“Mortgage default notices are up across the country, and that’s true here in San Joaquin County. About one in 10 homes on the market now is either a bank-owned foreclosure property or a short-sale.”

“‘It is a good time for the buyer as long as you’re smart,’ said Dale Gray, CEO of the Central Valley Association of Realtors.”

A smart buyer does not listen to a Realtor....

From the SacBee opinion piece:

“Legislators must have the courage to stand up to the lending industry, which continues to oppose stronger California laws, and protect consumers from reckless, abusive loans. The home mortgage crisis in California is not going to be self-correcting.”

Short the food stocks.

Tainted Wheat Gluten Sold as "Food Grade"

David Goldstein: Tainted Wheat Gluten Sold as "Food Grade"

Bubble is moving to Australia:

Google Trends: real estate

Mortgage woes seen holding US growth "below trend"

A credit crunch stemming from turmoil in the subprime mortgage market will trigger further weakness in housing and keep U.S. economic growth "below trend" most of this year, a UCLA Anderson Forecast unit said in a report on Monday.

The sluggish growth will help clear the way for the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy at the end of the second quarter despite a historically low 4.5 percent unemployment rate, the economic forecasting unit said in its report.

Mortgage woes seen holding US growth below trend
| Reuters

Well Duh!

Thank God NEW is finally filing. The suspense has been killing me.

If you think this subprime thing is bad wait until the corn bubble bursts.

It's going to be a bloodbath.

You know that definition of insanity...here it is brought to you by Congress.

If there is a borrower bailout, think of all the subprime candidates that will have missed out on the free lunch. We need to get these people into the market now, before we lose a valuable constituency!

There's so much out there... An Error Occurred

Actually, I take that back. The 2006 bill passed, so who knows what the 2007 version looks like.

Max, you are the wind beneath my wings.

More shit to get fired up about in the 2006 version:

(3) Existing technology systems for the FHA program have not been updated to meet the latest standards of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization and have numerous deficiencies that lenders have outlined.

(2) the goal of this investment should be to bring the technology used in such FHA program to the level and sophistication of the technology used in the conventional mortgage lending market, or to exceed such level

I have exactly no problem with bringing FHA up to MISMO standards. Any researcher out there who has struggled with comparing FHA data to conventional market data would be glad about this; trust me.

MISMO has squat to do with AUS. It's a data standard.

But does anyone else think it's a little weird to pay for this out of insurance premiums? Besides the obvious issue of taking credit-loss insurance premia to pay for overhead, what's with the idea that borrowers should pay the cost of tech that makes life easier for lenders? What about a little surcharge on FHA lenders? Where's all that rah-rah about how technological innovation passes cost savings onto consumers?

Gawd, it's 9:30 on Monday and I'm already wound up past my limits.

Thanks, Kevin. Remember that HUD (FHA) is not a GSE. It's a plain old government agency, not a "sponsored enterprise." So HR 1427 is the Fannie/Freddie deform--sorry, "reform"--not the FHA "reform."

ISM (mnf) comes in at 50.9 down from 52.3 (all comps month to month), employment subindex at 48.7 vs 51.1, new orders 51.6 vs 54.9, order backlog at 47 vs 51.5.

ISM (mnf) comes in at 50.9 down from 52.3 (all comps month to month), employment subindex at 48.7 vs 51.1, new orders 51.6 vs 54.9, order backlog at 47 vs 51.5.

Maufacturing is only 12% of the economy, it could fall to zero and not really matter. BUY MORE STOCKS NOW.

Since asking for things has worked out so well for me this morning . . .

Do any of you Real Economists have a link to a decently accessible article or blog musing or something online on the subject of reification of economic constructs?

If it's too po-mo, I warn you I won't read it. I am a recreational reader of literary criticism, so I get my RDA of that stuff from other food sources. If it's just a little po-mo I'll read it. If it's not po-mo enough it may not be what I'm looking for. But I'm not picky.

Sorry not to do my own damned research, but hell, I'm a mortgage lender. I'm here to exploit people.

TIA.

the fact that I had to look up 'reification' means I won't be able to help you, but what's po-mo?

Post-modernism.

It evokes a discursive mise-en-scene valorizing libidinal disruptions in the binary economy of signifier refinancing signified in order to mis/rep/re/sent stasis as stability, a mere nostalgia for always already lost innocence. In this fashion it brings capitalism to its knees. Or something. I suspect you had to have been there.

In short, money is not longer a store of value. There is no need for capitalism.

The commons will be restored to the village and the peasants to their ancestral homes.

In short, money is not longer a store of value. There is no need for capitalism.

If credit becomes much tighter, that could increase the value of money, providing it doesn't lead to economic collapse.

The big question to determining the future value of money in the US, I believe, is the actions of the Fed and the US government. Do they systematically devalue the dollar to attempt to kick some life back into the economy?

That's the problem we've gotten ourselves into now with all the borrowing and asset bubbles - it's kind of a lose-lose scenario.