Bits Bucket for June 25, 2011
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
November 2024 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
ahansen,
Regarding your question about Zillow, yesterday…
Yes, they have recently changed their algorithm.
“This morning, thanks to an entirely new Zestimate algorithm, we’ve expanded and improved our living database of homes….
…Our new Zestimate algorithm better takes advantage of this database and of our unique home profiles, incorporating more data points and new modeling approaches.
The new algorithm is producing Zestimates with significant improvements in accuracy. Nationally, our new median error is 8.5%. That’s 33% more accurate than what our median error with the old algorithm would be during the same time period. Several large markets — Denver, San Diego and Washington DC — have median errors under 6%.
http://www.zillow.com/blog/2011-06-14/zillow-expands-and-improves-database-of-homes/
The previous Zillow estimate for a property I’ve been tracking was a joke. The current estimate is still likely too high, but a lot closer than what Zillow was estimating prior to the change.
$230K - (Last listing price when delisted in mid-April after multiple price reductions)
$240K - current Zillow estimate
$290K - most recent Zillow estimate before the change in algorithm
In the same building, there’s another property that’s been listed at $145K since mid-December and hasn’t sold. The current Zillow estimate is $154K.
The Zestimate 30 day change on a house I’m looking at in DE is magically up $113,000 in 30 days.
Magical isn’t it? Supernatural……. Zildo is another tool co-opted by the Housing Crime Syndicate. This level of fraud and criminality is sickening.
The dishonesty and outright lies of NAR and their lying realtors is stunning.
Zillow estimates are generally pretty close in my area. Where I have seen it falling short is when a real “comp killer” (usually a REO or short sale, but not always) house comes on the market and sells. Zillow seems to treat it as an anomoly and not put much weight on it, valuing neighborhood houses the same or only marginally less than before the comp killer sold, even when the homes are practically identical. Buyers and appraisors DO pay much more attention to a comp killer - buyers because they want to match a good price and appraisors because (unlike Zillow) they are typically using only 3-4 sales for their reports, usually the most recent sales. It seems to take Zillow’s valuations a while to catch up in such instances.
Are their Zestimates still inflated relative to current market realities?
Sounds like she has a college edumacation…”could care less” “you know”
Michelle Obama: “Fortunately, We Have Help From The Media”
In an interview with CNN, First Lady Michelle Obama thanks the media for their “support” and “kindness.”
CNN reporter: “How’s the family ready for this [the election]? It’s going to be quite vicious, isn’t it? How do you prepare for that?”
First Lady Michelle Obama: “You know, it’s … we’re ready, you know. Our children, you know, could care less about what we’re doing. We work hard to do that. Fortunately, we have help from the media. I have to say this: I’m very grateful for the support and kindness that we’ve gotten. People have respected their privacy and in that way, I think, you know, no matter what people may feel about my husband’s policies or what have you, they care about children and that’s been good to see.”
wmbz’s opening line yesterday and just ’bout everyday before that:
“What a special little a-hole…”
wmbz to America’s 1st lady:
“Don’t do as I say, do as I do, …no wait,…don’t say as I do, do as I say!…no wait,…that’s the kettle calling the coal black!, …no wait,…”
The first lady thanks the media for leaving her young children alone. Is that an issue of some kind? Could you explain why you care?
Polly, You missed my point, no surprise. Of course the Obama’s and their children get preferential treatment from the media, that’s a given. The first lady is college educated yet speaks like a high school drop-out or worse.She has a poor command of the English language, and is not alone in that respect. Just another example of what our system has and is producing. To bad, she is the first lady. I wish she spoke and could relay her thoughts better than she does, but then again who cares.
I notice the mistakes made by the smart set all the time, and I never went to college.
I wish she spoke and could relay her thoughts better than she does…
Ho ho, hah hah, hehehehehehe, BwaHaHaAhHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! (Cantankerous Intellectual Bomb-thrower™)
Jeep & VA mortgage HBB banner ads, wmbz ’s lecturing on adjectives…goes good with morning coffee.
“Of course the Obama’s and their children get preferential treatment from the media, that’s a given.”
Is that from the same media that kept alive a phony birth certificate story for more than two years?
“The first lady is college educated yet speaks like a high school drop-out or worse.”
Is it possible that she was struggling to find the words to put a positive spin on something that hasn’t been very positive and could get ugly again (media coverage of the Obamas in general, not their children specifically)? Aren’t children generally less likely to be an issue when they aren’t used as props or don’t make themselves an issue through activities such as underage drinking?
As we’ve recently experienced, one can be a college graduate and still not be a skilled public speaker even after 8 years in the White House.
one can be a college graduate and still not be a skilled public speaker even after 8 years in the White House.
ziiiiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggggggggggggg….. (exeter™)
“ziiiiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggggggggggggg….. (exeter™)”
That was an easy shot to take, hanging curve ball over the middle of the plate. But the broader point is that public speaking and responding to interview questions are skills. You could probably find many highly qualified engineering graduates with very sound reasoning skills that aren’t good public speakers or don’t respond well on their feet.
The Shrub greatly preferred spending OUR money over talking.
one can be a college graduate and still not be a skilled public speaker even after 8 years in the White House.
BLAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Its a wonder she was elected first lady.
“The first lady is college educated yet speaks like a high school drop-out or worse.”
Sounds like she decided to steal a move out of W’s play book…
ISTR the media got slammed repeatedly for picking on Chelsea Clinton, so that could be part of the reason they’re giving the Obama kids a wide berth.
It could also be the age difference. There’s a big difference between high school or college age and younger. I’m not arguing that older children should be given greater scrutiny, just that younger should be more sheltered if possible. Children need time to be children, which I imagine might be more difficult if one of your parents is president of the U.S.
1 of the 2 times that I really liked President Obama was when one of his daughters sunk a hole in 1 at a miniature golf course. It was a joyful reaction that I have seen many times on many parents faces. In that moment on camera he was a dad that was having fun with and proud of his kids, and he didn’t know or care if a camera was there. There was no politics, no Dems or Repubs, no us vs. them, just a mom and dad out with their kids doing the best they could to show them a good time.
Lower Loan Limits: Let the Games Begin
By: Diana Olick CNBC Real Estate Reporter
The summer has barely started, but the fight is on against changes to loan limits that don’t take place until the first of October.
Tom Grill | Photographer’s Choice RF | Getty Images
A new study claims lowering the loan limits at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA, “will reduce housing demand and place downward pressure on home prices in major housing markets.”
Today the National Association of Home Builders released its own study claiming that lowering the loan limits at Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), “will reduce housing demand and place downward pressure on home prices in major housing markets.”
The loan limits were raised when the mortgage market crashed, investors in mortgage backed securities ran for the hills, and the government-owned entities were the only ones left writing mortgages. Originally at $417,000 for a so-called “conforming loan,” they rose to as high as $729,000 in the nation’s higher-cost markets, in order to keep mortgages moving. That will drop to $625,000 in October in those markets, with the base limit remaining at $417,000.
The builders say that homes above those limits “would likely require financing with higher mortgage interest rates and other less favorable loan terms, such as higher required down payments and more stringent credit history thresholds.”
So how many homes does that affect? According to the builders, 3.63 million owner-occupied homes now fall outside the loan limits, given their current values and an estimated 10 percent down payment (these homes aren’t necessarily for sale). This is out of a total housing stock of 75 million U.S. homes. Lower the loan limit to $625,000, and the builders say you add 1.38 million homes to that group outside of the GSE/FHA eligibility.
I spoke with one of their number crunchers and suggested that out of 75 million homes, that’s really kind of a drop in the bucket…barely 2 percent, and again, those homes aren’t necessarily even on the market. He argued that the national number doesn’t represent many big markets, like here in DC where it would be 8 percent of the housing stock. Lower limits would put 11 percent of owner-occupied homes out of conforming loan range in California.
There’s no question, today’s housing market doesn’t need any more barriers to entry, but this is a tricky one. There’s a very good reason to lower the loan limits, which is to get the government out of the housing business. Right now there is very little investor interest in mortgages, especially jumbo mortgages, with just a few jumbo securitizations this year at very low volumes.
The theory is that if you get the government out, even little by little, the investors will come back, but at what price? Comments at a recent conference of the American Securitization Forum, as reported by Inside Mortgage Finance, don’t show a whole lot of excitement or confidence in the private market coming back to non-agency mortgages.
“The summer has barely started, but the fight is on against changes to loan limits that don’t take place until the first of October.”
“That offer is now good on contracts closed by Oct. 31.”
Fannie Mae offers bonus to Realtors to drive sales of its foreclosed homes
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Federal mortgage backer Fannie Mae hopes to energize sales of its repossessed homes with a new $1,200 bonus to Realtors and an extension of closing cost help to homebuyers.
Tuesday’s announcement came as a June 30 deadline approached for homebuyers to earn up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price on a home to put toward closing costs. That offer is now good on contracts closed by Oct. 31.
If the banks couldn’t stop that swipe-fee regulation, the real estate cartel has little chance of stopping this. It’s becoming increasingly clear that a $729K house is a rich person’s house, a $625K house is a rich person’s house, and rich people don’t need any help.
Now I know this is shovel ready.
Decision to build immigration detention center in Broward dashes Glades’ hopes for jobs
By Jennifer Sorentrue Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 1:44 p.m. Friday, June 24, 2011
The federal government has tentatively agreed to build a new 1,800-bed immigration detention center in western Broward County, dashing Palm Beach County leaders’ hopes that the facility might rise in the Glades.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced Friday that they are working with the town of Southwest Ranches in western Broward County on plans for the facility.
The news marked yet another blow for the Glades region, which is already dealing with crippling unemployment levels.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/decision-to-build-immigration-detention-center-in-broward-1560092.html - -
High speed rail? Hell, no!
A new prison? That’s the kinda pork we like!
“High speed rail? Hell, no!”
How about some compromise, we could build a high speed rail from the border to the new immigration detention center.
Not to worry though, none of it will help the Glades region which is already dealing with crippling unemployment levels.
none of it will help the Glades region which is already dealing with crippling unemployment levels.
Kind of a weak excuse considering you have Jeb Shrub III jr. residing amongst the people in your state.
Why don’t they just buy up an empty condo building or two?
That’s what they’re doing in my neighborhood. Nonprofits are buying up condos at firesale prices for use by the mentally disabled, ex-cons, seniors, etc. This is in response to both the state budget constraints (state closing its facilities) and recent court rulings concerning more socially inclusive living arrangements - particularly for the mentally disabled.
“… ex-cons …”
(gulp)
We had near my neighborhood, for a while, a place where parolees would have to check in periodically, say once a week, for drug tests and so forth. While they were coming and while they were going they were constantly casing the area looking for opportunities to rob or steal.
Crime shot up until the place was shut down and moved to another neighborhood, then crime settled down to where it was at before.
Just thought I would pass this along, FWIW.
Realtors Are Liars
I hear the sound of a can being kicked a couple of months down the road.
Fannie Mae offers bonus to Realtors to drive sales of its foreclosed homes
By Kimberly Miller Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Federal mortgage backer Fannie Mae hopes to energize sales of its repossessed homes with a new $1,200 bonus to Realtors and an extension of closing cost help to homebuyers.
Tuesday’s announcement came as a June 30 deadline approached for homebuyers to earn up to 3.5 percent of the final sales price on a home to put toward closing costs. That offer is now good on contracts closed by Oct. 31.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/foreclosures/fannie-mae-offers-bonus-to-realtors-to-drive-1539588.html - 84k -
O.k. guys and gals, need advice: Pinellas County now has an online auction site and many of the listings are homes in locations that I couldn’t care less for. Long story short: in mid-July there is a house in my dream ‘hood up for auction. (Don CeSar Place, for those of you that know the area). I’d written off this ‘hood because I truly figured I’d never be able to afford to live there.
I am adept at navigating public records, but should I have someone else search title before I bid? And don’t worry, I’m confident I’ll be outbid, so I won’t be overpaying. I figure if I could buy it for $80k that would be a good deal, so it’s worth pre-registering for, IMHO.
Just a thought … go to the neighborhood and knock on a few doors and talk to people and maybe you’ll gain a bit of knowledge to add to what you need to know.
combo
Absolutely great advice for Muggy. That’s what we’re doing. We learn the natural disaster history (1994 earthquake damage-So Ca), dogs barking issues, re-zoned home (now an elderly care home-no sign of it on outside), and other goodies like neighbor issues. One house had a fire due to electrical- CLUE Report one up- affects your premium.
We did a drive-by today since it is near family (why we like the ‘hood)… total dump. Not worth it.
Muggy
One down, two dozen to go… Keep the faith! We’re in the same boat.
I’m not sweating it.
We’re in a great rental situation - other than my neighbor’s freakin’ cat, everything is great. All things considered, that’s not bad.
Muggy,
I’ve got a Level 3 sex offender a few houses up. I’d settle for the cat.
Of course, the reality is they’re both everywhere even in the “good” neighborhoods.
Hang tough.
“Of course, the reality is they’re both everywhere even in the “good” neighborhoods.”
You can’t go three blocks in any direction in my town without passing a sex offender’s registered residence, and we ARE in a “good” neighborhood and town. Population density just works against us, I guess. When I do my research on houses, I focus on avoiding residences too near pedophiles (we have a child).
I just took a looksie in our town’s data base. It appears that the bulk of them live around our little burg’s downtown area. As far as I could tell, the closest one was about 5 miles from our neighborhood.
I guess it is better here.
When I do my research on houses, I focus on avoiding residences too near pedophiles (we have a child).
Do the registrations allow you to tell the difference between a pedophile and a guy who had consensual sex with an adult woman who reported it as rape the next day due to embarrassment with her boyfriend and then tried to recant when she figured out what she’d started but it was too late?
I’m all for being able to avoid pedophiles but from what I’ve heard they all look the same in the database.
“Ahhh, there’s just one more thing…”
Goodbye Lt. Columbo:
“He looks like a flood victim,” Falk once said. “You feel sorry for him. He appears to be seeing nothing, but he’s seeing everything. Underneath his dishevelment, a good mind is at work.”
Columbo was underestimated, patronized or simply overlooked by nearly everyone he met — especially the culprit.
And yet Columbo, drawing on inner pluck for which only he (and an actor as skilled as Falk) could have accounted, always prevailed. Contrary to all evidence (that is, until he nailed the bad guy), Columbo always knew what he was doing.
Even more inspiring for viewers, he was unconcerned with how other people saw him. He seemed to be perfectly happy with himself, his life, his pet basset, Dog, his wheezing Peugeot, and his never-seen wife. A squat man chewing cigars in a rumpled raincoat, he stands tall among TV’s most self-assured heroes.
Falk was already an experienced Broadway actor and two-time Oscar nominee when he began playing Columbo. And, long before then, he had demonstrated a bit of Columbo-worthy spunk: at 3, he had one eye removed because of cancer.
Then, when he was starting as an actor in New York, an agent told him, “Of course, you won’t be able to work in movies or TV because of your eye.” And after failing a screen test at Columbia Pictures, he was told by studio boss Harry Cohn that “for the same price I can get an actor with two eyes.”
But Falk prevailed, even before “Columbo,” picking up back-to-back Oscar nominations as best supporting actor for the 1960 mob drama “Murder, Inc.” and Frank Capra’s last film, the 1961 comedy-drama “Pocketful of Miracles.”
Paying tribute, actor-comedian Michael McKean said, “Peter Falk’s assault on conventional stardom went like this: You’re not conventionally handsome, you’re missing an eye and you have a speech impediment. Should you become a movie star? Peter’s correct answer: Absolutely.
I really like Peter Falk, but had he not portrayed Columbo I think a lot fewer people would have heard of him.
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Saturday he remained committed to working with Congress to find a solution to the government’s debt problem, but the focus could not only be on spending cuts.
Obama’s comments come as the president prepared to meet separately with Senate Democratic and Republican leaders on Monday to attempt to revive negotiations that collapsed on Thursday when Republicans walked out over Democrats’ demands for tax hikes.
“Of course, there’s been a real debate about where to invest and where to cut, and I’m committed to working with members of both parties to cut our deficits and debt,” Obama said in his weekly radio address.
“But we can’t simply cut our way to prosperity,” he added.
QE2 was supposed to turn things around for the middle class and provide the poor with a nice little prosperity boomlet. Instead the poor are competing with many of their middle class neighbors for jobs and food stamps.
If the latest reports are any indication, there isn’t much chance things will improve any time soon.
Here’s the ugly truth:
Townhall.com
The Fed is winding down Ben Bernanke’s experiment in money printing called “QE2″. He trumpets his success saying that QE2 has pointed the U.S. economy “in the right direction.” But did it really? It turns out that QE2 has created maybe 700,000 full-time jobs, but at a cost of about $850,000 for each job.
All QE2 did was create a boom in the stock market. Wall Street bankers reaped millions while the average investors barely made back some small amount of the money that they lost during the 2008 crash.
Thelma and Louise
Obama: Are you sure we should be printing and spending like this, I mean in broad daylight and everything?
Bernanke: No we shouldn’t, but I want to put some distance between us and the scene of our last goddamn crime. »
Obama: But, umm, I don’t know, you know, something’s, like, crossed over in me and I can’t go back, I mean I just couldn’t live.
Bernanke: I know, I know what you mean. Anyway, don’t wanna end up on the damned Geraldo show. »
Obama: I don’t ever remember feeling this awake. »
Bernanke: I know it’s crazy, but I just feel like I got a knack for this sh#t.
Obama: I believe you do. »
Bernanke: I’ve had it up to my @ss with sedate. »
Obama: OK, then listen, let’s not stop.
Bernanke: What’re you talking about?
Obama: Let’s keep on going.
Bernanke: What do you mean?
Obama: Go.
Bernanke: You sure?
Obama: Yeah, yeah. Let’s. » QE3eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Obama wants to invest money that doesn’t exist.
Money generally only exists by agreement between buyer and seller, as encouraged and backed by fiat.
“Obama wants to invest money that doesn’t exist.”
Helicopter Ben can solve that with a few keystrokes.
But the government can’t get at it unless the debt ceiling is raised.
Obama is only doing what Reagan did. Except, Obama’s not allowed to charge “insane” Reagan taxes.
Proposed California High Speed Rail Route Cuts Through Farms to Protect Birds | FoxNews.com
The California High Speed Rail Authority is considering a new route for its cross-state system that will literally split farms in two, to avoid a bird sanctuary.
Mike Monteiro, owner of the Lakeside Dairy in Hanford, which is just about three miles down the road from the sanctuary, said he learned of the plan only through a concerned neighbor who warned that draft rail routes would split his land apart.
“It’s amazing to me that they’ve moved this rail across this farmland without any input from me or any of my neighbors on the impact that it’s going to have on my dairy,” said Monteiro, who owns 7,000 cattle on his thousand-acre farm. He’s certain that his business will be dramatically affected.
“The fact that I have three dairy operations that are going to be half on one side and half on the other (of the tracks), the transfer here on a daily basis is just going to be absolutely miserable for us,” he said.
Earlier projected maps showed two different alignments going through the Tulare Lake Bed, a wetlands-like region that attracts 200 species of birds, including waterfowl, gulls and shorebirds. Parts of the 1,300-acre region, maintained by the Kaweah Delta Water Conservation District (KDWCD), Corcoran Irrigation District and Central Valley Flood Protection Board provide a habitat for the birds and are recommended for protection by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services.
on his thousand-acre farm.
“It’s amazing to me that they’ve moved this rail across this farmland without any input from me or any of my neighbors on the impact that it’s going to have on my dairy,”
x1 of Hwy’s Uncle in Kansas had his 160 acre farm split for a State Hwy. They built an underpass for him to get to his pasture.
But vait, there more:
(They goofed up on the width, std. tractor wheelbase was wider than the reinforced cement support angles they installed. The State refused to modify it. They got sued. The State losing to a jury of my Uncle’s peers added a tremendous amount to his retirement fund$)
With 7,000 cattle, Mike is going to need more than one underpass.
There’s a price to be paid being…big. Mega Inc.?, well that’s an entirely different $it-u-A$hun.
I get that tractor can’t just drive over a state highway if you assume that there will be cars on it frequently and side rails and all that sort of stuff. But why can’t cows walk over railroad tracks?
Maybe the trains will be going 200MPH can you say massive road kill and a derailment and massive human injuries?
why can’t cows walk over railroad tracks?
It’s a timing issue: Velocity of 286 mph train…verses…ability of curd chewing cows to get sudden motivation to move off the rails, quickly.
Soaring Silver Price Slows Transition to Solar Energy
By Ehren Goossens - Jun 23, 2011
Silver Surge Makes ‘Headwind’ for Solar in Fossil Fuel Rival
The surge in silver prices is squeezing margins for most solar companies, according to research by Barclays Capital.
A typical solar cell uses 0.10 grams of silver for each watt of generating capacity. That amounts to about 20 grams in a 200-watt panel, adding $23.52 to the cost of each panel, according to New Energy Finance.
Soaring silver prices are hampering the solar industry’s ability to compete with fossil fuels.
Panel makers consume about 11 percent of the world’s supply of silver, the material in solar cells that conducts electricity. The metal has appreciated 74 percent to $35.30 a troy ounce on average so far this year from $20.24 last year.
Prices for solar cells have dropped about 27 percent this year and would be even lower if each panel didn’t require about 20 grams of silver, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. That’s pushing back the date when companies such as Solarworld AG (SWV) and LDK Solar Co. can deliver solar power at prices that are competitive with traditional energy.
“Global silver prices have gone up a lot, and solar cells use silver paste as the front-side contact material,” Shawn Qu, chief executive of Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ), which is based in China, said in an interview. “The increase of the silver costs will give us a challenge in efforts to reduce solar cell costs.”
Prices for photovoltaic solar panels were $1.49 a watt in June, compared with about $1.80 in January, New Energy Finance estimates, as manufacturers especially in China raised production and incentives were trimmed in Europe.
This helps make the case for those arguing it would be difficult to scale up alternatives to fossil fuels due to resource constraints on inputs to those alternatives.
Not really. Price per watt is still dropping like a rock.
Also, silver isn’t the only way to make photovoltaics.
Comment by aNYCdj
2011-06-24 13:45:40
Wmbz :
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - All eight suspects are in custody after a brutal attack in Five Points early Monday morning which left the teenage victim in critical condition, according to Columbia police.
http://www.wistv.com/Global/story.asp?S=14965429
~ aHYdj Black on white crime gets little attention, a group of racist blacks beat a white kid damn near to death, the media don’t report race. They call them youths, and usually “misguided”. Sad how society views this stuff, happens more than is ever reported. But that’s OK we “feel” good about our selves.
It will be interesting to see if the charge of “hate crime” is added. Do you think that’s likely to happen? Do you think it should be applied? Why or why not?
Yes, the “hate” part should be added to the charges, but I think that is unlikely. Unfortunately when the system applies the “hate crime” charge it is inevitably in cases of white on minority abuse.
The area where this ruthless beating took place is adjacent to the University campus and just mere blocks away from some of the wealthiest citizens in Columbia. It is also an enclave for some very,very, liberal people, who cower in fear that they may be called the over played term “racist”. A bunch of spineless wimps who live in large homes and believe they are smarter than everyone else, and it’s beneath them to have to deal these kind of problems.
The term is “limousine liberal.”
The U.S. government has said that cyber-attacks may be considered acts of war
Reckon these folks have a Gaddafi & Bin Laden Inc. “Indemnity Insurance” policy.
LulzSec Hacks Arizona State Police, Posts Officer Info:
By Jared Newman, PCWorld
“We are releasing hundreds of private intelligence bulletins, training manuals, personal email correspondence, names, phone numbers, addresses and passwords belonging to Arizona law enforcement,” LulzSec said in a statement. “We are targeting AZDPS specifically because we are against SB1070 and the racial profiling anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona.”
Earlier attacks focused on game companies and news organizations.
I don’t Facebook or Twitter, never will. I have better things to do with my time. Apparently a whole lot of folks think differently, big money in wasting time.
~ “Facebook and Twitter have not yet gone public. But secondary market trading suggests that Facebook would fetch a price of more than $75 billion and Twitter as much as $8 billion. As for their real value to the human race, they’re probably not worth a damn.”
~ Bill Bonner
“As I said to PB on another thread, make soemthing special and people will clamor to buy it.
The specialness doesn’t have to be rational - in fact it is better is the specialness is irrational.
If the specialness was connected to rationality then it could be measured. If it could be measured then it could be determined to be priced correctly or priced incorrectly, over priced or under priced, over-valued or under-valued. But if the specialness cannot be measured then there is no such thing as over-priced or under-priced, over-valued or under-valued.
If price is disconnected from value then price and value become the same thing.
Stupid is as stupid buys.
Hackers Caused $2.7 Million of Citi Card Losses
~ Bloomberg
Citigroup Inc. the third-largest U.S. bank, said about 3,400 customers lost about $2.7 million when their credit-card information was breached by hackers earlier this year.
The customers will be reimbursed, Sean Kevelighan, a spokesman for the New York-based bank, said in a phone interview today. It’s the first public acknowledgement by Citigroup that the incident resulted in any financial losses.
Citigroup said earlier this month more than 360,000 credit- card accounts, or 1.5 percent of the bank’s total in North America, may have been compromised by hackers in May. The Wall Street Journal reported the amount of the loss earlier today.
“Citi immediately rectified the data breach upon discovery, while also placing internal fraud alerts and monitoring on all accounts at risk,” Kevelighan said in an e- mail earlier this month. “Simultaneously, we began analysis to determine the precise accounts and type of information accessed.”
2.7 million? How long does it take for current customers to default that much? A few hours?
I was just Googling around on an unrelated topic, and accidentally stumbled on this pearl of a “prediction” from the bond pimp people. How’d that work out for them?
“The bond traders at Pimco don’t think home prices will collapse, well, outside of a few overheated markets, they think shrinking housing profits will have far-flung economic consequences. A recent economic outlook by Pimco’s chief business-climate watcher, Paul McCulley, essentially said housing will drive the national picture.”
Here is one of the many interesting posts from that thread which gives insight to the sense many HBB posters had that a turning point was at hand.
I wonder whatever happened to the “Auction Heaven in ‘07″ fellow? It seems his timing was off by quite a few years…
Comment by Auction Heaven in ‘07
2006-03-21 18:51:56
ABC News just blew my mind.
Everything we’ve been talking about here…finally ended up there.
They talked about ARM Resets, foreclosures doubling, etc.
It’s a series, everyone. That means it will be on again tomorrow night!
AND IT’S CALLED ‘THE HOUSING BUBBLE- BOOM OR BUST’!
IS IT CHRISTMAS ALREADY!
YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!
Planes used to fly banners over the Gulf beaches that said things like, “Drink this beer!”
Today the plane’s banner red, “Wachovia is now Wells Fargo.”
Just what I want to see at the beach, airplane banners for financial services companies. So much for the days when those banners were for things you might use or do at the beach. Better still would be days at the beach without such advertising at all.
red=read
I have found as I get older I make more of these phonetic typos. When we had our second kid my brain went sideways. I can only do 7 things at a time.
“When we had our second kid my brain went sideways. I can only do 7 things at a time.”
Well, you’re doing better than I did, Muggy! I felt like I was down to just one brain cell after just my first (at least until she started sleeping through the night). And most of the time that single brain cell was marveling over how the state could let new parents keep their drivers licenses (at least until that sleeping through the night thing started happening). Multitasking? Fuggetaboutit.
Detroit schools budget calls for 10-pct. pay cut
Associated Press
DETROIT — Expenses in the financially struggling Detroit Public Schools would be cut by about $230 million with 853 jobs axed and employees forced to take a 10-percent pay cut under a $1.2 billion budget proposed by the district’s state-appointed emergency financial manager.
A draft of the budget was released Thursday. It also calls for $200 million to be lopped off the district’s $327 million budget deficit through the sale of long-term bonds. Another $48 million in purchased and contracted service cuts also are planned.
The district has about 4,400 teachers, and financial manager Roy Roberts has said most of their jobs will be spared.
But across-the-board job cuts will include school administrators, clerical and professional staff, counselors, teacher aides and central office supervisors.
“This budget will require us to live within our means while supporting the educational plan that’s been put in place,” Roberts said in a news release. “We must elevate the schools in terms of academics, performance and providing a safe environment for children. We have to build a first-rate system of schools that parents choose to send their children to.”
“We have to build a first-rate system of schools that parents choose to send their children to.”
A preposition is something you should never end a sentence with, unless you’re a financial manager for a school district?
How is taking out bonds living within your means?
Ill still say all they need to do is demand students read, write and speak English. then cuts don’t matter if you can read the New York Times with your HS diploma
Lets get down to business……
Housing prices are grossly inflated. Repeat: Housing prices are grossly inflated.
Why buy today when you can buy later for 50% less?
Do you have any insight regarding realtors that you’d be willing to share?
Do you have any insight regarding realtors that you’d be willing to share?
Big Lat Lucking Fiars!
why….. why indeed I do.
..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Are you aware that Realtors Are Liars?
The WSJ writers seem to be confusing the effect on mortgage loan application rejections of a failure of used home sellers to find buyers at prices not supported by current market realities with the effect of a reversion to prudent lending standards. Until sellers (and buyers, for that matter) get a clue about what is affordable and what isn’t under post-housing-bubble collapse economic reality and price their homes for sale accordingly, I expect mortgage loan applications will continue to be rejected at “higher than expected” rates.
The way things are currently headed, this adjustment could play out for decades, just as it did in Japan.
As for the notion that easy lending standards offer a near-term solution, I refer you to my comment on the Economic Disaster thread about how to get out of a hole.
REAL ESTATE
JUNE 25, 2011
Tighter Lending Crimps Housing
By NICK TIMIRAOS And MAURICE TAMMAN
The percentage of mortgage applications rejected by the nation’s largest lenders increased last year, spotlighting how banks’ cautious lending practices are hampering the nascent housing market recovery.
In all, the nation’s 10 largest mortgage lenders denied 26.8% of loan applications in 2010, an increase from 23.5% in 2009, according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal of mortgage data filed with banking regulators.
Although lenders were expected to pull back from the freewheeling conditions that helped inflate the housing bubble, some economists argue they are now too conservative, and say that with the U.S. economy still wobbly, mortgages need to be easier to obtain for qualified borrowers, not harder.
“As the noose on credit availability tightens, credit is being choked off at a time when the housing market is extremely fragile,” says Laurie Goodman, senior managing director at Amherst Securities Group LP.
…
One could argue that since housing prices are still inflated and borrowers future incomes are far from certain (especially on the upside), that lending standards should be much tighter than they currently are.
Quoting further from the article, some MSM-favored experts concur:
…
Christopher Thornberg, a housing economist at Beacon Economics in Los Angeles, counters that “banks are doing what they need to do” to change lending standards in the wake of a “crazy bubble. ”
He adds, “You had decades where credit standards were tougher than they are even now.”
Among the would-be borrowers having a harder time are those who have seen their incomes fall or interrupted by a period of unemployment, scenarios that have become increasingly common in recent years. Some self-employed applicants are also hitting barriers to loans—hurdles they didn’t face in the past.
Lending standards are still tight in part because government entities Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration, which collectively account for more than nine in 10 loans being made today, are under heavy pressure to avoid any losses.
Those firms don’t make loans directly but instead purchase or guarantee mortgages that meet their standards, and so have significant influence over which loans banks are willing to approve.
…
Fannie Mae, for its part, says tighter loan restrictions, while painful for the housing market, are necessary to correct past excesses.
“Clearly we got too loose. This is a return to historical standards,” says Doug Duncan, Fannie’s chief economist. “When markets were stable and these standards were applied, you didn’t hear the same complaints.”
…
“As the noose on credit availability tightens, credit is being choked off at a time when the housing market is extremely fragile,”
Laurie, it just seems like credit is at fault, when in fact the problem is stubborn sellers who refuse to lower their asking prices to levels where buyers can afford the purchase. It’s not a problem of liquidity or credit availability; it’s an uncured irrational exuberance problem.
Hey PB, gotta give her kudos for associating “noose and credit.” That’s exactly what a loan feels like to a responsible borrower.
“That’s exactly what a loan feels like to a responsible borrower.”
At least to one who overpaid for the asset the loan was used to purchase.
By contrast, the noose was loose on our last home loan — cheaper than renting a comparable place, in fact.
mortgages need to be easier to obtain for qualified borrowers, not harder.
If you believed that, you’d be calling for home prices to come down. That would make mortgages easier to qualify for.
CHICAGO (WLS) - Chicago’s new top cop says the accessibility to firearms in America is an extension “of government-sponsored racism” that goes back to the days of slavery and Jim Crow.
Speaking to parishoners at St. Sabina Church earlier this month, Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy took to the microphone after Father Michael Pfleger spoke about gun control.
McCarthy said the topic of race is a sensitive issue “because everybody’s afraid of race” but that he wasn’t afraid to broach the subject.
“So here’s what I want to tell you. See, let’s see if we can make a connection here. Slavery. Segregation. Black codes. Jim Crow. What, what did they all have in common? Anybody getting’ scared? Government sponsored racism.”
“Now I want you to connect one more dot on that chain of the African American history in this country, and tell me if I’m crazy. Federal gun laws that facilitate the flow of illegal firearms, into our urban centers across this country, that are killing our black and brown children,” he said.
Weren’t significant chunks of early gun control legislation intended to prevent black people from being able to defend themselves with guns?
I do not know the answer to your question. I have never read much about gun control legislation, in regards to the past. I do know one thing though, no matter what color I am, I will always have a gun. The law be damned.
Friend of mine just bought a house in Lake Worth Fl. for $54k that was built in 06 and sold for $267k brand new. I told him not to scrimp on the gun he was going to have to purchase.
Four men charged with murder of missing West Palm Beach man
By Jason Schultz
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 2:43 p.m. Saturday, June 25, 2011
Four men are in jail this weekend after being charged with the murder of a West Palm Beach man missing for more than a week.
Pedro Roman, Matthew Heinly, Sean Wilson and Andre Banks were arrested Friday night by West Palm Beach police on first degree murder and vehicle theft charges in connection with the death of 45-year-old Timothy Bell, said West Palm Beach City Clerk Joanna Sharp.
Police have not recovered Bell’s body, but he was reported missing June 13 from his home on Gardenia Street. Sharp said police are still trying to determine the motive for the slaying. She said a friend of Bell provided information to police that led them to the four suspects. Officers also got tips from friends and neighbors about Bell’s typically very structured daily schedule that helped them piece together the last places Bell was seen alive.
All four men have the same registered address as Bell and all four have been booked into the Palm Beach County Jail.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/four-men-charged-with-murder-of-missing-west-1562081.html - -
Carl, no. You’re thinking of Planned Parenthood.
“Chicago’s new top cop says the accessibility to firearms in America is an extension “of government-sponsored racism” that goes back to the days of slavery and Jim Crow.”
Say what?!
Holy moly, the man is a whack case!
Charitable nursery to close its doors
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) — A South Florida nursery rooted in the community for a generation, helping countless of needy citizens, has no choice but to close its doors.. barring a last-ditch push for donations.
The Sunrise Community Log Cabin Nursery has been a Miami Beach fixture for decades, but now budget cuts are forcing its closure.
If you have driven along Collins Avenue in Miami Beach, you have probably seen its sign. Now you will see a sign announcing a going-out-of-business sale instead. Executive Director Jorge Viega said, “We took over and tried to make a go of it, but unfortunately we’ve been operating at a deficit for five-plus years. It’s time to call it quits.”
However, the community will not just lose a plant nursery, it will also lose something far more valuable. “Sunrise is an agency that provides services and support to people with developmental disabilities,” noted Viega.
The property was donated by the City of Miami Beach in the 1970s under the condition it be run as an adult-education center. Since then, it has been giving job skills and work experience to the developmentally disabled. “It gives them the opportunity of meaningful employment, earning money, so they can use it in their personal lives in the community,” Viega said.
Proceeds from sales at the nursery go to the program, but now that state and federal funding has been eliminated, they can no longer go on. “I wish it would stay open to Saturday,” said William, one of the nursery’s employees. “I work on Saturday.”
Fraud, Anyone? Another Type of Mortgage Document Fabrication Finally Getting Attention
One of the strongest testaments to the severity of the mortgage mess is the use of document fabrication as a remedy to otherwise insoluble problems. Although the business has now been shut down, the firm DocX, which was a subsidiary of Lender Processing Services, had a notorious price sheet that showed the comparatively modest fees it charged for creating, as in fabricating, documents out of whole cloth. Foreclosure defense attorneys reacted strongly to the publication of this information. The price sheets contained codes, and they had repeatedly seen these very same codes on foreclosure related documents and had wondered what they meant.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/06/fraud-anyone-another-type-of-mortgage-document-fabrication-finally-getting-attention.html
Well, MERSy, MERSy me…
“…and had wondered what they meant.”
The good news for this kook is that he is receiving his medical care in Cuba. According to Mike Moore it’s some of the best in the world.Wonder why he did not stay in Venezuela? Surely they have some excellent docs there.
Report: Hugo Chávez in Critical Condition In Cuban Hospital
| Fox News Latino
Hugo Chávez extended stay in a Cuban hospital is because he is in critical condition, according to a report in El Nuevo Herald.
The Venezuelan president, who was last seen in public June 9 and last heard from on June 12, on a phone call with Venezuelan state television, was said to have been treated for a pelvic abscess in Cuba.
During the call Chávez said that medical tests showed no sign of any “malignant” illness.
But according to the report in El Nuevo Herald, Chávez finds himself in “critical condition, not grave, but critical, in a complicated situation.”
The Miami newspaper cited U.S. intelligence officials who wished to remain anonymous.
Chávez silence has led to chatter and speculation in Venezuela that the socialist leader is actually suffering from prostate cancer. Intelligence officials could not confirm a diagnosis of prostate cancer but Chávez family did go to Cuba in the last 72 hours, according to wire service EFE.
Chávez daughter Rosinés and his mother Marisabel Rodríguez “urgently” left the country and headed to Cuba in a Venezuelan air force plane.
in a Venezuelan air force plane.
Talk about piling on the risk factors.
How could Goldman-Sucks have been wrong?
Forecasts for Growth Drop, Some Sharply
Saturday, 25 Jun 2011 | The New York Times
A drumbeat of disappointing data about consumer behavior, factory sales and weak hiring in recent weeks has prompted economists to ratchet down their 2011 economic forecasts to as little as half what they expected at the beginning of the year.
Two months ago, Goldman Sachs projected that the economy would grow at a 4 percent annual rate in the quarter ending in June. The company now expects the government to report no more than 2 percent growth when data for the second quarter is released in a few weeks.
Macroeconomic Advisers, a research firm, projected 3.5 percent growth back in April and is now down to just 2.1 percent for this quarter.
Both these firms, well respected in their analysis, have cut their forecasts for the second half of the year as well. Then this week, the Federal Reserve downgraded its projections for the full year, to under 3 percent growth. It started the year with guidance as high as 3.9 percent.
Two years into the official recovery, the economy is still behaving like a plane taxiing indefinitely on the runway. Few economists are predicting an out-and-out return to recession, but the risk has increased, with the health of the American economy depending in part on what is really “transitory.”
During the first press conference in the central bank’s history two months ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke used the word to describe factors — including supply chain disruptions after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and rising oil prices — that were restraining economic growth in the first half of the year.
Earlier this week, Mr. Bernanke confessed that “some of these headwinds may be stronger and more persistent than we thought,” adding, “we don’t have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting.”
“we don have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting.”
Lol.
Ben B. should be doing stand up.
Two years into the official recovery, the economy is still behaving like a plane taxiing indefinitely on the runway.
I’m thinking more like one of those planes pushed off from the gate but sitting with no A/C for a few hours in the desert sun while the passengers contemplate mutiny.
I’ve been on one of those flights — from Ontario, CA to Las Vegas, on a day when the thermometer was over 100 degrees F in both places. We sat endlessly on the runway in Ontario; thought I was going to sweat to death before they finally got the thing back in the air.
DeVry Cuts 135 Phoenix Staff, Says Campus Enrollment Is Up
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- DeVry Inc. has cut 135 positions at its Phoenix office, a move the company said is necessary to make room for increasing enrollment at its Chamberlain College of Nursing.
The company is trimming the staff from its online services operation, transferring those jobs to existing facilities in Orlando and Chicago, spokesman Ernest Gibble said via email. The affected employees will be allowed to apply for positions at other DeVry institutions in Phoenix, or the other online- services locations.
As of June 30 of last year, the latest figure available, DeVry had 12,117 full- and part-time employees company-wide, according to a securities filing.
While many for-profit colleges are seeing new-student enrollment tumble amid heightened public scrutiny and tighter admissions standards, DeVry’s diverse course offerings have shielded it from some of the losses. DeVry’sPhoenix campus includes its namesake DeVry University, Chamberlain, and Carrington College.
For the spring term, new undergraduate-student enrollment fell 15.4% across all of DeVry University’s locations, but Chamberlain saw its roster of new students jump 31.5% from the prior year. New-student enrollment fell 22.7% at Carrington.
A transfer from sunny Phoenix to humid or snowy Chicago?
More customers yet less staff?
That makes about as much sense as a bicycle for fish.
Pray tell, wonder if this will work?
-The Great Correction is taking on biblical proportions.
~Clipped from The 5Min Forecast~
Folks in Harrisburg, Pa., will conclude three days of prayer and fasting shortly after this issue hits your inbox. Their objective: Divine intervention to prevent the city government from going bankrupt.
Yes, it’s come to this — a prayer vigil led by “more than a dozen” interdenominational religious leaders in the Pennsylvania state capital, population 50,000.
“We recognize that the answers to the city’s and our region’s problems and issues will not be found in the wisdom or ability of man,” says Pastor Herb Stoner of Christ Community Church of Camp Hill. “Therefore, united, we turn our hearts to God.”
Of course, it was the hubris of man that got Harrisburg into this fix. The city guaranteed funding for an incinerator project. Now it’s on the hook for $300 million it doesn’t have… and city leaders are counting on God for a bailout.
Putting it all in God’s hands, while washing her own
“Things that are above and beyond my control, I need God,” says Harrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson. “I depend on him for guidance. Spiritual guidance… I am open about my faith and will be participating in the voluntary prayer and fast.”
Naturally, this has drawn protest from groups like American Atheists and Pennsylvania Nonbelievers, who showed up to protest today. Presumably, they don’t intend to sue for damages, knowing they’d end up standing in a very long line of city creditors.
Pastor Herb Stoner
wait…what kind of church is this?? lol
Hey Linda, you might find that you cannot turn the laws of the universe off and on when it suits you. Might have been a good idea to check them before taking on $300M debt!
Debt is slavery. Proverbs 22:7
BOOSTER SHOTS: ODDITIES, MUSINGS AND NEWS FROM THE HEALTH WORLD
Is BCG a cure for diabetes? The long road to acceptance
By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times/For the Booster Shots blog
June 25, 2011
Faustman had great difficulty obtaining research funds because her ideas were so contrary to the prevailing wisdom.
One person who believed in her, however, was Lee A. Iacocca, the former chief of Chrysler Corp., whose wife Mary died of diabetes. Iacocca wrote her a check for $1 million and by 2006, his Iacocca Family Foundation had raised more than $11 million for her research.
Researchers have always assumed that insulin-secreting cells could never be regenerated. Once they are gone, they are gone forever, the theory held
Link, please -
Off-Balance-Sheet Loans Double, Boosting Bank Default Risk: China Credit
2011-06-25
While global financial regulators are requiring more transparency and the People’s Bank of China restricts credit to cool inflation, lenders have increased the off-balance sheet loans by 110 percent, central bank data show. Credit-default swaps on Bank of China Ltd. are on course for their biggest monthly rise since October 2008 and are the most expensive since May 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The so-called entrusted loans are kept off balance sheets because the bank acts as the middleman, with no direct credit risk. The financial institution is still vulnerable should the final borrower trigger a chain of defaults. Companies are charging firms interest of as much as 21 percent, three times higher than the benchmark one-year lending rate of 6.31 percent, stock exchange filings show.
“Some of the borrowers with low credit quality, which can never or should never get bank credit, get levered through entrusted loans, which increases the overall leverage of the economy,” said Winnie Wu, an analyst at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong. “If there is a credit downturn or liquidity crunch those things could easily go bust, and the effect will come back to haunt the banking system.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-23/off-balance-sheet-loans-double-boosting-bank-default-risk-china-credit.html
101 cast members of “Wassup wi dat”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blotter - 42k -
Pact’s rejection frays the bonds between organized labor and Democrats
Brian Lockhart, Staff Writer
Updated 04:39 p.m., Saturday, June 25, 2011
Can organized labor ever push its Democratic allies too far? Connecticut may be on the verge of finding out.
Last week’s defeat of a $1.6 billion concessions package Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislative leaders were counting on to balance the state’s two-year budget is straining Democrats’ relationship with their union base.
“It was just incredibly stupid to vote `no,’ ” said veteran Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, who has praised state workers for past givebacks that others have criticized as too little. “I’m viscerally angry at the situation … They’ve been so helpful in the past in stepping up when we’ve had significant economic and fiscal problems. I expected them to do the same.”
The clearest evidence of a growing rift came Friday when the office of Sen. President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, released an email advising Democratic senators to return to the Capitol this week for a special session to plug the $1.6 billion budget hole.
“The failure to ratify by state employees does more harm to them and the cause of labor than anything their enemies could possibly achieve,” Williams wrote. “It’s unbelievable that they don’t understand that.”
And Malloy, who owes his November election to labor and has prided himself on winning concessions without going to war with state workers, was declining further negotiations Friday and promising to immediately lay off 7,500 state employees.
Read more: http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Pact-s-rejection-frays-the-bonds-between-1440036.php#ixzz1QKkajWaN
No money means there is no money, as in:
It is what it is.
And there is more to come.
(Ummmm… cash … ummmm)
Live And Let Die lyrics
Songwriters: Mccartney, Linda; Mccartney, Paul;
jeff saturday;
When you were young
And your heart was an open book
You used to say, “Live and let live”
(You know you did, you know you did, you know you did)
But if this ever-changing world in which we live in
Makes you give in and cry
Say live and refi
Live and refi
Live and refi
Live and refi
What does it matter to ya, when you’ve got a loan to get, you`ll pay it when you sell
If not you tell the bank to go to Helllllllll
So live and refi
Live and refi
Live and refi
Live and refi
Are the CAR (Used Home Salespeople of California) too dense to realize that artificially high prices hurt home sales, lower home sales hurt California used home salespeople, and a flufferluffagus conforming loan limit helps keep home prices artificially high?
By contrast, lower (= more affordable) California home prices would increase the number of sales and hence Used Home Seller fees. Used home sales people seem to have a hard time conceptualizing lower prices coupled with higher transaction volumes and more fee revenues paid to used home sales people. Lower home prices are your friends, fools!
Published: June 23, 2011
Updated: 4:31 p.m.
Realtors: Loan limit would hurt home sales
By MARILYN KALFUS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
If conforming loan limits drop in October, more than 30,000 families in California will have to deal with higher down payments and mortgage rates and tougher loan qualification rules, the California Association of Realtors said today..Unless Congress steps in, the limit will drop to $625,500 from $729,950 for most places on Oct. 1. The limit establishes the maximum mortgage amount the Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can buy or guarantee.
In Orange County, where the conforming loan maximum is $729,750, 13.3% of home sales would be ineligible under FHA-backed loans by C.A.R.’s calculations, and 6.2% of home sales with loans sponsored by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be nixed.
“Non-conforming or jumbo loans typically carry a higher mortgage interest rate than a conforming loan and require a higher down payment, increasing the monthly payment and negatively impacting housing affordability for California home buyers,” C.A.R. said in a news release.
…