Tenants who could be facing eviction or foreclosure in this bad economy can learn about their rights at a free legal clinic Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at El Concilio, 224 S. Sutter St., Stockton.

Home buyers, and those who'd like to be home buyers, can learn more about the process at an expo Saturday in Stockton.

Help for households at risk of foreclosure will be offered at free Home Rescue Fairs from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, July 8, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, July 9 at the Stockton Hilton, 2323 Grand Canal Blvd.

Housing prices in February continued their slide, dropping 10.7 percent in Stanislaus County from a year ago.

Candy Allen wants help paying her rent so she can afford what many consider life's essentials, such as basic cable and her own phone. They are unaffordable luxuries for Allen, who brings home about $1,040 a month and pays about $800 for rent and utilities.

Allegations of forged documents, faked Social Security numbers, and mortgages sliced and diced so many times that nobody really knows who owns them could mean big trouble for the banks that wrote the loans and the housing industry as a whole.

Bill Joyce starts every short-sale journey with "the speech." In a what's ahead warning to home buyers, the Roseville real estate broker promises something resembling burning deserts, howling winds and crops destroyed by hail. Buyers will be tested and tortured, he tells them. They will endure privations beyond all expectations.

WASHINGTON — The nation's largest banks have an obligation to pay some of the cost for bailing out mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac because they sold them bad mortgages, a government regulator said Wednesday.

Whether called "flopping" or "double escrow" or simply short sale fraud, it's the scourge of the real estate industry, it's sweeping the nation and it's illegal. And Stanislaus County is a prime target.

The Federal Housing Administration isn't talking publicly about it, but the agency may be getting ready to lessen the upfront costs of reverse mortgages for some borrowers.

WASHINGTON — Mortgage rates mostly edged up last week as investors' fears about the economy eased.

Options for relieving the tax burden on southeast Modesto homeowners were discussed Thursday by the Empire Union School District trustees, but no promises were made. Homeowners throughout the Empire district pay extra Mello-Roos property taxes, up to $459 per year.

Village I residents demanded school officials stop finding excuses to collect and spend extra Mello-Roos property taxes, but no decisions were made Wednesday night during a lively public hearing.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is trying to jump-start its attempts to tackle the foreclosure crisis with an effort to assist homeowners who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth.

Construction may be at a standstill elsewhere in Stanislaus County, but it is booming on one block of central Modesto. The 900 block of Enslen Avenue, in the middle of one of the city's most desired neighborhoods, has one custom home under construction, two major renovations under way, a couple of minor projects just completed and more about to start.

MERCED — For the past eight years, the Belmontes family has rented in Merced.

LOS ANGELES — So you're a renter and you want to green your space, but your landlord won't splurge on solar panels.

WASHINGTON — Children could be prevented from realizing their potential in school and eventually in the labor force as consequences from home foreclosures endure for years, a Federal Reserve official said Thursday.

Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the 10th time in 11 weeks, as investors worried about the economy.

I have my own spin to put on the news that sales of existing homes plunged 27 percent in July: Stop thinking of your home as your cash cow.

Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level in decades for the ninth time in 10 weeks, as concerns grow that the economy is weakening.

A cluster of just-released housing statistics all point the same depressing direction: down. Whether it's home sales, housing construction or resale prices, none of the news is good for the Northern San Joaquin Valley or the nation as a whole.

San Joaquin Valley lawmakers and homeowners still feel left out of the Obama administration's billion-dollar bids to ease the nation's foreclosure crisis.

Would-be home buyers retreated in the heat of July, which saw a sharp drop in the number of properties sold in the Northern San Joaquin Valley and statewide.

WASHINGTON — The call from business for less government has a notable exception: the mortgage market.