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Friday, October 10, 2008 5:21 AM

What a long strange trip it's been

The stock market effectively crashed yesterday on October 9th exactly one year after setting a record high and how did we get here. To quote the Grateful Dead, "what a long strange trip it's been". Back in February of last year I wrote about
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Monday, September 29, 2008 8:48 AM

Trying times on South Tryon

Charlotte's banking landscape changed dramatically this morning when Citibank took over Wachovia in a deal brokered by the FDIC and the Treasury. Wachovia's downfall can be traced to the ill timed purchase of Golden West Financial and the Option
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Tuesday, September 16, 2008 2:04 PM

How to lose a trillion dollars

The simple answer. Take financial risks and leverage your risk to the maximum. Now, a little more detail. Let's use the Case-Shiller index that shows that homes have declined in value by approximately 15% across the country in the last year. Of course,
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Monday, September 15, 2008 9:44 AM

Just another Monday on the street

... Wall Street, that is. After a wild weekend hosted by the NY Fed, Lehman will liquidate after getting no buyers since Hank Paulson finally drew a line in the sand and wouldn't put taxpayer money at risk to bail out Lehman and no one wanted to touch
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Monday, September 08, 2008 9:26 AM

Fannie, Freddie and you

As expected, the US Treasury has seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The obvious question, what does that mean for you. Actions by the Treasury were meant to stabilize financial markets and ensure mortgage availability and affordability. Mark
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 1:09 PM

Sign of the L at Wachovia

The big W from Charlotte posted the big L today reporting a whopping record loss of $8.9 Billion, more than the bank ever earned in a year. Most of the problems and losses at Wachovia were attributed to the purchase of Golden West Financial two years
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 6:34 AM

Mortgage insurers and declining housing markets

The good news for the Charleston real estate market is that Charleston is not considered a declining market according to the mortgage insurers. A lot of the country is as mortgage insurers attempt to reduce risk. A big change is that borrowers can no
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 4 Comments
Monday, July 14, 2008 5:12 AM

A modest mortgage proposal

With the government throwing trillions of dollars around almost daily including the latest announcement of support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I think the government should just pay off everyone's mortgage. I'm not sure of the total cost but
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Friday, July 11, 2008 8:53 AM

Trouble at Fannie and Freddie

The stocks of Fannie Mae (chart on left) and Freddie Mac are tanking faster than new rumors can circulate. Should the government (taxpayers) bail them out or are they really already quasi governmental anyway. Are they too big to let fail and what would
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Wednesday, April 16, 2008 5:56 PM

It's not just subprime

There is so much news about the growing problem of foreclosures, members of Congress and those running for President are tripping over themselves to figure out some way to bail out those who are likely to lose their homes to foreclosure. After all, the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Tuesday, April 08, 2008 7:51 AM

This post is not about the new Zillow Mortgage Bourse

... because it's been thoroughly discussed across the real estate blogosphere. As always, the gang at The BloodhoundBlog covered Zillow's new mortgage bourse. Check out the Odysseus Medal competition with links to well written articles including
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008 4:53 PM

Can't grasp the credit crisis

... don't worry, no one else can either. Whether it's CDO's, derivatives or anything else, it's hard for most people, myself included, to understand. But to the rescue with an explanation in plain english is the NY Times. Read Dave Leonhardt,
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
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Tuesday, March 18, 2008 1:23 PM

Fed cuts rates by 3/4 of a point

... and with short term rates currently so low and forecasts for further additional rate cuts by the Fed, adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) rates may actually decline at reset rather than increase as originally feared. The Fed is obviously using all the
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008 7:19 AM

Short sale listings are bogus

I wrote about the difficulty (or practical impossibility) of buying a short sale in this post . My friend, Larry Cragun recently posted a comment from Thomas Johnson , a realtor in Houston TX, relating a story of how the banks do not respond to short
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Thursday, February 21, 2008 11:01 AM

Mortgage rates don't make a U turn, instead think of the letter V

It's been a wild 30 days in the mortgage market. Mortgage rates fell to almost unprecedented lows only to return to previous levels within the month. Have you kept up? Imagine a V because mortgage rates didn't make a U turn. Rates dropped sharply,
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
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