Wednesday May 28 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

HOA’s struggle in face of foreclosures - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Home Owners Associations are feeling the effects of the housing bust as foreclosures and delinquent association payments put the squeeze on budgets. Homeowners feeling the squeeze of increased mortgage payments have stopped paying their association dues. In addition banks that are holding REO property in neighborhoods with association dues are notorious for lack of payment, causing the associations charged with keeping up public areas of housing developments to cut back on services."
S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. Home-Price Index Fell 14.4% in March - (www.ml-implode.com)
"We realtors remain part of the problem" - (www.pressofatlanticcity.com)
US home prices fall at record pace - (www.ft.com) - An index of house prices has fallen 14.1 per cent for the first quarter compared with the same period last year, a trend that could prolong the economic slowdown and cause further pain for homeowners facing foreclosure
Sleazy Flipper Changes House's Address To Fool Buyers - (patrick.net) - ... discovered that the home currently listed as 1388 Elder Avenue was known in 2007 as 1665 Valparaiso. That's right, the flipper actually changed the address. Most likely to argue a higher price.
Thrifts Set Aside Record High Loan Loss Provisions - (www.ml-implode.com) - "The Office of Thrift Supervision said today that thrifts nationwide posted a collective $617 million dollar loss in the first q...
Tracking Realtor Spin - (www.njrereport.com) – Good chart with National Assoc. of Realtor comments overlaid on home sales/prices.
Banks/insurers battle over unloading CDOs - (www.nypost.com)
Unprecedented House Equity Loan Losses - (occ.treas.gov)
Housing bailout bill creates national fingerprint registry! - (news.cnet.com) – Sneaky language thrown in housing bill.
Why Wall Street Socialism Will Fail - (www.huffingtonpost.com)
Economist challenges government data - (www.sfgate.com)
Spill Over - (www.ml-implode.com) - "It is increasingly evident that once the credit contraction hit the home equity line (HELOC) market last fall, the barn door wa...
Second-lien fallout - (www.ml-implode.com) - "After raising capital in February and March, temporarily easing concerns about their future, the bond insurers are back in the ...
Contractors Are Kept Busy Maintaining Abandoned Homes - (www.nytimes.com)


Other Stories:

Fed's Yellen Says Current Rates "Appropriate" to Stimulate Growth - (www.ml-implode.com) - "San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen (non-voter) said rates are "appropriate" for encouraging growth and that the real Fed ..
Indymac Sinks on Analyst Downgrade - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``Depleted shares of Indymac took another hit Tuesday after UBS analyst Eric Wasserstrom slashed his price target on the flaggin...
Foreclosure Sales Increasing - (www.ml-implode.com)
April New Home Sales - (www.ml-implode.com)
Housing skid leads to exodus of builders - (www.ml-implode.com)
IKB reports $1.6 billion 9-month loss - (www.ml-implode.com)
NYC RGE Monitor Panel Discussion (Not for the Fainthearted) - (www.ml-implode.com)

Goldman set to sever IIF links - (www.ml-implode.com)
Realtard of the month - (housing-kaboom.blogspot.com)
House prices down and unsold listings way up - (www.businessweek.com)
Four reasons house inventories buildup is ominous - (www.marketwatch.com)
Why Its a Bad Time to Buy a House - (finance.yahoo.com)

Recession still likely in US, says Greenspan - (www.ft.com)
Report: Buffett sees USA in recession - (www.usatoday.com)
Fed Keeps Watch on Wall St. From the Inside - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Steepest drop in driving since the '40s - (www.cnn.com)
Out of a job and out of luck at 54 - (money.cnn.com)
Gas prices may knock a big hole in Georgians' boating - (www.ajc.com)
Calif. house prices fall 32% from April '07 levels - (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
California House Prices Drop 32% Amid Foreclosures - (www.bloomberg.com)
In favor of bubble-free prosperity - (articles.moneycentral.msn.com)
2007 Is Worst-Ever Vintage for US Subprime, Alt-A RMBS - (www.researchrecap.com)
I bought. What the hell was I thinking? - (www.salon.com)
Pioneers show Americans how to live off-grid - (www.reuters.com)

Libor Cracks Widen as Bankers Struggle With Reforms - (www.bloomberg.com)
Oil costs up, house prices down - good news! - (www.timesonline.co.uk)
World gasoline usage and pricing - (en.wikipedia.org)
Investors Bet Against Dollar Pegs - (online.wsj.com)
Reining in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - (www.economist.com)
Now the SEC is getting involved in Ratergate - (www.financialweek.com)
Commercial property in a world of hurt - (www.financialweek.com)
Property taken off market in prices stand-off - (www.ft.com)
Recent borrowers hit problems earlier - (www.ft.com)
Auction-Rate Securities Give Firms Grief - (online.wsj.com)
How Thinking Costs You - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Pimco’s Gross: U.S. understatement of CPI skewing bond yields - (www.financialweek.com)

Lost Opportunities Haunt Final Days of Bear Stearns - (online.wsj.com)
Cleanup Is No Easy Task - (online.wsj.com)
Wall Street Firings, Not as Bad as 2001 Market Slump, Signal Worst to Come - (www.bloomberg.com)
Auto Industry Feels the Pain of Tight Credit - (www.nytimes.com)
Soaring Fuel Prices Take a Withering Toll on Truckers - (www.nytimes.com)
Accenture survey: Finance departments feel the pressure - (www.ft.com)
Toyota revs up hybrid vehicle production - (www.latimes.com)
North Texas homebuilders feel the sting of the housing slump - (www.dallasnews.com)
Utilities - next merger wave - (www.chron.com)
Fast food chains cutting prices to meet diners' tight wallets - (www.ocregister.com)

Trichet's Inflation Aim Proves `Fiction' After Decade - (www.bloomberg.com)
Inflation Erodes the Confidence of German Consumers, French Manufacturers - (www.bloomberg.com)
German Construction Boosted First-Quarter Growth - (www.bloomberg.com)
Inflation in emerging economies - (www.economist.com)
U.K. Mortgage Approvals Dropped 39% in April on Tighter Lending, BBA Says – (www.bloomberg.com)
Buy a car, get a gun - (www.ajc.com)