HousingPANIC - The Housing Bubble Blog with an Attitude Problem, 2005 - 2008: BUBBLETALK - Open thread to talk about the housing crash, mortgage meltdown, idiot realtors on commission and whatever else is on your mind

April 15, 2008

BUBBLETALK - Open thread to talk about the housing crash, mortgage meltdown, idiot realtors on commission and whatever else is on your mind

Have at it...

333 comments:

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Bryan said...: Not technically an ARM, but Washington D.C. is paying millions more in interest per month on the new home of the Nationals. Per the Wash Post; April 08, 2008 3:35 AM
Anonymous said...: It really bothers me how the financial institutions are greatly responsible for the decline in the market, yet they are the first ones to turn to the government for a hand out when things went bad. Where is the responsibility for their actions?; April 08, 2008 3:48 AM
Tyrone said...: We're fu**ing SAVED!!!

Starbucks launching "everyday" coffee in U.S.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a bid to reinvigorate lackluster U.S. traffic, Starbucks Corp will introduce a new, everyday brew called Pike Place Roast on Tuesday and for 30 minutes will hand out free 8-ounce (240 ml) samples.

Free cups of the new coffee, which the company said has a smoother flavor and finish, will be available starting at 9 a.m. on the West Coast and noon on the East Coast at all its roughly 7,100 company-operated U.S. stores.; April 08, 2008 5:12 AM
Anonymous said...: The Assassination of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer

http://ca.youtube.com/
watch?v=X-Nwrg8y4yw; April 08, 2008 6:05 AM
Anonymous said...: Economists are forecasting jobless rate around 6 percent early next year.

"All the indicators suggest that we will see even larger job declines in coming months. Businesses are getting nervous and pulling back," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com.

Small businesses, which generate the bulk of the country's new jobs, are decidedly more pessimistic. William Dunkelberg, chief economist at the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said hiring plans had plummeted

Bernard Baumohl, managing director of the Economic Outlook Group, said the new jobs report showed a number of other labor market strains, including the sixth straight monthly increase in the number of workers taking part-time jobs because they could not find full-time positions.

That figure now stands at its highest level in 14 years.

http://www.sltrib.com/
business/ci_8838449; April 08, 2008 6:21 AM
Anonymous said...: Is J.P. Morgan Preparing for Layoffs?

A spokesperson for financial services giant J.P. Morgan & Chase Co. confirmed Monday that if a pending deal with Bear Stearns goes through, layoffs will follow.

JP Morgan spokesperson Joe Evangelisti told DSNews.com late Monday that it's too preliminary to tell what sectors of the J.P. Morgan and Bear Stearns businesses will be affected by the job cuts.

DSNews.com contacted Evangelisti after CNBC reported Monday that 14,000 job cuts are expected at Bear Stearns by the end of May.

http://www.dsnews.com/
view_story.cfm?id=2265; April 08, 2008 6:23 AM
Anonymous said...: AMD cuts follow Intel restructuring

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s plans to jettison 10 percent of its work force are the latest sign that the seesaw battle between semiconductor rivals Intel Corp. and AMD has taken its toll on both companies.

AMD said Monday that its job cuts, which will amount to more than 1,600 workers out of 16,800 worldwide, are slated to start later this month and finish by September.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
20080408/ap_on_hi_te/amd_outlook; April 08, 2008 6:25 AM
Anonymous said...: Dell Layoffs Could Exceed Expectations

Michael Dell, the company's CEO, said the company plans to cut "at least" 8,800 jobs, but also stated that "we may go past that number."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/
pcworld/20080406/tc_pcworld/144132; April 08, 2008 6:29 AM
Anonymous said...: US senators question nine Indian firms on H1-B visas

With outsourcing becoming an election issue, two US senators have questioned 25 top H1-B visa users, including nine Indian firms, about their recruitment process for professional workers, a majority of whom come from India.

The nine Indian companies to get the questionnaires were Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, Tata Consultancy Services, Cognizant Tech Solutions, Patni Computer Systems, I-Flex Solutions, Larson & Toubro Infotech Ltd and Mphasis Corporation.

“The H-1B programme can’t be allowed to become a job-killer in America,” Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Chuck Grassley said in a letter to the top 25 firms that used nearly 20,000 of the 65,000 available H-1B visas last year.

“We need to ensure that firms are not misusing these visas, causing American workers to be unfairly deprived of good high-skill jobs here at home,” they said in the letter sent April 1, the day the US Citizenship and Immigration Services began receiving H-1B visa applications for fiscal year 2009 beginning Oct 1, 2008.

“By the end of the day today, all of the H-1B visas for the year will likely be spoken for,” Durbin and Grassley said, suggesting “that the loopholes in the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes are allowing for the outsourcing of American jobs”.; April 08, 2008 6:41 AM
Anonymous said...: The number of pinks slips at Motorola is set to surpass 10,000, according to a new filing the company made to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with additional reports now coming in from around the world

http://www.telecomweb.com/
tnd/260262.html; April 08, 2008 6:48 AM
Anonymous said...: Nortel reorganizes Ottawa operation the official head of Nortel research as firm ramps up China operations

Nortel is now into the third stage of a total of 9,000 layoffs and transfers under chief executive Mike Zafirovski with about half the cuts still to be completed.

Research and development jobs took a significantly bigger hit than the general workforce last year.

Like most equipment suppliers, Nortel is agressively shifting research and development operations to Asia to tap lower-cost research staff and to bid for rich equipment contracts in the booming economies of China and India and broader Asian region.

It has rapidly growing staff and contract research operations in India as well as China.

http://www.canada.com/
ottawacitizen/news/story.html; April 08, 2008 7:03 AM
Anonymous said...: HOLY SH*T!

GREENSPAN, the F-ING MAESTRO HIMSELF, CALLS BOTTOM!!!
DATE: "WELL BEFORE EARLY 2009"

``But it is very likely that home prices will stabilize well before that.''

Hell you can set your clock by that one.
You can just ignore the S&P Case-Shiller price trend, that guy is a phony. Ignore the data and 100 years of price trends.....
The F-ING MAESTRO HIMSELF, you can bet your bottom dollar on that. Sh*t, bro must have stock in Fannie and Freddie or sumpin'. I mean this mo fo can gauge the future, just look at how he foresaw the housing bubble.....

Time to start shopping for a new house HPers!!!

Buy now or be priced out forever!!!! HAHAHAHA

http://tinyurl.com/5qy2ak; April 08, 2008 7:03 AM
Anonymous said...: Layoffs Mounting in Silicon Valley

Let the layoffs begin! After a couple years of job stability in Silicon Valley, we're starting to see the pink slips roll in.

And while it hasn't been as gruesome as it was in 2001 or 2002, when major employers like Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems eliminated tens of thousands of positions, the layoff announcements are definitely increasing.

http://blog.wired.com/business/
2008/03/layoffs-mountin.html; April 08, 2008 7:07 AM
Anonymous said...: Cisco Systems, one of the country's biggest technology companies, appears to be bracing for a downturn.

The San Jose maker of Internet networking gear has told some managers to limit travel expenses and use up accumulated vacation days, according to sources close to the company. Both steps could be early signs that deeper cutbacks loom.

Analysts say the company has trimmed its staff in a few places and is considering additional bigger cuts if warranted. Cisco hasn't had massive layoffs since the collapse of the Internet bubble, so any major cuts are likely to draw renewed parallels.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/27/
technology/moritz_cisco.fortune/
?postversion=2008032715; April 08, 2008 7:11 AM
Anonymous said...: This is REAL Advice for Real people.

Do you believe his statements on not buying gold? Curious?

http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read/140497?ref=patrick.net

Beignet; April 08, 2008 1:46 PM
Anonymous said...: "Our pricing team is also being sent price increase changes from corporate in huge numbers."
============================
Back in the Nixon era (right before the big "wage and price freeze,") I worked part time for a major food chain. All I did all day, every day, was do price changes. You were supposed to completely eradicate the old price (ink out the stamp, or peel off the old label, this was before bar codes) before putting on the new price, but with literally thousands of price changes coming in every day, that was impossible. It took too much time. At the end of the week, a can of corn could have literally a dozen price changes on the lid.

And of course with price increases, sales go down, and clerks in the stores get cut hours/lay offs. Never stopped them from hiring more corporate bigwigs though!; April 08, 2008 3:02 PM
Anonymous said...: here is a good one, didn't realize that the mexicans considered oregon part of mexico. makes sense though, there are a lot of them here.

http://tinyurl.com/5sv6n3; April 08, 2008 4:23 PM
Anonymous said...: Anyone in MD whats going on here?

http://tinyurl.com/6xh97p; April 08, 2008 6:20 PM
PCmodem said...: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N08358161.htm

Not getting any play in the US Media, but rioting in haiti over cost of living and food costs is turning deadly.

Precursor of things to come here?; April 08, 2008 6:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Lots of bad news about layoffs and outsourcing in these comments. I work in software and just received a 19% raise. No one mentioned it in the MSM though!

No realtor will be seeing a dime of it, of course..; April 08, 2008 8:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Peter T said....
"In the media, an argument is often made to help poor homeowners to keep their house, which they would loose, because..."
---------------------
The word is LOSE, you moron!; April 08, 2008 8:51 PM
Anonymous said...: Unemployment Rate in East Palo Alto Nearly 10 Percent

These are tough economic tims for many people in the Bay Area, prhaps more os for rsidnts of ast Palo Alto.

The employment rat ther is 9.7 percent, th highest in San Mato County,according to state Employment Development figures for January.

But the number is probably higher, said Sharon Williams, excutive director of Job Train, free work skills training center in Menlo Park.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/
ci_8649081?source=rss; April 09, 2008 4:18 AM
Anonymous said...: Food stamp use on the rise in Bay Area

Contra Costa County apprived 18 percent mor applications for food stamps than in 2006.

In January alone the county approvd 28 percent more than during the same month in 2007.

Comparing January 2007 with January 2008, the overall number of people receiving food stamps grew 8.2 percent in Contra Costa, and 5 percent in Alameda County.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/
ci_8837808?source=rss; April 09, 2008 4:18 AM
Anonymous said...: Washington Mutual to slash jobs despite cash injection

Washington Mutual will slice 3,000 jobs nationwide while also closing more home-loan centers.

"2008's going to be a rough year," analyst Bradshaw said. "We'll continue to see bad news." One particular source of bad news for WaMu is that it has a concentration of its home loan business in such states as California, Florida and Nevada, where real estate woes are pronounced.; April 09, 2008 4:40 AM
Anonymous said...: Weren't there allot of houses in the middle of renovation, but some just ran out of cash and could not finish the project

Just because the bank are asking 25% below market value for their REO you be surprised what they are willing to take.

Even in the Cupertino Foothill Area of Silicon Valley

BEDS: 3 Baths: 1 Sqft: 1,066
Sold For: $13,500 (02/08/2008)
LAST SALE: $560,000 (02/03/2006)

BEDS: 3 Baths: 1 Sqft: 1,066
Sold For: $4,000 (01/24/2008)
LAST SALE: $615,000 (01/05/2007)

BEDS: 3 Baths: 1 Sqft: 960
Sold For: $11,000 (01/14/2008)
LAST SALE: $591,000 (05/22/2006)

BEDS: 3 Baths: 1 Sqft: 960
Sold For: $30,000 (03/06/2008)
LAST SALE: $610,000 (02/05/2007)

BEDS: 3 Baths: 2 Sqft: 1,409
Sold For: $5,500 (03/18/2008)
LAST SALE: $205,500 (05/19/2006)

BEDS: 3 Baths: 2 Sqft: 1,409
Sold For: $38,000 (03/05/2008)
LAST SALE: $1,025,000 (02/15/2007)

BEDS: 3 Baths: 3.5 Sqft: 1,657
Sold For: $5,500 (02/14/2008)
LAST SALE: $879,000 (02/24/2006)

BEDS: 4 Baths: 2 Sqft: 1,491
Sold For: $18,000 (02/15/2008)
LAST SALE: $449,500 (09/22/2003)

BEDS: 4 Baths: 2 Sqft: 1,412
Sold For: $25,500 (01/22/2008)
LAST SALE: $560,000 (11/15/2004)

BEDS: 4 Baths: 2.5 Sqft: 2,651
Sold For: $7,000 (02/14/2008)
LAST SALE: $995,000 (05/31/2006); April 09, 2008 6:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Home sales plummeted in Santa Cruz County in January and February. So far, 138 have been sold, down 43 percent compared to a year ago, when 243 homes were sold in those two months. March sales statistics have not been posted yet.

More homeowners are falling behind on their adjustable-rate mortgage payments, according to LoanPerformance, part of First American CoreLogic of Santa Ana.

Of the 11,000 borrowers in Santa Cruz County with adjustable-rate mortgages in the last quarter of 2007, about 7.6 percent were three or more payments behind, 3.5 percent were in foreclosure and 1.6 percent had been sold at foreclosure sales.

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/
ci_8848507; April 09, 2008 6:41 AM
Anonymous said...: Renter wins Darwin Award for killing himself while siphoning gasoline and smoking a joint

I just absolutely love these stories. A moron rentard in a shit hole apartment complex in the worst part of town trying to steal gasoline from his fellow imbeciles. You never hear these type of stories happening in middle and upper-class residential areas where responsible homeowners, armed to their teeth will defend their homes from encroaching scum. I have stopped accepting employment applications from anyone that checks the RENTING box no matter what. Why should I trust someone that is 1 step away from living under a bridge and might siphon gasoline from my H3? Keep on f*cking yourself illiterate renting jackasses. Keep on freebasing and playing with fire. Win more Darwin Awards and remove yourself from the gene pool. The less of you the better for us!; April 09, 2008 1:55 PM
Anonymous said...: I was LOL while reading this in the doctors office yesterday. Should you buy a house? Ask Judge Mathis!

http://tinyurl.com/4oqews

Neighborhood translations:

pg5(the UMC sugar mama, boat loan, but no savings people)

"around the United Center" = food desert; bad schools; not safe at night; not particularly safe during the day; on the plus side, lots of locally owned shops and greenspace (liquor stores and vacant lots)

pg6 (the HPer?)
"Little Village, Garfield Park or Back of the Yards"= real bad, real bad, and bad (on $18K/year though what do you expect?); April 09, 2008 2:02 PM
Anonymous said...: I work in software and just received a 19% raise.

Meet Mr. Chin Wong, software developer in Bejing, daily rate $40.00 works 12 hours per day. Kiss your software job good bye. I'll give you 1 year max until you can practice "Do You Want Fries With Your Order?"; April 09, 2008 2:25 PM
Anonymous said...: False Assumptions of Statism, 2008 version

Should she become first lady, she said she’d focus on family issues.
“If we don’t wake up as a nation with a new kind of leadership…for how we want this country to work, then we won’t get universal health care,” she said.

“The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more.”; April 09, 2008 3:58 PM
Anonymous said...: as predicted, it sounds like communist San Fran isn't mounting much of a protest.; April 09, 2008 11:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Meet Mr. Chin Wong, software developer in Bejing, daily rate $40.00 works 12 hours per day. Kiss your software job good bye. I'll give you 1 year max until you can practice "Do You Want Fries With Your Order?"

LOL. Such hostility! Yes, okay, you're right. Everyone who is intelligent, educated, hard-working and is fortunate enough to have a good job will soon lose it, and find themselves with no recourse other than to enter the fast food industry. Whatever makes you feel better about whatever crappy situation you are in now. =); April 10, 2008 12:16 AM
Anonymous said...: I hate the fact that the media seems to be scaring the "you know what" out of people with their housing news stories.

The housing market is not terrible ALL across the U.S.

I bought a condo in Suffield, Connecticut, 2 years ago for $135k. I just refinanced it and it appraised this month at $158k.

I think the media is to blame for much of the panic. With a positive outlook, I think the housing market would take a turn for the better.

Chris Kellogg; April 10, 2008 12:21 AM
Anonymous said...: Sodding typical Keith, you go off galivanting about, and Citibank is in the shit.

Below is 2 separate sources saying the same thing.

A little background first... I am the general manager of an independent car dealership in the state of Wyoming.

Citi Financial... the largest bank in the world.

Today at 12:10 p.m. mst our Citi Financial Rep from the Denver region phoned me to state that all Citi Financial offices west of Kansas had closed its doors with out ANY prior notification. All employees were notified of their termination by a mandatory conference call at 11:00 mst.

There are a handful of employees remaining on staff on the east coast to handle the collection accounts. Our rep said that everyone in her office was escorted out by security and the doors were locked behind them.

When asked how many folks would be impacted nationwide by this event, she didn't hesitate to state that over 10,000 today alone.

Apparently, Citi Financial ran out of money the third week of March and had sent memos out to all of its buy centers to make up reasons why they couldn't take on any new business. Our rep said the writing on the wall became evident last December when Citi wrote off 17 BILLION in debt.

Folks, the largest bank in the world is starting to collapse...

And the 2nd one.

I received a broadcast fax at 12:02pm today stating that the local Citifinancial office I'm using is closing, and I'm being reassigned.

Here's the text:

April 9, 2008

"Dear Dealer Principle and General Manager,

In our industry, it is important to continuosly monitor the performance of our business. This is particularly true in today's challenging economic environment. As a result, Citifinancial Auto is implementing changes to focus our resources on our most productive and profitable relationships. We must also align business operations with new loan volume plans.

Based on these priorities, the office serving your area is closing, and we are reassigning your dealership to be serviced by a new location. The specific contact information and instruction to transact with your new CitiFinancial Auto office will follow via facsimile to the dealership F&I office.

If you have questions, please contact your Dealer Development Representative or Dealer Services at 1-800-760-XXXX. Thank you for your business, and we look forward to continuing to serve your financial needs."

Sincerely,

(signed)
J. Michael Kane
Senior Vice President
Client Services

I straightaway called my local office to find the manager in tears over the phone. We have done business for years.

She mentioned that she received a conference call this morning, and it said that ALL of the West Coast LPOs (Local Processing Outlets) for CitiFinancial Auto were closing, and that a 'skeleton crew' would be running the Regional Buying Center in California.

A few minutes later I called my Citi Rep., and he said the call included not only the West Coast, but ALL the offices across the US.

This effectively puts CitiFinancial out of the car loan buying business, which is strange...it just doesn't make any sense.

If this is on the level, I suppose we'll know one way or the other friday night when the exchange closes.; April 10, 2008 2:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Interesting website....

http://www.realtor.org/rmomag.NSF/pages/slscoach20051031?OpenDocument; April 10, 2008 3:39 AM
Anonymous said...: "Kiss your software job good bye. I'll give you 1 year max..."

They were saying that about India in 2001. India and China are a joke. Even accounting for the Filipinos who speak excellent English, there are plenty of software jobs available, and some companies are bringing jobs back to the U.S. There is also the onshore offshoring trend. One benefit of the initial offshoring surge was it allowed companies to expel their dead wood and let the strong rise to the top. A lot of the weak hands got shook out over the last 5 years. But why should I bother to explain any of this to you? You seem to have a stranglehold on the facts about an industry you obviously don't work in.

Meanwhile old "friends" who told me to never get started in software haven't done anything different in their lives in the last 15 years except focus their hate on me now that I make four times as much as them, as they grind away their lives on a factory line.

Why you're so gullible and ill-advised is beyond me. I got some great advice years ago. Birds of a feather flock together. If you seem to have a lot of bad birds around you, maybe it's time to be honest about why they are drawn to you.; April 10, 2008 3:45 AM
Anonymous said...: Hey stocksystm. Your full of it. The REDC is a waste of time. I was there for the mass exodus in Tampa. Were you in Tampa when they tried to shill bid property 5157 Loquat Ct Palm Harbour , FL 34685 for 390k? They tried to Shill bid so many other of these properties That day as well. it was ridiculous. Home kept on magically appearing back up for auction again later in the same day. Why? You tell me? They check every bidders for a certified check. So how can the auctions keep getting back on the auction block? Shill bids is why. To say a 50% haircut is a bunch of propaganda. The banks are trying to sell these properties still for full price. It a joke. Let me guess you work for REDC or one of the banks or a realtor. Joker!; April 10, 2008 3:46 AM
Anonymous said...: Alum Rock, Ca

Beds: 4 Baths: 3 SQFT 1,904
Sold For: $27,500 (01/15/2008)
Last Sell: $752,000 (01/12/2006)

Beds: 3 Baths: 2 SQFT 1,424
Sold For: $43,500 (03/12/2008)
Last Sell: $375,000 (09/15/2000)

Beds: 3 Baths: 2.5 SQFT 1,452
Sold For: $60,000 (02/08/2008)
Last Sell: $426,000 (05/16/2000)

Beds: 3 Baths: 2 SQFT 1,239
Sold For: $241,000 (01/24/2008)
Last Sell: $463,000 (05/16/2003)

Beds: 3 Baths: 1 SQFT 960
Asking: $300,000
Last Sell: $569,000 (08/29/2005)

Beds: 3 Baths: 1 SQFT 797
Asking: $325,000

Beds: 3 Baths: 2 SQFT 1,148
Asking: $329,900
Last Sell: $446,652 (09/13/2007)

Beds: 3 Baths: 1 SQFT 992
Asking: $334,900
Last Sell: $434,250 (12/26/2007)

Beds: 3 Baths: 1 SQFT 960
Asking: $348,000
Last Sell: $555,000 (12/19/2005)

Beds: 3 Baths: 2 SQFT 1,332
Asking: $349,000

Beds: 3 Baths: 2 SQFT 1,117
Asking: $349,500
Last Sell: $352,500 (02/12/2008)

Beds: 3 Baths: 2 SQFT 1,191
Asking: $349,500
Last Sell: $475,000 (10/31/2005); April 10, 2008 3:58 AM
Anonymous said...: Kelowna/Okanagan Region BC, Canada 2008 is the new California early 2007 --
http://www.omreb.com/

Avg house price for central okanagan is approx $525,000 CDN, avg income is $52,000/yr.

Population is ~ 165,000
(approx 50% increase in 10 years)

North Okanagan is $389,000 avg house price, ~ 70,000 pop, avg income ~ $50,000/yr

Local stats say first year over year drop in "Dollar Volume, Market is adjusting to more reasonable level -- lots of buyers" !!

We're a smaller area with lots of tourism. Rentals have gone insane here too.

/Dave; April 10, 2008 6:44 AM
Anonymous said...: Houss are selling when priced correctly.

http://biz.yahoo.com/wallstreet/
080408/sb120769166826099255_id.
html?.v=1

Meet Foreclosure Specialists, The Last Hot Realtors

As the housing slump drags on, sales are so slow that many real-estate agents are giving up or barely scraping by.

But one group of brokers is thriving: those who specialize in selling bank-owned properties.

One of those brokers is , who sells foreclosed homes in Flint, Mich. Mr. Braniff has spent more than 15 years building up his relationships with firms like FIS and with the employees of banks who dispose of foreclosed homes, known in the trade as "real estate owned," or REO, properties.

In return for a steady flow of listings, banks expect him to do such tasks as monitoring homes that are heading for foreclosure and arranging for repairs when thieves rip out copper pipes.

Banks often pay the listing agent a 2% commission rather than the 2.5% to 3% often commanded by those listing ordinary homes.

"We work our tails off, and they take part of the commission," Mr. Braniff says.

But he isn't complaining. Mr. Braniff prizes the steady flow of work he gets from foreclosures.; April 10, 2008 7:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Remember the 90 housing market

Well the saying goes something like when there are a glut of houses in the market then buyers become your real customers even when the sellers pay your commissions.

For most real estate agents time of making one to two home sell a year to pay all of your bills are coming to an end.

For the new real estate agents who just came into the business that means - it back to the basic, selling by volume.

It means talking to your home owners about current market conditions and helping them with setting the house price right the first time.

Stop wasting your time on home owners who don't need to sell or have unrealistic price expectation.

It real simple, if you want to stay in the real estate business and can't sell any houses, then you are not going to be able pay your bills.

In other words, in this market it is a good idea to keep your buyers interest in mind first, because it is all about referral when it comes to selling by volume.

And when this market turns around in the future and these buyers become sellers then guess who they will remember first.; April 10, 2008 8:28 AM
Anonymous said...: "Meet Mr. Chin Wong, software developer in Bejing, daily rate $40.00 works 12 hours per day. Kiss your software job good bye. I'll give you 1 year max until you can practice "Do You Want Fries With Your Order?"

Ummm... sorry, but IT offshoring to asia climaxed 3 to 4 years ago. My company realized early on that they can only farm out very mundane tasks that I would never consider doing anyway. This last year, they have given me strong incentives to stay with them even at a time when the company has been losing money (my company is in the financial sector).

Also, if you believe that someone working in software produces 50% more by working 12 hour days, you don't know what the hell you are talking about. People like that burn out very quickly and end up producing less than someone working a 4 hour day. I get four weeks of paid vacation a year and the company mandates that I take at least 1 full week off per year to avoid burn out.; April 10, 2008 11:17 AM
Anonymous said...: Anonymous said...

"Meet Mr. Chin Wong, software developer in Bejing, daily rate $40.00 works 12 hours per day. Kiss your software job good bye. I'll give you 1 year max until you can practice "Do You Want Fries With Your Order?"

Ummm... sorry, but IT offshoring to asia climaxed 3 to 4 years ago. My company realized early on that they can only farm out very mundane tasks that I would never consider doing anyway. This last year, they have given me strong incentives to stay with them even at a time when the company has been losing money (my company is in the financial sector).

Also, if you believe that someone working in software produces 50% more by working 12 hour days, you don't know what the hell you are talking about. People like that burn out very quickly and end up producing less than someone working a 4 hour day. I get four weeks of paid vacation a year and the company mandates that I take at least 1 full week off per year to avoid burn out.

Are you trying to convince us or yourself?

This ability to spin yourself into the envy of the world would probably get in your way flipping burgers, but you would be great as a Realtor, Mortgage Broker or Used Car Salesman.

JaneZ; April 10, 2008 5:28 PM
Anonymous said...: budvar, I'm not surprised you got something from Citibank that used "dealer principle" instead of the proper "dealer principal", but what do you expect from people who got a piece of paper saying they passed some tests and were therefore qualified to do a job?

Still, is there a chance someone could be playing with you? Usually people who have enough time to play games, oddly, don't have enough time to learn how to spell.; April 10, 2008 5:45 PM
W.C. Varones said...: Great post from my co-blogger Negocios Loucos on a Chinese colleague learning, for the first time, about Tianenmen Square:

link; April 10, 2008 10:27 PM
Anonymous said...: foreclosure bill passed in the senate.....; April 10, 2008 10:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Japanese annual wholesale inflation hit a 27-year high in March, squeezing businesses as they struggle to pass on higher prices for fuel and other raw materials to their customers.

The rising costs, only partly reflected so far in consumer inflation, are also posing problems for the Bank of Japan, which must manage inflation but faces pressure to cut interest rates in the face of the global credit crisis.

The 3.9 percent rise in the corporate goods price index in March from a year earlier is almost four times the most recent core consumer inflation figure of 1.0 percent in the year to February -- showing the difficulty businesses have in raising prices in Japan's sluggish domestic economy.

"The rise in wholesale prices is unlikely to stop here, given that raw material prices are still rising," said Hiroshi Shiraishi, an economist at Lehman Brothers.

We think the BOJ is unlikely to cut rates.

BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, in Washington for a G7 meeting, called on the Group of Seven rich nations to show a clear determination to ensure stability in the financial system.; April 11, 2008 4:56 AM
Anonymous said...: just as I predicted, the People's Republic of San Fransisco (PRSF) failed to demonstrate in a meaningful way.; April 11, 2008 6:19 AM
Mike Zima said...: http://www.omnisio.com/v/-Kf5bVedjhG/tent-cities; April 11, 2008 6:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Are you trying to convince us or yourself?

This ability to spin yourself into the envy of the world would probably get in your way flipping burgers, but you would be great as a Realtor, Mortgage Broker or Used Car Salesman.

Unless you work in IT, please be quiet!; April 11, 2008 10:49 AM
BondsOfSteel said...: I work in software... and yes my company outsources some jobs to China/India.

We also are pulling some jobs back to the US. While there are many good Indian/Chinese programmers... most of the really good ones would rather make $130,000+/year in the US (or Canada/UK/Aus) than $40/day in Hyderabad.

Dr Richard Flordia describes this best in his book on the "Creative Class"

http://www.creativeclass.com/

His book a good read... I wish more of our leaders would read it. If they did, they would expand the H1B visa program and allow more Indian and Chinese programmers into the US:

http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=microsoft+vancouver+h1b&form=QBRE; April 11, 2008 7:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Some friends of mine attended a RE sponsored presentation and dinner in Seattle that dealt with RE investment. Who would have thought, but according to the speaker RE never goes down in price and it's a good investment.
I'm beyond disbelief at this point that there are RE agents that don't see what's happening and/or hope that general population doesn't know what's the true economic condition.
There are stupid, and then there are S.T.U.P.I.D. (tm); April 11, 2008 7:54 PM
Tyrone said...: Australia...

Debtland - Part 1
Why did you keep on taking out the loans?
Because they kept giving them to us.
BWAHAHAHA; April 12, 2008 4:02 AM
Anonymous said...: Like many homeowners during the housing boom, Lynnette Madden and her husband decided to open a home equity line of credit about a year and a half ago as “padding” for emergency expenses and a cushion for Madden’s commission-based real estate career.

The couple, who live in Bakersfield, Calif., never paid the bill late and never drew more than $14,000 in debt from the line’s $100,000 credit limit.

That’s why Madden was surprised when Countrywide sent her a letter in late January stating that the couple's home equity line was “suspended” and they could no longer use it. The reason? Their home, the letter stated, had declined in value and thus the couple no longer had the amount of equity they did when they opened the line.

“I went ballistic,” Madden says. “I could understand it if we missed a payment or maxed it out, but we’ve been responsible.”

the lender’s claim that her shrunken home value disqualifies her for the line: She says the home was worth over $500,000 two years ago, is still worth over $400,000 and that the mortgage balance is below $220,000.

Given the current credit crunch and real estate downturn, Madden doubts she can persuade the company to reinstate the home equity line.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
id/23453269/; April 12, 2008 5:57 AM
Anonymous said...: He pays his bills on time and has no credit card debt. His credit score, he says, is around 800, a rating more or less in the stratosphere.

But in mid-March, Bank of America cut off his home equity credit line of a little more than $180,000, citing a decline in the value of his property. Meyers, 40, is now scrambling to come up with $75,000 to pay for a major landscaping project and is canceling other big spending plans.

"My wife would like a new car, but that's going to have to wait," he said. "We're taking a $75,000 cash-flow hit, and I want to boost savings."

The credit crunch made big news last month when brokerage giant Bear Stearns Cos. was forced to sell itself on the cheap after it was unable to borrow money to cover losses in its portfolio of mortgage securities. But the chill in the credit markets is not something that's hitting just big banks and securities firms.

In thousands of ways big and small, across the Bay Area and the nation, lenders are retreating after booking losses in the mortgage market.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/
article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/05/
MNI1VS96B.DTL; April 12, 2008 6:00 AM
Anonymous said...: FormFactor Inc. has decided to cut about 12 percent of its global work force — including staff reductions at its Livermore operations, the East Bay maker of equipment to test semiconductors said Tuesday.

Livermore-based FormFactor cited a drastic decline in the market for dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, devices. FormFactor manufactures probe cards that are used to test semiconductor wafers.

Based on prior estimates provided by the company, and a company filing made with state labor officials

http://www.contracostatimes.com/
ci_8854329?source=rss; April 12, 2008 6:06 AM
Anonymous said...: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says L.A. is not immune to the country's economic downturn. With that, he proposes cutting 767 city jobs to help compensate for a $420 million deficit in the 2008-2009 budget.

http://cbs2.com/local/
Layoffs.Deficit.Los.2.698148.html; April 12, 2008 6:10 AM
Anonymous said...: General Electric Co., known for making light bulbs, turbines and jet engines, has been the largest financial-services company in the U.S. in recent years.

GE's commercial finance unit, which lends money to companies, does equipment leasing and runs a real estate business, reported a 20% drop in quarterly profit. GE Money, which offers credit cards, mortgages and other loans to consumers, saw profit decline 19%.

GE isn't a bank, so it doesn't collect deposits from savers. That means the company has to borrow money for its financial-services businesses to lend out again.
Having a top AAA credit rating is important in situations like these because it helps finance companies borrow money more cheaply. When they lend the cash out again at a higher interest rate, they can make more profits.

GE is "failing the duck test," Egan-Jones, a ratings agency that's paid by investors rather than issuers, wrote in a note to clients. "The company does not look, sound or act like a AAA credit and therefore, probably is not a real AAA."

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/
story/story.aspx; April 12, 2008 6:28 AM
Tyrone said...: Australia, Debtland Part 5...

Debtland - Part 5
"This is ridiculous. All these people turn up and what do they want, ya' know. They want it for 50 cents."
----
No, ma'm. What is ridiculous are the artificially high prices that the houses were pumped up to. Prices must return to affordability, using realistic lending standards. Her behaviour in front of her children is also ridiculous.
And $610K does not equal 50 cents.; April 12, 2008 6:29 AM
Anonymous said...: As the US Dollar get weaker, it first increase inflation oversea.
However as oversea manufacturing cost goes up due inflation, inflation is imported back into the US.

http://biz.yahoo.com/fxcm/
080410/1207864397299.html?.v=1

US Dollar May Gain as US Import Prices Likely to Signal Accelerating Inflation

With the US Dollar still relatively weak against the majors, there are concerns that import price inflation will rise significantly.

The prospect of increased price pressures only compounds the problems that the Federal Reserve already faces as they’ve slashed the federal funds rate by 300 basis points since September in an attempt to forestall a broad-based economic recession and a full-on credit crunch.

Furthermore, they are expected to cut by at least 25bps at the end of the month, as futures are pricing in a 40 percent chance of a 50bp cut.

However, none of these risks appear to have diminished yet and fed fund futures continue to price in multiple rate cuts in coming months.

What about that pesky inflation issue? Won’t more accommodative monetary policy only fan price pressures? This topic may come to the forefront on Friday as the US import price index is expected to have risen 2.0 percent in March from the month prior while the index is also forecasted to have surged a whopping 13.7 percent from a year earlier.

Such a result will only increase anticipation for the CPI release next week, which is also very likely to highlight the rising inflation pressures in the US economy and effectively leaves the Federal Reserve’s hands tied.; April 12, 2008 6:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Inflation in India touches a new high of 7.41 percent

The data released by the Ministry of Industry for the week ending March 29, shows that the inflation has touched a new high of 7.41 per cent since November 8, 2004.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation rate is at the highest in the last three years. Last Friday the inflation was at 7 per cent.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday has said that a steep rise in food prices would make it difficult to control inflation and that could hurt the cause of macro-economic stability.; April 12, 2008 6:38 AM
Anonymous said...: Prices are going through the roof around the world. Well, that is obviously the fault of high oil prices, right? For example, Kuwait reports that inflation is at a 15-year high. China is very worried and the United States is ignoring the issue in favor of trying to keep the financial system sound.

World inflation has been in a downtrend since 1990, but prices are expected to show heavy increases in 2008, potentially reversing a 15-year movement. Traditionally, high interest rates were a strong indication of inflation trends. In the last 20 years, inflation was best illustrated by a weak dollar and strong gold and commodity prices. And we now have the dollar at historic lows and gold at historic highs, with both of these trends showing little likelihood of changing.

Then we must ask, why is this happening? Why have the prices of commodities like oil and gold risen so dramatically in the last year? Why has the dollar fallen so much? Normal business cycle? Bad management from the world’s financial institutions? And why hasn’t the world’s largest and strongest economy, backed by the most powerful government, been able to change the course of the situation?

Perhaps the larger picture is that the United States is waging an economic war against China.

The United States could strengthen the value of the dollar. It has not. China is hurt because now Chinese products are very expensive in the United States, and this will reduce the US trade deficit with China. China must import huge amounts of oil and strategic metals which are very much more expensive now. China holds hundreds of millions of physical dollars, the value of which is now much less.

China has refused to revalue its currency to a realistic level to improve its trade position with the United States. China has used its huge dollar reserves as a sword against the United States by threatening to sell those dollars, and thereby causing the dollar to drop in value. In effect, the United States is using China’s strength against China.

In order for China to maintain the levels of its trade with the United States, it will be forced to lower the value of its currency. However, if it does that, it faces two major problems. Foreign direct investment (FDI) into China would become less expensive, and China is worried that more and cheaper FDI would spur China’s inflation. Further, a devalued currency would reduce the profit to China for its exported goods.

If China keeps it currency at its present levels, the United States will buy less. The United States wanted a stronger yuan to reduce trade, which China was unwilling to do. That objective is now achieved by a weaker dollar.

China’s dollar holdings are worth much less when buying goods like oil and metals that China depends on for its development and growth. Further, China has been talking and trying for some time to diversify its foreign-reserve holdings form dollars to other currencies and gold. Now, their dollars are worth much less when buying gold, yen and euros.

The current crisis hitting the financial institutions looks to me like a normal business-cycle shakeout not unlike the dot-com IPO fiasco of the 1990s, the savings-and-loan and foreign-country debt crisis of the 1980s and the personal credit crisis of the 1970s.

Back then, the US government bailed out Wall Street, Mexico and the banks, among others, without receiving much in return. This time, the “crisis” is being used to further the US economic position, long-term position, particularly with regard to China. From Sun Tzu: “All warfare is based on deception.” -- Business Mirror

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/
storypage.aspx?StoryId=112655; April 12, 2008 6:52 AM
Anonymous said...: Sign the this online petition to abolish the Federal Reserve:

http://www.petitiononline.com

/fed/petition.html

Let's try to get this going.; April 12, 2008 11:46 AM
Anonymous said...: New this AM in central florida, desperate landlords are now applying for Section 8 housing approval in homes in upscale developments since they cannot find tenants.

Hey McMansion owners, your new neighbor could soon be the person (or more likely persons) eating at the Food Bank. Get ready for major drops in your home value.; April 12, 2008 1:47 PM
Anonymous said...: My son is an extremely well paid software guy in a mid Western City.

He has attempted to hire H1B's several times, but these people don't make past the telephone interview.

They have no clue about abstract thinking.

He would rather hire a newbie with no experience then a a H1B with 20 years.

He cannot fathom how some of these US companies can afford, technically and financially keep these people on the payroll.

Says a lot; April 12, 2008 1:54 PM
W.C. Varones said...: Greenspan's Body Count hits eleven.; April 12, 2008 4:07 PM
Anonymous said...: Just happened to tune in "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" and one of the news trivia questions was that the DC-based Mortage Brokers Association is facing foreclosure.
This show is too smarmy for my tastes, but the person who got the question had some good quips. Maybe there's a NPR podcast if you want to hear the whole thing.
Keith, if that doesn't warrant HP's front page, I give up.; April 12, 2008 4:46 PM
Anonymous said...: The couple, who live in Bakersfield, Calif., never paid the bill late and never drew more than $14,000 in debt from the line’s $100,000 credit limit.

That’s why Madden was surprised when Countrywide sent her a letter in late January stating that the couple's home equity line was “suspended” and they could no longer use it. The reason? Their home, the letter stated, had declined in value and thus the couple no longer had the amount of equity they did when they opened the line.

---------------------

geez, these people are to stupid and or out of touch to have a line of credit. Of course countrywide is canceling their line of credit, CFC, for all practical purposes, is out of business. why do people get upset when a line of credit is taken away? they take it so personally. if they are so credit worthy then they should have no problem going to their local bank and getting a line. the pendulum is starting to swing back the other way, away from the absurd la la economy we have been in for the past 15 years.; April 12, 2008 4:52 PM
Anonymous said...: Beleaguered homeowners face new headache: Tax time

Desperate to avoid foreclosure, Maria Carmona and her husband Victor put their San Jose home up for sale in November. Despite their efforts, the foreclosure happened last month.

Now, on top of everything else - from losing their home to growing credit card debt - they're wondering how this ordeal will affect their tax bill going forward.

The couple's tax adviser could only tell them they'd likely owe some state income tax on the total mortgage debt "canceled" by the foreclosure.

http://origin.mercurynews.com/
breakingnews/ci_8895714; April 12, 2008 5:25 PM
Anonymous said...: Hedge fund manager saw subprime meltdown coming

Burry, 36, recently gained some fame making lots of money for his investors - returns were up 137 percent in 2007, he said - by betting against subprime mortgages. He told us what tipped him off that things were going to go badly for the subprime mortgage market, and he has some theories about why so few people saw it coming.

Here is an edited transcript of an interview.

QWhen did you start to see portents of trouble in subprime lending?

AThe earliest was in 2003. It seemed to me the Federal Reserve was creating an asset bubble in housing to offset the negative effects of the tech bubble collapse, 9/11, WorldCom, the Enron collapse and others. I suspected the bubble that was being created would cause a housing crash far surpassing anything previously. I figured it would peak when lenders had completely lost it.

Q And when did that happen?

A I sensed the recklessness of the lenders when I first saw them creating affordability products like interest-only mortgages. Something like this had been used in the 1920s, but had been considered toxic by bankers ever since. But as confidence grew in the idea that homes always go up in value, these products started to re-enter the market place.

I really thought they lost it when option ARMs were introduced to subprime borrowers. I saw it as banks offering housing credit cards to a population of hard-core spenders.

QBut no one was in trouble at that point.

A Not yet. In early 2005 I really studied the prospectuses of these mortgage pools that were tranched out into different-rated slices rated by agencies like S&P and Moody's. They had names like Park Place and People's Choice.

It was clear to me that many of the buyers of these repackaged subprime mortgages were doing little analysis. They were U.S. and European institutions, banks, insurance companies, pensions, endowments, hedge funds starved for yield and basing decisions solely on the ratings.

In June 2005, mortgage rates were at 40-year lows and risk premiums on mortgage securities were at all-time lows. Once the banks migrated to the subprime area, there was little else that could be done to send housing prices higher. And once housing prices couldn't rise higher, I believed they would start to fall.

Q Seeing the crash coming and profiting from it are two different things. How did you make money for your investors?

AI essentially bought insurance on those subprime mortgage securities that I felt were inaccurately rated.

http://www.mercurynews.com/
ci_8829882?source=rss; April 12, 2008 5:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Wachovia adopts new guidelines that could make it harder to get a mortgage

Wachovia Corp. is revising the underwriting policies in its mortgage loan business, a step that could make it harder to take out a home loan at the nation's fourth-largest bank.

The Charlotte-based company said the new guidelines for its portfolio loans, or those it keeps on its books, take effect later this month. They are aimed at reducing Wachovia's exposure to risky home loans that tend to lead to foreclosures.

"We want to insure Wachovia maintains strong credit quality and we are making sure we're putting customers in the right loans," Wachovia spokesman Don Vecchiarello said.

Among the changes, the bank will now require borrowers to have a minimum qualifying FICO score, a credit rating system used by the vast majority of the nation's banks to guide their loan decisions. Wachovia did not disclose the minimum credit scores it would now require.

The bank will also base loan decisions on a new system of rating home markets. They will consider the physical location of the property and the real estate values in the area to determining a market-risk level: stable markets, watch markets, and stressed markets.

"There will be areas that are impacted more greatly than others," Vecchiarello said.

The guidelines, which were outlined in a memo sent Friday to all of Wachovia's mortgage business employees, also require loan officers to verify the assets and employment of all borrowers.

http://www.mercurynews.com/
ci_8892857?source=rss; April 12, 2008 5:34 PM
Anonymous said...: Anon said:

"Perhaps the larger picture is that the United States is waging an economic war against China."

---------

That's BS! Once again we want an enemy coz we can't live without a war-- military, economic or otherwise. China is a paper tiger, let's not make China sound like it's the huge economic power that threatens US supremacy.

10 years ago, China was the fifth largest economy in the world with $1 trillion GNP (value of all goods and services produced in the country, as opposed to $10 trillion in the US. Even Italy was ahead of China. Today, China may have surpassed Italy, but it still is one of the poorest countries in the world, as its per capita was then $1, and it's less than $2, as compared for example to $6 per head in Mexico!

China is selling cheap goods to America in order to feed its 1.3 billion inhabitants. America needs China to keep its own inflation in check. Without the chinese products the US Gov would have to admit that the rate of inflation is over 10% now. That's why Bush will not boycott the Olympic Games.

Please let's not make a giant out of a midget, like what Bush did with Saddam in order to sell his war on a poor country. Let's not deflect attention away from the current woes in our own neck of the woods.; April 12, 2008 6:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Kieth - I have been reading your blog for a long time now and in general you have a good overview of the housing market in the u.s and that is why people follow your blog. But please please to not extend your remit to Tibet, you really have no idea what so ever about what you are talking about and the ramifications of what is going on here, I live in Singapore and also Tibet and spend a lot of time in mainland China and what is going on in the media over the torch etc is being perceived here is a massive racist slur on people of chinese ethnic origin, if you are above all criticism of a nation who is doing their best to diffuse the situation as far as possible through non violent means then please bear in mind that in Iraq the penalty for driving too fast towards a roadblock is instant death or in Israel ( the u.s only true ally ) any semi literate member of the arab opposition who may be media literate is assassinated as a point of policy.
There is a real feeling of massive hippocratic behavior at play from a nation that in only in recent memory gave basic rights to blacks having treated them as a sub-human culture and still begrudges basic human rights throughout the globe.....; April 12, 2008 6:53 PM
Anonymous said...: House price in Silicon Valley is not suppose to drop especially in places like Santa Teresa

Beds 4 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,412
Sold For: $25,500 (01/22/2008)
Last Sales: $560,00 (11/15/2004)

Beds 4 Baths 2.5 Sqft: 2,077
Sold For: $51,500 (02/14/2008)
Last Sales: $729,000 (11/10/2005)

Beds 5 Baths 3 Sqft: 2,509
Sold For: $126,500 (02/26/2008)
Last Sales: $798,500 (09/02/2006)

Beds 3 Baths 1.5 Sqft:
Asking: $315,000
Last Sales: $457,000 (09/29/2006)

Beds 4 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,474
Sold For: $330,000 (01/18/2008)
Last Sales: $660,000 (06/15/2005)

Beds 4 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,474
Asking: $399,000
Last Sales: $637,000 (10/31/2006)

Beds 3 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,208
Asking: $440,000
Was Asking: $590,000 (10/18/2007)

Beds 4 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,474
Asking: $449,999
Last Sales: $631,000 (09/16/2005); April 12, 2008 8:08 PM
Anonymous said...: House price in Silicon Valley is not suppose to drop

What about the establish part Evergreen that were priced from the $100,000 to $300,000 eight years ago.

Why can't house price go back to those level.

Beds 4 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,860
Sold For: $34,000 (10/18/2007)
Last Sales: $420,000 (10/11/2006)

Beds 3 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,355
Sold For: $42,000 (01/04/2008)
Last Sales: $660,000 (05/22/2007)

Beds 3 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,355
Sold For: $43,000 (12/24/2007)
Last Sales: $822,000 (06/05/2006)

Beds 3 Baths 2.5 Sqft: 1,994
Sold For: $44,500 (12/26/2007)
Last Sales: $274,500 (05/24/2007)

Beds 3 Baths 2.5 Sqft: 2,502
Sold For: $51,500 (11/09/2007)
Last Sales: $780,000 (09/16/2004)

Beds 3 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,622
Sold For: $68,545 (01/25/2008)
Last Sales: $696,000 (11/08/2004)

Beds 4 Baths 2.5 Sqft: 1,787
Sold For: $72,000 (11/14/2007)
Last Sales: $800,000 (02/10/2006)

Beds 5 Baths 2.5 Sqft: 2,332
Sold For: $82,000 (11/20/2007)
Last Sales: $757,000 (06/11/2004)

Beds 4 Baths 3 Sqft: 2,495
Sold For: $115,545 (01/25/2008)
Last Sales: $1,260,000 (08/10/2007)

Beds 4 Baths 3 Sqft: 2,495
Sold For: $119,000 (01/22/2008)
Last Sales: $555,000 (11/18/2002)

Beds 5 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,894
Sold For: $119,000 (01/10/2008)
Last Sales: $715,000 (03/09/2007)

Beds 4 Baths 3 Sqft: 2,495
Sold For: $188,500 (01/31/2008)
Last Sales: $749,000 (12/01/2005)

Beds 3 Baths 3 Sqft: 2,827
Sold For: $300,500 (01/07/2008)
Last Sales: $1,090,000 (08/19/2004)

Beds 4 Baths 3 Sqft: 1,599
Sold For: $311,000 (01/07/2007)
Last Sales: $589,000 (11/30/2004)

Beds 3 Baths 2.5 Sqft: 1,798
Sold For: $325,000 (12/12/2007)
Last Sales: $799,000 (08/31/2005)

Beds 3 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,200
Sold For: $328,500 (12/11/2007)
Last Sales: $530,000 (07/08/2004)

Beds 3 Baths 1.5 Sqft: 910
Asking: $399,000
Was asking: $549,000 (02/13/2008)
Last Sales: $425,000 (12/20/2007)

Beds 4 Baths 1.5 Sqft: 1,114
Asking: $399,000
Was asking: $449,000 (01/04/2008)

Beds 2 Baths 1 Sqft: 805
Sold For: $399,999
Last Sales: $530,000 (12/30/2005)

Beds 4 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,400
Sold For: $400,000
Last Sales: $617,000 (10/09/2007)

Beds 3 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,157
Sold For: $419,000
Last Sales: $550,000 (12/30/2004)

Beds 3 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,179
Sold For: $425,000
Last Sales: $585,000 (01/15/2008)

Beds 2 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,196
Sold For: $429,000
Last Sales: $481,050 (02/05/2008)

Beds 3 Baths 1.5 Sqft: 910
Asking: $429,950
Was asking: $630,000 (02/12/2008)

Beds 3 Baths 1 Sqft: 910
Asking: $440,000
Last Sales: $605,000 (02/01/2006)

Beds 3 Baths 1 Sqft: 1,000
Asking: $449,000
Last Sales: $560,000 (09/09/2005)

Beds 3 Baths 2 Sqft: 1,239
Asking: $450,000
Last Sales: $530,000 (05/19/2005)

Beds 4 Baths 3 Sqft: 1,715
Asking: $450,000
Last Sales: $715,000 (01/02/2007); April 12, 2008 9:14 PM
Anonymous said...: East Bay among top 13 U.S. markets at risk for home-price declines

The Oakland-Fremont-Hayward metropolitan statistical area is among the top 13 U.S. markets at risk for home price declines over the next two years, according to PMI Mortgage Insurance Co.'s risk index released today.

The Oakland area, which includes Alameda and Contra Costa counties, has a greater than 60 percent chance that home prices will be lower in two years, according to the Spring 2008 U.S. Market Risk Index by PMI of Walnut Creek, the U.S. subsidiary of The PMI Group Inc.

The index ranks the state's 50 largest MSAs based on fourth-quarter data from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. The data show risk remains concentrated largely in a number of metro areas in Califoria and Florida, as well as Las Vegas and Phoenix.

The index found that the risk of declining home values is continuing to increase in states where price growth dramatically exceeded historical norms, but has begun declining in areas where prices grew at a sustainable rate.

http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/
stories/2008/04/07/daily78.html; April 12, 2008 10:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Why is it that the government allow companies to layoff regular workers and replace them with illegal workers.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/
special/immigration_debate/
20080330_A_fast-growing_
illegal_influx_from_India.html

A fast-growing illegal influx from India

The nation's fastest-growing group of illegal immigrants is not one that would readily come to mind.

Turning stereotypes on their head, a recent federal analysis of unauthorized immigration says the most rapidly growing source of illegal immigration is India - the same country whose engineers and programmers help power Silicon Valley companies such as Google, whose doctors heal the sick, and whose entrepreneurs and venture capitalists have become a force on both sides of the international date line.

The Homeland Security Department estimates there are 270,000 unauthorized Indian natives in the United States - a 125 percent jump since 2000, the largest percentage increase of any nation with more than 100,000 illegal immigrants in the United States.

Virtually all entered the United States legally but violated the terms of their visas, experts who study the immigration system say.

Indians are among the most affluent ethnic groups in the United States, with a median household income that is 62 percent higher than the figure for all U.S. households.; April 12, 2008 10:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Short Sale

I'm in California and just begining and short sale. Does anyone know the best way to get through this?

I've already lost every bit of money I've ever worked for and I'm unemployed. I just want to at least walk away with my pants on if not more.

Is there anyone that knows what to look out for, to avoid, apply for, do, or ask?

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/
forums/?ID=88585184; April 12, 2008 10:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Isn't strange how seasoned real estate agents knew that there will be allot of foreclosures back in 2004 to 2005.

http://www.sdbj.com/industry_
article.asp?aID=59349482.
2407908.1612455.3332118.
2136026.536&aID2=124026

Gary Kent, a local broker with Denver-based Re/Max Associates, says he anticipated the rise in foreclosures during the market boom a few years ago.

“I knew the run-up couldn’t last, so I started calling banks before they really had any foreclosures,” said Kent. “I started calling them in ’04 and ’05. They were saying things like ‘We don’t have any foreclosures’ and I was saying ‘You will, so how do I get your approved lists.’ ”

Now 46 clients, including banks, asset management companies and mortgage insurance companies, update Kent on foreclosure properties for sale on a regular basis. He sees more than one new listing per day from his clients. And he has shifted his business focus to REO, or “real estate owned,” bank sales.

Last year, Kent, based in University Towne Center, sold 150 bank-owned properties. The sales represented 80 percent of his business, he says.

Redwood City-based Movoto reported that 21.5 percent of listings on the Multiple Listing Service at the end of March were distressed properties. The number of distressed or bank-owned properties, or in foreclosure or seeking a short sale, was up from 20.4 percent on Feb. 29.; April 12, 2008 11:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Those foreclosures could be dragging down the value of your house.

“It’s simple economics,” Michael Maher, Realty Executives, said. “If your neighbor’s home has been foreclosed and the bank takes $20,000 less on theirs … it affects your home’s value to the negative. It also affects the appraisers.

“When doing the evaluation for the mortgage company during a sale, an appraiser looks at three comparable homes from the surrounding area. If one of those is a foreclosure and is sold for $50,000 less than the others, it affects the appraised value. An appraiser has to include that house in his or her calculations.”

http://www.kccommunitynews.com/
articles/2008/04/11//
shawnee_-_lenexa_sun/news//
doc47fce75e7e867422779024.txt; April 12, 2008 11:13 PM
Anonymous said...: ECB's Noyer sees dollar pegs generating inflation

European Central Bank Governing Council member Christian Noyer said on Saturday dollar pegs in some emerging countries were helping to generate global inflation pressures.

"One of the factors of inflation in the world today is linked to the fact that a certain number of emerging countries ... have linked their currency to the U.S. dollar and therefore follow a monetary policy very close to that of the (U.S. Federal Reserve) even though they don't have the same economic developments at all," he told reporters.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/
20080412/tbs-g7-ecb-dollar-
7318940.html; April 13, 2008 12:24 AM
Anonymous said...: I would like to know why diesel is in a bigger bubble than gasoline at the pump almost a dollar more. This makes no sense because gas is higher refined diesel. It should be the other way around. So truckers have to pay the extra dollar a gallon so everyone still pays, look at how goods are rising as a result.; April 13, 2008 12:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Hmm...twice now a comment did not get posted.

Anyone else hear 'Wait Wait Don't Tell Me' today? The current events section mentioned something about the mortgage brokers association possibly facing foreclosure. Is this real?

a real creampuff; April 13, 2008 2:21 AM
Anonymous said...: here's why OC should win your REIC infested poll:

"Orange County, dead last in the jobs game. Worse than Michigan's shattered auto-factory towns. Worse than Florida's fizzled new villages. Worse than overbuilt, inland California.

The federal government's latest local job count, a tally that's late but relatively accurate and awfully insightful, found Orange County's job market down 19,100 positions in the year ended in the third quarter.That was the biggest decline of any of the 328 large U.S. counties tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics."
-OC Register; April 13, 2008 6:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Why do people feed beef to cow.

Why don't they banned the practice of including parts of cattle and other cud-chewing animals in cattle feed.

Have the price of corn gone so high that, that they have to blend corn meal with meat from rendering plants.

Did the price of corn go up that high.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/
europe/04/07/cow.spain/index.html

Mad cow disease has killed two people since December in the Castilla Leon region north of Madrid, a regional health authority spokeswoman told CNN Monday.

The first death occurred December 28 and the next was February 7, in hospitals at undisclosed locations in the sprawling Castilla Leon region, which encompasses numerous provinces north of Madrid, said the spokeswoman, who asked not to be identified.

Regional health officials reported the findings to Spain's national network that monitors mad cow disease and to a European monitoring network based in Edinburgh, Scotland, she said.

Spain's Ministry of Health did not immediately confirm the deaths.

But the Carlos III Health Institute, which is part of the national monitoring network, on its Web site confirmed the deaths.

It said two Spaniards, aged 41 and 50, had died in the Castilla Leon region, and the last prior fatality in Spain was a Spaniard from the Madrid region, who died in 2005.; April 13, 2008 6:51 AM
Anonymous said...: Victim In Possible Mad Cow Case Dies

Officials at a Portsmouth hospital say a woman who may have had a rare degenerative brain disorder has died.

One type of that brain disorder has been linked to eating beef from cattle infected with mad cow disease.

A nursing supervisor said the 22-year-old woman, who had been unconscious at Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center, died Wednesday afternoon.

The Virginia Department of Health said this week that it was investigating the case.

http://www.wric.com/global/
story.asp?s=8145883; April 13, 2008 6:56 AM
Anonymous said...: The United States pressed South Korea to open its market for imports as talks resumed Friday over Seoul's ban on American beef over concerns of mad cow disease, an official said.

South Korea responded it will determine its position on the U.S. demand after discussing the issue with experts, said Oh Sun-min, an official at the Agriculture Ministry. The two countries will meet again Monday, he added.

"The sides should make efforts" to narrow their differences, Oh said.

The negotiations were the first since October, when the U.S. failed to get South Korea to lift an import ban slapped on earlier that month after shipments contained parts banned over concerns of mad cow disease that authorities believe can be dangerous to humans.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/
080411/skorea_us_beef.html?.v=1; April 13, 2008 6:57 AM
Anonymous said...: New Outbreak Of Blue-Ear Pig Disease

Blue-ear pig disease has flared up again in Vietnam, leading to the deaths of more than 50,000 animals and threatening to drive up food prices, officials said Monday.

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/
content.asp?contentid=211524; April 13, 2008 7:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Corn prices eating away cattle profits

High prices for corn have farmers smiling, but those same prices are wiping out profits for feedlot operators who have to buy corn to feed cattle, ag specialists say.

Many feedlot operators have lost money over the past year because they’ve had to buy ever more expensive corn, according to Ken Olson, beef specialist at South Dakota State University’s West River Ag Center in Rapid City.

Next on the hit list will be ranchers who raise the calves to sell to those feedlots, Olson said.

“The folks in the feedlot business are losing a lot of money right now because the cost of corn is so high,” Olson said. “They’re not going to be able to pay the kind of prices that they have for calves in the past.”

Most of the feedlots in South Dakota are in central and eastern South Dakota. But most West River ranchers focus on raising calves for the feedlots.

Wall area rancher Myron Williams is in both parts of the cattle business, raising his own calves, and feeding grain and hay to them and calves he buys.

Williams said he hasn’t bought much corn of late because he uses dried distillers grain, a byproduct of the ethanol process.

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/
articles/2008/04/08/news/local/
doc47f954a8246ed591221375.txt; April 13, 2008 7:06 AM
Anonymous said...: The more Alan Greenspan whines about his tarnished legacy since leaving the helm of the Federal Reserve, the more his predecessor Paul Volcker looks to claim the title as the "greatest central banker who ever lived."

That's what Greenspan was hailed as in 2005, when the economy was booming and inflation remained low. Economists lauded his significant contributions during his 18-year Fed tenure, which included making the central bank more communicative and weathering two recessions.

Those accolades largely overshadowed Volcker's achievements. He left the Fed in 1987 after an eight-year run of steering the economy through a tough battle against double-digit gains in inflation and a punishing economic decline.

Volcker's legacy seems to be soaring now, while Greenspan's is sinking - despite his intense effort to shift blame away from himself as the cause of today's punishing financial crisis.

In an interesting juxtaposition of events in recent days, the two former Fed chairmen collided in the headlines. Greenspan, who left Fed two years ago, took to print and television media to defend his battered reputation. Volcker, in two rare, back-to-back speeches, gave a critical assessment of the current economy and the Fed's role in creating and managing the crisis.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/
localnews/content/business/
epaper/2008/04/13/sunbiz_
beckcol_0413.html; April 13, 2008 7:12 AM
Anonymous said...: That's BS! Once again we want an enemy coz we can't live without a war-- military, economic or otherwise. China is a paper tiger, let's not make China sound like it's the huge economic power that threatens US supremacy.

went2pee you got a good point you should E-mail your comments to JOHN MANGUN who wrote the article.

His email is mangun@email.com

Sounds like John Mangun is saying just that "China is a paper tiger"

US waging economic war against China

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/
storypage.aspx?StoryId=112655; April 13, 2008 7:30 AM
Anonymous said...: BOJ you have been warned to raise interest rate fast early last year.

It would have been the less of two evils for US Federal Reserve to keep rate at 5.25%, while you raise interest rate to unwind Yen Carry Trade.

BOJ you knew if you raised interest rate then Subprime loan would collapse, at the same time you knew if US Federal Reserve lower interest rate Subprime loan would still collapse, because everything was tight to the EXCESS GLOBAL LIQUIDITY pump called CARRY TRADE.

BOJ you sat on your hands because didn't want to be blame for the Collapse of the Credit Crisis that Yen Carry Trade created.

Now the both of you have reached the point of no return.

One thing for certain we all know that the US Federal Reserve has but no choice except to continue to lowering interest rate to zero.

In the end it all about "Greed and Fear" and the "Path of less resistance"

"Greed and Fear" and "Path of less Resistance" lead to Protectionism, Protectionism leads to Nationalism", and Nationalism leads to War.

See how history repeats itself.

Remember this time when the next world war start - Blood is in your hand BOJ.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/
business/7344892.stm

The head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that hundreds of thousands of people will face starvation if food prices keep rising.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that social unrest from continuing food price inflation could cause conflict.

There have been food riots recently in a number of countries, including Haiti, the Philippines and Egypt.

Meeting in Washington, the IMF called for strong action on food prices and the international financial crisis.; April 13, 2008 8:02 AM
Anonymous said...: Britain is in the grip of a free range chicken shortage which could last until the end of the year, major supermarkets have warned.

A high profile campaign by celebrity chefs, including Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, has led to unprecedented demand for free range chicken which is regularly selling out.

But retailers have revealed it could be December before there was a large enough supply of free range chickens to satisfy the needs of their frustrated customers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/
2008/04/13/nfood213.xml; April 13, 2008 9:36 AM
Anonymous said...: The number of drilling rigs actively exploring for oil and natural gas in the United States dropped by 15 this week to 1,815.

Of the rigs running nationwide, 1,451 were exploring for natural gas and 355 for oil, Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc. reported Friday. Nine were listed as miscellaneous.

A year ago, the rig count stood at 1,758.

Of the major oil-and gas-producing states, Texas lost 25 rigs, Louisiana lost two, New Mexico gained two and Wyoming added four. Oklahoma gained four rigs and California gained two. Colorado and Alaska remained unchanged from the previous week.

Baker Hughes has tracked rig counts since 1944. The tally peaked at 4,530 in 1981, during the height of the oil boom. The industry posted several record lows in 1999, bottoming out at 488.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/
markets/headline_news/article.
jsp?content=b041178A; April 13, 2008 9:39 AM
Anonymous said...: "A fast-growing illegal influx from India

The nation's fastest-growing group of illegal immigrants is not one that would readily come to mind."

Yes, and they believe they do not have to obey our laws or pay taxes, just like immigrants from south of the border.

I bought a small business from an Indian immigrant and so examined his tax return. It was pure fiction. He claimed poverty income levels though he owned several prosperous businesses, a child care credit though his one child was a teen-ager, and did not claim his wife's income at all. He paid his employees under the table, (which they all thought was great), and did not claim monthly income from the business he sold (to another Indian).

His taxes were prepared by another - you guessed it - Indian.
We Americans are the only ones who think we have to obey they law. All of the guests in our country find ways around the onerous taxes and restrictions on our liberty.; April 13, 2008 11:50 AM
Miss Goldbug said...: Keith - This is big news from ING DIRECT.

I had an account at ING until recently. last week, I received a letter from ING regarding changes to their savings and IRA accounts. Starting on 5/14/2008.

The letter says:

CHANGE IN TERMS: New terms and conditions apply to your Orange Savings Account. As of the Effective Date, we may allow you to make a wire transfer from your account. If we do, we may charge you for using this service and the charge will be deducted from your account at the same time we deduct the amount of the wire. We may also limit the amount that you can send and where we will allow you to send the wire. (for example, we may only allow you to send a wire to your Linked Account). You may not stop or cancel a wire transfer request after it has been submitted to us.

FEES- IF we agree to process a wire transfer for you, the cost per transaction will be up to $40.00.

As the Effective Date, we may also allow you to make deposits into your account via wire transfers.

TRANSACTION LIMITATIONS: You may only transfer funds out of your savings account to other accounts you have with us or to your linked account up to six times per monthly statement cycle using any combination of preauthorized, telephone and automatic transfer services. You are not limited in number of transfers that you may make out of your account to repay loans at our Bank. If you exceed this limit on more than on an occasional basis, we will close your account or transfer your funds to a transactional account. Wire transfers, if we agree to process them for you, are limited to $25,000 per day. We may also limit the number of wire transfers you san send each day.

All I can say is thank God I closed my ING account last month. This letter is a big red flag that ING is in trouble, and/or they dont want panic withdraws.

Things are changing fast HP bloggers. I have a feeling more banks will get this idea to charge people when they want to transfer their own money, or even refuse to do a wire transfer, like ING is stating in their letter.; April 13, 2008 5:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Procedure Unveiled for Reporting Violations of the Tax Law, Making Reward Claims

IR-2007-201, Dec. 19, 2007

The Internal Revenue Service today outlined ways informants can report violations of the tax law and possibly claim a reward based on the amount of additional tax, penalties and interest that is owed.

“Since Congress enacted new procedures increasing award amounts last year, informants have come forward with information on alleged tax noncompliance amounting to tens of millions of dollars, and in some cases hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Stephen Whitlock, Director of the Whistleblower Office.

Since the Whistleblower Office was created in December 2006, the IRS has received about 80 claims, half of those submitted in just the last two and a half months. To make a claim, an informant must file new Form 211, Application for Award for Original Information, which asks informants to provide an estimate of the tax owed, the pertinent facts in the case and an explanation of how the informant obtained the information.

The IRS’ Whistleblower Office will make the final determination about whether an award will be paid and the amount of the award for claims that it processes. Awards will be paid in proportion to the value of information furnished voluntarily with respect to proceeds collected.

Under the new procedures, the amount of award will be at least 15%, but no more than 30%, of the collected proceeds in cases in which the IRS determines that the information submitted by the informant substantially contributed to the collection of tax.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/
article/0,,id=176632,00.html; April 13, 2008 5:22 PM
Anonymous said...: When central banks around the world are printing Excess Global Liquidity to save the credit crisis some of it is bound to end up in Asia.

It sounds like an repeat of the mid 90s.

The question is can Asian governments prevent the corruption that took out that region in 1998 from happening again.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/
story/story.aspx?guid=%7B9F8E0E6
B%2DF12F%2D4A18%2DAB81%2D76C32B1
40AAF%7D&siteid=rss

Singapore's economy grows 16.9% in first quarter

Singapore's economy expanded at a faster-than-expected pace during the first quarter, bolstered by construction and manufacturing spending, government data showed Thursday.

The city-state's economy grew 16.9% on a seasonally-adjusted annualized basis in the January to March period from a year earlier, reversing a 4.8% contraction in the previous quarter, the Trade Ministry data showed Thursday. The result beat expectations of a 6.8% rise, according to consensus estimates compiled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Singapore's economy expanded 7.2% from a year earlier, exceeding consensus estimates for 5.7% growth. During the quarter, growth in manufacturing was 13.2% while construction growth rose 14.6%.; April 13, 2008 5:50 PM
Anonymous said...: A SINGAPOREAN couple walked into a Lamborghini showroom and bought two units – his and hers – for US$650,000 (RM2.04mil) each.

“It’s amazing; young kids coming in and spending S$2mil (RM4.7mil),” the manager told a journalist. “I don’t think they were even 30 years old.”

Last year, 29 of these crème de la crème models were sold countrywide, beating Ferrari (26 cars).

In 2007 a total of 320 luxury cars including Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lotus, Aston Martin and Maserati, were sold to Singapore’s new rich.

As the nouveau riche basks in their newfound glory, more Singaporeans from the poorer quarters are approaching the government for food aid.

A growing number of homeless can be seen sleeping in void decks of buildings and, pressed by high living costs, more elderly citizens are working as toilet cleaners or collecting used cans for recycling.

Singapore remains largely a middle class society. The high number of shopping plazas attests to it. But the group may be decreasing as a result of globalisation and runaway prices.

The city-state of 4.7 million people has two – perhaps three – faces. On the top 10% are the rich, who live in wealthy districts, own yachts and blow S$10,000 (RM23,209) on a single meal.

At the bottom 20% of the population are the languishers who have difficulties coping with a high cost structured life in an international city. The third is the large middle class.

Take the case of Carol John, 27. She doesn’t own a bed, sleeps every night on thin mattresses with her three children. Hers is a one-bedroom flat that reeks of urine smell from the common corridor outside.

“I can’t save anything, it’s so difficult for me,” John, who is unemployed, told a reporter. She relies on her husband’s S$600 (RM1,392) monthly salary and S$100 (RM232) government handout.

She is luckier than others who are homeless – elderly and even entire families - who sleep at void decks or the beach and bathe at public restrooms.

In perspective, Singapore is the second richest country in Asia next to Japan, with a per capita GDP of US$48,900 (RM154,141).

It is a potential minefield of unrest. The proportion of Singaporeans earning less than S$1,000 (RM2,320) a month rose to 18% last year, from 16% in 2002, according to central bank data.

The bad part is that life is often worse for the unemployed – compared to other countries - because Singapore has no safety net and no rural hinterland to cushion their suffering.

The problem will get worse. In other words, the rich will get richer and the poor, poorer with the middle class remaining more or less stagnant.

This is one of the worst failures of the modern People’s Action Party, despite its ‘democratic socialism’ principles.

It was with these that its first generation leaders were able to turn a poor squalid society into a middle class success story.

Economists attribute the major blame to globalisation, which benefits the skilled citizens and the rich but makes it hard for the unskilled, the aged and the sick.

Even the highly educated are not spared.

http://thestar.com.my/columnists/
story.asp?file=/2008/4/12/
columnists/insightdownsouth/
20914452&sec=insightdownsouth; April 13, 2008 5:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Iris Drops as Malaysian Regulator Sues in Stock Probe

Iris Corp., the subject of an international stock manipulation probe, fell to a three-week low in Kuala Lumpur after Malaysia's regulator sued U.S. hedge fund Aeneas Capital Management LP for market rigging and fraud.

The maker of digital identity cards dropped 3.6 percent to 13.5 sen at the 5 p.m. close, valuing the Kuala Lumpur-based company at 185 million ringgit ($59 million). Iris, down 34 percent this year, wasn't named as a defendant in the suit.

Crackdowns on market manipulation are rising. Last month, U.S. regulators investigated trading of Bear Stearns Cos. shares after its stock plunged.

Malaysia's Securities Commission said it worked with overseas authorities before filing a civil suit against 10 defendants including Aeneas Capital Managing Partner Thomas R. Grossman for creating fake demand for Iris stock.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
news?pid=20601080&sid=aCQEFQDnCVyU; April 13, 2008 6:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Singapore Dollar Posts Best Week Since 1998

The Singapore dollar posted its biggest weekly gain in almost a decade after the central bank this week raised the trading range for its currency to help stem inflation near the fastest in 26 years.

The Singapore dollar rose to a record, leading gains among Asian currencies. Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised their forecasts for the exchange rate after the Monetary Authority of Singapore's unexpected move. The Chinese yuan and Malaysian ringgit advanced to their strongest levels since both countries scrapped their dollar pegs in July 2005.

``Given the strong focus on inflation, there will probably be more upside to the Singapore dollar,'' said Craig Chan, a currency strategist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in Singapore. ``It was a very aggressive policy decision relative to the economic backdrop.''

Singapore's dollar finished the week at S$1.3586 per U.S. dollar after reaching a record S$1.3553. The local currency has gained 1.9 percent this week, the most since the five days ended Oct. 16, 1998.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
news?pid=20601080&sid=aQRf7cOVSfW8; April 13, 2008 6:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Global Insight National City House Valuation First Quarter 2008 should be coming out soon.

Remember during the boom Realtors paid them to do a housing valuation to prove that there was no housing bubble, but even back then the report came saying there was a housing bubble.

https://www.nationalcity.com/
main/micro-site/economics/
commentary-analysis/pages/
housing-valuation-analysis.asp?
WT.vanity=HouseValuation; April 13, 2008 7:17 PM
Anonymous said...: A Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday shows that nearly One-Third of middle-class Americans say they aren’t better off than they were five years ago, offering a short-term assessment of personal progress that is the worst in nearly half a century.

Study Finds Middle-Class Americans Are Increasingly Downbeat

The median income of the American middle class has declined from its 1999 peak, making this decade one of the longest downturns for the group's standard of living, according to the Pew Research Center.

"This is the most downbeat short-term assessment of personal progress in nearly half a century of polling by the Pew Research Center and the Gallup organization," the Pew center said in a 169-page report released Wednesday. "Americans feel stuck in their tracks."

Their short-term assessment of personal progress, according to the study, is the worst it's been in nearly half a century.

A majority of those surveyed said their way of life hasn't improved in the past five years, with 25 percent saying they haven't moved forward and 31 percent saying they've gone backward.

The survey by the Pew Research Center, a Washington-based organization, paints a mixed picture for the 53 percent of adults in the country who define themselves as "middle class," with household incomes ranging from below $40,000 to more than $100,000.

Pew defined middle class as the 35 percent of adults who live in a household where the annual income falls within 75 percent to 150 percent of the national median, or roughly those with annual income of $45,000 to $90,000 in 2006.

"The "middle class squeeze' has grown into a more insistent story line as the campaign season has progressed and economic news — rising fuel and food prices, falling house values, impending recession, turmoil in the financial and mortgage markets — has become more ominous," Pew said. "There are Republican and Democratic variations on this theme, but very few dissenters from its core premis."

Nearly eight in 10 , or 78 percent, respondents said it is more difficult than it was five years ago to maintain their standard of living, compared with 65 percent of those asked a similar question in 1986, the poll results showed.

Nearly one in five, or 18 percent, said they had trouble getting or paying for medical care, while 10 percent reported they had been laid off or otherwise lost their jobs.

Among those employed, one in four, or 25 percent, expressed worries that they would be laid off, that their job would be outsourced, or that their employer would relocate in the coming year, while 26 percent were concerned that they would see cuts in salary or health benefits.

Asked about their financial experiences in the past year, 53 percent of middle-class people said they had to cut spending because money was tight.

"It's been a lousy run for the American economy and people feel it," said Paul Taylor, director of Pew's Social & Demographic Trends project and lead author of the study.

He noted that people's pessimism largely tracks annual median household income, which has seen little gain in recent years. Middle-class people also may be disproportionately feeling the pinch because they tend to borrow more heavily against their homes to support their lifestyles, Taylor said.

But the Pew research also shows the wealthiest did much better - from 1983 to 2004, the median net worth of upper-income families grew by 123 percent and outpacing the gains of middle-income families by 4-to-1, at 29 percent.

The Pew poll involved telephone interviews with 2,413 adults, conducted Jan. 24-Feb. 19. The margin of sampling error was 2.5 percentage points.; April 13, 2008 7:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey guys, you wanna read something funny?

I've been watching this house that's been on the market for over a year now. It is vacant, knee high weeds, bad roof, etc.. I called to check on the price when I noted there was a new realtwhore®. She said they had a bid, and it was under contract, wait for it...

For above asking price!

HAHAHA!!

Out of towner? Who knows?

HAHAHA!!; April 13, 2008 7:59 PM
Anonymous said...: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/
nva/car/638382809.html

i saw this (Fredericksburg) craigslist ad for a $45k Viper for sale, if you scroll down a ways the License plate has been covered, except for the lame "R" Realtor logo. Ha ha.; April 13, 2008 8:03 PM
Anonymous said...: Sunday, April 6, 2008
A Potential (Partial) Solution To Falling Tax Revenues

worrying that the govt won't get enough taxes is like worrying that an alcoholic doesn't get enough booze to drink.; April 13, 2008 8:21 PM
Anonymous said...: Just perfect: The Mortgage Bankers Association is upside down in their new headquarters.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/47qpr7; April 13, 2008 8:25 PM
Anonymous said...: house price never drop in Silicon Valley.

It was just last year Realtors were saying population going up and limit amount of land mean prices never drop.

Now Cambrian is effected also.

Beds: 3 Baths: 2 Sqft: 1,114
Sold For: $40,000 (03/11/2008)
Last Sales: $405,000 (10/26/2001)

Beds: 4 Baths: 2 Sqft: 1,783
Sold For: $91,781 (01/08/2008)
Last Sales: $840,000 (02/28/2006)

Beds: 4 Baths: 3.5 Sqft: 3,087
Sold For: $119,000 (01/15/2008)
Last Sales: $1,295,000 (07/12/2006)

Beds: 3 Baths: 1 Sqft: 1,047
Sold For: $220,000 (01/09/2008)
Last Sales: $441,000 (02/22/2005)

Beds: 3 Baths: 2 Sqft: 1,454
Sold For: $220,000 (12/31/2007)
Last Sales: $548,182 (07/27/2004)

Beds: 2 Baths: 2 Sqft: 1,394
Sold For: $252,000 (11/16/2007)
Last Sales: $895,000 (07/15/2005)

Beds: 3 Baths: 1 Sqft: 1,288
Asking: $325,000
Last Sales: $628,000 (04/06/2006)

Beds: 3 Baths: 1 Sqft: 1,060
Asking: $325,000
Last Sales: $418,000 (12/01/2003); April 13, 2008 10:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Credit Suisse could announce further writedowns of up to 5 billion Swiss francs ($4.99 billion) when it posts its first-quarter results later this month, Swiss media reported over the weekend.

Credit Suisse has so far written down 5.8 billion francs and last month said it could report its first quarterly loss in five years as unprecedented market conditions in March had introduced new uncertainty.

Credit Suisse declined to comment on the reports.

http://www.reuters.com/article/
businessNews/idUSL1345153420080413; April 13, 2008 11:25 PM
Anonymous said...: 2008 is not looking so good, especially for the people and Realtors® of Arizona.; April 14, 2008 1:42 AM
Anonymous said...: hey keith check out this link about whats really happening in America to the middle class, its a senators website. http://www.sanders.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=295825

its much more than just a mortgage crisis...
kwv; April 14, 2008 12:11 PM
Anonymous said...: Interactive foreclosure map:
http://tc.deals.yahoo.com/tc/blockbuster/text5.com

Not too many realtors sending that one around.; April 14, 2008 5:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Anonymous said...
house price never drop in Silicon Valley.

You sir are delusional . Please refrain from posting your fantasy price drops. If you have something realistic to report, please include the MLS numbers.; April 14, 2008 6:17 PM
Anonymous said...: You sir are delusional

I sure hope you weren't talking to me f*cking rentard. Today front page news shows pictures of renters being kicked out of houses by foreclosure muscles. These idiots gave a first and last deposit to a f*cking speculator who pocketed the cash and let them eat dirt. Just goes to show you that imbeciles and morons (aka renters) don't deserve it any better. Fleece retarded shit-hole renting motherf*ckers! Bwa ha ha ha ha !!!; April 14, 2008 9:58 PM
BondsOfSteel said...: Jefferson County looks to be the latest casualty of the credit crisis.

They got killed with intrest rate swaps and muni resets.

Unless the Alabama legislature steps in, odds are they will be the largest muni backrupcy... ever.; April 14, 2008 11:36 PM
Tyrone said...: Check it out. A bit scathing towards the end.

Nation of Debt.; April 15, 2008 6:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Mortgage relief? What relief?

The powers that be have hustled in recent months, trying to make it easier and cheaper to get a mortgage.

But despite the Federal Reserve slashing interest rates and Congress raising limits for conforming loans, the home-lending system is still in a logjam.

"Right now, borrowers are still getting the short end of the stick," said Rob Chrisman, director of capital markets at Residential Pacific Mortgage in Walnut Creek.

If anything, mortgages are harder to get and - except for traditional "conforming" loans to highly qualified borrowers - more expensive.

"The mortgage market has been locked up since last August and is still as locked up today as it was Sept. 1, if not worse," said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance in Bethesda, Md. "This is clearly the worst mortgage market environment we've seen since the Depression."

In the wake of the subprime meltdown, investors worldwide lost their appetites for investing in mortgage-backed securities.

Because almost three quarters of all mortgages get sold as securities, shutting off that money supply line has had a dramatic impact.

Lenders are very cautious about writing loans because they don't want to risk being stuck with them, unable to bundle them up and sell them as securities.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/
article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/13/
MNSJVRMV1.DTL&feed=rss.business; April 15, 2008 6:41 AM
Anonymous said...: It is not that of Barton M. Biggs, the former chief global strategist at Morgan Stanley. Yet in Mr. Biggs’s new book, “Wealth, War and Wisdom,” he says people should “assume the possibility of a breakdown of the civilized infrastructure.”

“Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food,” Mr. Biggs writes. “It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson. Even in America and Europe there could be moments of riot and rebellion when law and order temporarily completely breaks down.”

Survivalism, it seems, is not just for survivalists anymore.

Faced with a confluence of diverse threats — a tanking economy, a housing crisis, looming environmental disasters, and a sharp spike in oil prices — people who do not consider themselves extremists are starting to discuss doomsday measures once associated with the social fringes.

They stockpile or grow food in case of a supply breakdown, or buy precious metals in case of economic collapse. Some try to take their houses off the electricity grid, or plan safe houses far away. The point is not to drop out of society, but to be prepared in case the future turns out like something out of “An Inconvenient Truth,” if not “Mad Max.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/
fashion/06survival.html?_r=
1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref
=slogin; April 15, 2008 6:53 AM
Anonymous said...: High food prices may force Philippines ration cut: UN agency

A UN agency may be forced to cut rations feeding more than a million people in the troubled southern Philippines because of soaring world food prices, it warned Tuesday.

The World Food Programme has just 4,000 tonnes of rice left in its warehouse in conflict-hit Mindanao, a supply which will only last about two months, said Alghassim Wurie, the agency's deputy country director.; April 15, 2008 6:58 AM
Anonymous said...: Just Remember BOJ when the next world war starts - Blood is in your hand.

How do you like your Yen Carry Trade now.

While the developed world, particularly the United States, is seen facing a downturn in part as a result of a credit crunch stemming from problems in the U.S. mortgage market, emerging economies are expected to continue to grow.

But those economies least exposed to the credit crunch are those most affected by the higher food prices - which the United Nations says rose 35 percent in the year to the end of January but have since risen another 65 percent.

"Food prices are the big problem," said Michael Ganske, emerging markets research head at Commerzbank. "For poor people it is maybe 50 percent to 60 percent of their spending.

Food riots led to the fall of Haiti's prime minister over the weekend, with violence also seen in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Madagascar as well as the more developed economies of the Philippines and Indonesia.; April 15, 2008 7:03 AM
Anonymous said...: A federal district judge sentenced Samuel Israel III, co-founder of a hedge fund, the Bayou Group, now defunct, to 20 years in prison on Monday for his role in a scheme that cheated investors of more than $400 million.

Mr. Israel, 48, pleaded guilty in September 2005 to charges of conspiracy and fraud in connection with bilking Bayou investors.

The demise of Bayou, a Connecticut-based firm, shook many in the hedge fund industry and led to calls for more oversight.

Judge Colleen McMahon of United States District Court in Manhattan ordered Mr. Israel to surrender on June 9 to begin serving the prison sentence. She also ordered that he pay $300 million in restitution.

The sentence was among the longest handed down to a white-collar criminal defendant. The punishment was particularly severe because federal sentencing guidelines call for long sentences when there are substantial economic losses to investors in a financial fraud.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/
15/business/15bayou.html; April 15, 2008 7:15 AM
Anonymous said...: “Tranche warfare” has broken out in the $450bn market at the heart of the credit crunch as hard-hit investors scrap over the pools of debt in the CDO market.

Some investors in differently ranked and rated tranches of CDOs have taken advantage of the little-noticed terms in the structuring of such instruments to seize control of the assets and cut off payments to other debt-holders.

Such conflicts have resulted in lawsuits as investors question the rights of others, such as senior noteholders.

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/
2008/04/15/12310/tranche-warfare
-breaks-out-over-cdos; April 15, 2008 7:23 AM
Anonymous said...: BANKRUPT RETAILERS ARE WALKING TOO

Because retailers rely on a broad network of suppliers, their bankruptcies are rippling across the economy. The cash-short chains are leaving behind tens of millions of dollars in unpaid bills to shipping companies, furniture manufacturers, mall owners and advertising agencies. Many are unlikely to be paid in full, spreading the economic pain.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/24123233

Beignet; April 15, 2008 2:45 PM
Anonymous said...: kwv:

I agree! The problem is deeper than any "subprime crisis".

I read a bunch of people whining. Seriously - 100, 60 miles one way to work and we're supposed to feel sorry? Naive people who nobody told that 3 college degrees doesn't make you smart and guarantee a good-paying job? A teacher making 60K who lives on cereal?

There is definitely a problem in the middle class, but I don't think it's a governmental problem...it's a mental problem, where daycare ladies making under $50k a year supporting a loser husband and 3 kids ask for "donations" to prevent their 2000 sq. ft. house from foreclosure, and keep from losing the 3-year old matching Cruisers, because it's "for the little ones".; April 15, 2008 3:44 PM
Anonymous said...: Have you guys checked out Southern California Business Blog?; April 15, 2008 5:16 PM
Anonymous said...: Barton Biggs lost credibility when he believed it truly was a new paradigm in 1998-2000. His fellow MSer - grouchy ole Michael Metz IS THE REAL DEAL. Double M called the 2000-2001 crash!; April 15, 2008 8:09 PM
Anonymous said...: I've seen articles in the media time and time again that call the borrowers who are in default of a legitimate contract "victims"? How are they victims of foreclosure? If they were fully aware of what they are signing and legally an adult capable of entering into a contract then they cannot be a victim when they do not fulfill their obligations under the terms of the contract? (i.e. there was no predatory lending or fraud during contractual formation). The bank is the victim. I understand that many people are unaware of the parole evidence rule that states oral assertions about the contents of the contract made before or during formation of the contact cannot be used as part of the contract. That other ancillary agreements cannot be embodied as part of the contract before the court, e.g. you can refi in a couple of years before your rate adjusts, etc. But a lack of awareness as to the nuances of the law has nothing whatsoever to do with having a right to shirk one's responsibilites as to a contract that you willingly signed (usually with an implied waiver of reading the contract). Most parties under foreclosure are NOT victims, they are deadbeats looking for sympathy and a way out via the wallet of other responsible tax payers. If the banks and their cohort of irresponsible borrowers get want they want from the gov't, i.e. a taxpayer bailout, them you will have your first real victims, the tax payer. Also responsible people who are priced out of the market because every time they got up to a 20% deposit all the irresponsible jerks that now want a bail out had collectively and artificially pushed the price of homes out of their reach!!!; April 15, 2008 10:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Thanks kwv for that link

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=295825

Heart-wrenching stories from Vermont. I particularly appreciated this comment:

"Our income dollars are being reduced by real inflation(12-15%), which is the inflation I measure for what we buy on a daily basis(food, fuel, insurance, taxes, basic needs)-not ipods and tv's or whatever the government uses to figure that inflation has been under 3% for the past decade."

NO COMMENT!!!; April 15, 2008 10:50 PM
Martin Hristoforov said...: This new survey is kind a catch-22. What do you mean under patriotic? For the great majority Patriotic will be - "Everything is great! If you say otherwise you aren't patriotic!". For me I am a Patriot because I want my country to be DA BOOOMB DIGGITY of the world. So we got to spent less on flags and dumb ass houses and the other "patriots" get pissed. It is like I am a patriot for my country, and they are patriot for their wallets. So fix that s***t Keith!

Marty; April 15, 2008 11:53 PM
Anonymous said...: who cares about any of this? hey! does any 1 on this blog own a penguin?; April 16, 2008 2:04 AM
Anonymous said...: i know a great recipe 4 green bean cassorole!!!!!

posted by ilovepenguins; April 16, 2008 2:05 AM
Anonymous said...: I heard that Penguin tastes like chicken.; April 16, 2008 2:48 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; March 15, 2013 1:46 AM