John has escaped Doom castle this morning in pursuit of real life activities. John is generally in charge of Igor’s care and feeding in the morning, so don’t worry if your comments take a little longer to post today. When I can get Igor to stop chewing on them, I’ll dust off your comments and stick them up.
The New Home Sales Report is out today- and as of Sunday evening, pundits were already declaring that February’s report will be a positive indicator for the market. According to Bloomberg:
Sales of new homes in the U.S. probably rebounded last month from a three-year low, a sign the worst of the real estate rout has passed.
Expect my take on the numbers later in the morning. : )
In the meantime, we’d love your links and observations. John will be checking in, and I’m sure will be anxious to see what Doomers have found.
I wonder where he left Igor’s leash????

Clear Statements and Rose Colored Glasses
hussman at its best
http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc070326.htm
Foreclosure Tsunami Now in the Pipeline
http://rebalancing.blogspot.com/2007/03/foreclosure-tsunami-now-in-pipeline.html
Wimpey, Taylor to Merge in Biggest U.K. Homes Deal,
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ae3oVcaN9×9Q&refer=home
The Housing Project Update / PIMCO
http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2007/03/housing-project-update-pimco.html
Foreclosure Tsunami Now in the Pipeline
http://rebalancing.blogspot.com/2007/03/foreclosure-tsunami-now-in-pipeline.html
Flipped in Florida — Selling in a Housing Bust
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aRj2GOnC1Z0k&refer=home
The Subprime Mess: A Personal Account
http://www.oftwominds.com/blog.html
twist -
Thanks so much for remembering the Monday post. Indeed real life is prominent today, first of all Mrs. M’s birthday!
Then tomorrow, there’s the musical opportunity of a lifetime. Doomers near Halifax shouldn’t miss the opportunity to see around 200 of my friends and me take on the most exciting large choral work ever written. I know one will be there, because he’ll be standing behind me in the chorus singing bass!
“Dal musicians take on Requiem”, Halifax (NS, Canada) Chronicle-Herald, March 26, 2007.
Cnn Money is running an article http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/23/real_estate/february_foreclosure_fall/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories
on the new foreclosure numbers. As usual, they are looking at month to month changes, but the devil is in the details. Look at the year to year changes, not such a rosey picture. Add on top the fact that a bunch of subprime mortgages are coming due (ARM). Not looking too good for March numbers.
- The Open House Network - ROpenHouse
Cnn Money is reporting
- CNNMoney
Interesting arcticle on the foreclosure report for Feb. looking at the details, does not look too good to me.
- The Open House Network - ROpenHouse
new home sales lowest since june 2000
http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2007/03/new-home-sales-lowest-since-june-2000.html
hi john,
happy birthday to your wife.
make sure you don´t drink too much…would be too bad when you voice sounds rusty….
thats at leat my experience from the last weekend…
Jeff Saut Presents: Texas Hold ‘Em
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/Boeing-China-Texas+Hold+%27Em/index/a/12455
ATA Truck Tonnage Index Rose 1.6 Percent in February
http://www.truckline.com/NR/exeres/DF23F6F0-BBEF-42A3-8844-E822571D0982.htm
BOJ Is Watching Land Prices for Excess, Fukui Says
http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2007/03/boj-is-watching-land-prices-for-excess.html
Housing, Subprime Mortgages, And The Swap To Watch
http://macroblog.typepad.com/macroblog/2007/03/housing_subprim.html
Builder Lennar reports 73% profit fall, withdraws 2007 goal
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/builder-lennar-reports-73-profit/story.aspx?guid=%7BCE20E912%2D3B27%2D4690%2DB7CE%2D286AA863BEE2%7D
just for info from bens blog
Comment by Title Chica
2007-03-26 09:03:35
I work at a title insurance company in Texas and we are having a wild and crazy month. We’re getting daily emails from underwriting - we even got an email from underwriting with a link to the ML-Implode blog saying to keep an eye out for any of our current lenders! Today we got an email telling us to keep an eye out for Indymac and Hibernia.
We have an escrow unit that handles Fannie Mae foreclosures, and their business is through the roof. The marketing guy who handles lenders has been pulled off the lender beat and told to start hunting the loan servicers who are going to need title work on foreclosures.
On top of all that, of the four contracts I received today, 2 are short sales.
Everyone in my office who has a mortgage refinanced in 2004 to a nice low 30 year fixed. We can all just sit back and watch the carnage and hope that not too much splatters us.
34 percent of homeowners are clueless about their mortgage
http://biz.yahoo.com/brn/070326/21330.html?.v=1&.pf=loans
mike larson on cnbc
link provided in his post
http://interestrateroundup.blogspot.com/2007/03/spirited-housing-debate-on-cnbc.html
BNN - MUST SEE TV! / paper money
http://paper-money.blogspot.com/2007/03/bnn-must-see-tv.html
Jan-Martin,
#20 Wow. Seiders is usually as bad as Lereah. This is as bearish as I have ever seen him. That tells you it is too difficult to hide the carnage any more.
L has told me that he is seeing local problems with loans funding. Pendings have been dropping in the last couple of weeks in Phoenix.
This is not looking good.
i agree. it was funny that he has just revised his forecast the last week and is now already downgrading it….
grim reality / pimco
http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2007/03/grim-reality-pimco.html
Feds Are Investigating Homebuilder Beazer
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2007/db20070327_838032.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_top+story
stock down 17% after hours
Three Clowns / mish
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2007/03/three-clowns.html
Business Cycle Myths Make Entrance Right on Cue: Caroline Baum
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=auWrZNIRpSaI&refer=home
paper money has a more bnn
http://paper-money.blogspot.com/2007/03/second-shoe.html
Jan-Martin (comment #26) -
When I saw the Paper Money post my first thought was that The Old Lady Who Lived In A Shoe must have bought an investment property. Looking around, I found an effort by “Candelina Candelina” that sounds like a description of Ben Bernanke’s Senate testimony from earlier today.
Getting a bit punchy today from the shear volume of bubbly news.
how did you perform?
Kass: Harley Hogs Feed at the Subprime Trough
http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2007/03/kass-harley-hogs-feed-at-subprime.html
The Disposable Workforce / mish
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2007/03/disposable-workforce.html
Housing Slump Erodes Budget Gains From Florida to California
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=special_report&sid=aaxEGhOqB5eg
Jan-Martin (comment #28) -
It was a blast!
This from Gary: “I hope you are all feeling completely wonderful today after your AMAZING performance last evening. I want to congratulate you for your musicianship, and thank you for your dedication. I had no doubts that you would conquer this piece. Everything was just right… I couldn’t have asked for more from you! This work requires the choir to whisper out the tiniest of pianissimos, and then belt out paint-peeling fortissimos, and you did all that, and everything in between. As I say, I couldn’t have asked for more.”
The ambiance in the sold out hall was electric, and we really did keep the energy going through the whole work. The local broadsheet has published a rave review this morning.
“Dal Chorale, Orchestra handle Verdi’s Requiem with volcanic energy”, by Stephen Pedersen, Halifax (NS, Canada) Chronicle-Herald, March 29, 2007.
wow.
congratulations!
is Stephen Pedersen your pseudonym…?
Coming Soon to a Town Near You: Recession?
http://dianecohn.blogs.com/reno/2007/03/subprime_meltdo.html
Investing in distress / The vultures take wing / economist
http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2007/03/investing-in-distress-vultures-take.html
How Blind can they be? / peter schiff
http://www.europac.net/externalframeset.asp?from=home&id=8158
Builders on the block / uk (vs us builders)
http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2007/03/builders-on-block-uk.html
Mapping the Problems in Subprime / tim
http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/2007/03/mapping-subrpime-problems.html