Deserters and discounts in a downturn

Deserters and discounts in a downturn
Inman News

The collapse of the housing market has caused numerous heartaches and left promises unfulfilled for some homeowners and cities and towns across the nation.
Some builders and developers have left a trail of unfinished houses and projects, bankruptcy filings, roads to nowhere, homeowners with subcontractor liens on their homes and homeowners forced into foreclosure.

Expiring Tax Credit Drives Up Home Sales
The Wall Street Journal

First-time home buyers are scrambling to qualify for a federal tax credit that expires Nov. 30 and has been driving up sales activity after the worst downturn in decades.
Now, the coming expiration will help show if the improvement will last.

Wells Fargo vows 'decisive action' in alleged use of Malibu mansion by an executive
Los Angeles Times

Wells Fargo & Co., seeking to distance itself from a company executive's alleged personal use of a $12-million beachfront Malibu home owned by the bank, said Friday that it would "take decisive action" against any employee "who may have violated Wells Fargo's policies."

The bank's strongly worded statement came as it faced a potentially embarrassing public relations imbroglio in the aftermath of reports that one of its senior executives had lived in the home that was surrendered by victims of Bernard L. Madoff's massive fraud.

Foreclosures force condos into creative action
USA Today

CHICAGO — Condo associations, developers and lenders across the nation are trying innovative tactics to save themselves from financial disaster amid the foreclosure crisis.

The growing number of foreclosures deprive associations of the assessments they need to cover insurance, maintenance and other costs and can undermine property values.

Skepticism on Privatizing Fannie, Freddie
The Washington Post

Privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-finance companies seized by U.S. regulators last year, may be too difficult given the precedent set by the Treasury Department's financial assistance, according to a Government Accountability Office analysis.

"The financial markets likely would continue to perceive that the federal government would provide substantial financial support to the enterprises, if privatized as largely intact entities, in a financial emergency," the GAO said in a report released Thursday. "Consequently, such privatized entities may continue to derive financial benefits, such as lowered borrowing costs, resulting from the markets' perceptions."