Bloomberg - "Bank of America’s Bad Loans Top $7 Billion, Credit Suisse Says" (7-6-09)

"Bank of America Corp., the largest U.S. lender, faces a 10 percent jump in uncollectible loans to $7.6 billion when it reports second-quarter earnings, Credit Suisse said in a report today."

ABC News - "America's Most Troubled Luxury Neighborhoods" (7-4-09)

"Has the housing market scraped bottom? Not in some of the wealthier neighborhoods -- places like New York City's Greenwich Village, Santa Monica, Calif. and Chicago's Lincoln Park. They held up nicely while the rest of the country slumped last year. This year such Tiffany zip codes are on track to fall 15 percent to 25 percent."

San Francisco Chronicle - "Fiscal crisis tarnishes Golden State's image" (7-5-09)

"But it seems the state has lost its way, with Minerva getting mugged by California's multibillion-dollar deficit, billions of dollars in IOUs to cover debt, financial mismanagement, legislative constipation and warring special interests. California's current fiscal troubles are not only beginning to define the place - but turning it into a late-night comedy routine punch line. Jay Leno ribbed that the state motto is now closer to 'Welcome to California ... now available on eBay'"

Ventura County Star - "Eight reasons why budget's in bad shape" (7-5-09)

"California’s problems are occurring in the midst of the worst national recession since the Great Depression. To be sure, other states are dealing with the same reality, but the areas hardest hit are those where the sun shines the most, and they don’t call this the Golden State for nothing. Sun Belt states such as California, Arizona, Florida and Nevada were the places where the housing market was hottest during the real estate bubble, and they are now the places where the crash is being felt most severely."

Los Angeles Times - "Another wave of foreclosures is poised to strike" (7-4-09)

"Just as the nation's housing market has begun showing signs of stabilizing, another wave of foreclosures is poised to strike, possibly as early as this summer, inflicting new punishment on families, communities and the still-troubled national economy. Amid rising unemployment and falling home prices, mortgage defaults have surged to record levels this year. Until recently, many banks have put off launching foreclosure action on the troubled properties, in part because they had signed up for the Obama administration's home-stability plan, which required them to consider the alternative of modifying loans to make it easier for borrowers to make payments."

Los Angeles Times - "Vacancies give renters room to negotiate" (7-4-09)

"The last time vacancy rates were this high in Los Angeles County was in the early 1990s, when they hit 5%. The rate climbed to 5.3% in the first quarter from 3.8% in the first quarter of 2008, said Victor Calanog, director of research for Reis Inc., a real estate research company in New York that tracks 90% of buildings countywide with 15 or more units -- more than 750,000 apartments. In contrast, vacancies had been hovering between 2% and 3% for the last decade."

Orange County Register - "More than 120 home prices slashed in Irvine" (7-6-09)

"Despite a recent uptick in home sales, price reductions on Irvine homes also rose last month. There were 121 properties with prices slashed during the month of June, according to real estate website Trulia. That’s up slightly from 112 price reductions in May."

Orange County Register - "Loan servicers prefer big losses to loan forgiveness" (7-6-09)

"A study of 3.5 million mortgages nationwide found that in June loan servicers held 32,000 foreclosure sales, with an average loss of 64.7% of the original loan balance"