The Housing Bubble Blog

The News Press reports from Florida. "Nicole Rennie figures a college student could not have dreamed of owning a home in Cape Coral when she moved here two years ago. But she and boyfriend Steven Coburn are closing Monday on a three-bedroom, two-bath home in southwest Cape Coral. 'My parents don't...

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It's Friday desk clearing time for this blogger. "If you're planning on selling, it's become more important to make sure your house is appealing, especially with a deep supply of homes on the market and a slowdown in sales across the area. 'I've had buyers recently drive up to a place and not even...

KWGN TV reports from Colorado. "With the number of foreclosures at an all time high in Colorado, homebuilders are starting to feel the effects of the economy in their pocketbooks. Kevin Autry, a homebuilder from Franktown has been sitting on a vacant home for more than two years in Fort Morgan....

The Union Leader reports from New Hampshire. "Difficulties in the housing market have spelled trouble for a still unfinished development near MerchantsAuto.com Stadium. A broker working for Chinburg Builders said the company has sold just 14 of the 24 luxury townhouses it has built just south of...

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The San Francisco Chronicle reports from California. "The developer of the recently opened Eight Orchids condominium mid-rise in Oakland hopes to auction off nearly a third of the units, with some starting bids $300,000 below prior asking prices, as builders struggle to unload new properties in the...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, "Industry data released Thursday show January pending U.S. home sales remained at the second-lowest reading on record. The National Association of Realtors said its seasonally adjusted index of pending sales for existing...

The Tampa Tribune reports from Florida. "Hundreds of peculiar home sales and foreclosures clustered in low-income neighborhoods in south St. Petersburg have attracted the attention of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The deals involved unusual mortgages uncovered last summer in a Tampa...

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The Associated Press reports on California. "An overflow crowd piled into the Merced Civic Center, spilling out of the main auditorium, into the halls and down the stairs. Everyone brought paperwork. the sum of their financial lives and wreckage of their American Dream. Organizers of the Merced...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Reuters, "WCI Communities Inc, which builds high-end homes, said it expected to record a pre-tax, fourth-quarter loss in the range of $410 million to $460 million partly due to the hard-hit Florida housing market. The U.S. company said the...

The Herald Times reports from Indiana. "In May 2006, a middle-aged couple decided to sell their Morgan County ranch home. So they contacted broker Sheila Scott in Martinsville, and told her they wanted to list the home at $209,000 — $10,000 more than its appraised value. 'It was a beautiful home in...

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The Modesto Bee reports from California. "Despite public pronouncements about working hard to keep borrowers in their homes, mortgage lenders are foreclosing unnecessarily on too many home loans, the California Reinvestment Coalition contends. 'Lenders and loan servicers are not doing enough to...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Associated Press, "Fremont General Corp. said Tuesday it received default notices on about $3.15 billion of loans it sold in March 2007. The bank received notices from two investors who purchased the loans, saying it violated sales terms...

The Courier News reports from New Jersey. "In New Jersey, home sales fell by 30 percent in January over the same month in 2007, according to Otteau. Sales at the Jersey Shore outperformed the state, but still fell by 24 percent in Monmouth County and 26 percent in Ocean County, the firm states....

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The Press Enterprise reports from California. "After a 10-month investigation, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday accused three Murrieta men of operating a real estate scam that defrauded at least 95 investors of more than $11 million and forced many into foreclosure. 'I am...

Some housing bubble news from Wall Street and Washington. Morningstar, "Total loan impairment charges at HSBC's US personal financial services division soared by 70 pct to 11.7 bln usd, lifting the group's overall bad debt charge to 17.242 bln usd, an increase of 63 pct. Europe's biggest bank,...