Waiting for the Bail-out

[Nbadan]

The yet to come bail-out of prime and sub-prime mortage lenders is gonna make the S and L scandal look like Wayne Brady impersonating Bryant Gumble...

Source: Reuters
Credit counselors overwhelmed by U.S. mortgage crisis
By Andrea Hopkins Thu Mar 22, 8:26 AM ET


CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Until last year, financial counselors at the Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati spent most of their time teaching Americans how to buy a first home. Now, they're deluged by broken and bereft homeowners facing foreclosure.

"Oh Lord, there is no way we can keep up with these calls," said Kaye Britton, a foreclosure counselor at the downtown nonprofit group that promotes home ownership to minority Americans, among others.

Britton has been helping clients reach the American dream of owning a home since 2002. Handmade wall signs urge would-be buyers to "sweat the small stuff" and note the lender's golden rule: "They have the gold, they make the rules."

Foreclosures were formerly rare, caused mostly by the loss of job, divorce or medical bills.

But when rising interest rates began driving up mortgage payments last year, homeowners started to feel the pain. Phones at credit counselors across the country are now ringing off the hook.

Yahoo News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070322/lf_nm/usa_subprime_counselors_dc)

This net is going to catch a lot of fish!

[Nbadan]

To little, too late...

SEC probing subprime market
NUMBER OF COMPANIES INVOLVED IN BROADENING LOOK AT TROUBLED INDUSTRY
By Marcy Gordon
Associated Press
Article Launched: 03/20/2007 01:45:35 AM PDT


WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating a number of companies that operate in the troubled market for subprime mortgage loans, the agency's top enforcement official said Monday.

It has been known that the SEC was examining accounting practices at Irvine-based New Century Financial, the nation's second-largest maker of subprime mortgages - higher-priced home loans for people with tarnished credit or low incomes.

But comments made Monday by SEC Enforcement Director Linda Thomsen were the first public acknowledgment that the agency was involved in a broad examination of the subprime sector within the mortgage industry.

"We're looking at subprime," Thomsen told reporters after an address to an investment conference. "As with anything, we're going to look at all the actors and their roles."

Mercury News (http://www.mercurynews.com/markets/ci_5477373)

Of course, those of you who have been reading my stuff for the last year already knew this down-turn was coming and have already saved $10-20K off the price of a home. Keep waiting, you'll get to $30-40K off, depending on the initial purchase price and how long you wait.