Housing
The Looming Shadow: State Estimates of Shadow Inventory - NAR
Kiss The Foreclosure Settlement Goodbye: Bank of America, Wells And JP Morgan Are Sued Over Use Of MERS – Zero Hedge
The lawsuit further asserts that the MERS System has effectively eliminated homeowners’ and the public’s ability to track property transfers through the traditional public records system. Instead, this information is now stored only in a private database – which is plagued with inaccuracies and errors – over which MERS and its financial institution members exercise sole control. Additional defendants include BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, Chase Home Finance LLC, EMC Mortgage Corporation, and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc.
Will rising interest rates cause house prices to crash? - OC Housing News
Real Estate Professionals Feeling Brunt of Recession – DS News
Eighty-eight percent of real estate professionals in a recent survey said they have lost money since 2008 or are living off significantly less income. Many are dipping into savings to make ends meet.(only 80%?)
After Three Years, Homeowners Still Being Treated as Political Pawns – Mother Jones
It’s hard not to think that his latest proposal is meant more to score political points when Republicans vote it down than it is to actually help homeowners.
Vegas default notices down substantially following tough lender law – HousingWire
Investors (and Others) Realizing Their Ox is About to be Gored in Mortgage Settlement - Naked Capitalism
Taking from the first lienholders to save the second lienholders to keep otherwise insolvent banks from going under amounts to a transfer from private parties to the government, as in it saves the FDIC from needing an emergency injection from Congress, as it did in the savings and loan crisis. So as much as I’d rather see this deal scuttled, it would terribly amusing to see Obama tidy’s efforts to generate pretend to help homeowners while really helping the banks sidetracked by litigation. The courts have stymied bank efforts to get away with their heist, and they may prove to be their bane yet again.
You might be a moron if… - Psycopathic Economics 101
You think the real estate market is “nearing a bottom”. A statement like that directly shows that you [read: a certain economic reporter for a mainstream rag] have no economic understanding of bubbles. All bubbles over-correct. This was the biggest bubble in economic history.
Economy, Jobs, & Europe
January Employment Report: 243,000 Jobs, 8.3% Unemployment Rate - CR
In January, those “Not in Labor Force” rose by an amazing 1,177,000. If you are not in the labor force, you are not counted as unemployed.
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Some of those labor force numbers are due to annual revisions. However, the point remains: People are dropping out of the labor force at an astounding, almost unbelievable rate, holding the unemployment rate artificially low.
Misc.
The Future of Work for High School Grads – The Atlantic
Colbert v. the Court – Slate
As he explained to his viewers, his hope was that “Colbert Nation could have a voice, in the form of my voice, shouted through a megaphone made of cash … the American dream. And that dream is simple. That anyone, no matter who they are, if they are determined, if they are willing to work hard enough, someday they could grow up to create a legal entity which could then receive unlimited corporate funds, which could be used to influence our elections.”
Just Fill the Darn Potholes, We’ll Do the Rest – Caroline Baum
Only 1 in 3 Americans Wants To Get Married – Slate
BERNANKE TO SAVERS: WE DON’T OWE YOU A LIVIN - A Dash of Insight
February 3, 2012
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