The Housing Bubble

Huntington Beach, CA Sale Prices Nosedive 18% YoY; Sellers Slash Prices As Demand Collapses

http://www.zillow.com/huntington-beach-ca-92646/home-values/

Portland, OR Sale Prices Crater 10% YoY As Housing Demand Plummets

http://www.zillow.com/portland-or-97209/home-values/

World economic indicators have been flashing recession for the last few months. They can try avoid it by injecting yet another dose of liquidity into the system, but each dose seems to have less and less of an effect on the economy. I’m afraid at some point not matter how much liquidity they inject the economic body will just flat line.

GRIM figures out today from the high street revealing the worst September since before the recession will reignite fears that the economic recovery is running out of steam.

The latest data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG shows that sales fell 2.1 per cent on a like-for-like basis in September, compared with the same month a year earlier.

http://www.scotsman.com/business/retail/retailers-see-worst-september-slump-since-crash-1-3571404

Germany’s ZEW survey of investment analysts fell for the tenth consecutive month in October, adding to a string of downbeat economic data about Europe’s largest economy and the eurozone as a whole.

The index fell to minus 3.6 points from 6.9 points in September. That was worse than the zero expected by market analysts.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/survey-shows-pessimism-german-economy-26176883

SPAIN has become the only European country with improved economic prospects for 2015, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The Washington-based IMF has announced that Spain’s economy will grow by 1.3% in 2014 and by 1.7% in 2015, up from July’s forecasts of 1.2% growth this year and 1.6% growth next year.

This is the fastest predicted growth of any advanced European economy, despite a public debt of nearly 100% of GDP, a 25% unemployment rate and no alternative to construction as an engine of growth.

http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2014/10/08/update-spain-is-the-only-eu-country-with-improving-economy-says-imf/

It deals a further blow to struggling Australian coal exporters and delivers eleventh-hour complications to the bilateral free trade deal, but China’s abrupt reinstatement of import duties on coal - taking effect from Wednesday – is primarily geared at propping up its flagging domestic coal sector.

China’s faltering coal industry threatens entire provincial economies, from state-owned behemoths to the smaller private mines and the intertwining networks of shadow bank financing in between.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/china/faltering-economy-hits-chinas-coal-sector-20141014-115kzw.html

Question for RIO is this analysis accurate?

At the end of September, the central bank lowered its prediction for Brazil’s annual growth from 1.6 percent to just 0.7 percent. Such low growth is behind most other Latin American countries, with the exception of Argentina and Venezuela. For example, Mexico expects to grow at 2.7 percent and Colombia by 4.7 percent. Yet 0.7 percent is actually an optimistic estimate for Brazil: A survey of 100 private economists by Brazil’s central bank revealed an average growth rate projection of just 0.29 percent. The level of public sector debt (at 60 percent of GDP), government taxation, spending rates, and the economy’s investment and savings levels are closer to those of developed market economies than emerging market nations. Unfortunately for Brazil, this means that its growth outlook is more in line with Portugal’s than Peru’s.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/10/11/how_to_bring_brazil_economy_back_to_life_election

“Just Get Your Damn Vaccine” Doctor Violates Ebola Quarantine

NBC medical correspondent shows zero concern for public health

by Paul Joseph Watson | October 13, 2014

A doctor who made headlines back in 2010 during the swine flu scare when she told MSNBC viewers, “just get your damn vaccine” didn’t show such concerns for public health when she was caught violating an Ebola quarantine in order to pick up her favorite soup.

NBC Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman was spotted on a food run in New Jersey despite being under a 21 day quarantine order after her return from West Africa during which Snyderman and her team were exposed to Ebola victim Ashoka Mukpo, who works as a cameraman for the network.

“Witnesses claimed the physician and broadcaster wore sunglasses and a ponytail as she pulled up outside the eatery and a man dashed in to grab the order,” reports MailOnline.

Both Snyderman and NBC News refused to comment on the story.

“The NBC crew remains symptom-free, so there is no reason for concern of exposure to the community,” spokeswoman Dawn Thomas said.

However, it can take up to three weeks for symptoms to show and some evidence suggests that individuals who are asymptomatic can still spread the disease.

NBC News President Deborah Turness said the network had, “agreed with state and local health authorities that our team will not come to work, and they will stay at home.”

By violating the quarantine order, Snyderman is displaying little concern for public health, a stance that differs from her tone during a 2009 appearance on MSNBC during the height of the swine flu panic when she ordered Americans to, “just get your damn vaccine.”

“Forget the conspiracy, listen to our government agencies, these guys are telling the truth, you know there’s no conspiracy here folks – just get your damn vaccine!” said Snyderman during her appearance on the show.

In reality, government agencies were not telling the truth about the swine flu vaccine according to Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, whose investigation found that the outbreak was a “false pandemic” driven by drug companies that stood to make billions of pounds from a worldwide scare.”

Primarily as a result of Snyderman and her ilk creating hysteria by overhyping the threat posed by swine flu, millions of people worldwide received a vaccine that they didn’t need, which in some cases caused illnesses, and which wasted millions of dollars in public health funds.

Is it safe to get back into the stock market now?

article for the warmist warmers concludes that obama has failed to stop the rise of the oceans as he promised while campaigning in 2008

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/10/14/oceans-experiencing-largest-sea-rise-in-6000-years-study-says/

and now back to your regularly scheduled drudge report links

Chris Brown is not a real journalist

http://www.infowars.com/chris-brown-tweets-ebola-is-population-control/

The love affair with Obama is over?

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-love-affair-with-obama-is-over-2014-10

Third time’s the charm for Romney in 2016, LOLZ

The student loan bubble is ‘no different’ than the housing bubble

Mark Cuban: “When you have more administrators making $200,000 a year than professors, you have something wrong”

http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-on-student-loans-2014-10

Ebola’s threat to India

Shutting the door on Africa

http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2014/10/ebolas-threat-india

Why the Middle East Still Doesn’t Matter

Forget about oil, Israel and terrorism—the world’s most dysfunctional region is a waste of time.

Bond Report
Treasurys leap as traders fret over growth slowdown
By Ben Eisen
October 14, 2014 9:43 a.m. ETD
10-year yield sinks to fresh 16-month low

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Treasury prices mounted a powerful climb on Tuesday as global economic growth fears rippled across financial markets.

The 10-year Treasury note (10_YEAR, -2.32%) yield, which acts as a benchmark for a wide range of borrowing costs, dropped 9 basis points on the day to 2.215%, on track to close at a fresh 16-month low, according to Tradeweb. Yields fall as prices rise.
…

Americans face post-foreclosure hell as wages garnished, assets seized

By Michelle Conlin

NEW YORK Tue Oct 14, 2014 3:35am EDT

(Reuters) - Many thousands of Americans who lost their homes in the housing bust, but have since begun to rebuild their finances, are suddenly facing a new foreclosure nightmare: debt collectors are chasing them down for the money they still owe by freezing their bank accounts, garnishing their wages and seizing their assets.

By now, banks have usually sold the houses. But the proceeds of those sales were often not enough to cover the amount of the loan, plus penalties, legal bills and fees. The two big government-controlled housing finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as other mortgage players, are increasingly pressing borrowers to pay whatever they still owe on mortgages they defaulted on years ago.

http://www.reuters.com/…/10/14/us-usa-housing-foreclosures-insight-idUSKCN0I30BU20141014 - 105k -

Clipboard Jesus gets back on the field with Locker injured

Sep. 28, 2014 12:34 PM EDT

Clipboard Jesus will get off the sidelines and throw some passes for the Tennessee Titans Sunday.

The long-haired, bearded Charlie Whitehurst is a career backup.With Jake Locker out with a wrist injury, Whitehurst is dropping the clipboard and will get a chance to throw his first regular season pass since 2011.

pro32.ap.org/article/clipboard-jesus-gets-back-field-locker-injured - 111k -

LOL, here’s a news headline from a San Francisco newspaper”

“Prosecutors: 2 dead babies found had been alive”

Wow, do they actually mean to say that the babies were ALIVE before they died? Ain’t that something?

Seriously, these would-be journos should just freakin’ give it up.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many thousands of Americans who lost their homes in the housing bust, but have since begun to rebuild their finances, are suddenly facing a new foreclosure nightmare: debt collectors are chasing them down for the money they still owe by freezing their bank accounts, garnishing their wages and seizing their assets.

By now, banks have usually sold the houses. But the proceeds of those sales were often not enough to cover the amount of the loan, plus penalties, legal bills and fees. The two big government-controlled housing finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as other mortgage players, are increasingly pressing borrowers to pay whatever they still owe on mortgages they defaulted on years ago.

Using a legal tool known as a “deficiency judgment,” lenders can ensure that borrowers are haunted by these zombie-like debts for years, and sometimes decades, to come. Before the housing bubble, banks often refrained from seeking deficiency judgments, which were seen as costly and an invitation for bad publicity. Some of the biggest banks still feel that way.

phony scandals you beat me too it. I double posted sorry

Is there anyone in Phoenix still living in a house they bought or refinanced between February 2005 and July 2008?
————————————————————————–

In metro Phoenix’s housing market, there are the haves and have-nots

Catherine Reagor, The Republic | azcentral.com 1:23 p.m. MST September 26, 2014

In metro Phoenix’s housing market, there are the haves and have-nots, those homeowners who have equity and those who don’t.

Anyone who bought a house or refinanced in the Valley between February 2005 and July 2008 still most likely owes more than their house is worth, according to the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service.

Homeowners who purchased before May 2004 and didn’t refinance between early 2005 and mid-2009 should have equity in their house, said Tom Ruff, real-estate analyst with the Information Market, owned by ARMLS.

For the home equity haves and have-nots, it’s all about the Valley’s housing boom and bust.

The analysis is based on median homes prices in the area. In February 2005, near the beginning of the housing boom, the median resale price in the Phoenix area was $188,900. In May 2006, the resale median hit a record of $253,500 and remained above $200,000 until the summer of 2008.

In August 2008, metro Phoenix’s median resale price fell to $190,000. Currently, the area’s median is about $196,000.

The percentage of homeowners underwater plummeted to 19.5 percent by June 30 this year from almost 50 percent in 2009, according to national real-estate researcher CoreLogic’s most recent report released Thursday.

The haves, those homeowners with equity, can sell, but many are staying put for now because there are few buyers in the Valley. Home sales have slowed dramatically in the area this year compared with 2012 and 2013.

Home-price increases have slowed with sales. That means fewer of the have-nots will have equity in their houses soon, a fact that could impact a home-sales rebound.

But Phoenix-area homeowners who haven’t seen their house’s value climb above what they paid or refinanced it for during the boom can take solace in the fact that they are better off than homeowners in other states hit hard by the crash.

Approximately 26.3 percent of Nevada homeowners are still underwater. In Florida, the rate is 24.3 percent.

http://www.azcentral.com/…/2014/09/26/metro-phoenixs-housing-market-haves-nots/16278875/ - 115k -

Okay, I get that our searches/page visits are tracked, and that the ads displayed on our browsers are “custom-tailored” to fit us.

But today was the last freaking straw.

Ads for adult diapers started showing up today.

Not one FB dollar will be allowed to escape - especially if it is owed to the government.

——————————

Insight - Americans face post-foreclosure hell as wages garnished, assets seized
Reuters - Michelle Conlin - Oct 14, 2014

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Many thousands of Americans who lost their homes in the housing bust, but have since begun to rebuild their finances, are suddenly facing a new foreclosure nightmare: debt collectors are chasing them down for the money they still owe by freezing their bank accounts, garnishing their wages and seizing their assets.

By now, banks have usually sold the houses. But the proceeds of those sales were often not enough to cover the amount of the loan, plus penalties, legal bills and fees. The two big government-controlled housing finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as other mortgage players, are increasingly pressing borrowers to pay whatever they still owe on mortgages they defaulted on years ago.

Using a legal tool known as a “deficiency judgment,” lenders can ensure that borrowers are haunted by these zombie-like debts for years, and sometimes decades, to come. Before the housing bubble, banks often refrained from seeking deficiency judgments, which were seen as costly and an invitation for bad publicity. Some of the biggest banks still feel that way.

But the housing crisis saddled lenders with more than $1 trillion of foreclosed loans, leading to unprecedented losses. Now, at least some large lenders want their money back, and they figure it’s the perfect time to pursue borrowers: many of those who went through foreclosure have gotten new jobs, paid off old debts and even, in some cases, bought new homes.

Borrowers are usually astonished to find out they still owe thousands of dollars on homes they haven’t thought about for years.

In 2008, bank teller Danell Huthsing broke up with her boyfriend and moved out of the concrete bungalow they shared in Jacksonville, Florida. Her name was on the mortgage even after she moved out, and when her boyfriend defaulted on the loan, her name was on the foreclosure papers, too.

She moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where she managed to amass $20,000 of savings and restore her previously stellar credit score in her job as a service worker at an Amtrak station.

But on July 5, a process server showed up on her doorstep with a lawsuit demanding $91,000 for the portion of her mortgage that was still unpaid after the home was foreclosed and sold. If she loses, the debt collector that filed the suit can freeze her bank account, garnish up to 25 percent of her wages, and seize her paid-off 2005 Honda Accord.

Perhaps the most aggressive among the debt pursuers is Fannie Mae. Of the 595,128 foreclosures Fannie Mae was involved in – either through owning or guaranteeing the loans - from January 2010 through June 2012, it referred 293,134 to debt collectors for possible pursuit of deficiency judgments, according to a 2013 report by the Inspector General for the agency’s regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Once financial institutions secure a judgment, they can sometimes have years to collect on the claim. In Maryland, for example, they have as long as 36 years to chase people down for the debt. Financial institutions can charge post-judgment interest of an estimated 4.75 percent a year on the remaining balance until the statute of limitation runs out, which can drive people deeper into debt.

Frisco police: Cowboys’ Joseph Randle arrested Monday, charged with theft

crimeblog.dallasnews.com ^ | 9:27 am on October 14, 2014 | By Naheed Rajwani

Posted on 10/14/2014, 12:34:12 PM by Red Badger

Frisco police say Dallas Cowboys running back Joseph Randle was arrested Monday evening for allegedly shoplifting at the Dillard’s at Stonebriar Mall.

Police were called to the Dillard’s at 8:17 p.m. Monday, said Frisco police spokesman Chad LaPrelle. The store’s loss prevention employees had detained Randle, who was later charged with theft, a Class B misdemeanor.

Police said Randle attempted to steal a $39.50-pack of two black Polo underwear and a tester bottle of Gucci Guilty Black cologne valued at $84.

He was released from Frisco City Jail early Tuesday after posting a $350 bail, police said.

Randle has a base salary of $495,000 for this season. He was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys out of Oklahoma State in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL Draft.

(Excerpt) Read more at crimeblog.dallasnews.com …

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3214997/posts?page=6 - 24k -

Anyone know any college kids who want to get on the terrorist watch list?

Big Government Sucks

Turning Point USA’s fall theme for the Catalyst Project is Big Government Sucks!

From August 25 – November 4, Turning Point USA will organize 10 weeks of innovative, themed activism projects that will take place on college campuses nationwide. Turning Point USA will also assist students with voter registration drives on campus.

Join the Catalyst Project!

Any student who is interested in participating in the Big Government Sucks campaign is welcome to join. Click here to register!

10 Weeks of Activism

Catalyst student activism thumbWeek 1: Student Activism Week
Goal: Identify campus activists, and provide students with the tools, training, and materials needed to recruit a strong membership base at the start of the school year. This week lays the groundwork for future activism projects.

Request the activism kit

catlyst cap cure thumbWeek 2: Capitalism Cures
Goal: Make the moral argument for capitalism, and promote the ways in which capitalism alleviates poverty, improves people’s lives, and increases the standard of living across the world.

Request the activism kit

Catalyst debt awareness thumbWeek 3: National Debt Awareness
Goal: Educate students about the dangers of a $17 trillion national debt, and expose the numerous examples of excessive government waste.

Request the activism kit

catalyst free speech thumbWeek 4: Constitution / Free Speech
Goal: Promote free speech on campus, and educate students about the ways big government violates individual liberty and the principles in the U.S. Constitution.

Request the activism kit

catalyst keep more stuff thumbWeek 5: Keep More Stuff
Goal: Expose the cycle of endless taxation, and make the moral argument for decreasing taxes to increase jobs, commerce, philanthropy, and individual freedom.

Request the activism kit

http://www.turningpointusa.net/biggovernmentsucks/ - 51k -

Region VIII checking in.

Those cheap china wheels are getting wobbly…. those over priced EuroTrash fenders are a’ flappin…. and theres smoke billowing from under the hood of the US built propaganda engine.

I have heard of roofers tearing off the roof on the wrong house but not this.

New Florida million-dollar home has nice view, but built on wrong lot

Reuters
3 hours ago

By Barbara Liston

ORLANDO Fla. (Reuters) - A Florida builder is trying to figure out what to do after constructing a million-dollar, ocean-view home in Florida on the wrong lot, authorities said.

The mistake occurred after two state-certified surveyors on the job separately marked the wrong property, said Carl Laundrie, spokesman for Flagler County on the Atlantic Coast north of Daytona Beach.

Laundrie said there were few landmarks in the new Hammock Dunes subdivision that could have helped someone catch the error.

“There is no giant oak tree on one corner of the lot so you would say, okay, this must be the lot. This particular piece of land is basically in a field back behind the dune,” Laundrie said.

The 5,300-square-foot (492-sq-meter) house, which was completed in March, includes five bedrooms, five-and-a-half bathrooms, a theater, game room and swimming pool, according to gotoby.com, a local real estate news site.

Mark and Brenda Voss of Linn, Missouri, who had the home built, did not return calls for comment, nor did Andrew Massaro and Brooke Triplett of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, who own the lot.

The Vosses own the lot next door to the one on which the house was built.

Flagler County Property Appraiser Jay Gardner said the mistake was discovered in September by a third surveyor working in the neighborhood.

The builder, Robbie Richmond of Keystone Homes, who the real estate website described as one of the area’s most respected builders, did not return a call for comment.

Flagler County Property Appraiser Jay Gardner said he spoke to Richmond.

“All he wants to do is get it right,” Gardner said.

Representatives of the surveying companies on the project also did not return calls for comment.

“It’s up to the builder to rectify the situation, and the builder relied on the surveyor. I assume everything is going to be headed to court,{” said Laundrie.

Gardner said he hadn’t spoken to the Vosses, but that Massaro was calm when informed of the problem.

‘He wasn’t tickled but he seemed to handle it quite well,” Gardner said. “It happens from time to time.”

Hillary Hypocrisy Talks About Student Debt, Hits UNLV Foundation For $225K Speaking Fee

Students protest fee amid 20% tuition increase

by Jeff Dunetz | Truth Revolt | October 14, 2014

Despite objections from a student body which faces the burden of 17% tuition hikes during the next four years, probable Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton spoke to the UNLV foundation Monday night drawing a speaking fee of $225,000.

Ironically, in her speech, she opined that more needs to be done to assure young people can achieve their dreams and free students from debt.

Ms Clinton delivered her remarks to a crowd of about 900 people gathered in a Bellagio resort ballroom for the annual UNLV Foundation dinner benefiting the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Local reporter Venise Toussaint pointed out the Clinton hypocrisy during a Tuesday morning report about the event:

Well, Kim and Dana, this is Hillary Clinton’s third trip to Las Vegas so far this year and every time the big question is, will she or won’t she run for president? She was asked to last night and she really did not have an answer, not yet at least, fueling a lot of the speculation about her presidential bid. But to help her make that decision and sway her back toward the White House, she received a clever gift: some running shoes from Brian Greenspun, the owner of the Las Vegas Sun. Now Hillary Clinton addressed more than a dozen issues in her hour-long speech, from education and energy to foreign policy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But her appearance at the dinner was also marred with some controversy. As she spoke about the rising cost of college tuition and student loan debt, she also accepted a hefty speaking fee of $225,000. Now that’s the majority of the $235,000 that the UNLV foundation collected from donors at that dinner.​

Foreclosure Dispute Pits Mortgage Lenders vs. Investors

Mortgage lenders and housing investors are squaring off in Nevada over a court decision that has allowed thousands of foreclosed homes to be sold for pennies on the dollar. At issue are homeowners associations and the liens they put on properties when a homeowner stops paying dues.
Like lenders, homeowners associations can foreclose on homes to recoup delinquent payments, an option that many have taken after waiting years for lenders themselves to foreclose, a scenario that has left homes without dues-paying owners and some HOAs strapped for cash. Nevada and about 20 other states have laws that allow HOA liens to get priority over first mortgages.

The result, according to a recent state court decision, is that homes can be put up for auction by HOAs—without the blessing of the mortgage lender—and sold, extinguishing the first mortgage and allowing the investor to get title to the home. Such sales often are for an amount equal to or slightly above the HOA dues in arrears.

In a court filing Tuesday, the Mortgage Bankers Association wrote that because of the decision, “mortgage lenders stand to lose millions—perhaps even billions—of dollars in security interests.

If the decision stands, some investors expect to receive a windfall. “This is one of the greatest returns in real estate that I’ve ever seen,” said Jay Bloom, a director of First 100 LLC, an investment firm that bought more than 1,000 homes in states including Nevada and Washington. Many homes purchased by investors were sold for only a few thousand dollars, but had values in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The case brought to the Nevada Supreme Court involved a Las Vegas home purchased in 2007 with an $885,000 mortgage originated by Bank of America. The homeowner defaulted on the mortgage the next year. The Southern Highlands Community Association foreclosed on the home and sold it at auction in September 2012 to SFR Investments Pool 1 LLC, a closely held investment company. SFR paid $6,000, the amount owed to the HOA by the delinquent homeowner.

Bank of America scheduled its own foreclosure sale for December 2012 but SFR filed to stop the sale, arguing that the HOA auction extinguished the $885,000 mortgage. (The case was actually brought against U.S. Bank, the trustee for the securities associated with the home’s mortgage, but was litigated by Bank of America.)

Bank of America won a lower-court decision, but the state Supreme Court reversed it and sent the case back to the lower court. The justices who supported SFR said that the bank could have stopped the problem by paying the lien itself.

Looks like Firefox 33.0 crippled the Joshua Tree Extension v.2.3.1

Got stock market fear?

A day in the life of a debt collector
Published: Oct 14, 2014 12:03 p.m. ET
By Nick Jarman, Credit.com

When I saw the recent New York Times article “A Debt Collector’s Day,” I was obviously intrigued to read it. Having worked nearly 4,000 days as a debt collector, I was looking forward to reading an article that actually depicted what we do for a living so readers would get a glimpse at what a debt collector really does. I read the article and a sampling of the author’s upcoming book on debt collectors, and it surely makes for an interesting story.
…

QE3 isn’t even done, and FOMC members are greasing the skids for more.