NAR - "Leading Commercial Real Estate Index Contracts in First Quarter" (5-21-08)

"The Commercial Leading Indicator for Brokerage Activity1 edged down 0.7 percent to an index of 119.0 in the first quarter from a downwardly revised reading of 119.9 in the fourth quarter, and is 0.8 percent below the first quarter of 2007 when it stood at 120.0."

Mortgage Bankers Association - "Mortgage Applications Decrease In Latest MBA Weekly Survey" (5-21-08)

"The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) today released its Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending May 16, 2008. The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, was 621.6, a decrease of 7.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from 674.4 one week earlier."

Yahoo - "Where Home Prices Are Holding Up" (5-21-08)

"Consider the San Francisco Bay area. Overall, prices there slid 17% in the 12 months through February, the most-recent data available, and were down 8% over the first two months of 2008 alone, making it one of the worst-performing metro areas in the country, according to the S&P/Case Shiller Home Price Indices. Yet prices within the city of San Francisco are up 0.3% over the first quarter of 2008, according to DataQuick Information Systems, a San Diego-based real-estate-data firm."

Bloomberg - "Moody's Begins Probe on Report Bug Caused Aaa Grades" (5-21-08)

"Moody's Investors Service said it's conducting 'a thorough review' of whether a computer error was responsible for assigning Aaa ratings to debt securities that later fell in value."

Bloomberg - "Freddie Mac Suffers Bout of Temporary Insanity" (5-21-08)

"How long does the word 'temporary' mean? The accountant who wants to stay employed knows the right answer: 'How long do you want it to mean?' That new twist on an old joke goes a long way toward explaining Freddie Mac's net loss last quarter of $151 million, which was smaller than analysts' estimates. In reality, Freddie is gushing much more red ink than that. Yet hardly any of it is showing up on the company's income statement."

Bloomberg - "Greenspan Helped Pimco Make Billions, Gross Says" (5-21-08)

"During a 30-minute discussion on banks several months before the global credit crisis, Greenspan's 'brilliance in terms of forecasting the potential for exactly what happened was a big money saver for us,' Gross, who runs the world's largest bond fund, said yesterday at a conference organized by the Asia Society in Los Angeles. 'He's made and saved billions of dollars for Pimco already.'"

Orange County Register - "Impac Mortgage posts $2 billion loss for ‘07" (5-21-08)

"Impac Mortgage Holdings on Tuesday reported a $2 billion loss for 2007, mostly because it set aside an additional $1.4 billion for potential losses on problematic loans amid a housing slump and tepid investor demand for securities backed by mortgages."

Orange County Register - "Traders see LA/OC price falling 24.8% more" (5-21-08)

"My occasional glance at TFS Derivatives‘ weekly report on trading of home-price contracts shows that money’s being bet on further drops in regional values as measured by the S&P/Case-Shiller indexes. It’s one more projection, one backed up by somebody’s cash."

The Wall Street Journal - "Why a Housing Bailout Won't Help" (5-21-08)

"Proponents say a bailout would benefit all homeowners, halting foreclosures and propping up prices. But it wouldn't. Even by the generous reckoning of the Congressional Budget Office, only a small fraction of the soon-to-be-foreclosed would voluntarily take up the House plan or Monday's proposed Senate version on its offer."

Realty Times - "How to Make a Success of Short Sales" (5-21-08)

"If you are in a declining market (who isn't) you should probably begin adding a qualifier into your normal list presentation right now. I know a lot of Realtors who find out in the 11th hour that Joe and Jane seller have not made a mortgage payment in three months and that the auction is looming. This throws your entire system out of whack. You now have to rev up you marketing, get with the lender, drop the price and call everyone you know to try and get an offer at the last minute. Chances are that without an offer on the table, the lender will not stop the sheriff sale. All your time, money and efforts are now wasted because you just didn't know."