As reported by ZeroHedge today – Mortgage Delinquencies Hit Record High, New Home Sales Disappoint. Green shoot believers, who are forever searching for clues of positive signs of recovery, will be devastated when they see these grave statistics. Sorry but the numbers are the numbers:

12 percent of homeowners with a mortgage are behind on their payments or in foreclosure.

Half of […]

Many have said to us, why publish so much negative news. Where is the good news. Two brief answers. First, it is what it is. Facts are facts. It’s very important that you know what “is.” And next, by knowing the bad news — up front – you not only get a heads-up, but you can position yourself to […]

As we suggested in this Blog on November 7, 2008, democrats are once again planning to reintroduce legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of troubled borrowers’ loans — a move that industry opponents say will lead to higher interest rates and down payments for all borrowers.
Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., said he […]

The House of Representatives on Monday, September 29, 2008 @ 2pm est., defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package. As a result, stocks plummeted on Wall Street even before the 228-205 vote to reject the bill was announced on the House floor.
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Leaders in the U.S. Congress have agreed, as of Sunday September 28, 2008 —  to the details […]

Read Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s statement, unedited …addressing the root cause of the credit crisis.

September 19, 2008: 10:24 AM EDT
WASHINGTON — Statement by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson.
Last night, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC Chairman Chris Cox and I had a lengthy and productive working session with Congressional leaders. We began a substantive discussion on […]

Gerald Baker of the TimesOnline puts a very interesting spin on the recent financial events, which have dominoed. In Bakers article, Crisis may prove cathartic in the long run, but the worst is not over, he states that: 
Yesterday a couple of the world’s most famous financial institutions sank without a  trace, one of the world’s […]

SeekingAlpha just posted a very intriguing opinion piece by John Preston entitled, The Reality of Real Estate and the Economy.

Is this the problem? the solution?

According to many, the thesis (and problem) is simple: Housing health and the economy are linked arm-in-arm.  

Preston traces  this theory back to Robert Shiller, of Case-Shiller Home Price Index fame, who reflects back on a 2004 […]

Are things getting better? The news certainly is not good, but the question is whether there is lemonade amongst the lemons …
 U.S. foreclosure activity in July 2008 increased 8 percent from the previous month and 55 percent from a year earlier, July 2007, according to the RealtyTrac Foreclosure Market Report released today.

Bank Repossessions (REOs) […]

Could things get worse? Well, according to a piece by Les Christie of CNNMoney.com, the answer may be yes.
Turns out, prime mortgages are starting to default at disturbingly high rates - a development that threatens to slow any potential housing recovery.
Here is yet another strong and very expert view who says — you bet: […]

Today, Bloomberg News reported that 100 of the world’s biggest banks losses from the U.S. sub-prime crisis, and the ensuing credit crunch, crossed the $500 billion mark as write-downs spread to more asset types.
Further exacerbating the situation we now see that auction-rate securities have begun adding to the losses as regulators and prosecutors force banks […]