Weekend Topic Suggestions
Please post ideas for topics here!
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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I’ve suggested in the past that the US govt was making a mistake by focusing on propping up housing prices (and Wall Street) instead of addressing the real problem; what to do for a living instead of selling each other houses.
My topic suggestion; did Obama lose the people, in part, by supporting these policies?
‘A very large proportion of recent university graduates have soured on President Barack Obama, and many will vote GOP or stay at home in the 2012 election, according to two new surveys of younger voters. The bad news for Obama was underlined May 19 with a report by a job-firm Adecco that roughly 60 percent of recent college-grads have not been able to find a full-time job in their preferred area. One-in-five graduates have taken jobs far from their training, one-in-six are dependent on their parents, and one-in-four say they’re in debt, according to the firm’s data.’
‘Many of those swing voters have already pulled the lever for GOP candidates in 2010, but 59 percent of Maddalone’s respondents said the GOP is still not “doing a good job addressing and engaging with young professionals.”
“My topic suggestion; did Obama lose the people, in part, by supporting these policies?”
That’s a good one, and I would say, “yes.” He seemed like a pretty good guy until he handed the TBTF mafia a blank check to permanently keep my family out of one of the many vacant homes we are surrounded by.
I can’t beat BofA. I can’t. I’d love to, but I actually have limits and consequences in my daily life.
This part of the whole scene is actually Obama’s fault.
Agreed. It would have made no difference had McCain won. To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement. I wasn’t expecting him to wave his magic wand and fix everything, but so far everything has been a dud: healthcare reform, offshoring, unemployment, the wars, housing, banks, etc. There was no “change”.
I’m thinking that candidates be required to announce who they are going to hire as their policymakers BEFORE the election.
Words don’t mean squat. Making the primary arsonists (Bernanke and Geitner) fire chiefs would have told me all I needed to know about “hope and change”
+++++++++++++
Please distinguish between what “Obama” did, and what “Congress” didn’t do. Remember that there was a block of 40 Republican Senators who blocked everything. EVERYTHING. Obama could have taken HBB policies and they would never have passed into law.
Decent healthcare reform was blocked by Republicans and a couple bought Dems. Obama was nearly pilloried for it. We were 2-3 votes from a public option. You gonna throw out the other 55 Senators and Obama for that? Offshoring and unemployment started 30 years ago. And Obama tried to invest in the US with goverment money. Again, he was blocked and pilloried for it. Obama brought home 100,000 soldiers from Iraq. He has a couple months grace yet on Afghanistan. Obama also offered a menu of choices on how to get the taxpayers out of banks. Again, he will be blocked and pilloried. Much as the banks love to say “don’t tell me how to run my business,” damn they are the first ones with their hands out.
I would agree that those persons between 20-40 years of age who were smart enough to avoid ruining themselves financially in the bubble runup are also smart enough to avoid getting whacked with propped up valuations on the downhill run.
Those people must certainly be disaffected with both the pubs and the dems, but certainly won’t be voting for ‘opey changey on the second go round.
And all told the group mentioned above must be what, around 100-200 souls?
Really? Wasn’t Bush in office when TARP happened? Wasn’t it Bush who went on TV and explained to America why we all needed TARP? Wasn’t it Hank Paulsen (Bush’s guy) who came up with TARP to begin with? Couldn’t the Republicans have used their 8 years with full control of the government to decrease offshoring and financial fraud, once it had become obvious to everyon what was going on?
I have to say, this partisan revisionist history is really shocking.
At least Obama signed that executive order to shutdown Guantanamo…oh wait.
At least the Republicans didn’t hold the budget hostage by refusing to sign it unless Obama promised not to shut down Guantanamo …oh, wait.
Yes, but Obama is president now and what is he doing differently in the FIRE sector? Believe me, I can’t stand either of them.
Ben, all would have been well if Obama would have made you “The Housing Czar.”
That would have been schweet… B.Dogg, Housing Czar!
“…did Obama lose the people, in part, by supporting these policies?”
I would imagine those living in overpriced homes which they plan to sell some day for a capital gain are downright appreciative of the effort to prop up home prices. And they are still a political majority, right?
except they don’t understand that it could have been much much worse for them. All they know is they are down 20-50%.
Let’s say Obama supported housing to keep the banks from all failing together. That’s got to be a greater good (gag, choke) than the welfare of an individual homeowner wannabe. So, on the current trajectory, how many years of this soft descent will be required to ensure the banking system survives?
“So, on the current trajectory, how many years of this soft descent will be required to ensure the banking system survives?”
WOW. I would say this is the sentence to succinctly summarize our current situation.
Please check my post in the bits thread. That poll is an “informal survey of 500 post-graduates” by some unknown guy with a month-old blog, who posted his results on Tucker Carlson’s GOP cheerleader website. Show me something that’s statistically relevant, please.
And did all these unemployed kids forgot that because of Presdient Obama, they at least have health insurance until they are 26?
’statistically relevant’
Here’s some things that might matter: Obama drew a good bit of his support for his election from younger voters. Unemployment in that age group is as high as at any time in recent history. (Unemployment in all groups is pretty darn high.)
And didn’t those young voters tend to sit out the mid-term elections, which saw the Democrats lose a large number of seats in congress?
One thing personally; I just happened to graduate as Texas fell into a mini-depression after the RE bubble of the 70s-80s. It was terrible, job wise, and that was at a time when people could leave the state and get work. This recession, or whatever you want to call it, is across many regions.
I agree with you Ben, but this little “survey” is streaking across the Internets as if it were Holy Writ.*
Young voters sitting out elections is nothing new. The aberration was that they came out to vote in 2008. It wasn’t young people sitting home that lost the House — it was purist liberal Dems who were p-o’d that Obamacare didn’t go far enough.
————-
*I guess that’s one way to get a job: kiss butt for it. Use some half-assed data to fabricate anti-Obama sentiment, perhaps even a new Talking Point. Score brownie points with the conservative community, and whammo! Wingnut welfare! Yippee! I expect to see our buddy Joe on the pundit shows soon, as an “expert” on the young generation, or some such nonsense.
‘to fabricate anti-Obama sentiment’
I’m not a member of any party, and I don’t care about the two party ping-pong match. I want results, and this guy hasn’t done much good on the housing front, from my point of view. My topic suggestion: ‘did Obama lose the people, in part, by supporting these (housing) policies?
What about his housing policy has been good? His policy regarding the real estate/lending industry? Do we have a shadow inventory or not? Why is the govt guaranteeing 0-3% down loans?
You know, I remember him saying something to the effect that he would like to be a good one term president than a mediocre two term president. On the housing policy basis, I’d say he’s looking like a mediocre one term president.
Obama’s housing policy has been excellent for banks, but that can’t hold forever.
But really, there is no way that Obama’s housing policy would have pleased anyone. SOMEbody’s going to pay the piper, and nobody wants to do it, not the banks, not the FB’s, not the renters, nobody.
The “best” housing policy, from an Oxide perspective, would have been draconian: allow a mild form of FB BK that takes the house and the credit but little else. FB keeps the job and rents until he rebuilds. Possible cramdown as part of regular bankruptcy. Take government out of mortgages — at LEAST get them out of the securitization business. No more mark-to-fantasy accouting tricks. Foreclosures count as comps. Let “the market” decide what interest rates should be. Require originators to hold risky tranches. Decouple housing from the rest of banking. Allow banks to fail.
Do you honestly think that Obama could get Congress to agree to any of this? There is no way Obama can get out of this — nor McCain, nor Sister Sarah, nor Romney. Beloved Ron Paul could do it, but that would involve kicking millions to the street.
One thing personally; I just happened to graduate as Texas fell into a mini-depression after the RE bubble of the 70s-80s. It was terrible, job wise, and that was at a time when people could leave the state and get work. This recession, or whatever you want to call it, is across many regions.
I’m with Ben.
I was a newly minted graduate in the state of Michigan, which was bleeding jobs even back then. It’s only gotten worse. After a year on a job from which I was laid off, I went biking around the country.
When I jumped back into the job market in western PA in late 1982, the place was in a Depression like that one in the 1930s. Really. The Pittsburgh unemployment rate was up near 20%.
Meanwhile, that place called the Sun Belt was booming. When I moved to AZ in 1987, I couldn’t believe the stories people were telling. More jobs than people and all that.
This current Depression? (And yes, I think we’re in one.) It’s not just regional. It’s national. And international.
“This current Depression? (And yes, I think we’re in one.) It’s not just regional. It’s national. And international.”
Except for Asia which is booming. Made my first trip to Asia last fall, Nepal and various airports. The general mood is boom times and money flows there. People who grew up barefoot and poor on farms now have college degrees, and all their children are going to college on their motorcycles with iphones in their pockets, most of them with plans to move to Australia or Canada. They are celebrating their wealth!
Meanwhile, we are struggling, with few (any?) solutions on the horizon. Ben, I agree with you, the only solution is jobs.
American kids are going to college with iPhones and scooters too. Of course they may be headed toward the farms afterwards instead of away from them. Or maybe this means were getting closer to parity.
lil Opie, Jan 21st 2009: “You’re losing your house to fore-closure? Millions of folks are, y’all bought too much $tucco,..yeah it sucks, but really a legal contract is a legal contract, you $igned it, …deal with it. Hey, the Federal Gov’t isn’t the place to look for remediation nor redemption. Next question.”
Katie Couric: “Is that what American’s really need to hear today Mr. President?”
lil Opie:“Look Katie, this administration can create millions of Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! out of thin air with just a few strokes of a pen on programs from the Congress,…I’m waiting to review their suggestions. Especially, the ones they can create without using ANY additional Federal monie$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. next question”
Q: What’s your view of the stock market?
Jim Grant answers questions new york AP
A: The Federal Reserve has unilaterally taken it upon itself to levitate asset prices. It is suppressing interest rates. When you’re not getting anything on your savings, you are inclined to go out and buy something, anything, to generate either income or the expectation of capital gains. So the things that we take as prices freely determined are in fact manipulated.
A few months ago, (Fed Chairman) Ben S. Bernanke, Ph.D., the former chairman of the Princeton economics department, stood before the cameras of CNBC and said that the Russell 2000 is making new highs. The Russell! He sounded like another stock jockey. He was taking credit for new highs in the small cap equities index. The Fed, as never before, or rarely before, is now the steward of this bull market. One wonders what it will do if stocks pull back significantly.
I’d like to see a whole ‘nother round of HBB sooth-saying, crystal-ballin’, rice hoarding predicting, etc. In other words, let’s attempt to lay out the future as best we can. I think we’re getting a clearer picture of where we’re headed, but we haven’t discussed it in depth in a while.
“”People have no idea of all the trouble that’s coming,” said Margery Golant, a lawyer in Broward County who is handling a growing number of deficiency defense cases.”
http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/deficiency-judgments-let-creditors-haunt-borrowers-for-up-to-20-years/1160128
I am predicting a couple of lost generations. I also think the health care that Boomers are expecting is not going to happen. So, we will all see a decline in a standard of living.
One indicator that more deficiency filings are on the horizon: Banks are increasingly unwilling to waive the deficiency in short-sale cases, where the sale price is less than the amount owed.
“Two years ago, a waiver of the deficiency was normal course, but it’s been eroding ever since,” said Richard Zaretsky, a lawyer in West Palm Beach. “Banks came to the conclusion they were throwing away the opportunity to collect funds. They weren’t focused on the realization that there’s a secondary market for this debt.”
So those camping out in their homes for years may end up getting the hose, after all. The wheels of the gods turn slowly….
I’ve said this before: It is dangerous to be a member of a large pool of people who owe other people money.
The larger the pool, the larger the amounts owed, the more dangerous it becomes.
So they file for BK and walk away.
Yes, there is currently a stigma to filing for BK, but if creditors are coming after you and garnishing your wages to collect 6 figure debts then BK will become fashionable, and people will even brag about it at parties, gloating about how much they stiffed their creditors.
“So they file BK and walk away.”
Or the PTB have the laws “adjusted” so that BK no longer works.
IMO it’s not too much of a stretch to frame those FBs who stay and not pay and as sticking it to the taxpayers rather than the banks since it’s the taxpayers who are ultimately suffering the losses in that they end up supporting the banks.
A tweak of the law may mean it will be the IRS that will coming after you and not just a regular bill collector.
“… the BK will be fashionable, and people will even brag about it at parties, gloating about how they stiffed their creditors.”
And this will tend to REALLY piss of those who follow the rules and pay their bills. And these rule-followers are the folks that will support the PTB if/when the PTB decides to go after the stiffers.
“Or the PTB have the laws “adjusted” so that BK no longer works.”
Agreed, I believe that will happen. Which is why I have counseled those who are considering it to do it, because they might not be able to do so later.
“And this will tend to REALLY piss of those who follow the rules and pay their bills. And these rule-followers are the folks that will support the PTB if/when the PTB decides to go after the stiffers.”
I wonder how many of those stiffers will then simply pack their bags and leave the country, especially if they have ties (citizenship) elsewhere?
My kids and wife’s German passports finally arrived in the mail (actually bFedEx). Now I need to work on my Hungarian passport.
We’ve been lamenting about people living “rent-free” for a couple of years now.
I’d still rather be in my shoes than theirs. Too much money is sitting on the table for people to get a free pass.
If strategic defaulting had remained a rare occurance, it might have slid under the radar. Now, it’s becoming a mainstream finance strategy, leaving the banks and government as bagholders. It may take a while, but I don’t see them just bending over and taking it. Payback will come into play eventually.
If they owe FNMA and skip out on the mortgage it could be just like a student loan no ?
In Colorado, as the spouse of a EU national you don’t need a Hungarian passport to work or live in the EU.
EU residency rights state you have the right to
“Equal treatment
During their stay, they should be treated as nationals of the country, notably as regards access to employment, pay, benefits facilitating access to work, enrolment in schools etc.
Even if they are staying as a tourist, they should not, for example, have to pay higher fees to visit museums or when buying transport tickets, etc.”
http://ec.europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/worker-pensioner/non-eu-family-members/spouses-children-parents_en.htm
unwilling to waive the deficiency ??
It kind of amazed me that they ever did it at all…That deficiency has some value to someone…Get ready for the Credit collection Zombies…They will show up just when you think all the problems are water under the bridge…
Also from the article:
“Scott Stamatakis, a Tampa lawyer, said he recently learned through discovery in a foreclosure case that a collection company bought $18 million worth of deficiencies from one lender for $130,000.”
Wow. I’d like a piece of that. Maybe the HBB could band together and buy some FB debt- for less than a penny per dollar.
That just goes to show how little confidence the banks have in recovering that money.
Having dealt with collections a time or two in my own business life, I’m in hearty agreement with In Colorado.
I don’t know- $18 million worth of debt for $130,000? It would take as little as finding one strategic defaulter with money, or for one FB to make some money in the next 20 years, to pay off the initial investment. The rest is gravy. I like those odds. I’m as big a pessimist as most about our economy, but I don’t think every currently broke FB is going to be broke for the next 20 years. It only takes one inheritance…
I foresee a highly choreographed, recycled tech stock bubble in the present and the near future.
CAUTION: BUBBLES INEVITABLY POP! Caveat emptor.
Peter Cohan
The Startup Economy
Is LinkedIn IPO Pulsing an Orchestrated IPO Wave?
May. 20 2011 - 9:23 am
There is a big difference between debt- and equity-fueled bubbles. When the most recent debt-fueled bubble burst in 2008, it took $30 trillion in wealth away. The bursting of the 1995 to 2000 Internet Initial Public Offering (IPO) bubble destroyed a relatively paltry $6 trillion. I like IPO bubbles better because they leave some value in their wake.
…
Want to see an example of a 1999-2000 bubble stock? Check this chart; it’s one of the more extreme examples. Amazingly the company is still in business. Caveat emptor indeed!
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/charts/chartdl.aspx?symbol=cien&CP=0&PT=11
is it just me or does that chart looks like the middle finger salute?
Zee, you are truly evil. And that makes me evil too, because that chart also reminds me of the Naughty Digit.
I also think the health care that Boomers are expecting is not going to happen ??
And if that happens its going to get real ugly….All the people behind the gates get treatment…All the people outside of them get to die….
Where will the gates be, and who will build and guard them?
Hopefully they will stretch from San Diego to Brownsville.
I don’t think anybody with the money to build a gate that big has any interest in building that one. They’d rather have it built between themselves and you.
I think the Boomers will all be shocked to death when they realize they can’t retire off their house wealth.
Robert Toll’s prediction will come true: Kids will live with their parents until they’re 40 (if they’re lucky).
However, Toll’s vision of employed offspring sharing Dad’s luxury McManse because they can’t afford their own luxury McManse is dead. Instead, look for entire families of unemployed living in Grandma’s old cramped but paid-off shack, living off the victory garden and the government dole because the jobs went overseas decades ago.
Third World, here we come!
Oxide, this is what I’m talking about: your vision of the future is one that I see as very, very, very likely.
Read Joe Bageant’s new (and last) book. He even gets into this…
And let me give you a real world example: In the early 80’s my grandfather-in-law retired to St. Petersburg. He recently passed away, but his son lives on the main level with grams, and his two sons live in (I’m not making this up) converted storage on the first floor (they live in a flood plain and and the first floor isn’t legally inhabitable).
So, in other words, it took a man who built his wealth from the 50s-70s, to buy a house cheap in the 80’s, to support half of my wife’s family (RENT FREE) in 2011.
They all work, and my BILs have trouble keeping up their cars and whatnot. They don’t pay for food, either.
This is precisely what we saw in the 9th ward of NO after Hurricane Katrina. Families on welfare, living in grandpas shotgun shack, who couldn’t get out of town because the check hadn’t been put in yet.
Oh, I have this situation going on right next door!
“did Obama lose the people, in part, by supporting these policies?”
Ben, for me that is a non issue. Obama is a President who governs by consensus. Might work well to solve problems facing us today if he surrounded himself by quality financial staffing, but what quality, far thinking people want to be in Washington and then have the fortitude to withstand a daily drumming by the Press.
The only thing I hope for is a major event to force the powers that be to enforce laws already on the books in regards to banking and fiscal soundness.
‘for me that is a non issue. Obama is a President who governs by consensus’
What I mean is that we need leadership on this issue. The recent government action could be divided into to categories: “saving” a financial system that IMO deserved to be completely reorganized. And the myriad of programs designed to prop up housing prices. The former was counter-productive, the latter was a futile waste of precious time and money.
Posters here rightly rejected the idea that magically, through govt engineering, we could live with house prices that we could never afford. We used to ask is it better to rip off the band-aid quickly or slowly. Now we are living with the choices our politicians made.
I think we could look forward to a pair of courses; one, turn government policy toward creating jobs that aren’t reliant on the asset bubble economy. And two, make lemonade out of the housing bubble lemon. That is, why shouldn’t we at least enjoy cheap housing from this glut?
“That is, why shouldn’t we at least enjoy cheap housing from this glut?”
Wouldn’t that trigger massive financial losses among ‘wealthy’ real estate investors (aka potential campaign contributors)?
Prices are going to fall anyway. The question is, will it become a healing thing or not. Let’s not forget what happened in Japan after their twin stock and housing bubbles.
I am definitely not saying that lower house prices will cure all our economic ills. But we have poured a huge amount of public money and effort into the housing markets and it just hasn’t helped anything. I would argue that it has actually prevented the recovery from taking hold.
The big issue in my opinion is this; once we admit to ourselves that we can’t resurrect the bubble economy, the first question becomes, what will our economy become? In the age of global trade agreements and govt involvement in almost every aspect of our financial lives, that’s a political question.
“I would argue that it has actually prevented the recovery from taking hold.”
I agree. Lower housing prices is one possible way that the economy could have created labor market mobility at a time of shrinking pay checks and high unemployment. But instead, we have high home prices coupled with meager job prospects — an excellent recipe for labor market permafrost instead of mobility.
Thats why total public financing of all elections is mandatory …
Imagine if OH Mc and Nader got the same amount of money
They still wouldn’t get the media attention.
Turn government policy toward creating jobs that aren’t reliant on the asset bubble economy.
Didn’t President Obama try that, with his stimulus package? Investment in infrastructure? Grants for green tech? The much maligned saving of GM? Heck, even TARP for smaller banks saved jobs. And for his trouble, Obama was slapped by the GOP, the media, and the sheeple voters for “government spending” and “going more into debt.”
Yeah, but when are they gonna try to stop the offshoring?
Who you mean by “they,” kemosabe? The Democrats who voted to raise taxes on the offshorers, or the Republicans who filibustered it?
A wonderful example. Who taught these folks it was gubmints place to “create” jobs for them? Hows that working out? Barry is in it for Barry just like every other con-man what’s so hard to figure out. I love it!
Item: Recent college grads sour on Obama, surveys say.
Daily Caller ~AFP– Fri May 20
A very large proportion of recent university graduates have soured on President Barack Obama, and many will vote GOP or stay at home in the 2012 election, according to two new surveys of younger voters.
“These rock-solid Obama constituents are free-agents,” said Kellyanne Conway, president of The Polling Company, based in Washington, D.C. She recently completed a large survey of college grads, and “they’re shopping around, considering their options, [and] a fair number will say at home and sit it out,” she said.
The scope of this disengagement from Obama is suggested by an informal survey of 500 post-grads by Joe Maddalone, founder of Maddalone Global Strategies. Of his sample, 93 percent are aged between 22 and 28, 67 percent are male and 83 percent voted for Obama in 2008. But only 27 percent are committed to voting for Obama again, and 80 percent said they would consider voting for a Republican, said New York-based Maddalone.
That’s a drop of almost 60 points in support for Obama among this influential class of younger post-grad voters, who Maddalone recruited at conferences held at New York University and Thomson-Reuters’ New York headquarters.
The bad news for Obama was underlined May 19 with a report by a job-firm Adecco that roughly 60 percent of recent college-grads have not been able to find a full-time job in their preferred area. One-in-five graduates have taken jobs far from their training, one-in-six are dependent on their parents, and one-in-four say they’re in debt, according to the firm’s data.
80 percent said they would consider voting for a Republican
My question is, why? What have republicans done in last few yrs?
“Wars and Bailout”s is all republicans know.
Vote 3rd party or stay home!
butters
As an Ex-Republican, now Political Atheist, my better half and I decided we live in a two-party Dictatorship. Both parties are bought and paid for. I agree with you 100%.
+1
I was explaining this to my friend from Singapore. He was shocked to say the least. He said things are gangbusters in Singapore these days.
On the other hand, unless you are rich there (in Singapore) your standard of living kind of sucks. The place is tropical and he says that they can’t afford to A/C their tiny apartment.
The 2012 outcome still depends primarily on who the other side nominates. We could have 15% acknowledged unemployment and 15% inflation and if the repubs put up some wacko then The One will still get re-elected.
So if they don’t nominate Romney, they’re toast?
And even if they do, will the Protestant Fundamentalists vote for a Mormon?
No, they won’t…They will stay home…
Ron Paul…. nuff said.
They won’t nominate him. The banksters will make sure of that.
I’m hope it’s Michele Bachmann. But then I’ve always been an optimist and I like “Takin’ care of Business”.
Palin’s a little hotter but unlike Bachmann, needs to bone up on the Constitution.
And Gingrich is a Catholic now.
Um, Bachman thought the shot heard round the world took place in NH so she’d better get to studying too.
Never mind the Presidency. If the GOP can’t find a motivator to get out the vote, the GOP will suffer in the downticket races. A LOT.
Um, Bachman thought the shot heard round the world took place in NH so she’d better get to studying too.
It was a joke CarrieAnn. Bachman is ignorant of American history and the Constitution let alone the interplay between the two. Palin might be worse but that’s a tough one to quantify.
High schooler challenges Michele Bachmann to Constitution showdown yahoo dot com
“I have found quite a few of your statements regarding The Constitution of the United States, the quality of public school education and general U.S. civics matters to be factually incorrect, inaccurately applied or grossly distorted,” writes Cherry Hill, N.J., high schooler Amy Myers. She concludes: “I, Amy Myers, do hereby challenge Representative Michele Bachmann to a Public Forum Debate and/or Fact Test on The Constitution of the United States, United States History and United States Civics.”
Show me the scientific basis for this poll. Go on, I dare you.
He never backs up with facts. Never.
wmbz with another blaze anti-Obama article? Am I the only one who’s shocked?
Fewer judges will be hearing Florida foreclosures as state money runs out
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 5:53 p.m. Thursday, May 19, 2011
Florida’s courts are out $6 million after state lawmakers chose not to extend a one-time stipend aimed at reducing a foreclosure backlog.
The reduction means less manpower to process foreclosure cases and is already having repercussions in Palm Beach County where Circuit Judge John Hoy canceled a July foreclosure hearing citing fiscal constraints.
“Because of the lack of funding by the Florida Legislature, judges are unavailable to preside over foreclosure trials beginning July 1, 2011,” Hoy wrote in a May 11 order.
Court budgets operate on a fiscal year that runs July 1 through June 30.
Last year, Palm Beach County received $640,000 out of the statewide stipend to add senior judges, case managers and assistants to do foreclosure work.
The additional help allowed the courts to process 16,972 Palm Beach County cases between June 2010 and February of this year, reducing a backlog of 46,438 cases to 29,466.
Statewide, the 462,339-case backlog in June 2010 was reduced by 139,615 cases.
Still, that leaves more than 322,700 cases clogging the system.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/fewer-judges-will-be-hearing-florida-foreclosures-as-1486058.html - -
What will become of the sea of vacant homes in which the U.S. currently swims?
Foreclosure limbo costing cities
May 19, 2011
By Andrew Thomason
Illinois Statehouse News
SPRINGFIELD — Banks and lending institutions responsible for foreclosures in Illinois would pay for the maintenance of thousands of vacant houses, rather than putting that financial burden on municipalities statewide under a plan in the Illinois House.
“They sit in limbo for a period of time, and we cannot get anybody to take action on them,” said Jeff Stehman, the building code official for the southern city of O’Fallon. “Our city is required to do the maintenance and abatement on some of these properties.”
The measure would allow cities to create an ordinance to levy fines against banks and other lending institutions for the problems associated with vacant houses, such as cutting the grass, boarding up broken windows and fixing other code violations.
Stehman said O’Fallon pays up to $150 each time it mows the overgrown lawn of one of these houses
When homeowners could not pay their mortgages and faced foreclosure, the maintenance and upkeep of the vacated properties fell to the municipalities.
In April alone, Illinois had 10,055 foreclosures, with the majority in Chicago and its surrounding counties, according to RealtyTrac, a company that monitors foreclosures nationwide. In 2009 and 2010, the state had 173,890 and 106,419, respectively, according to RealtyTrac.
…
O’Fallon pays up to $150 each time it mows the overgrown lawn of one of these houses ??
Probably because they send a crew of 5 out to do it…
Lawn?! Bunch of maroons. I would (nearly) strangle someone for that land to grow food on. Eating arugula and red sail lettuce from out of the wine barrel garden on our deck. Just saving our pennies to buy land. Eff the house, we want the land!
It’s different in O’Fallon, Mr. Bubble. There’s lots of land available. Not enough demand for more feed corn and soybeans. Everyone has a big garden, a big lawn full of grass, and a big house.
It always amazes me the stories of people who live a nice neighborhood except the one abandoned / foreclosed house. They whine and cry about the eyesore. If there was such a place next to me I would cut the grass myself rather than have the property attract rodents / pests - four legged or two legged. Are people that lazy? I guess yes you might legally be tresspassing but gee not like you would get in trouble.
If there was such a place next to me I would cut the grass myself rather than have the property attract rodents / pests - four legged or two legged. Are people that lazy? I guess yes you might legally be tresspassing but gee not like you would get in trouble.
A few years ago, I awakened on a bright, sunny Saturday morning. And what did I see in the city-owned lot next door but a homeless guy, sleeping it off.
I wasn’t too pleased. So, I decided that the next-door lot, which the city cares zilch about, would be the ideal place for a desert garden. Y’know, with lots of cactus that wouldn’t be comfy to lie down own.
So, I put the word out in the nabe, and got all sorts of cactus cuttings donated. And I chipped in some cactus cuttings from the Arizona Slim Ranch.
Went over there in the early morning hours before sun was fully awake and on Blast Mode. Planted the cactus and just let it sit there and grow.
Which it has.
The guy who lives in the rental house north of this little garden comes out with his machete and whacks the weeds by hand during the spring and fall. The rest of the time, the garden just sits there, looking pretty. The homeless folks bypass it in favor of the grassy lawns over in the city park.
I graduated from O’Fallon Township Highschool. Shocking.
I wonder how many of us won’t be blogging here after today because of the rapture that’s due to take place tomorrow.
Religion is creepy. Religious leaders are liars.
Is Australia or East Asia on fire yet? If not, I guess we will survive this one……
I would love for our alien creators to come back and help us out down here…this world in a big hurt right now and a few spaceships of help would be cool.
Have you looked into Scientology?
“…because of the rapture that’s due to take place tomorrow.”
Looking forward to mocking the latest greater religious fools…
I’ll be here. Count on it.
Could an earthquake really end the world Saturday?
05:18 PM
By Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
Santa Rosa City Hall lies in ruins in this photo taken in April 1906, after a devastating earthquake in San Francisco. About 3,000 people died in the quake and in the fire that followed. It remains the deadliest earthquake in U.S. history.
CAPTION
By AP
According to Harold Camping, the Oakland minister who’s predicting the end of the world Saturday, a great earthquake will first shake New Zealand, triggering an apocalypse that rolls relentlessly toward the USA, reaching San Francisco at around 6 p.m. on Saturday.
OK, so, like, should we worry? Fortunately, earthquake expert John Vidale of the University of Washington says we’ll be fine: “No earthquake would end civilization.”
Whew.
He says that about the biggest earthquake considered plausible is one that would be twice the size of the massive Chile earthquake in 1960, which the U.S. Geological Survey says was the strongest of the 20th century. It was registered as a magnitude 9.5 and killed more than 1,600 people in Chile.
…
Especially Dobson.
Is a Tea Party-sponsored debt default rapture soon to come?
Look who is preaching morality now (more of “God’s work”?)…
JP Morgan Chase CEO Warns Of US Defaulting
by The Associated Press
DENVER May 20, 2011, 12:51 am ET
It would be a “moral disaster” if the United States were to default on its debts and become unable to pay its obligations, JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon said at an appearance in Colorado Thursday evening.
The U.S. is the financial linchpin of the world, and the economic effects of the U.S. defaulting could be “potentially catastrophic,” he said at a dinner for the University of Colorado Denver Business School.
“It will dwarf Lehman,” Dimon said, referring to the 2008 collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers, which contributed to the beginning of a global financial crisis.
Dimon’s comments came in response to a question about the federal deficit from moderator Tom Petrie, a vice chairman of Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Congress is debating raising the country’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit. White House officials say the government will run out of cash to pay expenses Aug. 2, but lawmakers have said they want spending cuts before they agree to raise the debt ceiling.
Dimon got a standing ovation at the dinner, a marked contrast to JPMorgan’s annual meeting in Ohio on Tuesday, when more than 400 demonstrators shouted outside. The protests were organized by a coalition of clergy and unions, which is pushing for action and legislation around banking practices that hurt troubled homeowners.
Along with all the major banks in the country, JPMorgan Chase has been criticized for its handling of mortgage foreclosures.
After Petrie noted The New York Times recently called him America’s least hated banker, Dimon quipped he never expected to be in a business where he’d be on the receiving end of so much anger.
“Our people work hard, they give a damn, they help their communities,” he said.
…
Religious leaders are realtors -
Here is one solution for homes that won’t sell at an acceptable price to the seller:
Baltimore begins demolition of vacant homes
Baltimore Business Journal - by Ryan Sharrow, Staff
Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2011, 2:40pm EDT
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on Wednesday launched the first initiative under a new program to reduce the number of vacant homes across city neighborhoods.
The city began demolishing Wednesday five vacant properties in the Woodbourne/McCabe community of Northeast Baltimore. Overall, the city plans to demolish 34 properties in the neighborhood.
Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore and Habitat for Humanity for the Chesapeake plan to rehab 23 of the properties over the next two years. The remaining seven vacant properties will either be sold through tax sale foreclosure or part of an alternative strategy.
…
I cant wait till FloorRiddah proposes to lower unemployment to 5% by destroying 100,000 homes just rotting in the humidity mold Chinese drywall….a new type of JOBS bill.
“… or part of an alternative strategy.”
I’m sure we will all be shocked to find out what the alternative strategy entails.
How is the red-hot summer sales season shaping up?
MAY 19, 2011, 10:00 A.M. ET
US April Existing-Home Sales Down 0.8% From March - NAR
By Alan Zibel and Jeff Bater
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–Sales of previously occupied homes in the U.S. fell slightly in April, signaling that the housing sector has much farther to go before it returns to health.
Existing-home sales decreased 0.8% from a month earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. March’s sales pace was revised downward to a rate of 5.09 million per year.
The results were worse than forecast. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected home sales to rise by 2.0% to an annual rate of 5.20 million.
“It’s a very sluggish housing recovery,” especially given strong job growth, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.
The median sales price was $163,700, down 5.0% from the median price of $172,300 a year earlier.
The inventory of previously owned homes listed for sale, meanwhile, climbed at the end of April to 3.87 million. That represented a 9.2-month supply at the current sales pace, compared with a revised 8.3 -month supply in March. A healthy level would be about six months. The housing market has continued to struggle even as other segments of the U.S. economy show steady improvement.
Though the overall economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.8% in the first three months of 2011, the housing sector detracted from economic growth. It was the fourth quarter out of the past six quarters in which housing has put a drag on economic growth.
Construction of homes and apartments last month was down 10.6% from a month earlier and was down 23.9% from a year ago, the Commerce Department said earlier this week.
Government incentives, such as a tax credit that mainly benefited first-time home buyers helped home sales last year. But since its expiration, the housing market has faltered.
While most economists expected sales to decline after the tax credits expired, the drag on the market has been greater than many anticipated. With sales weak, many economists have revised their forecasts of home prices downward, with some predicting that prices won’t hit bottom before next year.
…
=======================================================
Existing Home Sales Apr Mar Consensus:
Total Sales: 5.05M 5.09Mr 5.20M
% Change: -0.8% +3.5%r Actual:
Months Supply: 9.2 8.3r 5.05M
=======================================================
This news is sure to send the real estate industry into shock.
$2M Michigan lottery winner defends use of food stamps
By Detroit News detroit News – Wed May 18, 1:27 pm ET
Ron French, Detroit News staff writer
A Michigan man who won $2 million in a state lottery game continues to collect food stamps 11 months after striking it rich.
And there’s nothing the state can do about it, at least for now.
Leroy Fick, 59, of Auburn won $2 million in the state lottery TV show “Make Me Rich!” last June. But the state’s Department of Human Services determined he was still eligible for food stamps, Fick’s attorney, John Wilson of Midland, said Tuesday.
Eligibility for food stamps is based on gross income and follows federal guidelines; lottery winnings are considered liquid assets and don’t count as income. As long as Fick’s gross income stays below the eligibility requirement for food stamps, he can receive them, even if he has a million dollars in the bank.
Food stamps are paid for through tax dollars and are meant to help support low-income families.
“If you’re going to try to make me feel bad, you’re not going to do it,” Fick told WNEM-TV in Saginaw on Monday.
Wilson said Fick told the DHS officials he’d won $2 million but was told he could keep using the Bridge Card issued to him to buy groceries.
Fick could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_localdtw/20110518/ts_yblog_localdtw/2m-michigan-lottery-winner-defends-use-of-food-stamps - 101k -
Yeah, so if he keeps it in a checking account drawing Zero interest well he has no income from it…….
Looks like the officials got it wrong to me. Unless Mr. Fick is on SSI, it looks like he is not eligible if he has more than $2000 of “countable resources” like a bank account. Are they depending on SSI to kick you out if you suddenly receive a large payment that does not repeat?
From the guidelines: Households may have $2,000 in countable resources, such as a bank account, or $3000 in countable resources if at least one person is age 60 or older, or is disabled. However, certain resources are NOT counted, such as a home and lot, the resources of people who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the resources of people who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, formerly AFDC), and most retirement (pension) plans.
The real problem, of course, is the income counting. They don’t seem to hang their gross income calculation on taxable income and it looks like they depend on monthly income, so if he doesn’t take the paymen in a monthly stipend, it doesn’t get counted.
Poorly drafted rules in both instances, but also plausibly just wrong.
Doesn’t that put ZIRP in perspective.
0.5% of 1,000,000 (assuming he lost 50% to taxes) is still enough to get food stamps.
Didn’t it have to be counted as income before it became a liquid asset?
Maybe we should shock him. We could all get together and rub our feet on the carpet for a long time, and then we could all just touch him.
My take on the massive collective yawn over the latest legal cloud hanging over Goldman Sachs: Everybody knows this is just another MSM Grand Kabuki dance, soon to be followed by yet another legal wrist slap.
Bottom line:
1) Goldman Sachs will never face penalties commensurate with the financial gains from its crimes.
2) Crime does pay today in America, so long as you are TOO BIG TO FAIL.
WRITING ON THE WALL
MAY 19, 2011, 11:49 A.M. ET
You Won’t Read This Story About Goldman
David Weidner explains why believes no one seems to care much about Goldman’s latest troubles, and many Americans seem numb to more allegations of wrongdoing related to the financial crisis.
By David Weidner
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is in trouble again.
Still reading? If you are, you must be a Goldman employee, regulator, class-action lawyer, financial journalist or trolling the Internet for news about Steve Jobs. (See how I dropped the name to make this column more Google-friendly?)
No one seems to care much about Goldman’s latest troubles, and many Americans seem numb to more allegations of wrongdoing related to the financial crisis.
Yet they keep coming, especially at Goldman. One of the biggest was last week’s disclosure that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s staff has “orally advised” the company that it “intends to recommend … aiding and abetting, civil fraud and supervision-related charges” against the trade-clearing unit at Goldman.
In addition, Goldman said the Justice Department is reviewing data related to credit-default swaps and fee arrangements for clearing of credit-default swaps, including potential anticompetitive practices. European regulators are also investigating.
And remember Abacus? That’s the collateralized debt obligation created by Goldman that morphed into a $550 million fraud settlement. There are more subpoenas on that gem, Goldman said last week.
Goldman declined to comment beyond the disclosures it made in its quarterly report and didn’t offer any additional comment Wednesday.
In the filing, the company said it is cooperating with the CFTC, now led by former Goldman executive Gary Gensler.
You might think the lengthy rundown of regulatory and legal headaches at Goldman would sting the company. Instead, there was barely any fallout, except for another Matt Taibbi article in Rolling Stone magazine.
…
Why should anyone care when previous known crimes go unprosecuted. Seriously why tell us at all if you aren’t going to throw someone in jail.
“Why should anyone care when previous known crimes go unprosecuted.”
Exactly. I would probably rather read an article about the latest paparazzi shot of Britney without panties — and I don’t care in the least about that, either!
I am too shocked to fail.
Let’s not get distracted here, we should simply focus on the accounting chicanery and falsified filings with which Chinese companies are daily relieving US investors of their capital,” Brown writes at his blog The Reformed Broker. “Working with American law firms and shameless stock promoters, these companies have found a financial engineering solution that lets them steal on our shores.”
Specifically, Brown cites the trend of Chinese companies going public via so-called reverse mergers, whereby a publicly traded American-based shell company, often designed for this very purpose, issues a larger number of shares to purchase a Chinese company. The Chinese company then becomes the majority shareholder and essentially assumes the public listing of its American parent.
“It’s a backdoor IPO,” Brown says. “Let’s be realistic about what this is all about: This is about gaining a foothold on U.S. exchanges, doing a secondary, raising a boatload of money, insiders sell, and then all of a sudden ‘oops’ we may have misstated earnings.”
The past two months have brought a spate of de-listings and trading halts for these companies — at least 24 according to the SEC. Forbes’ Walter Pavlo recently detailed a smattering of them:
China Electric Motor — Shareholders lawsuit filed claiming underwriters violated federal securities laws by issuing materially false and misleading information.
China Natural Gas — Class action lawsuit alleges directors and officers issued materially false and misleading statements. CFO of company resigned in late 2010.
Duoyuan Printing — SEC investigating company for fraud, NYSE delisted April 4, 2011
China MediaExpress Holdings, Inc. — Deloitte quit as auditor because “no longer able to rely on the representations of management”. CFO resigned. Stock trading halted March 11
China Agritech — Shareholder lawsuit pending. Dismissed its auditor Ernst & Young.
China Sky One Medical — Under investigation by SEC.
Orient Paper, Inc. — Reauditing previous financials due to license issues with previous auditor (Davis Accounting Group)
Looks like China has taken some lessons from WS. Looks like WS will work with anyone to strip wealth, even if it means their eventual demise. The capitalist will sell you the rope you plan to hang him with.
finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/invasion-chinese-reverse-mergers-under-attack-josh-brown-121928402.html
I am shocked by this. I thought we should buy international stocks. Everyone knows Chinese companies are legit. You are probably just a realtoR.
“Did Obama lose the people, in part, by supporting these policies?”
That’s sort of a trick question. First off, a good number of people, young and old, didn’t support Obama in the past, don’t support him now and will NEVER support what he does - regardless of what the topic is. Anyone with a Facebook account and a hard-right friend who sees links to Newsmax every day will know what I mean.
No matter what he did, there will be the “revisionist history” behind it. Detroit goes to DC asking for bailout money and all of the sudden people think the Government invaded Detroit and took it over. Bush enacted the TARP program only to have people think Obama took over the banks. Obama wanted ‘end of life’ discussions with doctors only to have created “DEATH PANELS”.
People are stupid. People are ill informed, and no matter what his poll numbers are or what he does he just can’t win over some people.
Shocking.
I feel shocked.
I want a Shock Top!
Proposed weekend topic: Innovative and profitable uses of vacant foreclosure homes
Hiding Drugs And People In Suburban Neighborhoods
By Devin Browne
May 20, 2011
Agents found 53 illegal immigrants from Mexico & Central America inside a Phoenix home in January 2011.
Credit: Photo courtesy Immigration & Customs Enforcement.
Above: Agents found 53 illegal immigrants from Mexico & Central America inside a Phoenix home in January 2011.
Border states are the first stop for drug trafficking organizations moving their product – both drugs and illegal immigrants – north into the United States. Law enforcement agents throughout the southwest are working to stop this movement. In Arizona, their latest target are leasing agents who provide houses to cartels and their employees.
In 2007, Phoenix’s real estate market started to collapse. This was a stressful time for property owners, but it was a very convenient time for traffickers. They suddenly had a lot more options of where to do business. No longer where they just in the barrios. They moved into fancy neighborhoods too.
Last month, Capt. Fred Zumbo, with Arizona’s Dep’t. of Public Safety, busted a drop house in beautiful and affluent Chandler Heights neighborhood.
“It’s a very manicured subdivision. It had a beautiful fountain in it,” Zumbo said. “I pulled in there and I’m looking and I’m (wondering): ‘Am i in the right place?’”
Turns out, he was.
…
Haha! Leasing agents getting busted. I hope the cops shock them with their tasers.
Well, for those of you in need of a number to call for a good time, here’s one for you:
1-866-DHS-2-ICE
It’s the reporting hotline for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They will be very interested to learn about similar houses in your neighborhood, and, yes, you can remain anonymous.
Have fun!