Comments on: Every Couple of Months

By: doug r

doug r — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:47:48 +0000

A LOT of sales would not have happened without these 2nd liens-I think the 1st lien holders do owe them something. If the 1st holders are ending up with 40-60%, there could be some kind of sliding scale where second liens get 20-40%.

By: The Blur

The Blur — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:21:31 +0000

The bank balance sheets are dictated by Wall St. They can’t afford to record so many losses at once. They need to spread them out over time (maybe a couple years) to show earnings every quarter. They’re also allowed to use mark-to-market accounting because of this. If the banks don’t show profits the market falls further. The banks need to recover to get the economy going again.

Meanwhile, my patience is further tested.

By: SFdude

SFdude — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:09:12 +0000

by the way… in short sales the homes won’t be destroyed either. we avoid blights in communities, crime, horrendous “comps”, etc.

By: SFdude

SFdude — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:01:21 +0000

“Why should a second lien holder get anything if the first lien holder takes a loss? That’s not the way the contracts work, that’s not the way privatization works, that’s not the way America works.”

How exactly does America “work”? We don’t. The system is broken and has been for a long time. AIG gets bonuses, that doesn’t “work”. So a plan to get 2nd lien holders to actually cooperate in Short Sales when there is a willing buyer and seller? What’s wrong with that?

I think free for all short selling would show us the bottom a lot sooner than enormously lengthy foreclosures…. just look at Jim’s “shadow inventory” reports. Short sales are Loan Mods… the principal gets written down… but it’s a brand new homeowner.

ANYTHING the government can do to encourage this is good IMHO

By: tj and the bear

tj and the bear — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:48:25 +0000

Like everything else the government does, this’ll only aggravate the crisis and thus guarantee a lower bottom further out.

By: sdbri

sdbri — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:57:45 +0000

I love the government is willing to do everything other than allow bubble prices to drop. Good luck with that!

In a perverse way, this is rather analagous to amnesty for illegal immigrants. I don’t have anything against illegal immigrants, but hell if they’re going to get in line when millions of people from hundreds of other countries can’t get in legally. This is all about rewarding the least deserving people at the expense of everyone else who did right.

By: Rob Dawg

Rob Dawg — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:33:37 +0000

The dirty secret is that all the banks hold each others’ second lien debt. It may look like 80/20 spreads risk but in aggregate they effectively all have blended 100% CLTV exposure.

I suggest that they all get around the table and start trading paper until they’ve matched up all the 1sts and 2nds.

By: greenlander

greenlander — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:28:09 +0000

Can we just please have the required foreclosures already? Sheesh!

By: Effective Demand

Effective Demand — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:22:08 +0000

If the payments are given to encourage short sales.. Not such a bad thing.

If the payments are given to encourage loan mods.. kicks the can down the road.

By: Geotpf

Geotpf — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:15:24 +0000

arizonadude-Yeah, that’s not a good sign for a company when the CFO blows his brains out.