Monday, May 25, 2015

Tuesday May 26 Housing and Economic stories


Greece facing 'financial strangulation,' PM Tsipras says - (www.ap.org) Greece's prime minister warned Monday that the cash-strapped country is in a state of "financial strangulation" amid worries that Athens may only have a couple of weeks before going bankrupt. Alexis Tsipras said Greece has tabled detailed proposals for a "viable" deal with creditors that will allow disbursement of a 7.2 billion euro ($8 billion) cash injection — the final payment due from the country's 240 billion-euro bailout program. For almost four months, Greece has been haggling with its creditors from the 19-country eurozone and International Monetary Fund over what economic reforms it must make to secure the money. Greece has relied on bailout funds for the last five years after its public finances spiraled out of control and it was locked out of international bond markets. Over the past few weeks, it has survived — paying debts as well as day-to-day commitments on things like wages and pensions — by scraping together cash from reserve accounts. However, it admits it is running out of options as further debt repayments come due next month. If no deal is agreed, the Greek government may be faced with a choice of what to pay, imposing capital controls and even leaving the euro. "Although we are in a situation of financial strangulation, we have honored all our external obligations," Tsipras said. "The lack of liquidity is neither the choice nor the responsibility of the Greek government. It is a tough negotiating tactic of our partners, and I do not know whether everybody in Europe feels proud of it." Government spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said that to honor its debt obligations this summer, Greece needs more financial assistance. As a result, Sakellaridis expects a deal with creditors "by the end of May."

Russia accuses West of trying to destabilize Macedonia - (www.reuters.com)  Russia accused "Western organizers" on Saturday of trying to foment a "color revolution" in the troubled former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, where political tensions are building ahead of an opposition rally on Sunday. "Color revolution" is a term often used to describe popular uprisings in the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine, where Moscow also accuses the West of deliberately meddling in local politics to further its interests. In a statement on the Macedonian crisis, Russia's foreign ministry cited Serbian media reports about the arrest of a citizen of Montenegro accused of helping what Moscow called "Albanian extremists" operating in Macedonia.

Woman living in tent on her property receives eviction notice - (www.wect.com) Is it possible to be evicted from your own property? For Ingrid Larsen the answer is yes. She's been living in a tent on her property in Southport for the past four months. Larsen's 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home was destroyed ten years ago when more than 10,000 gallons of raw sewage flooded into her home. The Brunswick County Sanitation District has since agreed to settle with Larsen out of court, paying her $119,000. Larsen loves her property and wishes to rebuild, but in order to do so she has to agree to tie back into the same sewer line that destroyed her first home. Larsen refuses to take the risk, even though the Sanitation District said they have identified the initial issue. Brunswick County Code Enforcement handed Larsen her final eviction notice Tuesday. "I am prepared to deal with whatever comes," Larsen said. "If I have to go to court or even if I have to go to jail because this is my land, this is my home."

America's Premier Rail Superhighway is Slowly Falling Apart - (www.ap.org)  The trains that link global centers of learning, finance and power on the East Coast lumber through tunnels dug just after the Civil War, and cross century-old bridges that sometimes jam when they swing open to let tugboats pass. Hundreds of miles of overhead wires that deliver power to locomotives were hung during the Great Depression. The rails of the Northeast Corridor are decaying, increasingly strained - and moving more people than ever around the nation's most densely populated region. The railroad's importance became all the more apparent after Amtrak Train 188 derailed Tuesday as it sped around a curve in Philadelphia, killing eight passengers and injuring more than 200.

So, You're Being Investigated For Mortgage Fraud? - (www.mfi-miami.com) As MFI-Miami ventures into the area of defending amateur real estate investors and homeowners from bogus charges of bank fraud, mortgage fraud and short-sale fraud, clients tell us they didn’t know they were committing a crime. In most cases, mortgage fraud suspects are usually right. The fraud is in the imagination of the prosecutor or U.S. Attorney with political ambitions looking to get their name splashed all over the media and in most cases prosecutors tend to target amateur real estate investors and homeowners they know can’t afford high end lawyers like Gerry Spence in order to get a quick conviction and fine from the individual. Federal and state prosecutors tend to prefer going after these types of individuals because its a numbers game. Prosecutors can convict or extract fines out of 10 homeowners or amateur investors faster and more cheaply than it would cost going after one deep pocketed Wall Street executive like Angelo Mozilo, who ran the now defunct Countrywide Financial.



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