Bits Bucket for July 3, 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.
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Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
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I am visiting a friend who bought a new home a few years ago. Well it turns out to be a KB Home. I didn’t say anything because I know she is financially stressed out already, with business being slow, but I have never seen worse construction. Many walls are bowed, the cabinets appear to be falling off the wall, the doors are not hung property, there are holes in the sheet rock where leaking pipes were fixed, the siding appears hung improperly, the walls are paper thin with no noise insulation. I think I got up so early because I’m scared it will fall down on me. I can’t imagine what this place will look like in 10 years, and don’t believe that it is anyone’s best interest, and likely impossible in any event, for it to be standing in 25 years. Why is KB Homes still in business?
You didn’t need to say anything. You should’ve have just showed up in your Ferrari with two very nice bottles of wine, and dropped hints about the “pride of home pawnership”.
What’s wrong with you people? Can’t even do the basics correctly!
Tsk. Tsk.
Friends don’t let friends buy KB homes.
Thank you for the observations. The more of this I see, the more I am convinced that I want a small tract home that was built a long time ago, by evil union labor. The townhouse I live in was built in 1960. It’s not the greatest construction, but it’s not cheapa$$. A couple things are off square and it needs lots of cosmetic work (flooring, windows, maybe new drywall from 50 years of renters nailing holes and repainting), but the bones are okay.
We’ve all seen video clips of city officials blowing up the old inner-city Projects. Even after the poor trashed those places as well as they could, they still needed dynamite to bring them down. These new buildings will fall down of themselves.
Signs of a perfect FB:
“bought a home a few years ago” (near the peak of the mania)
“a KB home”
“financially stressed out already with business being slow”
She is a an ideal candidate to be jacked furthur becasue she has proven that:
1. She will fall for anything and
2. She is financially stressed.
This is a terrible combination from her point of view but an ideal combination from the point of view of the gangs of huksters that are running about promising hope to the hopeless.
It’s just a matter of who gets to her next.
3. She trusted an emphatic female realtor who had “researched” this “investment” and determined that “there’s never been a better time to buy” or she would be “priced out of the market forever.”
Fools can only learn the hard way.
“Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.”
Benjamin Franklin
Have a great Independence Day weekend ya’ll.
It’s not just the desperate. It’s everyone.
I know this young-ish couple. Just had a kid. The guy’s career is on the rise. Not spectacularly but not to be ignored either.
Predictably, they are worried about being “priced out”, and you just think, if you are “priced out”, who exactly is “priced in”?
They quite literally can’t do the math which is ironic since he works in Finance.
You just have to sit there wondering what they are thinking.
Oh well! At least, they pour good wine.
“You just have to wonder what they are thinking.”
Thinking went the way of sound bites just as listening has.
Anymore if a thought needs to be extended beyond one engram then it becomes lost.
Or maybe she trusted a man, Sammy. Maybe, just maybe, this thing has been caused by the large group of MEN in charge of offshoring, Federal Reserving, and political corruption in general. Could it be that a female character on a commercial is not actually the best target for your anger? Or is it just easier for you to pick on girls?
Yes, maybe she trusted a man. Although females seem over-represented in the realtor biz, especially when a female buyer is the “client.” And yes, the plutocrats and their Republicrat hirelings who created the housing bubble are overwhelmingly men, as I believe we have BOTH pointed out numerous times. That doesn’t mean I’m going to give a pass to females who didn’t do a proper due dilligence when buying a house, or dissembling realtors who often established a false “empathy” with their female marks, sorry, clients. I’m not “angry” at foolish or irresponsible buyers; I just refuse to see them as “victims.” Leave it to you to drag man-hating vitriol into every discussion here.
Sammy:
Your woman-hating vitriol is not welcome here. Go to the man’s site or whatever if you want to dredge up commercial actresses and use them as excuses to tarnish “females”. We are called “women”, by the way. As in “human”. As in “your mom”.
Big V,
You don’t need to answer this, but have you ever been involuntary referred for a mental health intervention? Because you seem to manifest some rather obvious paranoid delusional tendencies and a tenuous grip on reality.
No Sam, I have not. Please do not expect the women of the world to accomodate your mancentric invective. That commercial hasn’t even been played on air in AGES, yet you are still talking about it like it’s more proof for your theory that “women are responsible for the housing bubble”. They aren’t.
it’s more proof for your theory that “women are responsible for the housing bubble”.
First, as I’ve made clear to anyone who doesn’t see EVERYTHING through man-hater goggles, there is plenty of blame to go around for the housing bubble, from the bankers right on down to the FBs who signed their names on mortgages they couldn’t afford. Male, female, rich, poor, the responsibility is spread out very wide and very deep. Yes, sucubus wives who badgered their husbands into making unsound financial choices based on emotion and entitlement, rather than logic, were doubtless part of the equation. As were husbands who failed in their duties as husbands and fathers and walked out on vows and obligations they’d promised to honor.
Second, and more importantly, you need to run and fetch me a beer. Don’t make me snap my fingers again.
Was the researching realtor’s name Suzanne, perchance?
The TV Commercial That Burst The Housing Bubble
Dave Dugdale
Careful, Bear. Big V is going to accuse you of being a woman-hater for calling attention to the infamous Suzanne.
LMAO! That narration was AWESOME!
Why is KB Homes still in business?
Well the executives still can get a big paycheck each week, when that runs out they will fold. Extend and pretend!
I know KB has been selling homes in San Diego since the 80’s. I suspect that while their quality was never great that it took a nose dive during the bubble, as did most mass built homes.
Note to self:
Cross “KB home” off list of things to buy.
KB built alot in the mid-atlantic, i.e, DE, MD.
I had the displeasure of walking through one of their dumps and it was appalling. Pitched floors, wows in walls, screws popping throughout…
Add Perry Homes to that list as well.
It doesn’t sound like she used a lot of scrutiny when buying the sh!tshack to begin with. You can’t tell me the thing looked perfect two years ago, but the walls suddenly bowed afterwards. Just another sucker, unfortunately.
i used to work on a lot of kb homes in the 70’s in so cal back when they were kaufman and broad.
then it was low end, small tract houses in big tracts.
my guess is there are a few things at play here, with volume being the driving force.
with volume, there will be more complaints. a builder like this doesn’t produce the quality or lack of it the sub-contractors do. all kb has to do is have 1 adequate superintendent on the job to schedule, coordinate and oversee the sub-contractors. sub-standard work or materials should be rejected 1st by the superintendent and secondly by the building inspectors.
with volume they probably have more superintendents and more inspectors that aren’t doing their jobs.
whenever i see a big breakdown in quality it is these positions that are failing. a given builder might do good quality on some jobs and poor on others, its more about the individuals then the builder.
reputations are funny things, accusations grounded or not damage them. from above:” the walls are paper thin with no noise insulation.” the walls were at least 4″ thick framed with at least 2×4 studs with at least 3/8″ sheet rock on both sides. there is no requirement to increase the sound transmission co-efficient with sound insulation and these minimums are very often used in “quality” homes. the were likely deficient when it comes to acoustical sealants but again that’s typical. i’m just pointing out that allegations can be damaging even if they are not deserved.
there are probably well built kb homes out there too, not that i would buy one.
“sub-standard work or materials should be rejected 1st by the superintendent and secondly by the building inspectors.”
You prefaced by “should be” but the reality is that a super isn’t going to reject self performed work. If he hates his sub, he *might* use it to harrass him.
And defective work has long since been covered up by the time a local building inspector has a chance to make a surprise visit. The only real possible means at QA/QC is resident inspection by the firm who did the design and I’ve never seen that occur on a residential construction site. Never.
in my world, 40 years of mostly residential construction in california inspections are done one phase at a time and signed off prior to the work being covered up in the next phase.
for instance, if insulation is installed prior to framing, rough plumbing, and rough electrical inspections getting signed off the inspector will generally require that the insulation be removed so he can do his job. same is true for drywall they cannot proceed without the same inspections and likely an insulation inspection as well.
also in my experience superintendents don’t perform work, its more typical for the super to have an assistant or even a staff.
Code enforcement is strong in CA then. Speaking for overbuilt mid-atlantic areas, local building inspectors never made it to sites during the peak of shack construction. They started with good intentions and inspected subgrade prep, formwork geometry and reinforcing installation but anything after concrete placement was never tested or inspected. I myself watched work occur that was so obviously sub-par that anyone could spot. Chipped bells on RCP, no gaskets, bootless manholes, no swales in manholes, burying debris and grubbed material under proposed asphalt, grades pitching to house, no perimeter drains, stripping formwork and backfilling walls in two days, etc. The list goes on.
Self-performance of work simply means a GC doesn’t sub out work and does it himself. In my experience across approximately $155 million in projects, I’ve never seen a superintendent reject his own work. And I’m the guy that does the rejection and holds payment. And generally speaking, the local code enforcement guys are clueless. The last one that crashed through my trailer door acting like he knew something was a retired fireman who “became” a building inspector. He demanded to see the drawings so I plopped down 450 pages of half sized drawings in front of him. He flipped through the first 10 pages and his eyes glazed over. I never heard from him again.
Most of the inspectors in California weren’t actually doing the inspections during the bubble. Sometimes they would drive by the site if they needed a signature or something. There was a lot of county fraud going on.
Why is KB Homes still in business?
Like many other house builders and in many states, there is no warranty on shoddy construction.
Crazy huh? The biggest purchase of your life for most Americans, and there is NO protection if you buy a lemon.
Damned oppressive regulations!
Oh wait…
in california there is a 10 year statute of limitations on construction defect lawsuits.
an entire industry has sprung up as a result. multi unit construction liability insurance is not longer available to the sub-contractors and now the developers buy a wrap policy that covers everyone.
a bit over 10 years ago a new developer came to town and built about a dozen projects, i now get sued several times per year, not due to allegations of defective work but because i was on the job and i have coverage. the hoa generally settles for $3M - $50M and everyone pays and no determinations are made.
i’m have been in one suit of over 2 years now and i didn’t even work on that job. it is close to impossible to get out of these things
in california you have recourse, from what i see after 10 years and 400 feet of snowfall the project will show some wear but that wear even if it on something that was under dozens of feet of snow for months, that wear is evidence of a construction defect.
sorry for the typos
That sucks CT. Just another reason why I hate CA.
I’m all for consumer protection, but CA has this bad habit of always over doing everything. When it comes to laws and regulations, I don’t think “reasonable” is even in the vocabulary out there.
In Texas, it’s almost the opposite. NO protection what-so-ever on your new home purchase beyond whatever is offered by the builder, which isn’t much and hard to enforce.
CharlieTango
I didn’t know the 10 year warranty was law. They brag about it like it was a corporate policy.
In the early 80’s our newly constructed home was almost perfect. Our fix list had 4 minor issues, iirc.
In 1998 our newly constructed home was a nightmare. 18 months of hell and legal help for the whole tract.
When the illegals started to go into contruction, it lead to shoddy workmanship, imo. It’s a trade, not a cash register job.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13999509
Just in case there was any speculation that American-style communism is any different from Russian-style capitalism, any concerns that the Bernanke put has now gone airborne can be put to rest. As the BBC reports, “Russia’s fifth largest bank, Bank of Moscow, has been given the biggest bail-out in Russian history.” But that’s not all: Bank of Moscow’s former head, Andrei Borodin, has fled the country, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest. And to think that only a week ago the head of the Afghanistan Central Bank Fitrat, who “obviously” is absolutely innocent of all allegations he stole hundreds of millions from Bank of Kabul, escaped to the US. And to keep some illusion as to which countries are now final destinations to exiled global kleptocrats, Borodin has decided to run away to London, until such time as he takes over some Goldman Sachs M&A banker in the New York office. And how you know how capitalism works under central planning.
A government of the bankster, for the bankster and by the bankster.
Remember when NYChick used to come on here crowing about Moscow real estate. She accused me of being a religious zealot because I tried to review the economic fundamentals with her.
BUMP, BUMP, BUMP. ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST. AND ANOTHER ONE GOES AND ANOTHER GOES AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!
She accused me of being a religious zealot because I tried to review the economic fundamentals with her.
Nice to meet someone who operates just like you, huh?
You have problem with Corporate Communist Capitalism©®™, comrade?
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Vandals-Destroy-ACs-at-Animal-Welfare-League-124881849.html
Time to introduce public hangings for copper thieves. Enough is enough.
How about we start the hangings with those responsible for the economic catastrophe instead being obsessed with the litlle fish?
No, better to start with the little fish and work your way up.
Hanging the little fish finalizes their fate, it ends the suspense that is killing them. But it also sends a message to the bigger fish that they are next.
Leaving the biggers fish to wonder and worry about what is in store for them is the way to go.
Allow the suspense to throughly take its toll on them. Draw it out as long as possible.
And then hang them.
Biker #2: [the whole gang holds Pee-wee hostage] I say we kill him!
Biker Gang: [shout] Yeah!
Biker #3: I say we hang him, *then* we kill him!
Biker Gang: [shout] Yeah!
Biker #4: I say we stomp him!
Biker Gang: [shout] Yeah!
Biker #4: Then we tattoo him!
Biker Gang: [shout] Yeah!
Biker #4: Then we hang him…!
Biker Gang: [shout] YEAH!’!
Biker #4: And then we kill him!
Biker Gang: [shout] YEAH!’!'!
Pee-wee: [tries to throw voice without moving lips] I say we let him go.
Biker Gang: [shout] NO!’!'!
Biker Mama: [whistles] I say ya let me have him first!
Biker Gang: [break out in raucous laughter]
Dumbest movie ever, but it still cracks me up.
‘Dumbest movie ever, but it still cracks me up.’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCfzCLqUPPA&feature=related
“Allow the suspense to throughly take its toll on them. Draw it out as long as possible. And then hang them.”
Now who’s being naive. Good grav.
Hanging the little fish finalizes their fate, it ends the suspense that is killing them. But it also sends a message to the bigger fish that they are next.
Wishful thinking. The big fish don’t believe it for a second, and actually like the distraction of the masses going after the little fish and even encourage it. That way their bought and paid for candidates can spew nonsense about being “tough on crime” while the looting continues.
+ 1,000
My +1,000 was for Colorado’s post.
Combo, I seriously doubt the Hamptonites’ are worried about the “little fish”.
I was thinking in general terms, not particular ones.
In general I want the big fish to watch the little fish fry with the knowledge that they will be next.
Often the anticipation of enduring a pain is worse than the pain itself.
Realtors Are Liars
An Illegal Alien’s Guide to the Top Five Best Places to Live in American.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/06/29/illegal-aliens-guide-to-top-five-best-places-to-live-in-america/
Wish I had the Spanish translation to this, so I could hand it out at the local Lowe’s and Home Depot.
‘Top Five Best Places to Live in American.” AmeriCA, not American. Sheesh. Second typo this mornin’. More cawfeeeee!
Palmy,
The local Lowes here doesn’t tolerate the daily reenactment of the Alamo. HD welcomes them with open arms.
Guess what? I won’t shop at HD.
Now, come with me to Montana and you wont see any of that anywhere. But I only use HD there as a last resort because of what I see here (SV Valley).
P.S. The long used argument of “They do the work that Amerikans wont” loses its steam when you travel to a place like MT and see that everything is done by “Citizens”. And before anybody says “Bbbut there isn’t any crop picking work there” please realize there plenty of apples, cherries and berries to be picked there. And they get picked.
I agree with the spirit of your post, SV guy, but it’s not so simple. Wages in Montana are probably lower than wages in California. This means that California natives have better options than to pick berries, whereas in Montana there are not as many better options. Further, because California is an expensive state, natives cannot afford to pick berries unless the pay for berry-picking increases.
So, when someone says “They do the work that Amerikans won’t” what they really mean is “They do the work that Amerikans won’t at the illegally low, sub-minimum wage rates that Amerikan businesses pay.” Perhaps Montana businesses pay more, they certainly pay more as a percentage of the cost of living, and they compete against fewer businesses for native labor. The upshot–California farmers (and restaurants) should pay at least minimum wage, and natives would take those jobs. That those businesses are allowed to violate the law and pay less, thus attracting illegal workers, is unconscionable.
IAT,
You’re right in that wages a very low in MT vs. CA.
My point was in reference to perceived work ethic and the concept of manual labor being beneath most people.
And I couldn’t agree more with you on businesses that want to play it both ways.
In my experience, it’s not just a matter of Mexican migrant workers accepting a lower wage scale. They also tend to have a much stronger work ethic.
First, I agree, they *seem* to have a much stronger work ethic. Ever wonder why? They have a much stronger work ethic because they have the hope of advancing through work. And why do they have this hope. Because they work here for lower wages than natives, send the money back home where it goes further, and can do everything from support their family back in Mexico to investing in small-scale capital projects such that, someday, they can go home and own a business.
Thus, the current situation robs poor natives in at least 3 ways. First, they cannot take the jobs because they cannot (legally even) compete with the low-pay paid to undocumented workers. Second, now jobless or in depressed wage jobs, they cannot afford the goods that are thus subsidized by the low-wage labor (e.g., upscale restaurants). Third, the money that natives would spend in their own communities and thus create jobs in them is offshored, leaving their communities even poorer economically (and socially).
IAT
They have no different work ethic than anyone else, but itsabouttime is also correct.
In my personal experience, they damn sure do have a better work ethic than most Americans.
Huck Fome Depot.
“Huck Fome Depot.”
You`re right Home Chepo Socks.
Bucha lazy @ss orange aproned work dodgers selling sub-prime tools and materials.
Man that post played hell with my spell check.
Home Despot=Overpriced JUNK
Not of it meets spec and most of it can be had at supply houses for far less.
Texas tolerates this kind of behavior. When I lived in Houston I couldn’t tell you how many illegals I’d see at my neighbors house, working on the yard or a deck or just general maintenance. I haven’t lived there in years, but me thinks they cruise their F-150 (the one with the ‘Dont tread on me’ sticker) into the HD parking lot looking for cheap labor while they drank sweet tea and Dr. Pepper.
Texas sucks.
Why own slaves if you can rent them cheaply?
It’s still like that Sean.
Palm Beach County, sheriff at odds over raises
By Jennifer Sorentrue Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 7:38 p.m. Saturday, July 2, 2011
With Palm Beach County facing a $45 million budget shortfall, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has come under pressure to cut his $482.6 million spending plan - and some say the first thing to do would be to stop giving annual raises.
The issue is whether the raises are required by state law.
Bradshaw says his hands are tied. But taxpayer watchdogs say an escape clause in that law may allow him to do away with the raises at a time of financial hardship for the county. A special act of the legislature, last modified in 2004, prevents the sheriff from reducing or eliminating longevity pay and other employer-paid benefits except in the case of “exigent operation necessity.”
Eighty-four percent of the sheriff’s office budget is personnel costs - expenses such as salaries, benefits and overtime.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/palm-beach-county-sheriff-at-odds-over-raises-1577818.html - -
Paul Craig Roberts on the collapse of the Strauss-Kahn case. Apparently DSK was in NY for a confab with Joseph Siglitz on a humane was to resolve the international banking crisis. We can’t have THAT now, can we?
http://vdare.com/roberts/110702_strauss_kahn.htm
palmetto
Saw this yesterday in a list of Historical Events In 1974. I was 13 so I wasn’t hitting bars in Port Chester yet but I remember it being a big deal in the area. It seemed like this was in the time frame when you were in this neck of the woods, do you remember this happening?
Jun 30
Petty thief Peter Leonard sets fire to cover burglary that torches “Gulliver’s” nightclub. 24 die (Port Chester NY) on this day in history.
“Petty thief Peter Leonard sets fire to cover burglary that torches “Gulliver’s” nightclub. 24 die (Port Chester NY) on this day in history.”
I remember the fire, but not this part of the outcome. I had no idea. Probably off at college in Mass at the time. A real tragedy, that fire. Gulliver’s was kinda fun, back in the day.
Hey Jeff Saturday:
I lived in Rye in the late ’70’s and now I’m in your backyard in Tequesta. From one of your earlier comments, I think we are about 8 blocks apart. And of course, I’m renting. Much better here.
Whats up with all you metro tri-staters living in FL?
“a humane was” should be “a humane WAY”, as in “No way…way!”
With each day that passes I am convinced that the 1%ers won’t be happy until they have the rest of us grinding under the heel of their boot.
Colorado, willya translate that Top Five Best Places in America for Illegal Aliens for me, please?
Just kidding.
“the 1%ers won’t be happy until they have the rest of us grinding under the heel of their boot.”
On a more serious note, I agree with you on this. It is a phenomenon that is rather puzzling, as if there’s no fun in amassing moolah unless you can inflict massive amounts of misery while doing it.
The lesson here? Anyone who has a kid who enjoys pinning insects to cardboard and watching them squirm, should, as a service to mankind, discourage the kid from ever doing anything that might bring him/her to the ranks of finance or politics.
The thing about the 1%ers is that what they really want is power, to be above the law. It must grate on them that in theory they can’t murder and rape the rest of us at their will the way a real oligarch can.
I’ve been around the 1%s.
You can put your doubts to rest.
For most of them, it does.
It is all so tiresome to endure the stupidity of people. Little wonder they are losing their liberty, their jobs and incomes, and their country and self-respect.
The best quote from an excellent article. Thanks for posting, Jeff.
“Thanks for posting, Jeff.”
Ahem. Not that Jeff doesn’t post some good articles.
“Ahem. Not that Jeff doesn’t post some good articles.”
jeff socks! Oh wait a minute I`m jeff. Farkas!
I`ll have to get back to ya.
I stand corrected! Thanks, Palmy. And have yourself a wonderful Fourth of July.
While I often defend J6P here, I will also be the first to admit that J6P has also been doing a damn good job of shooting himself in the foot.
The most recent perfect example being the election of more Repubs to Congress RIGHT AFTER they kill the bill that would have ended tax breaks for offshoring jobs.
You can’t fix that kind of stupid.
To be fair, the news wasn’t released until after the fact, as well.
I don’t think most people are even aware of it. And nobody in the MSM is making any effort to make them aware of it. And even if you do make them aware there’s the question of whether that’s enough by itself to put them over the threshold of being sure that the Rs have screwed them even worse than the Ds. Either party can easily make the case for why you shouldn’t vote for the other party…
Yep. It’s always the lesser of the 2 evils between the 2 in any given decade, but sending away our jobs AND being given tax breaks for it, is nothing short of treason.
Sure. DKS is one of the “good” IMF guys. Not.
“Good” guys don’t rise to the top of supra-national organizations like the IMF or World Bank. A certain predatory and calculating attitude seems to be de rigour.
Gandhi once said it perfectly: (I’m going to mangle the phrase, but the gist is still correct)
“It’s difficult, but not impossible for an honest businessman to make a very good living, but it is impossible for him to become rich.”
I’d fight Gandhi.
Is there any way to confirm this?
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/burning_down_the_house_qp6FmG1rzWHo6TSJIfSJ2I#ixzz1R2rQreZB
I’m no fan of the neo-con George Will, but he does a good job of depicting how the “everyone is entitled to be a homeowner” a.k.a. No Deadbeat Left Behind agenda of Fannie and Freddie and their Democrat boosters in Congress, like the detestable Barney Frank, created the conditions for the Housing Bubble.
….how the “everyone is entitled to be a homeowner”… and their Democrat boosters in Congress…created the conditions for the Housing Bubble.
The article is a hack-job piece of right-wing propaganda that tries deflect the equal blame from themselves. Where is the mention of the the Republican pushed deregulation of the banking industry-the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 and the Commodity Modernization act of 2000? Or 30 years of prior deregulation? I wonder why George Will left that part out. No I don’t.
Subprime loans and CRA type loan programs did not “cause the housing bubble” or the great recession. They did contribute to it but not “cause” it. Do the math on their percentage of total loans and total loans that have gone bad.
Couldn’t agree more that George Will is a neo-con propagandist. Also agree the Repugnants are at least equally guilty for the housing bubble - remember G.W. Bush’s “ownership society” and who ended Glass-Stegal? However, the charges in the Will article are completely valid.
google “Beat the Press” and go down to the post at 7:52 on Sunday the 3rd. Completely rops apart nearly all of Wills’ points.
His conclusion is that there is some government blame in the implicit too big to fail “subsidy.” Otherwise, it all hooey.
Apologies if this has been posted before, but apparently the banks ARE granting mortgage modifications, to people who aren’t even asking. Well, ya get what ya reward, doncha?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/business/03loans.html
And the banks just don`t care, the loans bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our victims were there.
Oh, say does that F`d buyer`s mortgage get wa-aved
In the land of living free and a home for the….
I’ve sent in my paperwork five times and they keep sending it back, we wanted a principal reduction on our original $550k loan that we haven`t been able to make the payment on. Things have been slow for 3 years and my wife`s breast implants exploded so she hasn’t been able to work either. We put the $300k Home Equity Loan into our Home inspection business but there`s nothing out there to inspect! We had a buyer who was willing to pay $45k but the bank wouldn’t agree to a short sale. Now we find out through our lawyer that they don`t even know who owns our loan! The banks must pay! We can not allow this to happen to homeowners.
They aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their flinty hearts. A modified mortgage is better than a walkaway and foreclosure. I’m wondering if these mortgage modifications are also a stealth way to actually originate a clean mortgage, since the actual ownership of so many mortgages has gotten murkier and murkier thanks to their repeated transfer as MBS bundles.
Bingo.
What’s even better for the banks than a modified mortgage that keeps the FB from walking is a promise of a modified mortgage that keeps the FB from walking.
I’d say you nailed it Sammy.
Although it sounds like she got a 50% forgiveness on her current loan, it’s more likely that it was far less.
Note that the article states that she made a “substantial down-payment”. What does that mean?
Then because she was only making partial interest payments, her loan ballooned to $300,000. So, a substantial portion of the current loan could be unpaid interest instead of unpaid principal.
65+ years of same home-ownership…see what can happen America when you don’t join the “MegaBanker$ “put-your-equity-to-work” let’$-b-friends ATM philo$ophy club.
“Keith still lives in the house her parents bought in 1947. She was born at North Island.”
“The sign at Susan Keith’s 100-year-old house on Tolita Avenue will have two numbers on it.”
(Hwy’s staying with friends in small bungalow on “G” St. On morning walk-about saw all of these signs on many lawns, mostly small type (600-950 sf) dwellings)
Coronado: Signs proclaim ‘Home of a Naval Aviator’
By Jeanette Steele, Sr. Reporter - Military / Tuesday, January 25, 2011 / SD Union Tribune
“…To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Navy flying this year, the city’s historical society began researching how many aviators have lived in the town where it all began.
At least 500 “Home of a Naval Aviator” signs are expected to go up in Coronado front yards over the next few weeks.
Sen. John McCain, who flew Navy A-4 Skyhawks before being shot down and becoming a prisoner of war in Vietnam, lived in his youth at 800 A St.
The first Navy flying school opened at North Island in 1911. The first aircraft carrier, the Langley, docked at Coronado in 1922.”
The Tech Bubble is Coming. Prepare Yourself.
By Vivek Wadhwa
Washingtonpost.com
“The problem is that both LinkedIn and Pandora are dramatically overpriced, and Groupon has an unproven business model. Yes, LinkedIn has over 100 million users and has about $250 million in revenue—so the company is for real. But profits are elusive. Will LinkedIn’s user base grow dramatically and will those customers turn into profits? I don’t think so. There are not enough professionals in the world who will want to network with each other to sustain the 100-percent-plus growth rates that would justify its over $8 billion valuation.”
…then later…
“When this bubble bursts, it will freeze the opportunities for companies that are far more worthy, far more innovative, far more necessary for our economic growth than the ones that are currently reaping their fortunes. I fear it will set back the cause of innovation for another decade.”
I`ll see your Tech Bubble and raise you one Student Loan Bubble.
On Sept. 17, 2009 the House of Representatives passed legislation that would expand federal aid to college students while ending federal subsidies to private lenders. By shifting to direct federal lending, the Obama administration said it would save more than $80 billion over 10 years, which would go into higher Pell grants for low-income students, new investments in community colleges, early-childhood programs and other education efforts.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/student_loans/index.html - 75k -
Our view: Student loans on taxpayers’ tab
Posted 5/23/2011 7:51:46 PM
Government-backed “no-doc” loans given to people with little regard to their ability to repay. Soaring default rates. Taxpayers on the hook for tens of billions of dollars.
Sound familiar? It’s a synopsis of Too Big to Fail, Monday night’s HBO movie about the financial crisis spawned when all those subprime mortgages started going sour three years ago. It also describes what’s going on today with the federal student loan program.
The student loans don’t pose the same risk to the global economy as the toxic housing loans that were packaged and sold to investors around the world. The amount of money is smaller. But the foolishness is the same, inviting another rude shock to a federal budget already in distress.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2011-05-23-Student-loans-on-taxpayers-tab_n.htm - 50k -
Sallie Mae Upped To Outperform
By Zacks Investment Research on May 31, 2011
We are upgrading our recommendation on the shares of SLM Corp. (NYSE:SLM), better known as Sallie Mae, to Outperform. We believe that the stock price has significant upside potential owing to its leading position in the student lending market, expense curtailment initiatives and acquisition of federal student loan assets.
Dividend reinstatement and share buyback efforts also inspire investors’ confidence in the stock.
Sallie Mae’s first quarter 2011 core earnings of 48 cents per share outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 41 cents. The results also compare favorably with prior-year quarter’s core earnings of 40 cents.
http://www.dailymarkets.com/stock/2011/05/31/sallie-mae-upped-to-outperform-2/ - 52k -
I’ll trump that one and suggest a Pissed Off Bastard Bubble.
I think the China bubble will be the most spectacular crash of all. And the most dangerous for global stability.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=189271
City police say the two people inside the home had no time to respond. They were sleeping when they heard a loud noise downstairs.
“Three men all identified themselves as Baltimore City police officers. The victims were then tied up and the individuals went through their home,” said Det. Jeremy Silbert, city police spokesman.
This is what happens when you legitimize the use of “no-knock” warrants and “dynamic entries” for purposes other than where someone is believed to be holding a hostage or similar circumstance.
No-knock warrants will ultimately be met by armored houses. Then people will start keeping grenade launchers to rid themselves of the pests, er police, on the other side of the wall.
The police in Denver have killed a number of innocent people who tried to defend their families when SWAT teams kicked down their doors at 2:00 a.m. They always try to besmirch the victims even after admitting they got the wrong address (hard to believe some drug-addled informant could get such a detail wrong, huh?) Because the victims are typically low income blacks or Hispanics, nobody seems to get too riled about it. Even when police have been caught falsifying records as part of post-raid cover-ups they get off with minor reprimands at best. As police departments hire more ex-military veterans I’m expecting more innocent fatalities from such “dynamic entries.”
This type of stuff gets me riled up. I have been leery about the encroachment of paramilitary tactics in state and local law enforcement for several years. But the blue haired gummers have always fell for the law and order scare tactics. Our liberties get pulled away day by day. At the point when government encourages and rewards family members to snitch on each other for victimless crimes, you will know we have gone soviet.
“This is what happens when you legitimize the use of “no-knock” warrants and “dynamic entries” for purposes other than where someone is believed to be holding a hostage or similar circumstance.”
Exactly.
(Having a cranberry bagel with coffee): x1 decision,…x many consequences.
The link picture is worth a thousand words. (note: x6 other childs not present)
‘I hate my babies and my older children are animals,’ says Octomom Nadya Suleman:
By Daily Mail Reporter / 1st July 2011
The octuplets are now two, while the older children are all under ten.
All 14 were born through IVF and three of them are said to have disabil
ities.
Miss Suleman, 36, who lives in a dilapidated home in La Habra, California, said: ‘I hate the babies, they disgust me.
‘My older six are animals, getting more and more out of control, because I have no time to properly discipline them.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2009524/Octomom-My-children-animals-I-hate-babies-says-Nadya-Suleman.html
She had her Andy Warhol moment. Or did she think it would last forever?
+1 Nobody could have seen it coming.
I wish the doctor who inseminated her would get sued for malpractice. How does a guy with that much education conclude that he should inseminate a mentally unstable woman with 8 kids, even though she already has 6 kids, no husband, and no money? Seems like the doc should bear some responsibility here.
He lost his license to practice medicine, if I remember correctly.
The doctor who performed the in vitro should be held financially liable for foisting this brood onto society.
Since all of these spawn are future Democrat voters, you’d think the local party activists could lend a hand until they’re old enough to vote.
Currently overcast, but 80+ degrees, sunshine & cool ocean breezes forth-coming! (provided the spinning planet keeps on rotating)
“You see, Trump owns the backyard, the front yard and most of the driveway. He doesn’t own the house itself, but he’s willing to take it off the bank’s hands for, oh, $3.6 million.”
Donald Trump squeezes Bank of America
The company is trying to sell a huge estate it foreclosed on. But the business magnate’s cagey moves present a problem.
By Kim Peterson on Fri, Jul 1 / MSN money
“…But something funny happened in that divorce settlement. Kluge’s ex didn’t want her to sell the house from under the rest of the family, so he split off the front yard and driveway to benefit his son, the Journal reports.
And that was just the break Trump needed. The family trust created for the son ended up selling 200 acres to Trump for less than $500,000 — a deal that also included the backyard and most of the driveway.”
This is one foreclosure that won’t go Bank of America’s (BAC) way.
“Donald Trump is putting a huge squeeze on the bank as it tries to foreclose on a 24,000-square-foot estate in Virginia. Bank of America owns the house and is trying to sell it for $16 million
It all starts off with Patricia Kluge, a socialite who divorced her uber-wealthy husband in 1990 and got $100 million in the settlement. But that wasn’t nearly enough for Kluge, who blew through the money and declared personal bankruptcy in June.
She owned the estate, along with its winery, spa, home theater, 3,500-bottle wine cellar and 2,000-square-foot sitting room, the Journal reports. But her financial world began unraveling, and in 2009 she tried to sell the place for $100 million. That eventually got dropped to $24 million. Still no takers.
But something funny happened in that divorce settlement. Kluge’s ex didn’t want her to sell the house from under the rest of the family, so he split off the front yard and driveway to benefit his son
So that left Bank of America in a tight spot. Its mortgage on the estate was $22.8 million, the Journal reports. And so it took the house to auction, but no one wanted a house with no driveway and yard.
Trump bid $3.6 million for the house at a foreclosure auction before Bank of America changed its mind and bought it back for $15.3 million. That isn’t uncommon for a bank to do”
There are rules (state law based) about what a trustee can do with the assets of a trust, so it is possible that the sale to Trump for too little money (assuming it was too little) may be able to be undone.
Oh, and BofA probably had a chance to do something to preserve their rights (or get cash compensation) at the time the land was split off. They may not have been able to keep their relationship with the husband all sweetness and light, but there would have been options. If you decide that the business “relationship” is more important than preserving your legal rights to get your money back, sometimes you get screwed.
I bet the lawyers yelled and screamed about this and the executives in charge of the private banking division overrulled them.
Had this subject conversation this am,…found this compliments you fine submission Ms. Polly:
(Hwy notes there ought to also be certified notification when ANY changes occur. Ask-me-how-eyes-know.)
The 25 Documents You Need Before You Die:
By SAABIRA CHAUDHURI / WSJ
“Insurers say they are behaving lawfully. Under policy contracts, they aren’t required to take steps to determine if a policyholder is still alive, but instead pay a claim when beneficiaries come forward.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303627104576410234039258092.html
I showed that article to my wife and we realize there are a few holes in our “hasta la vista” plan. But our kids have most of the details the article talked about, or know where to find the info.
Still, we have a few tasks ahead of us.
Hey Hwy,
105 up here at 4500′, and I can only imagine the hell that must be the flatlands of Bakersplat.
To Bubble et al who inquired about passive cooling; I’m gloating today. As air conditioners hum and whine and suck out working class bank accounts in the valley below, it’s 66 degrees inside my house with no electrical heat transference of any sort. Just close the windows during the daytime and open them at night. Good site-ing, stone flooring, well-thought-out windows and insulation, and I scoff at your rolling outages.
As an aside:
I read recently that the US government spends 21.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR on air-conditioning in Iraq and Afghanistan. Imagine what we could save by just effing leaving….
Hey AH –
I usually don’t read on the weekends, but I just glanced and remembered our convo and I’ll get the wife to read your comments tomorrow.
We have no AC ourselves and work with “evaporative cooling” today. Wife is from Perth, so she loves it. The bambino and I were melting, but we made it. Tomatoes are loving it though…
Perhaps I posted this in the wrong thread, so I am re-posting here. Sorry if this is a problem.
I have been out of commission (work overload) but am now coming up for air. Thus, perhaps the issue I raise has already been thoroughly aired here, and thus is no longer of interest to anyone. However, as I come up for air, I figured, what better thing to do than turn to HBB for some wisdom? And the question that is on my mind concerns the machinations in Washington over the national debt, especially in light of other similar historical cases. Thus, I ask you, do you think the US is headed for some kind of major transformation akin to the French Revolution (which resulted in the rise of Napoleon)?
I ask because the refusal to extend loaning power to the crown in 1788 is what precipitated the French revolution. The crown owed money to Dutch bankers. Because the interest payments could not be made without further loans, the crown asked local officials for the equivalent of a rise in the debt ceiling. Local officials denied the request. Upon being denied, the king sought to counter the power of the deniers by calling the Estates-General into session–a quasi-parliamentary body last having met some 150 years before. When they met in 1789, however, they basically demanded an end to absolutism. The king refused, which ultimately led to a showdown in which both the EG and the crown lost.
I wonder are members of Congress students of history trying to repeat it, or idiots playing hot potato with an atomic bomb?
Your thoughts? Are we in danger of entering a process that could dissolve the union or in some other way fundamentally change the nation’s political form? And if so, for better or worse?
IAT
PS–Again, apologies if my absence from HBB made me miss the discussion of this issue.
IAT
My thoughts?
God damn The Housing Crime Syndicate.
Dude, were you some bright-eyed innocent that got taken to the cleaners by an NARster? You seem to have a very intense personal vendetta against dissemblers. I dislike them as breed, but in more of an abstract way since I saw right through their BS from the beginning. I also had a positive experience with two very professional realtors when we bought and sold our first house, so know they’re not all reptiles.
Well you can go on cherry picking exceptions for a known crime syndicate all you like at your own peril.
I’ve never met any category of people who I can say were universally evil.
I have absolutely no problem with his one-man assault upon the sleazy profession.
All I know is that you cannot squeeze water from a stone. Someone will not be paid back. This is how fortunes change.
Combined with the social unrest, declining wages and ever disappearing civil rights, I’d say yes.
Rio says we’re almost due for one according to the timetable of great changes in our history.
Maybe he would like to explain it better.
Good to see you again, IAT.
I think we’re going to need an EU/US/PRC financial meltdown before the globalist equivalent of the Estates-Generale comes to pass, but barring epidemiological catastrophe, it would seem that we’re within a decade of a worldwide monetary reorganization.
I’m optimist enough to believe that we can restructure the IMF without resorting to a world war, (after all, who can afford one anymore?) but it’s obvious that some sort of revision to the designated reserve currency is going to have to be negotiated in the face of increasing civil unrest and an ever-consolidating international oligarchy. Probably will hinge on energy units rather than resources or commodities like water or precious metals, but it’s apparent that half-arsed measures like the “mini debt ceiling” aren’t going to cut it now that all the Boomerz are retiring.
Morning musings,…perspective + 2nd cup-of-joe:
“As so I penned It down, until at last it came to be, For length and breadth, the bigness which you see.”
- John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, Apology for his Book
“If that a pearl may in a toad’s head dwell, And may be found too in an oyster shell.”
“Every fat (vat) must stand upon its bottom.”
“Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions than ruined by too confident a security.”
“Know, prudent cautious self-control Is wisdom’s root.”
Hill Difficulty: both the hill and the road up is called “Difficulty”; it is flanked by two treacherous byways “Danger” and “Destruction.” There are three choices: CHRISTIAN takes “Difficulty” (the right way), and Formalist and Hypocrisy take the two other ways, which prove to be fatal dead ends.
Slough of Despond: the miry swamp on the way to the Wicket Gate; one of the hazards of the journey to the Celestial City. In the First Part, Christian falling into it, sinks further under the weight of his sins (his burden) and his sense of their guilt.
Given the choice of 3 ways - named Difficulty, Danger, and Destruction - only a fool would take Danger or Destruction. In this situation, Difficulty is the easiest way. Where is the virtue in taking the easy way?
Farkas!
Complete, and total Farkas over here.
Discovered this place yesterday, Vigilucci’s Ristorante (happy hour begins 10am
)
This place was for $ale next door:
Bedrooms: 4
Bathrooms: 3 full, 1 partial
Property type: Single-Family Home
Size: 2,971 sqft
Lot: 5,227 sqft
Price/sqft: $1,345/sqft
Year built: 1894
1112 Churchill Place, Coronado CA 92118
http://www.trulia.com/property/1041141213-1112-Churchill-Pl-Coronado-CA-92118
“…Into the great wide-open” Tom Petty… See ya’ll later at the HBB evening fire-ring.
Military: $ham marriages got Marines hou$ing money:
AP News / Yahoo
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — “Military officials are charging three California-based Marine corporals with fraud and larceny for entering in a pair of sham marriages to collect housing funding, officials said.
The military alleges that a lesbian couple — one a Marine, the other a civilian — decided to live together off base and wanted to collect the $1,200 housing benefit granted to married Marines.
The female Marine found a male Marine willing to get married, allowing them to collect the housing benefit, and the civilian woman also eventually married a Marine and collected funds, 1st Lt. Maureen Dooley, a spokeswoman at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, said Saturday.
The female Marine, Cpl. Ashley Vice, told San Diego’s KGTV-TV that she and her partner, Jaime Murphy, were forced to enter sham marriages because the military doesn’t provide allowances for unmarried couples and they couldn’t afford to live off base without the extra money. She and her partner only wanted to “be a family,” Vice said.”
(Can we get this guy to look into Wall St.?)
“It doesn’t matter what their sexual preferences are, if they’re violating the law and making fraudulent use of government money, they will be held accountable,” Dooley said.
Even after the military officially drops its ban against openly gay or lesbian members, same-sex couples, even if married, would still not be eligible because of a federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.
Vice told the station she and the other corporals, Jeremiah Griffin and Joseph Garner, could face at least a year in the brig at Miramar, since none of them can afford to pay the government back.
In addition to jail time, Vice said she will likely be demoted in rank from corporal to private.”
That’s been going on for as long as marriage got you extra money and permission to live off-post/base instead of in the barracks.
Sham military marriages have been going on for decades. It’s a good way for “couples” to get off base and get more benefits. Some of the young enlisted people’s morals and judgement leave a great deal to be desired.
I bet if you went to a college campus and offered dating couples in the dorms an endless monthly check to get married and live in a nicer place you’d get a surprising number of takers. Especially if they’re being treated like crap in the dorms but have to put up with it or go to jail. And those wouldn’t even be the sham marriages…and I bet you could get a bunch of those, too. I don’t think young soldiers’ morals and judgement are that much worse than their civilian peers’. Almost everybody is a little dumb at 20.
HUD secretary concedes obstacles to home ownership
The Associated Press 07/03/11 9:50 AM
Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan says he thinks it’s unlikely that home prices will continue to drop and calls it a good time to buy a home.
Donovan acknowledges that officials must find ways to provide access to home ownership that doesn’t require a 20 percent down payment.
Donovan warns that officials must not “overcorrect” the problems that led to the housing crisis. He says the federal government can’t go so far in the other direction of housing regulation that it effectively denies new housing for deserving people with good credit ratings.
The housing secretary says the Obama administration has made progress in resuscitating the housing market but acknowledges that “we are not where we need to be.”
Donovan spoke Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/2011/07/hud-secretary-concedes-obstacles-home-ownership - -
“Donovan warns that officials must not “overcorrect” the problems that led to the housing crisis.”
Please, by all means, do whatever you can make houses cost around $10-15sq.ft., Oil City-style.
Sorry Muggy
“Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan says he thinks it’s unlikely that home prices will continue to drop and calls it a good time to buy a home.”
So there must be some more DC magic on the way. You had better run out and put an offer in that doesn’t insult anyone because Shaun Donovan says “it a good time to buy a home.” He does however fail to say that it`s a GREAT time to live in a home for free! Proven by the millions who have done so since 2009 when the Obama administration’s efforts to help struggling homeowners started to aid “responsible” borrowers. But don`t worry, it didn’t help any deadbeats or
speculators, just ask Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan.
Of course all of these efforts keeping the non-payers in there homes keeps all of that nasty inventory off the market which of course keeps house prices up which of course makes rents go up which of course makes it a good time to buy.
Just ask Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan.
Housing secretary defends Obama foreclosure plan
February 22, 2009
The Obama administration’s efforts to help struggling homeowners will aid “responsible” borrowers, not deadbeats or speculators, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan said Sunday.
President Barack Obama announced the plan Wednesday, saying it will help up to 9 million people keep their homes in a housing market ravaged by foreclosures. But critics, including several leading Republicans and some commentators, said the $75 billion proposal will unfairly help some people at the expense of others.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs acknowledged Friday that some people who made “bad decisions” might end up getting help under the proposal. But Donovan, Obama’s secretary of housing and urban development, told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that “there are no ‘flippers,’ investor-owners or scammers that are eligible for this program.”
“We’re going check everybody’s income when they come into this program. We’re going to make sure that people are paying their bills. And more than anything, we’re targeting the folks who are playing by the rules,” Donovan said.
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-02-22/politics/obama.housing_1_vacation-homes-mortgage-giants-fannie-mae-billion-financial-industry-bailout?_s=PM:POLITICS - 41k -
“Donovan acknowledges that officials must find ways to provide access to home ownership that doesn’t require a 20 percent down payment.”
Obviously Donovan still doesn’t understand how home ownership works. If home prices fall to realistic levels then buyers would be able to come up with the 20% down payment. Market forces will work if they can just step back and allow it to happen. BTW, Donovan, home prices are still falling.
“Obviously Donovan still doesn’t understand how home ownership works. If home prices fall to realistic levels then buyers would be able to come up with the 20% down payment. Market forces will work if they can just step back and allow it to happen. BTW, Donovan, home prices are still falling.”
And why is the most obvious, simple solution never considered or even mentioned(except by you)???
I believe that if prices fell to levels as you indicate, there would be far more cash buying retail customers and far fewer mortgages. But that’s the real issue isn’t it? The Housing Crime Syndicate, full endorsed by Uncle Sam is in the business of creating financial cannon fodder via incentivizing inflated housing prices for the benefit of known monopolies like NAR, Mortgage Bankers Assocation, land owners, etc.
Yeah yeah…. call me Master Of The Obvious but the fact is nothing has changed except for the increasing number of screwed citizens who were and still encouraged to commit financial suicide.
Sincerely,
The Pissed Off Bastard
It has been claimed that religion is the last refuge of a scoundrel, at least up until his next prison term.
But color me skeptical on the notion that whatever Minkow said could have single-handedly resulted in a $584m drop in the value of Lennar’s stock. The all-seeing, all-knowing market could surely have sniffed out the potential for an ex-con to make misleading statements. Market forces would quickly restore the value of the stock to reflect fundamentals on evidence Minkow had circulated falsehoods.
Moreover, this episode has played out against the backdrop of a housing bubble collapse. how could one even begin to separate whatever effect Minkow’s statements may have had on Lennar’s share price from the concurrent force of collapsing high-end demand?
Published: June 17, 2011
Updated: 12:27 p.m.
Builder wins $584 million ruling vs. ex-con
By JEFF COLLINS
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Homebuilder Lennar Corp. won its defamation lawsuit against San Diego-based anti-fraud crusader Barry Minkow and has been awarded a $584 million judgment, the Dow Jones Newswire reported Wednesday.
Minkow, an ex-con who launched the Fraud Discovery Institute to root out corporate deception, accused Lennar of being a “a financial crime in progress” and charged its chief West Coast executive, who’s based in Orange County, of getting an improper loan on his Laguna Beach house.
Whether Minkow will be able to pay the judgment is an open question.
Minkow, 44, faces a maximum of five years in prison after pleading guilty to a federal criminal count of defaming Lennar and of conspiring with a disgruntled former Lennar partner to extort money from the firm.
He was to be sentenced Thursday, but his sentencing was postponed until July 7, the news service reported.
The $584 million award stems from a civil lawsuit in Miami state court that the builder filed against Minkow and an accused co-conspirator, California developer Nicolas Marsch. Lennar maintained that Minkow’s January 2009 campaign against the firm cost Lennar $584 million when the firm’s stock price plunged 20%.
…
Joshua Tree Extension updated for Firefox 5 - version 1.5.2:
http://mysite.verizon.net/~drumminj_tx/joshuatree.html
Let me know if you run into any problems.