Headlines...

NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081216/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown_25">Fed slashes rate to near zero...</a>



Where to from here in six months when the economy is still in the can?
 
[quote author="Trooper" date=1229584457]Rates to re-fi (30 yr fixed) are at 5% with 0 points....and word is, they're going lower ! Cowabunga!</blockquote>


They were at 4.62% 30yr fixed/0pts for a flash this morning and bounced back up twice, per the Countrywide guy sitting next to me.
 
[quote author="awgee" date=1229394677][quote author="No_Such_Reality" date=1229335041]<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081214/ap_on_bi_ge/fed_interest_rates_2">Fed thinks of cutting rates, again.</a>



What happens when they get to zero?</blockquote>


Quantitative Easing</blockquote>


<a href="http://moneyhelicopters.ytmnd.com/">We need a hero.</a>
 
Hopefully we can learn some lessons from what works and what didn't work when Japan was going through back in the 90s. The following article points out various things that the Japan did that worked and didn't work. Looks like low interest rates in the US are here to stay for several years.



<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/business/worldbusiness/20yen.htm">linky</a>
 
[quote author="usctrojanman29" date=1229880622]Hopefully we can learn some lessons from what works and what didn't work when Japan was going through back in the 90s. The following article points out various things that the Japan did that worked and didn't work. Looks like low interest rates in the US are here to stay for several years.



<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/business/worldbusiness/20yen.htm">linky</a></blockquote>


Use the < a > button yo! Jeezus, even tenmagnet knows how to use it. Am I going to have USC to retract your degree or what?
 
[quote author="graphrix" date=1229882311][quote author="usctrojanman29" date=1229880622]Hopefully we can learn some lessons from what works and what didn't work when Japan was going through back in the 90s. The following article points out various things that the Japan did that worked and didn't work. Looks like low interest rates in the US are here to stay for several years.



<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/business/worldbusiness/20yen.htm">linky</a></blockquote>


Use the < a > button yo! Jeezus, even tenmagnet knows how to use it. Am I going to have USC to retract your degree or what?</blockquote>


You write 'em a check and they hand you a diploma. Or at least thats what I hear happens.
 
Wow!! IHB is everywhere. I wonder who these two characters are.



"It's going to get real interesting in there," said Joseph Morin, who spends weekends scanning every new listing, sale and rumor relating to Shady Canyon.



The Irvine resident has seen two of his former neighbors in the village of Woodbridge buy into the luxury community across town.



As prices fall, he continues to take semiregular home tours inside the gates and <strong>post his observations on Irvine housing blog forums.</strong>

Land surveyor Todd Miller said he takes those posts to heart. Miller rents a house in Coto de Caza, a gated tract in south Orange County, but has set his sights on several communities, including Shady Canyon, for his family.



Three years ago, when housing prices were high, Miller sold his longtime house on Naples island in Long Beach. Now he's trying to duplicate that bit of good timing.



"It doesn't take a genius," Miller said. "Even a schmo like me can figure out the top and the bottom. Home prices (in 2005) became so unaffordable. ... It couldn't go on forever."





<a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/canyon-shady-irvine-2268533-home-prices">Shady Canyon Plunge</a>
 
Sorry 'Bout Your House, Dude



<a href="http://www.knx1070.com/Sorry--Bout-Your-House--Dude/3576107">Article</a>



<blockquote>Sorry 'Bout Your House, Dude





NEW YORK (AP) -- A closely watched index shows home prices dropped by the sharpest annual rate on record in October.



The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city housing index released Tuesday fell by a record 18 percent from October last year, the largest drop since its inception in 2000. The 10-city index tumbled 19.1 percent, its biggest decline in its 21-year history.



Both indices have recorded year-over-year declines for 22 straight months. Prices are at levels not seen since March 2004.



Prices in the 20-city index have plummeted more than 23.4 percent from their peak in July 2006. The 10-city index has fallen 25 percent since its peak in June 2006.



None of the 20 cities saw annual price gains in October - for the seventh consecutive month.</blockquote>
 
<a href="http://www.michaelcovel.com/2008/12/28/jim-cramers-predictions-for-2008/">Here are the top 10 of Cramer's calls from 2008</a>. His #1 one call is my personal favorite, and while I would never bet against GS, I would not have thought it would have gone up any where near what Cramer thought.

<em>

1. Goldman Sachs makes more money than every other brokerage firm in New York combined and finishes the year at $300 a share. <strong>Not a prediction?an inevitability.</strong> In fact, it?s only January, and I think it?s already come true.</em>



The 1yr chart for GS...



http://xs135.xs.to/xs135/09015/gs2008390.gif



<a href="http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/12/worst-predictions-for-2008/">For more of the worst calls of 2008, check out the list Barry made</a>.
 
IHB in Michel Lewis's new book and quoted in the New York Times...Wow!!



"A single entry from the <strong>Irvine Housing Blog</strong>, which shows how a person in January 2005 bought a $1.157 million house with $270 down, refinanced with a funky teaser-rate mortgage and then proceeded to open up a $491,000 home equity line of credit by 2007, neatly encapsulates the lunacy."





<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/books/review/Gross-t.html?partner=rss">Boom, Bust, Repeat </a>
 
[quote author="morekaos" date=1230986469]IHB in Michel Lewis's new book and quoted in the New York Times...Wow!!



"A single entry from the <strong>Irvine Housing Blog</strong>, which shows how a person in January 2005 bought a $1.157 million house with $270 down, refinanced with a funky teaser-rate mortgage and then proceeded to open up a $491,000 home equity line of credit by 2007, neatly encapsulates the lunacy."





<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/books/review/Gross-t.html?partner=rss">Boom, Bust, Repeat </a></blockquote>


I remember giving them permission to use the post, and I didn't realize the book was going to be a big deal. I will have to get a copy.
 
States consider more intrusive ways of raising taxes.



<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090103/ap_on_re_us/mileage_tax_7">Oregon looks to tax miles driven via GPS.</a>



States clamor for pork. Er, I mean their slice of the stimulus plan.



<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090102/ap_on_go_pr_wh/obama_fixing_up_america;_ylt=ArAcMoNWKdF7o.47tknc5nhp24cA">Cash Poor States await plan</a>
 
[quote author="IrvineRenter" date=1230988184][quote author="morekaos" date=1230986469]IHB in Michel Lewis's new book and quoted in the New York Times...Wow!!



"A single entry from the <strong>Irvine Housing Blog</strong>, which shows how a person in January 2005 bought a $1.157 million house with $270 down, refinanced with a funky teaser-rate mortgage and then proceeded to open up a $491,000 home equity line of credit by 2007, neatly encapsulates the lunacy."





<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/books/review/Gross-t.html?partner=rss">Boom, Bust, Repeat </a></blockquote>


I remember giving them permission to use the post, and I didn't realize the book was going to be a big deal. I will have to get a copy.</blockquote>


You deserve all the accolades you are receiving. I hope the book is selling well.
 
Very cool! I've been a fan of his other works, so I'll definitely have to check it out!



<rant>Why does the media (this article and numerous ones from the OCR as well as other media) fail to link us when they mention IHB?!?</rant>
 
[quote author="SoCal78" date=1230991641]<a href="http://www.dailynews.com/ci_11347470">Your state tax refund might be a big IOU.</a></blockquote>


It won't impact me because I pay every year, but that's amazing.
 
[quote author="IrvineRenter" date=1230988184][quote author="morekaos" date=1230986469]IHB in Michel Lewis's new book and quoted in the New York Times...Wow!!



"A single entry from the <strong>Irvine Housing Blog</strong>, which shows how a person in January 2005 bought a $1.157 million house with $270 down, refinanced with a funky teaser-rate mortgage and then proceeded to open up a $491,000 home equity line of credit by 2007, neatly encapsulates the lunacy."





<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/books/review/Gross-t.html?partner=rss">Boom, Bust, Repeat </a></blockquote>


I remember giving them permission to use the post, and I didn't realize the book was going to be a big deal. I will have to get a copy.</blockquote>


Hey IR, Which post was it exactly?
 
[quote author="morekaos" date=1231036702]

Hey IR, Which post was it exactly?</blockquote>


<a href="http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/blog/comments/rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer/">Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer</a>
 
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