It’s amazing to think in terms like this. Nowadays we all have foreclosures dotting, peppering, or downright plastering our neighborhoods. We have grown accustomed to terms like ‘loan modification’ and ‘short sale’.

But if we looked at the number of foreclosures owned by just one entity such as Fannie Mae, the aggregate appearance is just pitiful. As Reuters put it:

Fannie Mae said on Monday that the housing finance company has taken over so many homes through foreclosures that if it were a town, it would be bigger than Dayton, Ohio.

It is also on track to pass Richmond, Virginia, this year in terms of the number of houses, and would crack the top 100 municipalities as ranked by DataPlace, a web-based source of housing and demographic data.

As a record number of Americans lose their homes during the worst housing crash since the Great Depression, Fannie Mae now owns 67,519 homes.

The company, which the U.S. government placed in conservatorship in September following record losses, said in its third-quarter earnings that its inventory of foreclosed properties rose by nearly a quarter in three months and more than double from a year ago.

That puts it on par with cities such as Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Providence, Rhode Island, in terms of number of households.

The company is working hard to clear the inventory. On its website it lists dozens of homes in Detroit selling for next to nothing. One listed at $1,900 entices buyers with “100 percent financing,” a ploy with what might be described as a tarnished reputation in the United States.

Yet it seems to be working. A two-bedroom, 1,900 square foot house on Seminole Street is listed as “under contract.” The price? $50.

Enter the world’s largest Ghost Town. Apply for your own zero-down, low-interest loan today! The home of other’s dreams can be yours today!

And if things keep up, someone else’s tomorrow.

Tags: Fannie, Mae, foreclosure, loan, modification

During a recent conversation, I was shocked to find that so many people were so far down in their 401k year-to-date totals. Having withdrawn funds and searched for a better way to invest a couple years ago, I’ve been somewhat sheltered from the hammer that’s smashed a lot of dreams for those either facing retirement, or hoping to in the near or near-distant future.

CDs and ING Direct “Orange” savings accounts have returned reliable returns for me, even if they paled in comparison to the people earning 10-15% or more on their 401k plans. Reading up on insurance investing (via “EIUL” plans or Equity Indexed Universal Life) and trying to decide whether a non-matching 401k would be best or something less conventional would be better, I’ve had my money in limbo so to speak.

It seems that the time I spent losing out on thousands in the market, has come to pay itself back in gold after the adjustments hits, the Dow crashed, and the bailouts started picking up steam.

But just like those who were shocked that a house could… LOSE value… I was no different when it came to 401k performance. I would have figured the smart guys in the expensive chairs had some backup plans to mitigate heavy losses, but it seems that my confidence was misplaced. My 3% interest on my savings account started looking very good compared to some of our below commenters.

So have you lost? Have you gained? How is the market treating your 401k, and will it affect retirement in your immediate future?

Tags: 401k, investing, economy, bailout, crash

This is where Proposition 100 comes into play. Dubbed the “Protect Our Homes Act”, Prop 100 aims to prohibit the government from charging new taxes on the sale or transfer of real estate in Arizona. Arizona currently has no real estate transfer taxes (RETTs), unlike 35 other states which do.

Here’s a link to the official PDF which gives more details on the amendment:

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Arizona:

1. Article IX, Section 24, Constitution of Arizona is proposed to be added as follows if approved by the voters and on proclamation of the Governor:

ARTICLE IX, SECTION 24, PROHIBITION OF NEW REAL PROPERTY SALE OR TRANSFER TAXES

THE STATE, ANY COUNTY, CITY, TOWN, MUNICIPALITY OR OTHER POLITICAL SUBDIVISION OF THE STATE, OR ANY DISTRICT CREATED BY LAW WITH AUTHORITY TO IMPOSE ANY TAX, FEE, STAMP REQUIREMENT OR OTHER ASSESSMENT, SHALL NOT IMPOSE ANY NEW TAX, FEE, STAMP REQUIREMENT OR OTHER ASSESSMENT, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, ON THE ACT OR PRIVILEGE OF SELLING, PURCHASING, GRANTING, ASSIGNING, TRANSFERRING, RECEIVING, OR OTHERWISE CONVEYING ANY INTEREST IN REAL PROPERTY. THIS SECTION DOES NOT APPLY TO ANY TAX, FEE,OR OTHER ASSESSMENT IN EXISTENCE ON DECEMBER 31, 2007.

The key reason this is so important is because while the government’s bills have grown, the average Arizonan’s wallet has not. Rampant inflation, mortgage loan fraud, and a growing credit crisis, simply do now allow Americans to take on more debt at this time, even in the form of increased taxes.

Additionally, as difficult as it is to sell a house in this market and as difficult as it is to avoid foreclosure right now, increased taxation on the transfer of property will add one more bill you have to factor in when you’re already more than likely to be well upside down. Not to mention that “transfer” is a very broad term which will include estates and further burden the family house as it’s passed down to the kids or other family members. There are already burdens in that process and the government should never find it in its own interest to make losing a home easier.

Other agents in Arizona are also against this and are writing about it as well. As Jay Thompson put it on his blog:

A YES vote on Proposition 100 would amend the State Constitution and prevent the possibility of a real estate transfer tax from being implemented. A no vote means state and local governments could implement a RETT at just about any time (in fact, it has been discussed across the state. A bill was introduced in the Legislature last year proposing a RETT).

There is additional information on Prop 100, also known as the Protect our Homes Act, at www.ProtectOurHomes.com.

I won’t be so bold as to tell you how to vote. That is a personal decision only you can make. My vote will be YES on Prop 100. Some states are attempting to repeal existing real estate transfer taxes. Good luck with that. My opinion is it will be a whole lot easier to prevent such a tax before it happens than to repeal it once enacted. The 342,000 that signed petitions to place the initiative on the ballot seem to agree. But signing a petition and pulling the lever in the voting booth are two different things. If you signed the petition, thank you. Just please don’t forget to finish the job.

For an example of how this tax affects families both trying to obtain their first home, or get out of a bad situation without going through bankruptcy or foreclosure, a real estate agent in Connecticut grants some insight:

Home sellers in Connecticut pay a conveyance tax when they sell. The median home in CT sells for about $250,000 and the real estate conveyance tax on the median home would be about $2000, more if you live in one of the 18 towns that can charge you an extra .25% or an extra $500.

The tax was raised a few years ago, temporarily, to help solve a budget shortfall but keeps getting renewed. Municipalities are desperate not to lose this tax because it’s easy money and most home sellers forget about it until the closing table.

The increase in the tax is supposed to sunset, rolling back to its original amount – saving future home sellers around $400 based on the median sales price of $250,000. It’s not a lot of money but the principle is simple:

If the tax was supposed to be temporary, legislators have an obligation to roll it back.

And with all the talk about rescuing homeowners these days from subprime mortgages, what about rescuing homeowners who are responsible enough to sell their homes before the bank forecloses on them but have to walk away owing the bank and the government money?
From whom do they need rescuing?

In Tuesday’s Hartford Courant, a letter to the editor appeared from the Executive Directors of the CT Conference of Municipalities and the Capitol Region Council of Governments – two groups that lobby for town and municipal governments. Here’s what they had to say:

“…the special-interest real estate lobby which seeks to portray itself as the homeowner’s friend by lobbying to deprive municipalities of up to $40 million in needed revenue next year.

That’s right – the same for-profit Realtors who take up to a whopping 7 percent cut of any home sale want to slice $40 million in non-property-tax revenue by reducing the municipal share of the conveyance tax. That means a direct shift of that amount onto the back of the property tax – Connecticut’s most overused and income-insensitive tax.”

Well, I was pretty mad so I wrote a letter to the editor and it appears in the Hartford Courant today, May 29. Here is most of my letter:

‘Although Mr. Finley and Mr. Wray tried to dismiss Realtors like me who disagree with them as part of the “special-interest real estate lobby” and “the same for-profit Realtors who take up to a whopping 7 percent cut of a home sale,” Realtors are leading the fight to protect our clients’ home equity.

Note: Realtors are often the only professionals involved in a real estate transaction willing to negotiate their fees, which, for the sake of accuracy, are not typically 7 percent of the sales price.

However, I would like to present the only opinion that really matters – that of the homeowner and, in particular, the homeowner selling today.

In today’s market, more and more homeowners owe more on their homes than the homes are worth. More often than not, these are homeowners in areas with a high rate of foreclosure, a declining median sales price and a shortage of qualified buyers. These homeowners face some tough options: come to the closing table with money, negotiate a short sale, which affects their credit, or allow the bank to foreclose, which affects their credit even more.

…

The real estate conveyance tax should be rolled back to its original amount – not because it will help Realtors but because it will help homeowners.’

Currently, Arizonans don’t have to fight these fights (although we do have our own battles). As someone who has been through the scary process of almost losing their house, I don’t see this as a fight we should have to undertake.

To use a food analogy, it is always easier to simply eat LESS. Finding MORE food to eat, however, is what starving families all over the world die trying to do. With illegal immigration and a growing housing problem, I say Arizona already has plenty to worry about.

Tags: arizona, property, tax, foreclosure, fraud

In a much smaller political battle, one where presidential candidates are replaced by smaller city positions like the Mayor of Lathrop, California.

It’s going to be curious, especially with the housing problem gaining more momentum and grabbing more national attention, to see if these sorts of events will continue to be used as weapons in heated political campaigns.

Tom Sayles makes no bones about it. He isn’t proud that one of his investments has gone south with the foreclosure mess.

The home that tripped him up in the 400 block of Gardner Place wouldn’t probably have earned even a footnote in the crush of bank foreclosures as well as big developers in Lathrop reengaging on their signed deals with the city due to the housing slump.

But because Sayles is married to Lathrop Mayor Kristy Sayles coupled with the fact she has become a target of a well-oiled attack machine this election cycle that has private investigators snooping into every aspects of her personal life is making the house the target of a lot of inquiries.

It doesn’t surprise the mayor who has had formal inquiries made requesting any personal e-mails she may have sent using city devices as well as a private investigator checking with animal control officials to see whether their family dog is licensed.

Someone – an individual, organization or even possibly a corporation – that doesn’t like Sayles has gone as far as to create a cutting edge website loaded with personal data on her divorces and personal life including civil cases that have absolutely nothing to do with her tenure or performance as mayor.

The house – which has a mortgage at 12 percent with Indy Mac and is headed for foreclosure – is already part of a whispering campaign especially since the couple had secured a $40,000 loan from her uncle, former Mayor Steve McKee, in an effort to fix-up damage done by a tenant and save it from foreclosure.

McKee, for his part, doesn’t want to go on record saying anything about the loan or the house.

The Sayles are current on their payments to McKee – about $850 a month – and vow to honor that obligation until it is paid off.

What tripped them up, though, is far from the typical story of greed connected with the current mortgage mess that includes people buying homes and trying to flip them or getting liar loans and then ending up not being able to meet their obligations.

The home – which now has a value of about $110,000 in today’s depressed housing market – was bought for $312,000.

…

The first renter in the home stopped paying rent. It took them months to get that tenant out. Then the next renter broke water pipes and did extensive damage.

Tom Sayles opted to not just to repair the damages but to expand the size of the home. He has dumped closed to $70,000 into the home including the $40,000 loan.

“It’s embarrassing to admit, but I lost my (behind) with the house,” noted Thomas Sayles who has had a number of investments in homes go well. But they didn’t get caught in the severe downward slide of the housing market

…

But her husband noted there is a time when it no longer makes sense to keep tossing money into a losing proposition.

“You need to honor your obligations but you’ve also got to provide for your family,” he said.

He pointed to new homes west of Interstate 5 in Lathrop that are selling at auction for $275,000 or less.

“Nobody is going to pay $312,000 for the home no matter how much more money I put into it,” he said.

At the same time, many of those homes west of Interstate 5 are being bought by investors who can – after buying them at foreclosure prices – rent them for less than Sayles could afford to rent the Gardner Place home once he got it back into shape.

Ironically it is the market condition created by some of those developers west of Interstate 5 – pay-as-you-go growth that Sayles has consistently opposed – that got those homeowners in trouble and depressed prices in Lathrop lower than in other comparable areas of the South County. It is some of the same developers who have orchestrated candidates to run against Sayles in the upcoming Nov. 4 election.

…

The loan on their home – held by the bankrupted Indy Mac – was not the standard fare that has gotten most owners of foreclosures in trouble in the past two years. It was a conventional adjustable rate mortgage.

It is a type of loan that the couple has used on other investments since 1999. In each case, they were able to buy homes, fix them, rent them and/or sell them without problem.

They also used an adjustable rate loan for the mortgage on the home they bought from McKee – his former residence in Lathrop – for their family to live in.

That was also an adjustable rate loan. When it got up to 14 percent, they were able to work with Chase Bank and renegotiated it into a 6.5 percent, fixed rate, 30-year mortgage. Indy Mac, on the other hand, did not want to work with the couple, which means the home is going into foreclosure.

“I never had problem with an adjustable rate loan before,” Kristy Sayles said.

Sharing such fine details of their personal finances is unusual for any candidate, but Tom and Kristy Sayles life has become an open book thanks to those who apparently do not like her voting record as Lathrop’s mayor.

…

“I have $98 in my campaign account right now,” Sayles said.

Tom Sayles said he has a thick skin and that he doesn’t pay much attention to the “garbage” that is being circulated about him and his wife by those who don’t like her voting record at city hall.

The mayor, for her part, said she will not stoop to the same level of those who are going through her personal life with a fine tooth comb and twisting basic facts in an attempt to make her look bad.

She also noted that she will readily denounced anyone who does such a thing to any of her opponents.

Just like the McCains and Obamas face criticism for side ventures like successful books, income from spouses, or businesses and investments, it’s likely that home ownership will be brought into many other heated battles fighting for a single political spot.

Additionally, banks have yet to figure out how to handle the declining market and their financial loss on the loans made to those unable to pay.

Having been through a short sale myself, there is a lot that goes into one and they can be scary. Here’s a related story.

Homeowners unable to afford their mortgage payments can sometimes negotiate an agreement with lending institutions to sell their home for less than their mortgage debt — preventing foreclosure, a harrying process for both lenders and sellers — and, in many cases, absolving debt while preserving credit.

“Both short sales and foreclosures are considered ‘negative information,’ so they stay on the credit report for seven years,” said Patricia Guertler of Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS), a nonprofit organization offering free counseling to homeowners. A foreclosure, however, is more damaging to credit than a short sale, she said.

While a short sale is still a mark against a homeowner, “credit is something that can be rebuilt — and if the damage is only on the mortgage and if [the homeowner is] in good standing, it is not going to destroy credit completely. … It will drop your credit score but not [to] the point where it is completely irreparable,” Guertler said.

As mentioned above though, this next part seems to have been the hardest for many. Getting the bank to accept the short sale isn’t always easy if they’re slow or require more information than you are able to provide in the time given:

For a short sale to proceed, the homeowner’s lenders must accept the buyer’s offer. Lenders may refuse a short sale, particularly when a homeowner is behind on payments and the lender has taken steps toward a foreclosure.

“It is always up to the lender. It is the golden rule. The people with the gold make the rules. If they want to give the borrower a break, then they can do it. That is why … what you want to do is contact the lender. That is the easiest and most efficient first step you can make. The lender may be willing to help you,” said Dave Lang, real estate attorney at the law office of Peter N. Brewer in Palo Alto.

…

“People need to be honest about whether they can afford their homes or not because the longer they wait, the more devastating the financial consequences,” Herzberg said. “Even if you don’t get approved for a short sale and you go to foreclosure, at least you won’t be losing your life savings, going into your 401(k) plan, losing other property, or your IRA” by trying to make payments, he continued.

“Ideal” short-sale candidates are homeowners with credit ratings worth preserving who are still making mortgage payments, Mariwyn Evans wrote in “How to Succeed at Short Sales.” But according to David Knight, Wells Fargo vice president and home mortgage manager, evaluating candidates for short sales involves more than Evans’ statement suggests.

…

Common financial disclosure includes a homeowner’s income and assets, verified by copies of bank statements, savings and investment forms. Additionally, lenders evaluate homeowners’ personal circumstances, described in a “hardship letter.”

Whereas evidence of homeowners’ financial security convinces lenders to offer mortgage loans in the first place, circumstances of dire hardship make short sales more compelling from the lender’s perspective. “The investor will say, why should I do the short sale if there is no challenge for the mortgager? … The investor will be more willing [to accept a short sale] if it is clear that the mortgager cannot afford the property,” Knight said.

Lenders more readily forgive debt for homeowners with modest salaries, who lack assets such as stocks or savings, and who recently experienced traumas such as illness, job loss, a spouse’s death or divorce.

Though executed more quickly than foreclosures, short sales are time-consuming — for lenders, homeowners and real estate agents. To hurry the process along, Herzberg said he and other agents make sure paperwork is organized and submitted in a way that will get the sale approved.

“If one page is filed incorrectly, it can cause the whole short sale to be thrown out. So it is very meticulous work,” he said.

…

Some of the “back and forth” occurs because homes with second mortgages require both lending institutions to approve the short sale. “If the home has a second mortgage, you have to get the second mortgage institution to release lien,” Knight said.

To speed up the short-sale process, Knight’s “number one recommendation or request” to homeowners and their agents is to “let the [bank's] servicer know when you are listing properties… We can order the appraisal ahead of time; we can knock 17 days off. As soon as you know you have that contract to sell that property, let us know and we can start action that will shorten your time to get a decision,” he said.

Short sales can result in discounts to the buyer between 8 and 20 percent below the home’s market value, according to Evans. Second-mortgage lenders heed offers for a few thousand dollars on their loans, “cents on the dollar,” because the alternative — foreclosure — could bring in even less return on their loan, Knight said.

Traditionally, second-mortgage lenders accounted for the risk of default by charging homeowners elevated interest rates. Many banks, however, were unprepared for the current housing crisis. “We’re going through an unprecedented environment,” Knight said. “A lot of smaller banks have closed because they are not getting paid,” Piano said.

However, you’re not out of the fire yet. The IRS will always want what is owed to them:

After successfully cancelling thousands of dollars of debt, a homeowner may rejoice — only to discover that, to the Internal Revenue Service, the forgiven debt represents taxable income. “A nonrecourse loan may not necessarily give you the [tax] protection that you think you have, if you took equity from the property going into foreclosure to put into other properties; if you refinanced,” said Alan Olsen, managing partner at Greenstein, Rogoff, Olsen & Co., an accounting firm with an office in Palo Alto.

Given the complex financial and emotional challenges faced by homeowners who cannot afford their homes, CCCS’ Guertler says homeowners’ best bet is “to get as much information and to act as soon as they realize they won’t be able to make their payments to their lenders.” Though she advises homeowners to act swiftly, she also offers a warning:

“Be careful of fast or easy solutions companies may offer — because there are no easy or fast solutions. The only one that can help them at this point is the lender because they are the ones who hold the loans.”

Tags: foreclosure, short, sale, credit, IRS

Barbara Sanz has never missed a mortgage payment, but the plunge in real estate is punishing condominium owners like her anyway.

Four years ago, she bought her first condo in a glassy new Miami tower when the building was filling up. Now nearly one in six residents in the 43-story building is battling foreclosure and their contributions to the building association are shrinking. Each of the remaining owners has had to chip in an extra $1,000 assessment and $50 more a month for cable and Internet. That is on top of Ms. Sanz’s $450 monthly maintenance fee.

Even though she pays more, her building has broken washers and dryers and unusable exercise equipment, and her hallway is spotted with mold.

“It’s not fair,” said Ms. Sanz, a 32-year-old event planner. “The first two years, I enjoyed all of the benefits of living in a condo. I’m disappointed now. I hate the way the building looks.”

When people buy condos, they expect their monthly fees will cover many of the responsibilities that they would otherwise have as owners of single-family homes, like cutting the grass and paying the water bills. Now many find themselves nagging each other in the hallways to pay their assessments and adding special fees while haggling over chores. In Miami, Chicago and San Diego, condo owners are adjusting to the economic woes, sometimes by mowing themselves and working shifts for building security — all while lamenting their lost community.

…

The pain in the condo market, mostly in urban areas, may not only be deeper than in the rest of the housing market during this downturn but more prolonged. Bargain hunters say they are reluctant to buy into a building even when the upfront cost seems low because they might have to pay unexpected fees as distressed neighbors default on their mortgages or just stop paying the association fees that cover everything from taxes to pool maintenance to air-conditioning repair.

“We have not even approached the bottom and will not approach the bottom until 2009,” said Hessam Nadji, managing director of research services at Marcus & Millichap.

“Nobody knows if the worst is yet to come,” he said. “Nobody knows how much prices will continue to drop.”

Tags: condo, foreclosure, maintenance, fee, hoa

Homeowners in the some of the toniest ZIP codes in the Hamptons are facing a frightening reality – they can’t afford to foot the bill for their high-priced homes, The Post has learned.

In the first three months of this year, banks have launched preliminary foreclosure actions – known as lis pendens proceedings – against a record 120 borrowers in East Hampton and Southampton towns.

Twenty percent of those borrowers live in homes that are worth more than $1 million, according to figures from the Suffolk County clerk.

And the list gets longer every week.

“This problem didn’t even exist before,” said John Brady, a broker with Coldwell Banker in East Hampton. “They used to pop up once in a while, and you wouldn’t even pay attention. Now you expect to see new ones every week.”

A total of 10 East End homes, including a massive Westhampton mansion, were foreclosed outright since the beginning of the year.

In addition, more than 800 East End homeowners – a mix of rich and middle-class people from Riverhead to Montauk – have been flagged by credit-monitoring companies this year for late payments.

Brady said the high-end, delinquent borrowers are finance types, lawyers and speculators who overextended themselves on second homes and investment properties.

…

The Post contacted 13 Hamptons homeowners currently in lis pendens for loans exceeding $1 million. None returned calls for comment.

Suffolk County Deputy Clerk Chris Como said that most homes in lis pendens manage to avoid foreclosure through emergency measures like a short sale or the rallying of funds. But appearance on the list, he said, is a sure sign of major financial trouble.

Como said banks don’t initiate foreclosure actions until a borrower falls severely behind in payments.

…

“These are people who are used to success,” Brady said. “There is a level of denial and embarrassment when I have to call [people] to ask about mortgage problems.”

…

Another top-selling East End broker who spoke anonymously said the area was bracing for fallout from impending Wall Street layoffs.

“That wave hasn’t even hit yet,” he said. “A lot of them who bought second homes are already trying to shed them.”

“You’ll always have the super-rich who can make moves out here no matter what,” the broker said. “But I think there’s a dose of reality on the way.”

Who’s Being Foreclosed On?

This list is not normally the type you’d see under this header. I guess a bad economy truly does affect everyone somehow:

• Janice Becker, a regular on the Southampton village social circuit, is facing foreclosure on her multimillion-dollar Wyandanch Lane property.
• Advertising veteran Ransel Potter is defaulting on a $1.8 million mortgage on an Amagansett parcel.
• Real-estate honcho John Conroy is in lis pendens for a $3.5 million mortgage on a Bridgehampton spread on West Pond Drive.
• Former UBS executive Marc Warren is in lis pendens on a $1 million mortgage for a Mitchells Lane pad in Bridgehampton.
• Investor Roger Thanhauser is trying to sell a home on Main Street in East Hampton village to avoid foreclosure.

Tags: hamptons, foreclosure, debt, lis, pendens

JPMorgan Chase on Tuesday said it plans to transfer 420 customer-service jobs from the Valley to locations outside Arizona as part of an ongoing workforce-efficiency drive.

Affected workers will be eligible for other jobs with Chase, which has 475 openings in Arizona in retail financial services and other areas. Those who don’t land new jobs with the company will receive severance packages.

Chase, the largest bank operating in Arizona based on deposits, counts about 9,000 workers in the state.

Mary Jane Rogers, a Chase spokeswoman, said the transfers don’t stem from weakness in any particular business unit.

“We’re continually reviewing our business priorities looking for efficiency,” she said. Chase plans to transfer the jobs to Texas, Ohio, the Philippines, Missouri and Michigan – places where she said Chase has lower operating costs and excess capacity.

Chase plans to transfer the positions gradually through year-end and will give 60-day notices to affected workers, most of whom handle telephone calls from customers and perform account-maintenance and research work. The affected employees are among 2,000 workers at a Chase facility near Sky Harbor International Airport.

Efficiency. The most beautiful and horrible word all at once – depending on which side of it you’re on.

There were some colorful comments that seemed to hint at some more reasons behind this:

It’s hard to believe that Chase will have lower operating costs anywhere in the US. Arizona wages are so low, it must be almost the bottom. So I guess most of these jobs will go to the Philippines.

This is a hard blow to Arizona which needs these low level jobs urgently because of our failing schools turning out so many people who are not qualified for anything better.

“ongoing workforce-efficiency drive” in plain American English=kiss your jobs goodbye. Chase will pay $1.25 per day to Makmoud in the Philippines and put the labor cost savings in the executive’s year end bonus. Chase would hire illegal aliens for cheap if they could, at least the paychecks would stay in the Arizona economy.

YEAH MY SISTER IN LAW THAT WAS WORKING FOR CHASE SHE TOLD ME TODAY THAT THEY GOT NOTIFY THAT THEY WILL BE GETTING LAID OFF. SO NOW CHASE IS GETTING READY TO GO TO THE PHILLIPPINES AND INDIA. SO NOW WHEN PEOPLE CALL CHASE WE ARE HARDLY GOING TO UNDERSTAND IN WHAT THESE PEOPLE ARE SAYING. THANKS FOR NOTHING CHASE! SELL OUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’s called capitalism. Selling out is a key component. Chase axed the entire fitness center and staff at their building on University and Mill Ave in Tempe. I hear from a friend who is privy to inside info that job cuts will role out at that same Tempe location next month!

Chase has just lost my business. I will be closing my account by End of week. I was already upset with Chase and their poor customer service, but this just shows that I do not need to put my money into an organization that won’t support the local economy. Desert Schools… HERE I COME…

What part of capitalism don’t people understand?
The robber-barons that control the U.S. would kill half the working class if it added 2 cents per share to their dividend.

Carnegie once said about the poor “No problem with the poor. We can always hire half of them to kill the other half.”

Only a fool banks at a bank when a credit union is available.

I’ve worked at Chase over two years and they have been actively outsourcing IT jobs the entire time I’ve been there. There are now more IT employees in Bangalore than there are here in Phoenix. I have suffered through two years of dealing with incompetent bumbling Indians who have taken American jobs who can just barely speak English and have zero respect for America.

Wake up AZ this is the wave of the future in corporate America and Chase is no different. The name of the game is cut costs by offshoring every job you can and use the goodwill you generate in those third-world countries to get more business from them.

Oh, great! Now folks in the Phillippines will have access to my financial dealings. Why not! We’re global, eh! That’s why it’s so darned funny that we’re actually building a wall–a wall!!–along our southwestern borders. Absolutely nothing is restricted to the USA any longer. I understand that our passports–our passports!!–are done in Thailand or somewhere like that. As if no one in a Southeatern Asian country might like to immigrate to the U.S. So, where, might I ask, are we actually practicing “homeland security”? What a joke!

Time to start outsourcing our cash to different venues. It’s time to FORCE the banks to reveal a couple of things:

1. Who thier owners are…. BOFA (Bank owned [by] Foriegn (inappropriate term)) is owned by the Arabs, Bank One the same can be said.
2. Where thier main areas of employment are… Thanks to Bill Gates and the dumbing down of America more and more HB1 will be maintained, more foriegn workers.
3. Make them absolutely prove they will leave 99% of thier base operations in the USA.

And stop the administration and congress from letting these f’ing corporations write thier own ticket. If the idiots that call themselves congress can’t write bills to protect the American people them put them out on their asses. Concerning Bushes legacy, I really want the economy to fall flat on it’s ass while that B@$t@rd is still in office. His legacy will expose him and his ilk for the lying scum they are.

Chase sucks and is run by morons.

That aside, I think it’s funny when people direct their anger towards those in India. If someone was offering you a good job wouldn’t you take it?

We shouldn’t be mad at them rather we should be mad at corporate america.

Let’s face it, corporate america is sailing us down the river. Our main export now is jobs. This isn’t the fault of capitalism, it’s the fault of greed. That’s ok, their money won’t do them much good when all the poor people are trying to break into their house. Hitting someone with a hundred dollar bill doesn’t hurt too much. They’ll get theirs in the end but we’ll all get screwed along the way.

Be interesting to see how much this affects their bottom line once you factor in any resulting loss in customers.

Tags: Chase, Bank, lending, outsourcing, jobs, recession, depression, layoff

It’s a crushing feeling when you find the value of your house is less than what you paid for it. Even if you never took out a home equity loan, made payments as usual, and have a very valid reason to sell like a death in the family, loss of a job, etc.

Mortgage delinquencies will continue to rise over the next six to 12 months as home prices decline and economic conditions remain difficult, according to one forecast released Monday.

The Core Mortgage Risk Monitor (CMRM), an index of foreclosure risk compiled by real estate data analyzer First American CoreLogic, increased 16% compared with the same period last year.

CoreLogic analyzes house price trends, foreclosure rates, economic health factors and fraud propensity to predict the chances that future mortgage delinquencies will occur.

The index, which has increased over the last four quarterly reporting periods, is now 47% higher than it was in the first quarter of 2002 when the last recession was winding down.

Nationwide, the markets with highest levels of delinquency risk also had double-digit declines in home prices and weakening labor markets.

“House price depreciation factors are now outweighing economic stress factors,” said Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist.

…

“High house price markets are now high risk markets,” said Fleming.

Falling home prices have created a vicious cycle: Lower prices lead to more defaults, resulting in excess inventory, which causes demand to fall, bringing home prices even lower, leading to more defaults.

This downward cycle puts pressure on the broader economy, with declining home prices impacting personal wealth and consumer confidence.

Tags: real, estate, home, prices, foreclosure, mortgage, default

Well, in a sad twist, there’s now another option: Go To Jail.

I just got a call from my brother a few hours ago, from jail. My brother has never been in trouble before, so I was totally shocked when I got the automated collect call message. The reason he is jail is even more shocking- he failed to sell his house.

He just went through a nasty divorce which left him cash poor but equity rich, so as part of the divorce, there was a list of debts that would be paid off when the house was sold. It turns out that one of the debts was for a lawyer appointed by the state for their children. The judge called a hearing to find out why the house wasn’t selling. (the house has been on the market for eighteen months now) My brother came in with evidence showing house improvements, listings with realtors, open houses, and price reductions, but it was to no avail. Six months in the slammer for contempt of court, or until I can wire him the money to pay off the lawyer.

I was wondering if you have ever heard of anything like this before.

Reading one of my favorite sites this morning, I couldn’t help but blink when I read that and re-read the whole thing.

Essentially this is debtor’s prison, which was all but done away with in 1833. Although much like the RIAA lawsuits, few people can afford representation to fight the state on it, so it’s likely it’ll stick.

As another commenter pointed out:

It’s debtor’s prison, but in the legal arena he is going to jail for contempt of court. Six months sounds like a very long time, which makes me think that’s there’s more to the story than what’s presented. For example, the judge has held him in contempt before and decided to up the sentence to get him to obey. He might have also done something to frustrate the sale. On the other hand, you could have a rogue judge. Happens all the time in divorce court, which seems to bring out the worst in people including judges. Assuming that the facts presented are all there is, and this judge has abused his discretion: appeal the contempt. But it’s very hard to win an appeal, and expensive. The higher court will bend over backwards to uphold the trial judge. If his decision is correct under any theory, they can uphold him. This guy is just screwed. He should have known better than to get married. My advice. Beg borrow of steal the money to pay the lawyer and get out of jail. Drop the price of the house to a point where it will sell quickly. Obviously the place is overpriced for this market. Take the money pay off the debts, and get a better lawyer if necessary. Formulate a strategy for dealing with this case. Don’t play fair, but appear to be playing fair. Don’t remarry.

You will not be able to make a public issue out this. The press won’t touch it, mainly for political reasons. Outrageous things happen to husbands and fathers every day in family law court and it gets no publicity. Arrest an illegal Mexican for working under 15 bogus social security numbers and the ACLU will come to his aid. The press will scream “xenophobe,” “racist,” and so on. It’s all politics and men don’t know how to play the game. The women’s groups lobby the legislature and they get what they want. The men won’t do it. This is what happens to them.

It’s a sad day when injustice, passes for justice.

Tags: realestate, jail, divorce, foreclosure