For those of us who remember well Tanta of Calculated Risk, the current mess with GMAC and JPMorgan comes as no surprise.  If you haven’t seen the story, here are some “highlights” from the Washington Post [not Times -- correction from commenter]: J.P. Morgan Chase, one of the nation’s leading banks, announced Wednesday that it will freeze foreclosures in about half the country because of flawed paperwork, a move that Wall Street analysts said will pressure the rest of the industry to follow suit. The bank’s decision will affect 56,000 borrowers in 23 states where allegations of forged documents and…
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The homes might be affordable, interest rates low and sellers are willing to make concessions.  It doesn’t help much though if your credit score is too low for banks- and one in three Americans have this problem. [Hat tip Freedom's Phoenix.] Now mind you, given the downside risk, these might be the lucky ones.  At least they won’t be buying a home they can’t afford.

One of the signs that we have not reached a bottom with home prices is that there are so many people out there proclaiming that we are, and for all the wrong reasons.  Here’s a couple of lists I’ve seen in the past couple of days explaining why the bottom is in.  The first is from Business Insider: The issue going forward is whether we need another significant decline to allow what is presumed to be a “new wave” of foreclosures to be sold. Put me in the skeptical column, because a) the housing market has had almost 5 years…
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One of the sales practices of homebuilders that has bothered me for years is the practice of paying additional commission to a buyer’s agent.  It is bad enough that the commission is calculated based on how much the buyer pays.  The worse deal an agent cuts for their client, the higher commission.  Even for agents (in fact especially for agents) with a high degree of integrity, it’s a poor way to get paid.  Worse still however is when an additional commission is paid by the seller, or as in this case, by the homebuilder.  After all, if their homes were…
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I’ve seen any number of listings that said, “Move quickly- this one could go fast!” I’ve often thought when I’ve seen that phrase that the agent who wrote it was overly optimistic, or was hoping potential borrowers were terribly naive. I saw a “might go fast” listing today though for a lot west of Austin, TX that really pushes the plausibility envelope: (Click on image to enlarge.)

Why is the Prime Minister dipping his tea bag into the President’s cappuccino just 5 weeks ahead of the mid-term vote? CBC (9/28 ’10): “Great Lakes nuclear shipments topic of hearing” “There would be a greater radiological impact of someone with a pacemaker falling over the side of a boat and drowning,” Hawthorne said. “He would introduce more radioactive material into the lake than one of our steam generators.” I do believe they get weather in that part of the world occasionally …

If the transactions occurred over a one month period ending on Sept 15th, that puts the decision squarely around the period Zhou Xiaochuan was the subject to a series of odd rumours.  The article also provides some hints as to just how uninformative the H.4.1 figures can be. BL (9/27 ’10): “China Mortgage Bond Sales Probably Led Tumble in Foreign Holdings of Debt” The actual drop was probably less because of the methodology the Fed uses, Crandall said. The calculation is based on the original face amount of the securities and ignores any repayments from refinancing or home sales. Either…
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The sound of the Double Dip (Office of Market Oversight & Investigations empty and echoing) … but also the sound of the West’s ultimate cultural uprising getting underway. The uppercase words in the title are from Anne Carson’s English version of The Girl Who Played With Ashes, Part II of a “Millenium Trilogy” that occurred prior to the First.  In the introduction the translator refers to her short article “Screaming in Translation.” Since Margaret Avison died in ’07, Carson has probably become our most important poet.

Being in foreclosure or having economic problems does not seem to be a prerequisite to be elected, but apparently, it’s not the problem for candidates that it’s been in times past: [Candidates] around the country are facing personal financial troubles. Their money woes are more than abstractions to be addressed with policy prescriptions and high-flying rhetoric — they are personal dramas that figure into their campaign stories. In some cases, adversaries point to these problems as examples of poor judgment and highlight perceived ethical lapses. But experts say they would be wise to tread carefully in a time of widespread…
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Rev. Brian’s September 26th sermon was based on the lectionary text Luke 16: 19-31.  I think it might be appropriate in the context of the recent divergence of rich from poor in North America.  Some credit has got to go to Mark for trying, anyway … . . . . . . eWeek (9/26 ’10 — Top Biz Story): “Facebook CEO Wanted to Donate $100M Quietly to Avoid Bad PR” The founder of the world’s largest social network made the announcement Sept. 24 on a conference call with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker,  just…
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Question: Why is gold magic? Answer “Wall Street II” sounds pretty lame, but I hope somebody puts the Roubini cameo up on YouTube

So far this month the collectivity of the Fed’s holdings of MBS and other central banks’ holdings of Agency Debt has dropped $79.796 billion.  Where did they find counter-parties to take on nearly $80B of new exposure to American mortgages in just three weeks?  The GSEs?  Recently we’ve noted that the Fed seems to have been lately redefining trillions of dollars of RE-related assets from the “our problem, sort of” category to the “Fannie & Freddie’s problem, sort of” category.  Does FHFA actually have a grip on the extent of the kids’ obesity problem?  The catch is that if their…
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The PAC for the National Association of Realtors is out there soliciting funds from agents.  This must be the best reason they can think of for agents to make a donation: [Thanks M!] According to Seeking Alpha, the home buyer tax credit “should unambiguously be considered failed policy that did (and will continue to do) far more harm than good.” [Check out the graphs at the bottom of the link.] They also stated: [T]his scam policy had its share of winners, namely Realtors, homebuilders and crafty existing home sellers that pocketed hundreds of millions flipping (or assisting in flipping) junk…
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Thanks to ZeroHedge for the dig. Wal-Mart is still seeing a “challenging” time for its consumers, [CEO Bill] Simon said, seeing customers come in at 11pm at the end of the month, waiting for their government benefits to be activated at midnight and then buy basic items like baby formula, milk, bread and eggs. – Just-food1 We’ll have to check a week from tomorrow but this monthly event sounds tailor-made for television.  Where it gets really dicey is the month after that …

Every now and then we drift slightly away from housing and take a peek at commercial real estate.  Retail not only “follows rooftops”, but often tells us a lot about the potential for the housing market. This morning L sent me an article from the Arizona Republic about profits at Salt River Project. (SRP) SRP provides most of the power in the Phoenix area, and their profits were down 6.3% from last year.  This was almost entirely a result of a drop in usage by commercial customers.  SRP also reported this surprising statistic: (Thanks L!) During the last two years…
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