NEWS ABOUT: housing crisis
housing crisis stories: 146 news briefs
ANALYSIS
Games teach excessive lending, scarce saving
The Big Money Jun 16, 09 3:50 PM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
It’s really no wonder Americans fouled up the financial system—fiscal irresponsibility was instilled in us at an early age by board games, observes Caitlin McDevitt for the Big Money. Among the poor lessons imparted by money games: In Monopoly , the game’s bank can never go bust—if the banker runs out of Monopoly money, they are instructed to “issue as much as needed by writing on any ordinary paper."
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Reuters Jun 15, 09 5:23 AM CDT
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As foreclosure sales begin to lure buyers back to the housing market in some parts of the country, realtors in New York are finding the market crisis has come home to roost, Reuters reports. Things are bad and could soon be much worse. Condo sales in Manhattan have plummeted 71% from a year ago, with a glut of new units priced way above market.
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Recession has left entire neighborhoods in need of quick spray
Los Angeles Times May 2, 09 11:54 AM CDT
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California’s Riverside County is looking a little greener these days—just don't look too closely. The area has been so racked by foreclosures and unsold homes that parts of it look like a ghost town, complete with very dead grass. That’s where Insta-Green comes in. The start-up has a novel way of fixing up a lawn: It just paints the dead grass, reports the Los Angeles Times .
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Rate expected to rise through the summer
Associated Press Apr 16, 09 8:31 AM CDT
(AP Summary) -
The number of American households threatened with losing their homes grew 24% in the first 3 months of this year and is poised to rise further as major lenders restart foreclosures after a temporary moratorium, figures out today show. Though the Obama administration has invested $75 billion to help up to 9 million borrowers avoid foreclosure, lenders' willingness to go along with the plan isn't clear.
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Red tape and bureaucracy hinder efforts to buy repo'd properties
Washington Post Apr 13, 09 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser Summary) -
Bargain hunters are turning to foreclosed homes for deals, but many are finding that buying repossessed properties from banks is a bureaucratic nightmare, the Washington Post reports. Though the housing market cannot stabilize until the unprecedented volume of foreclosures is sold off, banks are sluggish to act and fraught with red tape—and would-be homebuyers are giving up in frustration.
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Associated Press Mar 11, 09 5:05 PM CDT
(AP Summary) -
Freddie Mac said today it will ask the government for nearly $31 billion in additional aid after posting a gargantuan loss of more than $50 billion last year as the US housing market worsened. The mortgage finance company posted a loss of $23.9 billion, or $7.37 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2008. That compares with a loss of $2.5 billion, or $3.97 a share, in the year-ago period.
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ANALYSIS
Crisis affects former boom areas the most
USA Today Mar 6, 09 12:05 PM CST
(Newser Summary) -
The majority of US home foreclosures last year happened in just 35 counties, USA Today reports. Though the effects of the mortgage crisis have been felt nationwide, foreclosures have been from the start clustered in formerly booming areas in Florida, California, Nevada, Arizona, and around Washington DC. The 35 most-affected counties accounted for 1.5 million foreclosures last year—more than in the entire US in 2006.
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Recently unemployed can drop payments to average of $500
Wall Street Journal Mar 3, 09 7:25 AM CST
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Citigroup is announcing a new program easing mortgage payments to an average of $500 a month for homeowners who have lost their jobs and fallen behind on their debts, reports the Wall Street Journal . Borrowers will be allowed to make the lower payments for 3 months and will pay no interest. The move comes days before the Obama administration is expected to introduce new guidelines for its loan modification program.
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Housing slump prompts shift
Wall Street Journal Feb 25, 09 8:22 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
During the housing boom, mortgage payments held steady, consistently topping rent levels; now, with the market cratering, they’re returning to historical levels, the Wall Street Journal reports. After-tax mortgage payments averaged about 26% more than rent over the past 18 years; during the boom that figure surged to 66%. By the end of last year, it fell to 24%.That makes owning look more attractive than renting for the first time in years—provided you can get a mortgage.
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ANALYSIS
Proposal does does little to address securitized mortgages
Wall Street Journal Feb 19, 09 9:14 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
The Obama administration’s foreclosure-prevention plan contains more carrots than sticks, relying heavily on incentives designed to prod mortgage servicers to modify at-risk loans, the Wall Street Journal reports. The plan offers monetary rewards to mortgage companies that lower interest rates on delinquent mortgages, and reduces principal for borrowers who stay current on their payments.
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Washington Post Feb 12, 09 8:41 PM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Details are emerging on the Obama administration's plan to help homeowners: One idea is to give strapped borrowers a lower interest rate, then have the federal government chip in to defray the lenders' loss, the Washington Post reports. The Treasury Department is expected to outline its overall plan in the next week or so. Another proposal gaining favor is giving bankruptcy judges the power to change the terms of mortgages.
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Average home size declines in what analysts call 'right-sizing'
Wall Street Journal Jan 27, 09 11:14 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Confirming what industry professionals have long suspected, builders and buyers alike are foregoing super-sized “McMansions” for smaller, more economical homes, the Wall Street Journa l reports. The average home started in 2008’s third quarter was 2,438 square feet, down from 2,629 in the second quarter. The median home size also declined, to 2,090 square feet in the third quarter, from 2,291 in the second.
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ANALYSIS
Obama considering moratorium, gov't-sponsored refinancing
Los Angeles Times Jan 26, 09 8:54 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
The Obama administration is considering plans to stem the tide of foreclosures ranging from doubling the mortgage interest deduction to a six-month foreclosure moratorium to government-sponsored refinancing, reports the Los Angeles Times . But a strategy is still at least several weeks away and, regardless of what bandages are applied, “many people will lose their houses anyway,” one economist predicts.
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GLOSSIES
Networking site is useful way reach out to friends—and to buy and sell properties
Newsweek Jan 8, 09 12:11 PM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Facebook has been reviving more than long-lost friendships—it’s proving a useful tool for struggling real-estate agents, Daniel McGinn writes for Newsweek . Agents are increasingly using the site to promote themselves, pitch listings and keep track of potential clients. “I’m trying everything in a market like this, because something is going to work. And so far Facebook has been unbelievable,” says one.
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High-profile exec
led expansion
of Good family firm
CNN Jan 7, 09 2:32 PM CST
(Newser Summary) -
A Chicago-area real estate mogul has been found dead after shooting himself in a wildlife preserve, CNN reports. Police say they don't know why 52-year-old Steven L. Good took his life; a rep said the local sheriff's department had no "concrete evidence if this had anything to do with his finances." The savvy CEO expanded Sheldon Good & Co—a major auction company his father started—to include clients like Donald Trump.
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Strapped Americans now prefer cozier homes
Christian Science Monitor Jan 6, 09 5:33 PM CST
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As strapped Americans develop a conscience and, er, sense of taste about living, the practice of razing existing homes to make way for super-size replacements is slowing, reports the Christian Science Monitor . Languid McMansion sales have brought quiet back to historic neighborhoods, drowned out for years by bulldozers and upset preservationists.
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Glossies
Wall Street, banks, and government also at fault
Vanity Fair Jan 5, 09 9:11 AM CST
(Newser Summary) -
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the "toxic twin" housing financing behemoths blamed for setting the world on fire, were not operating any differently than the entire financial sector, Bethany McLean writes in Vanity Fair . McLean documents Fannie Mae's history starting from conception in FDR's New Deal, when it was chartered by Congress to help homeownership (Freddie Mac followed in 1970), and ending in its failure to resist the profitable subprime game.
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A few who called last year's calamities correctly see grim days ahead
Wall Street Journal Jan 2, 09 10:52 AM CST
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Labeled overly pessimistic for years, a few Wall Street prognosticators became the oracles of 2008 by correctly predicting the unwinding of the global economy, the Wall Street Journal reports. The doomsayers correctly anticipated bank failures, stock market declines, and the housing market collapse of the second half of 2008. As for 2009, don’t expect things to get any rosier, they say.
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Pool builders hard hit by housing crisis
New York Times Dec 29, 08 8:12 AM CST
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Skateboarders in California are making the most of the mortgage crisis: they’re turning the swimming pools at foreclosed homes into skate parks. Tracking local foreclosures, one Fresno skater arrives at empty homes with a pump and buckets, drains the pools, and hops on his board, the New York Times reports. The newly-made parks are drawing people from around the world.
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Perino: Shoddy 'reporting' behind housing crisis story
Politico Dec 21, 08 6:40 PM CST
(Newser Summary) -
The White House accused the New York Times of “gross negligence” today in response to a page one story that largely places the housing and financial messes at the feet of Bush policies, Politico reports. “The Times ’ ‘reporting’ in this story amounted to finding selected quotes to support a story the reporters fully intended to write from the onset, while disregarding anything that didn't fit their point of view,” White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
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