Real Estate News – May 7, 2011

In an ongoing effort to harness homeowners associations, the House passed a bill today that would prevent HOAs from banning religious displays on owners’ doors (via dallasnews.com): http://bit.ly/lJTIpL

Wells Fargo & Co on Friday raised its worst-case estimate for litigation losses by 42 percent to $1.7 billion because of its exposure to foreclosure-related legal issues (via Reuters.com): http://reut.rs/ixuQlC

The Obama administration’s signature foreclosure-prevention program has helped about 587,000 U.S. homeowners avoid losing their homes, far short of a goal set out at the program’s launch more than two years ago, according to data released Friday (via NASDAQ.com): http://bit.ly/kr8sj1

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed into law a measure Thursday that will help homeowners at risk of losing their homes to foreclosure (via kitv.com): http://bit.ly/kzLb2A

The Obama administration and state officials are expected to offer the nation’s five largest mortgage firms updated terms next week in ongoing negotiations over a settlement regarding the firms’ faulty treatment of borrowers, according to three people with knowledge of the government plan (via HuffingtonPost.com): http://huff.to/jC5oey

Title companies in Detroit are canceling some closings on REO transactions following a court decision that could also jeopardize thousands of foreclosures already sold in the city, real estate professionals say (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/kLFTOr

JPMorgan Chase & Co., the only Wall Street bank to remain profitable throughout the financial crisis, is in “advanced” negotiations to resolve its piece of a broader U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into how mortgage-linked securities were packaged and sold as the housing market unraveled (via Bloomberg.com): http://bloom.bg/iMDfmm

Implications of FHA’s role in mortgage market (via greenbaypressgazette.com): http://bit.ly/khUq17

Two banks have agreed to invest in a Detroit neighborhood as part of a mortgage discrimination settlement with the federal government (via businessweek.com): http://buswk.co/kQyOsm

‘Squatter Rent’ May Boost Spending as U.S. Mortgage Holders Bail (via Bloomberg.com): http://bloom.bg/ifO5NM