Real Estate News – May 21, 2011

Mortgage delinquencies rose during the first quarter, while new foreclosures dropped, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported this week (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/lQNQ8p

California ruling means class craziness in Countrywide MBS case (via newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com): http://bit.ly/jjlGKZ

Foreclosure flood may not have crested yet; More than 4 million seriously delinquent borrowers are at risk (via MSNBC.com): http://on.msnbc.com/kM3Svq

Florida’s courts are out $6 million after state lawmakers chose not to extend a one-time stipend aimed at reducing a foreclosure backlog (via PalmBeachPost.com): http://bit.ly/ltDzCw

The housing market continues to suffer – from plummeting sales to plunging prices. But guess what? Property taxes are not suffering (via foxbusiness.com): http://fxn.ws/kwdDeg

American Home Mortgage Servicing, one of the largest subprime mortgage servicers, is urging the U.S. Treasury to organize a plan to boost principal reductions for up to 1 million homeowners by unlocking loans from securities (via Reuters.com): http://reut.rs/mT094T

Goldman Sachs executives expect federal prosecutors to demand to see internal documents, as the government ramps up its investigation into the way the firm handled mortgage products (via huffingtonpost.com): http://huff.to/lRlGBL

Home buyers are willing to pay 4.2 percent more for a property with the word “country” in the name, and an additional 5.1 percent for the phrase “country club,” according to researchers from the University of Georgia (via REALTORMag): http://bit.ly/j6ihYk

A bankrupt Los Angeles real estate developer has been convicted of stealing some $21 million through a tax shelter scheme (via sacbee.com): http://bit.ly/isfDHj

More Republican lawmakers from the West’s oil shale country are pushing legislation to fast-track the resource’s development, in contrast to the Obama administration’s efforts to take things slower (via gjsentinel.com): http://bit.ly/iStJrf

Feds hit Las Vegas HOA with age discrimination complaint (via Vegasinc.com): http://bit.ly/ihKrrc

Iowa attorney charged in alleged mortgage fraud (via chicagotribune.com): http://bit.ly/jyvjeo

A homeowner breaks into her foreclosed home, to protest the bank after putting her out in Berkeley, California (via wdam.com): http://bit.ly/lPAQDi