Headlines...

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
Or like Jim Cramer said a few months back.



Just plow the Inland Empire up. Just like they do with crops they cant afford to harvest

and sell. LOL
 
Interesting collection of reports from NPR regarding the housing crisis. . . The two most interesting story were 1) the one about the couple living in their house but not making payment and 2) the couple who just bought a place in Santa Clarita. . .good luck reselling that one.



<a href="http://marketplace.publicradio.org/episodes/show_rundown.php?show_id=8&start_date=04-04-2008">http://marketplace.publicradio.org/episodes/show_rundown.php?show_id=8&start_date=04-04-2008</a>
 
So Washington Mutual is set to report earnings today, and there is bound to be a dust-up at the shareholder's meeting today. How big do you think the write-down is going to be?



Here's some bits from a local paper:

<img src="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2008/04/14/2004347368.gif" alt="" />

<blockquote>As a result, at the end of last year more than 56 percent of WaMu's loan portfolio, $138.4 billion, consisted of option ARMs, home-equity loans and subprimes. One analyst estimates that, largely due to such loans, more than $16 billion in future losses are embedded in WaMu's books.</blockquote>
<a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004347122_wamu14.html">Read it here</a>
 
With all this bad news. . . at least we will be pay more for our necessities. . . wait a minute. . .



<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/24123915">http://www.cnbc.com/id/24123915</a>



"U.S. producer prices advanced by a more-than-expected 1.1 percent in March after energy costs jumped, Labor Department data on Tuesday showed, but core inflation at the producer level was more subdued. "
 
That loan-loss provision is laughable. I believe that WAMU is the largest 2nd lien holder in the nation by volume. How many 2nd's are underwater right now? I guarantee you, more than the loan-loss provisions.
 
IR was mentioned and credited with the term "homedebtor" <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2188982">in this Slate article</a> about the coming option ARM crisis:



...

If you're one of the "homedebtors" (a fantastic neologism coined by the anonymous blogger IrvineRenter on the Irvine Housing Blog) in this position, you might start thinking very seriously about just how attached you are to the wisteria vine snaking over the basketball hoop on your garage. That's what a lot of other California borrowers will be doing.



Congrats IR!
 
<em>"By many measures the news from housing is still getting grimmer. Housing starts are at less than half their peak, and builders are continuing to cut back. Although this has begun to reduce the stock of unsold new homes, the frailty of demand means that supply still vastly outweighs sales. <strong>At 9.8 months' worth of sales, the stock is at a 26-year high. The official overhang of existing homes (which excludes those repossessed) is not much lower.</strong> The excess of supply over demand means that the fall in house prices is accelerating. According to the S&P;/Case-Shiller index, house prices are 13% off their peak. They fell at an annual rate of 25% in the three months to January."</em>



(emphasis mine)



<a href="http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11016296">http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11016296</a>



Maybe this is what some of the realtors are talking about when they say the market could be reaching equilibrium? :)



<img src="http://media.economist.com/images/20080412/CBB146.gif" alt="" />



SCHB
 
[quote author="caliguy2699" date=1208314942]IR was mentioned and credited with the term "homedebtor" <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2188982">in this Slate article</a> about the coming option ARM crisis:



...

If you're one of the "homedebtors" (a fantastic neologism coined by the anonymous blogger IrvineRenter on the Irvine Housing Blog) in this position, you might start thinking very seriously about just how attached you are to the wisteria vine snaking over the basketball hoop on your garage. That's what a lot of other California borrowers will be doing.



Congrats IR!</blockquote>


I've looked around and couldn't find any information on how many borrowers in Orange County obtained option arms the last few years. I'm curious to know also whether these loans were used to buy upper-end homes and at what rate people have been paying on them. In other words, have they been accumulating principal as the Slate article posited?
 
<strong>Renter accused of trying to get home equity loan

</strong><span style="font-size: 15px;"></span>



<a href="http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8925485">OMG</a>
 
[quote author="lendingmaestro" date=1208344016]The program exists among all document types , property types and price range.</blockquote>


Yeah, but I was wondering about the numbers. Was it a significant percentage of all loans made?
 
[quote author="ElricSeven" date=1208351637][quote author="lendingmaestro" date=1208344016]The program exists among all document types , property types and price range.</blockquote>


Yeah, but I was wondering about the numbers. Was it a significant percentage of all loans made?</blockquote>
<a href="http://www.newyorkfed.org/mortgagemaps/">Try this</a> and select "Share ARMS"
 
"Foreclosures in March surged nearly 60 percent above the year-ago total, with states where the real estate boom rang loudest just a few years ago now the hardest hit, according to a survey."



<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/24112361">http://www.cnbc.com/id/24112361</a>



"A reading of U.S. homebuilders' sentiment remained unchanged in April, just shy of its record low for the third consecutive month as the housing market failed to recover. The National Association of Home Builders said Tuesday its housing market index came in at 20 this month, the third-lowest reading on record."



<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/24129427">http://www.cnbc.com/id/24129427</a>





Interesting analysis about the foreclosure numbers.



?<strong>On a year-over-year basis, default notices were up nearly 57 percent and bank repossessions were up nearly 129 percent, but auction notices were up only 32 percent</strong>, indicating that more defaulting homeowners are simply walking away and deeding their properties back to the foreclosing lender. This deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure process allows the lender to take possession of a property without putting it up for public foreclosure auction.?



As IrvineRenter has been detailing in the blog: 1) the inventory numbers are misleading and greatly underestimate the depth of the problem and 2) people cannot refinance and are simply walking away.



<a href="http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/newreply/128/">http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/forums/newreply/128/</a>
 
She kills me everytime she is on. . . somehow she qualified as an "expert". . .



1st Clip: Canadians to the rescue (eeh) BTW: Great hair



<object width="325" height="250"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/youtube" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="325" height="250"></embed></object>



2nd Clip: Rich people are still okay (wheew. . .I was so worried about that group.)



<object width="325" height="250"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/youtube" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="325" height="250"></embed></object>
 
[quote author="IrvineCommuter" date=1208403797]She kills me everytime she is on. . . somehow she qualified as an "expert". . .</blockquote>


i have never seen her on tv before. but even before the caption of her occupation popped up i thought, "that looks like some frou-frou neighborhood realtor."
 
[quote author="acpme" date=1208406326][quote author="IrvineCommuter" date=1208403797]She kills me everytime she is on. . . somehow she qualified as an "expert". . .</blockquote>


i have never seen her on tv before. but even before the caption of her occupation popped up i thought, "that looks like some frou-frou neighborhood realtor."</blockquote>


You are in for a treat then. I will not wait IHB space by posting her previous appearance but you can find them on youtube if you type in her name. There was a relatively recently one in which she is practically begging people to buy houses. . . it was hilarious. Also, Fox used to put her up against real economists (i.e. Peter Schiff) and the contrast is too funny.
 
A new site to search for real estate... <a href="http://www.trulia.com">www.trulia.com</a>



Heard about it on CNBC blog

<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/24160327">http://www.cnbc.com/id/24160327</a>

<em>

Trulia lists homes that are going into foreclosure or are already bank-owned (and that?s a growing number every day!). There are other sites that specialize in foreclosure listings, but many of them charge a subscription fee. Trulia, it appears, does not, but just puts that fact in the list of stats. I also like that the site give you ?days on the market,? which is an important thing to know when you?re considering an offer.</em>
 
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