Diana Olick, of cnbc.com’s “Realty Check” still hates the idea of so-called “cram-down” legislation but reports that the Senate version may be “imminent.”

Let’s hope so–the law would be an efficient method to clear up the mess caused by the derivative-based mortgages that has the world’s head spinning and massive numbers of U.S. homeowners heading to bankruptcy court for protection. For example, San Diego bankruptcy filings are up nearly 80 per cent from 2007.

In her April 20 “Realty Check” column, Olick leads off with this: “Despite the fact that the press representative in Senator Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) office tells me ‘negotiations are still underway,’ several outlets are reporting that the Senate version of the so-called bankruptcy ‘cramdown’ bill is imminent. The house passed legislation in March allowing bankruptcy judges to modify home loans, with a couple of caveats, the main one being that the borrower had to have exhausted all possibilities for modification with his/her lender.” Read the rest of this entry »