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Occupy Homes: New Coalition Links Homeowners, Activists in Direct Action to Halt Foreclosures - Yves Smith - A loose-knit coalition of activists known as "Occupy Homes" is working to stave off pending evictions by occupying homes at risk of foreclosure when tenants enlist its support. The movement has recently enjoyed a number of successes. We speak with Monique White, a Minneapolis resident who is facing foreclosure and recently requested the help of Occupy Minneapolis. Now two dozen of its members are occupying her home in order to stave off eviction - Naked Capitalism

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(details) Freddie Mac Raises Bar for Refinancing With Home-Equity Debt - By Jody Shenn - ... For a borrower with loan-to-value ratio of less than 80 percent, the McLean, Virginia-based firm will require total housing debt, including second loans, of less than 105 percent of a property’s current values, according to a notice to lenders posted on its website. Previously, there was no cap. ... - Bloomberg
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RESPA Rated Toughest Compliance Task - By Lew Sichelman - Of the thousands of financial regulations on the books, which is the most burdensome? Dodd-Frank? Truth in Lending? Basel III? – Nationa lMortgage News 

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Raising FHA Loan Limits Called 'Essential,' 'Unconscionable' - BY MORTGAGEORB.COM - News that Congress could pass an appropriations minibus that contains a provision to raise the loan limits for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans has drawn sharply divergent views. Reinstating the previous $729,750 loan limit for high-cost areas "makes no sense" considering the weakened state of the agency's insurance fund, according to Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J.
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(more on raising FHA limits) The Housing Lobby Strikes Again - Republicans try to slip a boost for the FHA past the tea party. - WSJ Review and Outlook

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Will The FHA Go Bankrupt? - By Peter G. Miller - A new study says the FHA is likely to need a $50 billion bailout and perhaps as much as $100 billion. But is the FHA really in trouble? And if so, why? - OurBroker.com 

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Freddie Mac Launches Winter Sales Promotion For REOs - BY MORTGAGEORB.COM - HomeSteps, the real estate sales unit of Freddie Mac, has introduced a new winter sales promotion that offers closing-cost assistance and bonuses for selling agents. Under the terms of the promotion, HomSteps will pay up to 3% of the final sales price toward the buyer's closing costs and a $1,000 selling agent bonus for initial offers received by HomeSteps between Nov. 15 and Jan. 31, 2012, with escrow closed on or before March 15, 2012. The selling agent bonus is only available on HomeSteps sales in the District of Columbia and the following 28 states ...
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How Household Debt Contributes to Unemployment: Mian and Sufi - By Atif Mian and Amir Sufi - The weakness in household balance sheets and the associated pullback in pending are directly responsible for the lion’s share of employment losses in the U.S. economy. This deficiency remains the most significant impediment to a robust recovery. Our research suggests that 65 percent of the job losses from 2007 to 2009 came from the drop in household spending induced by the collapse in home prices and its effect on a highly levered household sector. - Bloomberg Businessweek
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California attorney general's office subpoenas Fannie, Freddie - By Alejandro Lazo and Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times -   ... as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into lending and foreclosure practices in the state. The subpoenas ask the government-controlled finance companies to answer a series of questions about their activities in California, including their roles as landlords who own thousands of foreclosed properties. The attorney general's office is also seeking details of Fannie and Freddie's mortgage-servicing and home-repossession practices, according to a person familiar with the matter.
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(a way to sell T-Shirts?) Occupy Websites - OccupyFreddie and OccupyFannie - Launched to Protest Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - Phase Two of Occupy Wall Street Movement - EWORLDWIRE - OccupyFreddie.org and OccupyFannie.org have been launched: Thursday marks the second month since the Occupy Wall Street movement began, but now there's a new way residents in each state can show their support for the movement with the purchase of a T-shirt. 

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New Reverse Mortgage Underwriting: Will it Rule Out a Significant Number of Borrowers? - by Elizabeth Ecker - Will changes to the way lenders qualify borrowers for reverse mortgage loans rule out the average borrower of the past? - Reverse Mortgage Daily

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(Barney wants to politicize the Fed) Rep. Frank seeks to replace regional bank presidents on FOMC - By Pete Kasperowicz - House Financial Services Committee ranking member Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on Tuesday proposed new legislation that would remove the five regional Federal Reserve bank presidents who vote on monetary policy decisions on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), and replace them with five new participants chosen by the president and confirmed by the Senate. - The Hill

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