Real Estate: The New Obscenity?
The lead article in the real estate section of The New York Times this weekend attempts to make the case that real estate has gone from Topic No. 1 to Topic Non Grata in the last six months. Nobody wants to talk about it,” The Times quotes one hedge fund manager as saying. We’re not…

The lead article in the real estate section of The New York Times this weekend attempts to make the case that real estate has gone from Topic No. 1 to Topic Non Grata in the last six months. Nobody wants to talk about it,” The Times quotes one hedge fund manager as saying. We’re not so sure that’s the case. People may be acting more discreetly when they bring it up, but, in our experience, it’s still just as much on everyone’s minds as before, although now, instead of being obsesses with how much the value of their house has gone up, it’s all about how far the value has fallen. Have you noticed a decrease in the amount people are talking about real estate or just a different tone?
Don’t Even Say the Words [NY Times]
Photo by solupine
BHO, what is your current situation? Are you a renter who is actually looking to buy or are you just a poo flinger? Most of the people I engage on this site have been pretty open about whether they are owners vs. renters, where they live, whether they are currently in the market, etc (DIBS, wasder, muffett, gemini, just to name a few of many who are very open about their situations).
As a side light, this from FDIC’s failed bank list for Friday April 17:Great Basin Bank of Nevada, Elko, NV
American Sterling Bank, Sugar Creek, MO
New Frontier Bank, Greeley, CO
Cape Fear Bank, Wilmington, NC
Omni National Bank, Atlanta, GA
TeamBank, National Association, Paola, KS
Colorado National Bank, Colorado Springs, CO
FirstCity Bank, Stockbridge, GA
Freedom Bank of Georgia, Commerce, GA
Security Savings Bank, Henderson, NV
Heritage Community Bank, Glenwood, IL
Silver Falls Bank, Silverton, OR
Pinnacle Bank of Oregon, Beaverton, OR
Corn Belt Bank and Trust Company, Pittsfield, IL
Riverside Bank of the Gulf Coast, Cape Coral, FL
Sherman County Bank, Loup City, NE
County Bank, Merced, CA
Alliance Bank, Culver City, CA
FirstBank Financial Services, McDonough, GA
Ocala National Bank, Ocala, FL
Suburban Federal Savings Bank, Crofton, MD
MagnetBank, Salt Lake City, UT
1st Centennial Bank, Redlands, CA
Bank of Clark County, Vancouver, WA
National Bank of Commerce, Berkeley, IL
Sanderson State Bank, Sanderson, TX
En Español
Haven Trust Bank, Duluth, GA
First Georgia Community Bank, Jackson, GA
PFF Bank and Trust, Pomona, CA
Downey Savings and Loan, Newport Beach, CA
The Community Bank, Loganville, GA
Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles, CA
Franklin Bank, SSB, Houston, TX
Freedom Bank, Bradenton, FL
Alpha Bank & Trust, Alpharetta, GA
Meridian Bank, Eldred, IL
Main Street Bank, Northville, MI
Washington Mutual Bank, Henderson, NV and Washington Mutual Bank FSB, Park City, UT
Ameribank, Northfork, WV
Silver State Bank, Henderson, NV
En Español
Integrity Bank, Alpharetta, GA
The Columbian Bank and Trust, Topeka, KS
First Priority Bank, Bradenton, FL
First Heritage Bank, NA, Newport Beach, CA
First National Bank of Nevada, Reno, NV
IndyMac Bank, Pasadena, CA
First Integrity Bank, NA, Staples, MN
ANB Financial, NA, Bentonville, AR
Hume Bank, Hume, MO
Douglass National Bank, Kansas City, MO
Miami Valley Bank, Lakeview, OH
NetBank, Alpharetta, GA
Metropolitan Savings Bank, Pittsburgh, PA
Bank of Ephraim, Ephraim, UT
Reliance Bank, White Plains, NY
If you were to believe the Happy Horseshit News, “good times are just around the corner”
Doubt it.
“Reuters – 20 April 2009 12:31 pm ET – The U.S. Treasury said Monday there was “no basis” for a report that said its “stress tests” on the health of the nation’s 19 top banks showed several were “technically insolvent.”
A Treasury spokesman said the department has not yet received the results.”
Yep I was waiting for that and now this!
Treasury: Caught Lying Again
http://market-ticker.org/archives/972-Treasury-Caught-Lying-Again.html
Plus Karl PWNED it home!
Fed Said to Order Banks to Stay Mum on ‘Stress Test’ Results
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aEX9sBcofMYY&refer=home
April 10 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Federal Reserve has told Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other banks to keep mum on the results of “stress tests†that will gauge their ability to weather the recession, people familiar with the matter said.
THEY KNOW WHO IS DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“The Fed wants to ensure that the report cards don’t leak during earnings conference calls scheduled for this month. Such a scenario might push stock prices lower for banks perceived as weak and interfere with the government’s plan to release the results in an orderly fashion later this month.”
WOW IS EARNING REPORT TIME WHAT A FUCKING COINCIDENCE!!!!
“Regulators are using the tests to determine whether the 19 biggest banks have enough capital to cover loan losses during the next two years if the economy shrinks, unemployment surges and housing prices keep declining. The tests are a linchpin of the plan Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced in February to bolster confidence in the nation’s banks and restore financial-market stability.”
ALL OF IT IS DEAD DEAD DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CODE BLUE!!!!!!!
This is on Bloomberg 2 weeks ago retards!
The What
Someday this war is gonna end…
Pulled from Yahoo at 2PM:
Will Bank “Stress Tests” Kill Market…or Government Credibility?
Believe it or not, the “stress tests” that the government is performing to see how that banks will do if the economy continues to get worse were originally intended to inspire confidence.
The government would subject the banks to all sorts of horrifying scenarios, the theory went, and it would then report that the banks had passed with flying colors–thus reassuring a nervous public that the financial system was sound.
Alas, from the beginning, the stress tests weren’t stressful enough. The government then said it was planning to withhold the results of the stress test to avoid harming the bad banks–which defeated the whole purpose.
Josh Rosner, managing director at Graham Fisher, is as frustrated as many analysts with the flaws of the stress tests, but he hasn’t lost all hope. Rosner cites two key dates: Friday, April 24, when the government will reveal details of the tests, and May 4th, when some “results” will be revealed. He says he hopes the tests will force the government to begin to differentiate between strong banks and weak banks, which he thinks is critical to the recovery process.
“The severity with which we actually handle those institutions that are most sick as a result of this will define the credibility of the administration’s approach,” Rosner adds.
Meanwhile, if the government just announces that all banks are in robust health, its credibility will be destroyed. So there’s a lot riding on those results.
I told you it was a hoax about 10 minutes after he posted it.
An update on the artcle the chicken posted:
Reuters – 20 April 2009 12:31 pm ET – The U.S. Treasury said Monday there was “no basis” for a report that said its “stress tests” on the health of the nation’s 19 top banks showed several were “technically insolvent.”
A Treasury spokesman said the department has not yet received the results.
The Turner Radio Network, which describes itself as a “free speech” blog, said 16 of the 19 are “technically insolvent,” citing what it said was a U.S. government report. Shares of several banks fell sharply on the report.
“There is no basis for that report; we do not even have results yet,” Treasury Spokesman Andrew Williams said.
The Obama administration has said the results would be released on May 4.
Bank stocks, already lower after Bank of America reported disappointing quarterly results and outlook, fell further. The Select Sector SPDR Financial ETF was down 5.4 percent after the blog post was widely disseminated by at least two third-party news services.
After the market open the KBW Bank Index fell 9.3 percent.
The site, http://tinyurl.com/dabtbj, is not related to Turner Broadcasting.
“It certainly did (move the market) for a while. It raised people’s eyebrows. People had associated it with (Ted) Turner’s broadcast network,” said Lou Brien, market strategist with DRW Trading in Chicago.
The blog said “Of the 16 banks that are already technically insolvent, not even one can withstand any disruption of cash flow at all or any further deterioration in nonpaying loans.”
“If any two of the 16 insolvent banks go under, they will totally wipe out all remaining FDIC insurance funding,” the post added.
The blog was picked up by some third-party news services and cited by another trader for the drop in bank shares.
The Turner Radio Network is described by some monitoring groups as a white supremacist organization.
BHO…that “Retard Translation: Blah, Blah” was directed at your comment in case you hadn’t realized.
You’d be surprised how busy mortgage refis are right now.
Remember, 90%, 85%, 80% (pick your own made up number) of the people are still employed.
“Retard Translation: Blah Blah Blah…”
“Adam is working at Trader Joe’s now. The new FHA guidelines killed his business…”
Chill, What! You’re wasting my afternoon coffee!
***Bid half off peak comps***
Yes, but those rates were in the teens. A big difference from what will occur with rates in this cycle.