[RE-Cap] TARP, BARF, Loathing, Coupons And A Hot Potato

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Sunday, November 23, 2008, 10:25 PM
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It’s been a while since I linked out to bloggers whom I follow and admire. A large scale hat tip, so to speak. I also throw in news items and other tidbits that make me want to curl my cap.

This week’s theme: Change we can sort of believe in.

Political Fear and Loathing on Wall Street [XBroker]

The Option ARM Non-Bomb? [Infectious Greed]

From TARP to BARF [Curious Capitalist]

FDIC coupons [WallStreetJackass]

Love, Jobs & 401(k)s [NYT]

When couples split, the home is a hot potato [Miami Herald]

Failing Home Economics [NYT]

Word A Day: exurb [A.Word.A.Day]

Just doing my job [Seth's Blog]

Rich Cut Back on Payments to Mistresses [Wealth Report]

Yuppie insurance [Free Exchange]

They Are Still Selling This Stuff? [Blown Mortgage]

[Housing On Fire] Blogoshere Hose-Down, Heaven Can Wait Edition

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Friday, May 30, 2008, 12:01 AM
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Periodically, I like to round-up some of my favorite recent blog posts or articles that are housing market/credit/economy related. It’s journalism heaven: housing provides an endless supply of stuff to write about and this week was no exception.

• First Housing Bust, Now Baby Bust [Dan Gross - Slate]

• Mortgages and Madness [Newsweek]

• The open house workaround [Inman/Teresa Boardman]

• New York Fed housing stats [Federal Reserve]

• THE NUTCRACKER [Bankrate/Holden Lewis]

• Economists React: ‘Little Indication’ of Housing Bottom [RTEconomics/WSJ Blogs]

• Hmmmmmmmm? [Bill Gross/PIMCO]

• Housing Affordability Index: Surprise, It’s a Buyer’s Market [Seeking Alpha]

[Housing On Fire] Blogoshere Hose-Down, 24-hour Edition

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Wednesday, May 21, 2008, 12:01 AM
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Periodically, I like to round-up some of my favorite recent blog posts that are housing market/credit/economy related.

Quote of the week…

I went down the street to the 24-hour grocery. When I got there, the guy was locking the front door. I said, ‘Hey, the sign says you’re open 24 hours.’ He said, ‘Yes, but not in a row!’ – Steven Wright.

• Raining on Ranieri [Floyd Norris-NYT]

• Offer to purchase can be binding [Boston Real Estate Blog]

• Are Pirates the Key to Understanding the World? [Freakanomics]

• More Free Options From Lenders [Housing Derivatives]

• No more rate cuts for a while? [William J. Polley]

• Fed and Bubbles: First, Heal Thyself? [WSJ: Real Time Economics]

• Cow Something [Dave Barry]

• That Little Bit of Space [Opinionistas]

• EDNY Forms Federal Task Force to Clean Up Mortgage Mess [WSJ:Law Blog]

• Foreclosures: Impact on Real Estate Market May Not be as Severe as Expected [BTM]

• The flying penis menace moves offline in Russia [ValleyWag]

• Marketing Your Home in a Softening Market [True Gotham]

• Top Ten Reasons Your Home Isn’t Selling [Searchlight Crusade]

[Housing On Fire] Blogoshere Hose-Down, Time Capsule Edition

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 12:08 AM
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Periodically, I like to round-up some of my favorite recent blog posts that are housing market/credit/economy related. A lot of good information can be backed up in a Time Capsule.

Quote of the week…

The paperless society is about as plausible as the paperless bathroom.” –Jesse Shera [librarian and author]

• Stopping The Bailout! [Paper Money]

• Are There More Than 50 People Blogging In Real Estate? [Bloodhound]

• The house that got away…. [360 Digest]

• As Greenwich Goes..? Maybe Rich Aren’t Immune In Housing Crisis [CNBC Realty Check]

• A Silver Lining To The Foreclosure Crisis: More Affordable Housing [Planetizen]

• Economic Stimulus Check Burned For Warmth [The Onion]

• It took 11 Hours for Someone to Point out the Obvious [Marginal Utility]

• Trulia, madly, deeply [Businessweek/Hot Property]

[Housing On Fire] Blogoshere Hose-Down, Cinco De Mayo Edition

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Monday, May 5, 2008, 11:29 PM
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Periodically, I like to round-up some of my favorite recent blog posts that are housing market/credit/economy related. And a good reason to mention Cinco de Mayo even though it has no connection with any of these posts.

Quote of the week…

In all large corporations, there is a pervasive fear that someone, somewhere is having fun with a computer on company time. Networks help alleviate that fear. – John C. Dvorak

• What Happens When You Over-Price Real Estate? [Searchlight Crusade]

• Envisioning Employment: Employment Situation April 2008 [Paper Economy]

• Another ride around the REO block [Inman Blog]

• The Future of Mortgage Brokers [RCG]

• How Do You Spell MLS? [Bloodhound Blog]

• BuildingSpotter: Know Your “Iron Man” Landmarks [Curbed LA]

• Reports from the Field: Putting the ‘Sex’ in Sexton [Behind the Mortgage]

• Ooh, I Feel So Stimulated! [My Open Wallet]

• Flashback: Sellsius Teams With Engadget [Sellsius]

• Task Force May Widen Federal and State Investigation into Mortgage Irregularities [Mortgage News Daily]

• Jose Canseco Exercises Free Housing Put Option [Housing Derivatives]

• Liquidity isn’t apple pie [interfluidity]

• U.S. Unemployment Rate [GREG MANKIW'S BLOG]

• Rebuttal To SmartMoney Housing Bottom Call [Mish]

[Housing On Fire] Blogoshere Hose-Down

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Monday, April 21, 2008, 12:01 AM
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Periodically, I like to round-up some of my favorite recent blog posts that are housing market/credit/economy related. And of course, a few extras…

Honesty may be the best policy, but it’s important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy – George Carlin

• Minnesota’s new ghost towns [Calculated Risk]

• Poped! [The Crooked Timber]

• Housing Poll: Prices will Go Up, Go Down, or Remain Flat! [Truck and Barter]

• Fedspeak Highlights: Yellen on the Economic Chill [Real Time Economics]

• Dumped, Mortgage Style [Behind The Mortgage]

• Angry and Active [Curbed SF]

• WHAT THE HELL? [Property Grunt]

• Just How Much Your Credit Score Impacts Your Interest Rate [Rain City Guide]

• So many ways to dislike the home price stories [Square Feet]

• Couple sues Google over Street View pics of their house [Valleywag]

• Exactly Why You Should Bore Blog Readers With Real Estate Statistics [RE Tomato]

• Foreclosure Crisis: Now I know Why There Is One [Realty Check]

• Redfin Select: School-Marmish Innovator’s Dilemma? Becoming What They Hate? [3 Oceans]

• Time Management [Dilbert]

[Housing On Fire] Blogoshere Hose-Down

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Monday, April 14, 2008, 12:01 AM
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Periodically, I like to round-up some of my favorite recent blog posts that are housing market/credit/economy related. There’s a lot of passion and great commentary out there, you just have to light a fire to find it (sorry). Of course, I throw in random stuff as well.

• The 2008 HousingPANIC Award Nominees (first draft) [Housing Panic]

• How Fannie And Freddie Are Making Remortgages Cost-Prohibitive [The Mortgage Reports]

• Our Ass-Backwards Banking System [Big Picture]

• The Sorry Mess That Is Alphonso Jackson’s HUD [Calculated Risk]

• Central bank independence [Econbrowser]

• Where did all the get-rich real estate books go? [BW/HotProperty]

• Tradition Sees UK Housing Prices In 8 Year Slump [Housing Derivatives]

• Fed Is Incompetent And Dangerous [Mish]

• Pizza-Flation [The Stalwart]

• FHA: Here Today….[Lenderama]

[List-o-links] 3-31-08 Credit Crunch Update

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Monday, March 31, 2008, 12:01 AM
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The Crunch bar has always been one of my favorites but it never seemed to last as long as I wanted it to and no matter how hard I tried, I always ended up with some of it on my hands.

This candy bar has a taste we can’t seem to get rid of.

• What Good Is Sarbanes-Oxley Anyway? [Dealbreaker]
  
• Priming the markets for tomorrow’s big crash {Harpers]
  
• Ten Days That Changed Capitalism [WSJ]
  
• Lawsuit about risk of CERN and parallel universe [BoingBoing]
  
• Squanderville versus Thriftville [TradeReform.org (hat tip to Joel Burselm)]
  
• A Novel Fix for the Credit Mess [Barrons]
  
• Jumbo Loans Are Reborn, But Terms Are Stiffer [WaPo]
  
• Fed Policy chart [Dr. John Rutledge Blog]
  
• Where Have All the Macroeconomists Gone? [Freakonomics]
  
• Failure Now An Option [The Onion]
  

[List-o-links] 3-2-08 From The Tank: Housing Needs To Adapt, Improvise and Overcome

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Sunday, March 2, 2008, 9:52 PM
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On a WWII binge, having watched Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Letters From Iwo Jima, Flags of our Fathers and Heartbreak Ridge within the past month, it was time to bring out The Tank.

As Clint Eastwood said in Heartbreak Ridge, adapt, improvise and overcome…

Here’s a collection of recent articles I enjoyed but didn’t have the ahem firepower to blog.

• Shiller: How a Bubble Stayed Under the Radar [NYT]
• The Unspeakable R Word [Newsweek]
• No Country for Old Maids [PIMCO]
• Negotiators Resolve FHA Obstacle [Congressional Quarterly]
• Vacant Homes in U.S. Climb to Most Since 1970s With Ghost Towns [Bloomberg]
• U.S. frees Fannie, Freddie reins despite huge losses [USAToday]
• Thornburg Mortgage Inc.: Attack of the Verbs [Seeking Alpha]
• Upcoming Congressional Scrutiny May Target Mortgage Brokers [Appraisal Institute]
• The dog days of real estate [SF Chronicle]
• Moody’s eyeing Fannie Mae downgrade [CNN/Money]
• The Crux Of Deluxe: With ‘Luxury’ Condos, Room for Interpretation [WaPo]
• Consumers’ Alarm Grows Contagious [Barrons]
• Stagflation and the Fed [Goldseek]
• Federal Reserve Fuels Fire Without the Kindling: Caroline Baum [Bloomberg]
• Urban Fractionals: Where Does It Make Sense to Buy? [Helium Report]
• Is Housing Market Pessimism Overdone? [WSJ Developments Blog]
• “The Suze Orman Show” and “Supernanny” uncover the perils of the American dream [Salon]

[List-o-links] 1-27-08 Subprime Cuts: Pets At Risk, Concedes Failures, Presidential, Greenspan

Posted by Jonathan J. Miller -Monday, January 28, 2008, 12:01 AM
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After consuming a 7 ounce steak during at a celebratory dinner with my wife on our 24th wedding anniversary, I was inspired to bring back this Subprime post series (I know, I lead a pretty pathetic life). Subprime, as a topic, has come back strong in recent weeks. Once rationalized just to be the smoking gun, its now clearly more than that.

And that steak was great…

• Subprime mortgage crisis hurts pets [NY Daily News]
• NY Fed Issues Subprime Mortgage Figures [Houston Chronicle]
• Moody’s Official Concedes Failures in Some Ratings [NYT]
• Clayton Cooperates in Wall Street Subprime Probe [Bloomberg]
• Fortis subprime profit hit may be 2.9 billion [Reuters]
• Brooklyn neighborhoods top subprime foreclosures in nation [NY Daily News]
• Don’t blame subprime for possible recession: Greenspan [Financial Post]
• Subprime-sales situation shock to Greenspan [The Province]
• H&R Block begins tax season in midst of company’s subprime, leadership woes [Seattle Times]
• SEC to Rework Rules After Funds Struggled With Subprime Prices [Bloomberg]
• Presidential Candidates’ Subprime Solutions [Forbes.com]