Arizona Tax Revolt petitions shipped

8/27/2007 2:00:00 PM

Suzanne Adams Miner Staff Writer

Homeowners across the state will soon hear a knock on their doors from volunteers circulating petitions.

The Arizona Tax Revolt organization started shipping out thousands of forms for its two tax initiatives to more than 1,000 volunteers across the state last week.

"The cat will be out of the bag in September when the county mails the tax bills. We want to make sure our volunteers are out there and visible," said Marc Goldstone, chairman of the Arizona Tax Revolt.

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12978&TM=44220.66

Permit change takes effect

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12989

8/30/2007 1:04:00 PM

Suzanne AdamsMiner Staff Writer

Mohave County residents in unincorporated areas have two days left to get zoning permits for their new structures. Starting Saturday, the county will require all new buildings to meet the county building code. After a number of drawn out public hearings starting in December, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved expanding the code earlier this year. The Board of Supervisors approved the measure in May.

Home prices fall record 3.2% nationally

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-home-prices-fall-record/story.aspx?guid=%7B02A14CEF%2D2941%2D4404%2D8056%2D418DDA9F0330%7D&dist=SecMostRead

Values down in 15 of 20 major cities, Case-Shiller finds
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:35 AM ET Aug 28, 2007

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. home prices fell at a faster rate in the second quarter, down 3.2% compared with the same period in 2006, Standard & Poor's reported Tuesday.

It marked the largest year-over-year decline ever recorded in the 20-year history of the Case-Shiller home price index.

"This slow-burn downswing probably has a long way to go," wrote Charles Dumas, an economist for London's Lombard Street Research. "The backlog of unsold homes has reached a level at which buyers are likely to get nasty, insisting on deep price cuts. As repossessed homes come on the market over the next 18 months, downward pressure on home prices and whole neighbourhoods will intensify."

"We are fast approaching the rate of price decline seen at the end of the 1990-91 recession, and the odds strongly favor blowing past this mark in coming months," wrote Joshua Shapiro, chief economist for MFR Inc. "With supply overhang growing and mortgage financing tougher to obtain, home prices are going to soften considerably further in the quarters ahead."

The last time prices fell so much, it took more than eight years for home prices to return to their peak level.

Housing Supply Spikes

http://www.thestreet.com/_htmlmdb/newsanalysis/homebuildersconstruction/10376488.html

By Nicholas YulicoTheStreet.com Staff Reporter8/27/2007 10:51 AM EDT

Existing-home sales remained flat from June to July, but inventories spiked to a new high, demonstrating that the U.S. housing market continues to struggle. .....

The number of homes on the market rose 5.1% to 4.59 million units in July, representing 9.6 months of supply at the current sales rate. In June, the inventories were at 9.1 months of supply.

Your House Is Worth Less? Good

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1655723,00.html

Commentary
Your House Is Worth Less? Good
Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007 By MICHAL KINSLEY

The last time we had this feeling of financial vertigo was when the Internet bubble popped seven years ago. But this is much worse: the value of our homes is collapsing. For generations, rising home prices have been central to our general sense of well-being.

So why is the real estate collapse a good thing? First, because the collapse of any financial bubble can be interpreted as a morality play: greed gets its comeuppance.

Fed bends rules to help two big banks

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/24/magazines/fortune/eavis_citigroup.fortune/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote

If the Federal Reserve is waiving a fundamental principle in banking regulation, the credit crunch must still be sapping the strength of America's biggest banks. Fortune's Peter Eavis documents an unusual Fed move.

By Peter Eavis, Fortune writer
August 24 2007: 5:09 PM EDT

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- In a clear sign that the credit crunch is still affecting the nation's largest financial institutions, the Federal Reserve agreed this week to bend key banking regulations to help out Citigroup (Charts, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (Charts, Fortune 500), according to documents posted Friday on the Fed's web site.
The Aug. 20 letters from the Fed to Citigroup and Bank of America state that the Fed, which regulates large parts of the U.S. financial system, has agreed to exempt both banks from rules that effectively limit the amount of lending that their federally-insured banks can do with their brokerage affiliates. The exemption, which is temporary, means, for example, that Citigroup's Citibank entity can substantially increase funding to Citigroup Global Markets, its brokerage subsidiary. Citigroup and Bank of America requested the exemptions, according to the letters, to provide liquidity to those holding mortgage loans, mortgage-backed securities, and other securities.

Judge orders review of city e-mails

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12966

Nicholas Wilbur
Miner Staff Writer

Travin Pennington didn't walk out of the Bullhead City courtroom Thursday with any more e-mails than he walked in with, but both his and the city's attorneys seemed content regarding the judge's order.

Financials Gone Wild

http://www.minyanville.com/articles/BAC-CFC-GS-JPM-C-WB/index/a/13838


Fil Zucchi Aug 23, 2007 10:13 am

Are we seriously supposed to believe that the banks' discount-window escapade and the BAC, CFC "investment" are two separate events that just happened to take place the same day?

I did not think I’d find myself this jaded after nearly two months of vacation, but in light of Bank of America’s (BAC) $2 bln dollar “investment” in Countrywide Financial (CFC), the made-for-Wall Street TV special of yesterday’s backslapping “man-I-haven’t-seen-you-since-that-football-game-tailgate-12-years-ago, how-u-doin’ pal?!” get-together at the discount window by JP Morgan (JPM), BAC, Citi (C), and Wachovia (WB) has suddenly morphed into a wobbling home movie of four trick-or-treaters just happening to stumble upon Boom-Boom’s doorstep and collecting $2 bln of fresh “trading crack”.

Criticism doesn't end with Beecher

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12942

8/22/2007 1:22:00 PM
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Nicholas WilburMiner Staff Writer

It was as if Paul Beecher hadn't yet been fired. The tension in the packed Council Chamber was evidenced by expressions of shock on the faces of those in attendance as the mayor and several Council members went back and forth with their critics.

Rhodes says stakes replaced at well sites

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12945&TM=53626.71

8/22/2007 1:28:00 PM
Nicholas WilburMiner Staff Writer

According to Rhodes Homes representatives and Acting City Manager Jack Kramer, the missing stakes and monuments that outline the city's well sites in Golden Valley have been replaced.Resident and local electrician Keith Walker told Council Aug. 6 that half of the surveying stakes marking the corners of the city's four one-acre parcels had been graded over.

Is WaMu the Next Countrywide?

By Philip van DoornTheStreet.com Ratings Bank Analyst8/22/2007 5:39 AM EDT

Countrywide Financial (CFC - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) isn't the only big bank threatened by the deepening real estate crisis.
An analysis of the largest 20 banks and thrifts by TheStreet.com Ratings shows that four institutions are under-reserved for possible credit losses, a red flag as the economy slows and mortgage defaults rise.
Perhaps more troubling, the numbers show that one of those institutions -- Washington Mutual (WM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) -- could join Countrywide in facing serious liquidity problems as worries about the housing and mortgage markets multiply.

http://www.thestreet.com/_htmlbtb/newsanalysis/ratings/10375529.html

There is a chart at the bottom of the 20 banks they analysed.

Arizona and Jim Rhodes

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20343099/

Builder's north woes worry A.J.

By MARK FLATTEN TRIBUNE
East Valley Tribune
Updated: 3:49 a.m. MT Aug 19, 2007

Life in Arizona has gotten tough for developer Jim Rhodes. In recent weeks the Las Vegas homebuilder has lost a major lawsuit that will likely cost him several thousand acres he wanted near Kingman. He also failed to block efforts at the Arizona Corporation Commission to have him testify under oath as to why he kept a crooked ex-politician from Nevada on his payroll.

Subdivision by airport approved

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12936&TM=53626.71

8/21/2007 1:41:00 PM
Suzanne AdamsMiner Staff Writer

Pilots using the Kingman Airport may have to deal with a new subdivision at the end of the runway.The Board of Supervisors Monday overruled the County Planning and Zoning Commission and approved an amendment to the county's General Plan, which will allow the Statesboro subdivision to be built in the approach to one of the airport's runways. Supervisors Buster Johnson and Tom Sockwell voted for the development. Board Chairman Pete Byers voted against it.

San Diego County Foreclosures

Three articles about San Diego and foreclosures.

Ground Zero in San Diego's Mortgage Mess
http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/08/20/news/02foreclosures082007.txt

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/08/20/housing/934family032207.txt

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/08/21/survival/699foreclosurebus082007.txt

More problems for Tucson's First Magnus

No paychecks, but assistance promised for First Magnus workers

Company officials put together $1 million in aid but said their accounts are frozen.

By Christie Smythe
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona Published: 08.21.2007

First Magnus Financial Corp. still is not sending out paychecks to its former employees.
But the Tucson-based mortgage lender announced it is creating an assistance fund of more than $1 million to ease the burden.
In a news release, the company said paychecks have been delayed because its accounts were frozen by investors that provided capital to First Magnus to make loans.

http://www.azstarnet.com/business/197349

Online comments: http://regulus2.azstarnet.com/comments/index.php?id=197349

Fed handing silver to loan rangers

By Al LewisDenver Post Staff Columnist
Article Last Updated: 08/20/2007 10:48:12 PM MDT

The subprime mortgage mess is "largely contained" - or at least that's what Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. said in March.

And then, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke repeatedly told us our subprime woes would not spill into the broader U.S. economy.

Now, the Fed is sandbagging the levee. .....

So why is the Federal Reserve so busy managing our economy? Or is it simply bailing out a bunch of high rollers who made bad bets on subprime loans?

So what if Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs and some of the biggest investors in the world are reeling from their own stupidity? Who cares if Countrywide and other major mortgage lenders go belly up because of their risky lending practices? And if you can't pay your mortgage or get a new one - well, geez, didn't you ever play Monopoly as a kid?

http://test.denverpost.com/business/ci_6674117

Capital One Closes Wholesale Mortgage Unit

Last Update: 4:30 PM ET Aug 20, 2007

Capital One Financial Corporation today announced that it will cease residential mortgage origination operations at its wholesale mortgage banking unit, GreenPoint Mortgage, effective immediately.......

As part of this decision, the company will close GreenPoint's California- based headquarters along with 31 locations across 19 states. The change will result in the elimination of approximately 1,900 positions with the vast majority of these positions being eliminated by the end of the year.

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=PR&Date=20070820&ID=7348049

US lending standards "unbelievable".

From the UK:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/08/20/bcnswiss20.xml

Top Swiss banker attacks US lending standards as 'unbelievable' By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and Yvette Essen
Last Updated: 8:29am BST 20/08/2007

Switzerland's top banker has warned of massive losses from the unfolding credit crisis, describing the collapse in US lending standards as "unbelievable".

Jean-Pierre Roth, president of the Swiss National Bank, said market turmoil was far from over as tremors from the sub-prime debacle continued to rock the world.

"We're certainly not at the end of the story. There are question marks surrounding the development of the American economy," he said. "Something unbelievable happened. People who had neither income nor capital got credit with very attractive conditions. Now reality is striking back," he said.

Throwing a Bone To A Starving Dog

Here is an article about what the Fed did last week..........

Throwing a Bone To A Starving Dog
by Lee Adler

There sure has been a lot of nonsensical gibberish flying around the financial infomercial media, and in the world of blogs and message boards since Friday. So let’s try to separate fact from fantasy.

We’ll start with something I agree with. I do believe that the Fed’s action had everything to do with Countrywide’s bank arm, the well publicized run by their customers, and the fact that they were forced to borrow apparently all of their $11 billion bank credit facility. This is a dangerous and volatile mix in the arena of the public confidence game that fiat money systems depend on. The Fed had to do “something” to give the world the impression that they were actually “doing” something.

What did they actually do? Not much.

http://wallstreetexaminer.com/?p=1550

Phoenix 55,000 homes listed

It's deal time with 55,000 homes listed

Aug. 17, 2007 05:44 PM

Home sales and building are down in metropolitan Phoenix, but there are other indicators to track where the housing market is headed.Here's a look at some.

• Home listings in the Valley climbed to almost 55,000 during the past few weeks. That's a new high. The number of houses that are marketed for a short sale to avoid foreclosure or are bank-owned is also up. That's good news for buyers looking for deals.

• About 85 percent of the Valley homes foreclosed on in July went back to the lender, according to the Information Market. That means fewer investors bidding on foreclosure properties on the courthouse steps. In many cases, more is owed on the home than what it's worth now.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/columns/articles/0817biz-catherine17-ON.html