Welcome to Charleston Real Estate Blog Sign in | Help

Browse by Tags

All Tags » Finance   (RSS)
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 7:14 AM

The Big Picture

Barry Ritholtz calls it like he sees it. "The collection of ne'er do wells, clueless dolts, political hacks, and oh, let's just be blunt and call them what they are -- total Idiots -- expands into an ever larger circle. While the Republic
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 2 Comments
Filed under: ,
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 | 0 Comments
Monday, July 14, 2008 6:07 AM

IndyMac Bank fails, what about FDIC insurance

With banking regulators taking over IndyMac Bank, you may be wondering how safe your money is. The WSJ had an an interesting article about how much money is on deposit at banks in excess of the FDIC insurance of $100,000 per depositor per bank. Click
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 4 Comments
Filed under:
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
Filed under: ,
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
Filed under: ,
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
Filed under: ,
Monday, March 31, 2008 6:38 PM

Is China the next bubble to pop

Courtesy of Calculated Risk , China. Take a look at this chart, bubbles in so many different investments are starting to look familiar and easier to recognize, don't you think?
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Filed under:
Thursday, March 20, 2008 9:18 AM

Bernanke's "Bank Shot" Bracket

From Kevin Depew at Minyanville, Bernanke's "Bank Shot" Bracket , just too much fun.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Filed under: ,
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
Filed under: ,
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
Filed under: ,
Sunday, March 16, 2008 8:44 PM

Is Jamie Dimon JP Morgan 100 years later

The Panic of 1907, the ___ of 2008. Sunday evening, JP Morgan Chase headed by Jamie Dimon announces they will buy Bear Stearns for $2 per share. The stock closed at $30 on Friday, $57 the day before with an all time high of $159. Investment banks generally
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 0 Comments
Filed under:
Saturday, March 15, 2008 7:27 AM

Bear Stearns bailout

For anyone interested in the Bear Stearns bailout story, the WSJ has a great story. Read all about it! I hope this story doesn't become subscription required.
Posted by Howard Arnoff | 4 Comments
Filed under:
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
More Posts Next page »