Top Stories:
California Dreaming:
· Brentwood: California's poster child for housing bust - (www.scrippsnews.com) Hundreds of families have lost their homes to foreclosure since the beginning of last year, and in a sign of more to come, at least 1 out of every 16 households has received default notices. For the neighbors left behind, the dreams of the pretty, tight-knit community that lured many there in the first place have dissolved. In new neighborhoods, "Foreclosure," "For sale" and "For rent" signs dot the streets, weeds sprout and newspapers pile up at empty homes as new residents cycle in and out. In projects halted by the downturn, handfuls of houses stand alone amid acres of dirt. Promised parks and community centers remain unfinished or fenced in.
· California Screaming - (money.cnn.com) - "We thought we'd be able to sell pretty quickly because this is a sought-after area," says Stuart Manley, a Ladera Ranch resident who had hoped to unload his townhouse for about $469,000. "But shortly after we went on the market, it was foreclosure, foreclosure, foreclosure." "The natural progression was that renters move up to ownership of a condo, then up to a house and then up to a mansion," says Manley, who owns a wireless services company. In the southern O.C., where home prices were appreciating at double-digit percentages each year, you could hope to squeeze a lifetime of social mobility into just a few years. Get a loan with a low teaser rate on the first house, sell at a profit and use your new equity and another round of easy credit to get a grander house. Patti Arnold, who handles house closings as an Orange County escrow officer, says many of those loans had minuscule initial payments, allowing borrowers to put off paying back principal. "Everyone just kept moving," recalls Ladera resident Darlene Kelly, speaking on the front porch of the foreclosed home where her husband, a broker, is hosting an open house.
· California man losing nine homes in mortgage mess - (www.reuters.com)
Media to blame for slump, say estate agents - (www.ml-implode.com)
New Fannie Mae Program May Benefit 150,000 Homeowners - (www.ml-implode.com)
Tax Assessors Nightmare - (www.ml-implode.com) - The Atlanta Journal Constitution is writing Tax assessors boggled by housing dip. For less than the price of a decent used car, you can buy a home in Atlanta today. Actually, real estate agents list a dozen choices for $10,000 or less. Step up in price to $20,000 and your choices expand 10 fold. The prices seem absurd but they are part of a real estate market suffering with rampant foreclosures, mortgage fraud, abandoned investor properties, a collapsing mortgage industry and other ills. The market is unlike anything seen in metro Atlanta in years and it has local tax assessors and appraisers as confused as anyone. What is the value of a lot if no one can get a loan to buy it? How should you value a home that sits on the market for a year with no offers? When a neighborhood has several foreclosures, short sales and abandoned properties, do they set the market?
Regulators under fire for ignoring red flags - (www.ml-implode.com) – let’s start with the senators and congressman from both parties for showboating now, but missing all the easy signs previously.
Rubenstein Says `Enormous' Bank Losses Unrecognized - (www.bloomberg.com)
Congressman mail '50 to 1' against bailout - (latimesblogs.latimes.com) – Another congressman received 100 to 1 letters against bailout, yet Feinstein and other clowns are bailing out lenders.
Feinstein Ignores Voters; Pushes Bailout for Banks - (patrick.net)
Lenders deserve to suffer, Buffett says - (www.seattlepi.nwsource.com)
Fannie Mae hiding foreclosures - (www.morgan-florida.org)
MBIA Posts Loss of $2.4 Billion as Mortgage, CDO Slump Deepens - (www.bloomberg.com)
The Financial Crisis: An Interview with George Soros - (www.nybooks.com)
Workers who depend on tips feel economy's slump - (www.chron.com)
Other Stories:
IndyMac Reports Loss, Doesn't See Profit in 2008 - (www.ml-implode.com) "-- IndyMac Bancorp Inc., the second- biggest independent U.S. mortgage company, reported a first- quarter loss, omitted some di...
Is "walking away" a myth? - (www.ml-implode.com)
Is A Rescue Possible? - (www.ml-implode.com)
Subprime fraud at highest levels - (blog.cleveland.com)
Will the Mortgage Industry Pay for Its Crimes? - (www.alternet.org)
Bank failures: How bad will it be? - (www.bankrate.com)
Unwise to buy a house in Australia at current prices - (www.bubblepedia.net.au)
After Peloton Partners' demise the WSJ provides an autopsy - (www.ml-implode.com)
The Biggest Housing Losers - (www.ml-implode.com)
The value of houseownership has been oversold - (www.thedailypage.com)
April home sales in L.A. down 43% - (www.latimes.com)
April retail sales barely budged: SpendingPulse - (www.reuters.com)
When Should the Fed Crash the Party? - (www.nytimes.com)
Housing dreams clash with reality - (www.canada.com)
How Saving Hurts House Prices - (www.fool.co.uk)
Mortgage structure is why market is down - (www.idahostatesman.com)
New York watchdog wants derivative controls - (www.ft.com)
Peloton Flew High, Fell Fast - (online.wsj.com)
Price cuts spur area home sales - (www.azcentral.com)
House Panel to Hold Energy-Speculation Hearings - (online.wsj.com)
Rebounds by Hedge-Fund Stars Prove 'It's a Mulligan Industry' - (online.wsj.com)
The Economy Goes To Hell - (www.mediachannel.org)
Mortgage crisis seeps to prime loans - (www.usatoday.com)
Bank of England warns of stagflation - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
You and your puny salary - (www.sfgate.com)
FedEx Warning Hits Stock - (www.thestreet.com)
Toyota says new US auto plant delayed - (www.chicagotribune.com)
HSBC Sets Aside $3.2 Billion for More Bad U.S. Loans - (www.bloomberg.com)
PMI Group swings to hefty 1Q loss on defaults - (www.ap.com)
Dot-org domain name fees to rise by 10% - (www.azcentral.com)
Greenberg attacks AIG chiefs - (www.ft.com)
Renault and Nissan to launch low-cost car - (www.ft.com)
China's Inflation Accelerates; Bank Reserve Requirement Rises - (www.bloomberg.com)
Mounting signs of economic slowdown - (www.ft.com)
China faces 7.3 million tonne LPG shortfall in 2010: report - (news.yahoo.com)
Trouble in LI Paradise - (www.nypost.com)
The Last Bite - (www.newyorker.com) , Bee Wilson
The Oil Nonbubble - (www.nytimes.com)
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