Call it a green lining on the cloud of the mortgage foreclosure crisis.

Homeowners who handed the keys over to the bank may actually have some money coming their way, and in Cook County, a new online system may help nearly 2,000 property owners get their due.

The Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court is holding approximately $18 million in mortgage foreclosure surplus funds — profits generated when the bank sells a property for more than what the original owner owed the lending institution.

* Full story available on The Chicago Sun Times

As one of the lawmakers on Capitol Hill with responsibility for navigating the country out of the housing crisis, Rep. Barney Frank is a force to be reckoned with.

So when the Massachusetts Democrat, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, announces that “the notion of homeownership as the goal universally is greatly flawed,” and that an adequate supply of affordable rental housing might have prevented the subprime-mortgage debacle, it well may signal a sea change in the way Americans look at housing once the economy recovers.

* Full story available on The Philly.com

When Jennifer and Sam Lam put a contract in on a home in late April, they had timed the deal perfectly, with mortgage rates hovering under 5 percent. After an inspection revealed structural problems, it took the couple only a few weeks to find another place — this one a three-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath Capitol Hill rowhouse with a basement rental.

On May 27, they submitted their offer, only to learn that their good timing had apparently expired. The seller rejected their price, and mortgage rates rose almost three-quarters of a point in the following two weeks. They would have increased their offer, but couldn’t anymore: The higher rates would have added a couple hundred dollars each month, which they could not afford.

* Full story available on The Washington Post

Austin metro area foreclosure postings, which have been posted for the upcoming July foreclosure auctions, have reached a new high, according to Addison-based Foreclosure Listing Service Inc.

The postings for Travis, Williamson, Hays and Bastrop counties rose by 47 percent compared with the same month last year, and set new monthly record highs, said George Roddy Sr., president and CEO of FLS.

In Travis County the total number of foreclosure postings reached 782, or a 117 percent increase compared with the 360 postings in the same month last year.

* Full story available on The Bizjournals

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may get permission to begin refinancing mortgages with loan-to-value ratios above 105 percent as the Obama administration seeks to boost participation in its anti-foreclosure programs.

“We’re actively considering how to structure a program that makes sense over 105 percent,” Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart said yesterday. He said a ratio of 125 percent “is a number” that’s on the table, though “not necessarily the number we’re going to end up with.”

* Full story available on The Bloomberg

Look closely at some of the hottest housing markets in the nation right now and you’ll find many of the homebuyers driving up the sales figures are real estate investors.

They bought one out of every five homes last year, according to the National Association of Realtors. And many are snapping up deeply discounted foreclosed homes and other distressed properties in places like Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Looking to make money off investors looking to make money, several Web sites are now vying to be the go-to portals for real estate prospectors.

* Full story available on The Mercury News

A “distressingly slow” U.S. housing recovery, with inflation-adjusted home values expected to decline over the next five years, makes it unlikely that housing wealth will drive consumer spending in the next decade, a Reuters/University of Michigan survey found.

Consumers are apt to maintain their renewed emphasis on savings and paring debt, Richard Curtin, director of the survey, said in a June home price update on Friday.

Housing wealth changes have a lagged impact on spending, and the influence of declines seen in 2008 will depress growth in consumer spending in 2009 and 2010, the survey said.

* Full story available on The Reuters

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, state Sen. Bob Duff, D-25, and state Rep. Ryan Barry, D-Manchester, took aim at foreclosure and debt negotiation scams on Thursday.

At a press conference in Hartford, Duff and Barry, who co-chair the General Assembly’s Banks Committee, and Blumenthal lent their support to legislation which would regulate debt negotiation companies.

“I urge the governor to sign our bill protecting distressed debtors and homeowners from predatory promises of debt reduction,” Blumenthal said in a statement afterward. “This legislation is imperative to protect consumers from lead-filled lifelines — debt rescue schemes that may actually sink consumers deeper into debt the more they struggle.”

* Full story available on The Hour

This year’s peak home-buying season was lackluster, as buyers seeking to trade up to larger houses were absent, said the head of one of the country’s largest real estate firms.

Jim Gillespie, president and chief executive of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, in an interview with Reuters, said sales were only modest during the spring, with demand overwhelmingly dominated by first-time home buyers and investors.

“The more important ‘move-up’ buyers were absent and that is not encouraging,” said Gillespie, who is based in Parsippany, New Jersey.

* Full story available on The Reuters

Call it son of subprime. Experts warn that a new wave of mortgage foreclosures may be coming soon and could rival the default rates for subprime mortgages and slow efforts to find bottom in a prolonged national housing slump.

The mortgages in question are $230 billion of option adjustable-rate mortgages, creative lending products that flourished at the height of the housing boom. In an option ARM, a borrower can opt to pay less than his or her monthly balance due, and the difference is tacked onto the outstanding loan balance.

* Full story available on The Miami Herald