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The home builder's stock soars 11% after an announcement that there will be no action taken as result of an investigation into the company's accounting procedures.

Shares of Los Angeles-based KB Home soared on Wednesday after the home builder said an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into the company's accounting and disclosure procedures had concluded and no enforcement action would be taken.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index shows a modest 1% gain over May figures, with prices in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco increasing. However, some experts predict that the expiration of federal tax credits will have a negative effect.

A closely watched national index showed Tuesday that home prices rose in June, the last month that a federal tax credit probably boosted sales. Many experts predict a drop in values in coming months without the popular government stimulus.

Question: Is a homeowner association legally responsible for the actions of any board member who has harmed any member of the association? What if the board member has moved away from the association when a lawsuit is pending against it?

A Santa Monica residence completed in 2008 was inspired by historic homes in Belgium. It boasts 17th century limestone floors, Belgian bluestone details, elaborate ironwork and refitted antique doors.

This 2-year-old house inspired by the historic homes of Belgium feels as if it could be sitting in the countryside rather than in a Santa Monica neighborhood just blocks from the boutiques on Montana Avenue.

The number of homes in the $1-million-and-up slice of the market that have become bank owned has tripled during the last three years in Los Angeles County, and the trend has shown little sign of slowing.

Foreclosure is blind.

Renovations that reduce the number of bedrooms or bathrooms and poorly planned expansions may kill a sale in the future.

Every real estate agent has seen them: home "improvements" that turn out to be anything but, at least down the road when it comes time to sell. Instead of deal sealers, they are deal killers.

Despite earlier reports to the contrary, it turns out that your mortgage lender will not have to pull a second full credit report on you hours before closing on your home purchase or refinancing.

The law regards this person as a tenant, even though he is not paying rent, so proper legal procedures must be followed.

Question: About a year ago I found out that a casual friend had been laid off and become homeless. I let him move into my apartment's spare bedroom free of charge. Now I want my privacy back. I have asked him to leave, but he doesn't appear to be making any effort to do so. A real estate agent says my friend is a trespasser, since we have no rental agreement or landlord-tenant relationship. She says I can call the police to have him removed or I can change the locks on a day when he is away. I don't want to get into any trouble, so I am writing to ask what my legal rights are.

Their house is a very, very, very fine house, to borrow Graham Nash's own lyrics.

According to testimony in an SEC lawsuit, the Calabasas firm's co-founder fostered the practice of making exceptions to its lending standards.

The late "Tonight Show" announcer Ed McMahon was far from the only person to get a special mortgage thanks to Countrywide Financial Corp. co-founder Angelo Mozilo.

U.S. sales fall for the third consecutive month to the lowest rate since 1999, pushing down stocks and fueling fears of a 'double dip' in the housing market.

The end of a popular government stimulus program drove home sales in July to their lowest levels in more than a decade, fueling fresh concerns about the economic recovery.

Mitchell Roth agrees to pay $1 million in restitution to homeowners from whom he collected fees plus $125,000 in penalties, the California attorney general's office says.

Former Los Angeles attorney Mitchell Roth has agreed to settle charges that he allegedly collected fees from 2,000 debt-entrenched homeowners with promises of foreclosure relief, but only filed "frivolous and phony" lawsuits, according to the California attorney general's office.

Homeowners whose loan payments were reduced in 2009 are falling back into default less often than those who got modifications in 2008.

BOSTON — Homeowners who had mortgages modified recently are faring better than those who did so earlier in the housing crisis, according to a report released Tuesday, possibly debunking predictions of a huge wave of defaults to come.

A federal agency is moving to prohibit "private transfer fees" on all mortgages funded by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But its proposed ban may extend to transfer fees routinely collected by community associations across the country — potentially forcing some of them to raise assessments.

Here are some real estate-related tidbits from the legal file:

The Spanish Colonial-style DeWenter Mansion retains vestiges of its heyday as a center of the Southern California citrus industry.

Ann Thompson still marvels at the sliver of ranchland she has lived on for the last eight years. "I fell in love with the house," she says of the Spanish Colonial-style home known as the DeWenter Mansion that sits in the quiet foothills of La Verne. "For my husband, it was the property."

Under the main Obama administration program to ease foreclosures, fewer than 37,000 homeowners received permanently lowered mortgage payments in July. Modification cancellations are up.

Just as the housing market recovery has stalled, so has the Obama administration's main program to ease home foreclosures.

Candice Bergen, Roger Moore also were previous owners of the Beverly Hills Post Office hacienda.

Even for Los Angeles, it's an impressive cast. Roger Moore owned the Beverly Hills Post Office Spanish hacienda in the '80s and '90s, then Candice Bergen bought it, and now the new owner is Cameron Diaz.

Squeezing out amateurs, private equity funds and wealthy individuals are buying distressed properties at public auctions, refurbishing them and selling them for quick profits.

Hoping there are big profits to be made in the aftermath of California's housing collapse, professional investors are flocking to the business of buying foreclosed homes at distressed prices.

Funds dry up, and many projects are left in limbo, after regulators and lenders raise alarms over terms of the Property Assessed Clean Energy program.

A popular program that allows homeowners to tap low-interest government financing to install energy-efficient solar panels, windows and insulation has stalled, leaving tens of thousands of green improvement projects across the country in limbo.

Southern California sees a 21.4% drop in home sales from 2009 but tax credits skew the figures.

Southland home sales fell dramatically in July as federal tax credits for buyers expired, yet the median home price declined only slightly from June.

Mortgage lenders must now pay the difference if a loan's closing costs come in higher than they estimated, which means no more lowballing to lure customers.

Facing new penalties if they lowball estimates of upfront mortgage costs, lenders and brokers appear to be coming clean about how much borrowers will pay.

The change is among several announced by the Fed, which has been criticized for failing to rein in high-risk lending during the housing boom.

The Federal Reserve on Monday approved a rule banning lenders from paying bonuses to mortgage brokers and loan officers who get borrowers to agree to a higher interest rate than they need to pay.

With new owners and funding, the development is changing to apartments and will include a triangular arrangement of five-, six- and seven-story buildings and space for shops on the ground floor.

A stalled condominium development in Hollywood that became a symbol of the real estate market's collapse is back under construction after work on it was idled by bankruptcy for more than a year.

The folks at Esteemed Lending Services are out to teach people a lesson.

Question: I am a condominium owner. Our homeowners association is being sued by a former gardener who claims her firing was an act of sex discrimination. What are the ramifications of this lawsuit for me? Will an insurance policy cover me for any financial loss? I also suspect there may be a political battle going on involving the present board, a former board member and the property management company regarding this problem. Who is liable for damages?

In the growing practice of 'virtual staging,' photographs of homes on real estate websites are altered to make them look more attractive. But some people feel duped when they see the real thing.

Reporting from Washington

A grand manor in Hancock Park

Architect and interior designer John Saladino spent four years and 'millions and millions' of dollars reconstructing and restoring the late-1920s structure and surrounding gardens.

Internationally renowned architect and interior designer John Saladino says that when he first visited this property in 1985, he was "possessed and smitten" but, with a large house in Connecticut, unable to consider buying.

Peter Facinelli and Jennie Garth put their home on the market.

"Twilight" star Peter Facinelli and his wife, actress Jennie Garth, are hoping for a bite on the $5,995,000 home they have listed in Toluca Lake.