KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Sunday July 10 Housing and Economic stories

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Realtor fired gun to scare away people being loud - (www.ocregister.com) A 65-year-old Realtor has been arrested on suspicion of discharging a firearm in a negligent manner after police say she fired a gunshot to scare people talking loudly near her home. A group of eight people in their early 20s were hanging out at Lake Mission Viejo near the 22000 block of Formentor around 11:45 p.m. on Tuesday, police said. A woman who lives near the lake went out onto her balcony and yelled at them to be quiet. Police said the group saw the woman return to her balcony a short time later with an object. They then heard what sounded like a gunshot and saw a flash from the gun's muzzle as it was discharged from the balcony. According to police, an individual in the group shouted up to the woman's balcony to ask if she had a gun, to which the woman responded that she did. The group left the lake and called police to report the incident. The woman also had called police to report people being loud near the lake. Deputies were sent to the woman's home to respond to the noise complaint and discovered she was intoxicated. The woman first told deputies she had only fired a flare gun, but later admitted to firing a gun up into the air. Deputies located a 38-caliber pistol with one spent round. Deputies arrested Sandra K. Smith, 65, on suspicion of discharging a firearm in a negligent manner. Smith, whose occupation is listed as a Realtor on arrest records, is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Findings That May Get Lost - (www.nytimes.com) NEWS arrived last week that Morgan Keegan, a big name in what might be called Wall Street South, apparently duped investors in some of its mutual funds. The brokerage firm, based in Memphis, agreed to pay $200 million to settle claims that it misled customers about the dangers ofmortgage securities. It was too little, too late for many of the investors, who together lost more than $1 billion. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and state securities regulators contended that Morgan Keegan failed to disclose the risks associated with the investments of one fund. But the Securities and Exchange Commission went further, saying that James C. Kelsoe Jr., the manager of that fund and six others, defrauded clients. The S.E.C. contended that he inflated the values of mortgage securities that the funds owned by “mis-marking” positions from at least January 2007 to July 2007, as the mortgage market tumbled. In other words, the S.E.C. says, he basically made up the prices. In its settlement, Morgan Keegan neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing — standard procedure in such agreements. But the details in this matter tell a troubling tale.

House-price declines are more than tax credit - (www.sfgate.com) Some people who rushed to buy a house before the federal home-buyer tax credit expired last year might be kicking themselves right now, as price declines in many parts of the Bay Area far exceed the amount of the credit. DataQuick reported Wednesday that the median price for Bay Area homes and condos that closed escrow in May was $372,000. That was a drop of $38,000, or 9.3 percent, from May 2010. Prices were down in every Bay Area county except San Francisco, where they were up 3.7 percent. To get the credit - worth up to $8,000 for first-time buyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers - purchasers had to enter a binding contract by April 30, 2010. Many buyers who closed in May and June of last year were rushing to beat that deadline - and might have paid a premium. Adding to the rush last spring was a state home-buyer tax credit that was worth up to $10,000, spread over three years. To get the state credit, buyers had to close on or after May 1, 2010, and before the money allocated for the credit ran out.

Foreclosures might swamp isle courts - (www.staradvertiser.com) One of the nation's biggest owners of home mortgages has made a move that could add to an already overburdened Hawaii court system's caseload. Fannie Mae, a publicly owned company created and overseen by the federal government, recently instructed companies that handle foreclosures for its loans to file all new Hawaii foreclosures in court. Fannie Mae also told the firms known as loan servicers to cancel any pending nonjudicial Hawaii foreclosures and restart them in court. Fannie Mae took the steps in response to Hawaii's new foreclosure law enacted last month. Critics are concerned Fannie Mae might be attempting to sidestep the main intent of the law, which was to engage mediators to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. The vast majority of residential foreclosures in Hawaii in recent years have been conducted out of court through a nonjudicial process because it was quicker and cheaper than going through court.

Some Republican freshmen in Congress hold major debt, disclosure forms show - (www.washingtonpost.com) Members of the firebrand class of Republican freshmen on Capitol Hill — elected on a pledge to attack the U.S. debt problem — have, in some cases, accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in personal debt, according to financial documents released Wednesday. Among the 87 new GOP members of Congress, the documents show, at least 30 had liabilities totaling $50,000 or more in 2010. Those debts included large mortgages on investment properties, as well as student loans and credit card balances. At least seven freshmen had credit card debt exceeding $15,000. The newcomers have helped press a simple GOP message about the public debt: The country has too much and must reduce its burden immediately. These documents seem to show that, in their private lives, some freshmen took a more nuanced view: Debt could be useful, when put toward furthering ventures in real estate, farming or other businesses.