Housing PANIC

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Countrywide Home Loans is in tha house. True that.
2008-04-28 06:17:00
Pick up ya phoneFreedomCountrawide can man
More About: House , Home Loans , Loans , Home , True

HP'ers - A fringe bunch of nuts, hoping for a big housing bust, screwing up
2008-04-27 23:10:00
So here's how Housing PANIC (I assume it's us) is positioned by the mainstream media in a recent interview with a couple of investors:Reporter: What do you think of bloggers who seem to root for an even bigger bust?McEnearney: I'm not seeing that.Foster: Good Lord. I'm not either. I'm hoping it's just a fringe bunch of nuts. Because, you know, I think that would be awful for the whole economy.So I guess a few questions and statements come to mind:1) We're indeed rooting for home prices to come down. Do you want to know why? BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO DAMN HIGH, NOT BASED ON THE FUNDAMENTALS, AND NOT GOOD FOR SOCIETY OR FUTURE GENERATIONS. GOT IT?2) We're not a "fringe bunch of nuts". WE'RE SANE, RATIONAL PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND BUBBLES AND FINANCIAL MANIAS, AND ECON 101, AND MADE WISE FINANCIAL CHOICES, UNLIKE THE MILLIONS WHO DID NOT AND ARE NOW SCREAMING FOR US TO BAIL THEM OUT.3) These investors apparently have never googled "housing bubble". Too bad. Lots of good stuff on that c...
More About: Fringe , Bust , Nuts

Meanwhile, while you weren't watching, 27% or 220,000 Republicans in Pennsy
2008-04-27 17:00:00
It's too bad the winner-take-all GOP rules wrongly gave the nomination to McCain so early. Most of the states didn't get a voice in choosing the Republican nominee. And if the GOP had had a REAL nomination battle, instead of a short-circuited snoozer, I seriously, seriously doubt McCain would have emerged as their standard-bearer in November.McCain is a math error. Huckabee and Romney simply cancelled each other out, and McCain's 1/3 took the delegates. And now true Republicans don't have a candidate this fall.Here's to the 220,000 Republicans who went to the polls in PA to embarrass McCain. And here's to the 16% of the PA voters who voted for Ron Paul.How McCain Lost in Pennsylvania27 percent of Republican primary voters didn?t just tell pollsters they would defect from their party?s standard-bearer; they went to the polls, gas prices be damned, to vote against Mr. McCain.Though ignored by every channel I surfed, there actually was a G.O.P. primary on Tuesday, open only to re...
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"The government ignores the prudent ones"
2008-04-27 10:37:00
"In all this discussion about all these poor people losing their homes, they never talk about people who didn't buy homes in this chaos. They said this is stupid, I'm not going to buy a house that is wildly overpriced. I'm going to wait until prices come down. The government ignores the prudent ones."- Christopher Thornberg, April 2008DON'T BE IGNORED. NO HOUSING GAMBLER BAILOUT.Visit Stop the Mortgage BailoutSign the no-bailout petition hereWrite your congressman hereWrite a letter to your local newspaperOr start something yourself. Take over an office. Disrupt an event. Mount a protest. Or just take it lying down like they want you to.
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Angelo Mozilo is a pig. One more time - Angelo Mozilo is a big fat pig.
2008-04-26 22:48:00
Countrywide CEO Made $132M In 2007 Pay, Stock Sale
More About: Time , Angelo , Angelo Mozilo

Do you watch housing porn? Do your friends and family use housing porn? D
2008-04-26 17:55:00
By the way, on this house, I'd pay $120,000. Tops.Now I need to go take a shower.
More About: Family , Watch , Friends , Housing

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day
2008-04-26 12:08:00
?We?ve had a tremendous surge in mortgage fraud investigations, and we expect them to grow even more. I?m not sure at this point we can see the extent of the surge.?- FBI Director Robert Muller, April 2008(note - too bad the FBI was asleep at the wheel when the rampant fraud was going on. you know, when cracking down actually would have done some good... meanwhile, angelo, they're coming. slowly and surely, they're coming...)
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HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day
2008-04-26 12:02:00
When home prices have bottomed, the housing panic is over, and it's cheaper to 'own' than rent, how will you feel?
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Call centers in India now calling down-on-their-luck American debtors
2008-04-26 08:49:00
When I first moved to Phoenix in the mid-90's, the place was swarming, and I mean SWARMING, with call centers. Someone find me a stat, but I'd bet call centers were 10% of the workforce and 30% of the new jobs.Anyway, we know what happened next. The call centers closed down, the jobs got sent to India , and the call center jockeys got jobs as realtors, mortgage brokers and appraisers, and the housing bubble saved the day. For a few days.Well, now that the jobs are gone and the bubble has blown, guess what the call centers in India are doing now?They're acting as collection agents, calling screwed and jobless debtors in Phoenix (and all over the United States) asking people to pay their credit cards, auto loans and mortgages."Sorry. Can't do that, Charanjit. You see, our jobs got outsourced to India, and then the REIC jobs we stumbled into blew up in spectacular fashion, and there's nothing left to replace 'em. Except maybe Burger King, or Wal-Mart."Well, maybe the Indian call c...
More About: American , Calling , Call , Luck

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day
2008-04-25 15:19:00
"One of the reasons that millions of families face foreclosure and/or the loss of their life savings is that the ideologues of homeownership continued to promote homeownership even when it was clear that buying a home would be financially detrimental."- Dean Baker, April 2008
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This is what the end of a Ponzi Scheme looks like. And these are the housi
2008-04-25 14:00:00
Destroyed housing gamblers.Failed flippers.Exposed mortgage fraudsters.Homes as lottery tickets.The vast majority of people "losing their homes" are not the innocents portrayed in the media or by Hillary Clinton, taken advantage of by "predatory lenders". They're just your typical losers, chain smoking at the casino, hoping against hope for 'the big score' that never came. They're gambers who bet and lost. They're people who committed mortgage fraud, yet won't see a day in jail.AND THEY ARE NOT DESERVING OF ANY KIND OF TAXPAYER BAILOUT. GOT THAT OBAMA? GOT THAT HILLARY? GOT THAT MCCAIN? GOT THAT PELOSI, REID, SCHUMER, DODD AND BUSH?Thanks Seth for the link... Great series on the crash at the Minn. StarTribune. Read 'em all, and you'll be especially enraged with the rampant illegal cash-back schemes that were out there. Crime paid HP'ers, even for the gamblers going into foreclosure. Why? They got to keep the cash, and mortgage fraud isn't a crime anymore in the United ...
More About: Ponzi Scheme

UK report: Grocery prices up 15% in the past year. Yet the UK government,
2008-04-25 12:55:00
If you believe the government inflation data in the US or UK, you are a fool.I repeat, you are a fool.How the government can report 2% to 3% inflation with a straight face is beyond me. Just go to the grocery store. Just try to fill up your gas tank. Just try to send a kid to college, or buy healthcare. Just go to the dentist (oops, sorry, scratch that one). Just try to get by.2% to 3%. Who are they kidding?Families' annual grocery bill rises by £800Families are having to spend almost £800 more on their annual grocery bills as the highest rate of food inflation for a generation drives up supermarket prices, research suggested yesterday.A kilo of Tesco garden peas has increased from £1.10 to £1.79; a dozen medium free-range eggs from Sainsbury's has climbed from £1.75 to £2.58; and a bag of fusilli pasta from Asda has almost doubled, from 37p to 67p.The increases suggest that supermarket food inflation is more than seven times the official rate of inflation.
More About: Government , Report , Past , Year , Grocery

People of America, what advice would you give to our friends in the UK in r
2008-04-25 12:40:00
The US went first, so I figure you've got some good advice.Funny thing is that people in England BLAME the people in the US for THEIR housing crash. Their media reports it as the "subprime crisis", which spread then to the UK and stopped the part right when it was getting good.Yes, the US went first. But the US didn't cause the UK housing crash. It would have happened on its own. It's called gravity.So have at it HP'ers. You're the experts now on housing crashes. Let our mates in England, Wales and Northern Ireland know what's coming. Let 'em know who to believe. And let 'em know that a "projected 6% drop" this year is laughably wrong.UK housing market has dropped 'alarmingly' in recent weeksThe UK housing market has dropped 'alarmingly' in recent weeks and prices are set to fall by 6 percent in 2008, Citigroup said in a note on Frida.
More About: America , Advice , People , Friends , Give

Do you understand that the United States is $53 TRILLION in debt - and not
2008-04-25 11:37:00
Just wondering. 'Cause I bet 99% of Americans believe what their political leaders tell them too, versus the truth.Meanwhile, one lonely unnoticed office in the government (thank you David Walker, US Comptroller General) IS reporting the $53 TRILLION number. It's just that not a lot of folks choose to believe it. Or pay attention to it.If our Presidents or Congressmen were CEO's, they'd be jailed for Sarbanes-Oxley violations. If the budget director was a CFO, he'd be indicted for fraud.So why do our political leaders and presidential candidates (and our mostly compliant and incompetent MSM) get away with reporting the $9.3 trillion number, when one department in our own government is now reporting $53 TRILLION?It's because our leaders in DC, unlike our corportations, made it so they don't legally need to report the value of future promised liabilities (social security, medicaid, medicare, military health benefits, etc) on our nation's balance sheet. It's as if they didn't...
More About: United States , United , Debt , States , The United States

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day
2008-04-24 13:29:00
Given the housing crash, Iraq quagmire, entitlement bomb and $53 trillion debt of the United States, will it make a hill of beans difference who wins the US presidency?
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Bernanke's plan: Stopping massive deflation with massive inflation and hope
2008-04-24 11:33:00
Grocery prices are soaring. Gas prices are soaring. Hell, most prices are soaring. Thank you Helicopter Ben.But about the only thing that ISN'T soaring is the price of homes. In the middle of this rampant (consumables) inflation and dollar destruction, you have historic (asset price) deflation. Just as most HP'ers have predicted.Eventually though, home prices will stop falling. Probably quite some time from now, when the historic housing P/E ratio is restored, confidence is somewhat restored, pre-bubble prices are back, and it's cheaper to 'own' than rent.And when that happens, and home prices stop falling or god forbid start going up, the NAR and the few realtors who are left will start saying "home prices stable!". But when you factor in the wild inflation underway (the real inflation, not the government-reported inflation), real home prices will still be in freefall, and the crash will have been much worse than people think, and the combination of flat incomes, job losses an...
More About: Inflation , Hope , Plan , Deflation

The worldwide housing crash hits Europe. You thought the US was bad? Wait
2008-04-24 11:12:00
I spent the last few days back in England, looking at flats to rent (heading back in June). Still the same dynamic - renting is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than "owning". But what did change from when I left in December is the amount of listings, the falling prices, the government backstabbing, and general sense of panic. Even the realtors (aka "estate agents") told me they're swarmed with listings, nothing is moving, and people can't get a loan. And I could sense that they knew. They knew the Ponzi Scheme was over, they knew they were about to lose their jobs, and they knew home prices were already cratering and had much, much, much further to fall."Got Popcorn" might do for the US. But in the UK and other parts of Europe , you're gonna need more than that. Got popcorn, nachos, the supersize Coke, some Jelly Bellys, some Goobers, and hell even grab the Milk Duds.And get ready to enjoy the show.
More About: Housing , Thought , Worldwide , Crash

The Great Phoenix Housing Bubble and Crash will be one for the history book
2008-04-24 08:50:00
Good post on doom the other day about the historic Phoenix crash. We saw it coming, but to see the death spiral in full bloom is stunning.As long-time HP'ers know, Phoenix was REIC-infested Housing Ponzi Scheme ground central, and an obvious one at that.Phoenix was the town that inspired a good share of the leading bubble blogs. A town full of get-rich-quick scamsters and fraudsters, fly-by-night flippers, lying and ignorant realtors, illegal Mexican laborers, greedy builders, corrupt appraisers, incompetent "rolodex-of-realtors" REIC-bribed media, corrupt realtor politicians and scum mortgage brokers. A nice town in the 80s and 90s that got killed by a corrupt and out-of-control REIC.The post-crash Phoenix area is now littered with foreclosures, blighted neighborhoods, jobless illegals, unpaid credit card bills, and years worth of unwanted homes for sale. Phoenix based its fake economy on housing, the people went along for the ride, and now that its #1 industry has blown up in sp...
More About: History , Housing Bubble , Great , Book

Before you go out and try to catch a falling knife...
2008-04-24 01:23:00
5% off - great deals! I'm buying!10% off - wow, can you believe my luck! I'll buy more! Double down!20% off - holy crap, this is too good to be true! Load up the truck!40% off - hmmm... maybe I shouldn't buy, I guess ____ could always go lower60% off - now we've hit bottom! Buy buy buy!70% off - OK, NOW is a great time to buy!80% off - Hello, suicide hotline?Man, you'd have thought the dot-com crash would have taught people a lesson. Just because it's on sale doesn't make it a good deal. It's the P/E stupid. It will always be the P/E stupid.Just ask the pets.com shareholders. Or people who listened to idiot realtors on commission and tried to catch a condo knife in Phoenix, Miami, San Diego etc. last year.
More About: Knife , Catch

Yale's Shiller says housing crash may exceed the Great Depression's 30% fal
2008-04-23 09:30:00
We told you what was going to happen.And then it happened.We weren't smarter than anyone. We just read Manias, Panics and Crash es.Too bad people didn't listen. Too bad people didn't do their own research. And too bad people listened to idiot realtors on commission. Hopefully they never will again.A SPECIAL MESSAGE TO ANYONE THINKING OF CATCHING A FALLING KNIFE TODAY - DON'T DO IT. WE'RE JUST STARTING. HOMEDEBTORSHIP IN THIS ENVIRONMENT IS THE WORST FINANCIAL MISTAKE YOU COULD EVER MAKE. AND DO NOT LISTEN TO ANYONE WHO WOULD EARN A COMMISSION IF THEY COULD CON YOU INTO TAKING OUT A MORTGAGE OR 'BUYING' A DEPRECIATING HOUSE.Yale’s Shiller : U.S. Housing Slump May Exceed Great DepressionYale University economist Robert Shiller, pioneer of Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home-price index, said there’s a good chance housing prices will fall further than the 30% drop in the historic depression of the 1930s. Home prices nationwide already have dropped 15% since their pea...

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day
2008-04-22 00:58:00
"We paid $585,000. It was the peak of the market, but no one told us. We would probably have to spend the next 20 years trying to get right on the mortgage. That's crazy."Joan Shaffer - Screwed Phoenix homedebtor, failed housing gambler, realtor and now jingle mail sender, April 2008
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You think the US housing bubble and mania was bad? You ain't seen nothin'.
2008-04-22 00:38:00
The housing gambler cancer in the UK spread out throughout Europe and beyond these past few years. Brits were buying up "off-plan" properties sight unseen in far-flung no-income places like Bulgaria and the Ukraine. They were using Polish labor to fix up "buy-to-let" places in London for a quick flip. They were buying second and third houses throughout Europe.And they were FRICKING OBSESSED with property speculation.You thought the US had a housing porn problem? Take a look at this sickening list of housing mania TV shows that infected Britain the past few years.And then the music stopped.A Place By the SeaA Place in GreeceA Place in the SunA Place in the Sun: Home or AwayBuild a New Life in the CountryBuild, Buy or RestoreChanging RoomsDid They Pay Off The Mortgage In 2 Years?DIY SOSEscape to the CountryExtreme MakeoverGrand DesignsGrand Designs AbroadHomeHome From HomeHomes Under the HammerHoney I Ruined the HouseHot PropertyHouse AuctionHouse BustersHouse Chain: Under OfferHouse ...
More About: Housing Bubble , Housing , Bubble , Mania

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day
2008-04-22 00:13:00
So what do you think the hundred million illegals* in the US are doing now that their #1 industry (housing) has completely tanked, and state governments are getting tough?* DISCLAIMER: My 100 million number is as accurate as any the government puts out. Nobody knows the truth - they're ILLEGAL and UNCOUNTED.
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Ron Paul's new book - "The Revolution - A Manifesto" drops on April 30th
2008-04-21 23:55:00
Not a lot of information on what he's got to say, except this blurb from his campaign:"In "Revolution : A Manifesto ," Dr. Paul pulls back the benevolent mask of the state and explains how big government is eroding our freedoms, but also offers solutions about how Americans can restore liberty while offering guidance to grassroots activists about how they can advance the political movement his candidacy inspired."I won't be able to get it over here for awhile, but I hope he drops some "oh, crap, did he really say that!?" bombs. Damn, I miss him. Maybe the Libertarian or Constitutional party will draft him?
More About: April , Book , The Revolution

FLASH: UK taxpayers (via Bank of England) buy up $100 billion in depreciati
2008-04-21 11:10:00
And then the REIC-sponsored governments, right on schedule, socialized the housing crash, bailing out the lenders who made the crap mortgages (while earning billions in commissions) so that they could go out again another day and do the same. Moral hazard? Nah, never heard of it.Meanwhile their fiat currencies, and taxpayers, pay the price.Nice job bankers. You took control of the corrupt governments of the US and UK, and now you run roughshod over their clueless people.50 billion pound bailout for banks may be doubledLONDON (Thomson Financial) - An unprecedented 50 billion pound injection to bail out Britain's ailing banking system could be doubled if it fails to stave off a collapse in the housing market, the Times reported.Alistair Darling will today tell MPs that the Bank of England is to allow lenders to swap assets for government-backed bonds in an attempt to restore confidence and ease the effects of the credit crunch.The initial offer is for 50 billion pounds worth of bonds...
More About: Flash , Bank of England , Billion

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day
2008-04-21 00:28:00
Who's smarter?1) Renters renting for a fraction of the cost of "owning"2) Interest-paying homedebtors paying a bank for the right to live in a depreciating home when they could have rented the exact same home for a fraction of the cost3) True homeowners who have no mortgage
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HousingPANIC Harsh Reality of the Day
2008-04-20 17:35:00
They're eating dirt now in Haiti.Try to keep that in mind when you get in your SUV filled with ethanol-blend and drive to Wal-Mart today.
More About: Reality

Thank you Alan Greenspan, Angelo Mozilo and the realtors of America for rui
2008-04-20 11:48:00
Hope it was worth it, you know, all those profits. All those commissions. All those bonuses. Meanwhile, watch for the divorce rate in the US to soar. Along with the crime rate, the domestic violence rate, the foreclosure rate, the murder rate, the unemployment rate, the inflation rate, the bankruptcy rate, ..........Home Mortgage Crisis May Boost Divorces in U.S., Experts SayThe home mortgage crisis in the United States has spawned problems in the mortgage, real estate and banking industries, and many consumers are now facing mortgage payment increases in the coming months that could cause the number of home foreclosures to climb even higher. And all of those financial woes may be spawning another problem as well -- an increase in divorces, experts say.Scott Daniels, an Ocala, Fla. Realtor, doesn’t need a study to tell him what he already knows -- the mortgage industry crisis is causing an increase in the number of couples who are getting divorced."In the last three months, we hav...
More About: America , Realtors , Alan Greenspan , Greenspan , Alan

Gonna be traveling for a few days, should be able to keep up but have patie
2008-04-20 05:35:00
Make my job easy, let me know what I need to post about hereBack to London for a bit... Home of the $25 movie ticket and $10 pint of beerUgh
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Uh, not sure if you noticed, but oil just hit $117. Thank you George Bush.
2008-04-19 16:59:00
$117.Wow.Oil PANIC?At one point soon, some folks (think Wal-Mart worker) are gonna have to decide whether they're better off driving to work, or just not working. And those far-flung homes in places like Maricopa Arizona? Getting more and more worthless by the day.Some experts are crying "bubble" and saying the price is gonna collapse soon. Others are pointing to the millions in India and China lining up to get into cars, and the lack of an energy policy in the USA. I'm not sure, but it does look like a bubble. But I think we all know now that bubbles can go on longer than anyone ever thought possible. I happily hardly ever get in a car, and consume or purchase very little, so it doesn't hit me much, but $117 oil means pretty much everything will be going up in price. $200 oil? That's another ballgame.Experts divided on how high oil will goAs prices in New York reached a new high of more than $116 US per barrel Friday, finding common ground among observers proved difficult.For ...
More About: Bush , George Bush , George