Some people, no matter how much they have, want to be sure they have more than everyone else. Read more…

Marci Miller's funky, just-renovated Boise bungalow (circa 1905) had personality to spare. But the 1,200-square-foot house lacked the elbow room she and fianc Dave Roth, 43, needed. Read more…

AP - Wells Fargo & Co. is launching a new program to help mortgage borrowers with poor credit records improve their plight — and help the bank shake off years of accusations depicting it as a predatory lender. Read more…

First, some holiday cheer. This year a record number of companies - 49 percent - will be giving their employees year-end gifts or bonuses. Read more…

Some of the latest trends in homebuilding and remodeling were not too hard to spot. Is anyone surprised that Americans, already living in monster homes, want even bigger ones? Read more…

The serious slump in the housing market may be near a bottom, say home builders - though it could take a while before prices rebound. Read more…

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The Motley Fool - If you've ever wondered why some real estate investment trusts (REITs) have terrific dividend yields while others don't, and whether there's any reason not to invest in high-yield REITS, read on. Read more…

Reuters - Experts have warned all year that a slowing U.S. economy and rising borrowing costs would lead to an increase in bad loans by homeowners and other borrowers. Read more…

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Reuters - U.S. mortgage applications rose sharply last week, fueled by a surge in home refinancing loans as interest rates sunk to their lowest levels in more than a year, an industry trade group said on Wednesday. Read more…

Mortgage applications rose as interest rates fell to their lowest level in 14 months, an industry trade group reported Wednesday. Read more…

AFP - US mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae sliced 6.3 billion dollars off earnings reported through mid-2004 as the government-chartered lender restated earnings in the wake of an accounting scandal. Read more…

Fred and Wilma may have had it right; living in a stone house can be give residents a sense of comfort, security and solidity. Read more…

USATODAY.com - WASHINGTON - Federal regulators on Wednesday tightened oversight of commercial real estate lending, warning that many banks are carrying a high concentration of such loans. The regulators want to prevent any repeat of the 1980s, when the real estate market plummeted, taking many banks down with it. Read more…

Reuters - Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae's top regulator said Thursday that it plans to file a suit by year-end against former company executives in connection with a massive accounting scandal. Read more…

Reuters - Average interest rates for U.S. mortgages dropped for the fourth week in a row, to levels not seen since the beginning of the year, according to a survey released by finance company Freddie Mac on Thursday. Read more…

AP - Mortgage rates around the country fell this week, with rates on 30-year mortgages dipping to the second lowest level of the year, pushed down by further signs of economic weakness. Read more…

Renovation costs are shooting higher and homeowners are getting a lot less bang for their remodeling bucks, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Remodeling Magazine. Read more…

More than 1 million borrowers have seen their homes put in foreclosure so far this year. And with more foreclosures, "foreclosure rescue" scams are also on the rise. Read more…

The Web site Zillow.com, most known for its "Zestimate" price valuations for nearly 70 million homes, launched several new services for home sellers Thursday. Read more…

Reuters - Fannie Mae, the top U.S. mortgage-finance company that is trying to move on from one of the nation's largest accounting scandals, will deliver a long-overdue report on its 2005 earnings by next September, the company's chief executive said on Thursday. Read more…

FT.com - The failure of a small Californian mortgage lender on Thursrday increased nervousness in the credit derivatives market about the large number of US "subprime" mortgages extended this year. Read more…

The U.S. housing market may be cooling, but skyscrapers in New York City are still red hot. Read more…

BusinessWeek Online - Fannie Mae finally turned in its restatement of incorrect accounting after spending years on the effort. The mortgage giant's shares rose 2.5% on Dec. 7 after it announced having overstated its income between 2001 and June 30, 2004 by $6.3 billion. Read more…