US. down down down

[yoganmahew]

Can’t believe we haven’t had the Quo on this thread yet. Still, soon fixed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpKhf86sItM

[PROFESSORI]

The frightening collapse of the American economy in pictures - a food stamp map:

nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/28/us/20091128-foodstamps.html?hp

[Inis_Man]

“It’s just a better life. It really is,” says Ms. Richey. Before defaulting on her mortgage, she owed about $230,000 more than the home was worth.

People’s increasing willingness to abandon their own piece of America illustrates a paradoxical change wrought by the housing bust: Even as it tarnishes the near-sacred image of home ownership, it might be clearing the way for an economic recovery.

online.wsj.com/article/SB126040517376983621.html?

[PROFESSORI]

Democrats want to raise government debt ceiling to $13 trillion,saves having to make two trips to the csh machine doesn’t it?When will the cash machine confiscate the governenments card?

Democrats to lift debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion, fear 2010 backlash

By DAVID ROGERS | 12/9/09 7:24 PM EST

In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year’s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections.

“We’ve incurred this debt. We have to pay our bills,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO Wednesday. And the Maryland Democrat confirmed that the anticipated increase could be as high as $1.8 trillion — nearly twice what had been assumed in last spring’s budget resolution for the 2010 fiscal year.

The leadership is betting that it’s better for the party to take its lumps now rather than risk further votes over the coming year. But the enormity of the number could create its own dynamic, much as another debt ceiling fight in 1985 gave rise to the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction act mandating across-the-board spending cuts nearly 25 years ago.

…

politico.com/news/stories/1209/30417.html

[murf]

finance.yahoo.com/news/November- … et=&ccode=

WASHINGTON (AP) – Home resales surged last month to the highest level in nearly three years, reflecting an extraordinary level of federal support that has pulled the housing market back from the worst downturn since the Great Depression.

Buyers were racing to complete their sales before the original expiration date of a tax credit for first-time buyers that was scheduled to expire Nov. 30. Last month, Congress decided to extend and expand the credit to ensure the housing market could sustain its recovery.

“Things are stabilizing,” said Pete Flint, chief executive of real estate Web site Trulia.com. “There is a significant amount of buyer interest out there.”…

[murf]

@What Goes Up...

Eh… 'cos you didn’t post it?

Give me a fucking straw - even a GM one!

I’ll grab hold of anything!

Here is something for you to grab WGU

Illinois statewide median price up first time since 2007. IAR’s January home sales report brought some good news – the statewide median price rose 0.2 percent, the first uptick since September 2007. During the same time, statewide total home sales (which include single-family and condominiums) in January 2010 were up 14 percent to a total of 5,483 homes sold compared to 4,809 the year before

illinoisrealtor.org/newsreleases/jan2010

[murf]

realestate.yahoo.com/promo/where … are-rising

The drama is nearly over. After a decade of extremes—the ebullient highs of the real estate boom, then the devastating lows of the bust—calmer forces are beginning to prevail in the housing market. The big fall-off in home values, which has taken the median price of a house down almost 30% since 2006, looks to be in its final stages in most places: Three-quarters of the nation’s 384 metropolitan areas will see prices down less than 5% a year from now, according to projections from Fiserv and Moody’s Economy.com; 10% seem poised for modest increases. Meanwhile, Uncle Sam is lending a steadying hand with programs designed to prop up the market — at least for a while yet…

[Fiend]

I see the ‘weather’ being blamed for a decrease in activity more and more. Surely the other years with which the data is being compared to had ‘weather’ too?

[mr_anderson]

@Fiend

I see the ‘weather’ being blamed for a decrease in activity more and more. Surely the other years with which the data is being compared to had ‘weather’ too?

+1
I only mentioned what you said to a friend the other day.
Its a real scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel excuse.
Definately up there with ‘my dog ate my homework’.

[murf]

finance.yahoo.com/news/New-Signs … et=&ccode=

A new sign that home prices may be stabilizing-fewer sellers are slashing prices while their homes are on the market.

Twenty percent of sellers slashed prices by an average 10 percent in April, and while that may sound like a lot, it’s a good deal less than the 27 percent who did so in April of 2009, all according to real estate website Trulia.com.

Granted, sellers still slashed a collective $23 billion dollars from their original expectations, but at least the numbers are headed in the right direction

[murf]

nytimes.com/2010/04/17/busin … 7econ.html

In a modest sign that the housing market is moving toward more normal conditions, the pace of home building is finally picking up from its near-death levels

[Septic_Crank]

Biggest monthly increase in US home sales in 47 years.

cnbc.com/id/36735403

[murf]

@Septic Crank

Biggest monthly increase in US home sales in 47 years.

cnbc.com/id/36735403

Hey,

This is my thread now and I’m getting to likin’ a talking to myself.

finance.yahoo.com/news/New-home- … et=&ccode=

WASHINGTON (AP) – Sales of new homes took the biggest monthly jump in 47 years in March, while orders for most large manufactured products rose by the largest amount since the recession started

[BoyRacer]

From that article the taxpayer is getting stung doubly so with the hidden inflation tax.

Factories are benefiting from a sharp increase in orders from U.S. and foreign businesses. But the housing market’s fuel is coming from a less sustainable source: government subsidies. Some analysts predict demand for homes will fall again over the summer, preventing the beleaguered sector from adding much to the economic recovery.

The government is offering an $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers and $6,500 for current homeowners who buy and move into another property. To qualify, buyers must have a signed contract complete by the end of next week and need to finish their transaction by the end of June.

Meanwhile Fannie & Freddie continue

Whatever happened to bankruptcy court? That’ll be reserved only for the little guys.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were at the very heart of the financial meltdown in 2008 and they continue to bleed billions of taxpayer dollars. But the whole issue of financial reform of the housing industry is noticeably absent from the Democrats’ bill.

Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), top Republican on the Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises for the House Financial Services Committee yesterday made clear the problems with Fannie and Freddie in a memo to presidential advisor Valerie Jarrett after her appearance on Fox News downplaying the need for reform of these two entities.

Garrett’s memo sums up Fannie and Freddie’s role in the housing bubble collapse and the hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars being spent to bail out these two Government-Sponsored Enterprises – and the trillions more in taxpayer guarantees.
there is more

Fed’s Focus: How to Sell Its Mortgage Securities → online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 … Collection

The Federal Reserve has acquired more than $1 trillion worth of mortgage-backed securities in the past 15 months. At their policy meeting in the coming week, Fed officials will try to decide how and when to get rid of them without jarring financial markets and the nascent economic recovery.

there is more

[BoyRacer]

Mortgage Madness - Let The Fleecing Begin - Mike Whitney → informationclearinghouse.inf … e25305.htm

April 23, 2010 “Information Clearing House” – Housing has been going sideways for seven months now, mainly due to lax lending standards (at FHA), the Firsttime Homebuyers Credit, and the Fed’s mortgage-backed securities (MBS) buyback program. But once the props are removed, the market will fall sharply.

So where’s the real, organic demand for housing?

Here’s a hint: There isn’t any.

The market’s in a shambles, decimated by years of fraud and perfidy. What was once a booming industry is now a shriveled, abscess-ridden corpse that buyers are avoiding like the plague. And who can blame them? A new home is no longer a symbol of status and upward mobility, but a millstone to be shed at the earliest possible opportunity. The industry is facing an insurmountable PR challenge; how to take a “sou’s ear” and stitch it into a Gucci purse. Good luck with that. Low interest rates and federal subsidies alone won’t do the trick.

Despite the media-hype and cheery forecasts, the downhill slide has already begun. Here’s the lowdown from Realty Check which sums it up pretty well:

“The average number of days from when a borrower stops paying on his/her mortgage to when the bank sends out the first foreclosure notice is 417…And the final foreclosure can take up to a year more. The government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, which today the Inspector General for the TARP wrote, “has made little progress in stemming the onslaught”… is simply delaying the inevitable and in some cases kicking the can and the cost down the road for borrowers who will inevitably redefault and for taxpayers who will foot the bill.” (Diana Olick Realty Check, CNBC)

Full-stop. So the banks are taking more than two years to roll-over a house…even when they KNOW the homeowner has no intention of paying? Think about that for a minute. The only reason the banks would hold-off that long is if they can’t afford to writedown the losses. So, it’s all a big accounting charade to keep the public from knowing that they’re broke. That’s the only logical explanation. Back to the article:

there is more

[murf]

@BoyRacer

Mortgage Madness - Let The Fleecing Begin - Mike Whitney → informationclearinghouse.inf … e25305.htm

, and the Fed’s mortgage-backed securities (MBS) buyback program. But once the props are removed, the market will fall sharply.

So where’s the real, organic demand for housing?

April 23, 2010 “Information Clearing House” – Housing has been going sideways for seven months now, mainly due to lax lending standards (at FHA), the Firsttime Homebuyers Credit

Here’s a hint: There isn’t any.

The market’s in a shambles, decimated by years of fraud and perfidy. What was once a booming industry is now a shriveled, abscess-ridden corpse that buyers are avoiding like the plague. And who can blame them? A new home is no longer a symbol of status and upward mobility, but a millstone to be shed at the earliest possible opportunity. The industry is facing an insurmountable PR challenge; how to take a “sou’s ear” and stitch it into a Gucci purse. Good luck with that. Low interest rates and federal subsidies alone won’t do the trick.

Despite the media-hype and cheery forecasts, the downhill slide has already begun. Here’s the lowdown from Realty Check which sums it up pretty well:

"The average number of days from when a borrower stops paying on his/her mortgage to when the bank sends out the first foreclosure notice is 417…And the final foreclosure can take up to a year more. The government’s Home Affordable Modification Program, which today the Inspector General for the TARP wrote, “has made little progress in stemming the onslaught”… is simply delaying the inevitable and in some cases kicking the can and the cost down the road for borrowers who will inevitably redefault and for taxpayers who will foot the bill.

" (Diana Olick Realty Check, CNBC)

Full-stop. So the banks are taking more than two years to roll-over a house…even when they KNOW the homeowner has no intention of paying? Think about that for a minute. The only reason the banks would hold-off that long is if they can’t afford to writedown the losses. So, it’s all a big accounting charade to keep the public from knowing that they’re broke. That’s the only logical explanation. Back to the article:

there is more

Jobs, jobs, jobs…
Watch for the job reports in the coming months.
That’s what will determine the the direction of the housing industry in the near term.
No amount of opinions from “experts” will change the situation on the ground.
The foreclosure demographics have changed from that of the subprime market to the “prime market”. Therefore IF the jobs come back the foreclosures will subside leading to stabilization.
There is demand for plenty housing but the credit markets are still frozen.

[Arbitrager]

‘Strategic’ Mortgage Defaults Reach 12% of Total
April 29 (Bloomberg) – Decisions by homeowners to walk away from mortgages they can afford are accounting for an increasing share of defaults, according to Morgan Stanley.
About 12 percent of all mortgage defaults in February were “strategic,” up from about 4 percent in the middle of 2007, New York-based Morgan Stanley analysts led by Vishwanath Tirupattur wrote in a report today. Borrowers are more likely to stop paying their mortgages the higher their credit scores and the larger their loans, they said

bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=acmdfbIJD26s&pos=4#

[murf]

finance.yahoo.com/news/Foreclosu … ?x=0&.v=12

WASHINGTON (AP) – Millions of Americans are still likely to lose their homes in the coming years, but the foreclosure crisis is finally showing signs of subsiding.

The number of households facing foreclosure in April fell 2 percent from a year ago, the first annual decline in five years, RealtyTrac Inc. said Thursday. It followed a report earlier this week from credit reporting agency TransUnion, which said the percentage of borrowers who had missed at least two months of payments posted the first quarterly drop in four years
…

[jabaar]

May 13 (Bloomberg) – U.S. home foreclosures climbed to a record in April, a sign that government mortgage relief efforts have yet to turn the tide of property seizures, according to a report by RealtyTrac Inc.

“Right now it appears that the banks are focusing on processing the loans already in foreclosure, and slowing down the initiation of new foreclosure proceedings as a way of managing inventory levels,” Rick Sharga, RealtyTrac’s executive vice president, said in an e-mail. “We’ll probably see this trend continue for a while.”

About 5 million delinquent loans will probably end up in the foreclosure process in addition to the 1.2 million homes already taken back by lenders, Sharga said.

Defaults may not peak until 2011 depending on how lenders process them, Sharga said.

bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= … VDiuetiH5I

[Blue_Horseshoe]

May 19th, 2010:

And their answer is …

voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-k … tuati.html

Blue Horseshoe