We’ve talked about residential and commercial markets being hammered by the current economic problems, but did you realize that island sales are being affected as well? [Hat tip Freedom's Phoenix] SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) – Dreaming of a tropical paradise to call your own? Several Australian islands off the Great Barrier Reef are on sale, and thanks to the global recession, they’re cheaper than they used to be. Global real estate agency Coldwell Banker’s Capricorn Coast branch is offering 9 islands, some with luxury mansions and other amenities, around the Great Barrier Reef with prices starting at A$1.3 million ($962,000) and…
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A lot of subprime borrowers found their "We’ll just finance in a couple of years when the house appreciates" strategy backfired on them.  Increasing numbers of jumbo purchasers are finding themselves in the same boat: [Borrowers] are becoming trapped by the same issue facing the poorest subprime homeowners: falling home prices erase equity and make it impossible to sell or refinance without losing money. The number of U.S. homes valued at more than $729,750, the jumbo-loan limit in the most affluent areas, entering the foreclosure process jumped 127 percent during the first 10 weeks of this year from the same…
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Owe more than your home is worth?  You’ve got a lot of company: [Thanks L!] NEW YORK (Reuters) – Home values in the United States extended their fall in the first quarter, with more than one in five homeowners now owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth, real estate website Zillow.com said on Wednesday. U.S. home values posted a year-over-year decline of 14.2 percent to a Zillow Home Value Index of $182,378, resulting in a total 21.8 percent drop since the market peaked in 2006, according to Zillow’s first-quarter Real Estate Market Reports, which encompass 161 metropolitan…
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Despite assurances from the Obama administration that foreclosure reduction programs that have been put in place will help increase loan modifications, the results have been less than spectacular.  Will the government now step in and make modifications mandatory? The last chance for bankers to voluntarily modify mortgages may be at hand. For the past year and a half, the government has pressed for modifications and set incentives for them — but has stopped short of forcing them. Though servicers have pledged to improve their efforts, progress has been slow, and many still refuse to modify loans in ways that lead…
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Old Doom friend Mike Folkerth sends an invitation to re-post this.  Sort of a going away present [1] . . . . . Is it Time to Buy Real Estate? by Mike Folkerth Good Morning all of you independent thinkers out there, your King of Simple News is on the air. Spring always brings with it a renewed hope and I want to do my part. As I continually shed light on the things that must be changed, in the mean time we all have to try and live in this insane world. When I wrote “The Biggest Lie Ever…
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  Foreclosure moratoriums seem to have a way of postponing the inevitable, but that doesn’t stop the government from trying. [Thanks L!] COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s highest court has temporarily stopped thousands of pending foreclosure sales so homeowners can take advantage of a new federal program to refinance mortgages. The state Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a restraining order preventing South Carolina judges from finalizing foreclosure sales on properties with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The order also applies to any mortgage lender who has signed on to a federal assistance program. RealtyTrac Inc. says the…
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A reader sent me [and you know who you are- thank you!] the cheapest Phoenix REO I’d seen in awhile, and I stumbled across the biggest haircut I’ve seen today as well.  I thought folks might like to take a look. [Not quite a REO, but a short sale that's likely to be.] First, the little REO.  This is listed at $49,000, but the listing says: [MLS# 3027714] Lender owned bargain!! Investor special! Make us an offer!! This home is a complete remodel!! New maple wood laminate flooring. New ceiling fans! New paint!! Storage shed in backyard. This is a…
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From Phoenix NBC affiliate KPNX :  

Boy, some folks took the defeat of the "Cram-down Bill hard.  Take Ann Pettifor of the Huffigton Post, for example: [Thanks M.R.!] This was a defeat for American democracy. It represented a failure of senators to represent their constituents, honor the constitution and ‘establish justice, insure domestic tranquility and promote the general welfare of the American people. But while it was a defeat for democracy, it was a Pyrrhic victory for the bankers. One more such victory over Congress and the White House, and the bankers will be facing ruin. So what should Constitutional minded legislators have done? American homeowners…
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I needed a good laugh this morning, and I got it from my favorite satire site, "The Onion": WASHINGTON—After nearly four months of frank, honest, and open dialogue about the failing economy, a weary U.S. populace announced this week that it is once again ready to be lied to about the current state of the financial system. Tired of hearing the grim truth about their economic future, Americans demanded that the bald-faced lies resume immediately, particularly whenever politicians feel the need to divulge another terrifying problem with Wall Street, the housing market, or any one of a hundred other ticking…
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Think the subprime bust is over? Think again: Everyone knows how loose mortgage underwriting led to the go-go days of multitrillion-dollar subprime lending. What isn’t well known is that a parallel subprime market has emerged over the past year — all made possible by the Federal Housing Administration. This also won’t end happily for taxpayers or the housing market. Last year banks issued $180 billion of new mortgages insured by the FHA, which means they carry a 100% taxpayer guarantee. Many of these have the same characteristics as subprime loans: low downpayment requirements, high-risk borrowers, and in many cases shady…
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‘[The sky] was sullen, streaked and livid, and [Arthur Dent] reflected that it was the sort of sky that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse wouldn’t feel like a bunch of complete idiots riding out of’ Click the pic to go to the CBC photo gallery of the recent Halifax Wildfires.  Above is a detail of photo 2 — "The fire lights up the Halifax skyline in this photo taken from the Mic Mac Mall April 30.  (Submitted by Cathy Murray)" Meanwhile, swine flu continues to be an issue in Nova Scotia and the Halifax area.[1] Weirdly, Doom’s stale post…
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Who’d have thought? Speculators and prospective home owners came out in droves to buy homes in the Phoenix area.  M did an early check of the sales numbers, and here’s the unofficial sales for April: Listings               39,547 Under Contract    16,779 Sold                     8,419 These numbers are only preliminary- agents have several days to update their listings, so ARMLS will likely report a higher number. Listings have dropped to a level we haven’t seen since April 2006.  Sales are at a level we haven’t seen since October 2005. I will undoubtedly be accused…
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The saying is that "retail follows rooftops", but offices follow them too: [Thanks L!] When the housing market began collapsing across the developed world, commercial real estate remained a bastion for builders. But now the global recession is dragging it down, too. Central business districts that only a year ago were crowded with construction projects are emptying out as office tenants cut staff and operations. Building values are sinking, while delinquencies on securitized loans have tripled in the past six months. The abrupt downturn in commercial real estate is punishing cities as varied as Detroit, Dallas, and Hartford, where downtown…
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The change to two accounting rules known as FAS 140 and FIN 46R would affect trillions of dollars in off-balance-sheet assets at banks and financial companies. The FASB voted last year to eliminate a concept known as the "qualifying special-purpose entity," or QSPE, that banks used to keep assets like mortgage-backed securities and special investment vehicles off their books. [1] Doomers who’ve been with us for a while will recall that FAS 140 has been my principle blogging concern since my first day with Doom. That great wave of balance sheet consolidation you are now seeing on the horizon is…
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