Mortgages

It has been a few months since I’ve done a thorough analysis of the California housing and economic situation.  Given the current changes I think it warrants another close look.  The last article I did regarding California with an in depth perspective laid out 10 reasons why I thought California would not face a housing […]

As October came to a spectacular end, the housing market is still in severe distress.  You would think that all the massive government intervention would at least do something in regards to stabilizing prices but unfortunately for Uncle Sam, prices are determined by local area incomes and fundamental factors.  The massive economic intervention which has […]

Figuring out housing prices isn’t rocket science.  There is no need for a master’s degree in financial engineering to figure this out folks.  Even as the housing market continues its downward slump, we are still at overpriced levels.  Why?  Well historically, housing as an investment only tracks with the nation’s inflation rate.  That is until […]

Lehman Brothers, an investment bank that dates back to 1850, prior to the Civil War has now filed for bankruptcy.  A storied institutions that has survived two World Wars, the Great Depression, and practically every other calamity in its 158-year history is no longer solvent.  As of 1am on September 15, 2008 the investment bank […]

Even though the first week of September started with a short week for the market, there were plenty of financial fireworks to go around.  During the week the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that on mortgage loans on one-to-four unit residential properties that 6.41 percent of all outstanding loans in the second quarter were delinquent.  This […]

Ben Bernanke is spending some quality time in Jackson Hole Wyoming.  In his prepared speech, Federal Chairman Ben Bernanke talked about “reducing systemic risk.”  The problem however is that as the credit crisis has rippled throughout the economy the mystique of the Federal Reserve has diminished greatly.  The former Federal Chairman Alan Greenspan still had […]

Much to my surprise as I was watching the Olympics this weekend, guess who appeared at the events in China?  Our own Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was out on a vacation in China.  He was on Meet the Press with Tom Brokaw discussing the economic situation back home in the United States.  Everyone is entitled […]

Even though the market is once again enjoying a delusion sandwich covered in toxic mortgage mustard, the reality on the ground continues to become grimmer. Wachovia, one of the nation’s largest banks announced an $8.9 billion quarterly loss and that they’ll be slashing over 6,000 from their workforce. Oh, and the dividend is […]

It has been one week since Pasadena based IndyMac Bank was taken over by the FDIC. After the market closed on Friday, the FDIC had assumed control over the troubled institution which was the second largest bank failure in history with assets totaling $32 billion. Initially, since it had been a very long […]

Affordable housing and California usually are not used in the same sentence. Whenever people think of California I can assure you that affordable housing is not the first thing that pops into their mind. Yet there may be a positive aspect to the current housing bubble bursting and that may include more affordable […]