6 real estate headlines: 15-April

A daily dose of headlines for real estate agents, mortgage lenders, homebuyers and home sellers.

New rules for first-time homebuyers Smart Money: The new fees and higher barriers to entry are all a response to the sweeping mortgage losses of the last several years.To cover those losses, banks and the agencies are raising fees on new mortgages	Are you disciplined enough for an ARM? HSH.com: borrowers looking to land an even lower mortgage rates are considering adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs). Would you be better off with an ARM, even though current fixed-rate loans are not far from their rock-bottom lows?
Fannie offers closing help Bankrate.com: Fannie Mae is reviving incentives to lure buyers as it tries to unload its thousands of foreclosed homes by offering to give buyers up to 3.5 percent of the selling price to be used toward closing costs..	Big banks get foreclosure orders Wall Street Journal: The bank regulators' action is part of an ongoing effort to reach a broader deal over alleged mortgage-servicing abuses
Sharp drop in DC foreclosures DC Urban Turf: In the DC area, there were 6,619 properties with foreclosure filings in the first quarter of 2011, down just over 50 percent from the first quarter of 2010.	A family compound on Massachusetts Avenue Curbed: Anyone wanting to be closer to the political action should check out this little number next to the Vice President's residence on Observatory Circle for $6.995M.

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