The weak economy- which has brought surging foreclosures, sinking property values, vanishing home equity and mounting job losses — is playing a major role in family dynamics, pulling relatives under the same roof to pool their resources and aid relatives who’ve lost their homes.

* Full Story: Available at USA Today

The appraisal industry has justifiably come under fire for its role in the great housing bust. Property appraisals, required by lenders before a loan is made, are supposed to provide an independent assessment of the home’s value. But during the boom, appraisers routinely signed off on a doubling or tripling of home values, sometimes racked up in just a matter of months. Investment properties were appraised at prices that made no investment sense. And homeowners were charged a pretty penny for what often amounted to rubber-stamp service.

* Full Story: Available at Business Week

Foreclosures jumped a record 80 percent last year, according to a new report by consulting firm RealtyTrac. The rise comes despite state and federal programs designed to stem the tide of home losses.

This week, Congress was expected to again intensify its efforts to address the issue, this time by voting on a bill requiring at least $50 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program’s remaining $350 billion to be used to prevent foreclosures.

* Full story: Available at Christian Science Monitor

Are you thinking about buying a home?

What to do first? Knock on the door if there’s a “For sale” sign? Respond to a “For-sale-by-owner” ad in the newspaper or on the Internet? Contact a real-estate agency, a bank or mortgage broker? Should you visit new-home-model centers? How about finding a real-estate lawyer?

The answers depend on your experience and comfort level.

* Full Story: Available at Orlando Sentinel

Frustrated by slowdown, some property owners are hoping to escape the market’s malaise in a creative way – by swapping their homes. So Broadhurst, a former insurance CEO, got creative. If he couldn’t sell his home for what he wanted, he figured, maybe he could trade with someone in the same predicament. He placed online ads looking for an elusive target: Someone who owns property within 100 miles of Wayland and wants to move to his three-bedroom, two-bathroom Palm Coast, Fla., house, which has a solar-heated pool and a gas fireplace.

* Full Story: Available at Boston.com

The US takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so far has failed to achieve one objective that government officials had envisioned: Borrowing costs for the two companies, which affect mortgage rates for consumers, are rising, not falling.

* Full Story: Available at The Australian

Home staging—a popular trend in the competitive housing market—is often the next step in selling your house more quickly, and sometimes at a higher price. Staging is preparing the home before it goes up for sale. The practice has become somewhat of an industry—there are certified stagers, staging assessments, and a spattering of literature on the subject. Since the ’90s, staging has been practiced by designers and now increasingly by homeowners themselves.

* Full Story: Available on US News

Encouraged by a weak dollar and a belief in the resiliency of the U.S. economy, individuals like Reddy, along with institutional investors such as pension funds and private equity groups, are seeking investment properties and development opportunities in the United States. Their markets of choice include New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle and San Francisco.

* Full Story: Available on Post-Gazette

Lower energy costs, healthier living and improved indoor and outdoor environments are increasingly demanded by and available to home buyers at all income levels, according to preliminary findings from a survey released by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and McGraw-Hill Construction.

Families and individual homeowners with the lowest incomes are overwhelmingly satisfied with their green home, more likely to recommend a green home to family and friends, and strongly prefer green homes as a purchasing option. The survey found that 78 percent of homeowners earning less than $50,000 per year say they would be more inclined to purchase a green home.

* Full Story: Available on eMediaWire

Beside price, the best way to sell your home in a down market is to:

• Hire an aggressive agent who shows you a plan for selling your house – and make sure they follow through.
• Give your house a facelift with new paint and repairs.
• List it online with such sites as eBay and Craigslist.
• Offer to pay the buyer’s closing costs.
• And finally, take any reasonable offer.

* Full Story: Available on CBS News