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Blog Details for "HousingDoom"
HousingDoomHousingDoomExpert news and opinion on the US housing market. A must read for anyone who is interested in real estate or considering buying or selling a home. In addition to timely posts on analyzing subjects ranging from subprime mortgages to national home sal 
Articles
Michael Jackson Working With Lenders To Save Neverland Ranch
2008-02-28 08:01:00 Apparently even the rich and famous are calling their lenders to work out new terms to avoid foreclosure. At least Michael Jackson is: Pop star Michael Jackson will avoid foreclosure on his Neverland Ranch property with a new loan, a Jackson insider told CNN Wednesday. Documents show that Neverland Ranch in Los Olivos, California, is ... More About: Housing Bubble , Save
Fannie Mae: Investment Caps Up, Profits Down
2008-02-27 17:47:00 James Lockhart of the OFHEO announced that as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now filing timely statements, there would be some changes: The federal regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said on Wednesday it would lift an investment cap for the mortgage companies, in a move that will give them more ... More About: Investment , Housing Bubble , Market trends , Profits
?You took my house, now I?m going to take your money?
2008-02-27 15:34:00 Thanks to L for this story out of Georgia last week: ATHENS, Ga., Feb. 22 (UPI) — A gun-wielding man in a ski mask robbing a Georgia bank told a teller he wanted payback for losing his house to foreclosure. The robbery occurred at a Regions Bank branch in Athens just before noon Thursday, ... More About: House , Money , Housing Bubble
NAR ?Stands with President Bush? On Economic Stimulus Package
2008-02-27 08:01:00 Thank you L for sending us this podcast by Dick Gaylord, President of the National Association of Realtors . It is apparent from Gaylord’s comments that he feels that the NAR was instrumental in bringing about Bush ’s economic stimulus package: A few days ago, we achieved a remarkable accomplishment. NAR stood along side President Bush as ... More About: Housing Bubble
Central Texas Home Sales Beat National Numbers, But Not Doing Well
2008-02-26 14:33:00 Despite the Austin Statesman’s best attempt to put a positive spin on the local market, the Central Texas housing market is in trouble: Sales of Central Texas homes fell 10 percent in January, the seventh month in a row that year-over-year sales dropped. But prices rose, and Austin’s market is in better shape than ... More About: National , Housing Bubble , Home
Existing Home Sales: Median Home Price Down 4.6% in January
2008-02-25 17:19:00 From the Wall Street Journal this morning: WASHINGTON — Existing-home sales fell for the sixth month in a row during January as consumers stood on the sidelines watching prices slide for property. Home resales fell to a 4.89 million annual rate, a 0.4% decrease from December’s revised 4.91 million annual pace, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. Originally, the NAR estimated sales at 4.89 million in December. The median home price was $201,100 in January, down 4.6% from $210,900 in January 2007. The median price in December was $207,000. Falling prices have kept would-be buyers from signing off on property as they wait in hope for still-lower price tags. "Inventories are high, so it’s not surprising prices are declining," NAR economist Lawrence Yun said. (more…) More About: Sales , Price , Median
Crack of Doom- Brother Can You Spare A Quarter To Save A House?
2008-02-25 08:03:00 It’s Monday, and you get the feeling that some folks are getting desperate when you find videos like this on YouTube: So Doom ers, it’s been awhile since we’ve had an open thread. Any other finds for us– links, stories, videos, comments? More About: House , Housing Bubble , A House , Crack
Agent Will Help You Buy Another Home Before Yours Goes Into Foreclosure
2008-02-25 08:02:00 M sent me this link with with subject line, "A new low for Realtors ". I’ve got to agree. This post Tips for buying another home before yours goes into foreclosure was written by Kathy Neilson. Neilson describes herself like this on her blog: A real estate professional skipping along on the rosey [sic] streets of real ... More About: Agent , Housing Bubble , Home , Foreclosure
Utah?s Housing Market ?No Longer Insulated?
2008-02-25 08:01:00 Another "too special to fail" housing market is on the skids- Utah . Here’s how one agent described the Utah housing market in 2006: All the recent talk of a bubble and the cooling off of the markets on left and right coasts seems to have only strengthened the local market for Utah. Many of ... More About: Market , Housing Bubble , Housing
Flagstaff, AZ Homebuilder M.I.A.
2008-02-25 05:01:00 From today’s Arizona Daily Sun: Homeowners, contractors and Flagstaff city officials all have questions about Empire Communities, the largest homebuilder in northern Arizona. They wonder why, over the course of the last few weeks, Empire’s local offices have been vacated, their phone numbers have either been turned off or go unanswered and why one major subcontractor was ... More About: Housing Bubble
You Just Can?t Help Some People?.
2008-02-24 08:01:00 So who’s fault is it if a borrower doesn’t understand their loan? We’ve heard a lot from candidates on how the problem is shady mortgage brokers, so I thought we’d look at the flip side today– there are definitely borrowers who are their own worst enemy. This was posted by "Moneyluck" at Broker’s Outpost. How can ... More About: People , Housing Bubble
Held Hostage By The Housing Market
2008-02-23 08:01:00 The tale of two couples– one waiting to marry, one waiting to divorce- both trying to sell their houses: More About: Realtors , Market , Housing Bubble , Housing , Hostage
Can You Really Work With The Lenders?
2008-02-23 08:01:00 Welcome to "SpeedyNogales", whose question deserved a little better exposure than the bottom of the "Submit ideas" thread. We’ve heard all kinds of stories about the wonderful world of REOs. Here’s Speedy’s experience and question: Let’s talk about stupid realtors and greedy banks. I put an offer on a home in Rovey Farms that listed for $329,000.00, ... More About: Housing Bubble , Work , Lenders
10% Of Borrowers Underwater
2008-02-23 01:20:00 If underwater borrowers follow Jim Cramer’s advice to "walk away", it looks like we’d see an exodus of biblical proportions: NEW YORK (Reuters) - One-tenth of U.S. homeowners hold mortgages that are larger than the worth of their homes, Moody’s Economy.com said on Friday. Nearly 8.8 million homeowners, or 10.3 percent, are in over their heads, ... More About: Housing Bubble , Market trends , Underwater
Arizona Congressman Indicted In Land Fraud Deal
2008-02-22 17:54:00 From Bloomberg this morning: Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) — Representative Rick Renzi, a Republican from Arizona who isn’t seeking re-election, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in an alleged scheme to profit from a land deal. Renzi, 49, who was first elected to the House in 2002, was charged along with James ... More About: Fraud , Housing Bubble , Deal , Land
Quote Of The Day
2008-02-22 16:10:00 Alright, I admit it. Some people read the supermarket tabloids, I read the Yahoo "gossip boards". I ignore most of what I read, but I just couldn’t pass on this quote from Wilson2207: IN MY OPINION, WHICH IS BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE, THERE IS NOT A LEGAL PRODUCT AVAILABLE TO THE TYPICAL CONSUMER IN THE ... More About: Quote Of The Day , Housing Bubble , Quote
Phoenix Home Buyers- Do You Know How Much Your Agent Is Being Paid?
2008-02-22 08:02:00 Many thanks to M for calling this to our attention: In response to the slowing housing market, many home sellers have resorted to offering incentives to buyer’s agents to bring a home more exposure. While these incentives need to be accounted for in closing documents, by the time a buyer is aware that their agent might ... More About: Agent , Realtors , Phoenix , Home Buyers , Housing Bubble
The NAR?s Yun Follows the Blogosphere And Misses Forecasts
2008-02-22 06:51:00 A big hat tip to HousingPanic for sharing the following from Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors . From Yun’s remarks we learn two things- first that Yun follows the blogosphere and is apparently a HousingPanic reader. [Do you suppose he stops by Doom while he’s at it?] The other is that ... More About: Housing Bubble , Blogosphere , Forecasts
San Diego: Because Public Housing Is Better?
2008-02-21 18:53:00 Hat tip to William for pointing out this strange plan from San Diego City/County: A San Diego city-county task force is considering ways to buy empty homes — before speculators and investors swoop in — and reserve them for lower-wage workers, many of whom were shut out of the housing boom when home ... More About: Public , Housing Bubble , Market trends , Housing
Twist is back
2008-02-21 16:26:00 Doomers- Thank you for all the great links and emails the past few of days. I’ve been under the weather, but I’m almost feeling human again and wading through my inbox. More About: Housing Bubble , Back , Twist
Maryland becomes second state to initiate emergency foreclosure regulations
2008-02-19 20:00:00 From today’s Washington Post: Citing an "alarming" rate of mortgage foreclosures in Maryland , Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) today announced emergency regulations that would require loan-service companies to let the state know when residents are at risk of losing their homes, so that state agencies can offer assistance. Maryland became the second state after California ... More About: Housing Bubble , Foreclosure , Regulations , State
Since when is a house a ?ticket into the middle class??
2008-02-18 08:01:00 Thanks to L for forwarding a copy of a mailing by Rep. Brad Miller from North Carolina, which sadly was "prepared, published and mailed at taxpayer expense." The mailing is entitled "The fight is on to protect homeownership." The fight is also on to make sense of Congressman Miller’s remarks. Miller takes exception to predatory lending. ... More About: House , Housing Bubble , Middle , A House , Class
A 33% haircut? and we?re just getting started
2008-02-17 08:01:00 Check out this Anthem, AZ home that was foreclosed on in January. Four bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, almost 2000 square feet. The landscaping is a little rough, but interior pictures look good- no one seems to have stolen the fixtures. Amount that was owed on the property– $285,918 [MLS# 2935822] Home is currently listed for sale ... More About: Haircut
Five bad reasons to buy a house
2008-02-16 15:53:00 Many thanks to the reader who forwarded us Blanche Evan’s 5 Things to Tell Buyers on the Fence. Blanche Evans is the editor of Realty Times, and her approach to real estate ranges from the practical and sensible to the ludicrous. Evans is in one of her ludicrous phases apparently. Here’s her article with a ... More About: House , Housing Bubble , Reasons , A House
Policy Can?t Combat Gravity
2008-02-15 08:01:00 Mort Zuckerman of U.S. News and World Report gave a gloomy assessment of the housing market yesterday: How much longer will house prices keep falling? That collapse is a larger threat to our economic well-being than even the headline-grabbing problems of our increasingly frozen financial system. We’ve had half a century of rising ... More About: Housing Bubble , Policy , Combat
Banks to ask government to assume bad loan LOSSES
2008-02-14 15:47:00 Yahoo took their title this morning from yesterday’s Wall Street Journal- Banks to ask government to take bad loan risk: [Hat tip L!] NEW YORK (Reuters) - The banking industry is proposing to members of the U.S. Congress and the White House that some of the risk of troubled mortgages should be shifted to the federal ... More About: Government , Housing Bubble , Loan , Losses
Phoenicians? You?re Property Values Are Falling, But Your Taxes Aren?t
2008-02-14 15:26:00 Maricopa County is sending out property notices this week. Most homeowners will note that the value of their homes has dropped, but their taxes haven’t: [Hat tip M!] Homeowners hoping for an immediate property-tax reduction will be disappointed. Property -tax statements lag valuations by 18 months in Arizona, so homeowners won’t see a drop in their ... More About: Taxes , Values
Phoenix Median Home Price Down 12% In January
2008-02-14 08:01:00 ASU’s Realty Studies has released Jay Butler’s report on the Phoenix housing market in January , and the report holds no surprises- the housing market continues to deteriorate. Price s The median home price opened the year at $230,000, which is below the $232,000 of December 2007 and last year’s $260,000. It represents a continuation in declining ... More About: Housing Bubble , Home
Lenders refusing to finance sales in some Miami condominiums
2008-02-13 13:50:00 Thank you to Kevin Tomlinson, who sent me this post from his South Beach Condo Blog: Say you want to sell your unit at Related Group’s new 50 Biscayne Condo in downtown Miami , you find a buyer willing to purchase your unit, you agree on terms, and you probably think, “whew, I’m really lucky I ... More About: Finance , Sales , Housing Bubble , Market trends
Paulson: ?The Worst Is Just Beginning?
More articles from this author:2008-02-13 08:02:00 Hank Paulson on housing– "The worst is just beginning" [Thanks L!] More About: Housing Bubble 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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