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Mortgage Meltdown Swag, Bank Losses, Foreclosures Jump, My New Favorite Market Pundit

October 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment
http://site.despair.com

Where are Mortgage Rates Headed? Spreads showing tightening, but government keeps throwing curve balls on their own objectives. My shot at a mortgage rate forecast. Appropriate Mortgage Meltdown Swag Get your "We're the Government and We're Here to Help" mortgage meltdown swag. Major Banks Post Record Losses, Some Getting Investment Wachovia tips the scales with a staggering $23.7 billion quarterly loss! But, that is not the most incredible part. This latest loss makes it like Wachovia never … [Read more...]

Mortgage Rates and Affordability from the Frontlines

October 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment
TheMortgageReports.com

Dan Green, a loan officer and sage of The Mortgage Reports, educates us on why waiting for mortgage rates to drop may hurt you. Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is on the rise due to skyrocketing defaults--this is when they pick up the tab on your mortgage. This is, according to Dan more than eating away at any rate advantage you may get by waiting. By the way, foreclosures and mortgage defaults are not dropping. In fact, there is reason to believe there are other market factors like the drying … [Read more...]

FDIC Setting Down Roots in Orange County

October 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Looks like the FDIC anticipates a lot more clean-up ahead in Orange County, the former subprime capital of the world. FDIC is looking for 200,000 square feet of Los Angeles office space for a term of 3-5 years. That is in addition to the space they currently occupy in their newly acquired IndyMac Federal Bank. Maybe they should check out New Century's old offices. With senior regulators and bank cleaner-uppers shuttling in weekly from  Washington DC and Dallas, maybe a few relocations could … [Read more...]

Mortgage Applications Plunge, Wal-Mart Indicators, Apple and Great Depressions

October 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment
(Source: Briefing.com)

Mortgage Applications Dump 16.6% MBA reports a 16.6 percent plunge in mortgage applications. Refinance and purchase mortgage applications drop precipitously--expecting loan originations to drop below $1.9 trillion, nearly half of 2003 mortgage boom high. Expect this to hit online mortgage lead generation players like Bankrate.com, as it did Yahoo. Wal-Mart Economic Indicators Wal-Mart Index signals consumer weakness. Paul Kedrosky is fabulous at zeroing in on the right signals to tell you … [Read more...]

Moral Hazards, Too Small to Fail, Mark-to-Market, Bernanke and Obama, P2P Lending

October 21, 2008 By Leave a Comment
p2p lending

When Lenders and Investors Objectives Aren't Aligned The Big Picture does a nice summary of how disconnects between lender and investor alignments can create moral hazard on the scale of mortgage implosion and financial market meltdown. Overstructuring risk mitigation combined with dangerously low interest rates makes credit feel like cash, debt like wealth. And, here we are... Seth Godin Reminds Us There is "Too Small to Fail" A great little post about the value of being small. It doesn't imply … [Read more...]

EU Reshaping Capitalism, without US? Rising Deficit, Rating Agencies, GM Chrysler Merger

October 20, 2008 By Leave a Comment
debt clock

Markets Overnight Mixed. Mortgage rate likely to continue upward trend on Fannie, Freddie debt sell-offs. Markets ready for Lehman $360 billion swap unwind. EU Strong-Arming US to Reshape Capitalism? President Bush, under concerns of ceding leadership of global financial leadership to the EU, agreed to hosting a global summit to have substantive talks on reshaping global financial systems. Reports indicate that French President Sarkozy was applying significant pressure to President Bush to host … [Read more...]

Weekend Notes

October 18, 2008 By Leave a Comment
baseball economy

Weekend Read File: Will economic collapse hurt contracts for baseball players? Time to Clean Up After the Party An Example of Economics at Work Bernanke is Fighting the Last War Churchill's Dictum and Henry Paulson PIMCO's Gross sees market confidence restored 'in weeks' on bank rescue (this guy is incredible-sarcasm in voice) Have we learned the right lessons from the Great Depression? Mark Cuban helping to watchdog our tax dollars Sequoia tells portfolio companies to hunker down … [Read more...]

Mortgage Fraud, Banks Borrow From Fed, Housing Starts, Buffett Buys American

October 17, 2008 By Leave a Comment
warren buffett

Mortgage Fraud US attorney is on the hunt for mortgage scoundrels. He is promising "dramatic results," but I am skeptical about making mortgage application fraud stick to these former high-flying executives. Mortgage applications were worked and approved at very low levels within these organizations. Loan origination strategies and behaviors were managed with commission plans and production quotas--making proving high-level, endemic fraud very hard to prove. Banks Borrow Record Fed Funds Banks … [Read more...]

Mortgage Rates and Applications Up, Markets Down, Hedge Funds on the Run, Housing Prices–Still Down

October 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Buying Short Sales

Mortgage rates: Volatile, Lock Short, Float Long MBA reports mortgage applications up despite historic climb in mortgage rates. Overnight foreign markets take the same tumble that US markets felt yesterday. Look for another messy trading day. Here comes the run on hedge funds--$43 billion in September. JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, State Street--report profits, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch show losses. Bernanke says long recovery ahead. Consumers skeptical of bailouts' effectiveness. Bottom line … [Read more...]

Ben Bernanke Talks to New York Economic Club

October 15, 2008 By Leave a Comment
ben bernanke speech analysis

It is mostly about FINANCIAL MARKETS: Bernanke Themes: Talk about unique nature of the financial market crisis Recent history recapped, as only an economic historian could More about TARP Federal Reserve's role in all this, relative to Treasury and FDIC Stabilization confidence talk Oops, a little talk about inflation again... Global coordination is still important Full Text of Bernanke's address to New York Economic Club. (word analysis: wordle.net) … [Read more...]