Rob Dawg (homepage, profile) wrote on Tue, 4/28/2009 - 9:19 am
This cliff is greased not sticky.
Wile E. Coyote moment.
Just amazing rates of decline.
If the uptake is about 90-180 days out, we won't see the credit contraction from Feb until next month, minimum.
I am no longer blase about the upcoming secondary contraction. I thought it would be a multi-year grind. I think now it is going to be a rollercoaster of thrills, chills and excitement from July-September.
I'm just back after escaping whilst being held hostage in the financial wilderness by a cult of econ-terrorists that tried to torture me by sticking green shoots under my fingernails...
Mike in Long Island (profile) wrote on Tue, 4/28/2009 - 9:29 am
CR - if not too much trouble would it be possible to add a 2nd order polynomial trend line to the charts?
No offense if you are a TA acolyte, but if you are drifting into it unawares -- making future primary slope predictions from the second order derivative is based on fundamental assumptions about underlying trend behavior that I don't think are necessarily valid here. It'll work until it doesn't.
Don't eat a big dose of Lucifer's Inverted Hammer unless you know what you are doing.
Byzantine_Ruins (profile) wrote on Tue, 4/28/2009 - 6:29 am reply Ignore user
Rob Dawg (homepage, profile) wrote on Tue, 4/28/2009 - 9:19 am
This cliff is greased not sticky.
Wile E. Coyote moment.
Just amazing rates of decline.
If the uptake is about 90-180 days out, we won't see the credit contraction from Feb until next month, minimum.
I am no longer blase about the upcoming secondary contraction. I thought it would be a multi-year grind. I think now it is going to be a rollercoaster of thrills, chills and excitement from July-September.
Welcome. There's always room for more in this ride. This "leveling off" is second derivative not trend. 2 years ago seasonal declines were 0-0.5% per month. Last year 3.5-4.0% per month. This year 2.0-2.5% per month.
The Opportunist's Guide to Real Estate...Manhattan's RE crash is in the early stages...inventory is still building, and prices have dropped only 10-20%, after nearly tripling. But NY magazine has decided to publish a handy guide to knife-catching, for those who can't wait to get clipped.
Mike in Long Island -- a 2nd order polynomial regression line, if extrapolated, would over-exaggerate the drop in prices and claim they are headed to zero. The reason is that as the YoY decline begins to bottom out and head positive, the 2nd order polynomial won't pick that up until it is also significantly expressed in the main graph, probably a year or more out. Even then, the 2nd order will be busy matching the peak data, and won't capture the latest data very well as a result. Some would say that a 3rd order would then be necessary, to which I say that will eventually over-exaggerate and it will look like prices are headed towards infinity. To quote George Box, "essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful."
The best technique I can recommend for buying and selling stocks anyway is to fit an exponential moving average (EMA) to it, with sufficient data points to prevent the real price values and the EMA from crossing very much. Then you buy the asset when the real values go above the EMA, and sell when the real values go below the EMA. This technique works well for stocks, but with house prices it may be too slow to react without reducing the EMA data points, which leads to the excessive "crossing over" I am referring to. Plus I doubt you'd want to buy and sell your house as much as you would with stocks. :^) It may however be a good indicator for when to buy and begin holding.
Byzantine Ruins and I are along the same line of thinking... Using a regression line works great for normal data, but this is clearly not normal data. It is bimodal or polymodal at best, and polymodal with a mixture of Cauchy distributions at worst. Cauchy distributions are very elusive because they appear to be normal distributions, but they effectively have no mean/variance/etc. and as a result they render most statistical calculations meaningless.
No offense if you are a TA acolyte, but if you are drifting into it unawares -- making future primary slope predictions from the second order derivative is based on fundamental assumptions about underlying trend behavior that I don't think are necessarily valid here. It'll work until it doesn't.
Don't eat a big dose of Lucifer's Inverted Hammer unless you know what you are doing.
No offense taken at all. I am fully aware of the concept of "it works until it doesn't" - thinking was it may be useful to highlight the extremes of both the run up in prices and the current implosion. I'm thinking a return to 1995 to 2000 pricing in my neck of the woods - for me that's a decline to $250k ish from a high of $600k to $650k ish or 50 to 60% off. Median household incomes are @ $85,000 so 3 times gets you to @ $250k.
"A cash-rich buyer looks at a property [in NY] and offers 50 percent off the asking price. Later, it turns out he did the same thing at ten other properties, and one of the sellers actually bit. .......... “We’re actually a little shocked,” said Vals Osborne, senior vice-president of Stribling and a veteran of the high-end market. “There is something crass about it.”
More Treasury issuance next week (following on dum luk's post):
May 4 couple bill auctions
May 5 note, bill
May 6 10 yr note
May 7 30 yr bond
We are pigs at the trough! Love us some debt, yum.
from zerohedge yesterday:
The United States Treasury announced that it will need to borrow $361 billion for the April-June Quarter, higher by $196 billion than announced previously in February, compared with $13 billion in 2008. This is traditionally the cash heavy tax-receipt quarter in which borrowing needs should be the lowest...
The United States Treasury announced that it will need to borrow $361 billion for the April-June Quarter, higher by $196 billion than announced previously in February, compared with $13 billion in 2008. This is traditionally the cash heavy tax-receipt quarter in which borrowing needs should be the lowest...
The scary part is this is the lowest borrowing we can expect.
No offense taken at all. I am fully aware of the concept of "it works until it doesn't"
That's okay. There's no criticism, it's just, making sure you know what you are holding and what it is good for. That is the kind of thing that can take a shorty's hand off.
There's an interesting hazard squeezing both ends of morals in money and misdemeanors
We all know very well how haphazard the morals are upstairs in high finance, but this decision by the Contra Costa County D.A. not to handle misdemeanors anymore, as they don't have the wherewithal to prosecute, due to budget cuts...
Comes at a high cost, as it essentially gives free-range to small-time thievery.
........ tax receipts aren't coming in at the rate they were expected? What a surprise.
I think the Treasury, the WH, both Legislatures, and the SEC should "test-fly" all new proposals thru Calculated Risk beforehand. It would save a lot of wasted time and stupid publicity releases and policy revisions.
Zero Hedge: The United States Treasury announced that it will need to borrow $361 billion for the April-June Quarter, higher by $196 billion than announced previously in February, compared with $13 billion in 2008. This is traditionally the cash heavy tax-receipt quarter in which borrowing needs should be the lowest
Go on, explain to me why the continuance of the Treasuries market is based on rationality.
NYC tax receipts were down 50% in April per Bloomberg this am. Confidnece number come sin better than expected and the monkeys in equity bid em up. Why anyone pays attension to this garbage is beyonbd me. Unemployment feels good until yopu can't eat.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/28/real_estate/Treasury_mortgage_incentives.reut/index.htm?postversion=2009042806
"U.S. To Pay Off Mortgage Investors"
Does anyone know what this means? It looks like they are wiping out/reducing 2nd mortgages. That sounds big, but I don't see mention around here, so maybe it isn't.
But CR you are focussing on the wrong time period. See, if you just compare it to January, like Marketwatch did, then it looks pretty good.
Like this: "Home prices fell sharply in February, but at a slower pace than in January, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's. Home prices in 20 major cities fell 2.2% in February after a record 2.8% decline in January, S&P reported..."
See, doesn't that sound better.
.....the Hope For Homeowners plan has pretty much been a loser. They've serviced a "handful" of homeowners, and can't get past the fact the "2nd mortgage lenders" are the "party-poopers". They understandably vote NO DEAL.
That's okay. There's no criticism, it's just, making sure you know what you are holding and what it is good for. That is the kind of thing that can take a shorty's hand off.
Thanks. I've seen more than a few "smart" people blow their fingers off using plain vanilla options because they saw something that was too good to be true. TANSTAAFL.
Yes, the MoM sounds lovely, then we pull back to the YoY then we pull back to the overall decline in home prices on the national level during the GD at ~30%...which we have already exceeded and the rate of decline has not slowed in meaningful way and may have moderated...
Watching changes in U-6, with UE now leading further declines in consumer credit and prime mortgages this show is going to get hairy again...
What is gong on? Case-Schiller stinks, Pig Flu upgraded, Yen on a roll/$ tanking, Nikkei and EU markets strongly down, Chrysler deal laughable, Citi forced to "raize capital", and the Dow is at 0% change?"
"Where is the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!." "This makes me very angry, very angry indeed."
April 28 (Bloomberg) -- The decline in home prices in 20 major U.S. cities slowed in February for the first time since 2007, amplifying signals that the market may be stabilizing.
It's always exciting to watch grown men and women playing with explosives otherwise known as shorts, in a market that looks as crooked as crooked can hope to aspire to.
Dow was still able to go positive yesterday on the same news, it's the end of the month, fed meeting tomorrow, unemployment report Friday, stress test results next week, the U.S. apparently got a really sweet picture of an airplane and a statue yesterday... so who cares today?
.......NO MORE DOOM & GLOOM!.........The warm & fuzzy stuff MSM news consists of now is working. Consumer confidence levels have skyrocketed - everything is all better. We ARE Your Mommy - you can rest assured everything we do, we do it for you. These elaborate mechanations are for your own protection and well-being. Trust us.
"It's always exciting to watch grown men and women playing with explosives otherwise known as shorts"
Are you kidding, shorts. I have some FAZ CALLS. M-F'n TNT, bayby! Which, if the market would set a new low before too much of the time value expires, would pay 100 to 1 (for my small values of 1, i am not stupid).
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is expected to announce Tuesday that it is expanding its plan to stem the housing crisis by offering mortgage lenders incentives to lower borrowers' bills on second mortgages.
During the housing boom, lenders readily gave out "piggyback" second loans that allowed consumers to make small down payments or avoid fees entirely. While home prices soared, such mortgages were even extended to borrowers with poor credit scores and people who didn't provide proof of their incomes.
But those loans, which are attached to about half of all troubled mortgages, have proved an obstacle to efforts to alleviate the housing crisis. That's because borrowers who are trying to get their primary mortgage modified at a lower monthly payment need the permission of the company holding the second mortgage.
The new plan aims to get rid of that roadblock, said two senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the details were not yet public.
. . . .
And another key piece of President Barack Obama's plan to keep borrowers from losing their homes is expected to be defeated this week in the Senate. Allowing people to seek mortgage relief in bankruptcy court is opposed by Republicans and enough Democrats to block the proposal. Last week, Democratic aides said the prospects of an agreement looked dim.
"Home-Price Drop Moderates in 20 U.S. Cities, May Be Sign of Stabilization The decline in home prices in 20 major U.S. cities slowed in February for the first time since 2007, amplifying signals that the market may be stabilizing. "
cr take on case shiller:
"The Composite 10 index is off 31.6% from the peak, and off 2.1% in February... This is near the worst year-over-year price declines for the Composite indices since the housing bubble burst started."
I think I may offer a double for half price during this swine flu season. Maybe even give out surgical masks too. Except someone may use one to rob me with.
Luckily, this will all be taken care of when the 2nd half recovery starts.
This cliff is greased not sticky.
caution may be toxic to green shoots
Looks like a Black Diamond run at Vail! ZOOOOM!
Green shoots!!! For the first time since 2007 this wasn't a record YoY decline. Buy, buy, buy.
Team USA is really well represented in the world championships of Synchronized Sinking, I feel confident we'll mettle somehow.
.......I imagine the house price downturn will level out at about the 2000 levels (like I know anything - LOL)
reminder: $20 billion, 4-week bill offering at 11:30 ET and a $35 billion 5-year note sale at 13:00 ET.
Briefing.com: Bond Market Update
CR - if not too much trouble would it be possible to add a 2nd order polynomial trend line to the charts?
Thanks.
Rob Dawg (homepage, profile) wrote on Tue, 4/28/2009 - 9:19 am
This cliff is greased not sticky.
Wile E. Coyote moment.
Just amazing rates of decline.
If the uptake is about 90-180 days out, we won't see the credit contraction from Feb until next month, minimum.
I am no longer blase about the upcoming secondary contraction. I thought it would be a multi-year grind. I think now it is going to be a rollercoaster of thrills, chills and excitement from July-September.
I'm just back after escaping whilst being held hostage in the financial wilderness by a cult of econ-terrorists that tried to torture me by sticking green shoots under my fingernails...
Elmo must have gotten some fluids and Vitamin C, he appears to be over his flu...
Vail has nothing very steep.
Mike in Long Island (profile) wrote on Tue, 4/28/2009 - 9:29 am
CR - if not too much trouble would it be possible to add a 2nd order polynomial trend line to the charts?
No offense if you are a TA acolyte, but if you are drifting into it unawares -- making future primary slope predictions from the second order derivative is based on fundamental assumptions about underlying trend behavior that I don't think are necessarily valid here. It'll work until it doesn't.
Don't eat a big dose of Lucifer's Inverted Hammer unless you know what you are doing.
When they were mid-torture with shoots and all, I feigned great pain and under much duress I gave away Hank & Ben as co-conspirators.
I go substantially long on deep OTM Frazier calls.
Byzantine_Ruins (profile) wrote on Tue, 4/28/2009 - 6:29 am reply Ignore user
Rob Dawg (homepage, profile) wrote on Tue, 4/28/2009 - 9:19 am
This cliff is greased not sticky.
Wile E. Coyote moment.
Just amazing rates of decline.
If the uptake is about 90-180 days out, we won't see the credit contraction from Feb until next month, minimum.
I am no longer blase about the upcoming secondary contraction. I thought it would be a multi-year grind. I think now it is going to be a rollercoaster of thrills, chills and excitement from July-September.
Welcome. There's always room for more in this ride. This "leveling off" is second derivative not trend. 2 years ago seasonal declines were 0-0.5% per month. Last year 3.5-4.0% per month. This year 2.0-2.5% per month.
The Opportunist's Guide to Real Estate...Manhattan's RE crash is in the early stages...inventory is still building, and prices have dropped only 10-20%, after nearly tripling. But NY magazine has decided to publish a handy guide to knife-catching, for those who can't wait to get clipped.
The Opportunist's Guide to Real Estate -- New York Magazine
Mike in Long Island -- a 2nd order polynomial regression line, if extrapolated, would over-exaggerate the drop in prices and claim they are headed to zero. The reason is that as the YoY decline begins to bottom out and head positive, the 2nd order polynomial won't pick that up until it is also significantly expressed in the main graph, probably a year or more out. Even then, the 2nd order will be busy matching the peak data, and won't capture the latest data very well as a result. Some would say that a 3rd order would then be necessary, to which I say that will eventually over-exaggerate and it will look like prices are headed towards infinity. To quote George Box, "essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful."
The best technique I can recommend for buying and selling stocks anyway is to fit an exponential moving average (EMA) to it, with sufficient data points to prevent the real price values and the EMA from crossing very much. Then you buy the asset when the real values go above the EMA, and sell when the real values go below the EMA. This technique works well for stocks, but with house prices it may be too slow to react without reducing the EMA data points, which leads to the excessive "crossing over" I am referring to. Plus I doubt you'd want to buy and sell your house as much as you would with stocks. :^) It may however be a good indicator for when to buy and begin holding.
Byzantine Ruins and I are along the same line of thinking... Using a regression line works great for normal data, but this is clearly not normal data. It is bimodal or polymodal at best, and polymodal with a mixture of Cauchy distributions at worst. Cauchy distributions are very elusive because they appear to be normal distributions, but they effectively have no mean/variance/etc. and as a result they render most statistical calculations meaningless.
This makes one feel safe on public transportation.
Virus Alarm in Switzerland: Swine Flu Container Explodes on Train - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International.
Anyone have a read on the Johnson Redbook Sales number (or the time of release)?
No offense if you are a TA acolyte, but if you are drifting into it unawares -- making future primary slope predictions from the second order derivative is based on fundamental assumptions about underlying trend behavior that I don't think are necessarily valid here. It'll work until it doesn't.
Don't eat a big dose of Lucifer's Inverted Hammer unless you know what you are doing.
No offense taken at all. I am fully aware of the concept of "it works until it doesn't" - thinking was it may be useful to highlight the extremes of both the run up in prices and the current implosion. I'm thinking a return to 1995 to 2000 pricing in my neck of the woods - for me that's a decline to $250k ish from a high of $600k to $650k ish or 50 to 60% off. Median household incomes are @ $85,000 so 3 times gets you to @ $250k.
Quick n dirty graph of the second order trend: Exurban Nation: Case Schiller Loss Trend
"A cash-rich buyer looks at a property [in NY] and offers 50 percent off the asking price. Later, it turns out he did the same thing at ten other properties, and one of the sellers actually bit. .......... “We’re actually a little shocked,” said Vals Osborne, senior vice-president of Stribling and a veteran of the high-end market. “There is something crass about it.”
LOL.....Nothing crass about it in MY book!
More Treasury issuance next week (following on dum luk's post):
May 4 couple bill auctions
May 5 note, bill
May 6 10 yr note
May 7 30 yr bond
We are pigs at the trough! Love us some debt, yum.
from zerohedge yesterday:
The United States Treasury announced that it will need to borrow $361 billion for the April-June Quarter, higher by $196 billion than announced previously in February, compared with $13 billion in 2008. This is traditionally the cash heavy tax-receipt quarter in which borrowing needs should be the lowest...
Thank you RD. Another mortgage pig formation. Is this some kind of a sign?
The United States Treasury announced that it will need to borrow $361 billion for the April-June Quarter, higher by $196 billion than announced previously in February, compared with $13 billion in 2008. This is traditionally the cash heavy tax-receipt quarter in which borrowing needs should be the lowest...
The scary part is this is the lowest borrowing we can expect.
No offense taken at all. I am fully aware of the concept of "it works until it doesn't"
That's okay. There's no criticism, it's just, making sure you know what you are holding and what it is good for. That is the kind of thing that can take a shorty's hand off.
There's an interesting hazard squeezing both ends of morals in money and misdemeanors
We all know very well how haphazard the morals are upstairs in high finance, but this decision by the Contra Costa County D.A. not to handle misdemeanors anymore, as they don't have the wherewithal to prosecute, due to budget cuts...
Comes at a high cost, as it essentially gives free-range to small-time thievery.
........ tax receipts aren't coming in at the rate they were expected? What a surprise.
I think the Treasury, the WH, both Legislatures, and the SEC should "test-fly" all new proposals thru Calculated Risk beforehand. It would save a lot of wasted time and stupid publicity releases and policy revisions.
Zero Hedge:
The United States Treasury announced that it will need to borrow $361 billion for the April-June Quarter, higher by $196 billion than announced previously in February, compared with $13 billion in 2008. This is traditionally the cash heavy tax-receipt quarter in which borrowing needs should be the lowest
Go on, explain to me why the continuance of the Treasuries market is based on rationality.
Nonsense.
The scary part is this is the lowest borrowing we can expect.
OR
The scary part is this is the lowest borrowing we expect.
NYC tax receipts were down 50% in April per Bloomberg this am. Confidnece number come sin better than expected and the monkeys in equity bid em up. Why anyone pays attension to this garbage is beyonbd me. Unemployment feels good until yopu can't eat.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/28/real_estate/Treasury_mortgage_incentives.reut/index.htm?postversion=2009042806
"U.S. To Pay Off Mortgage Investors"
Does anyone know what this means? It looks like they are wiping out/reducing 2nd mortgages. That sounds big, but I don't see mention around here, so maybe it isn't.
But CR you are focussing on the wrong time period. See, if you just compare it to January, like Marketwatch did, then it looks pretty good.
Like this: "Home prices fell sharply in February, but at a slower pace than in January, according to the Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday by Standard & Poor's. Home prices in 20 major cities fell 2.2% in February after a record 2.8% decline in January, S&P reported..."
See, doesn't that sound better.
Right now, a retail investor somewhere is betting their last dollar on he opening bell rally of today's Dow session.
Off a fifth?
Just a flesh wound...
.....the Hope For Homeowners plan has pretty much been a loser. They've serviced a "handful" of homeowners, and can't get past the fact the "2nd mortgage lenders" are the "party-poopers". They understandably vote NO DEAL.
Byz,
That's okay. There's no criticism, it's just, making sure you know what you are holding and what it is good for. That is the kind of thing that can take a shorty's hand off.
Thanks. I've seen more than a few "smart" people blow their fingers off using plain vanilla options because they saw something that was too good to be true. TANSTAAFL.
Yes, the MoM sounds lovely, then we pull back to the YoY then we pull back to the overall decline in home prices on the national level during the GD at ~30%...which we have already exceeded and the rate of decline has not slowed in meaningful way and may have moderated...
Watching changes in U-6, with UE now leading further declines in consumer credit and prime mortgages this show is going to get hairy again...
What is gong on? Case-Schiller stinks, Pig Flu upgraded, Yen on a roll/$ tanking, Nikkei and EU markets strongly down, Chrysler deal laughable, Citi forced to "raize capital", and the Dow is at 0% change?"
"Where is the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!." "This makes me very angry, very angry indeed."
Those fucking shit Supreme Court cunts.[test]
April 28 (Bloomberg) -- The decline in home prices in 20 major U.S. cities slowed in February for the first time since 2007, amplifying signals that the market may be stabilizing.
Hah
It's always exciting to watch grown men and women playing with explosives otherwise known as shorts, in a market that looks as crooked as crooked can hope to aspire to.
Blackhalo,
You expected that stuff to matter?
Dow was still able to go positive yesterday on the same news, it's the end of the month, fed meeting tomorrow, unemployment report Friday, stress test results next week, the U.S. apparently got a really sweet picture of an airplane and a statue yesterday... so who cares today?
.......NO MORE DOOM & GLOOM!.........The warm & fuzzy stuff MSM news consists of now is working. Consumer confidence levels have skyrocketed - everything is all better. We ARE Your Mommy - you can rest assured everything we do, we do it for you. These elaborate mechanations are for your own protection and well-being. Trust us.
wasnt this part of the stress test? how much longer till we toss out the 'more adverse' case?
"It's always exciting to watch grown men and women playing with explosives otherwise known as shorts"
Are you kidding, shorts. I have some FAZ CALLS. M-F'n TNT, bayby! Which, if the market would set a new low before too much of the time value expires, would pay 100 to 1 (for my small values of 1, i am not stupid).
DQ news' city chart still reports february prices.Usually the norcal numbers are posted by the 21st....
Bberg next sentence:
The S&P/Case-Shiller index’s 18.6 percent decrease compares with a record 19 percent decline the month before.
That's some bigtime stabilization.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index’s 18.6 percent decrease compares with a record 19 percent decline the month before.
The second deriv is positive! Hooray! ::eyeroll::
The Dismal Psyance is strewn with mindfields, beware.
BTW, it raises the question: What is the error bar claimed by CS?
and marketwatch says this
Pace of decline in home prices slows, Case-Shiller data show
The second deriv is positive! Hooray! ::eyeroll:: ~JP
LOL! It must have been an updraft....
"You expected that stuff to matter?"
At some point, (hopefully before August) yes. That must be some insane Limit order the PPT has in.
Deriviitable: Hot-Air Ballon Payment
Toxic assets get increasingly more intoxicating at a decreasing rate. Time to buy that inverse second derivative
JP (homepage, profile) wrote on Tue, 4/28/2009 - 7:28 am reply Ignore user
BTW, it raises the question: What is the error bar claimed by CS?
There is no error range. C-S is an index. It is what it is.
Driving down the street yesterday and saw 1 retail outlet that had a JAM PACKED parking lot.
Riddle: Try to guess the retail outlet
Hint: Its name appears in bold type on WFC's balance sheet
More on second mortgage aid:
Administration is set to expand housing aid plan
By ALAN ZIBEL
The article requested is no longer available.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is expected to announce Tuesday that it is expanding its plan to stem the housing crisis by offering mortgage lenders incentives to lower borrowers' bills on second mortgages.
During the housing boom, lenders readily gave out "piggyback" second loans that allowed consumers to make small down payments or avoid fees entirely. While home prices soared, such mortgages were even extended to borrowers with poor credit scores and people who didn't provide proof of their incomes.
But those loans, which are attached to about half of all troubled mortgages, have proved an obstacle to efforts to alleviate the housing crisis. That's because borrowers who are trying to get their primary mortgage modified at a lower monthly payment need the permission of the company holding the second mortgage.
The new plan aims to get rid of that roadblock, said two senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the details were not yet public.
. . . .
And another key piece of President Barack Obama's plan to keep borrowers from losing their homes is expected to be defeated this week in the Senate. Allowing people to seek mortgage relief in bankruptcy court is opposed by Republicans and enough Democrats to block the proposal. Last week, Democratic aides said the prospects of an agreement looked dim.
Swine Flu on Google Maps - apologies if posted before
H1N1 Swine Flu - Google Maps
bloomberg take on case-shiller
"Home-Price Drop Moderates in 20 U.S. Cities, May Be Sign of Stabilization The decline in home prices in 20 major U.S. cities slowed in February for the first time since 2007, amplifying signals that the market may be stabilizing. "
cr take on case shiller:
"The Composite 10 index is off 31.6% from the peak, and off 2.1% in February... This is near the worst year-over-year price declines for the Composite indices since the housing bubble burst started."
Wasn't this anticipated after the foreclosure forebearance was lifted? Creditors are going to dump this REO to avoid holding costs.
I think I may offer a double for half price during this swine flu season. Maybe even give out surgical masks too. Except someone may use one to rob me with.