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Alt-A Loans and Option ARMs meet Strategic Defaults: The Perfect Recipe fo
2009-09-23 07:04:00
The last week for whatever reason saw the resurgence in mainstream articles covering the option ARM fiasco.  Even those who are purported to be financial experts still miss the bigger picture.  That is, they fail to understand that the category of Alt-A loans covers the vast majority of option ARMs and Alt-A is basically a ...
More About: Recipe , Loans , Meet , Arms , Perfect

California?s Financial Depression: Unemployment and Underemployment rate a
2009-09-19 20:52:00
California has now reached Great Depression unemployment levels.  Many are now calling the end of the recession but there is no sign that California is inching closer to prosperity.  Last month the unemployment rate shot up to a post-World War II high of 12.2 percent.  This is only the official headline number.  The unemployment ...
More About: California , Financial , Unemployment , Rate

5 Reasons for Caution in the Stock Market and Housing Casino. Public Priva
2009-09-17 07:21:00
It is official that the stock market has gone into full casino mode.  Since the March low the S&P 500 has rallied to the tune of 60 percent.  The only other time you will see such a fierce rally was during the Great Depression.  Yet what people fail to see in the current system is ...
More About: Stock Market , Market , Public , Casino , Stock

Real Homes of Genius: Pasadena Home and Bring Your Own Bulldozer. Flippin
2009-09-15 09:05:00
If you thought flipping homes was over, think again.  If you thought HGTV inspired granite countertops were a thing of dreams, it is time to open your eyes once again.  The California housing bubble mentality is back and it is bringing back the gold rush housing mentality.  It is tunnel focused and it fails to ...
More About: Home , Homes , Pasadena , Real , Genius

Shadow Inventory Revisited: Silent Alt-A Mortgages, Southern California RE
2009-09-12 19:10:00
I think you saw this coming.  In the most e-mailed story on Friday, many of you sent in a link from the L.A. Times showing a confirmation of shadow inventory.  One home does not make a trend.  But connect that home to Bernard Madoff and you got yourself a fantastic story of absolute cronyism and ...
More About: California , Inventory , Shadow , Silent , Mortgages

$1.1 Trillion in Toxic Loans: $908 Billion in Interest Only and $198 Billi
2009-09-10 06:30:00
Two years of a deep and prolonged recession and we still can?t seem to get a hold of the toxic assets plaguing the books of banks.  Much of this comes from the scamming and blood sucking from banks on the taxpayer.  How can $13 trillion in backstops and commitments not resolve the problem?  First, the ...
More About: Loans , Interest

10 Percent Unemployment in California: Which Counties are Hurting the Most
2008-06-07 21:21:00
The real health of a nation is derived from a citizenry that is employed adequately. The debate over what “adequate” constitutes can be debated but it is sufficient to say that the way current national data is gathered for employment is simply inadequate. People are undercounted. Even with the report that was ...Related Posts:?California Budget Details: How the Recession Will Affect Revenues for the State.?Housing in Graphics and California $16 Billion in the Hole: The Genesis of the California Housing Market.?The Short End of the Stick: Examining Short Sales in Southern California?The Abyss is Deep: The Housing Abyss is Deep: 4 Major Reasons Why Housing in Southern California is Nowhere Near a Bottom.?Southern California Housing Still Not Finding a Bottom: Worst Decline Ever, no Exaggeration. Examining the Numbers in Great Detail.
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Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Beverly Hills. When the 90210 S
2008-06-06 18:54:00
Today we get the stunning announcement that unemployment “surged” from 5 percent to 5.5 percent in one month. Of course, given the way the government calculates its shoddy employment numbers this is only shocking to folks that believe in the absurd government Kool-Aid. The reality of the current market arena is we are ...Related Posts:?3 Captivating Housing Stories: Trouble in the 90210: When Beverly Hills Isn’t Prime. Vote yes for Multiple Foreclosures. The Coming Bank Failues.?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Pacoima. Zillow says $457,000 but Listed at $225,000??Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Stanton.?This Housing Mess is Getting Ugly and Your Face Shows it. Unintended Consequences of Lost Home Equity.?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Baldwin Park. When you Only Need to Show Concrete to Sell at $400,000+.
More About: Today

3 Captivating Housing Stories: Trouble in the 90210: When Beverly Hills I
2008-06-05 20:40:00
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. That mantra is now being witnessed first hand by many prime areas of Los Angeles County. Luxury properties have a very specific and niche based market. They cater to a very unique audience that usually resides outside the confines of the average ...Related Posts:?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Beverly Hills . When the 90210 Simply Isn’t Enough.?10 Percent Unemployment in California: Which Counties are Hurting the Most and What it Means for Housing .?Foreclosures jump statewide by 40% in California in just one quarter! Welcome to California?s Gold!?How Many People Overpaid for Their Home in Los Angeles County? Trying to get a Raw Number of Households Underwater.?This Housing Mess is Getting Ugly and Your Face Shows it. Unintended Consequences of Lost Home Equity.
More About: Stories

Credit Crisis Part Deux: The Noise in the Housing Attic.
2008-06-03 18:37:00
I think the best way to discuss the “reemergence” of the credit crisis is to remember a childhood story. Remember that time your family was throwing a party and you were concerned about crazy grandma going off on her usual rants? You thought carefully about what you were going to do since you ...Related Posts:?Two Faces of Housing Panic: Schadenfreude and the Lender of Last Resort.?The Sham of our Current Unemployment Rate Numbers: Lessons from the Great Depression: Part X. Data Mining.?Manias, Panics, and Crashes: 2007 First Quarter All-Stars ? Foreclosures, Subprime, and Politics. Five Characteristics of a Housing Bubble.?A Bubble That Broke the World: Lessons from the Great Depression Part IX. When Credit is Debt.?Just Because you Crawl Today, Doesn’t Mean you Won’t Walk Away Tomorrow from a Home: The Next Chapter in the Foreclosure Crisis .
More About: Noise

Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you East Los Angeles. There is Noth
2008-06-02 08:12:00
Housing corrections are sticky on the downside. Did you ever hear that statement being made during the last few years? Over and over like a fire alarm going off some form of this message was continually beat into the head of prospective real estate moguls. “Oh yeah. Housing prices never go ...Related Posts:?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute You East Los Angeles . $395,000 for 780 Square Feet.?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Van Nuys. $535,000 for 814 Square Feet.?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Baldwin Park. When you Only Need to Show Concrete to Sell at $400,000+.?Real Homes of Genius: $450,000 3/2 Home in Compton? Yes folks, Smoking Housing Bubble Peyote Will Make You See Things Like This!?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute Inglewood. Bought in 1970 for $20,000 now selling for $397,400.

Going Broke on $200,000 a Year: Step by Step Process of Going Down with a
2008-05-23 23:56:00
You may have noticed that gas prices have gone up recently. I’m just taking a wild guess that you’ve heard of this. For those of us in commuting urban areas we are all too familiar with fuel prices. Gas prices always go up during this time of the year right before the ...Related Posts:?Zillowed, Disappearing Inventory, and Free Housing: 3 Major Psychological Reasons Why Housing is Still Declining and Living Rent and Mortgage Free.?Mission Accomplished: 3 Housing Issues: Multiple Bottoms, Declining Dollar, and More Sub-prime and Alt-A Defaults.?Hope Now Alliance: Not to be confused with Apocalypse Now Mortgages.?Are you a Debt Slave??Mortgage Equity Withdrawal Syndrome. The 3rd Rail of the Housing Led Boom.
More About: Step , Process , Year

Dear Subprime and Option ARM Borrower: You Disgust Me with Your Loan Modifi
2008-05-21 21:50:00
Some of this stuff you simply cannot makeup. At this point, I think the majority of folks have come to realize that any legislation trying to help homeowners and lenders is guided by politics rather than good economics. There is a fascinating incident that occurred where our favorite CEO appears to have ...Related Posts:?Real Homes of Genius: $1 Million Discount for a 948 Square Foot Long Beach Condo!?Digging into Countrywide: When Half Your Loan s are in California and Florida.?The Housing Wave of the Future: Two Main Mortgage Tsunamis.?Foreclosures jump statewide by 40% in California in just one quarter! Welcome to California?s Gold!?When will my home cost me an ARM and a leg?
More About: Subprime , Disgust

Southland Homes Sales Perk up: Market Now Being Carried by Distressed Sale
2008-05-20 08:05:00
This weekend I was listening to a real estate radio show that plays on FM radio here in Los Angeles while trying to escape the blistering heat. Now that we know that Fannie and Freddie are going to be a little more lax with their requirements and some people think this is ...Related Posts:?Zillowed, Disappearing Inventory, and Free Housing: 3 Major Psychological Reasons Why Housing is Still Declining and Living Rent and Mortgage Free.?The Short Sale Report: Volume 1 ? The True Barometer of the Housing Market ?Sexy Bottom: The Naked Truth of the 10 Percent Southern California Housing Drop.?Don’t Catch a Falling Guillotine: Housing Free Falling in Southern California. A Deep Look at the Numbers.?The Abyss is Deep: The Housing Abyss is Deep: 4 Major Reasons Why Housing in Southern California is Nowhere Near a Bottom.
More About: Sales , Homes

Using Countrywide as an Example of Housing Excellence. Nothing Down and Ba
2008-05-18 06:24:00
You are going to need to sit down for this one. If you have any heart conditions you may want to stop reading at this point. Many of you recall that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had their caps raised in January during the great Wal-Mart voucher experiment. It was sneaked into ...Related Posts:?A Trip down the Housing Graveyard: The Casualties of the Housing Bear Market.?What really goes on with Black-matter SIVs. A Micro-case study. My Experience with Prosper and how it is Similar to the Current Mortgage Debacle.?Wrong and Wronger: Compounding the Mortgage Mess with Bigger Mortgages.?Two Faces of Housing Panic: Schadenfreude and the Lender of Last Resort.?War of the Housing Worlds: 3 Reasons why the Bubble Spread; War of the Worlds, Orson Welles, and Mass Media?
More About: Countrywide

A Bubble That Broke the World: Lessons from the Great Depression Part IX. W
2008-05-15 19:11:00
We are swimming in a world of debt. Somewhere in the past decade debt lost the negative connotation of being a four letter word. In fact, the language of so many things has changed and the ultimate ramifications now have sweet language to soften the utter destructiveness of the underlying instrument. ...Related Posts:?The Menace of Mortgage Debts: Lessons from the Great Depression Series: Part IV: Where do we go After the Housing Crash??Crash! The Housing Market Free Fall and Client #10 Contagion. Lessons From the Great Depression: Part VI.?Lessons From the Great Depression: A Letter from a former Banking President Discussing the Bubble.?Winston Smith and the Bailouts in Oceania: Lessons from the Great Depression Part VII.?Business Devours its Young: Lessons from the Great Depression: Part V: Destroying the Working Class.
More About: World , The World

Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Compton. Once, Twice, Three tim
2008-05-14 20:29:00
Once again the ministry of truth tells us that inflation is tame so long as you don’t eat or drive which makes for a fascinating Wall Street spectacle. At this point, it has become an utter joke trying to rely on the BLS data for inflation numbers. Practically speaking they are making it ...Related Posts:?Real Homes of Genius : Today we Salute you Compton with a Short Sale at $375,999. New! Short Sale Search Option.?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Compton. $321,000 for 594 Square Feet! Can You Really Get Two Bedrooms Into That Space??Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Compton. $294,900 for Your Very own Prison.?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Pacoima. Zillow says $457,000 but Listed at $225,000??Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Compton. 3 Bedrooms on 806 Square Feet!

Just Because you Crawl Today, Doesn?t Mean you Won?t Walk Away Tomorrow fro
2008-05-11 06:03:00
This weekend I’ve gotten many e-mails talking about the walking away “myth” and an onslaught of articles now addressing the issue. For those of you that read many of the economic and housing blogs, this is something you are already familiar with. In fact, there has been a sudden shift of trying ...Related Posts:?New Century files for Chapter 11.?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Stanton.?Real Homes of Genius: Today We Salute you Artesia. 626 Square Feet of Barbie Love for $360,000.?Dr. Housing Bubble Examines Patients of the Housing Bubble.?Ponzi Financing ? The House that Credit Built.
More About: Crawl , Tomorrow , Walk

Real Homes of Genius: Biggest Ever Percentage Housing Drop Ever in Santa A
2008-05-09 18:53:00
Orange County, an area with over 3,098,121 people sometimes has a reputation at least nationwide as being an exclusively prime area. What most people that don’t live or work here realize is that the media perception of the “OC” is guided by a few prime cities such as Laguna Hills and Newport Beach. ...Related Posts:?Real Homes of Genius : Today we Salute you Santa Ana. 498 Square Feet for $440,000, What a Deal!?Real Homes of Genius: Lifetime Achievement Award. Nearly 80 Percent Loss in Oakland California.?Home Sales: Worst Drop in 18 Years. Enjoy your Day!?C.A.R. says 2007 will see a -2% Drop in California. Does This Feel like a 2% Yearly Drop??Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Maywood. 853 Square feet for $385,000.
More About: Housing

Zillowed, Disappearing Inventory, and Free Housing: 3 Major Psychological
2008-05-08 08:15:00
You know you do it. Deep down you know you feel a bit sneaky when you do it like going on a clandestine secret mission. I would venture to guess that you have Zillowed yourself or homes in your neighborhood. Welcome to the major equalizing force in the housing game, information. ...Related Posts:?Living Large on $25,000 a Year in Southern California.?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Monterey Park. 800 Square Feet for $479,000.?Real Homes of Genius: Forget Buy 1 get 1 Free Deals. How About 3 for the Price of 1. Today we Salute you Riverside.?5 Reasons Why The Housing Market Will Continue to Decline Until 2010: Extrapolating The Free Ride Bird and Dancing with the Housing Pied Piper.?The Short Sale Report: Volume 2 ? Record 10,000+ Short Sales in Southern California.
More About: Inventory , Psychological , Major

No Housing Bottom: Hell Hath Frozen Over. David Lereah Proclaims Housing
2008-05-06 20:07:00
There are moments in history that change the world profoundly. The fall of the Berlin Wall. The industrial revolution and the impact it made on our society. And finally, David Lereah, the former National Association of Realtors chief economist telling us that that things will get worse before they get better? ...Related Posts:?Did you Feel That? Housing Just Hit the Third Rail.?Mission Accomplished: 3 Housing Issues: Multiple Bottom s, Declining Dollar, and More Sub-prime and Alt-A Defaults.?Even the Harlem Globe Trotters Couldn?t Spin Today?s Housing News!?Think Housing Can’t Go Down Significantly in Southern California??California Budget Details: How the Recession Will Affect Revenues for the State.
More About: Hell , Frozen

Stop Saving Now and Spend Those Rebates! The Home Refinancing Well Has Run
2008-05-05 10:03:00
I’m not sure at what exact point did “saving” become a four letter word. The predicament that we now find ourselves in has an origin in a decade long spending binge. For many decades in our nation’s history, we were a lender and large exporter to other countries so this is a relatively ...Related Posts:?The Credit Conundrum: The New Loan Shark is the Fed.?Ponzi Financing ? The House that Credit Built.?The Plague of Housing: Why we Will Feel and Be Poorer Because of the Housing Bust.?Are you a Debt Slave??The Housing Wave of the Future: Two Main Mortgage Tsunamis.
More About: Home , Stop , Rebates , Saving , Refinancing

Don?t Mistake a Silent Mortgage Volcano for Being Inactive: The New Face o
2008-05-02 01:09:00
There seems to be a false sense of security that somehow, the credit (debt) crisis is now slowly floating away into space. The market rally is indicative of this false sense of security. All bad news is ignored while slim glimmers of good news are enough to spark a rally. We are ...Related Posts:?The Housing Wave of the Future: Two Main Mortgage Tsunamis.?Did you Feel That? Housing Just Hit the Third Rail.?What really goes on with Black-matter SIVs. A Micro-case study. My Experience with Prosper and how it is Similar to the Current Mortgage Debacle.?The Rent vs. Buying Dilemma: Mortgages the Southern California Way. 3 Factors to look at: Increase Rental Prices, Housing Price Declines, and Tighter Credit Markets.?Second Quarter Housing All-Stars Recap: Subprime closes shop, Prime Loans Gone Wild, and the Future of Housing.
More About: Silent , Face , Volcano

You Can Kiss $2.84 Trillion in Housing Equity Goodbye: The Continued Decli
2008-04-30 09:09:00
It is hard to wrap your mind around the size of the American housing market. Today’s Case-Shiller Index reported a further deterioration in the housing market. The difficulty in determining what real estate was valued at the absolute peak is somewhat hard to determine since many regions hit peaks at various different times. ...Related Posts:?Summer and Housing in the Garden of Eden. 3 Reasons Why Housing Will Soar This Summer!?Lords of Housing: Believing in the $22.5 Trillion Housing Market.?Current Status of Real Estate Market: Boring!?Of Bubbles Past. Need a Map for Housing? Ask a Housing Perma-Bull and They?ll See the World Through Colored Glasses!?The Psychology of a Crashing Housing Market: Sending in Your Home Keys Just Got Easier.
More About: Kiss , Goodbye , Equity

Real Estate Olympics: Cliff Diving Prices in California. Median Price Dow
2008-04-28 23:37:00
The California Association or Realtors on Friday came out with another press release showing how dismal the market has gotten. Sales have fallen 24.5 percent from a year ago but the more shocking development is the price of a median home in the state is now off by 29 percent. This is shocking ...Related Posts:?Foreclosures? Housing Bubble? In Southern California? Impossible!?Sales Drop Their Pants in Southern California. In More News, Median Price s Still Strong Like Arnold Schwarzenegger.?The End of the Tribe of Housing: Breaking Down the National Housing Neurosis.?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Huntington Park. Sold 3 Times in 4 Years.?Foreclosures jump statewide by 40% in California in just one quarter! Welcome to California?s Gold!
More About: Estate , Real Estate , Olympics

Living Large on $25,000 a Year in Southern California.
2008-04-27 23:02:00
First, I want to thank everyone that participated in the discussion about the hypothetical family making $100,000 a year with 2 kids and showing how $100,000 doesn’t go as far as many would expect especially in high cost areas. I also noticed that most of the comments that went something like, “cut out the ...Related Posts:?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Buena Park. $511,000 for 864 Square Feet. Even Knott?s Berry Farm is Cheaper!?Real Estate Olympics: Cliff Diving Prices in California . Median Price Down 30 Percent Statewide.?Real Homes of Genius: 675 square foot home in Lynwood California at $425,000?!?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Santa Ana. 498 Square Feet for $440,000, What a Deal!?Real Homes of Genius: $450,000 3/2 Home in Compton? Yes folks, Smoking Housing Bubble Peyote Will Make You See Things Like This!
More About: Living , Southern , Southern California , Year

When $100,000 makes you Go Broke: The Invisible Hand Forces Americans Into
2008-04-25 20:10:00
Many people reading this blog from states with moderate housing prices have a very hard time understanding how a family earning $100,000 a year is having a challenging time staying in the middle class ranks. The idea of a six-figure income certainly doesn’t connote the same wealthy status as it did a decade ago. ...Related Posts:?The Credit Conundrum: The New Loan Shark is the Fed.?Are you a Don Quixote or Hamlet of Housing??Massive Inventory Decrease in Southern California. Is This the Fabled Bottom??Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Downey. $100,000 off in 3 Months.?The Invisible Mortgage Hand : Analysis of a Society That Forces You Into Debt.
More About: Americans

Foreclosed: Predicting Foreclosures in California. How Many Homes will Be
2008-04-24 20:07:00
Making predictions is a tricky business. Just ask any political pundit or economist how easy it is to forecast the future. Yet we have enough current data from multiple sources to give us a solid idea that foreclosures, the ultimate finality to housing distress will continue to be a problem for the upcoming years. California is not immune to this and in fact, will have a much larger problem because of the magnitude of price increases over the past decade.There are multiple factors that will continue to put pressure on the California housing market: 1. Continued job losses from heavy reliance on the real estate industry. 2. Size of California loans much larger than national average. 3. Income growth is stagnant; in fact with more job losses this will put strains on the public. 4. Horrible state budget. This still is something not being dealt with adequately. 5. Perception. Psychology does have an impact but a much smaller one than the above key points. With that said, l...
More About: Foreclosures , Homes , Foreclosed

Real Homes of Genius Special Edition: Take 6 - 6 Southern California Count
2008-04-23 00:52:00
The Wall Street illuminati have now come up with a new way of dragging new investors into the trenches. It is a technique practiced only by the most ardent Jedi investment bankers. A trick out of reverse psychology. What seems to be appearing now is a rather simple formula of managing expectations ...Related Posts:?Dr. Housing Bubble Celebrates Monumental 100th Post! Top 10 Housing Articles.?Real Homes of Genius: Today We Salute you Huntington Park. Tweedledum and Tweedledee of housing. $500,000 Homes in Wonderland.?Real Homes of Genius: $438,000 for 816 square feet in Pico Rivera! Another Example of Manic SoCal Housing!?Home Sales: Worst Drop in 18 Years. Enjoy your Day!?Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute Lynwood. 597 Square Feet for $319,000.
More About: California , Special , Southern

Sheep Back to the Slaughter: Lessons from the Great Depression Part VIII:
2008-04-20 04:20:00
How quickly people forget the lessons from the past. Last week was a complete bear market rally. We had a few companies such as Google and Honeywell announce solid earnings but the banking sector is still in the shambles. Here is a quick tip for any amateur investors, when a company announces ...Related Posts:?Do the Herd Dance: I?ll Sell if you Sell! Woo Woo!?Crash! The Housing Market Free Fall and Client #10 Contagion. Lessons From the Great Depression : Part VI.?Winston Smith and the Bailouts in Oceania: Lessons from the Great Depression Part VII.?The Menace of Mortgage Debts: Lessons from the Great Depression Series: Part IV: Where do we go After the Housing Crash??There will be Housing: How we’ve Returned to Selective Market Ignorance.
More About: Back