Joe Riquelme built the popular iPhone video editing app Videoshop, and his project has been so successful that he was able to surprise his parents this Christmas by paying off their mortgage.

After too-easy mortgage lending brought the world economy to its knees in 2008, lots of people have been chewing over the question of how to make the housing market less prone to, you know, blowing up. One idea: 50% down payments.

Thinking of buying a new home in Moscow Oblast, but still on the fence? Perhaps a cat will convince you. Sign the promissory, take the cat. Look, cute cat! Это красивая кошка! Just hold him for a sec. Awwwwwwwww. Now, do you want a fixed-rate or a 5/1 ARM?

Today in Ways the United States Tax Code Benefits the Rich: a new study indicates that the politically popular mortgage-interest deduction is useful mostly for helping affluent people buy larger homes.

The Steven J. Baum law firm, the awful New York foreclosure mill whose employees threw that homeless-themed Halloween party, is closing down just a month after pictures of the party were published by the New York Times. Bwahahahahahahahahaha.

If you're one of the nation's top "foreclosure mill" law firms—representing Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo in their attempts to foreclose on homes and evict homeowners—what better way to celebrate Halloween than by throwing a party where everyone comes as a dirty, homeless victim of your practice?

Things are going about as expected for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman when he decided to take on the full brunt of the White House and the largest megabanks in the country by trying to investigate the full load of their mortgage-related crimes over the past decade: Somewhat difficultly.

Just FYI, in case you were thinking of taking out a second mortgage: whatever you do, do not take out a second mortgage. A new report says that nearly 40% of people who took out second mortgages are now "underwater," a fancy real estate term for "broker than broke.":

Florida homeowners Maurenn Nyergers and her husband paid for their home in cash, and never took out a mortgage, so when Bank of America filed foreclosure papers on the house, they took the bank to court, and won. And when Bank of America wouldn't pay their legal fees — as it was ordered to by the court — their attorney, Todd Allen, decided to seize its assets, in person, with movers and sheriff's deputies in tow.

This sleazy ad has been on cable news all day. Former presidential candidate and country bear Fred Thompson wants old people to get "Absolutely FREE," government-backed reverse mortgages. What do we know about this shady company Thompson is endorsing?

Walking away from your hopelessly underwater mortgage: everyone's doing it! But a new study says that these "strategic" defaults ("strategic"= commonsensical) are driven by anger and fear, not rational calculation. Well. There are plenty of reasons to be angry.

Did you know that traders at the troubled investment bank are legendary health nuts? It's true! So could a fastfood eating contest between 10 mortgage traders at the firm have lead to the housing market collapse of 2007?

Annie Leibovitz dug herself so deeply into debt that she was forced to mortgage her photographs to a high-end pawn shop to pay off her creditors. Who did she owe money to? None other than Condé Nast, her biggest patron.