Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law today a renewal of the $10,000 home buyer tax credit for first time buyers of existing homes and extended the law including any buyer of newly constructed homes. The home builder lobby and the California Association of Realtors predictably hailed the move. California’s New Home Buyer Tax Credit The [...]

Yesterday the Senate added a housing tax credit to the President’s recovery bill that gives home buyers a 10% of purchase price tax credit up to a maximum of $15,000, ostensibly to support the housing and mortgage markets. I see this $19 Billion dollar addition to Obama’s Bill as more “quid pro quo” for the [...]

I have predicted all along, that the media would not report the housing “doom and gloom” early enough to safe guard home owners. I was right. I now predict the media will NOT report the economic and housing recovery data as it occurs either. I am right again. Economic Recovery and Housing Recovery Already Underway [...]

Fortes Financial of Dallas, buyer of five regional wholesale divisions from National City back in July, has ceased operations today dying a quiet but foreseeable death. Fortes Financial Fails Fortes Financial, the idea a viable mortgage company could be made from the ruins of other failed mortgage companies, came from mortgage maverick, Peter J. Levasseur. [...]

A tongue-in-cheek video by Fred Thompson is on top of being absolutely hilarious…dangerously accurate. He clearly articulates the Washington mentality of spend, spend and SPEND some more as the solution to our current economic mess. The Washington Bailout Mentality Hank Paulson told us a few months back if we gave him $700 Billion in bailout [...]

As expected housing starts, building permits, and consumer prices were reported down today signaling our worries about a recession turning into a depression are well founded. Housing starts and building permits hit record lows in October according to the Commerce Department report released today. Housing starts were down 4.5% to an annual rate of 791,000, [...]

Senate bailout bill (HR 1424) passed easily last night in a 74 to 25 vote. The new bill must now go back to the House for a vote which will take place on Monday. The House declined to pass the measure this week and this new bill will need 14 of those who voted down [...]

Congress is expected to pass the Paulson financial rescue plan that is now been converted from a hazy three pages to over 100 pages in the new bill called the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 sometime today. Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 Why do we need this bank bailout bill? We’ll undoubtedly you’ve [...]

The Bush speech tonight on the “financial crisis” reminds me of another phantom crisis he used to get Congress to spend hundreds of billions of tax payer money…the Iraq War. Linking terrorism to Iraq got Congress to roll over and put billions in the pockets of defense contractors and oil companies. Linking the mortgage crisis [...]