Free Republic

My blogs attract some very interesting readers due to their lack of real estate cheerleading. It has always been my intent to be direct, straightforward, present the facts, and let my readers make up their own minds about current Boise real estate market conditions and activity. I was recently asked by a major lender investigating loan fraud in the Boise real estate market to help analyze the number of vacant home listings in our market. This was the second time I have been contacted by a lender who subscribes to my blog who was looking into suspicious loans in the...

NEW YORK-Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), the second-largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Tuesday it would take a $1.4 billion fourth-quarter charge largely related to losses on home equity loans as the nation's housing market deteriorates. The company, which is also the fifth-largest U.S. bank, said it also was significantly scaling back making home equity loans through brokers, citing a need to tighten lending standards and reduced demand from investors to buy the loans. Wells Fargo had said in July it would stop making subprime home loans, which go to people with weaker credit, through brokers. Shares of Wells Fargo...

No one knows how severe the slump will be, but economists and real estate experts interviewed by The Times, and who were willing to make predictions, said prices could fall 15% to 25% before turning back up. Most said values would continue falling through at least next year, and some thought the market wouldn't reverse course until 2010. That could translate to big declines for home buyers who bought at the peak of the market, which various measures place in late 2006 or early 2007. For example, a home that sold for $800,000 in 2006 could fall to $600,000 over...

Let me the first to predict the republican ticket for 08. GIULIANI-HUCKABEE. Do I like it? not really. Whom do the Freepers that are in the real world (I'm outside CONUS) and get their news from other sources besides CNN and Al-Jazeera think the candidates will be.

NovaStar Financial shares sank by roughly half Thursday after the company, which has halted subprime mortgage lending, posted a big quarterly loss and said bankruptcy is possible. The company late Wednesday posted a $598 million third-quarter loss, or $64.05 per share. Results reflected a nearly ten-fold increase in bad loans, mortgage write-downs, higher legal bills, a charge to end the company's real estate investment trust status, and other items. Profit a year earlier totaled $25.3 million, or $2.91 per share, NovaStar said. In its quarterly report filed with securities regulators, Kansas City, Mo.-based NovaStar outlined several scenarios under which it...

A frantic two-hour auction Saturday in downtown Fresno was a sign of the times as bidders snapped up 48 new houses -- most for thousands of dollars below the builder's original list price.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - For a man who insists he is not running for president, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the subject of much recent speculation. Newsweek's latest issue carries a cover story on the businessman-turned-mayor in which a top aide, Kevin Sheekey, refers to an independent Bloomberg presidential run: "If it happens, it's a billion-dollar campaign." The fact that Bloomberg is quoted in the same piece saying "I am not running for president" seemed to do little to calm the waters. Another news report analyzed his shifting answers -- moving from "I'm not running" to "I'm not a...

French president warns US it cannot allow currency to collapse as Europe suffers from euro's rise. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has warned the United States Congress that the US risks triggering "economic war" if it attempts to devalue its way out of trouble by allowing a relentless slide in the dollar. The stunning remarks came as the greenback plunged to a record low of $1.4731 against the euro, causing a chorus of angry protests from industrial leaders in France and Italy. The dollar breached $2.10 against sterling for the first time since the early Thatcher years in 1981. On...

Is it just me or are we all getting pretty tired of FNC’s abuse of “Breaking News” and “News Alerts”? It amazes me that you can’t watch one day’s worth of programming on America’s “fair and balanced” network without being assaulted by these false overtures. The producers at the FNC must think we are the dumbest viewers in the history of television news. The recent fires in Southern California provided almost every anchor on Fox with the opportunity to over-dramatize the events of the day. I’ve never seen so many “Breaking News” reports on one story in my life. And...

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. home prices fell nationwide in August for the eighth consecutive month, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. And things could get worse, said Yale economist Robert Shiller, who helped create the index. "There is really no positive news in today's report," said Shiller, chief economist for MacroMarkets, which collaborated with S&P on the indicator. Home prices as measured by the index have fallen more every month since the beginning of the year. August is the 21st month of decelerating returns. An index of 10 U.S. cities fell 5 percent in August from a year...

<p>America’s mortgage crisis is likely to get considerably worse because the level of fraudulent lending to unsuitable borrowers was much higher than previously estimated, Standard & Poor’s said yesterday.</p> <p>David Wyss, the ratings agency’s chief economist, said that defaults on high-risk “sub-prime” mortgages would continue to soar as unqualified mortgage-holders struggled to meet their repayments, tightening the credit markets and dragging down the American economy.</p>

NEVADA, Iowa: The ethanol boom of recent years — which spurred a frenzy of distillery construction, record corn prices, rising food prices and hopes of a new future for rural America — may be fading. Only last year, farmers here spoke of a biofuel gold rush, and they rejoiced as prices for ethanol and the corn used to produce it set records. But companies and farm cooperatives have built so many distilleries so quickly that the ethanol market is suddenly plagued by a glut, in part because the means to distribute it have not kept pace. The average national ethanol...

After perusing the blizzard of U.S. economic data that we've gotten this week, you could easily—and quite plausibly—draw this megaconclusion: The Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again, inflation is under control, and while the economy is weakening, it won't slip into recession. Here is the evidence: 1) Yes, the housing market is still dreadful. New-home sales in August hit their lowest point in seven years and are down 21 percent from a year ago. But don't forget that housing is less than 5 percent of the total economy. It's not the whole ballgame. 2) Employment remains amazingly resilient. Initial...

Bin Laden may have just escaped U.S. forces August mission in Tora Bora almost snared 'high value target' A little more than a month ago, with the anniversary of Sept. 11 approaching and fears of a new al Qaeda attack rising, some U.S. intelligence and military analysts thought they had found one of the world’s two most wanted men just where they last saw them six years ago. For three days and nights — between Aug. 14 and 16 — U.S. and Afghanistan forces pounded the mountain caves in Tora Bora, the same caves where Osama Bin Laden had hidden...

...In April, daily turnover in currency markets rose to $3.2 trillion, the bank said yesterday. That's more in value than the annual economic output of Germany or China, changing hands in currency markets every day around the world. It's also up 71% from the BIS's last survey in 2004, the largest jump in volume since the institution began conducting its benchmark survey in 1989. The currency market is "the world's biggest fruit and vegetable stall," says Jim O'Neill, global head of economic research at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. "There are so many participants in it, and it adjusts very quickly...

NEWARK, N.J. - Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., struggling like other home builders, is offering six-figure discounts on some of its properties this weekend as it attempts to draw interest in a slumping market. The sales blitz involves dropping prices by more 20 percent on some of its prime real estate. The largest discounts are on the most expensive homes, including a 3-bedroom condominium by the Hudson River in West New York, which has been reduced $240,000, or 22 percent, to $862,000 this weekend. A 25-percent discount is being offered on a 2-bedroom home in Jackson Township, N.J., which lowers its price...

Subprime Mortgage Woes Push New Foreclosures to a Record High WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of homeowners receiving foreclosure notices hit a record high in the spring, driven up by problems with subprime mortgages. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported Thursday that mortgage-holders starting the foreclosure process in the April-June quarter reached 0.65 percent, marking the third consecutive quarter that this figure has set an all-time high. The delinquency rate, which tracks the number of people who are behind in their payments but have not yet entered the foreclosure process, was also up sharply during the spring, rising to 5.12 percent...

Metro housing slide keeps repo man busy 'Snowball effect' from mortgage woes, easy credit keeps lot overflowing By TAMMY JOYNER The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 09/03/07 Swing by Richard Grosvenor's business for a closeup of how quickly the nation's housing market is unraveling. In the last six months, Grosvenor and his repo drivers have hauled in hundreds of vehicles in the course of normal business. Richard Grosvenor stands amongst repossessed vehicles, including a Corvette taken from a plumber (left), on his 3-acre lot at Speedy Recovery in Lithonia on August 29, 2007. With credit and mortgage problems rising, Grosvenor has...

A strong economy with a weak housing sector is the picture painted by economic data released today. According to the Commerce Department, U.S. construction spending fell in July as outlays for housing plunged. Construction declined by 0.4 percent. The decline followed a 0.1 percent gain in June. Meanwhile, economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in August for the seventh consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for the 70th consecutive month...

State leads U.S. in investor-owned loan failures, study says Nevada had one of the hottest housing markets for investors two years ago. Now it is the top state for investor-owned mortgage defaults, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported Thursday. The Silver State leads the nation in the percentage of residential real estate mortgage defaults for investors, both in the prime and subprime mortgages categories, the association reported. The association said 32 percent of prime mortgage defaults in Nevada were for non-owner occupied properties as of June 30. Arizona, with 26 percent, came in second. Prime mortgages are loans to borrowers with...