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)

Monday April 28 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Eos Airlines collapses into bankruptcy - (www.ft.com) – Will cease operations immediately. Aloha Airgroup Inc., ATA Airlines Inc. and Skybus Airlines Inc. ceased operations earlier in April and Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection but continues to operate. Oasis (business airlines) also filed for bankruptcy in April.
Recording Of Republican Convention In Texas Which Illegally Ejected Ron Paul Supporters - (www.ml-implode.com) - The sound of fascism. This kind of thing has happened before -- we are reminded of Rockefeller's browbeating of Goldwater suppo...
Countrywide CEO Made $132M In 2007 Pay, Stock Sale - (www.ml-implode.com)
How drunk do you have to be to buy a Miami condo? - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''With the party-like atmosphere, some people become regular open-house goers, even if they aren't looking for a house. Judy Geo...
S.F. landlords charged with tenant terror - (www.sfgate.com) - A landlord couple have been charged in San Francisco with waging a campaign of terror against their renters in a South of Market building, including cutting out the floor supports at one apartment after the tenant went to court to keep from being evicted, authorities said Wednesday
Loan crisis hits home - (www.portlandtribune.com) – Of course, she (local woman) is blaming everyone except herself. Local woman finds obstacles abound in trying to work out new deal with lender • Nearly 15,000 borrowers across the state could see terms reset in the next 18 months
Calpers-Linked Land Partnership Gets Default Notice - (online.wsj.com)
Condo loans just got harder – (www.contracostatimes.com) - Starting May 1, AIG United Guaranty, a major private mortgage insurer, no longer will write coverage on condominiums in hundreds of ZIP codes across the country that it designates as having "declining" market conditions. The ban is irrespective of applicants' credit scores, assets or equity stakes. Even in the healthiest real estate markets, United Guaranty will require buyers to put at least a 10 percent down payment into the deal, and will reject applications on units in condo projects where more than 30 percent of the owners are investors
Lennar Property Pawned Off Onto CALPERS Hits Default - (www.ml-implode.com)
Beware the fine print in tax waiver law - (www.sfgate.com)
Foreclosure Hits Even Connecticut's Wealthy - (www.nytimes.com)
Bank-owned homes are real estate's new gold rush : Real Estate ... - (www.venturacountystar.com) – Yes, the naïve press setting up the next wave of victims
The Choice: A house price crash or soaring inflation - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Lenders Swamped by Delinquent Mortgages - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Inventory at 27-year high - (latimesblogs.latimes.com)



Other Stories:

C.A.R. Median Home Prices Down 29% In March - (www.ml-implode.com) - The California Association of Realtors® has released its report for March. Home sales decreased 24.5 percent compared with t...
Greenspan Long-Lost Thesis Was About Housing - (www.ml-implode.com) - No wonder they hid it: An anticipation of a bursting housing bubble. Greenspan even wrote: "There is no perpetual motion mach...
Wells: More Liquidity Issues in the Secondary Market - (www.ml-implode.com)
Recession Diet Just One Way to Tighten Belt - (www.nytimes.com)
Food squeeze feared as chance of U.S. drought seen - (www.reuters.com)
Trouble for the Dodd-Frank mortgage bailout plan - (latimesblogs.latimes.com)
Wachovia Is Under Scrutiny In Latin Drug-Money Probe - (online.wsj.com)
Huge Derivative Losses Upcoming? - (www.blacklistednews.com)
Interest rates rise in O.C. on safest mortgages - (mortgage.freedomblogging.com)
Horatio Alger Multiplied by 1.3 Billion - (www.nytimes.com)
Where Was the Wise Man? - (www.nytimes.com)

Effort to Rein In Fannie, Freddie Gains Steam - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Oppose the Mortgage Lender Bailout - (www.angryrenter.com)
New House Sales And Recessions - (www.calculatedrisk.com)
Real Estate the Tip of the Iceberg - (greatdepression2006.blogspot.com)
The Feds' Subprime Suspect - (www.businessweek.com)
Why the housing market is cyclical - (www.bankrate.com)
Robert Shiller on America's 'Speculative Culture' - (www.seekingalpha.com)
Subprime Country: A Nation Within a Nation - (Charles Hugh Smith)
Alternative Script for NAR's Economist - (seekingalpha.com)
Save 20-30% more - just wait! - (losangeles.craigslist.org)

Monday April 21 Housing and Economic stories

Top Stories:

Libor's Rise May Sock Many Borrowers - (online.wsj.com)
Traders Braced For Fresh Libor Reading - (www.fxstreet.com) - The British Bankers' Association said Wednesday it had brought forward a review of the Libor setting process and was investigating whether banks had misquoted Libor in recent months. The investigation comes in response to concerns that some banks may have been giving artificially low Libor quotes over recent months in an effort to mask their funding problems.
LIBOR Rate Apparently Rising In Response To BBA Investigation ... – (www.bumpzee.com)
Florida has a 5-year Condo Glut - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''A great article in Builder highlights Jack McCabe’s research report which calculates that the Florida condo market has a whopp...
Fed Officials May Be Nearing Rate Pause as Inflation Quickens - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''Federal Reserve policy makers, sensing both renewed inflation dangers and a possible economic boost from government rebate che...
Gas prices push closer to $3.50 a gallon, oil hits $117 - (ap.google.cm)
Speculator Nightmare as Losses Mount in England - (www.bloomberg.com)
Foreclosure future grim for Utahns - (www.deseretnews.com)
Auction-Bond Probes Widen as Cuomo Subpoenas 18 Firms - (www.ml-implode.com)
Citigroup Has Second Straight Loss After $12 Billion Writedown - (www.bloomberg.com)
BOE Prepares 50 Billion-Pound Mortgage Plan, BBC Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
Britain Said to Consider Shoring Up Debt Market - (www.nytimes.com)
Another record low for Bay Area home sales - (www.sfgate.com)
Wall St. braces for thousands of pink slips - (www.reuters.com)
1 Man, 1 Year: $3.7 Billion Payout - (www.washingtonpost.com)
San Francisco Area median price tumbles 16.1% - (www.sfgate.com)
San Francisco area prices plunge - (www.insidebayarea.com)
Buiter Says U.K. Banks Need $200 Billion Aid From BOE - (www.ml-implode.com) - ''Former Bank of England policy maker Willem Buiter said the central bank will need to offer loan swaps to financial institution...
Public opinion about the economy erodes rapidly - (www.ml-implode.com)


Other Stories:

The Economist's Cheery View of Credit Default Swaps - (www.ml-implode.com) - It's remarkable how attending an industry love-fest can distort one's perception. The Economist seems to have fallen hook, lin...
Wilmington Finance: "We're still here..." - (www.ml-implode.com) - In a conference call today announcing yet more layoffs, the speaker ended by saying "We are still here, no matter what they say ...
Bush Taps Preston as New Chief at HUD - (www.ml-implode.com)
How do you recognize a credit-card fueled city with a fake economy full of $30k millionaires? - (www.ml-implode.com)
Barratt Cut by UBS as Homebuilding Profit Nears Brink - (www.ml-implode.com)
Are South Florida foreclosure numbers misleading? - (www.ml-implode.com)

Beach communities not immune from crash - (lansner.freedomblogging.com)
Dallas foreclosures rise 40% - (www.dallasnews.com)
Condo Glut In Florida - (www.builderonline.com)
Paying for College Without the Home Equity Option - (www.nytimes.com)
Trapped in the Middle - (online.wsj.com)
Video from Mr. Mortgage: Fannie/Freddie 'Con' Jumbos a Bust - (www.ml-implode.com)
Fed hawks Lacker, Fisher warn on inflation - (www.reuters.com)
Fed's Kohn says banks' caution an economic threat - (www.signonsandiego.com)
Mortgage plan could cost taxpayers $6bn - (www.ft.com)
San Diego median price keeps falling - (www.signonsandiego.com)
California house prices plummet 26 percent - (www.sfgate.com)
Financial CEOs sees 88 pct chance of US recession - (www.forbes.com)
Latest Economic Tea Leaves Point to Recession - (www.nytimes.com)
Fannie and Freddie Are Risk to US Credit Rating - (nalert.blogspot.com)
Be wary of federal housing "help" - (www.wickedlocal.com)
Your House Is Worth Less? Good - (from 2007) - (www.time.com)
Bear Robbed By Insiders, Loss Paid By Taxpayers - (www.badcyclopedia.com)
Workers Get Fewer Hours, Deepening the Downturn - (www.nytimes.com)
Fuel prices fatten up airfares again - (www.usatoday.com)
Clearing the fog - (www.economist.com)
Why Russia should help America - (english.pravda.ru)
House Price Divided By Income, Over 20 Years - (PDF - comstockfunds.com)

U.S. housing bust not so special - (www.financialpost.com)
FBI sees surge in mortgage fraud investigations - (www.sfgate.com)
"Home buyers go wild over zero down" - (from 2004) - (eastbay.bizjournals.com)
Citigroup Records a Loss and Plans 9,000 Layoffs - (www.nytimes.com)
Harley-Davidson cuts shipments, jobs at quarterly profit skids - (www.latimes.com)
Pfizer quarterly profit falls on buyout charges, patent losses - (www.latimes.com)
Fannie Regulator May Settle With Raines, Person Says - (www.bloomberg.com)
At Merrill, Write-Downs and More Layoffs - (www.nytimes.com)
OFHEO Plans Settlement With Raines - (www.washingtonpost.com)
Earnings Reveal Economic Split - (online.wsj.com)

Iceland, a Tiny Dynamo, Loses Steam - (www.nytimes.com)
Booming Brazil could be world power soon - (www.ap.com)
Let Britain’s housing bubble burst - (www.ft.com)
U.K. Budget Deficit Widens to Record on Investment - (www.bloomberg.com)
Russia's Richest: Why a Billion Won't Cut It Now - (www.cnbc.com)


Looking Up, but From a Deep Hole - (www.nytimes.com)
Authorities lose patience with collapsing dollar - (www.telegraph.co.uk)
Behind the Food-Price Riots - (online.wsj.com)