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  Poll: House of the Week

  Vote for your favorite house and discuss.

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  Home Builders Find Georgia Peachy

  Watching different regions recover from the housing bust is like betting on a horse race. There is a temptation to put money on a few long shots.

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  Mortgage Delinquencies Decline

  The number of U.S. households behind on mortgage payments fell in the fourth quarter to the lowest level in two years, but the number of loans in foreclosure remained high.

  • Logjam Over Risk-Retention Reform

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  Mortgage Rates Ease a Bit

  Mortgage rates declined in the latest week, with the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages landing at 5%.

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  Banks Face Fines on Servicers' Role

  More than a dozen major financial institutions are facing sanctions over problems with internal controls and staffing levels at mortgage servicers.

  • Uncertainty Mires Reform
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  Banks Push Bigger Down Payments

  The down payments demanded by banks to buy homes have ballooned since the housing bust, potentially shrinking the pool of eligible buyers.

  • News Hub: Come Up With More Cash
  • Video: No Money Down? Not Anymore.
  • Vote: How big should down payments be?
  • Uncertainty Mires Risk-Retention Reform
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  Hong Kong Rents Third Most Expensive in World

  Hong Kong's residential rents for expats jumped 22% in September for the year to date from a year earlier, making the Chinese territory the third most expensive rental market in the world.

• Does Buying a Rental as an Investment Make Sense?

  A reader wonders whether it would be wise to buy a property and then lease it out, considering home prices may continue to fall.

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  Room for Rent -- in a Mansion

  As more mansion owners rent out rooms to raise cash, we sign on as tenants.

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  Luxury Housing Boom Takes a Breather

  Sales of $1 million apartments in India have slowed just as Donald Trump wants to enter the market. Buyers can negotiate better deals, says Shefali Anand, India personal finance writer.

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  A Custom-Crafted Home

  House of the Day: With an unlimited budget, a couple decked out their four-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot home on Hong Kong's Peak with a collection of custom-made furniture.

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  Views of Life After Fannie, Freddie

  The Obama administration outlined its plans to begin shrinking the government's broad support of the nation's crippled mortgage market, a process that officials said could take several years and would include phasing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

  • Video: Consensus on Fannie, Freddie
  • Heard: Obama Can't Fix Housing Without a War
  • White House report
  • Mixed Outlook for Mortgage Insurers

• GOP Lawmakers Welcome Mortgage Plan

  The Obama administration's plan to eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac drew a warm reception from Republicans who have long been critics of the mortgage giants.

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  Obama Can't Fix Housing Without 30-Year War

  You can't ride two horses at once. But the Obama administration, in proposals to revamp housing finance, doesn't pick a steed.

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  Why You Should Buy That Home Now

  The president's proposals for revamping the mortgage industry will make home loans costlier.

• Taking Chalet Chic to the City

• J.P. Morgan Apologizes for Military Foreclosures

• Explaining the Realtors' Rosy Housing Data

• Rise in Rates Is Headwind for Housing

• Related's Ross Is Upbeat on West Side

• Home Affordability Hits Pre-Bubble Levels

• White House Plans to Revamp Mortgage Market

• A Luxury Villa on the Ganges

• Cash Buyers Lift Housing Market

• Survey: Mortgage Process Has Become Too Confusing

• The Pampered Countertop

• REIT Group Calls Calpers' Proposed Strategy 'Ill-Advised'

• Freddie's Operating Chief Resigns

• Boom's Home-Ownership Gains Lost

• After Snow, the Ice Dam Cometh

• Price Premiums Grow for New Homes

• Builder Uses Different Blueprint

• Heavy Metal Meets Toy Bunnies

• Malcolm Forbes's N.Y. Townhouse Hits the Market

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  Pre-Revolutionary War Era Homes

• The Case for Sunbelt Real Estate

• Homes in Gated Communities

• Going Modern in Old New York

• Estate of Oil Mogul's Family is Listed for $28.5 Million

• Gehry Leaves Risks to the Kids

• An Award-Winning Home

• Churches Find the End Is Nigh

House of the Day

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  Lake Austin Condo

  The owners of this renovated two-bedroom waterfront home in Austin, Texas, bought it more than three years ago but are selling because they want more space.

  • Visit the House of the Day homepage.

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  Portugese Villa

  This eight-bedroom residence overlooking the Algarve coastline is a few minutes walk from the beach.

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  Home With a Hand-Made Look

  Architect Roger Bartels built this stucco cottage in Rowayton, Conn., because his wife Lisa wanted a place to retire to. It was the couple's third retirement home, each smaller than the last.

  • Photos: Stucco Cottage in Connecticut
  • Video: A Luxury Stucco House
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  Designing a Home with Eastern Tones

  House of the Day: To create an Asian-inspired home, an English couple filled their four-bedroom house with silks, bold-colored furniture and textured wallpapers.