New home prices take biggest price
drop in 37 years!
"Home prices tanked. The median sales price in August fell by 7.5 percent from a year earlier to $225700. That was the biggest drop in percentage terms in ..."
New-home sales drop
Deseret News, UT

US headed for housing depression
Crikey (subscription), Australia

National Real Estate Recession Threatens
Bay Area Indymedia, CA 

Housing Sales and Prices Drop As Consumer Confidence Retreats
FalseFlagNews

Philadelphia Inquirer

KB Home sales plunge as housing market worsens Reuters  By Ilaina Jonas NEW YORK (Reuters) - KB Home posted a wider-than- expected quarterly loss on Thursday on write-downs for land values and 28 percent fewer ...

Double-Digit Decline in Home Prices Forecasted for 86 Metro Areas
"Approximately 75 percent of the homes in the U.S. will experience a decline in prices before the nation's housing slump is over. Double-digit declines are forecasted in nearly 50 metro areas. Find out which parts of the country will take the biggest hit, and when the peak and bottom is expected for each."
eFinanceDirectory

California Foreclosures Increase 300 Percent in August 2007
PR.com (press release), NY

Rates on 30-Year Mortgages Rise
Forbes, NY

Prediction: Mortgage foreclosures will get worse
Eagle Tribune, MA

Death of Housing Market Leads to Further Dollar Weakness
Daily FX, NY 

Greater Depression Update
"What's a depression, incidentally? It's a period of time when distortions and misallocations of capital are liquidated; that's called a depression. Over the last 25 years, distortions and misallocations of capital have produced an artificial boom. But when these distortions and misallocations of capital are liquidated, we'll get a depression."
Financial Sense

Boone County foreclosure rates reach all-time high
Columbia Missourian, MO

Mortgages harder to get for Seattle borrowers
Seattle Pi.com

SAN DIEGO After the housing bubble: Medical and life science properties
San Diego Daily Transcript (subscription), CA

In Praise of the Housing Bust
Real Clear Politics

Housing Sales and Prices Drop As Consumer Confidence Retreats
Money Morning

Thursday Sep 27, 2007

America prepares for the worst
economic disaster in history!
"The U.S. mortgage melt down has produced a real estate crisis with falling home prices and record foreclosures, and it now threatens to produce the worst economic disaster in history, according to a new report by Housing Predictor."
Mortgage Crisis Threatens Real Estate Recession
American Chronicle, CA

Late Payments Rise on US Home Equity Credit Lines
CNBC, NJ

California foreclosures soar
Central Valley Business Times, CA

Housing market collapse makes life a bit easier for the 'victimized'
News-Press

Expect only limited help from the government as the subprime mortgage mess continues to take a heavy toll
"Though no big bailouts are on the way -- for either homeowners or lenders holding troubled mortgage loans -- government officials in Washington and at the state and local levels are pushing initiatives that will help stanch some of the bleeding."
No Bailout for Stressed Mortgage Holders
Kiplinger.com, DC

Cleveland: Home of Foreclosure Crisis
Fox 8 News WJW, OH 

Activists call for lenders to freeze home interest rates
The Plain Dealer - cleveland.com, OH

Countrywide: Mortgage Restructure Free-For-All?
Minyanville.com, New York

Foreclosure USA: I Report And You Respond CNBC, NJ

Home Sales & Prices Continue Downward
Free Market News Network, FL

In Praise of the Housing Bust
RealClearPolitics, IL 

Orange(CA) County high-rise boom fizzles
OC Register

Can the Fed save real estate? Tiger Weekly, LA

Subprime Mortgage Homeowners In Rocky Waters
Multi-Housing News, NY

Housing aid groups swamped with foreclosure cases in Philly area
Centre Daily Times, PA

Wednesday Sep 26, 2007

Rate of home price declines accelerates nationwide!
"The decline in U.S. home prices accelerated nationwide in July, posting the steepest drop in 16 years, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday.
Home prices have fallen by more every month since the beginning of the year.
US Home Price Decline Accelerates - Fastest Drop in 16 Years
AP / Yahoo

The Fed continues same policies that created
the real estate bubble in the first place: Ron Paul
"After the current turmoil in the markets, I was hoping that new Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would see the big picture and act judiciously. Instead he signaled, with an aggressive rate cut, that we can expect a continuation of the monetary policies that got us here to begin with. Alan Greenspan released his memoir this week explaining his policies and decisions in the wake of the irrational exuberance they fueled. His successor should see that it is now time for a change of policy that addresses the root of our troubles. But instead of seeing an inflation problem, the Federal Reserve sees a liquidity problem, which is a little like extinguishing a forest fire with gasoline. In the wake of the rate cut, the Dow jumped and brokers cheered. Behind the headlines, however, the dollar quietly fell and was abandoned by more of the world in favor of more solid stores of wealth."
Ron Paul: The Money Has to Come from Somewhere
DailyPaul.com

US Dollar Hits an All Time Low; It Only Gets Worse
Daily FX, NY

Glut of unsold homes rises to 18-year high
Market Watch

'Houses aren't selling. ... Let's build more!'
Modesto Bee, CA 

Boston Channel.com

Foreclosures drag down home sales Boston Globe, United States

Middle-class threat
Anniston Star (subscription), AL

Lennar post big loss on housing woes
Reuters

Rising Foreclosures Impact Las Vegas Bankruptcies
KLAS-TV, NV

Adjustable-rate mortgages: now it hurts
Newsday, NY

US housing oversupply to continue
newratings.com 

Home Foreclosures: Only Thing 'Funny' Is The Money 
"There's nothing funny about today's post, other than the funny money that went into mortgages. I am on the ground on Henry Long Blvd. in Stockton, CA. This is truly the epicenter of the foreclosure earthquake. I would say one out of every eight homes in this neighborhood is for sale: and you know which ones are vacant because the lawns are dead."
CNBC, NJ

Faith-based Real Estate Expert Foresees Down Turn in Economy
Christian News Wire (press release), DC

Home prices continue tumble in Florida!
"The median sales price for a home in the Sarasota-Bradenton market slid 11 percent from last August to its low point for the year at $273,500, a Tuesday report from the Florida Association of Realtors showed.
Statewide, total sales dropped 26 percent to 11,279 during August, with the biggest decreases in Ocala at 47 percent and Miami at 45 percent. The statewide median sales price dropped 6 percent to $231,900."
Home prices slide throughout region
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL

California home sales decrease 27.8 percent in August
CAR

From Prime to Subprime, America’s Home-Mortgage Meltdown Has Just Begun
LewRockwell

Orange County median home asking price
continues free-fall
Median has dropped $30K in last 2 months!
HousingTracker.net: Median Home Asking Price & Inventory Data for Orange County, California
HousingTracker

The Money Times

Bleak housing reports add to industry worries Chicago Tribune, United States

Providence Business News

US Economy: Consumer Confidence Slumps, Home Sales Decline Bloomberg

Tuesday Sep 25, 2007

The Bankers Know: Something Catastrophic This Way Comes
Executive Intelligence Review, VA 

Housing guru Shiller predicts foreclosure frenzy just beginning:
Compares to great depression!
"First of all, it would cause homeowners to default in great numbers. This hasn’t happened yet. We’ve seen defaults rise, but home prices haven’t fallen very much. If there were big drops in home prices, we’d see a lot more defaults. In the Great Depression in the 1930s, home prices in nominal terms fell 25% and there was a huge rash of mortgage defaults. But that was also caused by unemployment. It was a big national crisis. I don’t think it’s going to be that big, but we could have a lot of defaults and foreclosures, which would, of course, harm the economy."
An Interview With Housing Index Guru Robert Shiller
Seeking Alpha, NY

Sacramento home prices continues sink surge:
median now $60K below July '06 level!
"Sacramento area's new-home sales dropped 35.4 percent in July, compared to a year ago, according to a recent report.
"The median-home price -- meaning half the homes sold for more, the other half for less -- fell 13.2 percent to $394,900, from $454,950 from a year ago in the Sacramento region."
New-home sales tumble 35 percent
Bizjournals.com, NC

Mortgage problems will hang around for a long-time!
"Government bond traders, who predicted six of the last seven recessions, say the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates again before the end of the year as the economy comes to a standstill."
The economy's mortgage-related problems are ``not behind us today and they're not going to be behind us for a long time to come,'' Hunt said. ``This rate reduction was first of what we think will be quite a few over the next couple of years.''
Fed to Cut Rates Again Before January, History Shows
Bloomberg


Alan "What housing bubble" Greenspan says home prices
have a ways to fall: Fails to warn about upcoming recession!
"A big overhang of property will bring U.S. house prices down further, but it is too early to say if the economy will plunge into recession, former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan was quoted as saying on Friday."
House prices to drop much lower: Greenspan
Reuters

Brokers see steep drop in lending Providence Business News, RI

UPDATE: Housing Market May Face More Bad News In Data, Builder Earnings
CNNMoney.com

Countrywide Announces 17000 Loans Modified
KNBC.com, CA

Sales of US Existing Homes Probably Fell to Five-Year Low
Bloomberg

Show me the foreclosures: Missouri
"Missouri foreclosure filings soared 132 percent in August from a year ago, mirroring a national spike that may only be a preview of what’s to come, according to the RealtyTrac Foreclosure Market Report released Sept. 18"
Missouri foreclosures escalate in August
Springfield Business Journal, MO

GSE Loan Limit Exceptions: Are They Really Fair? CNBC, NJ

Fatigued consumers pinching pennies as bad news seems to snowball
Savannah Morning News, GA

House bill would let courts alter mortgages
ABC News

Dropping Housing Prices, Rising Foreclosures Could Confirm Our ...
Money Morning

Foreclosures: There goes the neighborhood
"Think of all those people who built in that area, who had nothing to do with Parish Homes, and now they've got all these foreclosures around them,"
Mortgage scam threatens 200 homes with foreclosure
Pioneer Press, MN

ARM bailout aids those who live beyond means
Oakland Press, MI 

Foreclosures continue upward surge nationally:
Up 36% in one month!
"Up 36% in August over July, foreclosures across the country are increasing. Some of the biggest movers: Nevada – triple the national average; 48% increase in California from one year ago; 77% in Florida from one year ago."
Foreclosures Just Hit Their Highest Monthly Jump
Since Realtytrac has been tracking this data!
Entrepreneur 

More Proof of a Poor Housing Market: Builder Confidence at All Time Low
eFinanceDirectory

Monday Sep 24, 2007

The Roof Is Caving In On the Housing Market
Seeking Alpha, NY

Homeowners getting out of home they can't afford could face tax hit
Charleston Post Courier, SC 

Lending changes trip up homeowners (CA)
DailyNews

The Fed's Irresponsible Move
BusinessWeek 

Back to the Futures: Investors See Four Years’ Worth of Housing Slump
HousingWire

Homeowners Just Don't Understand Value Of Homes
"This is precisely why homes aren’t selling. Sellers are stubborn; they just don’t get it. Prices during the boom were unsustainable, affordability is now ridiculous, and continued price appreciation makes no economic sense in the current atmosphere."
Realty Check

Are we headed for an epic bear market?
"Defaulting middle-class U.S. homeowners are blamed, but they are merely a pawn in the game," he says. "Those loans were invented so that hedge funds would have high-yield debt to buy."
MSN Money
(Thanks to Mark Karagas for the link referral)

Hardships force homeowners, mortgage holders to accept short sales
Press-Enterprise (subscription), CA 

Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Blaming America First National Ledger, AZ

Bringing Down the House: The Current Foreclosure Crisis
Bay Area Indymedia, CA 

Americas Watchdog Explains How The 2007 Real Estate Disaster
Happened Along With A Grim Preview of 2008
eMedia Wire

Truth Activists Confront Alan Greenspan
about the Fraudulent Federal Reserve Bank:
Greenspan Flees Angry Mob! (with )
 Truth Activists Confront Alan Greenspan About the Fraudulent Federal Reserve! U.S.HousingUpdate.com

Foreclosure victim regrets inattention to contract details
Vallejo Times-Herald, CA

As the Mortgage Industry Tumbles, Employers Begin to Feel the Effects
Workforce Management, Ca

Empty Homes, Empty Lots
Modesto Bee, CA 

US Banks Brace for Storm Surge as Dollar and Credit System Reel The People's Voice, TN The housing bubble and the credit bubble are largely the result of Greenspan’s misguided monetary policies. (For which he now blames Bush! ...

Housing slump hurts San Bernardino's downtown plans
Press-Enterprise (subscription), CA

Housing doldrums continue
Palm Beach Post,  United States

Friday Sep 21, 2007

Fed's rate cut won't directly affect mortgage rates
Scripps News, DC

Rates on 30-year mortgages inch up
BusinessWeek 

Greenspan Says Recession Still Possible After Fed Cut (Update2)
Bloomberg 

More Aggressive Rate Cuts Needed Housing Predictor Says
PR Leap (press release), CA 

Who Will Buy My House?
CounterPunch, CA 

What Does a Lending Crackdown Mean to Me? ABC News

Bush admits 'unsettling times' for economy
Arizona Republic, AZ

New single-family home prices fall 8.6% in California
Inman.com (subscription), CA

Subprime toll to be high in coming months
Asbury Park Press, NJ 

Boston Globe

No laws broken as illegal immigrants obtain loans, buy homes "This place is full of people like me," said the man, 48. He spoke on condition that his name not be published because it is easily found in the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds, and he fears immigration officials would track him down. "They have houses because the banks gave them a loan." Boston Globe, United States

Housing Prices Fall Again in RI
"The Rhode Island Association of Realtors says the median price has fallen to $283,750, compared with $293,000 during the same period a year ago."
Eyewitness News, RI 

Private Debt Much Higher Than During the Great Depression
"Private debt is much higher now than during the Great Depression, and has been allowed to grow as if there were no consequences to borrowing, and no limit to what can be paid back in the future. "
eFinanceDirectory

In foreclosures, many dogs and cats are being abandoned with the houses
DallasNews

Why You Should Be Terrified
Motley Fool

Phoenix foreclosure rate reaches 10-year high
AZ Republic

Congress Is Urged To Limit Response To Mortgage Crisis
CNNMoney.com 

Lee County rated No. 14 for falling home prices
The News-Press, FL 

American Dream goes nuts
The Argus, CA 

Prices, home building both slide in August
SignOnSanDiego

Foreclosed homes a messy problem in Escondido (San Diego)
North County Times, CA

700 Metro Detroit homes at auction will be going cheap
DetNews.com, MI 

Ways You Can Lose Your Property
Realty Times, TX 

Thursday Sep 20, 2007

Residential Analyst Warns Falling Home Prices Could Cripple Economy
"Robert Shiller, a Yale economist and leading housing expert, said Wednesday that if house prices continue to decline, the U.S. will see more economic issues akin to the current credit crunch, the Financial Times reports.
Experts testifying before the Senate on Wednesday said a 15 percent drop in home prices could eradicate $3,000 billion of household wealth."
Multi-Housing News, NY

Paulson, Bernanke Prepare to Defend Response to Housing Slump
Bloomberg 

US Foreclosures Continue to Surge
theTrumpet.com, OK 

Morgan Stanley analyst argues Fed easing won't help housing fundamentals
Fed Rate Cut Will Do Nothing for Housing Fundamentals
MarketWatch

U.S. Fed's impact on home prices in doubt
International Herald Tribune

Should Americans take their money out
of the bank and run?
"By now, you’ve probably seen the photos of the angry customers queued up outside of Northern Rock Bank waiting to withdraw their money. This is the first big run on a British bank in over a century. It’s lost an eighth of its deposits in three days."
The pictures are headline news in the U.K. but have been stuck on the back pages of U.S. newspapers. The reason for this is obvious. The same Force 5 economic-hurricane that just touched ground in Great Britain is headed for America and gaining strength on the way."
US banks brace for storm surge as dollar and credit system reel
Online Journal, FL

Failed Lender Makes Grab for Employee Funds
American Home Mortgage Goes After Retirement Funds
CNBC

As housing hits slide, jobs follow
Charlotte Observer, NC 

A Dallas entrepreneur shifts strategy in a tough housing market Dallas entrepreneur shifts from selling remodeled homes to renting them Dallas Morning News, TX

U.S. bank run likely
"Our own experts were quick to point out that such a run is unlikely to happen in the U.S., given that we have a different banking system with more extensive guarantees on deposits, etc. Don't bet on it."
Could a run on a bank happen in the US?
MarketWatch

Interest Rate Cut Comes a Little Too Late
WJHG-TV, FL

What the Fed giveth, it may soon have to taketh away
USA Today

Greenspan Working to Destroy Economy?
Free Market News Network, FL 

Another nail in the real estate industry’s coffin
Blogger News Network 

Double-digit home price drops coming
"Over the next few years, more than three-quarters of the nation's housing markets will suffer some decline in home prices. Many will experience double-digit hits in a forecast that has worsened considerably in recent months."
Cnn Money

Falling home prices hurt borrowers, neighbors
CNNMoney.com 

How We Got into the Subprime Lending Mess Knowledge@Wharton, PA

West Haven: Foreclosure Capital of Connecticut
New Haven Advocate, CT
By Freda Moon When we called Century 21 realtor John Coppola to ask why West Haven has the highest number of foreclosures of any zip code in the state, ...

Slump Leaves Some Real Estate Workers Reeling, Jobless
Voice of San Diego, CA

Contradictions mount in US and world economy in wake of Fed rate cut
World Socialist Web Site, MI 

Subprime layoffs head for record
CNN Money

U.S. Housing Starts Fell in August to 12-Year Low
Bloomberg

The Economic Impact of the Housing Crisis: an Interview with Art Perlo
Political Affairs Magazine, NY

Mega price housing price declines seen on horizon
for major cities through 20011!
Miami and San Fran lead the way...
"Miami, down 29.1% through 2011
San Francisco, down 26.2%
DC, down 20.7%
Vegas, down 19.5%
San Diego, down 19.2%
Denver, down 19.2%
New York, down 18.3%
Boston, down 17.7%
Chicago, down 10.8%"
Traders see 15.4% dip in LA/OC home prices by ‘11
OC Reg, CA

Wednesday Sep 19, 2007

FED cuts interest rates as report shows foreclosures up
49abcnews.com, KS 

Fed Rate Cut Unlikely To Help Many Caught in Mortgage Crisis
KCBS, CA

Housing: What Goes Up Comes Down
Connecticut Business News Journal, CT

Foreclosures soar in Aug. in mid-Mich.; US up 36% (Michigan)
"That's the message some Michigan mortgage experts are sending homeowners in the face of a 44 percent jump in local foreclosures last month. ..."
Lansing State Journal, MI

The great mortgage swindle
Socialist Worker Online, IL 

The debate of the century: exposing the fraud and
financial manipulation against the American people
by the "Fed"!
 
"...why not have a real, open, duke-it-out debate between Dr. Paul and Dr. Greenspan? Their Congressional exchanges between 1997 - 2005 were some of the most informative and entertaining ever. It was through these exchanges -- sometimes broadcast live on CNBC -- that many people, including myself, came to learn of Dr. Paul for the very first time.
Indeed - it would be a win-win-win situation. Gus says, "I have no doubt that Dr. Paul would be the winner. Total annihilation is
more like it." Indeed. However, the biggest winner of all would be the American people, who are in desperate need of an education on how the secretive Federal Reserve controls our monetary system, and by extension, just about everything else in our lives."
Debate of the Century: Ron Paul vs. Alan Greenspan
DailyPaul

Signs suggest housing slump may drag on
BusinessWeek 

Toll Bros. CEO: Housing Plunge Not Over
Forbes, NY 

Foreclosure Filings Up 115 Percent from Last Year (Nationwide)
eFinanceDirectory

Home builders offer deals to lure nervous buyers
MarketWatch 

US homebuilders September index drops to 20 as expected, ties 1991 low
Forbes, NY

Builder confidence: Bad and getting worse CNNMoney.com

Tuesday Sep 18, 2007

Bernanke Looks Set To Announce The First Rate Cut Of His Tenure
Trading Markets, CA

Detroit home values continue mega-plummet
 as median sinks $33k below 2004 levels!
"The region's median home price -- half the homes sold for less, and half sold for more -- fell from $188,275 in August 2004 to $154,919 in August 2007"
House prices tumble 18%
DetNews.com, MI

Employees of mortgage companies risk losing entire
retirement savings as housing market implodes!
"Melville-based American Home Mortgage is attempting to seize as much as $27 million that employees set aside from their paychecks as retirement savings -- and if it is successful, the workers may never see the money again."
American Home tries to seize $27 million in retirement savings
NewsDay.com

Future holds 10% + interest rates: Greenspan
"Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said in an interview published on Monday the Fed would have to raise interest rates to double-digit levels in coming years to thwart inflation."
Greenspan sees double-digit interest rates coming
Reuters

The Closing of the U.S. Home ATM Dooms the Global Economy
Charles Hugh Smith
 

IRS adds foreclosure help section to website
Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription), MN

White House opposes key parts of housing bill
MarketWatch

Mortgage Fraudsters Finding Ways To Exploit Bubble Bust
MortgageNewsDaily.com, AZ 

If you overborrowed for a house, you can blame yourself
Fort Worth Business Press, TX 

Housing Market Continues to Weaken
Inside Futures, IL

E*Trade Cuts Earnings Estimate 25% on Mortgage Losses (Update2)
Bloomberg 

California median home price sinks
by $13,000 in one month!
"The median price paid for a California home last month was $465,000, down 2.7 percent from $478,000 for the month before, and down 1.1 percent from $470,000 for August a year ago."
California August home sales plummet 34.5 percent
Central Valley Business Times, CA

Real Estate Inventory Still Building
Seeking Alpha, NY 

Ailing lender's checks bounce
BaltimoreSun.com

Coping with a Real Estate Bust
Time

Caught in a toxic mortgage CNNMoney.com

Chicago & Los Angeles Lead Top 10 Cities in Nation in High-Cost Loans
Earthtimes.org

Monday Sep 17, 2007

Buyer's market takes hold in home listings
San Jose Mercury News,  USA 
The California Association of Realtors reported that the Central Valley median home was $353820 in July 2006 and dropped to $326600 this year, a 7.7 percent ...

Sellers Hope Discount Housing Will Attract Buyers ABC News  With the mortgage crisis slowing home sales, developers have had to go to great lengths recently to transform house hunters into house buyers. ...

Median home price sinks $9k  below Aug 2006 level
in Clark County, Washington
"For the third month in a row, Clark County home values slipped in August below 2006 levels, as year-over-year sales dropped 21.67 percent.
At $262,400, the median price of new and existing homes sold here last month was 3.2 percent lower than the median price of $271,000 during the same month a year ago..."
County home values continue slide
The Columbian, WA 

Will the Fed rate cut revitalize falling housing market?
"A rate cut would be the first in four years as the Fed considers whether the reduction is needed to stave of an economic recession."
A rate cut would be the first in four years as the Fed considers whether the reduction is needed to stave of an economic recession."
Fed interest rate cut seen this week
WLFI.com, IN

Fed unlikely to take a big ax to rates
Los Angeles Times, CA 

Ron Paul Predicts Economic Crisis For America Here’s the scoop: the dollar is at an all-time low and is still dropping; Alan Greenspan wouldn’t take any responsibility for the sub-prime lending debacle; and the Peoples’ Republic of China is holding nearly $1 trillion in U.S. debt. No quick fixes for these messes. Of the candidates running, only Dr. Paul seems eminently conversant about these problems, but of course fixing them is not the work of one man. He would be up against the FED, the CFR, NAFDA, GATT, the U.N. and others who would undermine our sovereignty. Meanwhile, David Rockefeller and his cohorts and happy: the further erosion of U.S. stability will result in the North American union with Canada and Mexico within two years; all part of the “grand design” of the one world government gang. It is worth of note that most of the top tier candidates are members of the CFR: Giuliani, McCain, Romney, Fred Thompson, Clinton, Edwards, Obama and Joe Biden. A vote for any of these candidates will mean–despite assurances–more of the same destabilizing policies that will eventually eliminate the United States and our Constitution. Ron Paul for president! Product Reviews, UK

Abolish the Fed, for a Start "The Federal Reserve Bank should be abolished. It is a private institution, not a branch of the federal government, given the right to print money and so control our economy. It was established in defiance of the constitution and the intentions of our founding fathers, who rebelled against the central bank of England as much as against King George. The Fed is responsible for our system of debt financing, which is nothing more than a legalized pyramid scheme." The People's Voice, TN

Condo troubles squeeze lenders
"Already plagued by rising home-loan defaults and foreclosures among overstretched consumers, major markets across the country - including parts of Florida, California and Washington, D.C. - are seeing rising foreclosures and bankruptcies of entire condo projects."
Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC

Bubble buyers regret home purchasing decisions
when foreclosure hits
"The monthly mortgage payment, $1,240, seemed high, considering he clears only $1,400 a month as an equipment operator for the county. But the lender, the now-defunct Homefield Financial of Irvine, Calif., told him he could refinance at a lower rate once he built up equity in the house. And, if he got in a bind, he figured he could always sell it for more than he paid.
Now, he wonders what he and Homefield were thinking.
"I just wish they had never given me that loan," said Bench, 48, who has been swept up in the wave of foreclosures sweeping the county, the state and the nation.
In May, a judge approved the foreclosure of Bench's house on Cedar Drive. It will be sold at public auction at the Hernando County Government Center on Thursday."
Buyer regret haunts housing
St. Petersburg Times, FL

Foreclosure Proceedings Set Record
"For all loan types, 5 percent of borrowers — nearly 2.5 million people — missed at least one payment last quarter. That’s up from 4.4 percent in the same period last year."
Hartford Business

Personal Finance: If you lose your home, tax hit may add to agony
Modesto Bee, CA 

Falling home prices smack Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado, California counties
"Looking a bit closer to home, the real estate markets in Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties are continuing to struggle with sales and falling prices.  Compared to August 2006 sales of existing home were down 32.9 percent in Sacramento County, 7.2 percent in Placer County and 12.2 percent in El Dorado County.  The median price of sold home in Sacramento declined 13.9 percent to $310,000.  This was down $10,000 from July 2007.  In Placer County the drop from last August was, $30,500 (-6.6 percent) to $429,500.  Compared to last month the decline was $7,500.  Finally, in El Dorado, we saw a decline in the median price from last year of 10.5 percent to $428,750."
Foreclosures and the future
Rocklin and Roseville Today, CA

Effects of housing troubles reach shopping centers
Arkansas Democrat Gazette, AR

The late great home equity line of credit?
"Back when the real estate market was flying at 30,000 feet, getting a home-equity line of credit was a pretty straightforward process. You called a toll-free number, asked for a loan, and within hours, a guy with a suitcase full of money showed up at your door.
It's a lot harder now. Some lenders have stopped offering home-equity lines of credit and home-equity loans altogether, even to borrowers with good credit. And lenders that still offer the loans are being a lot more selective."
Home-equity loans get harder to obtain
Jackson Clarion Ledger, MS

MORTGAGE MARKETS TURMOIL COULD BRING BUST BIGGER THAN DOT.COM
SanFranciscoSentinel.com, CA

Rate Cuts Will Make Inflation Problem Worse
SmartMoney

Queens, NY sees median home price tumble $38k in one month!
"Queens saw the greatest change, with the median home price dropping to $434,300 in August, down from $480,000 a year earlier and from $472,000 in July..."
House prices stable in Nassau and Suffolk, down in Queens
NewsDay.com

AZFamily (subscription)

Sort out mess in mortgages Lancaster Eagle Gazette, OH ...Yet it would be completely irresponsible for government to bail out virtually every homeowner in trouble when millions of other Americans have continued to ...

Don't be fooled by for-sale homes that are 'staged'
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL

Spectre of the Great Depression haunts America's top banker
Observer.Gaurdian.uk

Greenspan alert on US house prices
"US house prices are likely to fall significantly from their present levels, Alan Greenspan has told the Financial Times, admitting that there was a bubble in the US housing market."
FT.com

Who is buying stocks as full-blown housing crash approaches? "With a full-blown real estate crash perhaps no more than five or six months away, and the black clouds of recession-or-worse massing on the horizon, you have to wonder what kind of dolt would be buying stocks at these levels." Who Are Dolts Buying Stocks? Gold Seek

Real Estate Market of 2008 May Be Worse than 2007, Says Watchdog Group
Associated Content, CO

Washington Post

Northern Rock profit warning after Bank bail-out Times Online, UK

Weekend Update

August Home Prices Voice of San Diego, CA Over the past twelve months, according to this measure, single family resale home prices are down 5.4 percent while condo prices are off 7.3 percent. ...

Economic fraudster Greenspan finally seen as failure he really is!
"Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said he ``didn't really get'' how the boom in subprime lending might hurt the economy..."
Greenspan Says He Failed to Foresee Subprime Rout
Bloomberg

Mesa / Chandler / Gilbert, Arizona see further declining home prices
"Perhaps more disturbing to Mesa homeowners who have houses on the market or are considering it, prices in the city continued to decline, dropping to $237,000 in August, from $240,000 in 2006.
It could be worse, Chandler's median resale price dropped from $308,000 to $282,800 in the past year, and Gilbert home resale prices fell to $300,000 from $320,000 in 2006."
Mesa home sales continue decline seen across Valley
AZ Central.com, AZ 

Countrywide in worst shape since it's inception!
"Countrywide Financial Corp. grew from a two-man startup in 1969 to become the nation's leading mortgage lender by deftly riding out housing boom-and-bust cycles. This time around, however, the ride has been a lot rougher, leaving the company in a scramble to regain its footing as the housing market has turned from boom to bust."
Countrywide caught in mortgage spiral
BusinessWeek

Broke but Still Borrowing
"ANDREW LEONARD of Salon warned this week that the bankruptcy reform measures that Congress passed in 2005 will make the current credit squeeze even worse. Now that “Americans are once again running up their credit card bills as they try to find a way to keep afloat without the help of magically appreciating home prices,” he wrote, “we may find out exactly how smart this ‘reform’ will turn out to be.”
Tuscaloosa News (subscription), AL

Real estate: Seller’s are learning that it’s now a buyer’s market. Providence Journal (subscription), RI  In July, condo sales were down 4.2 percent from a year before, with 207 condo sales this July compared to 216 in July 2006, and the median price dropped 2.5 ...

Mortgage crisis hurting tenants Some renters illegally evicted from buildings in foreclosure
San Mateo County Times, CA 

Solano sees home sales, prices drop
"The number of homes sold in Solano County fell to 418 from 730 in August 2006 - a 42.7 percent drop. The average home price decreased to $420,000 last month compared to $465,000 in August 2006 - a 9.7 percent drop."
TheReporter.com, CA 

Auctioneers come up empty in an attempt to sell home
"Spieth and his partner, Daniel Satow, are negotiating hotly to sell a 10–acre parcel, with beautiful log home, in Jefferson Township, despite coming up short in an attempt to auction it off Thursday night. The auction ended about $25,000 shy of the lowest bid acceptable to owner Lyle Hukill."
The Hillsdale Daily News, MI 

Analyst: Fed rate cut no rescue for mortgage biz
CNN Money

Washington Mutual shutting down Anaheim subprime unit
OC Register

Real estate agents seeking other jobs Providence Journal (subscription), RI

Video: 60 Minutes Attacks Greenspan
YAhoonews

The Party's Over for American Consumers
Seattletimes

Greater Phoenix resale numbers end summer on sour note Arizona State University, Tempe  The median home price in August was $255000 in comparison to $265000 for July and last year’s $262500. The most evident impact of lower prices is improved ...

Tuesday Sep 4, 2007

Major bailout is unlikely on sub-prime mortgages
The Hill, DC

Tucson housing cheerleader advises to buy now before prices rise
....as home prices fall in Arizona
"Now is the ideal time to buy because we are seeing prices lower than they have been in a long time," said John Strobeck, owner of the Tucson based Bright Future Business Consultants. "They won't stay as low as they are now. … I would say that within a year we will see prices inch back upward."
Arizona home prices drop for the first time in 16 years

Deceived by the Fed
"Everyone knows who the Federal Reserve Board is. They are the folks who told us that there was no housing bubble."
Being the Fed Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry
TPMCafe, NY

The Fed and the Housing Bubble: Interest Rates Weren't the Only Option
The American Prospect, MA

When will housing prices stop falling?
MSNBC

Bush's Bogus Bailout: Introduction to Tony Soprano Economics 101 The People's Voice, TN

Is your lender a risk taker?
NorthJersey.com, NJ

AZ homeowners need to begin drastic price reductions
if they want to unload the home
"A couple of weeks ago, Chandler homeowners Gary and Debbie Meltzer decided to slash the asking price for their house by nearly $100,000.
The four-bedroom home had been for sale since March, they had received little interest and the housing market was still deteriorating. The couple knew they would have to gradually drop the price anyway — just like the rest of the sellers in their area.""
Experts: Be realistic with asking price (AZ)
EastValleyTribune

Countrywide's message of confidence turned to crisis
Los Angeles Times, CA

Recession Risk Rises as Consumers Feel Pain of Tighter Credit
Bloomberg

In America's foreclosure capital, a lesson in mortgages
MarketWatch

Credit turmoil ‘has hallmarks of bank run’
"The current turmoil in the financial markets has all the characteristics of a classic banking crisis, but one that is taking place outside the traditional banking sector, Axel Weber, president of the Bundesbank, said at the weekend."
FT.com

Mortgage mess echoes in Congress
Los Angeles Times, CA go
Soaring home foreclosures. Foreclosures in California surged to a record 17408 for the three months that ended June 30, up nearly 800% over the same period...

Few Expect a Panacea in a Rate Cut by the Fed
BlueRidgeNow.com, NC

10 rules for buyers in a slow market (NJ)
"This year's slow market is likely to become even slower as the leaves turn and the weather grows colder."
NorthJersey.com

More Minnesotans going broke; others can't afford it
"Bankruptcy filings in Minnesota are up 60% this year, but some can't even afford to file."
StarTribune.com

Boise, Idaho median home asking price takes dive
Median declines $10k in since July!
HousingTracker.net: Median Home Asking Price & Inventory Data for Boise, Idaho
HousingTracker

Salt Lake City, Utah home asking prices plunge
Median crashes down nearly $30k since July!
HousingTracker.net: Median Home Asking Price & Inventory Data for Salt Lake City, Utah
HousingTracker

Monday Sep 3, 2007 (Happy Labor Day)

Value of city homes may decrease by half
"Homes may lose as much as half their value in some U.S. cities as the housing bust deepens, according to Yale University professor Robert Shiller."
Worcester Telegram, MA

The New Money Pit
"It started with subprime mortgages. Now owners of McMansions are defaulting, and the effects of the housing bust are beginning to ripple through the economy."
MSNBC

Fresno tract speaks to slump
Fresno Bee (subscription), CA

The Real Causes of the Financial Storm
WashingtonPost

Former Subprime Leader Ameriquest Closes
"Ameriquest Mortgage Co., once the nation's largest subprime lender, will close with barely a whimper, after the other assets of its parent company were sold Friday to Citigroup Inc.
Ameriquest, which saw its fortunes soar during the housing boom by lending to people with less than stellar credit, is the latest victim of a mortgage crisis that has left bankrupt companies and cash-strapped borrowers in its wake."
AP / Yahoo Finance

Lender crisis hits San Luis Obispo County
"21st Century Mortgage Co., a Paso Robles-based firm that was one of the largest local lenders specializing in high-risk mortgages, has closed after 10 years in business."
SanLuisObispo.com

San Diego median home asking price
has now dropped $70k under Aug 2005 prices!
HousingTracker: Median Home Price & Inventory Data for San Diego, California
HousingTracker

Phoenix median home asking price sinks to
$75k beloe Aug 2005 price!
HousingTracker: Median Home Price & Inventory Data for Phoenix, Arizona
HousingTracker

NAR President Issues Statement on Bush’s Proposed FHA Changes
RisMedia.com (press release), CT 

15% of Homes for Sale in Detroit for Under $20,000
MJPerryBlogspot

10314 zip code tops list of  foreclosures here
Staten Island Advance

Housing crash engulfing Cleveland?
"TAMMI and Charles Eggleston never took out a risky mortgage, never borrowed more than they could afford and never missed a monthly payment on their neat, three-bedroom colonial in the Cleveland suburbs. But that hasn’t prevented them from getting caught in the undertow of the subprime mortgage mess now submerging this town."
Can the Mortgage Crisis Swallow a Town?
BlueRidgeNow.com, NC

Congress, Bush push foreclosure law reform
Lansing State Journal, MI

A Tip on How to Make Money in a Housing Downturn: Rent
eFinanceDirectory

Recession fears build on US housing woes
Denver Post, CO

THE MORTGAGE DOMINO EFFECT
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO 

Bad outlook for homeowners
"This is worse than the 1990s' recession -- they didn't have a comparable run-up of prices then. We'll still have a vibrant economy, but middle-income people will be hit hard. Losing $150,000 on a home will affect their living standards for a long, long time."
LATimes.com

White House Has It all WRONG On Subprime - with video
CNBC

Bush bailout pledge gets cool reception in L.A.
DailyNews.com