11 replies to this topic

[Rogerdodger]

It looks like our local Sheriff's web site was 3 weeks late posting new foreclosures.
(Maybe they are overworked)
When they finally did, this week's foreclosures jumped from a weekly average around 35 to 65, the second highest this year.

Housing Counselors Share in the Strain of Foreclosures
Nonprofit Workers' Caseloads Are Rising, and So Is Their Exposure to Homeowners' Anguish
By Sandy Shore
AP November 3, 2007

DENVER -- It was one of Zach Urban's most trying days as a housing counselor: A woman arrived on his doorstep so distraught over the thought of losing her townhome that he feared she might harm herself.
Sherie Zamora sought Urban's help when she temporarily lost her job and couldn't get relief from her mortgage company. She said Urban was calm and reassuring as they developed a plan. But as she left his office, he gave her some suicide-prevention hot-line numbers.

Counselors help homeowners examine their finances; what it will take to catch up with payments, if that's feasible; and how the foreclosure process works.
They also work with lenders, often spending hours trying to reach the right representative.
Officials worry that counselors may quit over burnout or find better jobs just as demand is soaring.

The news isn't getting much better. Foreclosure filings nearly doubled nationwide in September, and new-home sales are projected to fall 23 percent this year.
In Colorado, one of the hardest-hit states, foreclosures rose 31 percent in 2006, to 28,220. They are expected to climb an additional 30 percent in 2007

Edited by Rogerdodger, 03 November 2007 - 10:52 AM.

[underabigw]

Roger, This reminds me of my father telling me about a lady jumping off the roof of the Donaghey building (tallest downtown office building at the time) in Little Rock during the great depression. I have a great socioeconomic indicator to judge if something major is happening with the general public. Just find a Cracker Barrel Country Store on a Sunday and look at the parking lot. So far, the one near me is still full so things have not gotten that bad yet in Central Arkansas. UBW

[Rogerdodger]

I can't imagine what would happen if the employment rate sours:
By LAURIE WINSLOW World Staff Writer
10/31/2007

September was good to the Tulsa area, which saw total nonfarm employment go higher into record territory while the jobless rate edged lower.

The seven-county metro area's jobless rate dipped to 3.9 percent last month from 4.0 percent in August, the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission reported Tuesday. A year earlier, the area had a 3.7 percent jobless rate.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 03 November 2007 - 10:57 AM.

[underabigw]

It is scary. I don't want to sound like some crack pot doom and gloomer, but there are such things as long term business cycles, and, we may be about to enter the down part of this one. Good luck, and thanks for posting such timely stuff. UBW P.S. If you have not already done so, check out Mike123's ABX Charts post. Not good for anyone. UBW

[Rogerdodger]

This foreclosure deal is different. We had a bubble. Prices went too high too fast. Now they are coming back down. I see many of the same names on each week's foreclosure list. This indicates that many of them got the "Zero down, get rich tapes" They may keep the house they're living in, thru Homestead, and let the mortgage co. keep the "investment" homes. Some of the foreclosure names are also on the criminal court docket indicating that they may not be needing their homes anyway, if you catch my drift. My friend's neighbor recently lost her home but she had been a psycho for years. Hi Walter, How's that Magic Jack working with Google's Grand Central?

[underabigw]

Hello Roger, I'm still waiting on getting broad band service where I live before I purchase a Magic Jack. Hope to get service within the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted as soon as I get everything in place. UBW Hi Walter, How's that Magic Jack working with Google's Grand Central? [/quote]

[Rogerdodger]

Facing jail, banker leaps to death
BestBank's ex-owner plummets 27 stories hours before hearing

By David Milstead And Tillie Fong, Rocky Mountain News
November 3, 2007
Former BestBank owner Edward Mattar, facing 14 years in prison and the forfeiture of millions of dollars at his fraud sentencing Friday, chose instead to leap from a 27th-story window.

[Rogerdodger]

Google ads are so funny.
On this subject I've seen:

Death Records advertised and Inmemoryof.com as well as:
Port Huron Counseling
Mental Health Services
La Canada Counseling
Expert Psychotherapy

www.Last-Memories.com

Edited by Rogerdodger, 03 November 2007 - 04:56 PM.

[pdx5]

There is NO collapse in housing as one might surmise reading the MSM. House prices are just reverting back to more normal. Collapse is when you can buy a house way under construction costs. That is not reached! Ever since Greenspin dropped rates to 1%, things got carried away. You could get a cheap ARM loan....so many bought who shold'nt have. The mortgage bank was in a win-win situation if the buyer defaulted, no problem. The house could be resold at HIGHER price! Flippers could'nt buy enough condo's for a quick profit. Just give it a year or so, and prices will stabilize, foreclosures will drop off.

Edited by pdx5, 03 November 2007 - 01:51 PM.

[Iblayz]

Just tells us that a lot of what we have heard is/was a lie. First, it was well contained. Second, it was....that is their problem....we have very little exposure. Third, it was an opportunity to buy at fire sale prices.....that was a few months ago. Fourth, it was....we have identified the amounts and we are all writing them off in mass so we can get the bad news out in the open and leave the problem behind us......only problem there is, some have already written off more just a few weeks later....more to come? Then we find out a really big box has liquidity and ratio problems. We are still early in the game. What is fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth going to be? Big banks trying to hide the truth....not coming clean? Have they ever done this before? Well fish swim, birds fly, scorpions sting, bears poop in the woods and big banks.....well they just can't help it....it is what they do. Now am I saying that the market is gonna tumble because of this? Nah. In fact, the Nasdaq must be a buy here.....it is only at 37 times earnings. Is it possible there are bumbleheads out there who think the Nasdaq is a buy here....that it is a "great investment"? Must be true....that is what they are doing. I think they are going to end up doing the exact same thing they did in 2000. They are going to run it up to where the patient ones get the "short of the century". Why? Because too many "traders at the margin" have joined the same thundering herd. Back then the thundering herd was much less informed. Many didn't have a clue what they were doing. Now the "traders at the margin" are much better informed and quite sophisticated. They have incredible tools and mounds of information (not to mention a lot of OPM). But as a gruop they will prove to be just a stupid as the daytraders in 2000. That is because they will have, as was the case back then, the brokers support. The brokers have the real numbers on their books in real time. And they trade the markets that they call daily....against their own customers (you and I would go to jail for that). But the point is that there are always too many that can see the handwriting on the wall....they "know" what is about to happen and get short.....but too many do it at the same time...so the brokers take their money....even though they may themselves know and believe that a slowdown is coming....and that doing so will put their own business into an extended slump....they cannot help it...it is what they do. Fish swim, birds fly, scorpions sting, bears poop in the woods and brokers.....well they just can't help it.