O.C. housing seen 13.7% undervalued

Does a bigger steaming pile exist?

halfnote19 - 21 April 2009 09:31 PM

O.C. housing seen 13.7% undervalued

Meanwhile Home Gallery Magazine (you know the glossy house pimpin’ rag) for the IE has pages of homes listed with lines like $643 per month*** for 3bd, 3ba, SFR 1500F

That footnote, the ***, it’s horrible…

*** based on 3.5% down, 5.5% FHA 30 year fixed, PITI, PMI & 5.876% APR.

Yes.  That’s right, payment, taxes, and PMI for under $700/month.  It’s not one home.  It’s page after page that will take $3000 and a $30,000/yr income to buy.

Or maybe you’d just like to use your planned down payment for a cruddy Irvine townhome to buy it free and clear and still have money left over to remodel the kitchen…

Maybe you want bigger,  how about $1242/mo*** for 4/4 SFR in 3100sf.  That one is horrible, it’s going need $5500 down to do the deal.

Existing Home Sales Fall 3 Percent In March To Annul Rate of 4.57 Million

I am confused, and not sarcastically.  I thought home sales would increase for a month or two.

Swine Flu enters dangerous new phase…

The panic drums continues to beat.

The excuses for the economy are already appearing.

welcome to the State of Fear…

So much for Cramdowns….Next!!

Senate rejects mortgage bailout bill

No_Such_Reality - 28 April 2009 02:55 AM

Swine Flu enters dangerous new phase…

The panic drums continues to beat.

The excuses for the economy are already appearing.

welcome to the State of Fear…

Oh no, the panic is ending…  Three new swine flu deaths in Mexico!  Oh wait, it’s only the 19th death in Mexico from the flu.  The panicked breathless reported of probable deaths last week was once again erroneous.  Instead of thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths, it’s a few hundred cases and 19 deaths…

Paying to sell your home. Too funny.

Homeowners pay to sell

The fate of California.

Millionaires Go Missing

One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller’s office concedes is a “substantial decline.” On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year—even at higher rates.

The BS of the WSJ shines through.

Did they actually do any reporting, or just regurgitate the company line?  What’s next?  press releases from Heritage?

For instance, for the 1000 “missing” millionaires, how many of them actually filed tax returns showing lower than 1M income?  It wouldn’t be surprising to me if a lot of those people’s income dropped with the stock market.

How many of those 1000 actually picked up and moved to FL for instance?  or restructured their pay to slip under the 1M level?

A grade school newspaper reported could do a better job.

The point is, they RAISED tax rates and will recover LESS tax revenue.  Proof that higher tax rates do not equal higher tax revenues.  Whether people make less money, move out of state, or increase their write-offs, they are all results of higher taxes

3 bad reasons to buy a home

This is actually a good article.

lendingmaestro - 26 May 2009 10:19 PM

The point is, they RAISED tax rates and will recover LESS tax revenue.  Proof that higher tax rates do not equal higher tax revenues.  Whether people make less money, move out of state, or increase their write-offs, they are all results of higher taxes

But the nation’s economy has been tanking, so it is quite possible that the number of millionaires would still have gone down the same amount if they hadn’t raised taxes.  Far too many variables to make a simple conclusion.

lendingmaestro - 26 May 2009 10:19 PM

The point is, they RAISED tax rates and will recover LESS tax revenue.  Proof that higher tax rates do not equal higher tax revenues.  Whether people make less money, move out of state, or increase their write-offs, they are all results of higher taxes

What I was saying is that with the decline in the economy, what evidence is there that any of those things happened?

Why wasn’t it purely natural that people have less income, regardless of the marginal tax rate in MD?

freedomCM - 27 May 2009 03:04 AM

lendingmaestro - 26 May 2009 10:19 PM

The point is, they RAISED tax rates and will recover LESS tax revenue.  Proof that higher tax rates do not equal higher tax revenues.  Whether people make less money, move out of state, or increase their write-offs, they are all results of higher taxes

What I was saying is that with the decline in the economy, what evidence is there that any of those things happened?

Why wasn’t it purely natural that people have less income, regardless of the marginal tax rate in MD?

California sales taxes in April fell 50.9% from 2008.

No_Such_Reality - 27 May 2009 03:51 AM

freedomCM - 27 May 2009 03:04 AM

lendingmaestro - 26 May 2009 10:19 PM

The point is, they RAISED tax rates and will recover LESS tax revenue.  Proof that higher tax rates do not equal higher tax revenues.  Whether people make less money, move out of state, or increase their write-offs, they are all results of higher taxes

What I was saying is that with the decline in the economy, what evidence is there that any of those things happened?

Why wasn’t it purely natural that people have less income, regardless of the marginal tax rate in MD?

California sales taxes in April fell 50.9% from 2008.

And why was that?  because the sales tax rate for a $100 pair of trousers went from $7.75 to $8.75?

or because there were a lot more unemployed people, and people scared of being ue so they put off purchases not essential?

Do we need to get Larry Kudlow and his Luddite buddies to come in here and explain the Laffer curve to you?  [/sarcasm]

S.E.C. Accuses Countrywide’s Ex-Chief of Fraud

The government is charging Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, and two other company executives with civil fraud. The Securitiesand Exchange Commission said Thursday afternoon that its case also accused Mr. Mozilo of illegal insider trading.

caycifish - 04 June 2009 08:48 PM

S.E.C. Accuses Countrywide’s Ex-Chief of Fraud

The government is charging Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, and two other company executives with civil fraud. The Securitiesand Exchange Commission said Thursday afternoon that its case also accused Mr. Mozilo of illegal insider trading.

Beat ‘ya! I figured this one deserves it’s own thread so I posted it in economy/finance just a minute before you. I’d like to follow this one from beginning to end somewhere, I think it will be another fascinating way of educating the American public on how and why they got so screwed.

Not Paying the Mortgage, Yet Stuck With the Keys

“A growing number of American homeowners are falling into financial limbo: They’re badly behind on payments, but their banks have not yet foreclosed.

“It just means foreclosure rates are going to keep rising,” said Patrick Newport, an economist for IHS Global Insight. “

The word about shadow inventory is starting to leak out.

I just want to kill this guy.

Rick Rochon’s Boca Raton mansion headed to auction block

Richard ‘‘Rick’’ Rochon’s Boca Raton estate, the subject of a foreclosure action, is slated to go on the auction block next month after failing to sell for $21.9 million.

Rochon is president of Deerfield Beach-based private-equity firm Royal Palm Capital Partners and the former president of Fort Lauderdale billionaire H. Wayne Huizenga’s private investment firm.

Rochon insisted the foreclosure action was not a sign of personal financial problems.

’‘My position is, you know what, why throw good money after bad?’’ he said. ‘‘I’m treating this as an investment. This is not my house.’’ Rochon has lived alone in the mansion.

Man, I hope it never comes to this or I am in deep trouble…Gulp!

Pensioners battered a financial adviser with Zimmer frames before kidnapping and torturing him

Do you think the Obama Administration will follow through on this one:

Administration plans for end of ‘too big to fail’
Megabanks may be slimmed down, told to prepare plans for own demise

IMO, they should of never let them get that big in the first place.

A repost from Calculated Risk:

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/07/cnbc-interview-with-bryan-marsal-ceo-of.html

This is an interesting interview from early this morning with Bryan Marsal, CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings, who is unwinding Lehman Brothers ... especially at the 18 minute mark:

One of my partners said yesterday that we are going to call this phase the “extend and pretend” phase in our economy. Which is you extend someone’s maturity - because they are going to default - and you pretend that business will come back or that leverage factor is going to come back.

Then we’ll enter phase two, which he said is the request to extend or “amend”.

Then “send”. In other words send the keys.

That is the phases we are in right now. Everyone is trying to buy time, as opposed to dealing with the leverage, they are trying to buy time. Whether you are a banker or a company, they are all trying to buy time. I don’t see the leverage coming back, and I don’t see the consumption of good and services coming back.
Bryan Marsal, CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings.
This applies to all kinds of debt - extend and pretend - that sounds like most of the residential loan modifications! But eventually many of those same loans will reach the “send” phase.

With the passing of MEW into the pages of history, and the onset of lowered expectations, get ready to refer to 2002-2008 as “The Roaring Oughts”.

IrvineRenter - 06 July 2009 03:53 AM

Do you think the Obama Administration will follow through on this one:

Administration plans for end of ‘too big to fail’
Megabanks may be slimmed down, told to prepare plans for own demise

Watch the video at the above CR post at 2:30 when he talks about how the board of directors of Lehman was shocked at the freefall BK with 1.2 million derivitaves and 7 billion in assets.

If I had a signature, it would read “Bryan Marsal is my hero”