housing crisis

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McMansion Era May Be Over




 McMansion Era 
 May Be Over 
Jan 6, 2009 5:33 PM CST

McMansion Era May Be Over

Strapped Americans now prefer cozier homes

(Newser) - 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...

Don't Blame Fannie for Mess
 Don't Blame Fannie for Mess 



Glossies
Jan 5, 2009 9:11 AM CST

Don't Blame Fannie for Mess

Wall Street, banks, and government also at fault

(Newser) - 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...

Vindicated in 2008, Some Experts Foresee Gloomy '09

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

(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...

Foreclosed Pools a Mecca for Skateboarders

Pool builders hard hit by housing crisis

(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 ...

White House Slams NYT Story as 'Gross Negligence'

Perino: Shoddy 'reporting' behind housing crisis story

(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...

How Bush Fueled the Mortgage Mess
 How Bush 
 Fueled the 
 Mortgage 
 Mess 
ANALYSIS
Dec 21, 2008 6:52 AM CST

How Bush Fueled the Mortgage Mess

His philosophy at center of housing crisis

(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...

NYC Housing Chief Named to Obama Cabinet

HUD secretary nominee served in Clinton administration

(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...

Another Casualty of Financial Crisis: Divorce

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

(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...

Home Builders Want Federal Bailout, Too

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

(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...

Fannie, Freddie Will Stop Foreclosures Over Holidays

Some 16K affected by pause

(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...

Sun Is Setting on Once-Golden Calif.
 Sun Is Setting on 
 Once-Golden Calif. 
ANALYSIS
Nov 12, 2008 7:54 PM CST

Sun Is Setting on Once-Golden Calif.

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

(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...

New Home-Sale Incentive: Free House Calls

(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...

Feds Near $50B Plan to Guarantee 3M Mortgages

Treasury, FDIC working on measure to help avoid more foreclosures

(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...

Homeowners Need Bailout, Too: FDIC Chief

Regulator clashes with Paulson, Bernanke over relief for lenders

(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—while...

Prosperity Gospel Blamed for Subprime Hell

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

(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,...

Foreclosures Soar on Homes Over $1M
Foreclosures Soar on
Homes Over $1M
Sep 27, 2008 5:38 PM CDT

Foreclosures Soar on Homes Over $1M

Foreclosures on million-dollar homes way up since last year

(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...

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

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

(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....

Goldman Profit Drops 70%, Still Beats Estimates
 Goldman Profit Drops 70%, 
 Still Beats Estimates
EARNINGS REPORTS
Sep 16, 2008 8:37 AM CDT

Goldman Profit Drops 70%, Still Beats Estimates

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

(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...

Housing Will Bottom June 30, 2009: Cramer
Housing Will Bottom June 30, 2009: Cramer
OPINION
Sep 8, 2008 2:29 PM CDT

Housing Will Bottom June 30, 2009: Cramer

Bombastic guru lists 10 signs of a real-estate turnaround

(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?
  1. New home
...

Juggled Books at Freddie, Fannie Sparked Fed Takeover

Situation more dire than accounting revealed, probers found

(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...

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