Election officials and voting-rights groups are worried that many of the millions of U.S. homeowners who lost their residences to foreclosure will also lose their chance to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

It seems that many real estate professionals are still unwilling to face the truth that the housing market still stinks.

I’ve seen far too many “green” houses that are anything but friendly to the environment.

Here’s a shocking statistic: Nearly a quarter of U.S. homeowners with first mortgages also have home equity loans. At the same time, the value of outstanding home equity loans in this country has grown from $1 billion in the 1980s to more than $1 trillion now.

The Miami Herald newspaper during an eight-month investigation found that the state of Florida allowed from 2000 to 2007 more than 10,000 ex-convicts work in the mortgage business. Of course, these people with criminal records had access to borrowers’ key personal financial information.

The story, which you can read a transcript of, said that as many as two-thirds of all Indiana mortgage brokers may lose their licenses. The big problem is that new state regulations require that at least one staff member at every Indiana mortgage brokerage pass a competency exam that allows them to oversee their office.

Housing “For Sale” signs are being stolen.

The Justice Department is spending a lot of time and resources these days going after those who have committed mortgage fraud. In fact, the department has issued more than 400 indictments since March.

I’ve always suspected that members of Congress have no idea what life is like for “ordinary” citizens. Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, of Connecticut, is a good example.

This allows homeowners to first buy their new home and then — in what is known as the “buy and bail” — stop paying the mortgage on their first home, letting it fall into foreclosure. In the end, the homeowner is left with a new house with a lower mortgage payment. Not a bad deal.