Count another major downgrade against the global financial community. On Thursday Moody├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós Investors Service slashed credit ratings for 15 major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, among others. The reason for Moody├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós actions: The biggest banks face too much risk from debt-saddled Europe, earnings volatility, and still-faulty mortgages stateside. The ratings agency grouped the downgraded institutions into three groups. Stocks slid for many of the banks.

Renters and first-time homebuyers want more amenities in their first homes and generally feel a sense of optimism that outpaces the reality in a slowly recovering housing market ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô a disconnect that could set the stage for the next housing crisis. Those are the findings that real estate company Trulia unveiled in an American Dream survey it released Wednesday. Of 86 markets in the 100 largest metro areas, 61 percent, or nearly two-thirds, of Americans believe that home prices will rise over the next year, according to the company.

Analysts said Tuesday that a reduction in homicide rates by 10 percent would likely lead to a 0.83 percent increase in housing values and a 2.1 percent increase in housing prices in residential and metropolitan areas around the nation. The Center for American Progress surveyed 8 major metropolitan areas to tally up the costs of violent crime ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô including homicide, rape, and aggravated robbery ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô for residents, cities, and state and municipal governments. According to the study, the results weigh heavily on residential property values and home prices.

HUD rescinded guidance Friday that would have obligated homeowners to resolve debts outstanding of $1,000 or more or enter into a repayment plan by closing time for a mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration. Guidance from February required that lenders with homeowners in dispute of credit accounts or collections in that amount resolve or pay down the debt in order to meet eligibility criteria for a FHA-insured loan. That policy would have gone into effect by July 1, although earlier guidance remains.

Three bank failures took place Friday, raising the national tally this year to 31 as fewer community banks fall under, compared with recent years. State regulators shuttered Palakta, Florida-based Putnam State Bank, Marietta, Georgia-based Security Exchange Bank, and Lynchburg, Tennessee-based The Farmers Bank of Lynchburg. The cost to the FDIC: $100 million. With the bank failure tally at 31 this year, the numbers mark a gradual decline in the rate of closure for community banks compared with every year since the financial crisis.

Wells Fargo recently announced that it will accept refinance applications for homeowners with FHA mortgages only if their loans are serviced in-house by the mortgage lender. Vickee Adams, a spokesperson for Wells, said in an e-mailed statement that the lender currently services more than 500,000 customers with FHA home loans that could qualify to save money by refinancing under changes at the agency. The lender will start accepting only refinance applications for in-house loans on Tuesday.

The crisis of confidence in Europe once again drove mortgage rates to record lows this week, with real estate Web site Zillow reporting that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage slammed into 3.56 percent, the lowest it has recorded since it started surveying rates. Zillow said that the 30-year loan initially rose to 3.62 percent this week after euro zone authorities decided to bail out Spain with favorable terms. The rate for a 15-year loan hovered at 2.95 percent, while interest rates for 5-year and 1-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 2.68 percent.

Some 66 percent of real estate agents and brokers disapprove of President Barack Obama's performance, with many preferring GOP presidential forerunner and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the coming election, according to real estate company HomeGain. The home valuations company released results from a second-quarter survey Monday that polled 400 real estate agents and more than 1,700 homeowners. The company also found more optimism among real estate professionals about home values.

The Dodd-Frank Act fell under scrutiny at a hearing of the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday, with lawmakers from the right charging that the reform law will impose arbitrary rules that limit consumer choice and prevent an economic recovery. Much of the light fell on interagency efforts to finalize the controversial Volcker Rule, a rulemaking requirement under Dodd-Frank that bans short-term proprietary trading by systemically important financial institutions like Chase. Witnesses included Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Richard Cordray.

The Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight continues to evolve as the monitor, a widely respected banking and housing finance chief, takes on new help from accounting and legal firms. Joseph A. Smith, Jr., onetime Federal Housing Finance Agency director-nominee, now responsible for overseeing servicer compliance under the $25 billion settlement, revealed Monday that BDO USA, LLP, would serve as the Raleigh, North Carolina-based office's eyes and ears. He spoke with MReport about the firm Wednesday.