Wednesday July 9 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Market leaves housing flippers flopping - (www.tampabay.com) - Someone, please put this guy in a Turkish prison for the rest of his life. This guy should not be allowed to continue working in Real Estate or keep his existing properties and 401K account: As the market began to cool in 2006, it became harder to flip houses, and questionable transactions began to surface. Lepzinski and his wife Peggy, 49, sold several houses to the elderly father of a St. Petersburg loan officer who had done prison time for fraud and theft. The father, who lives in New York, said he knew nothing about the transactions or how his name ended up on high-interest mortgages that required no down payment. Last summer, a Lepzinski-owned home in St. Petersburg that had sat vacant for months with no buyers suddenly sold for $630,000 — far more than comparable sales — to an 82-year-old retired trucker living on Social Security. Lepzinski declined to talk about that or other transactions. On Feb, 23, the Lepzinskis filed a Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy. Their petition listed nine properties on which the lenders had foreclosed, repossessed or taken the deed in lieu of foreclosure. Contrary to the image Lepzinski cultivated of successful real estate investor, his petition showed no income for 2007 and negative income of $151,577 in 2006. Even at the peak of the boom in 2005, his income was minus $218,320. In all, the Lepzinskis owed $1,547,705, including nearly $190,000 in credit card debt to American Express, Target, Home Depot and others. Among their individual creditors was a neighbor who had loaned them $97,800. "You make me out to be evil and I'm the victim — am I not the one who went into bankruptcy?'' Lepzinski asks a reporter.

Good Video: We're All Homeowners Now, Nationalization of Fannie, Freddie Unavoidable - (finance.yahoo.com) The two mortgage lenders are simply too big to fail and too critical to the housing market, Depew says. Given Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee 50% of all housing debt, according to the WSJ, continued stress on their balance sheets means higher borrowing costs for the firms, and ultimately higher mortgage rates for individuals. It also means another round of write-downs for the battered financial sector generally, which owns a lot of Fannie and Freddie-backed paper. But nationalizing the firms, each created by an act of Congress, would mean a wipeout for equity holders, who have already seen their holdings decimated in the past year. The nationalization of Fannie and Freddie and would put U.S. taxpayers on the hook for the socialization of the housing market, but Depew says we're already there whether we know it or not.

3,200 Martial Arts Studios Went Out Of Business In May - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) 3,200++ Martial Arts Studios went out of business in the month of May alone. In the history of Martial Arts in the United States - nothing like this has ever happened. In one month about 20% of all studios closed their door. Most will never reopen! Most should never been in business to start with. Starbucks is closing 600 locations this year because people cannot afford to pay $3 for a cup of coffee. How do studio owners - especially those with 90% kids expect parents to pay $100 per month plus testing fee's? Now they have the added expense of $4 a gallon gas.

We're All Homeowners Now, Nationalization of Fannie, Freddie Unavoidable - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) Unsurprisingly, the lie of the day today is Fannie, and Freddie are Adequately Capitalized. Mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are adequately capitalized and continue to be active in the mortgage market, said James Lockhart, director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise, which regulates the two enterprises. "Both of these companies are adequately capitalized, which is our highest criteria," Lockhart said in an interview with CNBC. "They have been very active in the mortgage market, and they are continuing to be. And, in fact, Congress has put on them the requirement to do jumbo mortgages and they have been doing those as well."
Fannie Mae holds or guarantees over $5 trillion in mortgages. A mere 1% decline would wipe them out. Is that adequately capitalized? I do not think so and neither does Minyanville's Kevin Depew.

A massive taxpayer bailout of the GSE's, banks and lenders is now upon us. - (www.ml-implode.com) Having the nations' housing 'wealth' destroyed is catastrophic, especially since we're a nation of spenders and not savers. And having home values plummet 20% to 50% or more is devastating.
But having the banks fail, that's a whole different ballgame. Having Fannie and Freddie collapse, that's financial Armageddon.

Toxic CDOs Renamed - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com) Collateralized debt obligations that helped drive banks to $400 billion of writedowns and credit losses are finding buyers under a different name: Re-Remics. Re-Remic stands for "resecuritizations of real estate mortgage investment conduits,"the formal name of mortgage bonds. They are composed of AAA rated bonds backed by so-called Alt-A mortgages, issued to borrowers with higher credit scores who don't prove their incomes, seek higher debt ratios or buy investment properties.

Imprisoned Vick files for bankruptcy protection - (news.yahoo.com/s/ap) – I guess this is partially real estate related. According to the filings, Vick's other debts include $4.5 million owed to Richmond-based Joel Enterprises Inc., and $550,0000 owed to Radtke Sports Inc. for breach of contract. In May, a federal judge ordered Vick to repay about $2.5 million to a Canadian bank for defaulting on a loan. The Royal Bank of Canada had sued Vick in September, arguing his guilty plea to a federal dogfighting charge — and the resulting impact on his career — prevented him from repaying the loan. A default judgment for $1.08 million also was entered in January against Vick and a business partner in a lawsuit brought by Wachovia Bank over a loan for an Atlanta-area wine shop and restaurant.

IndyMac admits deposit run at ‘elevated levels’ - (www.ft.com) Shares fall almost 50 per cent on Tuesday (down to 40 cents). IndyMac said on Tuesday that depositors had continued to withdraw money at “elevated levels” since June, when a senator urged regulators to monitor closely the bank’s condition. The disclosures, which were made in a regulatory filing, came a day after the beleaguered US mortgage lender said it was shrinking its business drastically because it was was no longer well capitalised, raising concerns it could fall victim to the credit crisis.
Struggling Indymac says depositors pulling cash - (www.reuters.com)
Former mortgage lending giant IndyMac faces its grim future - (www.fortune.com)

Emergency mortgage aid bogged down - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Emergency legislation intended to help as many as 500,000 homeowners on the brink of foreclosure to renegotiate their mortgages...



Other Stories:

Fannie and Freddie, One Day Later - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have a few defenders among analysts after Monday’s sell-off. Some aren’t exactly mounting spirited d...
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hit at a new 52-week-low - (money.cnn.com)
Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae Plunge on Capital Concerns - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fannie, Freddie Capital Concerns Send Bond Risk to 14-Week High - (www.bloomberg.com)
Bank losses from credit crisis may run to $1,600bn, warns Bridgewater - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Fed plans new rules to protect future homebuyers - (www.ml-implode.com) - The Federal Reserve, trying to stabilize a shaky U.S. financial system, may give squeezed Wall Street firms more time to tap t...
Desperation Phase - (www.ml-implode.com) - "In another whodathunk moment comes developments that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will need to raise $75 billion in new capital. ...
House Prices Fall in 23 of 25 U.S. Metro Areas - (www.bloomberg.com)
The Continuous Housing Free Fall - (www.washingtonindependent.com)
Sellers balk at low bids at auction - (www.palmbeachpost.com)
Indymac Says "No Bids On Its Mortgage Loan Portfolio" - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
U.S. Pending Home Sales Fall 4.7% in May - (www.ml-implode.com) - "U.S. pending home sales resumed their decline in May, falling 4.7% in the month after an upwardly revised 7.1% bounce in April,...
GSE's Saw Lowest Share Prices In 14 Years On Capital Concerns - (www.ml-implode.com)
Real Estate Agent Shot Dead After Home Declines In Value - (www.ml-implode.com)
Hundreds of Indiana Mortgage Brokers May Have Licenses Revoked - (www.ml-implode.com)
Rubin: Economy Facing `Extended Difficulties' - (www.ml-implode.com)
Buy & Bail: FNMA Looking To Stop The Latest In Mortgage Fraud - (www.ml-implode.com)
Loan Pains Turned Site Into a Hit - (www.ml-implode.com)
Subprime Fallout Spreading to Private Mortgage Insurers - (www.ml-implode.com)
IndyMac Woes Could Spell Trouble For Regional Banks - (www.ml-implode.com)
And Now, To Screw In Some Light Bulbs! - (www.ml-implode.com)
An oldie but a goodie - (www.ml-implode.com)

S&L Redux: Men in Black at IndyMac? - (optionarmageddon.ml-implode.com)
Crisis wipes $1 trillion from financial stocks - (news.yahoo.com)
U.S. Stocks Now Worth Less Than Rest of G-8 - (www.bloomberg.com)
The Declining U.S. Dollar - (www.politicalcortex.com)
Will gas prices drive housebuyers away from suburbs? - (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
The House-Equity Door Slams Shut - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Bailout Will Send 140,000 Families To Second Foreclosure - (www.talkingpointsmemo.com)
Building Portfolios for a World of 2.5% Gains - (online.barrons.com)
Morningstar Gives Up on Builders and Financials - (www.1440wallstreet.com)
Avoiding Foreclosure. Trading Down. - (www.chatmag.com)
Rent signs filling front yards - (www.dailybulletin.com)Debt collectors on the rampage - (money.cnn.com)

Crude slumps over $5 amid broad commodity sell-off - (www.marketwatch.com)
Stocks down again on more evidence of weak housing market - (www.marketwatch.com)

Bernanke says Fed may extend Wall Street lending - (www.reuters.com)
Pending U.S. Home Resales Decline More Than Forecast - (www.bloomberg.com)
Home Prices Fall in 23 of 25 U.S. Metropolitan Areas - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed's Yellen says rate policy at crossroads - (www.signonsandiego.com)
G-8 Says Oil, Food Prices Pose Risk to World Economy - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed, SEC to work more closely - (www.latimes.com)

Mortgage Fears Depress Global Shares - (www.nytimes.com)
Fed, SEC Team Up On Bank Oversight - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Suburban office space losing occupancy and value - (www.chicagotribune.com)

Mortgage Giants Take Beating On Fears Over Loan Defaults - (online.wsj.com)
Time for Fannie, Freddie? - (online.wsj.com)
Airlines Cut Long Flights - (online.wsj.com)
Auto Makers Resist Steel Firms' Surcharges - (online.wsj.com)
Retailers Start to Get Ready for School - (online.wsj.com)
GM contemplating selling brands to generate cash - (www.chicagotribune.com)
P&G to hike prices 16% - (www.newsday.com)
IndyMac to exit most home lending, slash 3,800 jobs - (www.latimes.com)
Output plummets at huge Mexican oilfield - (www.ft.com)
Vacancies Rise at Retail Centers - (online.wsj.com)
Airlines' staffing in a steep descent - (www.chicagotribune.com)

U.K. Economy Faces `Serious' Recession Risks, BCC Survey Shows - (www.bloomberg.com)
High oil prices are a game changer for Asia - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Global markets shudder after new worries about U.S. financial institutions - (www.iht.com)
UK annual mortgage lending slumps 44% - (business.timesonline.co.uk)
Economists See No End to U.K. Layoffs - (online.wsj.com)
Bradford & Bingley shares crash - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Property squeeze spreads to Europe, says Savills - (www.ft.com)
Oil: The New Reality - (www.businessweek.com)
As food costs soar, it's back to basics for meal planners - (www.usatoday.com)

Wednesday May 28 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

HOA’s struggle in face of foreclosures - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Home Owners Associations are feeling the effects of the housing bust as foreclosures and delinquent association payments put the squeeze on budgets. Homeowners feeling the squeeze of increased mortgage payments have stopped paying their association dues. In addition banks that are holding REO property in neighborhoods with association dues are notorious for lack of payment, causing the associations charged with keeping up public areas of housing developments to cut back on services."
S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. Home-Price Index Fell 14.4% in March - (www.ml-implode.com)
"We realtors remain part of the problem" - (www.pressofatlanticcity.com)
US home prices fall at record pace - (www.ft.com) - An index of house prices has fallen 14.1 per cent for the first quarter compared with the same period last year, a trend that could prolong the economic slowdown and cause further pain for homeowners facing foreclosure
Sleazy Flipper Changes House's Address To Fool Buyers - (patrick.net) - ... discovered that the home currently listed as 1388 Elder Avenue was known in 2007 as 1665 Valparaiso. That's right, the flipper actually changed the address. Most likely to argue a higher price.
Thrifts Set Aside Record High Loan Loss Provisions - (www.ml-implode.com) - "The Office of Thrift Supervision said today that thrifts nationwide posted a collective $617 million dollar loss in the first q...
Tracking Realtor Spin - (www.njrereport.com) – Good chart with National Assoc. of Realtor comments overlaid on home sales/prices.
Banks/insurers battle over unloading CDOs - (www.nypost.com)
Unprecedented House Equity Loan Losses - (occ.treas.gov)
Housing bailout bill creates national fingerprint registry! - (news.cnet.com) – Sneaky language thrown in housing bill.
Why Wall Street Socialism Will Fail - (www.huffingtonpost.com)
Economist challenges government data - (www.sfgate.com)
Spill Over - (www.ml-implode.com) - "It is increasingly evident that once the credit contraction hit the home equity line (HELOC) market last fall, the barn door wa...
Second-lien fallout - (www.ml-implode.com) - "After raising capital in February and March, temporarily easing concerns about their future, the bond insurers are back in the ...
Contractors Are Kept Busy Maintaining Abandoned Homes - (www.nytimes.com)


Other Stories:

Fed's Yellen Says Current Rates "Appropriate" to Stimulate Growth - (www.ml-implode.com) - "San Francisco Fed President Janet Yellen (non-voter) said rates are "appropriate" for encouraging growth and that the real Fed ..
Indymac Sinks on Analyst Downgrade - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``Depleted shares of Indymac took another hit Tuesday after UBS analyst Eric Wasserstrom slashed his price target on the flaggin...
Foreclosure Sales Increasing - (www.ml-implode.com)
April New Home Sales - (www.ml-implode.com)
Housing skid leads to exodus of builders - (www.ml-implode.com)
IKB reports $1.6 billion 9-month loss - (www.ml-implode.com)
NYC RGE Monitor Panel Discussion (Not for the Fainthearted) - (www.ml-implode.com)

Goldman set to sever IIF links - (www.ml-implode.com)
Realtard of the month - (housing-kaboom.blogspot.com)
House prices down and unsold listings way up - (www.businessweek.com)
Four reasons house inventories buildup is ominous - (www.marketwatch.com)
Why Its a Bad Time to Buy a House - (finance.yahoo.com)

Recession still likely in US, says Greenspan - (www.ft.com)
Report: Buffett sees USA in recession - (www.usatoday.com)
Fed Keeps Watch on Wall St. From the Inside - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Steepest drop in driving since the '40s - (www.cnn.com)
Out of a job and out of luck at 54 - (money.cnn.com)
Gas prices may knock a big hole in Georgians' boating - (www.ajc.com)
Calif. house prices fall 32% from April '07 levels - (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
California House Prices Drop 32% Amid Foreclosures - (www.bloomberg.com)
In favor of bubble-free prosperity - (articles.moneycentral.msn.com)
2007 Is Worst-Ever Vintage for US Subprime, Alt-A RMBS - (www.researchrecap.com)
I bought. What the hell was I thinking? - (www.salon.com)
Pioneers show Americans how to live off-grid - (www.reuters.com)

Libor Cracks Widen as Bankers Struggle With Reforms - (www.bloomberg.com)
Oil costs up, house prices down - good news! - (www.timesonline.co.uk)
World gasoline usage and pricing - (en.wikipedia.org)
Investors Bet Against Dollar Pegs - (online.wsj.com)
Reining in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - (www.economist.com)
Now the SEC is getting involved in Ratergate - (www.financialweek.com)
Commercial property in a world of hurt - (www.financialweek.com)
Property taken off market in prices stand-off - (www.ft.com)
Recent borrowers hit problems earlier - (www.ft.com)
Auction-Rate Securities Give Firms Grief - (online.wsj.com)
How Thinking Costs You - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Pimco’s Gross: U.S. understatement of CPI skewing bond yields - (www.financialweek.com)

Lost Opportunities Haunt Final Days of Bear Stearns - (online.wsj.com)
Cleanup Is No Easy Task - (online.wsj.com)
Wall Street Firings, Not as Bad as 2001 Market Slump, Signal Worst to Come - (www.bloomberg.com)
Auto Industry Feels the Pain of Tight Credit - (www.nytimes.com)
Soaring Fuel Prices Take a Withering Toll on Truckers - (www.nytimes.com)
Accenture survey: Finance departments feel the pressure - (www.ft.com)
Toyota revs up hybrid vehicle production - (www.latimes.com)
North Texas homebuilders feel the sting of the housing slump - (www.dallasnews.com)
Utilities - next merger wave - (www.chron.com)
Fast food chains cutting prices to meet diners' tight wallets - (www.ocregister.com)

Trichet's Inflation Aim Proves `Fiction' After Decade - (www.bloomberg.com)
Inflation Erodes the Confidence of German Consumers, French Manufacturers - (www.bloomberg.com)
German Construction Boosted First-Quarter Growth - (www.bloomberg.com)
Inflation in emerging economies - (www.economist.com)
U.K. Mortgage Approvals Dropped 39% in April on Tighter Lending, BBA Says – (www.bloomberg.com)
Buy a car, get a gun - (www.ajc.com)

Wednesday April 30 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

U.S. Foreclosure Filings Double in First Quarter, Led by Nevada - (www.bloomberg.com) - California cities had six of the top 10 highest metropolitan area foreclosure rates. Stockton ranked first at one filing for every 30 households, almost seven times the national average. The city of more than 285,000 people claims to be California's 13th- largest. Riverside/San Bernardino was second in foreclosures at one for every 38 households. Bakersfield was fourth, Sacramento was fifth, San Diego was ninth and Oakland ranked tenth.
Vacant homes in U.S. set new record high - (www.dallasnews.com) - On Monday, the Census Bureau reported that the number of vacant homes for sale has hit a record high. The report shows that 2.9% of U.S. homes -- excluding rental properties -- were vacant and up for sale in the first quarter. That translates to about 2.28 million properties - the highest quarterly number on record since 1956.
Condo is Tower of Solitude - (www.tampabay.com) – Worth repeating this story. Condo owner has almost the entire hi-rise to himself.
Maintenance is slow. Not long ago, Johnny clogged the garbage chute with pizza boxes, and when no one showed up to fix the problem, he dragged a concrete block five flights up and dropped it in the chute. When that failed, he tried another. "It just exploded," he says. The pool isn't heated. Johnny suspects it's because there aren't enough residents to justify the bills. He did figure out how to activate the waterfall, which pours down from Disneyfied bluffs. Still, instead of mingling beauties on lounge chairs and late-night Red Bull-and-vodka parties, the only real action on pool deck is the occasional Realtor networking social. Yay.
S&P delivers blow to CDOs - (www.ft.com)
FHLB banks advances hit record high in 1st qtr - (www.reuters.com) - Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), and the Federal Housing Administration have become favored vehicles of the Bush administration as it makes efforts to stem surging mortgage defaults, falling home prices and rising foreclosures
Las Vegas, Miami and Phoenix house prices plummet by at least 20% - (money.cnn.com) GMAC Posts $589 Million Loss on Home Lending Woes - (www.bloomberg.com)
Countrywide Reports $893 Million Loss From Bad Loans - (www.bloomberg.com)
Foreclosed properties going for much less - (www.signonsandiego.com) – Foreclosed properties are often selling for $100K or more less so that brings down all home values.
Real estate guru may go to prision - (www.denverpost.com)
Middle class taps nest eggs to keep overpriced houses - (www.reuters.com)
A 27-year-old ponders walking away - (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
More on Catching the Bottom in Housing - (Charles Hugh Smith)
Buffett says recession may be worse than feared - (news.yahoo.com)


Other Stories:

Loan Industry Fighting Rules on Mortgages - (www.nytimes.com)
Rising Property Taxes Pinch Houseowners - (finance.yahoo.com)
Bringing a check to the table - (patrick.net)

Dollar's fall forces new standard of frugality - (www.sfgate.com)
'Tax rebate' checks: short-term benefits, long-term troubles - (www.csmonitor.com)
Expensive houses starting to show weakness - (www.nctimes.com)
Mortgage crisis hits prime borrowers in NH - (www.unionleader.com)

U.S. Stocks Decline as Consumer Confidence, Home Prices Fall - (www.bloomberg.com)
Dollar Rises to Three-Week High on Bets Fed Will Signal Pause - (www.bloomberg.com)
18.6 million houses empty because prices still too high - (www.bloomberg.com)
Why Not Let Markets Set Prices? - (www.europac.net)
Inflated Appraisals May Become a Crime of the Past - (www.efinancedirectory.com)
Builders say whatever gets them money - (patrick.net)
So many scams, so few watchdogs - (www.tampabay.com)
House Sales, Inventory Chart - (www.seekingalpha.com)
S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. Home-Price Index Fell 12.7% - (www.bloomberg.com)
Consumer Confidence in U.S. Fell to Five-Year Low - (www.bloomberg.com)
Truckers protest high gasoline prices - (www.ap.com)
Fed's Bailout Is Questioned By Ex-Staffer - (online.wsj.com)
Philadelphia Fed chief is hawkish on inflation - (www.philly.com)
Tip-dependent workers feeling the slump - (www.latimes.com)
Good credit, bad loans - (money.cnn.com)
Survey finds millionaires singing the recession blues, too - (www.rockymountainnews.com)
A Credit-Card Crackdown - (online.wsj.com)
Amid High Oil Prices, Danger Signs in Production - (www.nytimes.com)
Coal price hikes boost electric rates, more increases coming - (www.chicagotribune.com)

GM to cut production of light trucks, SUVs - (www.latimes.com)
Fuel costs force airlines to change strategy - (www.dallasnews.com)
Inside Citi, a Hedge-Fund Push Blows Up - (online.wsj.com)
Deutsche Bank Says It Had First Loss in Five Years - (www.bloomberg.com)
Gasoline costs force service firms to raise prices - (www.latimes.com)
Papers' circulation declines continue - (www.chicagotribune.com)

Germany's inflation dip brings relief for ECB - (www.ft.com)
Europe faces 'inflationary shock,' EU official says - (www.iht.com)
Soaring Rice Prices Send Asian Nations Scrambling - (online.wsj.com)
European Retail Sales Slumped in April, PMI Shows - (www.bloomberg.com)
U.K. Loan Approvals Reach Lowest Since at Least 1999 - (www.bloomberg.com)
India's central bank hikes cash reserve ratio to fight inflation - (news.yahoo.com/s/afp)
As demand for rice climbs, international trade falls - (www.iht.com)

Panel to Look at Foreclosure Practices - (www.nytimes.com)
What the Fed Could Learn from Europe's Central Bank - (www.spiegel.de)
Southern California faces higher blackout risk this summer - (www.latimes.com)
Emptying the Breadbasket - (www.washingtonpost.com)
The Ethanol Cure's Side Effects - (www.washingtonpost.com)

Tuesday April 29 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Condo is Tower of Solitude - (www.tampabay.com) – This is just a great story. Condo owner has almost the entire hi-rise to himself.
Maintenance is slow. Not long ago, Johnny clogged the garbage chute with pizza boxes, and when no one showed up to fix the problem, he dragged a concrete block five flights up and dropped it in the chute. When that failed, he tried another. "It just exploded," he says. The pool isn't heated. Johnny suspects it's because there aren't enough residents to justify the bills. He did figure out how to activate the waterfall, which pours down from Disneyfied bluffs. Still, instead of mingling beauties on lounge chairs and late-night Red Bull-and-vodka parties, the only real action on pool deck is the occasional Realtor networking social. Yay.
Raised in boom times, many Gen-X and Yers see their dreams go bust - (www.latimes.com) – Hmm, it’s just hard for me to feel sorry for these guys.
Jason Liebrecht used to write about his motorcycle adventures on his blog. But since early this month, the 36-year-old San Diego computer software engineer's daily musings have been about a less thrilling new experience: unemployment. "Do I find a job, or do I head to Central and South America on the motorcycle?" he wrote on Day 4. By Day 7, he had become more realistic. After selling some stock and applying for unemployment, Liebrecht figures he can pay his $2,300-a-month mortgage and other bills for just two months. When his company health insurance runs out in a few weeks, he'll go uncovered because he can't afford the premiums. "You have to just hope you land on your feet," Liebrecht said in an interview.
New Houses Turning Old as the Inventory Piles Up - (www.nytimes.com)
History Hints a Recession Would Hit City Hard - (www.nytimes.com) - The situation has worsened enough that the New York City Independent Budget Office, which said a month ago that it expected a brief and mild recession, is preparing a forecast that is likely to be significantly bleaker, said Ronnie Lowenstein, the director.
While You Weren’t Looking: FHA-Insured Jumbos on the Move - (www.ml-implode.com) - Under the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, The Federal Housing Administration received a huge shot in the arm when it saw its lend...
Bank of America to Modify Mortgages, Help Homeowners - (www.ml-implode.com) - Bank of America Corp., seeking approval of its Countrywide Financial Corp. takeover, plans to modify at least $40 billion of mor...
Walkaways Are Over Already? - (www.ml-implode.com) - Alan Nevin, chief economist for the California Building Industry Association and San Diego-based MarketPointe Realty Advisors, predicted foreclosure sales could account for as many as 15,000 out of 25,000 total sales this year. But at some point, the foreclosures will drop off, he Nevin said. “Anybody who's going to walk away from a house or condo has already done it,” Nevin said. “Now it's just a matter of the pig going through the snake.”
Taxpayers Already Bailing Out Housing Market - (www.ml-implode.com)
S&P delivers blow to CDOs - (www.ft.com)
RBS May Cut 7,000 Investment Banking Jobs, People Say - (www.bloomberg.com)
Eos is Fourth U.S. Airline To Shut Down This Month - (online.wsj.com)
Greenspan, Bush to blame for U.S. crisis - (www.reuters.com)



Other Stories:

CA Median House Prices Down 29% In March - (Mish at globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com)
"Financial" Crisis? - (www.atlanticfreepress.com)
Good-Bye, Cheap Oil. So Long, Suburbia? - (www.businessweek.com)
Dealers see SUV glut as drivers trade in gas guzzlers - (www.nytimes.com)
Scholar threatened for warning of housing bubble in Taipei - (au.biz.yahoo.com)
'Estate agents' offer empty houses for squat - (www.dailymail.co.uk)

Pipeline Shock: Wells Wholesale adds 3 points - immediately!!! - (www.ml-implode.com) - "Due to secondary market execution risk, Wells Fargo Wholesale Lending has implemented a new 3.00 price adjuster." We were warn...
How the mortgage industry nurtured deceit - (www.slate.com)
Privatized profits and socialized risk - (www.nytimes.com)
Prosecute the Mortgage Sharks - (www.washingtonpost.com)
I wasn't wrong in '02, just early - (www.ocregister.com)
Mr. Mortgage: Gov’t Reports Record Number of Vacant Homes - (www.ml-implode.com) - ``What does this mean? It means the ’Month’s Supply’ figures, which the press and market get so hot and bothered over each month ...
The Shrinking Pie Effect - (www.ml-implode.com)
Iowa's Largest Home Builder Implodes - (www.ml-implode.com)
Will They Call FHA A Predatory Sub Prime Lender Too? - (www.ml-implode.com)
Investors pull out of mutual funds - (www.ml-implode.com)
The Brighter Side of Housing: LOWER PRICES - (online.wsj.com)
Housing Market is Nowhere Near Bottom - (www.huffingtonpost.com)
Brookfield Net Income Declines as Property Sales Fall - (www.ml-implode.com)
U.K. House Prices Decline the Most in Three Years - (www.ml-implode.com)
Too Many Houses, Not Enough People - (www.ml-implode.com)
Prices down 20% in Bangalore, India - (business.timesonline.co.uk)
Three Reasons Why Mortgage Bailout Is a Terrible Idea - (www.homeguide123.com)
Fed rates down, Mortgage rates up - (www.seekingalpha.com)
6.5 Million Foreclosures; Is There a Behavioral Problem? - (www.seekingalpha.com)

Gold Rises as Oil Costs Jump, Signaling Inflation; Silver Gains - (www.bloomberg.com)
Fed's Bailout Is Questioned By Ex-Staffer - (online.wsj.com)
Home vacancies rise to record 2.9% in first quarter - (www.marketwatch.com)
Truckers protest high gasoline prices - (www.ap.com)
Stimulus program rebates start today - (www.latimes.com)

Amid High Oil Prices, Danger Signs in Production - (www.nytimes.com)
Muni Auction Market Shrinks by 33%, Driving Down Interest Costs - (www.bloomberg.com)
S&P Lowers CDO Assumptions, Signaling More Downgrades - (www.bloomberg.com)
OPEC president sees $200 oil possible: report - (www.reuters.com)
Credit card rates hustle higher - (www.usatoday.com)
Resales of homes a house divided - (www.signonsandiego.com)

Loan Industry Fighting Rules on Mortgages - (www.nytimes.com)
Canadian economy stalling - (money.canoe.ca)
Trichet Says Beating Inflation Is Sole Aim of ECB - (www.bloomberg.com)
Turf wars hobble China's financial markets - (www.reuters.com)
Russian Central Bank Raises Rates by Quarter Point - (www.bloomberg.com)
Brazil Oil Trapped by 500-Degree Heat, Salt Barrier - (www.bloomberg.com)
Japan's Inflation: Bad Timing - (online.wsj.com)
Panel to Look at Foreclosure Practices - (www.nytimes.com)
Global adjustment will be long and painful - (www.ft.com)
Where Every Meal Is a Sacrifice - (www.washingtonpost.com)