Real Estate News – November 18, 2012






The Impending Capital Gains Tax Hike Has Mansion Owners Scrambling To Sell (via businessinsider.com): http://read.bi/TQkh6C



JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) agreed to pay almost $417 million to settle U.S. regulatory claims they misled investors while selling billions of dollars of investments linked to home loans (via businessweek.com): http://buswk.co/UJu2rE



Housing’s comeback looks real (via MarketWatch.com): http://on.mktw.net/PYxQCG



The Federal Housing Administration is facing a $16.3 billion shortfall and is taking steps to mitigate losses, according to an independent audit released Friday (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/UMbzKW

Mortgage lending standards now appear to be “overly tight,” and are preventing creditworthy borrowers from buying homes, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday (via MarketWatch.com): http://on.mktw.net/RWD69F

Neverending Pain: Foreclosures Will Hurt Housing for at Least 5 More Years (via theatlantic.com): http://bit.ly/ZMBsJG



The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is likely to request a congressional bailout for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as losses from Hurricane Sandy are expected to be between $6 billion and $12 billion, more than its current borrowing capacity of $2.9 billion (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/T30rnP

Bank of America Corp., the second- biggest U.S. lender by assets, was sued by investors over $261.2 million worth of residential mortgage-backed securities (via Bloomberg.com): http://bloom.bg/Up5xdb