewhere around 45 to 50 percent, and poverty and desperation have become entrenched everywhere. In many areas of the city, only one or two houses remain occupied an an entire city block. In fact, some areas of Detroit have so many vacant, burned-out homes that they literally look like war zones. And yes, it is true that there are actually some houses in Detroit that you can actually buy for just one dollar. According to one recent estimate, Detroit has 33,500 empty houses and 91,000 vacant residential lots. So what can be done when an entire city experiences economic collapse?read more »

read more »

District is seeking to erase a projected $50 million budget shortfall

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City school board narrowly approved a plan Wednesday night to close nearly half the district's schools in a desperate bid to avoid a potential bankruptcy.read more »

Major Miami hospital system in 'death spiral' as it runs low on cash; reflects woes nationwide

Christine Armario, Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- The city's major hospital network, which runs Miami's only round-the-clock trauma center and is a safety net for the poor and uninsured, is running out of money and could close, a predicament that illustrates the precarious financial state of many hospitals around the country.read more »

read more »

By Dakin Campbell

March 8 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to encourage public retirement funds that control more than $2 trillion to buy all or part of failed lenders, taking a more direct role in propping up the banking system, said people briefed on the matter.read more »

by Catherine Reagor | The Arizona Republic

Homes that fall into foreclosure in Phoenix are sold at a public auction. The highest bidder becomes the new owner. The former owner then has to move out.read more »