housing bubble

House flipping making a comeback

Submitted by on

It's hard to believe it, but the housing bubble has not finished bursting.

Four years after the collapse of the U.S. housing bubble, flipping homes is back in fashion.
...
The minimum bid, as set by a unit of Citigroup Inc., which had a $1.3 million mortgage on the home, was $379,900. After several minutes of bidding among investors and their representatives, some wearing shorts and flip-flops, Mr. Mirmelli won the home for $486,300. A week later, he agreed to sell it for $690,000 to a woman who moved in this month.

After all these years, and all that heartbreak, people are still trying to get back to 2006.

Housing bust to resume

Submitted by on

There are a number of reasons to worry about the current housing market. The housing affordability rate actually got worse last year despite collapsing home prices. Home mortgage obligations are still historically high.

However, the biggest concern is the massive overhang of 7 million houses of shadow inventory.

(Bloomberg) -- The crash in U.S. home prices will probably resume because about 7 million properties that are likely to be seized by lenders have yet to hit the market, Amherst Securities Group LP analysts said.

Home Appraiser Fraud - Ritholtz

Submitted by on

Just when you think the insanity is over, there it is...again. The Big Picture has a great watchdog piece on how the NAR and NAMB are at it again.

I am beginning to suspect that the Realtor’s association and the Mortgage Broker’s association are pro-fraud.

Yesterday, I noted the bizarre (and potentially corrupt) statement from NAR economists Lawrence Yun calling for appraisers “familiar” with local neighborhoods:

This is socialism for Wall Street and the rich!

Submitted by on

The title is a quote from Roubini, economist. I love it, yup, that's right, workers get corporate machinations from hell (often called free trade) while the super rich and institutions get socialism!

There is an interview Yes, that's $2 Trillion in Losses, from Barrons with Roubini (this is his blog), talking about the housing bubble/crisis.

They note so far his predictions about the financial crisis (when most were singing a happy tune) have been dead on accurate, so they interview Roubini for further predictions.

One observation: