And The Crowd Cheered
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.”
Have shoes ever before rained down from the sky onto the global financial markets in $3 bn+ installments over a protracted period of time as they have since last August?
Proposed moniker for the period since August 2007 to ???:
“The Great Unraveling”
The dataquick SoCal table is up on their site, and it is UGGLYY, so bad I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t stop publishing it. How much longer can homedreamers in SoCAL remain in denail?
http://www.dqnews.com/RRSCA0208.shtm
LA is down big time. All the LA doubters need to read it and weep!
They still have a looooong way to go.
It’s still about the same YOY decline as seen in December. Prices were still high in Jan07. The big question is what the YOY decline will be from Jan08 to Jan09 (after the ‘07 to ‘08 decline).
The biggest news on DQ is that we have a lowest ever recorded transaction total of under 10K sales for the month. Wow!!
The other thing of note was that the median has dropped to 415K. Could someone remind me why we need to raise the conforming loan limit from 417K to “a zillion dollars” when more than half the homes being sold are sold for less than the current set limit? Oh, I remember, to bail out the bankers.
“The Big Crapper”, “The Mother of Purges”, “The Season of Revelation”, I could go on.
How about:
“The Big Payback”
It has a nice ring to it.
Real Estate Rapture
Aug 2007 thru Mar 2010: The Ultimate Reality Show!
Oooh OOOH! I have a name for it! “Flop this House!”
We don’t need shoes, we need money! Where’s that helicopter?
It’s strange how that worthless cash stuff is in such demand.
We may soon need shoes more than (paper) money so far as I can tell…
The night of the steampipe explosion in NYC the sidewalks around our office were littered with shoes. In their panic people literally ran out of their shoes.
Any soiled underwear?
I was in the Bronx at the time. Mine were no more soiled than normal. I can’t speak for anybody else.
um…flying out of shoes…probably leakage along the way.
OMG,
Leigh
…er…flying leakage out of orifice(s).
I’m silly today!
Leigh
This increase in risk aversion is clearly a contrarian bullish signal. The stock market is on its second day of a major upward tear. Go buy the dip, young man!
FUNDWATCH
Survey shows risk aversion at seven-year high
Fund managers fleeing to cash according to Merrill Lynch’s monthly poll
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
Last update: 8:30 a.m. EST Feb. 13, 2008
LONDON (MarketWatch) - The outlook for equities darkened in February, with fund managers more risk averse than at any time in the last seven years, according to Merrill Lynch’s monthly survey.
A total of 190 fund managers running $587 billion in assets participated in the February survey.
“Fears over the economy and corporate profitability have stimulated a rise in portfolio cash levels,” said David Bowers, independent consultant to Merrill Lynch.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/risk-aversion-seven-year-high-merrill/story.aspx?guid=%7B8907BFC3%2DD63C%2D47CC%2D9A48%2DDCCDF4FBE939%7D
They had a Yen, for investing…
“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.”
Leo Ditchcreek, now there’s a name for ya!
I wonder if he has a brother named Doug.
“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.”
I hope somebody filmed these idiots and uses the evidence when they later start crying they were tricked. It really is hard to comprehend how such fools still exist after all that’s happened here. Gold rushes are notoriously trashy, so I supposed that explains it.
Apparently there are some risk associated with the decriminalization of marijuana.
No, potheads would be too careful, and wouldn’t buy anything for fear of being ripped off.
Its all on film, A Canadian Television program called Marketplace caught some of this madness while doing a segment on bait and switch condo sale tactics.
Thanks for pointing this out to all us non-Canadians. The entire program can be viewed at:
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/marketplace/condo_crunch.wmv
I thought the best part was the attitude among disgruntled/failed condo buyers of, “I can’t fight the system because I’m already priced out.”
LOL@the crowd cheered, saying ‘Look, it’s going up.’ There was even a fight in the line,’ he said.
It just gets better and better . . .
Reminds me of the scene in Independence Day when all the idiots were on the roof of a building with signs, saying “Welcome, aliens.” And of course, that’s the first building the spaceship zapped.
My favorite part of the whole story. Is there some sort of block on US news to those folks? Do they not see what happens a few months down the line? Idiots were doing the same thing out here in the desert not 3 years ago. Now it seems there’s more for sale signs than people out here.
it’s different there.
They might be camping out there overnight permanently after they become the newest FB’s.
What a crock. Its -12C in Edmonton right now ! There is land as far as the eye can see. Lumber is nearby and cheap. The only thing lacking to build a house is labor. One day when the labor market catches up the place will be flooded with houses, ala Florida, Cali, etc. Too bad the stupid “investors” don’t look south and see what happens when a bubble bursts. Its lunacy that they can’t see what is happening in the US. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Stupid is as stupid does.
While you are correct, the story is referencing Toronto.
Oh, Canada?
“‘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.’”
“‘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.”
I didn’t know “we stand on guard for Thee” applied to condos.
man how stupid are we. maybe it really is guberment mind control at work. glad i broke the spell. steady fade happening in my are but nothing noteworthy. i think the sellers are just trying to find buyer confort levels instead of pricing to sell. remember the sellers “just don’t want to give it away” mentality. still unsure about anything in my state. our gov wants to increase toll roads by 500% over the next 10 years, thus getting us out of debt. teriffic. then every product here in our state goes up as the truckers pass along to retailers those increases. Guess where i am from.
you from Joisey?
yep-philly’s looking better and better phillygal…either that or gods country.
“And the Crowd Cheered” upon hearing the declic release the mouton.
You know I read this post every day, and I read the WSJ, and I glace over the Financial Times, and I read Bloomberg, and it’s enough to make me want to bolt the door and hide under the pillow. And yet today, the stock market is going up.
This is something else on Bloomberg today.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aue8imip6T3Q&refer=home
“Rates on $100 million of bonds sold by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, with bidding run by Goldman, soared to 20 percent yesterday from 4.3 percent a week ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Presbyterian Healthcare in Albuquerque and New York state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority also experienced failures, officials said.”
Holy moly! 20%? The MTA goes to sell bonds to finance their capital program (which is mostly ongoing normal replacement, which is why they are going broke) and no one will buy them? I’ve been biking to work 3-4 times a week, weather and after-work committments permitting. I hope I can get in shape to get it up to five, given what the subway might be like five years from now.
The natural buyers of Munis don’t like long-term bonds, and the folks who normally convert them into money market yields (hedge funds that borrow at S-T rates to lend at the long end of the curve) got busted when yields spiked due to the potential downgrades of the monolines.
Imagine how freaked out the hoi polloi would be, if stocks were quoted @ 20 Cents on the $, vs. stated value?
All in due time, I guess…
Holy moly! 20%?
Yep, and in the meantime, mortgage rates are ticking up. So stop blogging and bolt your doors and get back under your pillow because more is coming! By the way, do you have any extra bolts I can borrow for my doors?
I made myself sit still today.
I had the strongest urge to go to Costco.
I’m going to see what BB has left me in my 90day bonds before I go spend. I am so torn.
I’ve been eating the breads from my freezer. I am saying goodbye to muffins with butter with jam.
Goodbye Breads.
Ouro, when the recession is at its peak, you’ll be way ahead of the curve, very used to frugality, while the rest of us suffer.
The Toronto story kills me. With the US market and related fallout just over the border, what is up with Canadian banks and their leadership doing nothing to get some air out of their RE bubble. Are they determined to blow up their economy as well? These folks have got a party going on and a calendar that says 2005.
I wonder how Yonge street is doing. I remember it getting pretty seedy and I think there was a shooting near the Eaton Centre not all that long ago.
Used to go a lot in the 1990s - last time was 1999, anyone been there lately?
haven’t been lately, but I do remember the big record store on Yonge street
not the name though
sam the record man.
And coincidentally, we were in Toronto staying at the delta chelsea (about 4 blocks away IIRC) during that shooting (2 years ago?)
I live a few blocks from Bloor/Yonge, in the university ghetto. It’s a trendy shopping area, and becoming pricier. Mostly high-priced boutiques moving in, and tons of enormous luxury condo high-rises going up (but none are open as far as I know). Rolls-Royce, Vera Wang nearby, with Lululemon and Armani for the proles.
There was a drive by at Yonge just south of Bloor a couple of weeks ago. Hit a random guy coming out of a pub.
spike: Are they determined to blow up their economy as well?
they are
“Other callers were looking for money…”
So these FBs, the ones that haven’t made a payment in one, three, six or more months - where has that money been going? Savings? A last fling of conspicuous consumption?
Will they even want to buckle down again and resume making payments after a rework? Now that they’ve had a bit of a taste of the renter’s life (as in not having to burn through so much dough for shelter) maybe they won’t ever go back?
I was talking with a friend about this the other day and we’ve concluded that 30 days is not nearly enough to “rework” anything. I’d guess that a majority of these folks will just take that time as a breather, possibly pay other bills that they’ve neglected… maybe even buy that “thing” that they’ve wanted but couldn’t get over the last few months. The next thing you know, 30 days will have passed and they will find themselves in the same boat….no change.
Perhaps they will use the money that is not paid toward their mortgage as a deposit on an apartment that they should be looking for.
BayQT~
30 days: enough time to get a couple of cases of 40 oz’rs, maybe a tatoo, watch a couple of ballgames, and look for a place to rent.
You know about Dublin (I use to live there in the 90’s) IIRC. I notice those plain old Village Pkwy. area houses are still high. Is the BART station keeping Dublin’s comps high? ISTM that a lot of the people who live there would never be able to afford to buy there.
limiting its exposure to weaker housing markets by demanding higher credit scores and larger down payments”
in 05 ,06 or
you mean now !!? WTF
Remember in “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”, you could use your lifeline, to call up a friend or family member, to help out on a tough question?
“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.”
It looks like you only get one lifeline in…
Who Wants To Be An Ex-Millionaire, in Real Estate?
SO CAL #’s are out - I will wait until Ben posts - but let me summarize - TIMBERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Are you saying that there has never been a better time to buy, in so many words?
LOL!
wow, I just spit up my cup-o-noodles!
This blog is very dangerous to read while eating or drinking. Likewise, if you sense the call of nature, tend to that first. We don’t want any “accidents” here.
Avert eyes and empty orifice(s) people!
Poor computers - jeesh!
Leigh
This blog is very dangerous to read while eating or drinking.
Ben: Have you atorneys put a disclaimer that reading comments on this site can be harmful if you are drinking fluids or eating while reading.
Well played. Really.
I just went to DQ’s archive, median prices in 1996-1997 ranged from about 120K in San Bernadino to 190K in Orange. Even with today’s drastically reduced prices they’re still almost triple what they were then, incredible.
And consider that the massive government put option ($729k GSE loan limit) has not gone into effect yet. Long-term, prices may not fall as far as we hoped in nominal terms, but a loaf of bread may be $100.
We knew the CDO holders were fooked because the bond insurers could not pay.
BUT, now the banks will be booking larger and larger losses on the prime loans they hold, multiplied when PMI can’t pay.
Banks can’t hold loans over 80% LTV unless mortgage insurance is in place??? And what happens when PMI and other mortgage insureers fold? That will be uglier than AMBAC and MBIA losing AAA ratings.
And what happens when PMI and other mortgage insureers fold?
We’ll be back to 20% down. And I agree that it will be very ugly, as nobody will be buying at all.
Don’t worry, the Fed’s will change the FDIC rules so the banks can hold paper with higher than 80% LTV, just “for the short-term, until the market recovers”……
What about all those home loans people took out that were 90/10 etc but were no money down and yet the bank/lender holds both notes? Were there not alot of those? Were those the I/Os
I apologize for the double post, but I do so since this is a new thread and the following looked interesting. This guy is interesitng to read, even though a lot of it is over my economic head. He thinks his latest post is improtant, but I am wondering what it all amounts to. Any thoughts?
The Fed has been aggressively draining the SOMA account, with the pace of that drainage stepping up precipitously since December.
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/
The graph in particular looks like a drastic change in fed policy.
From your link:
This has profound investment implications.
* If you are investing today on the premise that “The Fed has our backs”, you’re wrong.
* If you are buying metals in the belief that The Fed is intentionally devaluing the dollar and hyperinflating the money supply, you’re wrong.
* If you think The Fed is intentionally being “the bagholder of last resort”, monetizing bad debt, you’re wrong.
* If you think The Fed leads the market and sets rates, again, you’re wrong. (Read the entire PDF - very carefully - you will find that The Fed is in fact following the market, and admits so!)
And yet I note the stock market is in rally mode today.
SOMA account ? I don’t know maybe somebody smart will interpert this ?
SOMA is the US treasuries that the FED keeps on hand:
http://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/soma/sysopen_accholdings.html
Denninger is a tool, and a deflationista.
Watcher,
I always read your posts. So, that’s your reaction…but give us your thinking on the subject, if you have a minute. Thanks.
“But behind the scenes at the convention, many builders are angry and downright depressed by the state of the housing market.”
Really? Eff ‘em, then. For the past decade, I’ve been angry and downright depressed by the state of the home builders.
And this:
“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.’”
What “job” is it exactly they want Washington to get done? A hand job? If so, that’s what’s happening. All kidding aside, this Kasko must be out of his mind. The builders created their own problems and they keep on building, making their big problems even bigger. How can Washington help when builders refuse to face reality? What do the builders expect Washington to do? Pass a law that madates everyone buy a house? And provide the hundreds of thousands of dollars to everyone so they can do so?
That comment threw me for a loop as well. It is utterly delusional. The ironic thing is that the builders and the NAR have been agitating for an increase in the conforming loan limit, which they got. They wanted a stimulus package, done. They wanted the government to encourage loan workouts, they got it. I think deep down these guys realize that all of this will amount to nothing, that their industry is going to go through a severe contraction and there is not a damn thing the government, their lobbyists or anybody else can do about it.
what a bunch of whining crybabies. Now they want HB Welfare. Who’s going to spearhead the effort, multimillionaire Bob Toll?
Tell him to share his wealth with some of the mom and pop builders. (I bet all these guys were so proud to call themselves entrepreneurs and rugged individualists but now only to willing to sukk off the public teat?)
*trying shadow7’s style*
Maybe they are trying to conserve funds so that they have enough to pay their salaries during the lean years to come.
Look how big bizness hides behind small bizness. Cowards!
And I’m betting a bunch of them are very anti welfare or social programs for the poor - all those homeless, sick and disabled folks with that so called entitlement attitude.
“It’s important that they stop bickering in Washington and get the job done.”
Palmetto, you beat me to posting something about this. Only a year ago these guys were saying:
“We don’t need any damn regulation”
“The government should not interfere with what is simply a supply-demand phenomenon since we are running out of land”
“The market wants these ugly energy-guzzling garage-mahals and the market rules what we do”
Now that their cherished market is not working in their favor they are saying
“Buahhhh, help our struggling family businesses”
“Our politicians bicker in Washington while we bleed!!”
“Do something right now or else!”
I swear after reading this I almost felt a touch of sympathy for politicians.
This is the same mentality that won the west. Kill the buffalo, break the treaties, we need land/gold/oil, dammit. We’ve been using religion and government to line the pockets of the rich FOREVER.
OUTRAGEOUS!!!!
I thought it was pretty revealing how they blatantly admit that their campaign “contributions” are nothing more than bribes.
What else would they be?
I have never seen the ‘quid pro quo’ (that lobbyists deny exists) spelled out so explicitly!
““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.’”
Maybe they could do their part by finally building affordable housing. When housing was booming, no one forced them to charge far more than their cost of production. No one forced them to sell to obvious speculators and connected insiders. The market has changed and they need to adjust.
People have finally realized the impact of devoting more than half of their income for the privilege of owning a house when a much cheaper alternative (renting) is available. No amount of government intervention can change that situation. Builders must adapt or go under. This should mean building very little until the excess inventory is absorbed, then finally building housing that is in line with people’s incomes.
Their home of the future was $1500 sq ft in 1984. This year’s is over 6,000 sq ft. Maybe if they built houses people could actually afford, they could have their convention without all the tantrums and blaming everyone else.
Selling the general public gratuitous space/amenities is also what propelled the monster SUV phenomena. Just like with housing, the auto industry reaped huge profit margins on these bloat mobiles, something like 4-5K per, as compared to less than 1K on sedans.
The Big bldrs are lying scum.
IMHO.
Got a friend who sold comm re and more than a few times, after she showed them properties, they would say OK, dotted line etc and disappear on the 11th hr. Only to resurface buying the same land with their “own” inhouse agent.So, I have no not zip zilch care for those scumbags.
Homebuilders set themselves up to be rather inflexible in a cyclical business (gotta show consistent earnings to get Wall Street happy to borrow cheap money so they can compete with one another when land prices get driven too high). This was bound to come bite them if the cycle’s high went too high.
They should go back to 2003 and complain that the regulators should regulate mortgage lending. Absent that, there is nothing the Fed can do.
Smart private homebuilders have been throttling back for a couple of years, and tucking their arms, legs, and heads into their shells. Public homebuilders are like sharks, they need to swim to live.
I remember when every single 13th grader in every single comp class I taught was majoring in “building construction” and laughing at my crappy 1983 Volvo while driving around in a brand new shinybright doolie truck their hyperleveraged parents got on credit. Now they’re all back to majoring in anesthesiology and HVAC as is right and proper and traditional and we don’t hear sniggering about my crappy old car anymore.
Why is every single industry so challenged in the logic department? “We fished out all the fish! There are no more fish to catch! We are small family businesses that rely on fish but there are no fish! Why is the government wasting time regulating us when it should be making more fish for us to catch!” “We cut down all the trees! There are no more trees to cut down! We are small family businesses that rely on trees but there are no trees! Why is the government wasting time regulating us when it should be making more trees for us to cut down!” “We sold houses to all the potential buyers in the world twice over! Now there is nobody left to buy houses! We are small family businesses that rely on potential house buyers but there are no potential house buyers! Government is doing god knows what when it should be doing whatever it has to do to get people to buy our houses! Ship in the refugee hordes! Empty the prisons! Dig up the graveyards! Anything with human dna gets a loan to buy a house! As soon as children are weaned they should be required by law to move into their own houses houses! Dogs and cats living with people is bad hygeine not to mention obscene: government Scrooge, we call upon you to make the loans to at long last make our beloved companion animals full participants in the Great American Ownership Society!”
Woaaahhh!!!
People are smart
“‘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.’
And the band played on
It just proves that EVERYONE there wasa speculator, not an end user.
then the supermarket raised prices by 20% and everyone in line to pay cheered. “Look, it’s going up.”
“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.”
Would Notre Dame Federal Credit Union allow a Hail Mary Loan pass?
Would Notre Dame Federal Credit Union allow a Hail Mary Loan pass?
With Notre Dames football record last year, anything they do just will not work!
>This guy is interesitng to read, even though a lot of it is over my economic head. He thinks his latest post is improtant, but I am wondering what it all amounts to. Any thoughts?
I agree he’s interesting to read, if you’re the type who like hyperventilating commentators getting excited about things they don’t understand.
There’s a much easier way to figure out what the Fed is going to do. Bureaucrats usually take the path of least blame. In the case of the Fed, that means gradually lowering interest rates so that they can’t be blamed for the recession that is heading our way, and always talking optimistcally (”situation is under control”) so they can’t be blamed for causing people to panic. Once interest rates hit 1% and the recession still hasn’t gone away, Bernanke will make a speech and say something about how the situation is unprecedented and quite puzzling, given how lowering interest rates always worked in the past. In Fed speak, this will mean it is time for another tax cut to stimulate things. The Fed is NOT going to buy up worthless bonds and other bank assets and othewise hyperinflate because that will cause them to be blamed later when the people get angry about the hyperinflation. After a few years of recession and once the economy gets going again, the Fed WILL lay the grounds for future inflation by failing to raise interest rates fast enough. The reason is that by that time the voters and Congress won’t care about inflation and so the Fed won’t want to get blamed for nipping the recovery in its bud. This is the same reason the Greenspan Fed let the dotcom and housing bubbles get out of control. If they had dared tried to stop these bubbles, all hell would have broken loose because people would have blamed the Fed for preventing them from getting rich quick.
Jake: I agree he’s interesting to read, if you’re the type who like hyperventilating commentators getting excited about things they don’t understand.
BW: He is somewhat Cramer-like in his presentation, although he bashes Cramer on a regular basis.
Jake: If they had dared tried to stop these bubbles, all hell would have broken loose because people would have blamed the Fed for preventing them from getting rich quick.
BW: The only input from the fed has been AGs “Irrational exuberance” during dotcom and BBs housing gem “Our assessment at this point … is that this looks to be a very orderly and moderate kind of cooling,” from 2006: http://tinyurl.com/2arh5u
“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.’”
That’s the best news I’ve read all day. Capitalist on the way up, socialist on the way down, and then they have to gall to whine.
Yeah, take that you politicians! (as if they’re not going to get the money from someone else)
Aren’t these the same builders who are all rapidly going bankrupt? WTH? That’s like a homeless man refusing to give me money!
The nerve of that ragamuffin!!
Not that this would ever happen, but don’t you think that if a law were passed requiring campaign contributions to be called what they really are, bribes, that alot of this funny money would stop being shuffled around. I can just see the press coverage now:
“The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday its political action committee has decided to stop making BRIBES to candidates for Congress ‘until further notice.’”
It’s like that South Park where they legally require veal be called “tortured baby cow”. Seems like people lost their appetite with the new name.
So if NAHB doesn’t make any campaign contributions, how are they going to get Congress to do things for them? After all, that’s the only way to get things done in this gubment of ours.
Bwaaaaa-haaaaaa-haaaaaaa.
This is great news for HBBers.
In other news, foreclosures continue unabated. I just watched 30 properties sold off in NOVA. There was one bid for a dollar over the opening bid - by the second trust holder. Every other property went back to the lender. Mind you, the lender had marked many of these properties down by 25% or more. I saw several that had loans for $400k + in 2006 which were being offered for $300k with zero takers. One property (in a very bad part of town) was offered for $79k. No takers.
Nobody is going to catch this falling knife. It’s nowhere nearly the end of the fall, either.
where you at,yo ?
I’m in 22151 nothin movin here
Heh. This AM while walking the dog I noticed that the 10X10 ft front lawn of a neighboring townhome now has 2 different for sale signs - the 1st is from REMAX and seems like it has been there since I moved in about 1.5 years ago, the 2nd is from Fairfax Realtors or something, and has only up a day of so. It is kind of funny though, to see 2 different for sale signs for the same home - you’d think they’da taken down the 1st. That and a few more have popped up around the hood - this is outside of oldtown on Eisenhower.
I’m seeing dueling “For Sale” and “For Rent” signs here in Tucson. My mother reports the same thing in eastern Pennsylvania.
“I’m seeing dueling “For Sale” and “For Rent” signs here in Tucson. My mother reports the same thing in eastern Pennsylvania.”
Ditto that here in Salinas, CA
There are so many for sale and for rent signs out here, particularly on corners, I can’t tell what’s for sale by whom and what realapimp is representing.
So many for sale signs a yr ago in my hood, that the HOA made the RE agents put them close up the the condos, so as not to seem like the whole place was for sale. Now you can hardly see the signs, but seriously some guy who has had a condo empty gutted for over 3 yrs , after our big wind storm took 36 trees down, is now renovating said condo. I wonder what he thinks he is going to get ?
“I’m seeing dueling “For Sale” and “For Rent” signs here in Tucson. My mother reports the same thing in eastern Pennsylvania.”
Ditto here in Syracuse although under the radar. You have to talk to them about rentals to find out they really want to sell it. Some rentals are “rent to own”.
competing ‘for sale’ and ‘for rent’ signs — ditto here in Oakton, VA.
RE: One property (in a very bad part of town) was offered for $79k. No takers.
Beantown Glob has been runnin’ pics of abandoned foreclosed homes relative to the blight these properties are causing neighborhoods.
All are worn out, fuel-oil guzzling , lead paint invested, heavily depreciated, worn-out POS.
All are dinosaurs in a world of $4.00 per gallon fuel oil.
Servcing and maintenance costs currently being borne by the mortgage holders crap must be runnin’ into the millions.
I’ll bet thousands of these properties wind up in the hands of muni’s for back taxes.
Housing advocates will then demand billions in federal re-hab monies so the legions of those former sub-prime borrowers, welfare recipients, and homeless can purchase them again this time with subsidized government guaranteed mortgages.
The non-profits, social welfare workers and and re-habber’s (Haliburton?) score big-taxpayers take the monsterous hit.
It’s all just one big BS merry-go-round
Don’t forget the asbestos.
I’d rather my tax dollars go to rehabbing and providing housing for the poor, old and disabled than to the banks, builders, realtors and hedgefunds.
If they weren’t rehabbed in the last 10+ years I’d say they’re not gonna get done in the next 10. Mark ‘em for tear down.
Hd74, nice to see ya back!
Want to see me make $1.5 Billion Disappear, like magic?
“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.
Well, at least they used the “lost” word - as opposed to “writedown” or “expensed” or “charged” or …….
“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.’”
More needs to be done, indeed. These criminals should be dragged to justice by a class action suit. This demon-strates the rampant fascism that is openly used to persecute citizens with impunity. STAND UP AMERICA DEMAND THESE CRIMINALS AND THEIR GOVT CRONIES BE PROSECUTED UNDER THE LAWS OF THE CONSTITUTION!
Hey HBBers,
I wanted to share a little exchange between myself and my local Congresscritters, and their (mostly) pathetic excuses for a reply.
I encourage ALL of you to do the same. I give permission to re-use any of my writings to them if you like for that purpose. Remember, YOU pay their salary with YOUR money. Make them work for it.
I used congress.org so I could email all of them in one shot.
Here’s what I originally wrote:
Dear ,
In all the hype about our current economic woes, is there anyone willing
to stand up for those who were kept from buying a home in the first place by all the irresponsible borrowers who took out loans they
couldn’t/wouldn’t be able to repay and used them to drive real estate
prices ridiculously high?
Those of us who tried to save up for a down payment and buy a home
responsibly, for example with a 30 year fixed mortgage, only to find that
prices had inflated to absurd levels, would really like an answer.
And please direct the fed to protect the value of the dollars we have
worked very hard to earn instead of constantly devaluing them in a futile
attempt to stave of the coming(and badly needed) economic correction.
Please let the chips fall where they may and stop taxing us via inflation.
Sincerely,
Ok, here’s what I got back from Senator Patty Murray:
Dear :
Thank you for contacting me regarding mortgage reform. It is good to hear from you on this important issue.
As you know, the United States has been hit by a wave of home foreclosures and defaults on home mortgage loans. Although numerous factors are contributing to this situation, a central issue is the current state of lending practices. Many people entered into loan agreements which proved to be beyond their financial means, and as a result the number of defaults on mortgage loans has skyrocketed. This issue affects not only those families who are now facing foreclosure, but also all American homeowners and the economy as a whole.
I have long been concerned about this situation. Last spring, as Chairman of the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, I held a hearing to analyze proposals to reform and modernize the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and other potential remedies to help stem the tide of projected home foreclosures. I also secured $180 million in funding to support counseling assistance programs that will provide troubled borrowers with housing counseling and foreclosure prevention assistance so they more fully understand the home-financing options that are available to them and have the tools they need to prevent foreclosure. As we move forward, I believe the federal government has a role to play in stemming future foreclosures, but this role must be carefully balanced with adjustments in the private sector in order to achieve a sustainable solution.
There are numerous proposals currently being considered in Congress designed to strengthen lending practices so borrowers are better informed and less likely to enter into mortgages they cannot afford. In December 2007, Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) introduced S. 2452, the Home Ownership Preservation and Protection Act, which would tighten restrictions on mortgage originators and brokers, and increase the amount of documentation required to determine a person’s ability to repay a loan. As the 110th Congress progresses, I will carefully consider this and all proposals regarding mortgage reform, and will certainly keep your thoughts in mind. I understand the vital importance of safe and affordable housing for all Americans, and I will continue fighting for accessible mortgage and renting options that keep people in their homes. Thank you for contacting me, and please feel free to share your comments again in the future.
I hope all is well in Mountlake Terrace.
—-
As you might imagine, I was a bit miffed that she completely ignored my point. The Letter I got from Maria Cantrell was equally inane. How the hell do these people get elected anyway?
So here’s what I wrote back to both of them. Keep in mind this was back around Jan31, so I have given them PLENTY of time to reply:
Dear Senator Murray,
With all due respect, I believe you missed the entire point of my letter.
As I am a fair and decent person I will give you an opportunity to revise
or update your response before I publish it on both
Thehousingbubbleblog.com and WeAreThem.com(
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com and http://WeAreThem.com respectively).
The crux of my question is what do you plan to do about high housing
prices? Clearly they only reached the heights they are currently at
because so much easy credit was given to the uncreditworthy, who then
used it to skew market prices higher and higher.
Those of us who responsible saved for a down payment had to sit and watch as this drove the price of owning our own home beyond our reach.
And now you want to reward this irresponsible behavior by using my tax
dollars to help them keep these houses that they should never have gotten in the first place? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps real estate
prices are simply too high for responsible borrowers to afford?
Please explain how you can possibly justify this course of action.
Please help me explain to my 5 year old little girl why she doesn’t have
a backyard to play in, but her friends whose parents are in credit card
debt up to their eyeballs, do.
Respectfully,
I do need to add that Rep. Jay Inslee actually did come back with a halfway decent reply. Or at least he acknowledged the ACTUAL issue I was writing about:
Dear Mr. :
Thank you for contacting me and expressing your concerns about the sub prime mortgage industry and federal bailouts of lending institutions. I appreciate hearing from you.
I understand why you are concerned with idea of the federal government bailing out mortgage companies and lenders. Like you, I am worried that it is not appropriate for the federal government to subsidize either bad business practices or poor borrowing choices. I will be on the lookout for ways to appropriately address the situation, and rest assured that I will keep your concerns in mind throughout. I am wary of government actions that reward bad behavior, but I believe that it is my responsibility to consider appropriate legislation that may help to avoid any impending economic downturns which would affect millions of hard working American families. I am watching the current situation closely.
You may be happy to hear that the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act recently passed the House by a vote of 291 - 127, with my support. This bill will create a licensing system for residential mortgage loan originators, establish a minimum standard….
blah blah blah. I can post the whole thing if anyone’s interested. At least he had the decency to pay lip service to the actual point I raised.
I’ve met the guy a couple times, and he seems like a decent guy, although he’s like so many other politicians in that he seems willing to compromise principles if it suits political ends.
As for my two senators, I will do anything I can to see to it that they lose their jobs next election. I reccomend any HBBers in WA do the same.
SR
You do realize that your replies were form letters, sent to you by some underpaid intern? Nobody in washington who has a real job looks at any of those.
The sum total of letters is that your view is added to a tally of (for/against) x or y legislation.
Yes, I know that. That doesn’t make it right. I’m posting it here in an attempt to shame my congresscritters into changing that behavior.
They work for us. It’s time they earn their pay.
Dude, no offense, but they have better things to do. They already spend far too much time fundraising, now you want to make them personally answer “Dear Santa” letters?
I say it’s still better than nothing (which I am largely guilty of). If Seattle Renter’s letter gets added to the pile of “AGAINST BAILOUTS,” then that’s a positive result for us. We all know politicians have a habit of changing their minds on issues depending on what the electorate thinks, so if we flood them with stuff like this, then they might get the picture.
dude, no offense, but no, they don’t have better things to do. Let me ask you this, what would happen if you or the average employee screwed up big time(like OUR congress is doing) and when your boss asks you for an explanation you tell him “I have better things to do than explain myself to you.”
They owe ALL OF US on the HBB and the rest of the nation an explanation for the questions I posed, not to mention some real action to stop the fall of the dollar, rather than just anally seeping tax dollars in the general direction of big finance.
Fundraising be damned.
And guess what - they have to fundraise every single day or they don’t get elected or re-elected. They have to spend time sucking up to pacs like the Nahb and Nar, or they don’t have enough money to stay in office. We need public financed elections with short 6 week window for primary and general (similar to England) and be done with it. Just my opinion, but the amount of money spent on attempting to get elected is obscene. Romney spent $37 million of his own money. Soon, only the uber rich will be able to afford to run. It’s all insane.
Just 6 Dollars.org
Would be nice if all Americans would rally for No campaign funds but Just 6 dollars per year from each of us would take care of it. And you and I could run for the high offices on equal footing.
Boiler plare sent to everyone writing in about housing.
When writing someone in Washington, keep it simple.
“Do not bail out the idiots that created this problem Let prices fall to where people can afford houses again. Do not raise the GSE loan limits. Do not open FHA to sub-prme borrowers….”
Like that. Make sure they can put yout check marks in the correct columns on the for/against check list.
I have the exact same letter from Patty Murray. She didn’t respond to my email either. Pointless trying to communicate with these folks, they aren’t listening to anyone that doesn’t contribute big bucks to their next re-election.
What exactly do you expect them to do?
It’s too late to shut the barn door.
I think they all need to be given the George William Frederick treatment.
I wrote to Cantwell and Murray protesting any bailout funded by the taxpayers and I bet I got the same boilerplate replies you did. Difference was Cantwell replied within one month and Murray took two months.
I didn’t expect any support from those useless people, it just made me feel better for a little while.
Ya, I didn’t either. But I’m thinking if we start posting their shitty responses for all to see, people will figure out what crap leadership we have and demand something different.
Look what just happened here: 3 or 4 people just found out that we all got the same form letter back. No big surprise, but now everyone on the HBB knows how Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell treat their constituents who take the time to write to them about issues that are REALLY important to us.
I’d say that’s worth something.
Hey my brother worked security at least 4 different times for George Herbert Walker Bush. Not some big crowd detail but on his fishing boat where there was a lot of chatting going on.
Fast forward a few years my brother almost loses his leg while on duty. My Dad writes George HW and asks him if he can just write my bro a quick letter while in the hospital. …..Form letter!.
The former President was retired. How busy do you really think he was for someone who would have taken a bullet for him. They’re all idiots.
Yahoo News
Bush signs economic stimulus package
“Economic analysts generally believe the $168 billion package Bush signed will help prevent the current downturn from ballooning into a crisis. But if the rebates don’t spur a consumer spending spree strong enough to cure what ails the economy, Congress is ready to throw more money at the problem.”
Question…why even collect taxes, if money is “free”, and you can just give away money to American Consumers in order to goad them into spending instead of saving? Am I missing something here?
“Congress is ready to throw more money at the problem.”
At least until all the incumbents are safely re-elected.
‘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.’
Sorry Charlie, You and your kind just don’t get it. It’s not the Gubmints place or the place of the taxpayer to bail your ass out! Though, get over it and do something for yourself. I for one am damn sick of listening to your whining ass.You want a check from us but for some reason we didn’t get ours from you when you where racking it in.
All he wants is for congress to pass a law requiring all renters to buy a house at a price that would result in monthly payments being 2x+ their rent.
Oh, and somehow make it possible for them to actually afford the house payment even if they have NO income.
And, once everyone has one house, then people will have to buy a second so that they can keep building at a rate and price not supported by the demographics.
Seems like a reasonable demand to me.
Everybody’s 1st admission of loss, is always around $3 Billion…
“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.”
Open or Closed Coffin?
“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.’”
is anybody aware how the Corona Del Mar market is doing? Will this “ultra-rich” area be spared price drops or just hold steady because those rich bastards can just hold on through this?
Price drops for everyone!
(You’ll have to register on ziprealty to get the lowdown.)
http://www.ziprealty.com/buy_a_home/search/results/sample.jsp?page=10&cKey=6xkbcl4b
http://www.zillow.com/Charts.htm?chartDuration=1year&testAds=false&zpid=25494139
BayQT~
thank you for taking the time to answer my question. May Ron Paul be with you!
LOL! You’re welcome.
BayQT~
Morgan Stanley to Scale Back Mortgage Business, Cut 1,000 Jobs As Housing Crisis Persists
http://tinyurl.com/2gq834
“Given the continued dislocation in the mortgage markets, we have restructured our residential mortgage business to ensure we are appropriately positioned for the environment going forward,” said Anthony Meola, chief operating officer of the U.S. residential business, in a statement.
Perhaps I am just being cynical/paranoid here - but I’m wondering if there is any chance the “project lifeline” process will somehow include language that makes the loan harder to walk away from in the future? Sure, you get to convert to a 6.25% fixed (no way these folks get the lowest prevailing 5.5%, right?) - but, perhaps new loan recourse language makes it harder to walk away from?
Also - it’ll be interesting to see if there is widespread advance disclosure about what the parameters of new terms will be. Of course, they’ll say it’s a “case-by-case” basis — and not give consumers the knowledge to know what kind of deals some people are getting. Will folks who can’t swing their adjustable that is going to 9 to 11% have to be happy with 7%? But folks who currently can’t pay their 6.5% - well, we’re willing to deal, and you can have 5% just to keep you in the house.
I expect very little transparency here.
BTW, guys; some of you are putting up posts with the italics or bold unclosed. And for some reason, I am unable to fix a certain number. I really don’t have any choice but to delete them. If you are going to use those features, be sure and understand how to end them.
That must have been me. Sorry about that - I’ll repost fixed.
Oh shoot - I probably just double posted. Can you erase the second one Ben? It’s a long post….
Thanks!
to close, just post a string of close tabs:
“” — that usually does the trick.
The angle brackets didn’t show above, but a whole string (write once, then copy/paste to make a line of the close tabs) seems to close anything.
I love their name “Fugate”. Because we all know gates are made with bars, as in the Fugates case is FUBAR.
i pronounced it Fug-ett.
hmmm…that sounds like alot of things.
‘But the pendulum has swung so far the other way. Many builders in America are small family businesses and this is dragging them down.’”
I would say all of these builders were in denial during the boom and were only seeing the $$$ and not thinking about cash flow of the future. I talked to many of these business owners, etc. at these shows and most were in denial in 05 and most of 06.
They are now playing the blame game for their own greedy mistakes that may cost them their business. Others will pick up the remainder of the crumbs from their failed business and prosper in the future.
And I’m sure that the publicly traded HBs consult with all the small local builders in a given area before setting their house prices, or buying up land, or introducing cheaper labor drawn from an “international” labor pool.
I’m sure that during the boom times these guys were donating their excess profits to charity, public works, etc…
Most of the homebuilders I’ve been casually acquainted with over the years are basically sleazeballs, who hire whatever kind of drunk/doper/convict/illegal alien they can get their hands on, to throw up as many crapshacks as they can before the party ends (or the lawsuits for crappy construction start piling up), and then declare
bankruptcy. Then wash, rinse repeat. All the time blathering about “The small businessman is the backbone of America!!!!”
The overbuilding would have been stopped dead in it’s tracks, if they had ever mandated homebuilders do drug/alcohol screening of their employees. The ABSOLUTE WORST tolerance on a cheap car is 3 times as tight as the BEST tolerance on a house.
Tip to homeowners in Johnson County, Kansas (KC suburb)…..you may have an aluminum mine in your back yard!!!!! Capitalize on the run-up in commodities!!!
Just get out your metal detector, and locate one of the ancient “beer can burial pits”
One pickup bed full of empties + one backhoe or Ditch Witch =
…..no problem!
“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.’”
Perhaps this is a good move, because special interest groups should be banned from making contributions to politicians. That might help stop the corruption that is hurting our great country. This may be a good time to introduce a bill to ban such contributions by special interest groups. However, we must first weed out the corrupt political leaders to make this happen.
Yeah, but how? Anybody who crosses these blood thirsty soulless monsters will surely be made an example of. Will it take a “French Revolution”? Must we storm the Bastille? How can the bribery be stopped and the corrupt politicians dragged to trial? How?
Prices still need to fall at least 30-35% from today’s level in the next 36 months and then we might be near the bottom at that point in time.
You should only line up for U2 tickets,’ Campbell said.”
The ticket prices are also too high! However, they are worth seeing in concert at least just once despite the high ticket costs.
as Leigh is so fond of saying, ya can’t make this stuff up…
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/HomeFinancing/DidTerroristsCauseTheHousingMess.aspx
”
“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.’”
Perhaps this is a good move, because special interest groups should be banned from making contributions to politicians. That might help stop the corruption that is hurting our great country. This may be a good time to introduce a bill to ban such contributions by special interest groups. However, we must first weed out the corrupt political leaders to make this happen.”
Yeah, it’s like they have put Congress “on notice” as in a warning. How to weed out the corrupt politicians? They are blood thirsty monsters and anybody who crosses their path will surely be made an example of. So how do we pass such legislation to prevent the whoring of our country by politicians, and how to expose and drag those corrput politicians to trial? Any suggestions?
“‘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.’”
Get what job done, exactly? Is the government supposed to force people to buy new houses, when there’s already a huge glut of existing ones, which in turn are still priced too high to attract much interest?
Uh, I’m thinking Jimmy Jazz was being sarcastic.
Totally agree about congresscritters, mine is newly
elected and totally worthless