Real Estate News – March 2, 2011

Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. may face added costs or fines after investigators questioned the use of MERS’ mortgage database instead of original documents to justify foreclosures (via Businessweek.com): http://buswk.co/eS3Q9d

The White House on Wednesday proposed a new commission tasked with finding billions of dollars in savings by figuring out what to do with the federal government’s bloated real estate inventory (via FoxNews.com): http://fxn.ws/feQhqX

In the last few weeks, a number of big banks have successfully bundled and sold new securities backed by commercial real estate loans (via New York Times): http://nyti.ms/fFb9w7

A former Colonial Bank executive pleaded guilty on Wednesday for her role in covering up one of the largest frauds stemming from the recent mortgage crisis, which contributed to the collapse of the institution and Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. (via Reuters.com): http://reut.rs/dGumSJ

A growing number of home owners whose homes have dropped drastically in value are deciding to stop paying their mortgage and walk away from the property, even though they can afford to keep making the payments–a move known as strategic default (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/hpfhgA