"Speculative bubbles often produce an 'echo boom' a few years after the bubble has burst, as the cultural/institutional memories of the asset's spectacular gains remain operative long after the initial boom/bust. Is the much-hyped housing recovery an organic, sustainable trend, or is it merely a speculation-driven echo boom that is doomed to fade?" Continue reading →
"Compare all state foreclosure timelines on this simple one-page chart and click on any state name to read about detailed foreclosure procedures for that state. Before continuing, please note that if you're currently facing or potentially facing foreclosure, you probably have a handful of foreclosure questions. We have a Frequently Asked Questions section that can help." Continue reading →
"'The housing market has been declining for something like six years now, it could go on, that’s my worry,' Shiller said in Davos, Switzerland. 'The short-term indicators are up now, it definitely looks better, but we saw that in 2009.' 'It’s a good housing market in the sense that mortgage rates are very low and prices have come down to normal levels, so yes, it’s a good time to buy if nothing bad happens,' Shiller said. 'But it’s also a very bad housing market in that most of the mortgages are being supported by the government, and we have the Fed and this buying program. It’s a very abnormal market. There’s a lot of uncertainty going forward.'" Continue reading →
"Banks are letting delinquent borrowers squat rather than foreclosing on them and booting them out. At first, it was a self-preservation measure by the banks taken out of desperation when the first wave of foreclosures caused prices to crash. However, now the banks are content to allow squatting, even for years, because squatters do not become MLS supply weighing down prices. The houses occupied by squatters are effectively removed from the market creating an artificial shortage. The lack of MLS homes for sale and high affordability is causing prices to rise, and as prices go up, banks have collateral backing on their bad loans." Continue reading →
"The 23-year-old has moved into an empty $2.5 million mansion in a posh Boca Raton neighborhood, using an obscure Florida real estate law to stake his claim on the foreclosed waterside property. The police can't move him. No one saw him breaking into the 5-bedroom house, so it's a civil matter. And representatives for the real owner, Bank of America, said they are aware of the situation and are following a legal process. Sunrise real estate lawyer Gary Singer said Barbosa is invoking a state law called 'adverse possession,' which allows someone to move into a property and claim the title — if they can stay there seven years." Continue reading →
"A California man who failed to pay his property taxes for over five years has finally come up with the money — but he made local tax office workers count nearly $15,000 worth of change and dollar bills. Larry Gasper of Redding, Calif. brought in a wheelbarrow and two buckets worth of coins and cash to the Shasta County Tax Collector’s Office on Wednesday afternoon. Gasper rolled and collected the coins and bills until he had enough to clear his debt. If Gasper had not paid the bill, his property would have been auctioned off next month. He said he lost his tree business a couple of years ago." Continue reading →
"Federal Reserve officials in August 2007 saw the beginnings of the crisis in subprime mortgages and concluded that the U.S. economy would be able to withstand it, even as some Fed members warned that it could trigger a downturn, transcripts from their 2007 meetings show. The transcripts show the committee's slow grasp of the enormity of contagion that was to spread throughout global markets as a result of billions of dollars in low-quality housing assets that had been securitized into bonds and sold to banks and investors worldwide. The FOMC focused on the economy's performance and showed reluctance to alter policy until August." Continue reading →
"Coordinated, easy monetary policy among the world’s central banks has been a key driver of asset values. That much is undeniable. I have highlighted multiple markets — from junk bonds to farmland to emerging market bonds — where bubblicious activity is rearing its ugly head again as a result, just as it did in previous periods of overly aggressive policy easing. We know this doesn’t end well. The only question is timing." Continue reading →
"The alert from the country that chairs the Group of 20 came as Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker complained of a 'dangerously high' euro. The push for weaker currencies is being driven by a need to find new sources of economic growth as monetary and fiscal policies run out of room. The risk is as each country tries to boost exports, it hurts the competitiveness of other economies and provokes retaliation. The skirmish may lead to a clash of G-20 finance ministers and central banks when they meet next month in Moscow, three months after reiterating their 2009 pledge to 'refrain from competitive devaluation of currencies.'" Continue reading →
"The Pacific Group Ltd., founded by a former PaineWebber Inc. trader, is converting one-third of its hedge-fund assets into physical gold, betting that prices will go up as governments print more money to pay off debt. The Hong Kong-based asset manager plans to take delivery of $35 million worth of gold bars that can be traded on the London Bullion Market Association and other international markets, William Kaye, its founder and chief investment officer, said in a telephone interview on Jan. 18. It has secured vault space at Hong Kong International Airport to store the gold, he said." Continue reading →