MetLife has announced the purchase of First Horizon’s residential mortgage business. The volatility of the market and risk involved has made First Horizon nervous and they felt their shareholders were better served by getting out of the business.
Conversely, indications coming out of MetLife is that we are near the bottom of the mortgage crisis. […]

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Just a word to my readers about the new redesign.
After 5 years of blogging, nearly 3 here, I keep running into the same problem. How can I keep the good stuff front and center? Face it, some of the best posts get knocked down to the bottom of the page before many readers can see it […]

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The power of the government is a wonder to behold, especially when the actions of said government invokes the law of unintended consequences.
The city of Philadelphia is about to launch a new plan to help those facing foreclosure. Instead of the sheriff auctioning off the properties as charged to by law, the city sheriff will […]

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Ed McMahon, famous sidekick to Johnny Carson, is facing financial turmoil and may lose his house. McMahon has had his Los Angeles mansion for sale for over 2 years but has been unable to find a buyer.
Since suffering a terrible accident in which he has suffered a broken neck 18 months ago he has been unable […]

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Today we get the stunning announcement that unemployment “surged” from 5 percent to 5.5 percent in one month. Of course, given the way the government calculates its shoddy employment numbers this is only shocking to folks that believe in the absurd government Kool-Aid. The reality of the current market arena is we are […]

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The bigger they are, the harder they fall. That mantra is now being witnessed first hand by many prime areas of Los Angeles County. Luxury properties have a very specific and niche based market. They cater to a very unique audience that usually resides outside the confines of the average […]

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I think the best way to discuss the “reemergence” of the credit crisis is to remember a childhood story. Remember that time your family was throwing a party and you were concerned about crazy grandma going off on her usual rants? You thought carefully about what you were going to do since you […]

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Housing corrections are sticky on the downside. Did you ever hear that statement being made during the last few years? Over and over like a fire alarm going off some form of this message was continually beat into the head of prospective real estate moguls. “Oh yeah. Housing prices never go […]

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When you look at the current unemployment rate of 5 percent, you would think that our economy would be humming along. Yet the way that they calculate the official unemployment rate is such a joke, you are almost left guessing how many people are really out of work. Are you looking for work […]

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I’m not one to beat a dead horse but I don’t mind kicking it a little. Last week I posed the question, What’s The Answer?
I surrounded the question with information and thoughts about valuation. Today I’d like to surround the question with a theory. It’s called the “We Are Desensitized Theory” and I put it […]

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