Los Angeles Times - "Bitter lessons learned from refinancing" (7-5-08)

"Discussion of the problem often focuses on first-time home buyers who stretched to buy homes they couldn't afford. But experts who've crunched the numbers say 90% of people who took out sub-prime loans from 1998 to 2006 were already homeowners.Many, like Miller, had conventional, prime loans that were well within their means. What often got them into trouble was that they refinanced their mortgages without really understanding the terms and without realizing that the sales pitches and loan documents were sometimes deliberately opaque to snare the unwary."

Orange County Register - "Banks narrow home equity withdrawals" (7-5-08)

"Several lenders have reduced HELOCs en masse in areas of declining home prices, including Orange County, experts say. Lenders are trying to reduce their exposure to potential loan losses. The percentage of HELOCs more than 30 days past due rose to 1.10 percent during the first quarter, the highest since 1997, reports the American Bankers Association."

The San Diego Union Tribune - "Legislation could help gasping market" (7-6-08)

"Congress left town for the July 4 recess with a half-baked cake in its legislative oven – one that has huge potential significance for the housing and mortgage markets. The unfinished work is a major relief bill designed to rescue hundreds of thousands of homeowners heading for foreclosure, pull new buyers back into the real estate arena, and permanently raise conventional and FHA loan limits in high-cost markets."

The San Diego Union Tribune - "Homeowners suffer while mortgage bill sits in Senate" (7-6-08)

"Since the Senate's nine-day holiday began, an estimated 17,000 American homeowners defaulted on their mortgages, mostly because they were unable to keep up with rising payments on adjustable-rate loans. That translates into nearly 1,890 defaults per day, or nearly 80 per hour, based on data from RealtyTrac. In San Diego County alone, homeowners are defaulting at a rate of more than 30 per day, according to DataQuick Information Services."

The San Diego Union Tribune - "U.S.-style financing is spreading to other countries" (7-6-08)

"No one knows exactly who is buying what or how much. But nearly one in three American realty agents report working with customers from other countries, and almost half of those worked with three or more international clients – some with more than 10, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR)."