KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Wednesday November 10 Housing and Economic stories

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Wednesday November 10 Housing and Economic stories

KeNosHousingPortal.blogspot.com

TOP STORIES:

Irwindale officials spent lavishly during trips to discuss housing for poor - (latimesblogs.latimes.com) The Irwindale officials charged Wednesday with misappropriating public funds took lavish business trips to New York City, including meals at five-star restaurants, evenings at Broadway shows, chauffeured rides and nights at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, according to records obtained by The Times. The spending came as leaders in Irwindale spent $87 million in affordable housing funds over eight years, but only built 42 homes. Two trips to New York were for the purpose of discussing bonds for housing for the poor in the San Gabriel Valley city of about 1,500 people. Councilman Mark Breceda, retired City Manager Steve Blancarte and finance director Abe De Dios are charged with five felony counts of misappropriating public funds. Former Councilwoman Rosemary Ramirez faces one count. One trip in 2003 had fewer than eight hours of scheduled meetings on the itinerary, but city officials spent six nights at the Ritz-Carlton, according to expense reports and itineraries. During that trip to discuss ratings for the bonds, city officials arrived on Saturday and checked into the Ritz-Carlton. Sunday's agenda featured no business meetings but did include brunch at the River Café, where the current prix fixe menu for omelets or poached eggs is $55. The afternoon schedule included a matinee of "Jackie Mason Laughing Room Only" followed by dinner at Atelier, a restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton..... Total cost to Irwindale taxpayers: $37,852.

Val Kilmer slashes price of New Mexico ranch by $10 million - (www.sfgate.com) Val Kilmer has slashed the price of his New Mexico ranch by a massive $10 million in a desperate bid to sell it. Kilmer put his Pecos River ranch on the market in early 2009 for $33 million. But the sprawling 5,328-acre property, which boasts a 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom, 11,573-square-foot house, still hasn't sold. The Associated Press reports a Craigslist ad published last week lowered the price to $23 million. Darlene Streit of Santa Fe Realty Partners, who reportedly posted the new ad, had not responded to requests for comment as WENN went to press.

Bernanke's Failed CNBC Predictions From 2005-07 - (www.dailybail.com) Good video clip showing Bernanke is completely and utterly worthless and clueless. Yet everyone still believes him. Spliced video from 5 CNBC appearances from 2005-07 where Bernanke demonstrates that he knows Absolutely Nothing. This one is so good we need it to go viral. Please send it to your reps in Congress and to the White House. Washingtoncontact info for everyone and everything is here. If we can get a million voters to see the clip, and from that group, 100,000 or so to actually email the video to someone in Washington, we might just be able to make enough noise to send B-52 back to Princeton.

How Much Does It Cost the Government To Prevent a Foreclosure? - (www.theatlantic.com) Some simple division reveals an average cost of $54,757 per successful permanent modification. Whether that's money well spent depends on your perspective. If you're one of those half million or so struggling borrowers, then you probably think so. If you're part of one of the other 130 million or so other households in the U.S., however, then you might not be as convinced.

Mortgage Mess Could Hit Banks, Housing - (www.sandiegoreader.com) Remember the giddy days of the real estate bubble? Crooked lenders drew up mortgages without keeping track of them. Wall Street packaged them and foisted them off on naïve investors. The real estate bubble burst, and now there are massive foreclosures — but not adequate documentation for them. All 50 states are investigating the unscrupulous and slipshod record-keeping, major banks have suspended foreclosures, and lawyers are expected to file suits by the bushel. As a result, more bank woes and another housing dip may be inevitable. So what is Washington doing? Trying to create another bubble — this one in the stock market. The logic seems to be that giddiness caused the calamity so more giddiness will straighten it out. The Federal Reserve keeps short-term interest rates near zero, and it’s buying bonds to force long-term rates, which are already near record lows, even lower. The stock market is gleefully lapping up all the liquidity as banks’ trading desks borrow money for nothing and make almost risk-free bets, often on the stock market. We have seen three bubbles burst since the year 2000 — two in the stock market and one in real estate — but our leaders think we prefer financial asset inflation to product and service inflation.