July 2010
1 post
June 2010
17 posts
Why this housing bubble was different
Read Article
"2010 Top 100 Financial Advisors"
Words of wisdom from Morgan Stanley’s Brian Pfeifler, this year’s No. 1, and four other advisors.
Read more
SEC Charges Goldman Sachs With Fraud in...
Read Article
Toll Bros. on a land buying spree - CNN Money
Companies Economy International The Buzz Street Sweep Corrections Pre-market Trading After-hours Trading US Stocks Bonds and Interest Rates Currencies Commodities Mutual Funds World Markets Subscribe to Real Money Newsletter Subscribe to Money
Read more
"Here It Comes"
Read Article
Commercial, Multifamily Originations Post Mixed...
In the first quarter of 2010, commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations were 12 percent higher than the same period last year but 26 percent lower than the fourth quarter of 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported Tuesday.
Read more
"Former KB Home CEO Is Convicted"
Read Article
Nearly 75% of homes are affordable - CNN Money
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — It’s prime time for house hunters.
Read more
Stacking The Deck Blankfein E-Mail Shows Firm...
Read Article
Google TV Unveiled - Wall Street Journal Online
SAN FRANCISOGoogle Inc. detailed its long-awaited plans for entering the living room, based on software that melds conventional TV programming with content delivered from the Internet.
Read more
Goldman profited on shorts, emails show
Read Article
4 students build popular real estate iPhone app -...
Read more
Real Estate still the safest bet…… Bank Risk Soars...
Read Article
5/19/2010 Delinquencies, Foreclosure Starts...
Welcome to MBA. The combined percentage of loans in foreclosure or at least one payment past due was 14.01 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis, a decline from 15.02 percent last quarter.
Read more
Stock market tick tick tick
Read Article
FBI's Mortgage Fraud Cases up 400% since 2005 -...
Enter your email to receive Daily Email Updates: Of all frauds perpetrated against financial institutions, mortgage fraud, in particular, has spiked, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) said in a report released this week.
Read more
"Fannie Mae lost $13.1 billion in first quarter"
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Government-controlled mortgage finance firm Fannie Mae said on Monday that it lost $13.1 billion, or $2.29 a share in the first quarter, compared to a loss of $23.2 billion, or $4.09 a share a year ago. “Our financial results for the first quarter of 2010 reflect the continued weakness in the housing and mortgage markets, which showed some signs of...
May 2010
9 posts
5/19/2010 Mortgage Purchase Applications Plummet...
Welcome to MBA. The Refinance Index increased 14.5 percent from the previous week and the seasonally adjusted Purchase Index decreased 27.1 percent from one week earlier. This is the lowest Purchase Index observed in the survey since May of 1997.
Read more
Walking Away From Your Mortgage - On Principle -...
Read Article
Freddie Mac: Mortgage rates hit yearly low - USA...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mortgage rates fell to the lowest level of the year this week, as rates fell on U.S. government securities. Fixed mortgage rates tend to be influenced by movements in the yield of 10-year Treasury notes.
Read more
Short sale education will never be the same. See...
The Door is Open: Default School, Lionsgate Financial, NASSPro and RealestateEDUCATE join up to raise the standard of live short sale training. Come join us at the REO Expo 2010 to get this outstanding education free!
Join us
"Related Group Gives Up Two Condo Towers in Miami"
Miami-based property developer Related Group turned over ownership of two of the three towers in the Icon Brickell condominium complex to a group of lenders.
Read more
Fed expects economy to keep improving - CNN Money
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The Federal Reserve has a more optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy, according to meeting minutes released Wednesday, but the central bank is still debating how to shrink its massive balance sheet.
Read more
"AIG Legal Team Studying CDOs"
AIG’s legal staff is scrutinizing complex mortgage deals the company insured and will take action if the transactions harmed the company, CEO Benmosche said.
Read more
Bursting the bubble about the causes of the...
Read Article
duh..lets take a look after the fact brilliant!!!
"Morgan Stanley, Not Goldman, Was the Real CDO...
It was Morgan Stanley traders who came across as the real hitters in the mortgage business.
April 2010
2 posts
Mortgage Principal Writedown Won't Save Housing
And so it begins. Big gun lawmakers are making the move toward principal writedowns as the last resort to save the housing market. In a letter to the CEOs of Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank wrote, “To save homes on a large scale, we must move past temporary modifications in interest rates or terms and focus...
The Government will pay you to buy a house! Now...
This latest program, which will allow owners to sell for less than they owe and will give them a little cash to speed them on their way, is one of the administration’s most aggressive attempts to grapple with a problem that has defied solutions.
Read more
March 2010
12 posts
Obama has no immediate plans to write down...
Despite increasing pressure to take more aggressive steps to keep troubled borrowers in their homes, the Obama administration said Wednesday that it had no immediate plans to alter its foreclosure-prevention program by increasing its reliance on reducing loan balances. The administration’s statement came as attorneys general and banking regulators in 14 states warned that policy makers...
Will servicers finally bite the bullet?
Will they buckle under govt pressure? Will they stand their ground? You make the call
Read more
"Home Loan Bank Sues Wall Street Firms"
This will be interesting if HLB wins the repercussions will be felt throughout the world. In 11 separate lawsuits filed in late December in King County Superior Court in Washington, the Seattle bank alleges that it was misled by underwriters about the quality of $4 billion of securities it purchased as investments at the height of the housing boom.
Read more
"States Sink in Benefits Hole"
State governments face a trillion-dollar gap between the pension, health-care and other retirement benefits promised to public employees and the money set aside to pay for them, according to a new study.
Read more
"Fannie and Freddie: The Last SIVs"
A worthy effort to put them on the budget. But will it last?
Read more
Secret AIG Document Shows Goldman Sachs Minted...
Read more
"Bubble Fears Rise in Hong Kong"
Strong results in a Hong Kong government land auction are the latest sign that the real-estate market is surging higher after a brief lull, as officials grapple with how to cool off overheating property prices.
Read more
"Number of Problem U.S. Banks on the Rise"
The U.S. banking industry continued to struggle in the fourth quarter, as the number of banks on the brink of failure continued to rise.The FDIC’s insurance fund fell sharply.
Read more
"11.3 million homeowners underwater on mortgage"
Nearly one-fourth of all Americans with a mortgage owe more on their loan than their home is now worth, according to a report.
Read more
You ve heard of REPO but not this REPO the real...
Yale economics professor Gary Gorton, says subprime mortgage securitization was a mess — a house of cards probably doomed to fall — but subprime by itself simply wasn’t big enough to put the entire financial system at risk. That required a failure of the Renew Sale and Repurchase (REPO) market for collateralized securities that over the last 30 years had come to backstop global...
Suing Wall Street Banks Never Looked So Shady
Read more
"When It's OK to Walk Away From Your Home"
Millions of Americans are now deeply underwater on their mortgage. If you’re among them, you need to stop living in a dream world and give serious thought to walking away from the debt.
February 2010
15 posts
What’s the White House Worth (Zillow)
Zillow drops its Zestimate of the White House from $308 million last January to $292.5 million, a drop of $15.6 million, or 5.1%. Read more
Tishman Gets Help (NYO)
Real-estate giant Tishman Speyer is bringing in public relations expert to help bolster its tarnished image in the wake of the StuyTown debacle. Read more
Chilled by Choice (NYT)
People decide to live in unheated homes. Read more
London Has Shaky Property Crown (WSj)
London office space has re-emerged as the world’s most expensive. But that’s just because occupancy costs per work station have stopped falling while those in other cities are still in decline, according to a report. Read more
Shanghai Industrial to Triple Land Bank (WSJ)
The Shanghai government’s investment arm will more than triple its land bank by buying a 45% stake in a distressed property company for $354.2 million. Read more
China Seeks to Tame Boom
China’s economy expanded 8.7% in 2009, exceeding expectations, but concerns persist over how real estate has helped fuel growth. Read more
Building Loans: A How-To
Developer is set to break ground on a medical-office building near UCLA after securing the backing of three wealthy investors. Read more
Unfinished Projects Weigh on Banks
Lenders across the U.S. are being forced to make unpalatable choices—including putting up more cash, extending loans or agreeing to lower their rights to collect on debts—as they try to keep afloat stalled real-estate projects like Atlanta’s Streets of Buckhead. Read more
2009: The Largest Contraction in Construction...
The Commerce Department today released December New Construction Spending data. Spending was worse than forecast, -1.2 percent to an annual rate of $902… Read more