Regulators issued new mortgage rules last week designed to prevent a return to lending practices that helped crater the housing market and brought the financial system to its knees during the past decade.
Here’s a look at some frequently asked questions:
What is a qualified mortgage? Congress amended federal lending laws in 2010 to give greater legal rights to borrowers who get mortgages they can’t afford. The new law, part of the Dodd-Frank financial-regulation overhaul, said if banks made a qualified mortgage — one that meets certain easy-to-identify criteria — regulators and courts would presume lenders had reason to assume a borrower could repay.
A tax break that has long been untouchable could soon be in for some serious scrutiny. Many home buyers deduct their mortgage interest when assessing their tax bill, a perk that has helped bolster the income of millions of families – and the broader housing market. But as President Obama and Congress try to hash out a deal to reduce the budget deficit, the mortgage interest deduction will likely be part of the discussion.
Home prices rose by 0.1% in September from the prior month and by 3.6% from one year ago, the largest gain in six years, according to a report released Monday by Lender Processing Services.
I just locked down a 2.875% interest rate, fixed for the 15-year term of the mortgage. No points. With rates like these, I find myself rethinking the idea that I want to pay off my mortgage.
Wealthy foreigners from around the globe are taking advantage of America's housing bust to snap up U.S. properties at cut-rate prices — helping local markets rebound in the process.
A big part of my job is helping our clients project the most likely scenarios for the housing market. Now that we know who will be President, my job just got easier because we have four years of experience with Obama and a divided Congress, so we know what we are getting.
One way or another, Uncle Sam is going to get his cut. Count on it. And so will your state and local governments. That said, as you 
Sixty-five percent of U.S. housing markets are worse off today than they were four years ago according to the California-based real estate research firm RealtyTrac.
We've all heard that the housing bubble's pop led to thousands of foreclosures, but its interactive maps like this that really show how prevalent the problem was — and still is. Part of a project on 30 election issues, the map below uses data from RealtyTrac to display foreclosure rates by county.
