SAN FRANCISCO, MINNEAPOLIS HOUSING UP 15% FROM LOWS – Using the most recent S&P/Case-Shiller home price data from October, below we highlight how much each city that is tracked has risen from its 2009 lows. – Bespoke Investment Group
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pe1 Beantown Bust: Boston CSI and RPX October 2009 – has super cool interactive chart – Paper Economy Blog
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Buffett’s back – Billionaire looks to lock up GMAC’s ResCap – By JOSH KOSMAN – Warren Buffett is in talks to buy GMAC’s Residential Capital, one of the biggest residential mortgage-servicing firms and originators, sources told The Post. Buffett, along with Appaloosa Management and Avenue Capital, is said to have large debt positions in ResCap. – NY Post
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Housing Inventory Still Dramatically Oversupplied — Before You Add In The Foreclosures – by Michael David White – The housing market remains oversupplied by 860,000 units when compared to a 10-year average inventory and the overhang represents a direct contradiction to the spirit of this week’s headlines describing new data from the National Association of Realtors. – New Observations.net
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The Cost Of Curing Negative Equity – … Many of those involved in the HAMP program have had handed to them a no lose proposition. They drag their feet while they live rent free and each time they hear that this is the last best offer, they see another moratorium or new offer come down the pike. Genius is not required to conclude that at the end of the day the government is going to do whatever it takes to avoid any further deterioration of the market. Street smarts suffice. … – But Then What
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GSE Pass-through Players Gird for the New Year – By LINDA LOWELL – Two major concerns for value hang over the pass-through market right now: the anticipated end to the Fed’s MBS purchase plan March 31, 2010 and the likelihood of a sharp jump in involuntary prepayments in GSE pass-throughs (due to modifications and other foreclosure avoidance efforts and foreclosures, which trigger a buyout of the loan from the pool) … – HousingWire
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Increased REMIC Flexibility May Ease Loan Resolution – BY HARVEY BERENSON – primer on REMICS then goes into dangerous effects on loan mods on REMICs – MortgageOrb
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Lender’s refusal to modify loan may have violated borrowers’ Fifth Amendment rights to due process – Lynne Huxtable And Jeffrey Agnew, V. Timothy F. Geithner, Et Al., – by DEAN MOSTOFI – Foreclosure Combatant Blog
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A Florida Resident’s Disastrous Attempt To Raffle Off His Home – Vince Veneziani –
Florida resident Miles Brannan had a great idea: raffle off his $3 million waterside condo, give some of the proceeds to charity, and downgrade his home. Everybody wins.
All seemed to be going well… until he realized nowhere near enough tickets were sold. – Clusterstock @ Business Insider
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sa1 Mortgage Fraud – The Root of America’s Economic Malaise – Tom Armistead – good treatise on mortgage fraud – Seeking Alpha
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Agency FICO Redline? – A Question to Ask – Submitted by Bruce Krasting – … Does Treasury really believe that Citi Bank and Wells Fargo are going to be making cheap mortgage loans to those who have just been ‘red lined’ by the new tighter standards? … – Zero Hedge
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Housing In 2010 – Paul Maidment, – Christopher Hyzy, Paul Maidment, Bernie McSherry and Carol Pepper discuss the housing sector’s outlook in 2010. … to discuss their views on the economy, the housing sector and China in 2010. … – Forbes
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Biggest Reverse Mortgage News of 2009 – John Yedinak – The reverse mortgage industry has been through more changes than anyone could’ve predicted over the last 12 months and 2010 will bring more of the same. As the year comes to a close, take a look at the top 10 reverse mortgage news stories of 2009 (based on page views): … – Reverse Mortgage Daily