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Earlier this week, I was in my local supermarket when the security alarm suddenly went off. I looked towards the door and saw two security guards confront a young man trying to push his way out into the car park. After a few loud words, the young man reluctantly pulled out from under his tee-shirt a packet of Mr. Kipling cakes. The cake thief realized that a quick escape was out of the question and he quietly walked back into the shop with the two guards. As he passed the check out, our young man broke away from his escorts and tried queue up. Adding a theatrical touch, he even pulled out some money indicating his willingness to pay. The guards were having none of it, and a few seconds later, the three of them disappeared into the back of the shop….
Original Source: ukhousebubble.blogspot.com

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 17:12

Fitch Projects additional 25 percent House Price Declines (real terms)

From HousingWire: Fitch Updates Ratings Model; Projects Steep Housing Price Declines Fitch Ratings said Thursday that it had enhanced its U.S. residential mortgage loss mode … Fitch’s revisions suggest … a very bearish take on housing prices over the next five years: Fitch said in its report that it is expecting home prices to decline by an average of 25 percent in real terms at the national…
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24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 16:00

Such a deal! Don’t forget your euros

For sale: A brand-new, three-bedroom contemporary Mediterranean in the north-of-Sunset area of 90210. The private hillside manor has a pool, views and 3,600 square feet. Price: 2,486,398 euros. …
Original Source: feeds.latimes.com

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 15:03

Sellers Have Taken A Bite Out Of The Reality Sandwich

The Jackson Hole Daily reports from Wyoming. “The market for real estate less than $1 million is favoring buyers for the first time in months, one broker said this week. David Viehman reports that the overall market ‘has been sluggish at best,’ with sales down 43 percent, dollar volume down 46 percent and average overall sale prices down 3.5 percent compared with the same time last year.”
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Original Source: thehousingbubbleblog.com

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 14:47

National City $1.8 Billion Loss

From MarketWatch: National City swings to loss, but shares rise [T]he company reported a second-quarter loss of $1.76 billion … "Credit quality deteriorated, but there are some signs of stabilization in the nonprime mortgage book," wrote BMO Capital Markets analyst Lana ChanFrom the NY Times: Stocks Drop Sharply; Banks Lead Decline Financial shares … plunged after the regional bank National…
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24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 14:39

Homeowners close equity spigot

Read full story for latest details.
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Original Source: rss.cnn.com

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 14:34

Home sales at 10 year low

Sales of existing homes in June slowed more than expected and hit their lowest level in 10 years, according to an industry trade group report released on Thursday.
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Original Source: rss.cnn.com

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 13:23

Seattle Housing Market vs. National Headlines

One common refrain lately among real estate agents desperate to put a positive spin on the local market is that potential home buyers in the Seattle area are just being frightened by all the bad national news on the housing market. The local market is doing just fine, and would be even better if only everyone would stop paying attention to the national stories.
Well, let’s take a look at the latest national housing market data, and compare it to the Seattle area.
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Original Source:

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 13:21

California Solution for Budget Crisis: Minimum Wage and Laying off People. But Who Will Buy the $500,000 Foreclosures?

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 13:10

California Solution for Budget Crisis: Minimum Wage and Laying off People. But Who Will Buy the $500,000 Foreclosures?

You really have to tip your hat to our politicians. The House approved the biggest bailout in the history of this country although they are trying to highlight the Congressional Budget Office report that the total price tag will cost approximately $25 billion. Yeah right. Yet what seems to be more astonishing is the vast majority of Americans seem oblivious to the entire bill. It looks like it will have Senate approval and will be signed into law by the President soon. Only a few of those in Washington sounded any sort of alarm regarding this. The greatest financial robbery in American history and few seemed to pay any attention.Today is the first time in a week that people are coming back into reality. Sales of existing homes declined to a 10-year low and Ford posted their largest quarterly loss ever. Ford is now being forced to double their hybrid production and move away from their reliance on trucks like the F-150. So much for a second half recovery. Washington Mutual isn’t getting the benefit of the doubt like so many other companies that were getting a free pass these last few days. They are now quickly heading back to a 52 week low on their stock price. As people dig into the legislation it is apparent only a handful of institutions stand to benefit….
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24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 13:10

Federal grand jury in L.A. probes 3 local lenders

Lender woes continue to mount.

Richard Schmitt reports today that a federal grand jury in L.A. has started probing three fallen hometown lenders and their subprime loan activities.

Subpoenas have been issued in recent weeks and months to Countrywide Financial Corp., which is now part of Bank of America, New Century Financial Corp., which is under Bankruptcy Court protection and IndyMac Bank, which was seized by federal regulators two weeks ago.
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Original Source: feeds.latimes.com

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 12:34

Live Fast

Life In The Fast Lane — The Eagles
During The Great Housing Bubble California’s homeowners were living life in the fast lane. Free money was readily available, and people were taking it and spending it with abandon. Some people got lucky and found the greater fool to bail them out, and some people did not. Today’s featured property was purchased with 100% financing at the top of the bubble from a HELOC abuser. Of course, the lender is left holding the bag.
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Original Source:

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 12:30

Grand jury investigates subprime lenders

Read full story for latest details.
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Original Source: rss.cnn.com

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 11:48

Report: WaMu Unsecured Creditors "pulling funds"

From Bloomberg: WaMu Slumps as Gimme Credit Cites Liquidity Concern… Gimme Credit LLC said unsecured creditors were “pulling funds” from the biggest U.S. savings and loan.
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“We won’t use the phrase `run on the bank,’ but we would be remiss if we did not observe that many creditors have quietly been pulling funds,” wrote [Gimme Credit analyst Kathleen Shanley], based in Chicago. Their…
Original Source:

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 11:37

PIMCO’s Gross: $5 Trillion Risky Mortgage Loans, Projects $1 Trillion in Mortgage Losses

From PIMCO’s Gross: Mooooooo!PIMCO estimates a total of 5 trillion dollars of mortgage loans are in risky asset categories and that nearly 1 trillion dollars of cumulative losses will finally mark the gravestone of this housing bubble. The problem with writing off 1 trillion dollars from the finance industry’s cumulative balance sheet is that if not matched by capital raising, it necessitates a…
Original Source:

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 11:21

$103M for Westbury retail

The New York office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler has closed the $103 million sale of Roosevelt Raceway Center, a 427,000-square-foot retail center in Westbury, according to a company statement.
Completed in 1995, the property located along Corporate Drive is currently fully leased to tenants including Home Depot, Home Depot Expo, Michael’s, Babies “R” Us, Sprint, Loew’s Theatre, Applebee’s and Chili’s.
HFF senior managing director Glenn Whitmore and managing director Robert Delitsky exclusively represented the buyer, Queens-based Mattone Group and Brooklyn-based Gartenstein Properties in the purchase of the property from ING Clarion Partners.
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Original Source: spacedoutli.wordpress.com

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 10:59

$103M for Westbury retail

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 10:59

Existing Home Sales: A Look At Numbers That Weren’t There

Posted By:Diana OlickWhile everyone busies themselves today parsing the existing homes data from the National Association of Realtors: sales down 2.6 percent in June, inventories spiking up again to an 11.1 month supply, and prices falling 6.1 percent, I need to focus on something that wasn’t in the table of this particular report. …
Original Source: www.cnbc.com

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 10:40

Existing Home Sales: A Look At Numbers That Weren’t There

24 July, 2008| housingblogs | Comments (0) @ 10:40

Housing Domino Effect