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NEW -> Contingent Buyer Assistance Program
<p><strong><a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/54/richlist07_Donald-Bren_31KV.html">Donald Bren @ Forbes 400 +$4.5B in 2007 ($8.5B in 2006)</a></strong></p>
 
I don't know why there is a difference in the two charts. It may be that more subprime loans were originated after the data was compiled for the Credit Suisse chart, and these new loans form the new spike early next year. I don't know this. I am just speculating.
 
<p>Bill Buckler expresses so succinctly:</p>

<p>"A strange set of circumstances could appear in the world's official debt markets, one in which the US Treasury is seen to be selling its brand new debt paper side by side with other central banks selling out of their huge stockpiles of old US Treasury debt paper. The "success" of this new US Treasury debt paper then looks very doubtful without vastly higher interest rates being offered by the Treasury. But if the Fed and Treasury don't want higher rates - and they don't – then the only avenue left is for the Treasury to go over to the Fed and have it buy the new debt paper. The Fed can do so, with brand new US Dollars created out of thin air. This will raise another question: What then is the value of a US Dollar?"</p>

<p>Someone in another thread was asking, how does the Fed create liquidity, (money/debt), if not by lending to banks at the overnight rate? Bill Buckler provides your answer.</p>
 
<p>How nice. <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_hi_te/file_sharing_leak_2">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_hi_te/file_sharing_leak_2</a></p>

<p> </p>
 
<p>Just found this August article from the LA Times...fraud and arrests in Beverly Hills. Scroll down to see the entire article, the top is only an excerpt. Two of your local appraisers involved. </p>

<p><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2007/08/beverly-hills-a.html">Los Angeles Times: LA Land Blog : The rapidly changing landscape of the Los Angeles real estate market</a></p>
 
Re: Troop's LA times article<p>


Granted, I am abnormally paranoid of re agents, but the article mentions an indicted appraiser named Lila Rizk from Trabuco Canyon. At an open house in Trabuco Canyon, I met an re agent with the same last name, Rizk, and I can tell you that I took an extreme distrust to this person from the moment I met him. Kind of makes me wonder ...
 
<a href="http://www.thestreet.com/s/the-credit-crisis-could-be-just-beginning/newsanalysis/investing/10380613.html">Is the credit crunch over?</a>
 
<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt"><em>NY Times</em> (9/23):</p>

<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt">DENIAL is a powerful thing, and nowhere is that more evident than among companies holding mortgage securities that are on the skids. Nine months into the meltdown of the home loan market, investors are still waiting for banks, brokerage firms and other companies to come clean on losses incurred on those securities. </p>

<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt">Consider the announcement last week from the E* Trade Financial Corp. about problems in its mortgage operations. That E*Trade actually is in the mortgage business surprised those who thought it was a discount brokerage firm. </p>

<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt">Late Monday, E*Trade disclosed that it was cutting its earnings forecast for 2007 by 30 percent because of higher provisions for loan losses and potential securities impairments related to mortgages. </p>

<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt">Mitchell H. Caplan, E*Trade’s chief executive, said the company would likely take a $95 million charge in the second half of 2007 and a $245 million provision for loan losses. The company also expects to record an impairment charge of $100 million to reflect deterioration in the performance of second lien loans and collateralized debt obligations…</p>

<p style="LINE-HEIGHT: 18pt">In the meantime, E*Trade is reducing its home equity, consumer loans and mortgage securities and replacing them with margin debt and prime mortgages from its retail customers. It is exiting the wholesale mortgage market, in which it buys mortgages from others, and will focus on direct mortgage lending. And it will go back to being more of a brokerage firm. </p>
 
I received this in an email from a reader...





<img src="http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/californialrealtors.bmp" alt="" />
 
<p>You've got to be kidding.... if I told you how many realtors were trying to get me to buy last year.....</p>

<p>Don't say we didn't warn you.... give me a break...</p>

<p> </p>
 
<p>Fed's Rate Cut May Give Little Relief to Homeowners</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0NFUXaw99j4&refer=home">http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0NFUXaw99j4&refer=home</a></p>

<p><em>Great, great quote below</em>:</p>



<p>Tighter lending guidelines are the biggest challenge facing borrowers, not mortgage rates, said Scott Tucker, a mortgage marketing consultant in Chicago who has a Web site he calls Mortgage Marketing Genius. Lenders are requiring borrowers to make higher down payments and prove they have cash reserves they can use for future payments, he said. </p>

<p>``To paraphrase Will Rogers, the banks are not concerned about the return on their money, they're concerned about the return of their money,'' Tucker said. </p>
 
<p>The top article in the housing market section of marketwatch is titled <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yvr2fz">House of Pain.</a></p>
 
NEW YORK (AP) -- American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. bounced property tax checks for some Maryland homeowners, local and state officials said Monday, and they have demanded an explanation from the bankrupt mortgage lender and servicer.

<p>The Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation filed an inquiry with American Home Mortgage on Friday. Melville, N.Y.-based American Home Mortgage has five days to respond to the letter, said Joseph Rooney, the deputy commissioner for Maryland's financial regulator. </p>

<p>Officials in New York and Washington state are also looking into bounced checks there.</p>
 
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/business/yourmoney/23view.html?em&ex=1190779200&en=4ef06bbdf80d4d8b&ei=5070">A Reality Check for Home Sellers.</a></p>

<p>Well, it looks familiar.</p>

<p></p>
 
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