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22 Dec 2011 01:03

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U.S.: Countrywide will pay massive settlement over subprime crisis

  • $335 million settlement over discrimination charges source
  • » They allegedly steered minorities towards bad mortgages. The company, something of the focal point of the subprime housing scandal, now has to face the music. Bank of America, the parent of Countrywide Financial, had to settle claims from before it purchased the company, a four-year period during the housing boom when loans were handed out very easily. In the case of Countrywide, however, there is evidence that while white homeowners got offered normal mortgage, black or Latino homeowners of similar stature received a subprime mortgage instead, meaning that they were given higher interest rates and unfavorable terms for loans, making it easier to default. As part of the settlement with the Justice Department, the company denied the charges, while Bank of America distanced itself from the housing-boom-era actions
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Oct 2011 11:17

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Biz: Home prices rising or falling, depending on the metric you use

  • negative House prices are down by 3.8 percent from a year ago, according to the widely-watched Case-Shiller index, released this morning.
  • positive However, the number was up 0.2 percent from the prior month, making one analyst say that he sees a “glimmer of hope” in the data.
  • negative But when you break it down to granular data, just ten of the top twenty saw home prices rise. Like getting depressed? Enjoy. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Aug 2011 11:52

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Biz: Mortgage rates fall to their lowest level in 50 years

  • 4.15% the current rate for a 30-year fixed loan source
  • » To explain why this is important: Mortgage rates tend to go down when people aren’t buying homes, as an incentive to get them to buy. When the economy was doing well back around 2000, this rate was around 8 percent. Now, the rate is so low that the last time it was this low, 30-year fixed loans weren’t even widely available and the numbers were based on 20 or 25-year fixed loans. This particular statistic has been below 5 percent for the entire year, minus around two weeks.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Feb 2011 23:26

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Biz: Bank Of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo feel heat over mortgages

  • The current environment of heightened regulatory scrutiny has the potential to subject the corporation to inquiries or investigations that could significantly adversely affect its reputation.
  • A statement from Bank of America • Noting in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company could be subject to huge penalties over their abusive mortgage practices. They’re not alone; Wells Fargo and Citigroup ware in the same boat, and it’s all thanks to the shady way that the trio dealt with their foreclosures. The reports from the companies suggest that all three will take a financial hit for said shadiness. Bank of America says that the state and federal inquiries “could result in material fines, penalties, equitable remedies (including requiring default servicing or other process changes), or other enforcement actions, and result in significant legal costs.” In other words, they’re screwed for screwing over homeowners. Oops. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jan 2011 11:17

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Biz: Housing numbers: Prices, sales on the up-and-up right now

  • 17.5% jump in single-family home sales source
  • » Oh, and home prices are on the up, too: Good news, everybody. The housing market appears to be improving – home prices are at their highest since April 2008, and sales of single-family units are at their highest in eight months. This is a fundamental suggestion that the recovery seems to be gaining wings. But will it last? It seems like just yesterday we were talking about the anger of a double-dip.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jan 2011 10:40

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Biz: Some positive home sales news, because we need some

  • 12.3% jump in existing home sales in December source
  • » Oh yeah, some more good news: The annual rate of 5.28 million homes, while far below the mid-naughts peak of 7 million in September 2005, is a bit higher than analysts expected. The number hit a low of less than 4 million home sales back in the middle of last year. Granted, people’s homes are still getting foreclosed en masse, but this isn’t bad news.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2011 09:38

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Biz: A record year: How bad were home foreclosures in 2010?

  • 2.9 million the number of foreclosure notices homeowners received in 2010 – a record, but only modestly above 2009
  • 1 million the number of people who lost their homes as a result – Nevada led the nation in Foreclosures, BTW source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

01 Jan 2011 21:54

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Biz: Henry Paulson personally lost $1 million in the housing crisis

  • See? Treasury secretaries suffer just like the rest of us. You can call Henry Paulson a lot of things, but one thing you can’t call the Bush-era Treasury Secretary is “unaffected by the financial crisis.” See, Paulson’s home just got sold on the D.C. housing market, and it went for far less than he bought it for. Let’s check the numbers already:
  • $4.3M the cost he paid for his home, near the National Cathedral, in 2006 (which is swank, BTW)
  • $4.6M the amount Paulson, no longer a bureaucrat, put the home on the market for in April
  • $3.25M the amount Paulson’s home finally sold for a couple of weeks ago – a $1 million loss source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Dec 2010 11:09

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Biz: Ready to be depressed? Read this assessment of housing numbers

  • The double-dip is almost here. There is no good news in October’s report. Home prices across the country continue to fall.
  • Standard & Poor Index Committee Chairman David Blitzer • Expressing fear that recently-released housing numbers are a harbinger of a double-dip. The numbers, which showed a 1.3 percent decline in home prices in 20 key cities, were apparently much more dire than many analysts were expecting. “It was a bit of a surprise,” said IHS Global Research’s Pat Newport. “I wasn’t expecting it to lag so badly in all 20 cities.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Nov 2010 09:49

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Biz: To start off your day right, here’s some crappy economic news

  • +0.2% the increase in the Consumer Price Index in October – an increase, but a much more mediocre one than economists expected
  • -11.7% the drop in new housing starts in October; the Treasury’s $600 billion shot in the arm doesn’t look so bad now, does it? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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