FLASH: The incompetent Fed nukes the housing market, finally coming out with "shady loan" regulations. Monkeys I tell ya!

The funniest thing about this latest admission of incompetence from the Fed is that it'll just help crash the US housing market even faster, as even more lending dries up. This could have helped if done years ago. Now it's too late, and just adds fuel to the fire.

We're run by monkeys HP'ers. Monkeys I tell ya.

Federal Reserve to Unveil Plan to Curb Shady Lending Practices for Home Mortgages

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Federal Reserve plan being unveiled Tuesday would give people taking out home mortgages new protections against shady lending practices.

The rules to be proposed are especially geared to providing some future safeguards to the riskiest "subprime" borrowers, already painfully stung by the housing and credit debacles. The proposal is expected to apply to new, or future, loans made by all types of lenders, including banks and brokers. The plan could be finalized next year.

The plan, if ultimately adopted, offers Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who took over the helm in February 2006, an important opportunity to put his imprint on the Fed's regulatory powers. Some critics have complained that Bernanke's predecessor -- Alan Greenspan, who ran the Fed for 18 1/2 years -- failed to act as a forceful regulator especially during the 2001-2005 housing boom, where easy credit spurred lots of subprime home loans and many exotic types of mortgages

HousingPANIC calls for a Congressional investigation of Alan Greenspan and the US Federal Reserve Bank and their role in the subprime mess

Nice to see the MSM doing their job, evidenced by this amazing expose in the New York Times. Now I wonder if Congress will start doing theirs.

This is serious stuff HP'ers. Banks and lenders will fail, the US economy will be decimated, millions will lose their homes and our entire financial system will fall into disrepute. All because Alan Greenspan was either too incompetent or too corrupt to do anything about the out-of-control REIC that he was supposed to be regulating, while at the same time keeping interest rates too low for too long.

HousingPANIC again calls on our corrupt Congress to open an investigation into the housing bubble and crash, with a particular focus on Alan Greenspan and the US Federal Reserve Bank. I don't know what the f*ck Schumer, Frank and Dodd are waiting for - more money or direction from Goldman Sachs perhaps? Let's get it on boys - I want subpoenas flying NOW! And the first one should be to Greenspan - the #1 cause of the Great Housing Bubble & Crash.

Fed Shrugged as Subprime Crisis Spread

WASHINGTON — Until the boom in subprime mortgages turned into a national nightmare this summer, the few people who tried to warn federal banking officials might as well have been talking to themselves.

Edward M. Gramlich, a Federal Reserve governor who died in September, warned nearly seven years ago that a fast-growing new breed of lenders was luring many people into risky mortgages they could not afford.

But when Mr. Gramlich privately urged Fed examiners to investigate mortgage lenders affiliated with national banks, he was rebuffed by Alan Greenspan, the Fed chairman.

Today, as the mortgage crisis of 2007 worsens and threatens to tip the economy into a recession, many are asking: where was Washington?

An examination of regulatory decisions shows that the Federal Reserve and other agencies waited until it was too late before trying to tame the industry’s excesses. Both the Fed and the Bush administration placed a higher priority on promoting “financial innovation” and what President Bush has called the “ownership society.”

Here's an update on HP favorite Little Boy David Crisp, the flash-in-the-pan Bakersfield mortgage fraudster

Bling is the thing!

I guess not.

Must suck to be facing significant jailtime at his age, all because of greed. Must suck to be one of the millions of mortgage fraudsters, corrupt realtors and shady appraisers wondering every night if the FBI is gonna come get them too.

And it must suck to be Hillary Clinton, George Bush or Chuck Schumer, when they eventually realize that they destroyed their own political careers and legacies by trying (and failing) to use government resources to bail out mortgage fraudsters like David Crisp.

Fake it until you make it: A housing flipper saga

When David Crisp was only 25 years old, the Bakersfield, Calif., real estate star tooled around town in a $560,000 Mercedes-Benz McLaren sports car, along with a cohort of "black-suited bodyguards." He sported a $50,000 Chanel watch and Armani suits. His company, Crisp & Cole, leased Gulfstream jets to fly prospective investors into Bakersfield and Las Vegas and fronted money to its team of agents so they could sport their own luxury cars and designer clothes.

On Monday, Crisp's mansion was put up for auction with a starting bid of $1.8 million. Nobody bit, and the home was repossessed by the lender. According to the Bakersfield Californian, more than 100 defaulted and foreclosed-upon properties can be traced to associates of Crisp & Cole.

But what does it all mean? How many other David Crisps ran wild in the great housing boom of the early 21st century? How many of the collateralized debt obligations made out of repackaged subprime mortgage securities were built from loans made to similar scammers?

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

Will REIC-infested bubble cities like Phoenix/Scottsdale, Miami, San Diego, Las Vegas and Tampa get back to normal after the crash? After the nouveau riche get wiped away, after the REIC are back at their bartender, Taco Bell and call center jobs and after people realize that houses are homes, not lottery tickets?

Please say yes. One day I may want to come back to the US, but not until it's safe.

The pressure on appraisers right now must be unbearable

Choice A: Do the right thing, appraise the property at the correct price, and never work again

Choice B: Do the wrong thing, appraise the property at the wildly overinflated price the corrupt realtor, mortgage broker and seller want/need, get the job and future jobs from the corrupt cabal, but know that you're contributing to mortgage fraud and could go to jail if the government ever wakes up.

Hmmm....

The system got gamed folks. It was allowed to spin out of control. The conflicts of interest and quid-pro-quos make the NASDAQ bubble seem like child's play. And it ain't over yet.

The dubious value-add of appraisers - As housing market slumps, price-target pressure mounts

ORINDA, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- The solicitation that Texas real-estate appraiser Jim Amorin fielded came with a quid pro quo. If he'd appraise a mixed-use Austin subdivision for $25 million, the mortgage broker promised to steer 15 more major deals his way.

"After I asked a few questions, it became clear the real value was closer to $15 million," says Amorin, vice president of Atrium Real Estate Services. "I told him I'd accept the assignment but not with a predetermined value, so he kept looking for someone who would."

The pressure on appraisers to "make loans work" -- the industry parlance for hitting the number that a lender wants on a closing contract -- has been ratcheted up as U.S. home sales and mortgage refinancing have tumbled. By law, appraisers are required to render impartial judgments.

Federal and state authorities are now pushing for tighter regulation, licensing standards and criminal penalties to keep all players in the real-estate transaction process on the level.

"Mortgage and real estate brokers are paid on commission, so they have a vested interest in seeing that loans get funded," says Ted Faravelli, manager of the California Association of Real Estate Appraisers and an appraiser for 23 years who testifies as an expert witness in mortgage-fraud cases.

"If an appraiser speaks to the facts and indicates a market is declining and in oversupply, there's a good chance deals won't be consummated and referrals will dry up."