(RECAP: The Wall Street Journal’s Annamaria Andriotis reports Freddie Mac and two non-bank lenders are loosening income and documentation requirements for mortgage applicants in a new pilot program that was announced on Monday. The changes, which are designed to help boost mortgage originations among first-time buyers and applicants with lower incomes, come nearly a decade after the start of the mortgage meltdown. Under the Freddie program, applicants will be able use the income of people who will live with them but aren’t going to be on the mortgage to qualify. In addition, income from second jobs that borrowers have held for a relatively small period will be factored in. The pilot also doesn’t require bank statements that would show a paper trail of how some borrowers save for their down payments.)

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(RECAP: HUD’s recently released monthly Housing Scorecard points to new home sales, homeowner participation in loss mitigation programs, and declining foreclosure starts and completions as evidence that the housing market is steadily continuing to recover from the housing crisis. The report states new single-family home sales rose by 12.4 percent in July to 654,000, reaching the fastest pace since October 2007 and up over 31 percent from this point last year. According to the report, previously owned (existing) homes sales fell 3.2 percent in July to 5.39 million, down from 5.57 million in June and 1.6 percent lower than at this point last year. Despite the loss in momentum, existing home sales remained above 5.0 million for 16 of the past 17 months.)

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(RECAP: Grayson County was recently awarded a $700,000 Community Development Block Grant in support of the Eagle Bottom Housing Rehabilitation Project, under the 2016 CDBG Competitive Round. The announcement came Sept. 16, in a notification on behalf of Gov. McAuliffe, from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. The “greater” Eagle Bottom area contains a total of 176 houses, including 27 houses along State Route 94 from Fries to the Grayson County line; 48 houses in Eagle Bottom proper; 33 houses along a loop including Winding Road, Barbershop Lane, and Quarry Road; and 48 houses on Stevens Creek Road. The majority of the households are low-to-moderate income, and a significant number of the households are headed by elderly residents on fixed incomes. This area of Grayson County has been in transition since the closing of Washington Mills in Fries, and a number of homes scattered throughout have been abandoned and are in need of repair or demolition.)

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