Banks Balk at Agency Meant to Aid Consumers New York Times Banks and mortgage lenders are placing top priority on killing President Obama’s proposal to create a new consumer protection agency that would regulate home loans, credit card fees, payday...(read more)

Home-Price Declines in 20 U.S. Cities Eased in April Bloomberg Home prices in 20 major U.S. metropolitan areas fell in April at a slower pace than forecast, a sign the plunge in real-estate values is abating. The S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index...(read more)

Paper Avalanche Buries Plan to Stem Foreclosures New York Times Somewhere on earth, there must be a more difficult task than this: persuading American mortgage companies to lower payments for homeowners who can no longer afford their loans. But as Karina...(read more)

Unemployment Vexes Foreclosure Plan The Wall Street Journal Rising unemployment is complicating the Obama administration's effort to reduce foreclosures and stabilize the housing market. The first wave of mortgage delinquencies was sparked by borrowers...(read more)

Indiana Courts Set for Foreclosure Change The Journal Gazette Though it might be August before Allen County court officials see any changes from a new mortgage law taking effect next week, they will be ready July 1. In the spring, the state legislature...(read more)

Not Paying the Mortgage, Yet Stuck With the Keys The Washington Post A growing number of American homeowners are falling into financial limbo: They're badly behind on payments, but their banks have not yet foreclosed. The backlog of seriously delinquent...(read more)

Lost jobs forcing more out of homes USA Today WASHINGTON — The nation's foreclosure crisis — once largely confined to only a few corners of the country — is spreading to new areas as the economy teeters. The foreclosure rates in...(read more)

Tax credit for home purchase could rise USA Today Lawmakers and businesses are calling for expansion of a tax credit for first-time home buyers that has helped spark home sales in an otherwise dismal real estate market. With the tax credit scheduled to...(read more)

Also '10 Things' ' Davis in NoHo; composer Frederick Loewe's Palm Springs estate, and more.

With a Grammy-nominated song, three TV series and multiple albums, it would seem that Jesse McCartney has been living on Dream Street, the name of the boy band that launched him to stardom in the early 2000s. But the singer-songwriter-actor actually resides at a Hollywood Hills home he recently listed at $1,199,000.

The four bedroom, 3,300-square-foot home features ocean views and sits on half an acre with plenty of trees.

Actress Brynn Thayer and her husband, award-winning manager-writer-producer David Steinberg, have sold their longtime Pacific Palisades home for $2,995,000.

The architecture on his Santa Barbara County property reflects his androgynous, perpetually childlike model of superstardom -- and his unique if disjointed take on the celebrity compound.

It was while I was bumpily making my way across a rope bridge in a quiet corner of Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch on Thursday morning -- next to an elaborate treehouse crowned with a ship's wheel, and overlooking a bronze sculpture of smiling children -- that I finally figured out what the late entertainer's compound represents from an architectural point of view.

The cases are part of a federal crackdown dubbed Operation Short Change. The FTC says the firms allegedly made $300 million by selling fraudulent programs related to real estate or online businesses.

The recession has killed jobs by the millions, but it's been a boon to one sector of the population: con artists.

S & P/Case-Shiller index shows a decline of 18% in April from a year earlier. The January year-to-year drop was 19%. In the L.A. area, prices fell 21% from April to April; the January drop was 25%.

U.S. home prices continued to fall sharply in April but are no longer doing so at a record-breaking pace, according to a widely followed index released Tuesday.

The plan would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency and make banks and non-banks subject to the same rules. Some Republicans and business groups say it threatens economic freedom.

President Obama, pushing a key part of his overhaul of financial regulations, sent to Congress a draft bill that would create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, which he said would better protect Americans from unscrupulous practices and make financial products easier to understand.

Villa Allegra in the Hollywood Hills is ready for entertaining

A fusion of classic Venetian style and modern convenience can be found in Villa Allegra, a Hollywood Hills mansion with custom details including an oak-and-limestone-striped floor in the kitchen and laser-cut design work in the travertine tiles of the boudoir.