Major mortgage lenders, big homebuilders or the chief ponzi scheme enablers - who goes bankrupt first?

Who goes bankrupt first:


1) Countrywide

2) IndyMac

3) Toll Brothers

4) KB Home

5) Fannie Mae

6) The US Government

Make your bets!

(I'm short CFC, FNM and IMB, should be short KBH, TOL and US$)

The Fed's William Poole correctly says the mortgage lenders and homebuilders going out of business were "bad actors" whose punishment was deserved

Damn, this is getting interesting... So interesting that if you work for an Alt-A "Liar's Loan" lender, or a homebuilder targeting people with low incomes and bad credit, and you haven't been laid off yet, you might want to start packing up Monday, and take the plants home now... Doesn't sound like the Fed is gonna be bailing you out...

"This year’s markets punished mostly bad actors and/or poor lending practices. The market’s punishment of unsound financial arrangements has been swift, harsh and without prejudice”

-William Poole, President Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, July 2007

Crashing prices, decaying empty unsavory neighborhoods and housing quickly turning into the American Nightmare

It's sad to see families get into housing and flipper neighborhoods at the exact wrong time, falling for the slick marketing brochures and ads, and now facing a total freaking nightmare. But of course, they'll blame everyone but themselves for the mess they put themselves in.

Note - I'm short KBH at time of writing, since they build cheap neighborhoods like these that people will no longer want, their buyers are (were) more subprime , and they were crooked at the top.

And the chart above is the Zillow of the KB Homes house mentioned in the article.. Ouch. Remember new home buyers and current homedebtors - the builder will f*ck you every time.

Lodi homeowners find dream neighborhood not so charming

Scott McClarrinon says he was duped.

The 31-year-old Galt native thought he was buying into a dream when he and his wife purchased their home at The Villas of Lodi in November 2005.

He imagined he would raise his family in the two-story stone and stucco home at 455 Tuscolana Way. His home is tucked among 80 residences at the tastefully designed subdivision, complete with stately light posts and cobblestone courts.

Yet as soon as McClarrinon moved in, his dream and his neighborhood began to crumble.

The homes that had been snatched up so quickly at the peak of the housing boom sat empty for months at a time, with their owners nowhere to be found.

Green lawns turned to brown, left unkempt in the hot spring and summer months. Tall weeds began to sprout in place of neatly landscaped front gardens. "For sale" signs popped up throughout the neighborhood, replaced later by "for rent" signs. Pigeons began to roost on top of abandoned homes, leaving a mess below.

McClarrinon's vision of a vibrant community of homeowners — as promised by builder KB Home — vanished.

"There's just not a lot of homeowners here," he said this week, noting that his neighbors now consist of renters, from a trio of exotic dancers next door to a group of five young men nearby who throw loud parties late into the night.

"I'm so mad. I'm just mad," McClarrinon said. "My property value has dumped ... I've got the worst of both worlds," he said.