MORTGAGE RATES – The average rate on 30-year mortgages remained below 6 percent this week, but rose to its highest level in five weeks: 5.72 percent.
HOME SALES – Roughly half of the nation’s metropolitan areas continued to show rising home prices in the fourth quarter of 2007, according to the latest quarterly survey by National [...]

TITLE INSURANCE – Florida is one of six states taking a closer look at title insurers. The collapse of the housing boom is bringing harsh new scrutiny to the $17 billion title-insurance business, including allegations that insurers colluded illegally and paid kickbacks to get business.
FORECLOSURES – Florida has a problem with foreclosures, but it’s [...]

MORTGAGE RATES – Rates on 30-year mortgages dipped slightly this week to an average of 5.67 percent, the fifth decline in the past six weeks, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly nationwide survey.
ECONOMIC STIMULUS – The biggest winners in the economic stimulus plan now awaiting President Bush’s signature: homeowners in high-cost areas able to refinance their [...]

HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE – After two days of Florida Senate panel hearings, it appears some of the state’s biggest insurers used loopholes to skirt a requirement that they pass on savings from a state-backed financial safety net to homeowners.
Two Florida lawmakers this week reviewed findings of a national study from the James Madison Institute, which examined [...]