foreclosure defense

You've undoubtedly seen all of them or read them. Glossy advertisements or four-color spreads in publications and newspapers promising to instruct you every one of the juicy information about successful property investing. And all you should do to learn each one of these real property investing surface encounters chuck russo secrets is to pay a rather high sum for a one-or two-day seminar.




Often these types of slick real estate investing classes claim that you could make intelligent, profitable real-estate investments with zero money down (except, of course, the large fee you purchase the workshop). Now, how appealing is that? Make a make money from real est investments you made with no funds. Possible? Not probably.




Successful real estate investment requires income. That's the character of any kind of business or even investment, especially property investing. You put your cash into something that you wish and plan will make you more income.




Unfortunately too few newbies to the world of real estate investing believe that it's the magical form of business where standard business rules don't apply. Simply set, if you want to stay in real estate investing for a lot more than, say, a evening or a couple of, then you're going to have to create money to utilize and invest.




While it may be true which buying real estate with no money down is easy, anyone who is even made a basic real estate investment (just like buying their own home) understands there's far more involved in property investing that will set you back money. For instance, what concerning any essential repairs?




So, the number 1 rule people a new comer to real property investing ought to remember would be to have obtainable cash stores. Before you choose to actually do any property investing, save some funds. Having slightly money within the bank when you start real est investing surface encounters chuck russo can help you make more profitable real estate investments in rental properties, for example.




When real estate investing in rental properties, you'll want in order to select just qualified tenants. If you have no income when real-estate investing within rental qualities, you may be pressured to take a a smaller amount qualified tenant since you need somebody to cover you money to enable you to take treatment of fixes or attorney at law fees.




For almost any real est investing, meaning leasing properties or even properties you buy to sell, having funds reserved can allow you to ask for a higher cost. You can request a higher price from the investment because you surface encounters chuck russo won't feel financially strapped as you wait for an offer. You won't be backed into a corner and forced to accept just any offer because you desperately need the money.




Another downfall of many new to real estate investing will be, well, greed. Make any profit, yes, but will not become therefore greedy which you ask for ridiculous leasing or resale rates on all of your real estate investments.




Those a new comer to real est investing need to see property investing like a business, NOT a hobby. Don't believe that real est investing is going to make you abundant overnight. What company does?




It will take about six months to decide if real-estate investing in for you. If you've decided that, hey I really like this, then give yourself a few years to truly start making money. It often takes at minimum five years to become truly productive in property investing.




Persistence is the key to success in real estate investing. If you've decided that real-estate investing is perfect for you, surface encounters chuck russo keep plugging away at it and the rewards will be greater than you imagined.

funny.. i learn from this thread that there are "good" capitalists and "bad" capitalists.. only if it were for good capitalists everything would be fine... there are no good/bad capitalists. concentration of wealth and diminishing marginal profitability lead to rent-seeking, monopoly seeking, corruption and imperialism for all eyes willing to see. it was always like this. it always will be. good thing the us citizen is at least seeing the present corruption. maybe with some critical thinking he will also connect the dots and see the omnipresent corruption indogenous to capitalism. the tale of perfectly competitive free markets is a tale. there never has existed one there never willl.. maybe fruit/vegetable markets, which now are facing extinction brought to you by the wonderful capitalist monopoly-seeking inventions of monsanto...

the us entered the first world war by organising false flag attacks on its vessels so that capitalists could sell nerve gas to both sides. the us entered the second world war by allowing japs to bomb pearl harbor so that capitalists could make more money. the us organised another false flag attack on ny and killed 1 million iraqis so that oil could keep flowing and haliburton could make a few bucks meanwhile. there's no "clean" version of capitalism. wake up!

and for the nth time.. no, obama is not a marxist. if he were, he would not be waging imperialist commodity wars in afghanistan and socialising bank losses. marx would probably be severly frustrated if he knew people called slick imperialist puppets marxists... 

Warren Buffett just announced that he's making a landmark investment, $5 billion, in Bank of America.

Bank of America was facing a free-falling stock price and a number of criticisms, including that it did not have enough capital, and that its assets were not worth what it claimed.

Now thanks to Buffett, that will certainly change.

When similar investments were made in Citi and in Goldman Sachs, by Prince Alwaleed and Warren Buffett, in 1990 and 2008, respectively, the stocks experienced long term gains. 

And get this - he says he dreamt up the idea to invest in Bank of America in the bathtub on Tuesday. He liked it, so he called Moynihan on Wednesday morning. The entire story of how it happened is available in a video embedded below, as told to Becky Quick by Buffett.

The story (and the mental image) is amusing but also important - it suggests that the Obama Administration and/or the Treasury, did not have a hand in the agreement.

And to make it very clear that Treasury or Obama had no hand in the arrangement, which makes the news even better for Bank of America.

So does this - the deal is expensive for Buffett, and a good deal for Bank of America. He says in some ways, it's better than the deal he gave to Goldman Sachs in 2008.

But obviously, it's a great deal for Buffett.

Buffett's investment alone is now worth $700 million more than it was when he bought it.

foreclosure search

I think that if you trace HAMP to the source you will find this was an invention of the bureaucrats at the Treasury who fooled both the public (and probably Obama, perhaps the new Secretary) and even the banksters. If you read the implementing instructions it becomes clear this is a maze that few can find an ‘approved’ entry to or exit from. Just the ‘dictionary’ was 136 lines with 10 cells on an Excel spreadsheet (190kb). I was looking at the fifth revision.

HAMP did forestall a few foreclosures, but it took jumping through hoops. Only a small sum went to the service folks and the rules were changed quarterly. On the banks side they wanted it to work as it could put off the loss while it was in HAMP. It was badly implemented because it was like that pea and shell game. I got a headache reading through all the ‘rules’ and categories and realized this lacked a hard and fast rule. It was ‘optional’ for the bank and the borrower.

It is fair to blame the banksters for most of the failure, but the Treasury was most at fault and those folks who created it are the crats who are not swept away with a changed administration. These critters do either retire or seek jobs with those who must figure out the rules.

I’m giving Obama and maybe even Timothy a pass on this one.. they had a lot on the plate and let the crats do the chores. Congress is who I’ll blame.. they should have never raised the lending limits that Fannie and Freddie could provide as that’s what sent this bubble aloft. People have to have jobs that pay enough to pay these loans. They did not and even as we see from this tale.. people have tried and can’t due to a host of issues.. but folks… a $2,600@ payment is only part of home ownership. You need a net income of $10,000@ month to service such a debt. Clearly a lot of folks were to blame.

‘Wanting’ this house is not planning so as to afford it. People acted imprudently and now we’re ALL going to pay and pay and pay. The lawyers and banksters never pay, which is why they need to be REGULATED. That is worth getting angry over. Home ownership was never (after maintenance, taxes and insurance) going to appreciate more than 1-2% a year.. if you maintain and update. The whole idea of buying houses that will eat your income to the extent these folks have was NUTS.

Yes it was also a stall tactic, but that’s not a bad thing given the mess we’re all in. Congress are who we need to rail on. Fannie and Freddy need to go away. Local banking isolated from the ‘products’ is what we need back. They worked and worked with the borrower. Today the investors are detached and suckers too.

As investors search for yield anywhere and everywhere, bonds are trading in uncharted territory. Please consider Obama Wins Low Yield as Markets Shrink Aiding Deficit

Bond investors seeking top-rated securities face fewer alternatives to Treasuries, allowing President Barack Obama to sell unprecedented sums of debt at ever lower rates to finance a $1.47 trillion deficit.

Shrinking credit markets help explain why some Treasury yields are at record lows even after the amount of marketable government debt outstanding increased by 21 percent from a year earlier to $8.18 trillion. Last week, the U.S. government auctioned $34 billion of three-year notes at a yield of 0.844 percent, the lowest ever for that maturity.

Spending by companies and consumers has slowed as the economy has shown signs of weakening. Companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index have stockpiled a record $2.3 trillion of cash and equivalents. Company borrowing slid 29 percent in the first half of the year to $528 billion amid a dearth of business investment, Bloomberg data shows.

Piles of Cash Equates to Piles of Debt

Companies are piling up cash alright. However, the flip side of that cash is debt.

Moreover, analysts mistake that cash for willingness to expand. The reality is corporations do not want to get trapped like they did in 2008, unable to borrow.

For more on corporate cash levels, please see Are Corporations Sitting on Piles of Cash?

Individuals are also hoarding cash. The U.S. savings rate reached 6.4 percent in June, up from 1.7 percent in August 2007, the start of the financial crisis.

Are Individuals Hoarding Cash?

Individuals are not really "hoarding cash" either. Instead they are paying down debt. Most do not realize that by definition, paying down debt constitutes "saving".

For most wage earners, the savings rate is after-tax salary minus personal consumption expenditures (PCE). For a more precise definition, please see What's Behind The Soaring Savings Rate?

“There’s been a collapse in both consumer and business credit demand,” said James Kochan, the chief fixed-income strategist at Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based Wells Fargo Fund Management, which oversees $179 billion. “To see both categories so weak for such an extended period of time, you’d probably have to go back to the Depression.”

Food Stamps and Unemployment Insurance Mask Depression

I believe we are in a depression now. The key difference is food stamps and unemployment checks have replaced bread lines.

We also have hundreds of thousands of people living in their homes without making payments on their mortgage or home equity lines. The slow foreclosure process encourages more to do the same.

“The diminishing supply” of alternatives to Treasuries “is giving Washington an opportunity to continue with its fiscal irresponsibilities,” said Mark MacQueen, partner and portfolio manager at Austin, Texas-based Sage Advisory Services, which oversees $8.5 billion. “The only way to tell Washington and America ‘no more’ is a weak dollar, which eventually leads to higher interest rates.”

“We are slowly playing a fool’s game as rates go further down to unsustainably low levels,” said Dan Shackelford, a money manager who helps oversee $15 billion in fixed-income assets at T. Rowe Price Group Inc. in Baltimore.

Thoughts on the Fool's Game

If you are managing $15 billion thinking it is a "fool's game", then in my opinion you ought not be doing it. It seems to me there is a lack of fiduciary responsibility if one is investing client money in a "fool's game".

What the hell - Anything for a fee!

I do think corporate bonds, especially most junk is playing for the greater fool. In regards to treasuries, there is going to be an exit problem for sure, but that could be years away. In Japan, yields stayed low for a decade. Why can't it happen here?

Yields certainly might stay low for an extended period. Whether or not they do remains to be seen. I happen to like long-term treasuries right now, but certainly not as much as when the 10-year was at 3.75% and bears were foolishly shorting treasuries like mad.

The government isn’t the only one getting a good deal. Armonk, New York-based International Business Machines Corp., the world’s biggest computer services provider, sold $1.5 billion of three-year notes on Aug. 2 with a coupon of 1 percent, the lowest of the more than 3,400 securities in the Barclays Capital U.S. Corporate Index of investment-grade company debt.

Portland, Oregon, sold about $408 million in sewer-system revenue debt on Aug. 11, with utility bond yields at the lowest level on record. Yields on 10-year, AA rated tax-exempts backed by utility revenue stood at 3.02 percent on Aug. 10, according to Bloomberg Fair Market Value data. That’s the lowest since the index was created in November 1993.

“We are in unchartered territory,” said [William Larkin, a fixed-income money manager in Salem, Massachusetts at Cabot Money Management]. “We are pushing and pulling levers that we don’t understand the full implications.”

Uncharted Territory

This is indeed uncharted territory thanks to the Fed pushing and pulling levers in a manner it does not understand. William Black, a former bank regulator, is one person who does understand. Black says U.S. Using "Rally Stupid Strategy" to Hide Bank Losses - Will Produce Japanese Style Lost Decade.

I agree with his assessment.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Click Here To Scroll Thru My Recent Post List

eric seiger

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foreclosure defense

make money from home jobs

foreclosure law

I have not contributed much to the Moderate Voice during 2010 while I actively posted numerous submissions during 2009. This is due to a variety of factors that some TMV contributors and readers might understand and others may simply dismiss as just worthless excuses.

Throughout 2010, I have continued to read TMV once a day, sometimes dropping by twice as it adds new posts far more frequently than all other major Internet blogs. I really enjoy the many excellent contributions of current bloggers and editors. I constantly tell friends and acquaintances to read TMV as a great alternative to the generally biased, ignorant, and worthless crap incessantly emanating from most other Internet sources. The new commentary system also works well and the reader comments are really worth digesting.

Over the past 6 months, I have started a number of posts and abandoned them because other TMV contributors have written similar and much better articles, printing them as I still labor to finish mine while scrambling on a few part-time contract assignments that might generate some measly income. I am not a journalist so I do not possess that talent or drive to write frequently or even that well.

I have spent most of my life writing but 90% of my work has been dedicated to business and legal memoranda, contract drafting, creating business plans, making governmental applications and responses to regulatory, tax and zoning issues, legal briefs and court filings, and a variety of complex business and legal correspondences on many subjects. I could churn out those “babies” quite rapidly when the prospect of continuing or future financial compensation was involved. My pro bono assistance to some home owners with mortgage and foreclosure issues has not generated any referrals.

Internet blogging is not my strong suit. Some friends and acquaintances have recommended that I also try writing some novels, but decent character and plot development appears to be beyond my abilities. Two longer literary works lay around incomplete and garbled in various computer files. Besides, there have been published millions of literary works by far better writers, all of which can be found all over the Internet and in our bookstores and libraries. One can easily choke on all the cooking books out there today. Its disappointing to realize that my limited past contributions have been pretty useless even when cross-posted on other well-known blogs. I appear to be a prolific “writer” who in reality simply can’t write.

For the second time during my family’s 5-year residence in Arizona, we are being forced to move due to our landlord’s impending foreclosure. Fortunately Federal Public Law 111-22, effective 5/20/09, requires that all tenants receive 90-day’s notice to leave their rented premises from any owner, bank or trustee involved in a mortgage foreclosure, whether they are on a lease or on a month-to-month tenancy. We’re trying to get out of our current digs in less than half that time because the condominium complex is half empty and is no longer being well maintained.

I have nothing against our landlords but they were and are so under water financially with respect to their mortgages and current property values, they really have no sane alternatives. Legally, I can push the envelope to stay put over a longer period of time but our 11-year-old son starts the 6th Grade in Mid August, so what’s the point in fighting to stay in a place that we need to eventually leave? Of course there are additional financial burdens and logistic problems with moving. But in this depressed economy, those are probably not worth complaining about.

I am now on the free-fall toward personal oblivion that occurs to each of us who pass 50 years on this planet. I did not anticipate being in such a miserable financial state a decade ago.

When I complained about the national and global economic mess destroying so many lives in all age groups, two lucky arrogant imbeciles told me that my current plight and those of most individuals are solely our own faults and that we should not look to blame big business, casino banks and financial institutions, “laissez-faire” government, and the complete unleashing of sociopaths during the past 30 years. We should instead blame godless liberals, illegal immigrants, gays, and other lazy minorities for some of the nation’s ills. Overall they told me that I am a whiny socialist who cannot accept my divinely-assigned lot in life.

Naturally I slugged both of these commentators in the stomach and face and yelled a few choice profanities. I really felt better for a few days. I’m a small person and they were much larger individuals, so they fortunately felt nothing physically. I don’t worry about any civil lawsuits for assault though I would enjoy the ruckus I could cause in any Arizona courtroom, not being licensed here. However, writing on TMV, I cannot recommend others engaging in such wacko and uninhibited behavior.

Fortunately my spouse is working full-time and her income covers most all our basic living expenses. She also has a small 401K plan and health insurance for herself and our son. It’s not easy living on net income of around $2,000 a month but it can be done.

I have gone without any meaningful or affordable health insurance for many years. What I have purchased in the past has only been for catastrophic coverage with huge annual deductibles. It’s hard enough financially covering occasional physician visits and medications that fall well below the annual deductible. Others tell me that I am lucky to be generally healthy at my advanced age (50) and that I only require only 2 inexpensive pills to control my high blood pressure.

If I really get sick, I’ll do it on the public dole so the rest of you insured people pick up the tab because I won’t and can’t. Otherwise the U.S. medical industrial complex will simply refuse to assist me unless I come up with money up front. Well we all have to go sometime and my death panel is the quintessential American Capitalist system based upon ability to pay. Since I am not wealthy and not making a lot of money now, I’m really not worth anything to our society. Healthcare reform did not really tackle our bloated, wasteful health system that principally caters to wealthy hypochondriacs.

Over the past year, my small group of wary and sometimes frightened business clients has produced only sporadic work in any given month. Various marketing efforts to other shrinking or stagnating local small enterprises have not proven fruitful. The Phoenix prosperity since 2000 was principally based upon “growth” and when that stopped, so did the overall economy. Endless “job” searches, networking socials, or contract work applications in response to Internet research on various companies, job boards, Craigslist and other sources, have not garnered anything but a few dead-end interviews.

To state the obvious, I join many Americans in an overall sour mood towards our long-mismanaged economy. I have no interest commiserating with a bunch of out-of-work independent contractors and consultants who are as clueless as I am about what to do next. Most of the people inside companies with the authority to make contracts, buy things and services, hire people, and make decisions are no where to be found near any networking groups. I believe our weak economy is actually in the short-term “eye” of the proverbial hurricane, with a lot more permanent danger, wreckage, excitement and disaster coming over the next 2 to 10 years.

Our country has degenerated into a perverted crony capitalist system dominated by a corrupt oligarchy propped up by an Ivy League “meritocracy” that exists on paper only. Those people born into the right families, with the right schooling, networks, friends, and luck are successful financially in the American economy – even if they are wholly ignorant and incompetent. All those anecdotal “evidence” on a few success stories are merely ruses to keep Americans believing in worthless myths about our bankrupt “capitalist” system.

Our oligarchs, business and political leaders are continuously rewarded themselves for greater and greater failures merely because they are on top of our warped and bankrupt economic system. Other successful players in the U.S. economy have chosen crime, gambling and other unregulated activities. I am trying to discover my inner sociopath as I see most successful businesses today being based upon screwing others as quickly as possible, and then disappearing and starting the next short-term scam. Of course, this is only possible in our completely “unregulated” free-enterprise system. Anyone who believes that our economic and political systems are the best in the world is a complete moron.

Our society and economy no longer value or reward those who try to provide worthwhile goods and services to others. Because those with the power in government and our private sector to determine and influence national economic and political decisions are so out of touch with reality, greedy, narcissistic and sociopathic; I hold little hope for this country or even this planet’s long-term future. Our country and people cannot come up with a rationale set of priorities, and balance between competing interests. Some readers may argue with these basic premises, but most facts stubbornly point to my dismal conclusions.

Certainly the lack of any meaningful progress on any domestic or international issues, plus the continuing massive oil gush in the Gulf does not make me a “Happy Camper” during 2010 I have watched this country become consumed by various intellectual cancers: Ignorance, fear, anger, selfishness, extreme political, social and religious polarization, the rise of extremist views, and the overall sense that we as a nation can no longer accomplish anything except yell endless and mindless rants at each other.

TMV has a group of writers and editors that vainly try to speak rationally and sensibly, but compared to the 24/7 din or our superficial media and national obsessions with celebrities and useless new electronic gadgets, does anything matter any more?

To say the least, I’m in a deep funk and depression – all of which is my own damn fault according to some experts. I used to climb out by focusing on bigger issues than those plaguing me, or on other people rather than contemplating myself. Those tactics have not been working for me anymore. I’m not too sure what to do with the few decades I have left on this planet.

I have no interest in doing volunteer work – the ruse of the American right to get Americans to work for free. There are no valuable connections to be made in such work, nor will it ever turn into even modestly paid work at some future date. That’s simply not a viable option when one needs to make some money to survive. Those who propose such pointless alternatives to solve massive national unemployment and under-employment also deserve to be punched in the face.

Now our nation’s arrogant oligarchs and cluelss pundits are preaching miserly governmental fiscal policies as their “recession” has ended. When will the private sector ever grow again – only if it gets more tax cuts and subsidies? It has become more important to constantly worship and serve the gods of our bond and equity markets over the real lives of tens of millions of Americans and their families. What kind of convoluted and short-sighted thought process came up with such stupidity?

My views on all types of political, social and economic issues have been radicalized over the past 10 years and particularly during the past 6 months. This country might need an updated 1789 French Revolution “cleansing” of its powerful political and wealthy economic classes. However, they have successful convinced the masses to get angry at all the other small and powerless groups in the country, based upon all types of useless distinctions, but that has successfully deflected where the real anger should be directed.

The only thing that matters in the U.S. today is the huge and obscene disparity in wealth and income between the top 10% and the rest of the country. Until that is radically altered by any means possible, nothing will improve. I no longer consider myself to be a “moderate.” Thus my frequent contributions to TMV might be counter-productive and unwanted by the editorial staff.

I think there no longer exists any rational middle or center left in this country. The choices we face are simply incompatible and cancel each other out completely. This extreme polarization will necessitate a long-needed political and economic split of this country into many post-empire self-sustaining pieces. Our 18th Century Constitution and similar mindsets of many Americans are hopelessly outdated for the 21st Century realities.

I hope the end of the American experiment comes sooner rather than later. The baby boomers and my nameless generation currently in power deserve to reap what we have sown during our destructive, greedy, narcissistic short-sighted and worthless lifetimes. Great empires commit suicide from within and our country is rapidly moving towards such a complete collapse. I am really having trouble giving a damn anymore about this country or anyone living in it.

Marc Pascal, fed up and still ranting in Phoenix, AZ

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has sued two Virginia Beach mortgage loan modification companies, claiming they charged consumers as much as $1,200 in advance for help to fend off foreclosures.



Under the state's foreclosure rescue law, a business can't charge a fee for its services until after completing the job, as long as the deal doesn't include the sale or transfer of residential property. The two lawsuits filed Monday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court claim Nationwide Loan Modification Bureau LLC and Real Estate Resolutions LLC charged fees of as much as $1,200 and $995 respectively before starting work. The suits seek refunds for consumers in cases for which services were not completely performed, and also seeks civil penalties of as much as $2,500 for each alleged violation.



"During these difficult times, the last thing people need is to be kicked when they are down," Cuccinelli said in a statement. Real Estate Resolutions could not be reached immediately for comment and an automated operator said the number for Nationwide Loan Modification Bureau was not in service.



Paying up-front fees is a "red flag" to avoid when looking for foreclosure prevention help, says the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The agency recommends contacting your lender first to try to negotiate a new repayment schedule. But if that fails, the FTC says to stay away from businesses that:

• guarantee to stop the foreclosure regardless of the circumstances


• collect fees before providing services


• tell consumers not to contact lenders, lawyers or credit and housing counselors


• accept payment only by cashier's check or wire transfer


• instruct consumers to make mortgage payments to them, rather than the lenders


• tells customers to transfer the property deeds to them or offers to buy houses for cash at a price not set by the housing market


• offer to fill out the paperwork or put pressure on consumers to sign paperwork they haven't fully read or understand

Consumers facing foreclosure have other options before enlisting a foreclosure prevention company. Read about some of those on WalletPop.
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Sony unveils 24mm F2, 35mm F1.8 and 85mm F2.8 Alpha lenses <b>...</b>

Sony unveils 24mm F2, 35mm F1.8 and 85mm F2.8 Alpha lenses: Sony has released three prime lenses for its Alpha SLR system. First up is the eagerly-awaited Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2 SSM, which we saw in prototype form at PMA.

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foreclosure homes

RealtyTrac, as reported on Housing Wire, gave a gloomy update on the US housing market. RealtyTrac does granular collection of data on foreclosures, capturing every filing. One of the shortcomings of this approach is that processes vary by state (as in some state require more court filings over the course of a foreclosure than others). In addition, homes can go in and out of foreclosure (an owner gets the first notice, contacts the servicer and works out a catch-up plan, and later falls behind again). So the commentary of RealtyTrac and other market participants is essential in interpreting the data.

The key takeaway:

James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, said at the current pace, more than 3m properties will receive a foreclosure filing by the end of the year, and lenders will repossess more than 1m of them. According to a report from the Toronto-based Capital Economics, the weight of the shadow inventory may contribute to a double dip in the housing market. The report found that for every home currently on the market, two homes are waiting to be sold.

“The roller coaster pattern of foreclosure activity over the past 12 months demonstrates that while the foreclosure problem is being managed on the surface, a massive number of distressed properties and underwater loans continues to sit just below the surface, threatening the fragile stability of the housing market,” Saccacio said.

Yves here. The scary part here is this estimate of market overhang refers only to foreclosed and distressed property. There is another category of hidden inventory, people who would like to sell but aren’t even listing their houses. These would include people who want to relocate, aging individuals who’d like to downsize and had hoped to be able to liberate some equity.

More detail from HousingWire:

Foreclosure filings decreased 3% in June after another 3% drop in April. It’s the third straight month of declines. Foreclosure filings were down 7% from June 2009. Despite the recent downward swing, June marked the 16th straight month of more than 300,000 filings.

For the second quarter of 2010, foreclosures dropped 4% from Q110 and remained 1% above Q209. As default and auction notices fell, REOs increased 5% from the last quarter and 38% from Q209. It’s the most REOs measured in a quarter since RealtyTrac began publishing the reports in January 2005.

“The second quarter was a tale of two trends,” Saccacio said. “The pace of properties entering foreclosure slowed as lenders pre-empted or delayed foreclosure proceedings on delinquent properties with more aggressive short sale and loan modification initiatives. Meanwhile the pace of properties completing the foreclosure process through bank repossession quickened as lenders cleared out a backlog of distressed inventory delayed by foreclosure prevention efforts in 2009.”

Energy-efficient homes
have significantly lower default and delinquency rates than typical homes, according
to an internal analysis conducted for a major financial institution last
year. Here's yet another reason why it
makes no sense that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have effectively killed Property
Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), a financing tool that has helped make
efficiency improvements affordable for thousands of American homeowners.

Homes built to federal Energy Star
standards for efficiency had default and delinquency rates 11 percent lower
than other homes, the 2009 analysis found, according to two people familiar
with the document. The analysis accounted for variables including income and
location, since many new homes are built in sprawling areas (where high transportation costs
contribute to foreclosure rates).

"It was a robust
statistical analysis that found, with a 99-percent confidence interval, that
energy-efficient homes had significantly lower default and delinquency rates," said
one person. Both sources asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships
with finance institutions.

Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac have effectively
shut down PACE programs around the nation.
The programs let homeowners tack the cost of insulation, furnaces, and
other efficiency improvements onto their property tax bills, letting them gradually
pay off the cost over 10 to 20 years. The tax assessments are "senior" to
mortgages, meaning they get paid off first in a foreclosure, which concerns Fannie
and Freddie, the government-sponsored mortgage-finance corporations that
guarantee more than half of the nation's mortgages.

A letter from the Federal
Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which regulates Fannie and Freddie, claims PACE
programs "pose unusual and difficult risk management challenges" for lenders. But
the internal analysis supports what PACE defenders have been claiming -- that
energy-efficiency improvements, when done correctly, make borrowers more financially stable, not less.

"If you're Fannie or
Freddie, in many ways PACE should be the best tax or assessment you've ever
seen, because it improves cash flow," said Cisco
DeVries, president of Renewable Funding, a company that sets up PACE
programs for cities and counties. "Homeowners are reducing their energy bills.
No other assessment does that. For a sewer system [a common use of tax
assessments], you have access to sewers, which is great, but it's not like your
cash flow improves."

The research in the
internal analysis does not focus on PACE or other financing methods, but it
addresses the core focus of PACE: the energy use of buildings. Most PACE
programs require an energy audit and efficiency improvements before funding
rooftop solar or wind (since it's a waste to put solar panels on a leaky
building). Buildings account for 38
percent of the nation's carbon dioxide emissions, so retrofitting them is a
crucial near-term step in addressing climate change -- with the added bonuses
of creating local jobs and cutting utility bills for property owners.

The nation's largest
PACE program, in Sonoma County, Calif., has also found that energy-saving
improvements tend to make homeowners more financially secure. The property-tax
delinquency rate for the county's 900-some PACE participants was 1.2 percent,
compared with 3.5 percent for the county as a whole, according to deputy county
counsel Kathy Larocque.

"The people in our
program are better taxpayers than the general public," she said.

Sonoma County residents
have jumped at the chance to make home improvements through the program since
it launched last spring. The county expected investments to reach $7 million or
so in the first year; instead they reached $30 million as of last month,
according to county Treasurer/Tax Collector Rod Dole.

Another year-old
program in Boulder County, Colo., proved popular with residents, helping them
make more than $10 million in home and business energy improvements. Middle-school
teacher Kayla Thomason wanted to join in; she applied for $11,000 in
funding to fix up her leaky house, had a home-energy audit performed, and had
contractors bidding on the work -- and then Fannie and Freddie forced
the program to shut down.

Boulder County
commissioner Will Toor says local residents are anxious for the program to get
back up and running. "The reactions that we're getting from people are
primarily anger at Fannie and Freddie, as opposed to people feeling like
there's something wrong with the program," he said. "If we can get the federal
issues resolved and clearly state to people that we're able to move forward, I
think that we will see people still participate. I don't think it will be a
long-term blow to the program, once we get the issue resolved."

Dozens of members of
Congress, governors, and mayors have spoken up in support of PACE. Rep. Steve
Israel (D-N.Y.) said he plans to introduce legislation addressing Fannie and
Freddie's concerns, but there's no sign that the bill would move quickly
through Congress. The Department of Energy, which invested $150 million in stimulus
money in PACE programs, urged
Fannie and Freddie to let the programs proceed, without success. It even
offered FHFA a two-year reserve fund to guarantee against losses, an
offer that was refused, according to The
New York Times.

"Every single issue
raised by FHFA was raised previously and resolved, from almost everybody's
perspective, with excellent answers," said DeVries of Renewable Funding. "It's
clear they didn't want to take 'yes' for an answer."

Spokespersons for
Fannie Mae and FHFA did not respond to requests for comment.

Do you have more information on Fannie, Freddie, and the PACE dispute? If
so, we'd like to hear from you (jhiskes grist org).

hormones

Bungie.net : Bungie Weekly Update: 07.09.10 : 7/9/2010 2:53 PM PDT

Truly Old School. There's this odd – and often misunderstood – rule in the NFL with respect to Quarterbacks. It rarely pops up, because it's not often that an NFL team has their third quarterback (generally referred to as the Emergency ...

BP Confirms Lobbying UK Ahead of Lockerbie Bomber Abdel Baset al <b>...</b>

(July 15) -- Amid a new US furor over trading a terrorist for commercial considerations, BP confirmed today that it had lobbied the British government in late 2007 over a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya prior to the release of ...

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: July 15, 2010 (Audio)

TWITTER: @GreenNewsReport The 'GNR' is also now available on your cell phone via Stitcher Radio's mobile app!

Buying stocks Online

Hey, what's up with gold, supposedly the bullet-proof investment when things look like they're going to hell (like now)? Somehow, the script got screwed up. Instead of roaring, gold is crawling, and not only that, it's going backwards to boot.

After tripling since 2001 and steadily ballooning in recent years to an all-time high a couple of weeks ago of $1,250.40 an ounce -- about a 50% jump from its 2007 close of $833 and nearly a 15% gain from last year's wrapup of $1,098.60 -- the yellow metal is starting to tarnish. Last week alone, it dropped $54.40 or 4.4%.

Granted, nothing goes up forever, but the sudden retreat by the investment darling of the flight-to- safety crowd into the $1,100s -- coupled with growing predictions of more erosion ahead -- seems totally out of line, given a slew of gold-buying catalysts. These include:

--Europe's worsening sovereign debt crisis.

--A growing number of forecasts that Greece will default.

--Swelling currency concerns, led by the collapsing Euro.

--French President Sarkozy's threat to pull France out of the Euro.

--Burgeoning money printing world-wide, a sure harbinger of future inflation.

--Fears that the European debt crisis will lead to a faltering global recovery, maybe even a recession.

--Our exploding debt and deficit.

--A warning by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill that the U.S. could go the way of Greece, that "if we don't change course, we could become a basket case ourself."

--Increasing worries about bonds, including long-term U.S. Treasuries.

--An increasingly erratic U.S. stock market, characterized by growing daily triple-digit losses in the Dow Industrials and the recent nasty one-day decline in the Dow of nearly 1,000 points.

Actually, given world-wide financial turmoil and no indication of any let-up in sight, some gold traders think the metal should already be commanding a price tag of around $2,000. But even some bulls see additional weakness, with the metal, currently around $1,192, seen falling over the near term to $1,120 and perhaps even retesting $1,000.

One concern, as a number of gold experts see it, is a worrisome contrary indicator, namely there are way too many bulls. "It's a crowded trade on the upside," says Larry Edelson, who monitors precious metals trends for Weiss Research in Jupiter, Fla. and notes that sentiment readings show 98% of investors are bullish on gold. "Near term, it's putting in a little top, says Edelson, who thinks the metal could drop to the $1,130-$1,150 range.

One reason, he believes, that gold is being negatively impacted short term is stepped-up overseas demand for the U.S. dollar for safety purposes, although Edelson views such buying as tantamount "to jumping from the frying pan into the fire."

Although concerned about the near term outlook for gold, the analyst takes a far more positive view beyond that, arguing that it's surely headed higher. Pointing in particular to the collapsing Euro and growing financial distress in the U.S., Edelson sees gold subsequently rising to $1,500 this year and on to $2,300 in 2011. As another positive for the metal, he notes that gold, before its recent spell of weakness, has been climbing even in the face of a rising greenback. "That's proof positive of a crisis in the fiat currency system," says Edelson.

Taking a longer term view, he thinks gold should be part of every investor's portfolio. His favorite is the physical gold itself, which can be purchased from such well known outfits as Monex; Manfra, Tordello and Brookes, a New York bullion dealer, and Kitco.com., an online dealer. As for individual stocks, he goes for the biggies, notably Barrick Gold., Goldcorp., and Newmont Mining.

A fella who has made some excellent up and down calls on the direction of gold prices -- in fact, he accurately predicted the recent weakness -- is Mark Leibovit, editor of the VR Gold Letter in Sedona, Ariz.

He drew my attention to several recent negative technical signs that suggest gold could continue its recent drop to around $1,060 an ounce, which would be equivalent to an overall retreat of say 15%. which Leibovit contends would represent a buying opportunity. One of those signs was what he calls a reversal pattern, which occurred when gold rose to higher highs during one recent trading session and then reversed to lower lows the following day. Another red flag was the failure of a couple of gold indexes -- the Gold Bugs Index and the Philadelphia Gold Index -- to accompany and confirm the metal's recent rise to record highs.

Leibovit cited the possibility of a strengthening Euro, which could hurt gold, maybe even lead to a retesting of the $1,000 price tag, but he thought a more likely course was the fear that the European debt crisis might expand, leading instead to a higher gold price. In any event, he thinks the wind is at gold's back and views $2,000 or $3,000 as only a matter of time.

He also points out that despite his near-term conerns, gold stil has the wherewithall to rebound sharply at any given moment.

A HuffPost reader in Brisbane, Australia, Cornel Campeanu, a chartist at Techpro.au.Com, e-mailed me with an entirely different scenario. Based on his work, he believes we are a short time away from a meltdown of biblical proportions in mining stocks, with such names as BH Billiton and Rio Tinto leading the charge. As for gold, he sees a potential drop of hundreds of dollars an ounce, preceded by a possible near term drop to $1,120.

Campeanu, it should be duly noted, is spouting contrarian views. Most market pros I talk to overwhelmingly feel that long term, the outlook for gold remains golden.

What do you think? E-mail me at Dandordan@aol.com

We've all heard, ad nauseam, the traditional commands to save paper: recycle, print double-sided, don't use more than you need. And so on. By now, I'm going to assume, you're looking for a fresh stock of ideas for your green-living arsenal.

With that in mind, I've compiled four new tips about how to cut down on paper use. There are many reasons to, perhaps the foremost of which is that much of climate change is caused by deforestation. Also, paper production consumes a lot of energy, paper mills are big polluters, and thrown-away sheets clog landfills. So here's what you can do:

1. Post a Reminder

We know you wouldn't use more paper towels or napkins than you need - but what about everyone else? Engage in some minor guerrilla tactics by ordering a stash of these wonderful stickers, which you can post on paper-towel dispensers in public restrooms, or anywhere else paper products are dispensed, to remind people that, as the stickers say, "These come from trees." Each of these little pieces of positive propaganda, say its creators, saves 100 pounds of paper per year. Plus, profits are donated to the Sierra Club. Want to start combating mindless napkin-pulling right away? Get creative and make your own reminder signs to post.

2. Opt for Hemp

It's Hemp History Week, and while hemp has a controversial history in the U.S., buying paper made of hemp instead of trees isn't illegal. And it's certainly a lot more environmental, considering that as a crop, hemp needs no pesticides, grows back quickly, and preserves the soil it's in better than most commercially grown plants do. No trees need to be killed for a hemp-paper product such as this one or this one.

3. Cure "Bagnesia"

It happened again: You were in line at the grocery store, satisfied with your organic, vegetarian, not-too-packaged purchases. Then it hit you: A vision of your reusable grocery bags -- collecting dust in your car's trunk or kitchen cupboard. You sighed and lugged home your loot in bags of paper or plastic, swearing to remember better next time.

To help you, consider getting Bagnesia's Reusable Bag Solution Kit ($20), which includes two reusable bags, plus two ways to remind yourself to bring 'em along: a doorknob hanger that instructs, "Grab your bags," and a steering-wheel wrap with the same imperative. To save the cash, you can develop your own reminder system -- as long as it works.

4. Go Electronic

The rise of e-mail has saved forests' worth of trees. Which is great -- but perhaps it's time to take the paper-saving up another notch. Are you willing to rethink social graces traditionally carried out with paper? If you're planning a wedding, say, would you consider making your save-the-dates electronic? How about the actual invitations? Can thank-you cards be e-mailed instead of produced, bought, and delivered? How do you feel about sending electronic special-occasion cards, like for this upcoming Father's Day? A Google search turns up plenty of services for sending online greetings; a high-quality choice is Pingg, which stocks stunning nature imagery.

Please comment: What are your innovative tips to save paper?

[via The Green Life]

Mike Fuljenz Mike Fuljenz

foreclosure agents

Cash-strapped homeowners who are forced to sell their homes would gain some relief under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate.

Homeowners who are losing their homes to foreclosure will no longer be forced to pay the municipal portion of the conveyance tax. Currently, the municipal portion amounts to $420 on a $300,000 home.

The exemption was sought by the state's Realtors in a radio commercial that played in recent days and asked listeners to call their legislators in order to pass the exemption.

The foreclosure provision was part of a larger bill that extended the municipal portion of the state's tax on real estate transfers for one year.

Without the extension, the portion of the tax that is directed to cities and towns would expire as of July 1. The issue had prompted a battle over the past seven years between real estate agents and the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which represents most cities and towns. CCM strongly favors the tax because it generates about $25 million annually for cities and towns.

The Senate voted, 32 to 4, before 3 p.m. for the one-year extension. Four Republicans - Senators Dan Debicella of Shelton, L. Scott Frantz of Greenwich, Toni Boucher of Wilton, and Anthony Guglielmo of Stafford Springs - voted against the measure. 

"People have seen the prices of their homes drop 10, 20, 30 percent since they purchased them, and now we're going to be hitting them with an additional tax,'' said Debicella, who is running for Congress in the Fourth Congressional District against Democratic incumbent Jim Himes. "I cannot do this to the homeowners of Connecticut.''

Guglielmo said the leaders of the 13 towns that he represents have worked hard to control spending.

"I think it's a very unfair tax - the conveyance tax,'' Guglielmo said on the Senate floor. "Most people don't expect it when they go to a closing. ... Then we whack them with a pretty heavy burden.''

One of the most tragic consequences of the subprime mortgage crisis has been the toll minorities have paid. Republicans point to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and ACORN as the mortgage Satans of the 21st century, but the truth is something else entirely.

Here's one example:

For two decades, Tyrone Banks was one of many African-Americans who saw his economic prospects brightening in this Mississippi River city.

A single father, he worked for FedEx and also as a custodian, built a handsome brick home, had a retirement account and put his eldest daughter through college.

Then the Great Recession rolled in like a fog bank. He refinanced his mortgage at a rate that adjusted sharply upward, and afterward he lost one of his jobs. Now Mr. Banks faces bankruptcy and foreclosure.

“I’m going to tell you the deal, plain-spoken: I’m a black man from the projects and I clean toilets and mop up for a living,” said Mr. Banks, a trim man who looks at least a decade younger than his 50 years. “I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. But my whole life is backfiring.”

Like so many, Mr. Banks was lured by the promises made by the big banks like Wells Fargo and others: Refinance your home, take out some money for yourself, and hey, the interest rate will be low...for awhile, anyway.

The squeeze came for him when the interest rates on that variable rate mortgage rose and his income dropped. While it's not limited to minority borrowers, the impact on minority communities has been deeper than on white communities, largely because the unemployment rate is much higher.

Black middle-class neighborhoods are hollowed out, with prices plummeting and homes standing vacant in places like Orange Mound, White Haven and Cordova. As job losses mount — black unemployment here, mirroring national trends, has risen to 16.9 percent from 9 percent two years ago; it stands at 5.3 percent for whites — many blacks speak of draining savings and retirement accounts in an effort to hold onto their homes. The overall local foreclosure rate is roughly twice the national average.

It appears that the higher foreclosure rate is no accident. In fact, it seems that Wells Fargo targeted minorities to market higher-risk loans. At least, that's the accusation causing federal authorities to take a closer look at their lending practices there.

Camille Thomas, a 40-year-old African-American, loved working for Wells Fargo. “I felt like I could help people,” she recalled over coffee.

As the subprime market heated up, she said, the bank pressure to move more loans — for autos, for furniture, for houses — edged into mania. “It was all about selling your units and getting your bonus,” she said.

What follows next is a story told across the country, but when the scam is played on a community just beginning to get a toehold on forward economic progress, the setback is one that may take more than a generation to overcome.

She described tricks of the trade, several of dubious legality. She said supervisors had told employees to white out incomes on loan applications and substitute higher numbers. Agents went “fishing” for customers, mailing live checks to leads. When a homeowner deposited the check, it became a high-interest loan, with a rate of 20 to 29 percent. Then bank agents tried to talk the customer into refinancing, using the house as collateral.

Ask a conservative and they'll tell you those people shouldn't have believed they'd get something for nothing. Well, I beg to differ. In the subprime heyday, phone calls rolled in here at record pace, promising us we could refinance our home and pull out enough cash to retire. When our middle son graduated from high school we were inundated with offers to refinance to send him to college. We had already been stung during the S&L crisis, so we knew it was a scam. But to the uninitiated, it seemed like a step up.

But then, look what happens:

Two years ago, his doorbell rang, and two men from Wells Fargo offered to consolidate his consumer loans into a low-cost mortgage.

“I thought, ‘This is great! ’ ” Mr. Banks says. “When you have four kids, college expenses, you look for any savings.”

What those men did not tell Mr. Banks, he says (and Ms. Thomas, who studied his case, confirms), is that his new mortgage had an adjustable rate. When it reset last year, his payment jumped to $1,700 from $1,200.

We've heard all of these stories before, but in Memphis the result is deep, dire and depressing.

“We’re wiping out whatever wealth blacks have accumulated — it assures racial economic inequality for the next generation,” said Thomas M. Shapiro, director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University.

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