Tom Kelly

Freddie Mac's fraud unit has teamed up with about 2,300 real estate professionals to crack down on scam artists posing as landlords who advertise foreclosed homes as rentals.

Fixed-rate mortgages changed little this week, staying near their record lows after the national elections, according to the Associated Press.

Are you an investor looking to rehab a run-down house? Or, are you a member of a group ready to sink money into an apartment building? New data shows you'll have plenty of future customers.

Homes can look less inviting in the fall and cooler months, but there are easy ways you can evoke that "homey" feel buyers crave.

A chill is emerging in the once-booming Canadian housing market, as Canadian lawmakers take steps to make sure their market isn't headed for a crash as hard as the United States' housing bust a few years ago.

The son of a long-time friend recently caught me at a Friday night high-school game and informed me he and his wife had turned down an older home in the neighborhood they always wanted for a new home in a subdivision.

The nation's largest trade organization has sent a message to its million-plus members this weekend, urging them to support an extension of tax relief on mortgage forgiveness.

Homes are selling significantly faster in King County than they were a year ago, a trend now present throughout most of the country.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that they are partnering to create a National Mortgage Database, which will be filled with detailed mortgage loan information.

While lenders claim that standards for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration have stayed about the same as they were in 2006, borrowers with credit scores lower than 660 are facing a tougher time in getting approved, according to a new survey by the Federal Reserve of 68 domestic banks and 23 U.S. branches and agencies of foreign banks.

The Associated Press reported that the average U.S. rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage slipped this week and stayed near its record low, a trend that's helped boost home sales and refinancing.

Both real estate practitioners and economists are in agreement: Home prices are projected to increase and recently released research data supports the claim.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two biggest players in the secondary mortgage market, informed lenders that borrowers with homes damaged in Hurricane Sandy have mortgage relief options available to them.

The election-year discussion of how political parties planned to push interest rates lower didn't really materialize this year. In fact, the subject was moot.

Will all the pirates and princesses be able to make their way to your door? Have you taken the time to check around your yard before the neighborhood kids invade? According to the latest U.S. Census, there are about 41 million potential trick-or-treaters between the ages of 5 and 14. Zillow offers these five quick and easy Halloween safety tips.

More homeowners are tackling remodeling jobs once again. The Remodeling Market Index recently climbed to its highest point since the third quarter of 2005, the National Association of Home Builders reported.

Bert Sperling, the "Best Places" guy who has churned out surveys on what makes the most livable cities and communities for three decades, has taken a curious turn with his latest effort - "Best Baseball Cities."

The latest mortgage fraud scam known as "flopping" has sellers who actually make their home look undesirable so that they can attract low offers from buyers.

Buyer demand is up, but there aren't enough homes available to buy, according to the National Association of Realtors which blamed a recent drop in home sales on a diminishing inventory.