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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: housing crisis

housing crisis stories: 149 news summaries

21 - 40 of 149 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 ... 8 Next >>

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Vindicated in 2008, Some Experts Foresee Gloomy '09

A few who called last year's calamities correctly see grim days ahead

Jan 2, 09 10:52 AM CST
(Newser) - 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... More »

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stock market • global economy • bonds • credit crisis • housing crisis • housing bubble • financial crisis • financial meltdown

 Foreclosed Pools 
 a Mecca for 
 Skateboarders 

Pool builders hard hit by housing crisis

Dec 29, 08 8:12 AM CST
(Newser) - 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 ... More »

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foreclosure • mosquito • housing crisis • swimming pool • skateboarding

White House Slams NYT Story as 'Gross Negligence'

Perino: Shoddy 'reporting' behind housing crisis story

Dec 21, 08 6:40 PM CST
(Newser) - 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... More »

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Bush administration • New York Times • mortgage • Dana Perino • housing crisis • mortgage delinquency • George W. Bush • financial meltdown

ANALYSIS

 How Bush 
 Fueled the 
 Mortgage 
 Mess 

His philosophy at center of housing crisis

Dec 21, 08 6:52 AM CST
(Newser) - A range of factors led to the housing crisis that dragged the economy into the toilet—but President Bush’s philosophy likely played a key role in the collapse, reports the New York Times. Dozens of interviews point to both Bush’s drive to expand homeownership and his steadfast belief... More »

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Bush administration • philosophy • mortgage • market • homeownership • housing crisis • mortgage delinquency • George W. Bush

NYC Housing Chief Named to Obama Cabinet

HUD secretary nominee served in Clinton administration

Dec 13, 08 7:13 AM CST
(Newser) - President-elect Obama has chosen New York City housing commissioner Shaun Donovan as the next secretary of housing, the New York Times reports. Donovan, an expert on affordable housing, held senior posts in the Clinton Department of Housing and Urban Development before taking the New York job, for which he runs... More »

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Cabinet • housing crisis • Department of Housing and Urban Development • President Obama • Shaun Donovan

Another Casualty of Financial Crisis: Divorce

Two households no longer affordable as couples struggle to pay for one

Nov 27, 08 8:28 AM CST
(Newser) - With unemployment rising, salaries stagnant, and housing prices cratering, many unhappy couples are opting not to divorce, reports MSNBC. “A lot of people are deciding, 'It’s not worth it to do it (at) this time. Let’s stay together. Let’s try to work through our problems and... More »

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divorce • marriage • housing crisis • subprime crisis • financial crisis

Home Builders Want Federal Bailout, Too

But critics warn adding to housing supply will only make things worse

Nov 24, 08 12:37 PM CST
(Newser) - Home builders, undeterred by the automakers’ troubles in securing federal aid, are campaigning for a $250 billion stimulus of their own, the Wall Street Journal reports. Saying that the economy can't recover until home prices stop tanking, the builders propose a plan, called “Fix Housing First,” where the... More »

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Congress • homebuilders • housing crisis • bailout • supply and demand • National Association of Home Builders • financial crisis

Fannie, Freddie Will Stop Foreclosures Over Holidays

Some 16K affected by pause

Nov 20, 08 4:38 PM CST
(Newser) - Homeowners facing foreclosure got a morsel of good news today: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac won’t give them the boot over the holidays. The companies will suspend foreclosures of occupied houses from Nov. 26-Jan. 9 while they work out a loan-reform plan with lenders, MarketWatch reports. The six-week suspension... More »

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foreclosure • Freddie Mac • Fannie Mae • housing crisis • subprime crisis • financial crisis

ANALYSIS

 Sun Is Setting on 
 Once-Golden Calif. 

State's progressive approach, and status as beacon for rest of US, falls prey to politics

Nov 12, 08 7:54 PM CST
(Newser) - California may have once been the land of literal and figurative gold, but recent policies have placed it in an unenviable position, Joel Kotkin writes for the American. The state people once flocked to is now hemorrhaging citizens, he writes, and a myopic focus on environmental issues, and the death... More »

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California • Arnold Schwarzenegger • partisanship • Gavin Newsom • Jerry Brown • housing crisis • green revolution • financial crisis • economic policies

(Newser) - Home sales being a little tricky these days, a luxury developer in the trendy Buckhead section of Atlanta has stumbled onto a unique form of incentive: free house calls from doctors. Deep-pocketed buyers who plunk down $2 million to $12.5 million to live in a new high-rise will get... More »

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health care • Atlanta • home sales • housing crisis • economy

Feds Near $50B Plan to Guarantee 3M Mortgages

Treasury, FDIC working on measure to help avoid more foreclosures

Oct 29, 08 4:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Treasury Department and the FDIC are working on a plan to guarantee the mortgages of 3 million struggling homeowners, the Washington Post reports. Under the plan, lenders would reduce monthly payments so owners could avoid foreclosure. If the homeowners defaulted anyway on the reconfigured loan, the government would repay... More »

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foreclosure • mortgage • Treasury Department • FDIC • housing crisis • bailout • financial crisis

Homeowners Need Bailout, Too: FDIC Chief

Regulator clashes with Paulson, Bernanke over relief for lenders

Oct 16, 08 9:25 AM CDT
(Newser) - The FDIC chief is blasting the White House and Congress for focusing the $700 billion bailout on financial institutions and not giving homeowners facing foreclosure more help, reports the Wall Street Journal. Sheila Bair, a Bush appointee, says the government’s insistence that homeowners not profit from its help—... More »

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Ben Bernanke • Henry Paulson • FDIC • housing crisis • subprime crisis • bailout • financial crisis • Wall Street bailout • Sheila Bair

 Prosperity Gospel 
 Blamed for Subprime Hell 

Belief that God bestows riches may have duped faithful into dodgy mortgages

Oct 4, 08 8:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - A fast-growing strain of Pentecostalism may have made its followers victims of the credit crisis by preaching that God's hand was behind dubious mortgages, Time reports. "Prosperity Gospel" preaches that God will "make way" for the poor to gain wealth, making believers easy prey for greedy mortgage brokers,... More »

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Christianity • subprime mortgages • foreclosure • housing crisis • Pentecostals • Protestantism

Foreclosures Soar on
Homes Over $1M

Foreclosures on million-dollar homes way up since last year

Sep 27, 08 5:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - The housing crisis, having wreaked havoc on low- and middle-income homeowners, is moving into the mansion set. Foreclosures on $1 million plus homes have almost doubled since last year, MSNBC reports, and more than doubled for homes over $2 million. The reasons are familiar: layoffs in the executive and professional... More »

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foreclosure • seizure • millionaires • housing crisis • payments • luxury homes • valuation

O'Neill on Bush: He Doesn't Get It, and 'It Shows'

Former treasury chief says leaders are acting out of 'panic'

Sep 26, 08 11:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Former Treasury chief Paul O'Neill doesn't have a lot of confidence in the ability of his old boss to find a financial solution, ABC News reports. “I don’t think he understands or knows much about any of this and it shows,” O’Neill said of President Bush.... More »

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mortgage backed securities • housing crisis • subprime crisis • bailout • financial crisis • Paul O'Neill

EARNINGS REPORTS

 Goldman Profit Drops 70%, 
 Still Beats Estimates

Revenue cut by half, but firm helped by less mortgage exposure

Sep 16, 08 8:37 AM CDT
(Newser) - Amid the financial industry's meltdown, survivor Goldman Sachs reported that third-quarter profit plunged by 70% —the sharpest decline in its history as a public company, but still enough to beat estimates of $1.71 per share. The bank dipped 7% in New York trading, Bloomberg reports, after reporting an... More »

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Goldman Sachs • earnings reports • housing crisis • subprime crisis • investment banks • financial crisis

OPINION

Housing Will Bottom June 30, 2009: Cramer

Bombastic guru lists
10 signs of a real-estate turnaround

Sep 8, 08 2:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - Jim Cramer has spent over a year “shouting in my usual unhinged way” about the bleak real estate market, he writes in New York. But now he’s so confident housing’s headed for a bottom that he’ll name the exact date: June 30, 2009. Why?
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
housing market • Freddie Mac • Fannie Mae • Jim Cramer • home prices • housing crisis • housing bubble • FHA mortgage

Juggled Books at Freddie, Fannie Sparked Fed Takeover

Situation more dire than accounting revealed, probers found

Sep 7, 08 6:17 AM CDT
(Newser) - Federal advisers pushed for a government takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae after discovering fuzzy accounting that failed to fully reveal the dire nature of the companies' financial situation, reports the New York Times. The practices, while not illegal, overstated the mortgage giants' capital cushions while attempting to delay... More »

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accounting • Freddie Mac • Fannie Mae • housing crisis • bailout • financial crisis

OPINION

Fannie-Freddie Merger:
The Math Adds Up

As both companies plummet, combining them might make sense

Sep 2, 08 10:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac struggling to stay afloat, arguments for a merger are gathering steam. “Sometimes size can be a strength,” writes Andrew Ross Sorkin in the New York Times. The companies spent $1.825 billion in total overhead in the first half of 2008 doing... More »

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Freddie Mac • Fannie Mae • credit crisis • housing crisis • subprime crisis • mortgage defaults • financial crisis

Home Sales Up in July; Market Glut Begins to Ease

Inventory still high as monthly declines ease

Aug 26, 08 10:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - New home sales rebounded a bit in July, according to Commerce Department data released today, and the glut of properties on the market began to ease, Bloomberg reports. The 2.4% uptick in sales fell short of the pace economists were looking for—hitting a 515,000 annual pace rather... More »

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home prices • housing sales • housing crisis • subprime crisis • home-price index

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