Belle Plaine Real Estate

Featured Article

• Do New Mortgage Rules Make Borrowers Safer?

  Wednesday Jul 16 | via Realty Trac 

  You could hardly miss the headlines this week: More than 1,000 news outlets covered new rules from the Federal Reserve designed to "protect" America's mortgage borrowers.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Home, Foreclosures, Mortgage, Mortgage, Personal Finance

Regional Headlines

• Leach proves prophetic about mortgage crisis

  Yesterday | via Des Moines Register 

  From his office at Harvard, Jim Leach walked me through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Iowa, Home, Mortgage, Mortgage, Personal Finance

• East-side residents fight mortgage crisis

  Thursday Jul 17 | via Http 

  Overgrown lawns, broken windows and tell-tale lock boxes are becoming more common sights in east Des Moines, where the number of vacated homes continues to increase as part of the nationwide mortgage crisis.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Mortgage, Home, Iowa, Foreclosures

• Mortgage lending and housing market changes in Iowa

  Wednesday Jul 16 | via KWWL-TV Waterloo 

  For buyers and sellers, national economic and housing trends still apply in Iowa, just on a smaller scale.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Iowa, Mortgage, Personal Finance, Home, Mortgage

• Guest column: Free-market focus of GOP slows response to credit crisis

  Wednesday Jul 16 | via Des Moines Register 

  Iowa native son Herbert Hoover was, by all accounts, a caring and compassionate individual.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Iowa Government, Iowa, Housing

• For Fannie and Freddie, a Feathered Nest

  Monday Jul 14 | via Air America Radio 

  International Herald Tribune By Julie Creswell As the administration of President George W. Bush scrambles to address the sudden decline of the two largest mortgage finance companies in the United States, some ...

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Iowa, George Bush, Home, Mortgage, Mortgage, Personal Finance

National Headlines

• Democratic challenger trails Biggert in funds

  5 min ago | via Lincoln-Way Sun 

  Democrat Scott Harper pushed his second-quarter fundraising above that of his opponent Judy Biggert by loaning himself $50,000. Not counting the loan, the 46-year-old Oxford student received $228,192 in ...

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Home, Mortgage, Mortgage, Personal Finance, Illinois, Will County, IL

• Bush: Congress could take steps to ease gas prices

  5 min ago | via The Topeka Capital-Journal 

  Responding to Americans' anger over gas prices and the housing bust, President Bush is stepping up pressure on Congress to open up offshore oil exploration and work to restore confidence in the housing finance ...

  Comment?

  Related Topix: George Bush, Foreclosures, US News, Housing, US Politics, US Senate, Patty Murray, Democrat, Home, Mortgage

• Clarkstown offering new incentives to retain volunteers

  4 hrs ago | via Journal News 

  Clarkstown is offering all emergency service volunteers in the town discounted passes to the popular mini-golf course at Germonds Park.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Housing, Nanuet, NY

• Official's son got DSS broker fees, some while working for county

  4 hrs ago | via Journal News 

  MOUNT VERNON - A real estate company run by the son of city marshal and former Democratic boss Serapher Conn-Halevi collected $162,000 in private-vendor fees from the Westchester County Department of Social ...

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Westchester County, NY, New York Metro, Home, Mortgage, Mortgage, Personal Finance

• Governor needs to work with Pelosi to save Medi-Cal

  9 min ago | via San Jose Mercury News 

  If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to save health care coverage for poor and disabled Californians, he should get House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the phone - and soon.

  Comment?

  Related Topix: Elderly, Family, Home, Mortgage, Personal Finance, Foreclosures, Mortgage, Nancy Pelosi, US News, US House of Representatives, Democrat, US Politics, Opinion