Miscellaneous

• Home Prices Declining... Still?

  Paul Kiesel | August 26, 2008 5:34 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  The housing market continues to struggle, the economy is still sputtering, another wave of foreclosures will start at the end of this year and, overall, the Case-Shiller index (and it's 10-city...

• FBI Predicted Mortgage Crisis, Observers See It as a "Gross Failure of Regulation"

  Paul Kiesel | August 26, 2008 12:07 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  An FBI official, back in September, 2004, three years before the first wave of foreclosures hit the housing market, made a then chilling and portent observation: The booming mortgage business,...

• Fed's New Truth in Lending Rules Not Being Followed, Real Estate Appraisers Still Inflating Values

  Paul Kiesel | August 25, 2008 2:40 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that real estate evaluations are still being inflated, despite federal housing legislation that was signed last month tightening appraisal standards that comply...

• Schumer will not be Investigated by California AG

  Paul Kiesel | August 22, 2008 9:15 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  New York senator Charles Schumer will not be investigated for comments made about IndyMac Bancorp days before its collapse. California Attorney General Jerry Brown, on Thursday, sent a...

• More Inconvenient Truths: I.O.U.S.A.

  Paul Kiesel | August 21, 2008 5:03 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  I came across this AP article this morning about Warren Buffett's new documentary (he financed the project) titled: I.O.U.S.A.

• Foreclosure Misconceptions

  Paul Kiesel | August 21, 2008 4:04 PM | 2 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Since news broke yesterday that the FDIC plans on modifying existing IndyMac borrowers' loans that are at risk of defaulting, I've noticed on several news sites (comments section), blogs, and...

• FDIC Loan Modification Criteria for Troubled IndyMac Borrowers

  Paul Kiesel | August 21, 2008 1:30 AM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  Below are excerpts from a Los Angeles Times article explaining how troubled IndyMac borrowers are eligible to have their loans modified. According to the FDIC, the most important thing borrowers...

• CNN: IndyMac Borrowers to Get Relief

  Paul Kiesel | August 20, 2008 8:17 PM | 0 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  According to an article that was just published on CNNMoney.com, the FDIC is going to offer a plan IndyMac mortgage borrowers that will modify loans for homeowners most at risk of foreclosure. The...

• States with the Most Foreclosures

  Paul Kiesel | August 19, 2008 9:15 PM | 1 CommentLos Angeles, CA

  In response to one of the comments left on my blog from earlier today (California's Ticking Option ARM Time Bomb, 8/19/08), here is a list of the top 10 states with the highest foreclosure rates and...

• California's Ticking Option ARM Time Bomb

  Paul Kiesel | August 19, 2008 3:29 PM | 9 CommentsLos Angeles, CA

  "Optimists, look away now." This is the first sentence of a very brief article in last week's The Economist. The subhead reads "A nasty mortgage product promises yet more misery," and the title of...