Monday, March 03, 2008

The San Diego Union Tribune - "Helping homeowners tripped up by mortgage" (3-1-08)

"You Walk Away LLC has found a way to profit from the ongoing mortgage crisis, but co-founder Jon Maddux says the Carlsbad-based company also is providing a valuable service to borrowers who took out risky adjustable-rate loans during the fevered housing boom. Launched in January, the business helps distressed homeowners navigate their way through the foreclosure process for a fee of $995. Although it has served about 200 clients so far, Maddux says the potential market is largely untapped."

The San Diego Union Tribune - "Jobless data raise fears of recession in California" (3-1-08)

"In January, California lost more than 20,000 jobs, keeping the unemployment rate at nearly 6 percent, according to data released yesterday by the state Employment Development Department."

CNN - "Say good-bye to granite countertops" (3-1-08)

"During the housing boom, updating a kitchen with high end materials like cherry wood cabinets and a Viking stove was a sure bet to boost a home's value. Homeowners often recovered about 80% of the cost when the house was later sold. But with so much more inventory on the market for buyers to choose from, they just aren't as impressed with the bells and whistles. Now most upscale renovations are returning less than 70% of their cost, according to a recent survey from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and Remodeling magazine."

Los Angeles Times - "The Contrarian: Housing values are not falling" (3-1-08)

"Case-Shiller is designed to magnify home-price declines. Mr. Shiller ... has spent the last several years misapplying financial-market principles to real estate, gleefully predicting a 30-40% national crash in home prices. The design flaw: it captures only sales of homes, obviously heavy with distressed transactions. For the authentic story and great methodology, visit www.OFHEO.gov and its All-Transactions House Price Index, which includes repeat appraisals in refinances, by definition free of distress. By that measure, national home prices in the 4th quarter rose by .8%. Prices fell in only 11 states, and in only five of those were declines in excess of one percent. See page 21 of the report for its critique of Case-Shiller."

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