Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, "Mortgage insurer MGIC Investment Corp. said Wednesday it lost almost $1.5 billion for the last three months of 2007 on higher home delinquencies and payouts. It also said it is looking for ways to boost its capital. CEO Curt Culver said the company still doesn't see making money this year, if delinquencies and losses continue to rise and fewer homeowners get back on track with payments."

"The company has been limiting its exposure to weaker housing markets by demanding higher credit scores and larger down payments. Culver told analysts on a conference call that the changes will reduce losses but they won't get rid of them."

"'We feel they are not enough to help us return to profitability in a market where real estate values are declining,' he said."

From Reuters. "The subprime storm rattled one of Germany's biggest state banks on Wednesday when BayernLB revealed that the crisis would cost it almost 2 billion euros ($2.9 billion). It is the latest German bank to stumble under a hail of subprime writedowns."

The Wall Street Journal. "Losses at Japanese banks related to U.S. subprime-mortgage lending more than doubled over the course of the final quarter of last year to $5.6 billion, according to estimates released Wednesday by Japan's banking industry regulator."

"Highlighting the possibility of more losses, the FSA said Wednesday that Japan's 10 biggest banking institutions held about ¥1.39 trillion in investments in products related to the U.S. subprime mortgage market as of December, up from ¥1.25 trillion in September."

"Japanese financial institutions' overall exposure to subprime-related securities was ¥1.52 trillion, up from ¥1.41 trillion."

"A cheery gaggle of singers and dancers are set to open the International Builders Show here in Orlando this morning. But behind the scenes at the convention, many builders are angry and downright depressed by the state of the housing market. The target of their angst: politicians in Washington, D.C."

"'Our industry is struggling in a big way,' said Charles Kasko, an at-large trustee of the political action committee of the National Association of Home Builders. 'It’s important that they stop bickering in Washington and get the job done.'"

"Home builders, who reaped massive profits during the housing boom, have been criticized for fueling a speculative run-up in house prices and overbuilding in many markets, which contributed to the current housing crash."

"'Did we have a lot of speculators in the market? Yes we did,' said Mr. Kasko. 'But the pendulum has swung so far the other way. Many builders in America are small family businesses and this is dragging them down.'"

"The lobbying group representing homebuilders is cutting off contributions to federal congressional campaigns, saying lawmakers and the Bush administration have not done enough to stabilize the housing market."

"The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday its political action committee has decided to stop making contributions to candidates for Congress 'until further notice.'"

"Lawmakers and the Bush administration, 'have not adequately addressed the underlying economic issues that would help to stabilize the housing sector and keep the economy moving forward,' the trade group's president, Brian Catalde said in a statement. 'More needs to be done to jump-start housing and ensure the economy does not fall into a recession.'"

"Continuing concerns about the impact on the U.S. economy and society prompted six major mortgage companies and the Bush administration yesterday to...announced 'Project Lifeline,' a new program to help deeply troubled borrowers who are more than 90 days behind in their mortgage payments and face the imminent loss of their homes."

"Some mortgage executives are skeptical whether the new program will make a difference."

"'What they are proposing is nothing new,' says William Ashmore, president of Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., a real-estate investment trust that owns about $18 billion of mortgage loans. He added that his firm began offering to postpone foreclosures by as much as 90 days last year."

"An earlier plan, brokered in December by the Treasury Department, called for the mortgage industry to freeze interest rates or expedite refinancing. In a companion move, the administration announced a toll-free number for homeowners."

"But the hotline has provided counseling to just 36,000 borrowers in the past two months, and representatives have suggested loan workouts for fewer than 10,000 of them -- a small fraction of borrowers in need."

"Other callers were looking for money, which the hotline doesn't have available, or had only general questions, executives running the project say."

Inside Bay Area. "For at least one lender, the idea of a workout and loan modification with a customer 90 days delinquent is business as usual. 'The actual modification is exactly what we always do as a larger servicer,' said Mary Coffin, executive VP and head of servicing for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage."

"Coffin said that the alliance allows more publicity and awareness by laying out the exact steps so that borrowers will 'pick up the phone and work through this. We are educating the people to be calling early and often,' she said. 'I can't make a blanket promise that we're going to be able to help everyone.'"

From Pittsburgh Live. "The plan will have little impact locally, Allegheny County Sheriff Bill Mullen said. 'We're already doing this, and we've been doing this,' he said."

"Mullen said sheriff's officials advise homeowners to ask a judge for a 30-day delay if their home is in danger of being auctioned in a sheriff's sale. The delay is almost always granted, he said, giving homeowners the time to renegotiate their loan, even if the homeowner is five or six months late on payments."

"'It's a gesture, it's a move in the right direction,' Mullen said of Project Lifeline. 'But I don't think it will have an impact on anything in this area.'"

From WSBT South Bend. "Local lenders say President Bush’s Project Lifeline will have little effect on their lending practices. The reason? Local lenders at institutions such as Teachers Credit Union, Notre Dame Federal Credit Union and 1st Source Bank are already providing numerous lifelines on mortgage loans."

"Leo Ditchcreek, CEO of Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, said the national problem is 'more a function of third party lenders which were doing some things they should not have done.'"

"'They are not doing old-fashioned banking of lending based on capacity, collateral and credit history,' he said. 'It’s nothing scientific or earth-shattering.'"

"Ditchcreek noted his institution has had to turn some people away simply because they could not afford the loan they sought. 'In most cases, the capacity (to afford the loan) was not there,' he said."

The Arizona Republic. "Some Arizona observers question how effective the latest initiative will be. 'I still see pretty significant pressure into summer' on bankruptcies and foreclosures, said Chris Bayley, a partner at (a) Phoenix law firm, citing the slowing economy and slumping real-estate market as overriding factors."

"'These programs are like window dressings or Band-Aids that might not stem the flow,' he said."

"Steve Williams, a principal at Scottsdale bank management-consultant firm Cornerstone Advisors, also labeled the plan as window dressing. 'The fundamental issue is that many Americans have bought too much house and too much car,' he said. 'Their home values, mortgage rates and personal cash flow are so out of whack that 30 days won't make a big difference.'"

The Daily Herald. "Melanie and Steven Fugate have been going through the gut-wrenching foreclosure process on their Carol Stream home. An adjustable rate mortgage didn't do them in; unemployment and illness did."

"So would President Bush's new Project Lifeline announced Tuesday help the Fugates? 'It wouldn't help our situation,' said Melanie Fugate. 'We just don't have the money any more and we still wouldn't have it in 30 days. We don't have any income.'"

"David Siegel, a Wheeling attorney specializing in bankruptcy and foreclosures on behalf of homeowners, said Project Lifeline was 'nonsense' and 'a fantasy.' 'It's going to help very few people and to the slightest extent. Thirty days is nothing, a drop in the bucket,' Siegel said."

"'Of course, there will be homeowners who still take no action, and some will simply walk away from their mortgage -- particularly those borrowers who put little or no money down and whose mortgage exceeds their home value. No program can bring every struggling borrower into the counseling and evaluation process, and we cannot help those who choose not to honor their obligations,' said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr."

From KTVZ.com. "'I think this is very necessary, especially in the Bend market,' said Kristi McPheeters, a broker in Bend, Oregon. 'I think it's going to save that pride of ownership with the homeowners out there. It's giving people more options than just to walk away from their house.'"

"A Bend resident who does not want to be identified says she's in the process of foreclosure on two of her homes. 'I've been struggling for years to try and get out, and it seems like it's a no-win situation,' the woman said. 'The extra 30 days could have been good, but I don't know' if it would have headed off foreclosure, she added."

"The nation's mortgage crisis is beginning to spill into the fight for control of Congress, adding new uncertainty to the election-year power struggle."

"Just ask Kay Barnes, a Democrat looking to unseat Republican incumbent Sam Graves in this northwest Missouri Congressional district. Less than a year ago, Mrs. Barnes expected health care and perhaps Iraq would be the top issues. Now, housing and credit concerns are climbing in importance."

"'It has been bubbling up to the top,' she said. 'That was not true -- at least it wasn't verbalized -- a few months ago.'"

The Edmonton Journal. "Don Campbell couldn't believe a recent scene among wannabe real estate investors at the corner of Yonge and Bloor streets in Toronto, site of a planned condominium complex."

"'People slept there overnight for four nights,' said Campbell, president of the Calgary-based Real Estate Investment Network. 'A sign up above read '$500,000 to $1.3 million,' although you could go across the street and buy something very similar for $425,000.'"

"'Then the developer had the gall to paste a six over the five to make it '$600,000 to $1.3 million,' and the crowd cheered, saying 'Look, it's going up.' There was even a fight in the line,' he said."

"'When you line up around a block with 200 people to buy the condo in the sky that doesn't exist yet, put $20,000 down and plan to sell it as soon as it's built, look in the lineup and tell me how many people have the exact same mentality. Then all you need is for one guy to panic and drop his price to get out, and the average price in the whole building goes down, and you're completely at the whim of somebody else. You should only line up for U2 tickets,' Campbell said."