Mortgage Bankers Association - "Mortgage Applications Drop as Refinance Activity Decreases In Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (5-28-08)

"The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 23, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 593.3, a decrease of 4.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 621.6 one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 4.6 percent compared with the previous week and was down 7.5 percent compared with the same week one year earlier."

The Washington Post - "Choosing Bankruptcy to Stay Afloat" (5-28-08)

"Despite the 2005 passage of a law that made it more difficult and expensive to file for personal bankruptcy, more Americans are choosing bankruptcy over destitution. Filings -- including Chapter 7, which wipes out debt, and Chapter 13, which reorganizes it -- totaled 822,590 last year, up 38 percent from 2006."

Bloomberg - "AIG Falls to Lowest Since 1997 on Capital Concerns" (5-28-08)

"AIG may seek $5 billion to $10 billion rather than letting its credit ratings be cut again and risking higher borrowing costs and lower sales, Shanker said late yesterday in a research note. Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service downgraded New York-based AIG this month after the company posted a $7.81 billion first-quarter loss."

Bloomberg - "Standard Pacific Continues to Rise on Equity Firm's Investment" (5-28-08)

"Standard Pacific Corp., the homebuilder that has lost 84 percent of its market value since 2005, rose as much as 12 percent today, a day after a private equity firm said it would invest more than $530 million in the company."

Bloomberg - "KB Home Founder Broad Says U.S. Home Prices Will Drop 10% More" (5-28-08)

"U.S. home prices likely will drop another 10 percent from their peak before the housing market begins to recover, said Eli Broad, founder of Los Angeles-based homebuilder KB Home."

Orange County Register - "O.C.’s commercial construction down in ‘08" (5-28-08)

"The Construction Industry Research Board reports that permits for commercial construction in Orange County fell in every category but two during the first four months of the year."

Orange County Register - "Another subprime hot dog" (5-28-08)

"According to county records obtained by NEWSWEEK, Kellogg was the broker of record for the purchase of 71 houses in Slavic Village from 2003 to 2006—during the height of the subprime investment boom. All of them went into foreclosure within a year or two."

Orange County Register - "SoCal home pricing seen at worst in 43+ years" (5-28-08)

"The Real Estate Research Council of Southern California has perhaps the most curious tracking of local home value: Every six months they send out volunteer appraisers who value the exact same homes over and over again. While it involves a small sample of homes — 308, to be exact — it’s a marker that’s not tilted by changing mixes of homes that sold recent, a problem with other indexes, for example. And RERC’s been doing this math for 43 years, so there’s great history, too."

Realty Times - "Real Estate Marketing Strategies: How to Attract Your Ideal Client" (5-28-08)

"Remember, before people will do business with you, they need to KNOW, LIKE and TRUST you. So follow your basic word of mouth strategies to be in contact with them. Remember--they are your target market now, so you need to join the networking organizations they belong to, speak at places where they will be listening, write articles that they will read and form cross referral relationships with other professionals that work with them."

Realty Times - "Senate Takes On Mortgage Walk-Away" (5-28-08)

"The Senate Banking Committee has just passed the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008 by an overwhelming and bipartisan vote of 19-2. Buried in the proposed legislation is something new and revolutionary, an effort to stop mortgage walk-aways."