Comments on: California real estate foreclosure math – Notice of defaults decline while actual foreclosures increase. Why are notices of default falling while those falling behind on their mortgage are still at record levels? The 550,000+ California properties in distressed limbo.

By: Wilson_OC

Wilson_OC — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:14:56 +0000

Mortgage fraud in California?! Say it isn’t so!!! (sense the scarcasm)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE67G1S620100817

By: Gadoing

Gadoing — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 09:22:44 +0000

Because the mainstream press is OWNED by the very same crime syndicate that massively benefited from the fraudulent run-up(s), and which has massively benefited from the fraudulent bailout(s). BOTH the Democorp and Republicorp parties are part of this syndicate. Additionally, the Democorp and Republicorp parties provide a “user interface” for higher-level syndicate members, and this user interface is the tool by which the syndicate royally shafts the sheeple, over and over and over again. W a k e u p.

By: LAer

LAer — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 05:41:21 +0000

@Micro – there’s a good and bad to this trend. I’ve spoken at length to some journalists and they are experts at writing and checking sources but not necessarily experts in whatever field they are covering. For example, business writers who have never worked in business or real estate journalists who have never been real estate agents. A lot of these people just take government or other data at face value and repeat it as the truth. The other type of “journalist” has worked in the field they are covering but seem to only want the fame that goes along with being on TV, so no real investigation into stories there. Thank god for bloggers.

By: Susie Q

Susie Q — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 02:15:51 +0000

Dr. HB, I’d like to hear from you in more detail on how the banks are handling the lack of income from mortgages, and how that’s being hidden on their balance sheet. I’ve been looking at foreclosures for months now, and finally have started to see some that are reasonably priced and appraised fairly accurately (without a lot of bubble-thinking). Problem is, every time I make an offer (even at asking price!), the banks claim there’s multiple offers and counter with a request for an extra 10-15% over the appraisal in cash! Of course, the deal falls through and I’ll see the place sitting on the market with absolutely no activity for months. The banks don’t seem to have any incentive to actually sell the house, even when they’ve bothered to put it on the market! I just don’t see how this is working as a viable business plan for them.

By: Twilightzone

Twilightzone — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:20:18 +0000

There are indeed valid points to made about the potential for collapse, but it may take many years still. In the late 80′s Ravi Batra made a tremendous case for the great depression of 1990, and it may have indeed contributed to the panic of 1987. There were a lot of jolts in the next few years but things basically went ahead until 2000 when the bottom fell out. While there is an unimaginable amount of debt, derivates, dollars, dreams; most of it is not real, but numbers stored in computer memory. The lives of 8 billion people won’t stop because the numbers don’t jive–they will collapse when the physical survival capabilities will no lonver support 8 billion, or whatever the current world population is.
Easter Island, Mayas, Rome, Angor Wat–these civilizations collapsed when the population did not have the physical means to support the lives of the masses. We are trading long term survival for short-term self glorification on all levels. 50-100 Million dolar homes…resources we must steal from other countries–we get their oil, cars, junk, exports of all kinds; they get IOU’s. We have been running multi-billion dollar trade deficits for decades. I think they are on to us…housing in CA is unsustainable. But is it this year, next or five years from now. We are in the twilight zone,