Housing

As the foreclosure crisis worsens, renters increasingly have become caught as innocent bystanders, evicted often without notice when their landlord faces foreclosure.

Housing foreclosures are up more than 70 percent in Minnesota this year, according to a recently released national study. But housing groups in Minnesota are reporting a 20 percent decrease in foreclosures. Is there an explanation for the disparity?

The U.S. House voted to suspend all federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) on Thursday afternoon by a vote of 345 to 75. Now the measure heads to the Senate, which passed a bill banning federal housing monies from going to the embattled nonprofit.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has a had a rough week. The Census Bureau dropped the organization as a community partner after a FOX News sting operation, prompting praise from Rep. Michele Bachmann. Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar voted with the majority in the U.S. Senate to block ACORN from [...]

GMAC Mortgage went to extraordinary lengths to help keep Rosemary Williams, who was evicted on Friday after a foreclosure, in her home, according to the company. Among the steps taken: offering to lease the house back to Williams for $850 per month, multiple loan-modification offers that would have reduced her monthly payment by up to [...]

Minneapolis police removed Rosemary Williams from the home she owned for nearly three decades on Friday afternoon. The 60-year-old grandmother had vowed to stay in the residence on the 3100 block of Clinton Avenue even after the home went into foreclosure and sheriff’s deputies evicted her last month. She almost immediately re-entered the property and continued to live there. In a confrontation with police, Williams was again evicted and seven protesters were arrested.

There were 3,688 foreclosures in Minnesota last month, according to a new report by RealtyTrac. That’s down 11 percent from July, but an increase of 71 percent from a year ago. Minnesota ranks 21st nationally in terms of the percentage of homes currently in foreclosure.

I guess Rep. “Joe” Wilson (R-S.C.) — actually, Addison Graves Wilson, Sr. — found out about that secret Democratic plot to provide all illegal immigrants with free health care.
What else could explain his outburst — “You Lie!” — during President Obama’s speech on health care reform (video), responding to the president’s statement that “the reforms [...]

As lawsuits wind their way through the court system, more details and allegations about the inner workings of the subprime world are emerging — and Minnesota’s second-largest employer remains in the legal crosshairs.

Despite the recent good news that home prices in the U.S. rose 2.9 percent in the second quarter of 2009, it’s too early to call it a turnaround for the battered housing sector.