KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Thursday March 3 Housing and Economic stories

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Thursday March 3 Housing and Economic stories

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US Chamber of Commerce using gov't contractors against foes - (www.latimes.com) Hoping to win a lucrative agreement with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, three data security contractors for federal defense and intelligence agencies developed a proposal to monitor and manipulate the chamber's left-leaning critics, according to recently released e-mail correspondence. Employees of the firms compiled short dossiers on a few activists that included photographs, references to their families and charts of their relationships with other liberal and labor leaders. A review of the correspondence, dating from late October through last week, suggested that the surveillance and intelligence gathering had begun only on a superficial basis in anticipation of a coming meeting with chamber officials. The proposals were received by Hunton & Williams, a law firm that represents the chamber. The firm, which also represents Bank of America, solicited a separate proposal from the security firms to help the bank deal with a threat by WikiLeaks, the international hacker organization, to release some of the bank's internal data. Chamber officials as well as a spokesman for Bank of America said they knew nothing of the surveillance proposals until the e-mails were released Friday by Anonymous, a group that is sympathetic to WikiLeaks.

Phila. houseowner "forecloses" on Wells Fargo over mortgage fees! - (www.philly.com) It's not clear how this story will turn out, but right now Patrick Rodgers is living a pay-back fantasy probably shared by millions of struggling U.S. homeowners. Frustrated by a dispute with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage and by his inability to get answers to questions, the West Philadelphia homeowner took the mortgage company to court last fall. When Wells Fargo still didn't respond, Rodgers got a $1,000 default judgment against it for failing to answer his formal questions, as required by a federal law called the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act. And when the mortgage company didn't pay - does something sound familiar? - Rodgers turned to Philadelphia's sheriff.

Foreclosures surge in California - (www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com) January brought significant increases in foreclosure sales in California, including the Central Valley, according to figures from ForeclosureRadar Inc., a Discovery Bay-based company that says it tracks every foreclosure filing to its resolution. The increases return volumes to pre robo-signing levels, the company says. “While the increase is significant, we've seen larger surges after moratoriums or delays have played out in the past,” says Sean O’Toole, founder and president of ForeclosureRadar Inc. “For example in California after the delays caused by Senate Bill 1137 we saw a surge in Notice of Default filings that far eclipsed any prior period. That is not the case here,” he says. “Despite months of slow sales, we've simply returned to prior levels, which to me indicates banks remain reluctant to aggressively foreclose despite the time it takes to foreclose being at or near record levels, and large inventories of properties still scheduled for foreclosure sale.”

US Chamber of Commerce plans for dirty-tricks campaign against foes - (www.washingtonpost.com) Hacked e-mails reveal plans for dirty-tricks campaign against U.S. Chamber foes. A feud between a security contracting firm and a group of guerrilla computer hackers has spilled over onto K Street, as stolen e-mails reveal plans for a dirty-tricks-style campaign against critics of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The tale began this month when a global hackers collective known as Anonymous broke into the computers of HBGary Federal, a California security firm, and dumped tens of thousands of internal company e-mails onto the Internet. The move was in retaliation for assertions by HBGary Federal chief executive Aaron Barr that he had identified leaders of the hackers' group, which has actively supported the efforts of anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks to obtain and disclose classified documents.

Housebuilders have grim view of housing market - (www.news.yahoo.com) Homebuilders have yet to see a turnaround in the housing market after the worst year for new-home sales in a half-century. The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday that its index of builder sentiment for February remained unchanged for the fourth straight month at 16. Any reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment about the market. The index hasn't been above that level since April 2006. Homebuilders are struggling to compete with millions of foreclosures that are forcing home prices down. Last year was also the worst in more than a decade for sales of existing homes.