FHA Turns, Once More, to Private Investors to Aid Troubled Homeowners

Richard Suttmeier submits: Housing Remains Weak as Mortgage Rates RiseThe Mortgage Bankers Association reported that its mortgage application index fell 18.6% last week led by a decline of 24.6% for the refinance index. The sixth consecutive weekly drop has happened as the 30-Year fixed rate mortgage rose to 4.85%.Existing home sales increased 5.6% in November to an annual rate of 4.68 million units.

Ever since Moody's head economist Mark Zandi, together with Princeton's Alan Blinder, authored a paper in July 2010 titled "How We Ended The Great Recession" (which incidentally is wrong on two key counts: i) it is a great depression not recession, and ii) it has not ended as three years later and $5 trillion in extra central bank liquidity the economy is in worse shape now than it was then), it became clear that the Keynesian sycophant would not rest until he somehow f

Fannie Mae CEO Michael Williams plans to resign, the government-controlled mortgage giant said Tuesday. Williams, who took over as president and CEO of the troubled company in 2009, will continue as CEO until Fannie Mae's board names a successor. The firm did not provide a specific reason for Williams' departure; in a statement, Williams said only that he had decided that "the time is right to turn over the reins to a new leader." Williams will leave behind a firm still struggling to get its finances in order.

Congratulations to the University of Phoenix, a private for-profit school, which has the dubious distinction of having 4,359 percent more student loan defaults than Columbus State, the top public school. A student loan is considered in default when it is 360 days delinquent. Number of Loans in Default

By Colin Lokey:On Friday, the U.S. Treasury announced plans to "accelerate the wind down" of Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB).

The Obama administration is making it easier for out-of-work homeowners to stay in their homes, as it tries to revamp its troubled foreclosure-prevention program.