NAR - "REALTORS® Under 30 Reflect Real Estate Market Trends" (6-2-08)

"in today’s real estate market, more and more home sellers are turning to auctions. The real estate auction market rose 39 percent between 2003 and 2007, according to the National Auctioneers Association, and Realtors® work with both buyers and sellers in auction sales. Realtor® Julie First, a 30 Under 30 winner from Chicago, is an Accredited Auctioneer of Real Estate designee and has sold everything from condos to mineral rights to land. 'I really like the fast pace of auctions,' said First."

Bloomberg - "U.S. Stocks Drop, Led by Financials; Wachovia, Lehman Retreat" (6-2-08)

"U.S. stocks fell for the first time in five days after Wachovia Corp. ousted its chief executive officer and Standard & Poor's lowered its debt ratings on three of Wall Street's biggest securities firms. Wachovia slid to the lowest level since 1995 after saying Kennedy Thompson will step down, reigniting concern that subprime losses will deepen. Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. tumbled after S&P said the firms will be forced to report more writedowns. Marriott International Inc. spurred declines in consumer shares as the largest hotel chain said lower U.S. demand is hurting revenue growth."

Yahoo - "Manufacturing, construction, founder; prices rise" (6-2-08)

"Dark clouds continue to hang over the economy: The manufacturing sector shrank for the fourth consecutive month, construction spending has been falling for more than two years, future orders are down and prices are skyrocketing."

Bloomberg - "Wall Street Says -2 + -2 = 4 as Liabilities Get New Bond Math" (6-2-08)

"Merrill Lynch & Co., Citigroup Inc. and four other U.S. financial companies have used an accounting rule adopted last year to book almost $12 billion of revenue after a decline in prices of their own bonds. The rule, intended to expand the 'mark-to- market' accounting that banks use to record profits or losses on trading assets, allows them to report gains when market prices for their liabilities fall."

MSN Money - "The Fed embraces inflation" (6-2-08)

"A top Fed official warns of the hazards of printing money to solve economic problems. He's right -- and yet the nation's central bank keeps running the press at top speed."

Bloomberg - "Morgan Stanley, Merrill, Lehman Ratings Cut by S&P" (6-2-08)

"Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch & Co. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. declined in New York trading after Standard & Poor's lowered credit ratings for the investment banks, saying they may have to book more writedowns on devalued assets."

Bloomberg - "Home Prices Fall in 23 U.S. Cities as Defaults Rise" (6-2-08)

"The price per square foot in Sacramento, California's capital, dropped 31 percent to $160 from a year earlier, according to a report released today by New York-based Radar Logic Inc., a real estate data company. Prices in San Diego declined 27 percent to $251 a square foot. New York area prices fell compared with a year earlier for the first time since Radar Logic began publishing in 2000, the report said."

Bloomberg - "Starwood's Sternlicht Says Banking in `Dire Straits'" (6-2-08)

"Banks around the world have lost or written down $379 billion since the beginning of 2007 on the collapse of U.S. subprime residential mortgages, which were available to borrowers with bad or incomplete credit."

Bloomberg - "Centro Wins Fifth Debt Reprieve on A$6.6 Billion" (6-2-08)

"Centro Properties Group, the Australian owner of more than 650 U.S. malls, reached agreements confirming extensions on as much as A$6.6 billion ($6.3 billion) of debt while it works to sell assets. The agreements allow the deadline on A$2.3 billion owed to Australian creditors and $450 million owed to U.S. bondholders to be extended to Dec. 15, Centro said today in a statement."

Orange County Register - "Distressed homes 63% of O.C.’s cheaper supply" (6-2-08)

"Home market watcher Steve Thomas at Re/Max Real Estate Services in Aliso Viejo reports that the number of O.C. distressed properties (homes listed by agents as foreclosures or short sales) was 5,905 last week, up 227 vs. two weeks earlier or a +4% change."

Orange County Register - "O.C. homes seen undervalued, 1st time since ‘03" (6-2-08)

"Economists at Global Insight and National City Bank say Orange County housing is now 5.2% undervalued — yes, undervalued. That’s the first time this math shows local homes as relative bargains to broad economics since the second quarter of 2003. It’s also the largest undervaluation since the final three months of 2002."