The Mortgage Mess - Special Report

The Obama administration laid out three broad options Friday for reducing the government's role in the mortgage market. All three would almost certainly lead to higher interest rates and costs for borrowers.

The Obama administration finally released it's "white paper" on how to eventually wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Really no surprises. They offer three scenarios and don't throw their weight behind any one in particular.

Anyone who expected to see a big jump in foreclosure numbers, now that banks/servicers are supposedly ramping up the post-robo process again, got a big surprise today.

What leaked last week was the idea of reducing Fannie, Freddie and FHA loan limits, currently at $729,750 for high-priced markets to $625,000.

U.S. President Barack Obama's housing white paper to be unveiled on Friday includes an option to create an insurance fund for mortgage-backed securities that is similar to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, sources familiar with the plan told Reuters.

Peter Wallison more or less demolishes the conventional wisdom—and now the official Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission view—when it comes to the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Over at Barry Ritholtz’s “The Big Picture,” Bill Black has been publishing a series of posts on how mortgage lending should be regulated. Black, who is the author of “The Best Way To Rob A Bank Is To Own One,” does an admirable job at pointing out how pervasive fraud arises and undermines market discipline.

You see really big jumps in bank repossessions, which are the final stage of foreclosure.

The mortgage mess that lead to foreclosure freezes by several large banks across much of the country may slow down the ability of banks to issue new mortgages.