The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now.

How can this be? For starters, a bottom does not mean that prices are about to return to the heady days of 2005. That probably won't happen for another 15 years. It just means that the trend is no longer getting worse, which is the critical factor.

Most people forget that the current housing bust is nearly three years old.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Even as it prepares to be acquired by Bank of America Corp <BAC.N>, Countrywide Financial Corp's <CFC.N> descent to a "junk" credit rating could hinder its ability to make loans and collect deposits, the mortgage company has warned.

The reason for this memo, a regulatory call to action, deals with a nearly silently adopted regulation which could very well be the most dangerous restriction ever placed on the mortgage industry.  It literally threatens to eliminate mortgage brokers almost overnight.  We have to act now to stop it, because the commentary period on the proposed regulation ends this Wednesday. 

A mortgage is the pledging of a property to a lender as a security for a mortgage loan. While a mortgage in itself is not a debt, it is evidence of a debt. It is a transfer of an interest in land, from the owner to the mortgage lender, on the condition that this interest will be returned to the owner of the real estate when the terms of the mortgage have been satisfied or performed. In other words, the mortgage is a security

The mortgage system followed in United States is a bit different from other countries. There are two types of mortgage instruments used in United States. Those are Mortgage deed and Deed of trust.

When applying for a home equity loan, the person looking for the loan is usually looking to get the most he can, or in other words - getting a good interest rate. The “good” interest rate is the first thing on people’s minds and is generally the primary concern. Although it is true that most homeowners are placing a lot of emphasis on getting the best deals out there, and the lowest home equity loan interest rates, this may not necessarily be the most important factor in the whole financial perspective of home equity. .