KeNosHousingPortal.blogspot.com
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Bob Rubin: Bond Market May Be Headed For Implosion - (www.businessinsider.com) Warning of the risk of an "implosion" in the bond market, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin says the soaring federal budget deficit and the Fed's quantitative easing are putting the U.S. in "terribly dangerous territory." Speaking at an event at The Pierre Hotel in New York City honoring Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Rubin joined the growing number of current and former officials (foreign and domestic) to criticize QE2. The Fed's plan to buy $600 billion of Treasuries "has a lot of risk," he said, calling the international reaction "horrendous." Rubin, who issued a similar warning about the bond market at The FT's "Future of Finance" conference in October, said Congress' vote on raising the deficit ceiling next spring could be the "trigger" for a rout in the Treasury market. Several Republican and Tea Party candidates vowed to not increase the government's debt ceiling unless Democrats agree to sharp cuts in spending that may not be politically tenable.
Lender seizes desperate borrowers' houses - (seattletimes.nwsource.com) Emiel Kandi forever changed the lives of a pregnant hairdresser, a jobless mechanic and a single mom when he loaned them money. These unsophisticated, desperate borrowers thought a short-term loan from the well-dressed professional could save them from financial collapse or foreclosure. But the very asset they were trying to hold on to — their home — was what Kandi was determined to take. Kandi is the lender of last resort for some people who've been turned down by banks because of poor credit or limited income. He says his requirement for a borrower is merely "a pulse and a legal ability to sign." He admits he charges borrowers as much as he can get away with — 45 percent interest in one case — and makes it clear to them that if they fail to comply with the loan agreements, he will take their property. "I am a wolf," he explained. A Seattle Times examination of numerous Kandi loan deals shows that they are set up so he can quickly take borrowers' homes and in some cases flip them for a profit. And he gets away with it.
House Ownership Gets Slightly More Fair as Lenders Restrict FHA Debt Subsidies - (www.bloomberg.com) Home ownership may be falling out of reach for more Americans as lenders toughen their standards for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans beyond what the agency itself requires. Mortgage lenders including Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp., the two largest, have raised the minimum credit score on FHA-insured loans that they will buy to 640 from 620. About 6.3 million people fall within that range, according toFICO, which created the formula for the ratings. The higher hurdles for FHA loans, used in about a fifth of U.S. home purchases, add to challenges for a housing market already struggling with record-low sales and surging foreclosures. While lax lending fueled the bust that led the U.S. into recession, the new requirements will stifle the real estate recovery needed to revive the economy, said Ron Phipps, president of the National Association of Realtors. “We’ve gone from silly to stupid,” Phipps, principal partner of Phipps Realty Inc., said in a telephone interview from his home in Warwick, Rhode Island. “People who should be getting credit can’t get it. To have a healthy real estate market, you need activity. You need transactions.”
Watch A Protester Flip Out On JP Morgan Exec During Senate Hearings - (www.dailybail.com) Video: The protestor does not like foreclosure liars... These are by far my favorite type of clips - random, live, televised episodes of public humiliation for the criminal bankster elite. Watch an unknown protestor call JPMorgan Chase exec David Lowman a liar during yesterday's Senate Banking Committee hearings. Nice work. The anger is growing...
Man Makes Ridiculously Complicated Chart To Find Out Who Owns His Mortgage - (www.huffingtonpost.com) We all know the mortgage securitization process is complicated. But just how complicated? The chart below from Zero Hedge shows the convoluted journey a mortgage takes as it morphs into a security. Dan Edstrom, of DTC Systems, who performs securitization audits, and who is giving a seminar in California next month, spent a year putting together a diagram that traces the path of his own house's mortgage. "Just When You Thought You Knew Something About Mortgage Securitizations," says Zero Hedge, you are presented with this almost hilariously complicated chart. A controversy of allegedly shoddy paperwork has raised doubts about the legitimacy of foreclosures nationwide (a crisis illustrated here and here), eliciting complaints from homeowners and investors alike.
Ireland will go deeper in debt to bail out German and UK bondholders - (Mish at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) Market participants are giddy today on the great news that Ireland will go deeper in debt in a foolish attempt to bail out the German and UK bondholders who were in turn foolish enough to lend ridiculous amounts of money to Irish banks in various real estate schemes. The Irish government was of course foolish enough to guarantee all of this foolishness which means that Irish citizens many of whom were sucked into buying property at foolish prices are now on the hook to bail out the bondholders, rubbing salt into the wounds of Irish taxpayers, not all of whom were foolish enough to freely participate in the general foolishness. Got that? Here is a short video from the Wall Street Journal that explains why the bailout will not work.
OTHER STORIES:
IMF Warns Hong Kong On Rising Housing Costs - (www.blogs.wsj.com)
Dollar to Become World's Weakest Currency, JPMorgan Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
SF Bay Area housing market weakens in October - (www.latimesblogs.latimes.com)
The 20 Cities With The Most Underwater Houses - (www.businessinsider.com)
Mark-to-Make-Believe Perfumes Rotten Bank Loans - (www.bloomberg.com)
FDR wasn't FDR until people were near revolt - (www.washingtonsblog.com)
A Realtor Finally Speaks the Truth About the US Housing Market - (www.youtube.com)
Imagine a second mortgage 3 times the size of original mortgage - (www.doctorhousingbubble.com)
Case-Shiller actually does include foreclousures - (www.zillow.com)
Ireland Poised To Receive Bailout - (www.npr.org)
New Zealand housing market decline continues - (www.nbr.co.nz)
The Fed's dual mission impossible - (www.washingtonpost.com)
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