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

May 08, 2008

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

Fire away

314 comments:

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Anonymous said...: Contractors, laborers head out of town for work

New construction in San Benito County is nearly non-existent, local construction workers agree. To stay in business, San Benito County construction workers must bid on jobs in the San Jose and East Bay that are becoming increasingly competitive.

Anthony Silva, co-owner of AJS Construction in Hollister, is a general contractor. He has worked in the construction industry for 30 years.

Business is tougher now than it was during previous housing slumps, Silva said.

"It's not going worth a darn," Silva said. "I've been though a few slumps, but nothing like this. Even through the past slumps, we've always stayed busy."

Silva is working on one job, but it is almost complete.

"I'm bidding on a bunch of things, but there is so much competition out there because everybody is so hungry right now," Silva said.

Silva had planned to retire in a year, but that might not happen.

"It just depends on how the economy goes and what I'm going to need to get to that point," Silva said. "Even though my thoughts are there, I'll probably be doing some work."

Silva is not worried about his own business. AJS Construction is very well established, Silva said. He is worried about all the young contractors.

When construction is slow, it can start a chain effect, Silva said.

"If this doesn't pick up," Silva said, "then the suppliers that we buy from, they're going to start hurting and it's going to get even worse. Then the layoffs start."

http://www.pinnaclenews.com/news/
contentview.asp?c=241717; April 27, 2008 9:41 PM
Anonymous said...: The facts are out there, but it takes a good investigator to uncover the detail to develop the real story, and the details aren't made easy to get because the real estate industry is highly regulated.

The biggest things driving house price down in the second phase of the housing slump are banks' ability to hold onto foreclosure.

Many banks stage their release by selling homes in the bad neighborhood first.

The banks do not like doing this because they know it cause other homes around the area to go down in value which then spread to different neighborhoods, but after the write down period many banks are left with fewer choices.

Many banks are beginning to realize that they just can not keep on tapping into their reserve to pay the mortgage security investors and still survive as a business.; April 27, 2008 10:07 PM
Tyrone said...: Is Gas theft is a growing crime...

Rising Gas Prices Connected to Theft
ABELINE, Texas -- While rising gas prices has discouraged motorists from taking unnecessary trips, it has increased other behaviors including theft.

The Abilene Police Department reports that four gasoline thefts have occurred in Abilene to date. "Some retail establishments have told us that they are afraid they'll lose customers if they make them pay first," Detective Ken Robinson told the Reporter News. "[But] $50 here and there adds up fast."

Dealership reports gas stolen from 13 cars
With gas prices on the rise, someone may have found a way to get it cheaply but illegally.

Employees of Baraboo Motors on Highway 12 reported the theft of gas from 13 vehicles on Thursday morning. When they got to work, fuel doors were open on the vehicles, said Pete Steinhauer, the dealership's general manager. They are assuming gas was stolen, but there is no certain way to tell because all of the vehicles started.; April 28, 2008 2:34 AM
Anonymous said...: "The love of money can really warp a human being."

I LOVES ME MONEY!; April 28, 2008 4:08 AM
Anonymous said...: http://tinyurl.com/4dejcz

fires starting again in california.....; April 28, 2008 2:59 PM
Anonymous said...: Is Gas theft is a growing crime...?

Listen dipshit if I catch your sorry asinine renter ass siphoning gasoline from my H3 I will kick your ass 'till my foot gets cramped. All these idiot renters that wanted a piece of the American Dream and bought a house are now out on the streets either renting 1 BR shit holes or commiserating with their fellow moronic water heads under the bridges in a city near you. No wonder that you find these f*cking retards hose in hand ready to siphon your gas. I hope rents go up big time this year so you trailer trash imbeciles get squeezed even harder. Renter vermin and code monkey IT dolts are the scum of our owners society and should be regarded with the same respect as shit eating stray dogs.; April 28, 2008 6:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Blowfly, stfu, nobody's listening...; April 29, 2008 12:54 AM
Refuse to buy overpriced said...: Refuse to buy at any price in a rigged market.

Buying a house right now is like buying tea in 1773. Congress and the Federal Reserve are the new George III, until they explicitly repudiate all plans to artificially prop up housing prices.; April 29, 2008 12:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Blowfly,

First off, thanks for buying American

Second, You do know they make locking gas cap for the H3.

Third, I do not know what people see in the Hummer. I droved the H1for a long time and I did not like it.

Then again the one I drove did not have all the luxury.

http://www.adventureaccessories.com
/h3chrome.ext.html; April 29, 2008 3:02 AM
Anonymous said...: .

OPERATION CHAOS!

.; April 29, 2008 3:07 AM
Anonymous said...: Can Silicon Valley house price goes down.

255 Branbury Dr Campbell CA
4 beds, 3.0 baths, 2,250 sq ft
Recently Sold: $395,500 12/24/2007
Last Sale was: $879,000 11/22/2006

http://www.zillow.com/Charts.htm?
chartDuration=5years&zpid=19613224

1511 Burrows Rd CAMPBELL CA
5 beds, 4.5 baths, 4,021 sq ft
Recently Sold: $450,000 12/13/2007
Last Sale was: $1,550,000 03/27/2007

http://www.zillow.com/Charts.htm?
chartDuration=5years&zpid=69299324

978 Bucknam Ave Campbell CA
3 beds, 2.0 baths, 1,244 sq ft
Recently Sold: $300,000 01/23/2008
Last Sale was: $704,000 05/27/2004

http://www.zillow.com/Charts.htm?
chartDuration=5years&zpid=19664855

205 W Rosemary Ln Campbell CA
3 beds, 1.5 baths, 1,639 sq ft
Recently Sold: $196,000 12/11/2007
Last Sale was: $475,000 02/14/2003

http://www.zillow.com/Charts.htm?
chartDuration=5years&zpid=19608736

515 Cherry Blossom Ln Campbell CA
4 beds, 2.5 baths, 2,069 sq ft
Recently Sold: $169,500 02/01/2008
Last Sale was: $775,000 10/01/2004

http://www.zillow.com/Charts.htm?
chartDuration=5years&zpid=51073945; April 29, 2008 3:53 AM
Anonymous said...: Black & Decker said Thursday it will cut 700 jobs, or about 3 percent of its workforce, and close a plant in Atlanta as part of a new restructuring plan.

The toolmaker made the announcement after reporting that the company's first-quarter earnings were down 37.6 percent from a year earlier, due to slumping housing market and the subprime mortgage crisis.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/
20080425/black-decker-jobs.htm; April 29, 2008 4:07 AM
Anonymous said...: http://tinyurl.com/43t4lj

just another day in iraq. my God what have we done?????; April 29, 2008 6:10 AM
Anonymous said...: blowfly, you just wished you had a H3, asshat...; April 29, 2008 6:11 AM
Anonymous said...: The credit ratings of the troubled complex bonds that pool together slices of mortgage backed securities – so-called structured finance CDOs, or CDOs of ABS – are set to come under further pressure after changes introduced by Standard & Poor’s.

The ratings agency has cut its assumptions about the amount of money likely to be recovered by investors in US subprime mortgage backed bonds when the individual mortgagees default on their loans. This in turn has had a knock-on effect for the recovery assumptions for collateralised debt obligations built out of those bonds.

In detailing its new recovery assumptions for structured finance CDOs yesterday, S&P revealed that for any deals rated A or lower, recoveries were likely to be zero, while recoveries for AA-rated slices of such deals would be at best 5 per cent.

The most senior, or “super-senior”, AAA-rated tranches were likely to recover 60 per cent, while junior AAA-rated tranches could expect to recover only 35 per cent, the agency said.

S&P said that the new assumptions were likely to lead to downgrades because a lower than expected recovery would typically require a bigger cushion against potential losses to achieve the same rating.

“The changes to our recovery-upon-default assumptions may have a negative impact on the ratings assigned to the affected CDOs because a reduction in expected recoveries typically necessitates more subordination to sustain the ratings on the tranches,” it said.

The deals affected are those where slices of subprime-mortgage-backed bonds make up at least 40 per cent of a CDO.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/
6efbe36e-155e-11dd-996c-
0000779fd2ac.html; April 29, 2008 7:08 AM
Anonymous said...: How about all you HPers who hate Bush, just sign over your tax rebate check to me.......

No?

OK, then just tear it up....

No?

Keith, how about you?

No?

OK, then how about showing us all a copy of your donation check to the "Save Tibet Foundation".

Can't do that?

Yup, I knew it, proves you are all f-ing blowhards.....; April 29, 2008 8:18 AM
Anonymous said...: I am REALLY REALLY worried about the state of our planet. Things can turn on a dime.

THANK GOD I forgot to have kids--I would be freaking out right now if I did have them.

They would have NO future.; April 29, 2008 1:59 PM
Anonymous said...: I thought you would enjoy this one.

Wal-Mart is trying to get that tax money!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/24365287

I wonder if others will follow suit?; April 29, 2008 2:35 PM
Anonymous said...: Case-Shiller data for February just posted. The freefall is accelerating, with about 13% year-to-year average price fall.; April 29, 2008 3:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey Keith - "Sir Derek Higgs dies suddenly aged 64. Higgs became chairman of Alliance & Leicester in 2005, a role that was particularly challenging following the onset of the credit crunch in the autumn of 2007"

Ha Ha Ha - What does he know that we don't. Allinace and Leicester are going under !!!!!!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/apr/29/allianceleicesterbusiness.banking; April 29, 2008 3:10 PM
Anonymous said...: .

OPERATION CHAOS!

.; April 29, 2008 5:18 PM
Anonymous said...: This is kind of off topic but since it is the top story, let's take a look at what Austria has given us so far.

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
2. Sigmund Freud
3. Adolf Hitler
4. Kurt Waldheim
5. Arnold Schwarzenegger (if you speak German and translate his last name literally - oh boy)
6. Josef Fritzl (fathered six children with his daughter, whom he kept imprisoned in his basement for 24 years)
7. Wolfgang Priklopil (kidnapped then 10 year old Natascha Kampusch and imprisoned her for 8 years)
8. Austrian Economics

What's wrong with this little sorry excuse of a country? Is it the "Alpenluft"?; April 29, 2008 5:37 PM
Anonymous said...: It's 12:43 PM EST, Tuesday, 29 April 2008.

THIS IS A PERFECT TIME TO BUY SILVER.

This is a wonderful dip we're seeing, RIGHT NOW.

Ignore this advice at your own financial peril.; April 29, 2008 5:44 PM
Anonymous said...: "How about all you HPers who hate Bush, just sign over your tax rebate check to me......."

you sure are stupid!; April 29, 2008 5:57 PM
Anonymous said...: FLASH: Bob Shiller declares that while housing CONSTRUCTION is linked to economic recessions, THE FALL IN HOUSING PRICES THEMSELVES SHOW NO CORRELATION TO RECESSIONS.

Guess that blows your whole premise.
OK, you can shut down your web site now. You lost.; April 29, 2008 11:16 PM
Anonymous said...: "The REO market is cooking hot right now," said Jason Chan Lee of Intero Real Estate, who has numerous clients trying to buy "REOs." The term refers to "real estate owned" by banks and other financial institutions that have foreclosed on the properties.

But it seems like more 70% of the REO being listed in San Jose are sitting in the MLS Listing for more then 30 days now days and a great many of those are over 100 days with some even up to 400 days.

http://origin.mercurynews.com/
business/ci_9092321

'Gambling on better times'

True, Carey said, but the ones buying now are "gambling on better times" in the future, he said, hoping to buy property in the $400,000s that will eventually gain value.

It's not clear that the recent flurry of competition for REOs will last long.

As with "regular" listings, it's the bank-owned homes in the best condition that are most likely to attract a flood of offers.

BUT NOT ALL REOs ARE GETTING MULTI-OFFERS.

A bank-owned three-bedroom home for sale on Allegro Lane in South San Jose, for example, has new kitchen cabinets, a stainless steel dishwasher, and pristine Pergo floors, with views of downtown San Jose. It's listed at $429,500, and got five offers after only two days on the market, said listing agent Peter Carey of Realty World.

More than 900 houses for sale in Santa Clara County for $450,000 or less.

Banks eager to unload their REO inventory - which forms a large chunk of the cheapest houses for sale in the county - have been lowering the listing prices.

It's become common to find bank-owned houses in South San Jose priced at roughly $400,000 that last sold in 2005 or 2006 for $600,000 or more, for example.

But even at today's REO prices, some investors are waiting to buy because they can't get enough monthly rental income to cover their mortgage and expenses.; April 30, 2008 1:16 AM
Anonymous said...: FLASH:

Renters are still losers and will die in their decrepid 1 bed 1 bath.

END OF TRANSMISSION.; April 30, 2008 1:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Should they just walk alway.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
news?pid=20601087&sid=
a8rYIdIDvfIo&refer=home

About half of recent subprime and Alt-A borrowers may soon owe more on their mortgages than their houses are worth or hold minimal equity, putting $800 billion of debt at greater risk of default, according to Barclays Capital.

Subprime loans from 2006 and 2007 that exceed the value of the homes jumped 5 percentage points to 19.8 percent in the fourth quarter, and may reach 26 percent by midyear if prices drop at the same pace, Barclays analysts wrote in a report yesterday. Alt-A loans, a grade better than subprime, would grow to 23 percent from 16.3 percent.

Better to Sell'

Borrowers on about 26 percent of subprime loans from 2006 and 2007 will have equity of less than 10 percent by midyear, down from 29.4 percent at yearend, according to Barclays, as more borrowers slip underwater. The percentage on Alt-A mortgages should hold steady at about 23.5 percent. The report said 10.8 percent of Alt-A loans were underwater on Sept. 30.

``If they have home equity left, borrowers are hesitant to default, even if in trouble,'' the analysts wrote. ``If the house is worth more than the loan, why default and leave money for the bank? Better to sell the house instead.''

Walking Away

Among two-year-old Alt-A mortgages that are underwater, 33 percent are at least 60 days late, the analysts wrote. That compares with 7 percent delinquency on similar loans in which homeowners have equity of at least 20 percent. For corresponding subprime loans, the delinquency rate is 58 percent for underwater debt and 29 percent where equity exceeds 20 percent.

Borrowers who have never been delinquent on a subprime mortgage are three times more likely to miss a payment if they have less than 20 percent equity in their homes, when compared with similar borrowers with more equity, according to a report last week from Credit Suisse Group. These homeowners then catch up only half as often as their counterparts, the report said.; April 30, 2008 1:35 AM
Anonymous said...: A lot of people have been trying to label us lately. I think we should take up the moniker of “Busters”. That seem to sum it all up and people will think they are insulting us; we can just remain silent and smile about the whole thing.

Burn Baby Burn; April 30, 2008 1:57 AM
Anonymous said...: Countrywide posts $893 million first-quarter loss

Threat to deal?

Countrywide's latest loss could be another blow to the pending merger between the lender and one of the nation's largest banks.

In January, Bank of America Corp. agreed to acquire Countrywide in an all-stock transaction valued at $4 billion -- a deal that would make the firm the largest U.S. mortgage lender.

Both companies continue to lose money, however, making increased shareholder opposition to the deal all but certain.

Howver, Countrywide Daily loan applications were up 27% from the fourth quarter, to $2.2 billion, with 28% for purchase and 72% for non-purchase.

Analysts cautioned Tuesday to take that uptick with a grain of salt, as the increased loan applications could indicate borrowers are getting even more desperate to hold on to their financial standing.

"One rising concern is that non-purchase loans represent the last gasp of a refinance effort by consumers to pull any remaining equity out of their homes to pay off some higher-interest debt -- credit-card bills or auto loans," said Walter O'Haire, analyst with financial research firm Celent.

"However, as the housing market continues to decline and defaults and foreclosures continue to rise the refinance business may be in for a very challenging time in the second quarter," he added.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/
story/countrywide-posts-hefty-
893-million/story.aspx?guid=
%7BB3B9A865%2D528B%2D4B45%2
DABB3%2DD555DA790B59%7D; April 30, 2008 7:19 AM
Anonymous said...: The World Bank chief warned on Tuesday that 100 million people have already been pushed into poverty due to a man-made food crisis while as many as two billion are on the verge of disaster.

“This is not a natural disaster,” said Robert B. Zoellick, president of the World Bank. “Make no mistake; there is nothing natural about this. But for millions of people it is a disaster.”

He noted that hunger and malnutrition were already the underlying causes of death of over 3.5 million children every year, robbing the future potential of many millions more.

In Washington, a US government commission is investigating claims that big investors who buy large quantities for future trading are largely responsible for the current unprecedented hike in food prices across the world.

The use of corn and soyabean as bio-fuel also contributed to this crisis by moving farmers away from food to cash crops and by driving food prices beyond the reach of common people.

After an annual meeting in Washington earlier this month, the bank warned that the world is facing an unprecedented food crisis which may cause riots and wars if not checked.

“The next few weeks are critical for addressing the food crisis,” said Mr Zoellick on Tuesday. “For 2 billion people, high food prices are now a matter of daily struggle, sacrifice and for too many, even survival.”

http://www.dawn.com/
2008/04/30/top9.htm; April 30, 2008 7:52 AM
Anonymous said...: The US has been gaming the system for decades; sucking up two-thirds of the world's capital to expand its cache of Cadillac Escalades and flat-screen TVs; giving nothing back in return except mortgage-backed junk, cluster bombs, and crummy green paper. Nothing changes; it only gets worse. But this time its different. The world is now facing the very real prospect of famine on a massive scale because 12 doddering old banksters at the Federal Reserve would rather bail out their sketchy friends than save the lives of starving women and children. Bernanke, with one swipe of the pen, now has an opportunity to send more people to their eternal reward than Bush. If he cut rates, the dollar will fall, commodities will spike, and people will starve. It's as simple as that.

http://blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=6406&ref=patrick.net

Beignet; April 30, 2008 4:56 PM
Anonymous said...: Another case against "the wisdom of renting".

http://tinyurl.com/4phojn

Gotta somehow make sure your landlord is not a(n) FB.; April 30, 2008 5:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Anon April 29, 2008 1:59 PM:

I'm glad you didn't have kids too. You would have raised them to be paranoid, self-absorbed freaks like you. You're right, they would have no future, looking to someone like you.

What's even better than that is your choice of words - "forgot to have kids". Like being successful, young man, you don't forget about such things. Like your success, you didn't forget anything - you just refused to think about it. Ever.

I wish your parents had "forgot" the same thing you did....; April 30, 2008 8:24 PM
Anonymous said...: Wachovia(WB) warned on Wednesday that it expects to take a non-cash charge of as much as $1 billion in the second quarter related to the tax treatment of certain leveraged leasing transactions.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, which has been hobbled by the housing downturn as a result of its 2006 acquisition of residential mortgage lender Golden West, said it expects to record an after-tax, non-cash charge of between $800 million and $1 billion this quarter. The charge is related to a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that disallowed certain tax breaks for BB&T on similar leasing transactions.; April 30, 2008 9:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Countrywide Loss Focuses Attention on Underwriting

Countrywide Financial Corp. reported an $893 million loss for the first quarter, amid mounting evidence of serious problems with its underwriting of many home loans.

A federal probe of Countrywide, the nation's largest mortgage lender, is turning up evidence that sales executives at the company deliberately overlooked inflated income figures for many borrowers, people with knowledge of the investigation say.

Some of the problems are surfacing in a mortgage program called "Fast and Easy," in which borrowers were asked to provide little or no documentation of their finances, according to these people and to former Countrywide employees.

http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB120945775409852363.html; May 01, 2008 7:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Homeowners tired of foreclosed homes destroying property values with weed-choked lawns, vandalism and squatters, may get help from the state Legislature which could approve fines up to a $1,000 a day for those lenders who don't keep up their bank-owned properties.

Legislation authored by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, would give notice to property residents that the foreclosure process has begun, provide tenants additional time to move from a foreclosed property and mandate maintenance of foreclosed properties to prevent harming values of neighboring homes.

The bill passed 28-10 in the state Senate Monday.

"In Oakland, you can see a house or two in foreclosure and it's obvious right away," he said, saying the bill was an important step to preventing further deterioration of neighborhoods. "It's like watching a house burn and you can't do anything about it."

Perata said that the bill gives local governments the ability to put liens on the property until it's maintained. That means if the property owners, whether a bank or investors or a mixture of the two, do not clean up the property they could lose the property to the city or county.

"Cities and counties could be in the housing business," he said.

So far the bill is finding favor with advocacy groups lobbying on behalf of homeowners and tenants.

"We think it's the most important bill working its way to the Legislature,"

http://www.mercurynews.com/
realestatenews/ci_9097470?
nclick_check=1; May 01, 2008 7:46 AM
Anonymous said...: At last they don't have many pigs in the bay area.

Remember the guy who left large pigs run around in his foreclosed home and the pigs totally trashed the place.

sfbay/2008/04/foreclosed_homes_
trashed_by_former_owners_-_or_
left_unattended_by_banks.html

Angry former homeowners are trashing their homes before being evicted due to foreclosure.

Some have taken kitchen islands, appliances, stair railings, and just about anything and everything before leaving.

Others have left feces on the walls and other equally horrible things, in an attempt to force the banks whom they feel failed them to get a lower price for the resale of their once-loved home.

This trend is causing the deterioration of neighborhoods across the Bay Area; when neighbors try to stop the damage, the police are called but they cannot do anything to the homeowner as long as he still has the title.; May 01, 2008 7:51 AM
Unknown said...: Anybody check out the savings bond rates this morning? 1.4 for EE and 4.84 for I (but the I is paying 0.0 above inflation)? What a rip-off!; May 01, 2008 3:15 PM
Anonymous said...: HousingPANIC: a fringe bunch of nuts.; May 02, 2008 12:59 AM
Unknown said...: I am new to this but the title is strong. I suggest that this is not a crash were in but a "credit crunch" which is "correcting" the market. There are still loads of good deals out there, one I found yesterday was http://www.floridaysresales.com, after I contacted them they sent me a statement showing that they are on target for 12% yeild. How can this be a crash in the market.

I know in the UK there is lots of doom and gloom in the media, but the reality is, its an opportunity rather than a resession. And lets be real - all the big money people make money when there is doom and gloom in the market.

I have got 13 properties 7 of which are in the UK and I have to say, whilst I will not be selling because of consumer confidence, i will be keeping hold of them for the next 18 months and (remember where you heard it first) I will make more capital growth on them, albeit smaller than I had made over the past 3 years but, the market will settle down in the next 6 months and we will see growth again.; May 02, 2008 11:21 AM
Anonymous said...: STIMULUS is coming folks! If you get it and still don't feel anything, I would recommend that you take that STIMULUS and exchange it for some Viagra! That might help!; May 02, 2008 12:57 PM
Bryan said...: The new face of foreclosure: Jose Canseco:

"Given that there were liens on the house and the market had gone down, he made the decision to let it go"; May 02, 2008 1:13 PM
Anonymous said...: KEITH YOU WILL LOVE THIS ONE!!!

Canseco told the syndicated TV show "Inside Edition" that he walked away from his $2.5 million, 7,300-square foot home in suburban Encino because it didn't make sense to continue making payments.

http://tinyurl.com/5e69ew; May 02, 2008 2:12 PM
Miss Goldbug said...: Bank forclosed on former Oakland A's player, Jose Canseco

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_canseco_foreclosure; May 02, 2008 2:15 PM
Anonymous said...: Despite how ugly the housing market looks in general, the market for condos and townhouses looks particularly ugly.

Here in Seattle, the prices of condos/townhouses is remarkably high compared to 3 bed/2 bath homes. I know there are advantage to condo-living, but the discrepancy seems to portend a horrible correction coming. Stand alone homes are clearly dropping in price here, now, but the condos are still inflated. I always suspected that condos would correct the MOST - but I didn't expect them to correct LAST. Is there something about condo-living that I don't appreciate. The price per square foot just isn't worth it.; May 02, 2008 7:50 PM
BondsOfSteel said...: Here's a great article on Seeking Alpha on CountryWide and Fannie:

http://seekingalpha.com/article/75397-fast-and-easy-fannie

I couldn't find out what kinda loans these were.... 30yr fixed, or debt bomb Option ARMs. Regardless, it's more evidence that prime is not really prime.; May 02, 2008 9:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Bank of America Corp. gave no assurances that it will assume part of the debt of Countrywide Financial Corp. once BofA takes over the troubled mortgage lender, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Countrywide had $97.2 billion in debt as of Dec. 31, with about $11.48 billion of that total consisting of credit facilities that would be paid off upon the closing of the merger, the filing said. About $47.7 billion of the debt consists of advances from the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, which will be outstanding until paid off by Countrywide Bank.

The balance of the debt is what is being spotlighted in this latest filing.

According to the filing, "Bank of America has made no determination in this regard, and there is no assurance that any of such debt would be redeemed, assumed or guaranteed."

Charlotte, N.C.-based BofA (NYSE: BAC) is slated to close on its $4 billion purchase of Calabasas-based Countrywide (NYSE: CFC) in the third quarter. Countrywide has been one of the top mortgage lenders in the East Bay and Ban of America is the No. 2 bank in the market as measured by local deposits.

http://eastbay.bizjournals.com/
eastbay/stories/2008/04/28/
daily86.html?ana=yfcpc; May 03, 2008 12:20 AM
Anonymous said...: S&P Cuts Countrywide Debt to Junk

Standard & Poor's cut Countrywide Financial's credit rating to junk Friday, after a regulatory filing called into question whether Bank of America would repay the lender's outstanding debt after their planned merger.

S&P lowered its ratings on Countrywide Financial Corp. and Countrywide Home Loans Inc. to BB+/B from BBB+/A-2 and Countrywide Bank to BBB/A-3 from A-/A-2. The rating agency cited BofA's May 1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which said it was "evaluating alternatives for the disposition of the remaining Countrywide indebtedness," including "allowing it to remain outstanding as obligations of Countrywide (and not Bank of America)."

S&P said the filing suggests BofA might not support approximately $17 billion of medium-term notes, $4 billion of convertible debt, $2.2 billion in junior subordinated debt and $1 billion of subordinated debt outstanding.; May 03, 2008 12:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Consumers buying power is lower due to inflation.

http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/
article/20080502/NEWS01/671124027

Consumer spending rose at a faster pace than expected in March, although virtually all of the gain occurred because of big increases in the price of energy and other products.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumer spending was up 0.4 percent in March, double the increase that economists had expected.

However, once inflation was removed, spending edged up a much slower 0.1 percent.

That represented the fourth straight lackluster performance as consumers have been battered by record gasoline prices, a deep slump in housing and rising job layoffs.; May 03, 2008 1:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Home Depot closing 15 stores, shelving plans for 50

In January, the Atlanta-based home improvement retailer laid off 500 people from corporate headquarters.

In February, it announced its first ever year-over-year sales decline.

In April, it announced the net loss of 970 jobs after reorganizing its human resources staff.

And Thursday, it announced 15 stores will close, affecting 1,300 employees. The Home Depot is also shelving 50 planned new stores.

The 15 stores that will close are mostly in the Northeast and Midwest, from New Jersey to North Dakota.

http://www.marshallnewsmessenger.
com/money/content/shared/money/
stories/2008/05/
HOME_DEPOT_0502_COX.html; May 03, 2008 1:06 AM
Anonymous said...: Sun Microsystems plans to jettison between 1,500 and 2,500 jobs

http://www.bostonherald.com/
business/general/
view.bg?articleid=1091272

Santa Clara-based server and software maker stunned investors yesterday by reporting a loss in its third quarter, caused in part by sagging sales to U.S. consumer-oriented companies that are putting off big-ticket spending for better times.

The company also forecast flat revenues for the fourth quarter and revealed plans to jettison between 1,500 and 2,500 jobs as it tries to snap out of a sudden financial funk.

Sun said after the market closed yesterday that it lost $34 million, or 4 cents per share, in the three months ended March 30. That’s down from a profit of $67 million, or 7 cents per share, during the year-ago period.; May 03, 2008 1:09 AM
Anonymous said...: Analog company National Semiconductor Corp. said Tuesday it will eliminate positions across the company, mainly in product line and support functions.

The Santa Clara-based company said the cuts are part of a move to boost revenue growth in key market areas that "require better power management and energy efficiency."

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/
stories/2008/04/28/daily29.html; May 03, 2008 1:11 AM
Anonymous said...: For some the housing down turn is just beginning.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/
20080501/bs_nm/usa_economy_
jobs_challenger_embargo5_1_dc_1

U.S. companies' planned layoffs jumped 68 percent in April from the prior month to the highest since September 2006, pointing to further deterioration in the labor market, a report showed on Thursday.

Planned job cuts in U.S. companies totaled 90,015 last month, up from 53,579 in March and up 27 percent from a year earlier, employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. reported.

The April layoffs were the steepest since the 100,315 cuts announced in September 2006.; May 03, 2008 1:14 AM
Anonymous said...: What's it worth? Do's and don'ts for sellers on how to set the best asking price:

-- Don't base the price on what you paid or what your neighbor got a few years ago.

-- Do examine the prices of homes for sale in your neighborhood, as well as the prices of comparable homes that have sold in the past three to six months.

-- Don't pick an agent simply because he or she suggested the highest price.

-- Do pick an agent who offers a thoughtful explanation for the price he or she is suggesting.

-- Don't go overboard with remodeling. Rarely can you recoup the cost.

-- Do make minor improvements so your home is in as good as or better shape than the competition.

-- Don't set your price based on emotional attachments and cherished memories.

-- Do ask your agent to reassess the competitive landscape every few weeks to make sure your asking price is in sync with the market.

-- Don't be stubborn. If weeks go by without any offers, the price probably does not reflect the value of the home. It's time to consider cutting the price.

-- Do be patient. You might have to wait longer for buyers to pull their money together now that lenders have toughened their standards.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/
article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/27/
RE3OVTAFS.DTL; May 03, 2008 2:54 AM
Anonymous said...: As REO listings flood key local housing markets throughout the nation, it’s clear that the glut of bank-owned real estate is not only building up overall inventory, but also pushing down prices as well.

Consider San Francisco, Calif., where prices are off 14.1 percent relative to one year ago: REOs represented nearly 23 percent of the housing for sale, according to Radar Logic.

RadarLogic found that when creating quartiles based on the median price from 2006 by zip code in San Franscisco, motivated sales account for 40 percent of all sales in the lowest quartile, 19 percent in the second quartile, 8 percent in the third quartile and only 3 percent in the most expensive quartile.

Keep in mind, Radar Logic here is tracking actual transactions — actual sales. What it suggests is that lenders are quickly moving to gain liquidity for investors and themselves by unloading properties at a lower price point, as they try to stay ahead of the curve of defaults (while it’s true that foreclosed properties tend to be lower priced to begin with, keep in mind that Radar Logic’s data is normalized around price-per-square foot; also note that the price per square foot for motivated sales has fallen dramatically as inventory has risen).

http://www.housingwire.com/
2008/05/02/foreclosures-
reo-pressuring-home-prices
-in-many-key-markets-report/; May 03, 2008 3:01 AM
Anonymous said...: The good thing is many of the subprime loans are going to be gone soon, the bad thing is many of the subprime loans got converted to Option, Agency, and Unsecurtized ARM.

As you can see from the chart many of these Option, Agency, and Unsecurtized ARM are going to reset starting summer of next year.

There is a good chance that many homeowners using these Option, Agency, and Unsecurtized ARM products don't have much equities left on their homes.

So you are going to see some interesting time soon.

http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/
wp-content/uploads/2007/04/
adjustable-rate-mortgage-
reset-schedule.jpg; May 03, 2008 3:25 AM
Anonymous said...: First they foreclosed on Florida real estate, and I did not care because I lived on the other coast.

Then they foreclosed on Stockton real estate, and I did not care because I live near high-paying jobs.

Then they foreclosed on Sacramento real estate, and I did not care because I live in the Bay Area.

Then they foreclosed on Contra Costa real estate, and I did not care because I live in Silicon Valley.

Then they foreclosed on Gilroy real esate, and I did not care because it’s an hour’s commute.

Then they foreclosed on East San Jose real esate, and I did not care because it’s a crappy neighborhood.

Then they foreclosed on North Sunnyvale real estate, and I did not care because I live in the Real Bay Area.

Then they foreclosed on my neighborhood and I did not care because I bought before the peak.

Then all the comps in my neighborhood were adjusted down by 40%.

And then I was underwater.

My lawn will not need watering for a long time.

http://www.burbed.com/2008/04/28/
foreclosures-in-santa-clara-zoom-up
-1905-why/#comments; May 03, 2008 3:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Realtors forecast 24% price drop for California houses

The California Association of Realtors is forecasting that the median price of a California house will fall 24% this year to $424,000 — a price not seen since 2003.

In March, CAR was forecasting a 9.5% price drop statewide, to $505,100. The median price of an existing single-family house in California has been above $500,000 since 2005.

“This 24% decline just has no precedent,” said CAR Deputy Chief Economist Robert Kleinhenz, who delivered CAR’s latest forecast today at the annual expo at the Disney Hotel by the Pacific West Association of Realtors.

He said afterward that association economists still are unsure how much the median home price will fall this year.

The 24% drop is CAR’s best figure at this point, he said.

http://lansner.freedomblogging.com/
2008/05/02/realtors-forecast-24-
price-drop-for-california-houses/; May 03, 2008 4:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Did you take my advice on GLD and argi a few weeks ago? Did you dump and move into WMT, BJ, COST, etc?

I sure hope so.

Don't ride the GLD train all the way back to the station ...!; May 03, 2008 11:26 PM
Anonymous said...: the iraqi war was never about oil. that is just some lie put out there to deflect questioning about the real reason we are in iraq. we are in iraq, to fight the arabs for the israelis. they benefit from us being there. the green zone is on the eastern boundary of greater israel which according to them extends all the way to the euphrates river. so we fight this war for israel. this is the only reason we are there right now. that is the only reason we are fighting this war. there are other peripheral reasons, such as destroying the american middle class and the american economy, etc, making rich sellers of war material' richer, etc. but for now, it is enough to know that the real reason we fight in iraq, has nothing to do with 911, wmd's iraqi freedom or any other concocted reason of late, that the ruling class of this country have come up with to explain this debacle. May God in His infinite wisdom awaken the sheep before they all get slaughtered.; May 04, 2008 8:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Like a brick falling from the top of the Transamerica Pyramid, national and local home prices are rapidly accelerating on their way down, crushing hopes of an imminent turnaround.

The cost of a typical Bay Area home plunged 17.2 percent year-over-year in February, compared with 13.2 percent in January and 10.8 in December, according to an index of real estate values published by New York credit rating agency Standard & Poor's.

Across the nation, the S&P/Case-Shiller 10-City Composite index covering major U.S. markets followed a similar trajectory, falling 13.6 percent in February, 11.4 percent in January and 9.8 percent in December. On a month-over-month basis, the national numbers have fallen or stayed the same for at least the last six months.

Decreases tend to slow before stopping, so the quickening pace of these broader price declines suggests the bottom of the market remains far off, industry observers say.

"Prices have a lot of room to fall," said Patrick Newport, an economist with Waltham, Mass., research firm Global Insight Inc. "We could see some really big drops."

Another major factor driving down local prices is financing, he said. Tightening lending standards and larger required down payments are inhibiting people's ability to afford the region's high-priced homes.

"The low-price homes tend to be where there's more speculation and dubious mortgages," said David Blitzer, chairman of Standard & Poor's index committee. "The farther they went up, the harder they fell."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/
article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/30/
MNK810DNII.DTL&feed=rss.news; May 04, 2008 8:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Santa Clara County median home prices and sales

Through April 14, 2008

All homes $600,000
Total resale houses $677,750
Total condominiums $500,000
Total new homes $484,250

Through December 07, 2007

All homes $679,000
Total resale houses $800,000
Total condominiums $517,500
Total new homes $623,000; May 04, 2008 9:04 PM
Anonymous said...: Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love HP, the more you guy's convince people to rent the more homes I can buy and fill as a great long term investment. Plus, with reo's, short sales, and foreclosures I am killing it! Keep up the good work! Oh, and Realtor is always capitalized as it is a registered trademark of MY association.

April 21, 2008 4:44 AM<<<

shut up dopes. what are you trying to do? talk your book? get out of here with that nonsense...; May 04, 2008 11:16 PM
Anonymous said...: There was new evidence that emerged of what the foreclosure crisis is doing to the value of California real estate. In a report issued Friday, real estate tracking firm Radar Logic finds average property values in San Jose lost 11.2 percent, San Francisco lost 14.1 percent, Los Angeles lost 19.3 percent and real estate in Sacramento is down 29.8 percent, which is the most in the nation. A group of East Bay homeowners, facing foreclosure, fought back in a very public way because they claim they weren't getting any help or response.

These homeowners resolutely marched through Antioch, stopping at three banks where they say no one is listening to their desperate plight.

Bernice Ramos is six months behind on her mortgage payments, which ballooned up to $5,600 a month on her $500,000 house which has lost half its value.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/
story?section=news/local&id=
6119708; May 05, 2008 12:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Foreclosures leave long trail of blight

Richmond City Council forms committee to tackle vandalism, trash, squatters, drug use

Overgrown weeds. Trash abandoned in yards. Vandals stripping homes of copper and whatever they can sell for cash. Squatters moving in. Drug use.

Foreclosed homes that go dark and neglected are leaving behind a trail of blight that Richmond officials and neighbors fear makes neighborhoods unsightly and attracts crime.

"What happens with these properties has a serious potential to have a major destabilizing impact on neighborhoods," said Richmond police Chief Chris Magnus. "All it takes is a couple of foreclosures in an area as small as 100-owner occupied properties to have a dramatic impact on crime."

Officials are trying to get blighted properties fixed, Magnus said. When it comes to foreclosed homes, figuring out who owns the property can be difficult. Sometimes, owners walk away or banks avoid retaking the title quickly so they don't have the liability and responsibility of maintaining the properties or paying property taxes. Getting abatement warrants requires inspections, written notices and permits, which can take months.

Richmond's plight is mirrored in cities across the country. City and state officials fed up with the unsightliness and loss of property tax revenue are resorting to a variety of measures. Here's what some are doing:

4 Cleveland is suing 21 banks, alleging their lender practices led to a crisis that resulted in blight and lower city property tax revenue.

4 Minneapolis is looking at offering $10,000 to anyone who buys a foreclosed home, repairs it and lives in it for at least five years. The amount increases if the house is in a more troubled neighborhood.

4 New York City is giving $2.8 million to start a nonprofit group that helps homeowners avoid foreclosure.

4 Ohio teamed up with 1,100 lawyers to provide free legal help and representation for homeowners who could potentially resolve their loan issues before foreclosure.

4 Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine has asked state lawmakers to pass legislation that gives homeowners more time to work out a way to make payments before foreclosure proceedings start.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/
oaklandtribune/localnews/
ci_9114329; May 05, 2008 12:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Housing prices off 19.2% in S.D. area

Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego, five areas that saw home prices rocket ahead in the housing boom, are now leading the retreat backward, as prices fall in the wake of mortgage-financing troubles and an economic slowdown.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index for February, which was released yesterday, showed San Diego County prices down 19.2 percent from February 2007.

San Diego, which ranked fifth out of 20 markets surveyed, trailed Las Vegas, which was down 22.8 percent; Miami, down 21.7 percent; Phoenix, down 20.8 percent; and Los Angeles, down 19.4 percent over the same period.

“There is no sign of a bottom in the numbers,” said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the S&P index committee. “Prices of single-family homes continue to drop across the nation.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/
business/20080430-9999-
1b30housing.html; May 05, 2008 12:37 AM
Anonymous said...: n San Luis Obispo, for example, there were 218 homes on the market as of April 30, compared to 193 at the same time last year. In Morro Bay, there are 116 homes for sale, up from 83 in April 2007.

Sellers also are being more realistic, Liptak said.

“Sellers that want to have a sold sign planted in their front yard have to be,” he said. “If they aren’t, then they’re kidding themselves. The prices you could get two years ago and the price today are a totally different thing.”

Leslie Appleton-Young, economist with the California Association of Realtors, said the housing market isn’t expected to rebound quickly, but significant adjustments in prices have improved affordability for qualified buyers.

Linda Midkiff, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Premiere Real Estate in Paso Robles, said some properties—bank-owned and non-bank-owned—are being sold at competitive prices.

But real estate experts also caution that buying a home now has its challenges for firsttime buyers and investors.

“Your credit score (needed to qualify for a loan) is going to have gone up 20 to 40 points,’’ said David Brown, president of the North Central Coast chapter of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers and broker with Residential Mortgage Corp. in Los Olivos.

Brown noted that homebuyers today will pay a premium on the price if they have less than a perfect score.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/
news/local/story/350569.html; May 05, 2008 12:47 AM
Anonymous said...: Despite one of its best quarters ever, Apple on Thursday cut 174 sales jobs at its Elk Grove campus.

The Business Journal reports that all affected employees -- some of whom were part of the company's telesales team and others who were online chat representatives -- were offered the option to relocate to location in Austin, Texas, or apply for another position at Apple in Elk Grove; however it was not clear why Apple chose to reduce its sales force as many predict a bright future with Macs sales growth outpacing the PC industry.

http://www.macnn.com/articles/
08/05/01/apple.lays.off.174.in.ca/; May 05, 2008 3:45 AM
Anonymous said...: Job cuts at Bear Stearns could exceed 10000, according to bankers,as JP Morgan has begun writing to staff at the failed investment bank to inform them whether they have a new role or will be made redundant

According to sources close to the situation, more than 70% of Bear Sterns 14,000 employees will lose their jobs in the next months as the bank begins the process of merging it with its own investment banking business.

As many as 1,500 JP Morgan staff could also lose their jobs as a result of the integration, according to one source, but the precise figure has yet to be decided.

http://www.efinancialnews.com/
assetmanagement/index/content/
2450552487; May 05, 2008 3:59 AM
Anonymous said...: UBS set for major job cuts totaling 8,000 posts, newspaper says

UBS wasn't immediately available for comment.

UBS has already disclosed it will cut jobs, and pledged details on May 6, when it reports first-quarter earnings.

Thus far speculation has centered on UBS' loss-making investment bank, which has been hit by over $37 billion in subprime writedowns.

Sonntag reports the bank will also cut jobs across the bank, mainly back-office and administration roles.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/
story/ubs-set-major-job-cuts/
story.aspx?guid=%7B84FB91EB-
432F-4401-976F-50BCA487E9CA%
7D&dist=msr_1; May 05, 2008 4:05 AM
Anonymous said...: Ford profits on back of job cuts

Ford, the world's No 3 car maker, was unexpectedly back in profit in the first three months of the year, confounding doubters who believed the weak US market would cause its turnaround plan to stall.

In fact, the company had wrung more cost savings from the sprawling business than previously expected, and bottom-line earnings came in at $100m where Wall Street had been forecasting another quarterly loss.

Even the US business, which has been hamstrung by the high costs of pensions and health care for retired workers, was closer to break-even than expected, and investors n for perhaps the first time n appeared to believe the chief executive, Alan Mulally, when he again promised to return that business to profit in 2009.

He said that 4,200 more redundancies in the past three months took the total number of North American jobs shed since late 2005 to 40,000, and he said there would be more targeted job losses to come.

Remaining employees would be put on reduced time if there was reduced demand for new cars.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/9/
story.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=10506676; May 05, 2008 4:08 AM
Anonymous said...: Rates on home loans see no relief from Fed cuts

Interest rates on U.S. home loans remain high despite serial cuts of official rates by the Federal Reserve.

Mortgages on 30 year home loans this week were still costing more than triple the current official interest rate, despite another 25 basis points cut in the Federal Funds rate on Wednesday.

Rates on 30 year loans in fact rose this week in the face of the latest Fed cut, taking their level to the highest in the past two months.

Major home loan lender Freddie Mac said 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.06% this week, up from 6.03% the previous week.

A year ago, well before the subprime mortgage crisis blew up, 30-year mortgages were averaging 6.16%. Now, despite, seven reductions in the Fed Funds rate since September, the 30-year rate is just 10 basis points lower.

http://story.cambodiantimes.com/
index.php/ct/9/cid/
3a8a80d6f705f8cc/id/355383/cs/1/; May 05, 2008 4:12 AM
Mitesh Damania said...: Good stuff from Loretta Napoleoni

http://www.lorettanapoleoni.org/?p=68; May 05, 2008 4:15 AM
Anonymous said...: In the mid-1970s, a deep recession involved both rapid inflation in consumer prices and unemployment of about 9 percent.

Today as consumers enter the early stage of inflationary period rising gasoline and food costs are also forcing consumers to cut back on luxury items.

Because of uncertainty of inflation many households will decide to save more of their income because their home prices aren't doing their saving for them.

But that does not mean consumers price will fall as the Federal Reserve continue to cut rate to simulate grow causing the US Dollar to weaken more and more as commodities price will continue to raise.

In this kind of environment small and family ran businesses are finding justification to pass their cost to the consumers. Once middle size companies see hat consumers can handle some inflationary pressure they will join in.

Initially this allow these businesses and companies to break even, but there are only so much cost that can pass on to the consumers.

Once this happens consumers will find that they have reach middle stage of inflationary period.

Once inflation reach middle stage were companies can no longer pass their cost to the consumers then consumers start to hoard food and basic necessity. Government control takes place and rationing of things like gasoline begins.

Large companies will no longer become efficient as their employee find it harder and harder to do basic things. This will effect these companies abilities to compete in a global economy.

As this happens companies earning get eroded unemployment grow.; May 05, 2008 4:53 AM
Anonymous said...: There is no such cap, as we're seeing all over the United States. In fact, just when you think you've heard every possible home-seller incentive scenario, new ones crop up that seem even more outrageous.

The list is a long and sometimes sadly amusing one: a pair of round-trip airline tickets to anywhere in the world plus two weeks' stay at a five-star resort, a free swimming pool, sports season tickets or seat options, classic cars, free minitractors for mowing or snow-blowing on that big lot, gasoline gift cards, club memberships, plasma TVs, "all-appliances-included," and/or all the furnishings that the owners bought on the advice of home stagers.

These little song-and-dance items make for interesting press accounts and may even attract more agents and tickle the buying bones of a few more potential buyers, but they usually defy logic for a buyer when you pencil in their true values in your purchase equation. Also, such incentives ultimately obscure the amount buyers are paying for homes these days, and make accurate home pricing much more of a challenge.

My advice on such exotic offers: Smile, compliment the sellers for their creativity, then ask for their cash equivalent of the offer or at least a more finite form of financial relief.

Among those incentives that are likely to positively impact your bottom line more than the spate of off-the-wall giveaways are extensive pre-move-in remodeling work, paid homeowner or condo-association fees, several months of mortgage payments, a couple years of paid property taxes, seller-financing and, as you noted, all closing costs.

Realize that the most enduring -- and valuable -- purchase incentives are those that help lower your mortgage interest rate in the long term. A $5,000 entertainment system won't save you a dime on your mortgage payment and will be worth considerably less dollar-for-dollar upon resale.

For now, the sky seems to be the limit, Maria. So don't be timid. Take what the market gives you -- but preferably in dollars and "sense."

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/
realestateadviser/20080504-
seller-incentives-a1.asp; May 05, 2008 5:07 AM
Anonymous said...: The financial crisis is starting to take its toll on the jobs market for IT staff, with investment banks cutting back on recruitment as the credit crunch forces them to reduce costs.

The number of new IT jobs created at investment banks fell by 18 per cent in the final three months of last year compared with the same period in 2006, according to new figures from ReThink Recruitment, a specialist IT recruitment company.

In the final quarter of 2007, investment banks accounted for only 37 per cent of all IT jobs being advertised in the UK finance sector, compared with 61 per cent at the same stage a year earlier, said ReThink.

Meanwhile, the Association of Technology Staffing Companies (Atsco), the IT recruitment sector's industry body, reported anecdotal evidence pointing to a slowdown in hiring by investment banks. Marilyn Davidson, Atsco director, said: "We have seen evidence of some tightening, although there is no reason to panic."

The trend had continued into 2008, said Jon Butterfield, managing director of ReThink Recruitment, with the first quarter expected to show a similar decline.

"It is the kind of drop we haven't seen since 2000, after the dotcom bust," said Mr Butterfield.

"When investment banks hire they do it in spectacular style - but when they turn it off, they also do it in spectacular style.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/
20b3b612-1a3d-11dd-ba02-
0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1; May 05, 2008 5:51 AM
Anonymous said...: I think that the real estate problems are more localized than the news portray. Here in Springfield, MO we have seen some decline in housing sales but not a sharp fall like other communities. I am interested to hear about a community that has seen a has seen an increase in housing sales. Something positive Anyone?

Just wondering.; May 05, 2008 2:11 PM
Anonymous said...: BUY ALL THE SILVER YOU CAN, RIGHT NOW, YOU POOR FINANCIALLY ILLITERATE SLOBS!!!; May 05, 2008 4:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Grrrrreat article on a couple of condo owners.

One is a Realtor and one is a mortgage broker.

They can't sell for their dream price and they can't rent out their units as their HOA has a cap on the number of units that can be rented.

http://tinyurl.com/43de95; May 05, 2008 5:45 PM
Anonymous said...: Now there is a rumor on wall street that BofA may not complete the countrywide transaction and wall street is surprised!

Surprised! how stupid are these wall street types? I guess that is what happens when you drink too much of your own kool-aide.

The fed will need to step in (like in bear sterns) in order to get the BofA/countrywide deal done.; May 05, 2008 7:42 PM
Anonymous said...: Latest Mozillo comment taken down?; May 05, 2008 9:14 PM
BondsOfSteel said...: anon (May 05, 2008 7:42 PM) said:

"The fed will need to step in (like in bear sterns) in order to get the BofA/countrywide deal done."

----------

I agree. That's the Moral Hazard of the Bear/JPMorgan deal.

Why shouldn't BAC get fed funding for swollowing this turd? JP Morgan got help. You know BAC's gonna ask...; May 05, 2008 9:25 PM
Anonymous said...: The gas tax should be 6$/gallon.; May 06, 2008 2:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Economist David Lereah says conditions haven't been this bad in decades.

"This is the worst slump in my memory. You'd have to go back to the Great Depression to get something as bad as this."

And he says it will be awhile before things turn around.

"It's going to be a couple of more quarters before we see some good news," said Lereah.

http://www.mynorthwest.com/
?nid=11&sid=48875; May 06, 2008 3:25 AM
Anonymous said...: Another Full Year Of Housing Pain?

The consensus view was far gloomier than a few months ago, when housing economists predicted the bottom would be reached in late summer or early fall. But now the U.S. is in a mild recession, although it hasn't been officially declared, and the pain is spreading to more parts of the country, according to the association's chief economist David F. Seiders. "Foreclosures keep getting worse," he said. "Where in the world does it stop?"

Foreclosures push homeowners out of their homes and simultaneously ruin their credit, making it difficult for them to become owners again, he said. The drop-off of demand from these owners, as well as would-be buyers who don't want to purchase while prices are still falling has become a "diabolical feedback loop," he said.

Home builders have put the brakes on building -- total annualized housing starts are down 34.5% to 1.035 million in the first quarter of this year and will likely stay at under 1 million until the middle of next year. But demand is still too weak to absorb this pace of building, according to Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Economy.com. It would take 11 months at the current sales rate to sell the new homes now on the market.

Mr. Zandi expects three quarters of the country's major markets to experience new and existing-home price declines. In places that have been losing jobs, prices could drop as much as 40% from their peaks. "The coast is not clear," he said.

http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB120965541633559537.html?mod=
RealEstateMain_1; May 06, 2008 6:28 AM
Anonymous said...: This spells plenty of gloom for the prospects of an estimated 4.5 million homes currently for sale — and sheer panic for the banks and lenders who had 1.7 million of these in their real-estate owned (REO) portfolios in April, according to national listing firm Foreclosures.com.

For most institutions there is no simple answer whether to offload these on-book properties. Where foreclosures are rampant — California, Florida and Nevada — there's no easily discernible way to price them.

Bank by bank, the REO news is anywhere from sickly to critical. Corus Bancshares of Illinois saw its REO properties jump from $8.4 million at the end of 2006 to $37 million by the end of 2007 — mostly the result of a single major condominium development. Wells Fargo has accumulated more than 4,000 California single-family properties in REO. Bank of America had more than 200 California properties for sale on its bank-owned property search site, but its soon-to-be subsidiary Countrywide Financial lists more than 4,000 Golden State foreclosures on its books, in addition to 1,100 in Florida.

Given this, the industry is "scrambling to look at different ways to beat the beast," says Vinod Thomas, evp of operations for the default services unit of LandAmerica Financial, an Irvine, CA-based title firm. "What might have worked in the past when things were relatively sturdy, with low volume, definitely has to be revisited."

Meanwhile, the bottom to the mortgage crisis remains elusive. The number of homes in the foreclosure process went up 20 percent in March, according to RealtyTrack. This continuing spiral will likely start the movement of these homes into large-scale portfolio sales to private equity, Schneider says. "Unfortunately, when you talk about bulk discounted sales, people waiting on the sidelines to buy are only willing to pay 10 to 30 cents on the dollar of value," says Thomas.

http://www.americanbanker.com/
btn_article.html?id=
20080425B1IX55Q8; May 06, 2008 6:54 AM
Anonymous said...: Pork, chicken prices may rise in next wave of food inflation

Americans may be getting another helping of food inflation, and it seems likely to come from higher prices for chicken and pork.

Overall food inflation could double this year, lifted by the rising costs of fuel, corn and soybeans, some analysts predict.

Food inflation hit 4 percent last year, up from 2.4 percent in 2006. While beef prices were already high, chicken and pork prices didn't reflect record costs for feed and fuel. That's poised to change as chicken and pig producers who have been losing money slaughter more animals to decrease the supply and raise the prices they can charge.

Higher food inflation would further challenge shoppers who are already limiting themselves to sale items and store brands as they contend with the worst food inflation since 1990.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
20080505/ap_on_bi_ge/
food_inflation_2; May 06, 2008 7:25 AM
Anonymous said...: The president of the European Central Bank warned Monday that there are considerable risks of worldwide inflation and said central banks must make an effort to lower expectations that prices will rise.

"On a global level, inflationary risks are significant," ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said.

Trichet, who spoke to reporters during the global economy meeting of the Bank for International Settlements, said central banks had no time for complacency.

"The present level of inflation must be transitory," he said.

Heads of other central banks have voiced similar concern about soaring food prices.

Trichet said that second-round effects caused by higher energy and food prices on companies' wage and price-setting behavior must be avoided.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/
080505/banks_inflation.html?.v=1; May 06, 2008 7:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Hewlett-Packard Co. said Monday that it is considering “rebalancing” its Imaging & Printing division, but declined to say whether that will mean layoffs among HP’s estimated 3,500 employees in Boise.

Layoff rumors were being fueled by messages posted on an HP message board on Yahoo.com.

Boise State University economics professor Don Holley laughed when informed how the company was couching its future plans.

“Rebalancing?” he said. “That means layoffs.”

http://www.idahostatesman.com/
newsupdates/story/371582.html; May 06, 2008 7:32 AM
Anonymous said...: Lehman Brothers will announce another round of layoffs next week, CNBC's Charlie Gasparino said, adding that he does not have specific numbers.

A Lehman spokesman declined to comment.

http://www.reuters.com/article/
bankingFinancial/idUSWEN546220080505; May 06, 2008 7:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Merck Cutting U.S. Sales Force by 1,200 to Trim Costs

Sales people will be notified by the end of this month and will leave by the end of July, the Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based company said today in a statement.

Today's cuts, combined with 400 sales jobs eliminated last year, affect about 20 percent of the 8,500-person sales force, Rose said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
news?pid=20601103&sid=
aGJCWapIYjTY&refer=us; May 06, 2008 7:41 AM
W.C. Varones said...: Open letter to Barney Frank; May 06, 2008 1:14 PM
Anonymous said...: Ha! This from Rupert's WSJ
The Housing Crisis Is Over
By CYRIL MOULLE-BERTEAUX

The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now.

How can this be? For starters, a bottom does not mean that prices are about to return to the heady days of 2005. That probably won't happen for another 15 years. It just means that the trend is no longer getting worse, which is the critical factor.

Most people forget that the current housing bust is nearly three years old. Home sales peaked in July 2005. New home sales are down a staggering 63% from peak levels of 1.4 million. Housing starts have fallen more than 50% and, adjusted for population growth, are back to the trough levels of 1982.

Furthermore, residential construction is close to 15-year lows at 3.8% of GDP; by the fourth quarter of this year, it will probably hit the lowest level ever. So what's going to stop the housing decline? Very simply, the same thing that caused the bust: affordability.

The boom made housing unaffordable for many American families, especially first-time home buyers. During the 1990s and early 2000s, it took 19% of average monthly income to service a conforming mortgage on the average home purchased. By 2005 and 2006, it was absorbing 25% of monthly income. For first time buyers, it went from 29% of income to 37%. That just proved to be too much.

Prices got so high that people who intended to actually live in the houses they purchased (as opposed to speculators) stopped buying. This caused the bubble to burst.

Since then, house prices have fallen 10%-15%, while incomes have kept growing (albeit more slowly recently) and mortgage rates have come down 70 basis points from their highs. As a result, it now takes 19% of monthly income for the average home buyer, and 31% of monthly income for the first-time home buyer, to purchase a house. In other words, homes on average are back to being as affordable as during the best of times in the 1990s. Numerous households that had been priced out of the market can now afford to get in.
article here:
http://tinyurl.com/63gcjo; May 06, 2008 4:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Here is the next HP prediction coming true. Great time to be had for all renters!

http://tinyurl.com/3lxyh6; May 06, 2008 8:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Keith, rather than wasting time on areas where you have little knowledge (cars, gas taxes, socialist economic policies from your guy Obama), why not return to housing?

While you were busy bashing Big Dick Cheney, the Big 3, and Hillary Clinton in an irrelevant and frankly stupid blast of partisan flatulence, some real news was hitting the wires today about, ummmm... housing.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/fannie-mae-taps-investors-for-6bn-and-cuts-dividend-after-22bn-loss-822174.html

Fannie Mae, the US government-backed financial business charged with propping up the mortgage market, told its shareholders they would have to accept lower dividends and a smaller say in the company as it steps in to ease the credit crisis.

The company raised $6bn in new funding, diluting existing shareholders, and cut the dividend pay-out after posting an unexpectedly large $2.2bn loss in the past three months. Rising defaults by homeowners and losses on mortgage derivatives were among the reasons for the red ink, and the financial results raised concerns about Fannie Mae's ability to act as a prop to the housing market.

====

Seriously, get back to what you do best -- talking about the Housing Crisis -- and leave the bullshit politics and editorializing otherwise. This site was, up until recently, a valuable resource to track housing.

Then it became a Ron Paul-Barack Obama-Raise Taxes freak show. You're in danger of losing your longtime audience because of this. Back on task, man.; May 07, 2008 1:33 AM
Anonymous said...: Fannie Mae Loses $2.2B As Home Prices Fall Faster Than Expected

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/06/fannie-mae-loses-22b-as-h_n_100348.html; May 07, 2008 2:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Keith, here you go.

I can't even comment - I can only imagine the pithy description

PIGS FLY!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135724; May 07, 2008 2:45 AM
Anonymous said...: RF Micro announces layoffs 350 employees

The announcement did not say if any of the announced layoffs would impact the Triad, where RF Micro employs about 1,900 people in its wafer fabrication and headquarters facilities.

Last month, the company announced its first-ever local layoff, moving 80 jobs from Greensboro to its facility in China.

The move comes as RF Micro announced a net loss of $16.5 million for its just-completed fiscal 2008 4th quarter, down from a loss of $15.1 million in the previous quarter and a profit of $30.1 million a year earlier.

Revenues slipped to $221.9 million from $268.2 million last quarter and $257.3 million a year ago.

http://www.bizjournals.com/triad/
stories/2008/05/05/daily19.html; May 07, 2008 5:07 AM
Anonymous said...: Medtronic to Cut 1,100 Positions in Slow-Growth Areas

The cuts will occur in units ``no longer growing at previous rates,'' Medtronic said today in an e-mail. Some jobs will be added where there are ``opportunities for growth,'' spokeswoman Marybeth Thorsgaard said. One growth area she cited is Medtronic's neuromodulation business, which makes the Activa brain implant to help suppress tremors in Parkinson's Disease.

Minneapolis-based Medtronic said previously it's cutting manufacturing costs 25 percent over five years and boosting overseas sales as it faces pressure in the U.S. to lower prices amid rising competition and health-care reform.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/
news?pid=20601103&sid=aXEm
9nqR7yLk&refer=us; May 07, 2008 5:09 AM
Anonymous said...: MORE on Lennar Homes building a residential developement on a bombing range.

In the comments section there was a good idea posted that the government should freeze all foreclosures in just this area.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-bombhomes1408jan14,0,556728,full.story; May 07, 2008 1:56 PM
Mitesh Damania said...: 100,000 dead in Burma. Despotic government backed by China (there's oil in Burma) won't allow aid into country.

Contribute donations to local monks directly: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/; May 08, 2008 1:02 AM
Anonymous said...: First Marblehead slashes 500 jobs

Student-loan services provider First Marblehead Corp. on Monday slashed 500 jobs, or more than half its work force, in an attempt to ride out credit turmoil that has spread to the student loan market.

Cuts that took effect immediately were spread across all ranks of the company's offices in Boston and suburban Medford, where all the company's 920 employees are located, spokeswoman Janice Walker said. An earlier round of layoffs and attrition last year already reduced the work force from last summer's total employment of 1,028.

http://www.telegram.com/article/
20080505/APF/805051018; May 08, 2008 2:59 AM
Anonymous said...: A mortgage-broker HPer.. cool !
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-16338; May 08, 2008 4:33 AM
Anonymous said...: San Francisco values in all but two districts are arguably same or better.; May 08, 2008 5:30 AM
Tyrone said...: Stupidest video ever:

"Housing Bubble" is Really a Land Bubble
at 7:00...
"Buy are piece of real estate as soon as you can, even if you have to mortgage yourself to the hilt, because what's going to happen is the cost is going to keep going up."

"We've gotten to this place because Americans are now real estate speculators; they are forced to. There is no other way to do this... to buy in...

at 8:40...
"It's not houses that are going up in value, it's land."; May 08, 2008 5:49 AM
Anonymous said...: higher prices for chicken and pork.

I thought this was a blog where renter trash whines, bitches and moans about the fact that they are too stupid and broke to figure out how to buy their own home. Now you jackass meat-heads are starting to talk about chitlins? Today I witnessed the firing of some white, low life, trailer trash pony tail dude who writes code in something called Sequel. He’s renting a shithole 1BR in Hialeah. His job is taken over by some slit eye Chinese dork working for a buck a day in Shanghai or something like that. The moron thought that he was good that he was it. Better think again before studying something a monkey can learn. So here it goes renter dipshits. Get out there and vote for my bitch boy Barrak. A kings home is his castle, and a sailors home is the sea, but a ladies ass and a stick of grass, that is home enough for me. Now eat your f*cking chitlins and shut the f*ck up!; May 08, 2008 7:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Hi, Im hoping to find a ray of hope in this cyclical downturn. For every dollar lost a dollar is made by someone else, thus if a bank lent out $500000 on a house, the house was sold, the seller made x amt of dollars. On the flip side the buyer, in this market loses with the decrease in value, forecloses, and the bank is stuck with a lose. My point is the SELLER who cashed out $500000, is pumping his profits into the economy. Money doesnt disapear it is transfered. Real estate values go down, but the same money is out there. Get it.; May 08, 2008 9:49 PM
Anonymous said...: Two more chip-equipment vendors--Brooks and ESI--have separately announced layoffs.

Fab-tool automation vendor Brooks Automation Inc., which recently announced a layoff, now plans to cut another 15 percent of its staff by the end of the quarter.

Brooks also said revenues for the second quarter of 2008 were $147.6 million, compared to revenues of $194.9 million in the second quarter of 2007, a decrease of 24.3 percent. Sequentially, revenues were essentially flat from fiscal 2008 first quarter revenues of $147.8 million.

Net loss for the second quarter of 2008 totaled $8.3 million or $0.13 per diluted share. This compares to net income of $107.8 million or $1.43 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2007, which included income from discontinued operations of $92.0 million or $1.22 per diluted share.

In providing guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 ending on June 30, Brooks expects revenues could be in the range of $125 million to $140 million with a net loss between $0.12 per share and breakeven. The guidance for loss per share does not include restructuring costs that are likely to be incurred during the quarter.

Meanwhile, during the quarter, Electro Scientific Industries Inc. (ESI) began to take actions to reduce its cost structure, including undisclosed reductions of headcount, consolidation of facilities, and acceleration of offshore manufacturing to increase unit production in Asia.

ESI said fourth quarter sales were $70.6 million, representing a 9 percent decrease from the third quarter of fiscal 2008.

http://www.eetimes.com/news/semi/
rss/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=
207601123&cid=RSSfeed_eetimes_
semiRSS; May 09, 2008 6:28 AM
Tyrone said...: Must see TV...

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BARACK
.; May 09, 2008 6:46 AM
Anonymous said...: Private equity firm American Capital Strategies Ltd. said Tuesday it swung to a loss in its first-quarter compared to the period a year earlier

American Capital Strategies Ltd. said in a separate statement that it's eliminating jobs as part of a restructuring.

American Capital said it's "consolidating" its San Francisco office into its Los Angeles and Palo Alto, Calif. offices, while opening a Boston office.

The moves will results in the elimination of about 80 jobs, the firm said, leaving it a total of 600 employees

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/
story/story.aspx?guid=%7B786FDD
78%2DA0FA%2D44C9%2DB2F2%2DC03
15231B873%7D&siteid=rss; May 10, 2008 7:43 AM
Anonymous said...: Dow Chemical's previously announced layoffs at its South Charleston Union Carbide division have begun.

Dow announced last December it would be cutting approximately 150 research and development jobs in South Charleston by the end of 2009.

The layoffs are part of a massive company-wide downsizing in what the Michigan-based company calls weak-performing businesses.

http://www.whsv.com/home/
headlines/18800984.html; May 10, 2008 7:48 AM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; March 14, 2013 11:20 AM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; March 14, 2013 2:02 PM