SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Twitter can now let the world automatically know your whereabouts as well as your thoughts and activities. A new feature unveiled Thursday gives Twitter users the option of including their location with the assorted musings posted on the Internet messaging service. Locations won't be included unless users turn on the tracking tool. The technology, which shadows people through Web browsers, can be turned off at any time. Twitter is responding to the growing popularity of other Internet services, such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, that broadcast people's locations. Facebook is expected to join the trend soon, ...

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Retail sales posted a surprising increase in February as consumers did not let major snowstorms stop them from storming the malls. The advance, the biggest since November, provided hope that the recovery from the Great Recession is gaining momentum. The Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales rose 0.3 percent in February, surpassing expectations that sales would decline by 0.2 percent. The overall gain was held back by a 2 percent decline in auto sales, reflecting in part the recall problems at Toyota. Excluding autos, sales rose 0.8 percent, far better than the 0.1 percent rise outside ...

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama is delaying his trip to Asia next week to focus on his big push on health care. A senior administration official tells The Associated Press that Obama now plans to leave Washington on March 21 and return March 26. The original dates were March 18 to March 24. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House hasn't announced the delay. The president will visit the same countries as planned -- Indonesia, Guam and Australia. The trip was scheduled to coincide with his daughters' spring vacation from school, but now his family ...

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Living with an undersize, outdated kitchen? If so, a sledgehammer may feel like the only solution. But these days you're probably not up for spending the $50,000 or more -- maybe much more -- it would cost to demolish the space and build a new state-of-the-art room from scratch.

The national foreclosure rate fell 2% in February from a month earlier, according to an industry report released Thursday, the latest sign that the pace of foreclosures is slowing.

Lots of people, especially those trying to battle high utility bills, believe in energy-efficient homebuilding.

As the economy improves, banks are starting to get back into the home equity loans business.

Housing development programs managed by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta produced a number of economic benefits, according to a new study.

FHA Commissioner David Stevens said if the mandatory down payment for an FHA loan is raised from 3.5 percent to 5 percent, the organization will probably insure 300,000 fewer homes every year.

Swelling ranks of homeowners who are seriously delinquent but haven't yet lost their homes may soon lead to a new round of foreclosures.

Foreclosure - Real estate - Business - RealtyTrac - United States

Mortgage rates held below the 5 percent threshold for the second straight week, a report said Thursday, weeks before a government program that has been keeping rates low is scheduled to expire.

RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday that the number of U.S. households facing foreclosure in February grew 6 percent from the year-ago level, the smallest annual increase in four years.

Kennedy Funding, a New Jersey lender to cash-strapped real-estate developers, has plenty of experience going after debtors who fall behind on their payments. But now it's Kennedy's turn to get squeezed.

The Helmsley Carlton House is being sold to a partnership between private-equity firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. and Extell Development for about $170 million.

A handful of investors dug to the bottom of the discount bin and snapped up General Growth's convertible bonds at three cents on the dollar. They now trade at 103 cents.

WASHINGTON - Four federal agencies are launching a new website today to highlight the increased role the U.S. is playing in addressing 21st century urbanization, housing and sustainability issues facing the nations of the world. The White House Office of Urban Affairs, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched the interagency website featuring World Urban Forum (WUF) roundtable discussions, web chats, presentations, and workshops at www.hud.gov/wuf.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan today announced HUD will speed federal disaster assistance to counties in California and provide support to homeowners and low-income renters forced from their homes following severe storms, flooding, debris and mud flows during January and February.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan issued a statement today following the United States Senate's adoption of an amendment extending the Gulf Coast Opportunity Zone (GO Zone) Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) placed in service date by two years, to December 31, 2012. Donovan and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a letter to U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu earlier this week, expressing the Administration's support of the amendment she sponsored and was adopted today.