Hat tip to Doug for sending this mention in businessinsider.com about these two articles:
OSAKA, Japan — Like many members of Japan’s middle class, Masato Y. enjoyed a level of affluence two decades ago that was the envy of the world. Masato, a small-business owner, bought a $500,000 condominium, vacationed in Hawaii and drove a late-model Mercedes.
But his living standards slowly crumbled along with Japan’s overall economy. First, he was forced to reduce trips abroad and then eliminate them. Then he traded the Mercedes for a cheaper domestic model. Last year, he sold his condo — for a third of what he paid for it, and for less than what he still owed on the mortgage he took out 17 years ago.
“Japan used to be so flashy and upbeat, but now everyone must live in a dark and subdued way,” said Masato, 49, who asked that his full name not be used because he still cannot repay the $110,000 that he owes on the mortgage.
Few nations in recent history have seen such a striking reversal of economic fortune as Japan. The original Asian success story, Japan rode one of the great speculative stock and property bubbles of all time in the 1980s to become the first Asian country to challenge the long dominance of the West.
But the bubbles popped in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and Japan fell into a slow but relentless decline that neither enormous budget deficits nor a flood of easy money has reversed. For nearly a generation now, the nation has been trapped in low growth and a corrosive downward spiral of prices, known as deflation, in the process shriveling from an economic Godzilla to little more than an afterthought in the global economy.
The downsizing of Japan’s ambitions can be seen on the streets of Tokyo, where concrete “microhouses” have become popular among younger Japanese who cannot afford even the famously cramped housing of their parents, or lack the job security to take out a traditional multidecade loan.
These matchbox-size homes stand on plots of land barely large enough to park a sport utility vehicle, yet have three stories of closet-size bedrooms, suitcase-size closets and a tiny kitchen that properly belongs on a submarine.
“This is how to own a house even when you are uneasy about the future,” said Kimiyo Kondo, general manager at Zaus, a Tokyo-based company that builds microhouses.
As living standards in this still-wealthy nation slowly erode, a new frugality is apparent among a generation of young Japanese, who have known nothing but economic stagnation and deflation. They refuse to buy big-ticket items like cars or televisions, and fewer choose to study abroad in America.
Japan’s loss of gumption is most visible among its young men, who are widely derided as “herbivores” for lacking their elders’ willingness to toil for endless hours at the office, or even to succeed in romance, which many here blame, only half jokingly, for their country’s shrinking birthrate. “The Japanese used to be called economic animals,” said Mitsuo Ohashi, former chief executive officer of the chemicals giant Showa Denko. “But somewhere along the way, Japan lost its animal spirits.”
When asked in dozens of interviews about their nation’s decline, Japanese, from policy makers and corporate chieftains to shoppers on the street, repeatedly mention this startling loss of vitality. While Japan suffers from many problems, most prominently the rapid graying of its society, it is this decline of a once wealthy and dynamic nation into a deep social and cultural rut that is perhaps Japan’s most ominous lesson for the world today.
The classic explanation of the evils of deflation is that it makes individuals and businesses less willing to use money, because the rational way to act when prices are falling is to hold onto cash, which gains in value. But in Japan, nearly a generation of deflation has had a much deeper effect, subconsciously coloring how the Japanese view the world. It has bred a deep pessimism about the future and a fear of taking risks that make people instinctively reluctant to spend or invest, driving down demand — and prices — even further.
Hat tip to OC Renter for sending along another episode of Michael Pines, foreclosure-chaser:
A Newport Beach man was arrested Wednesday after an attempt to regain possession of the home he claims his family was wrongfully evicted from 16 months ago.
Rene Zepeda, 72, was accompanied by his attorney and several Newport Beach Police officers as he made his way to the back yard of the spacious home at 19 Crystal Cay and, wielding a hammer, broke a window to gain entry. Officers promptly arrested Zepeda and attorney Mike Pines for trespassing and carted them away in a police vehicle.
“They told me I’d get arrested, but I don’t care,” said Zepeda before his arrest. “It’s my house. I have to do something.”
His attorney said the action was part of a revolt against “illegal” foreclosure and eviction practices that have cost countless people their homes, and he will advise other clients to commit the same act of civil disobedience until change is effected. “These homeowners have been out of their house for more than a year,” Pines said. “That’s long enough. They deserve to get back in because it’s legally theirs.”
Located in the gated and luxurious community of Crystal Cove, the 5-bedroom, 4,400-square foot home is on the market for $3.8 million. It’s an unlikely symbol of the brewing confusion surrounding foreclosures.
Rene Zepeda and his wife Otilia purchased the home in2008 after “years of sacrifice and hard work,” she said. Rene claims the lender, Bank of America, then raised the interest rate on their mortgage, causing the family to fall behind on payments.
Attorney Pines argues that because the foreclosure was hastily pushed through, the homeowners were denied the right to a jury trial and to present evidence in court. Public records show that the home was foreclosed on July 8, 2009; Pines says the couple has been fighting a legal battle ever since and finally resorted to this dramatic gesture because the house is now for sale.
Gary Kishner, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, said the homeowners lost the home 15 months ago after not making payments on the mortgage and that Chase now owns the property.
“After two illegal break-ins and squattings in a two-week period last November, a court order was obtained and sheriffs secured the property once again,” Kishner said. “Police assistance was needed today once again because of trespassing and criminal damage to the property.”
Zepeda and Pines were promptly bailed out, and Pines said prosecutors would have to prove they were trespassing. “Newport Beach needs to know that they have to pick sides,” Pines said. “It’s either the homeowners or the financial institutions.”
Cattani Architects have designed the recently completed Cité A Docks student housing project, located in Le Havre, France. It consists of 100 apartments made out of old shipping containers:
To ensure maximum heat and sound insulation, the walls of the container adjacent to the outside and those that divide the different units have been coated with fire walls in reinforced concrete 40cm wide, and come within layers of rubber to dampen vibrations.
The external facade is designed by the combination of the old “boxes” that has kept the undulating, repainted in metallic gray. Inside, the designers chose white walls and wooden furniture. Each studio has a bathroom, kitchen and free Wifi.
Eric Wolff has done a good job covering the story about Michael Pines, the foreclosure-chasing attorney. Here’s a link to the initial story about former owners breaking into their old home in Escondido on Tuesday:
Two families broke into their foreclosed houses Tuesday in Escondido, and as of Friday, real estate agents had taken one of the houses back, the broker for the Kimball Street house said.
Encinitas attorney Michael T. Pines advised the two families that their houses had been foreclosed through fraud and that they should take them back, which the families did.
A day later, representatives of ERA Property Movers in Escondido, the real estate agency selling the house for the lender, returned to the Kimball Street house armed with documents showing their client had ownership, said Carollynn Holemo, manager of the Escondido office.
She discovered that the previous owners, the Rocha family, hadn’t moved anything in.
“It went smoothly,” Holemo said. “They didn’t lock the house. All we did was resecure the house.”
ERA Property Movers had a locksmith rekey the lock, and agents checked the house twice a day to see if the Rochas returned. Eva Rocha said she knew the agents had been back to the house when she saw their “For Sale” sign restored to its position in the front yard, but she didn’t even try the doors.
“I haven’t worried about it right now,” Rocha said. “(Pines is) probably going to tell me to change the locks, but I don’t want to play that back-and-forth game. I’m waiting for him to take care of it.”
That is indeed the advice Pines gave to another client, the Earl family of Simi Valley; the Earls also broke into their foreclosed house last week. When a judge on Friday gave the lender a new writ of eviction, Pines promised that within an hour of being thrown out, the family would return, Pines said in a later interview.
Meanwhile, the other family that broke into a foreclosed home Tuesday in Escondido, the Bolanoses, said it had heard nothing from real estate agents or their property’s putative owners.
On Wednesday, Emiliano Bolanos swept the driveway and did some gardening, while his wife, Gloria, scrubbed the kitchen. The pair remained nervous, and hadn’t moved the family back into the house as of Friday afternoon.
“We’re a little worried,” Emiliano said. “We don’t know what they’re going to do.”
Inthis story, other attorneys are questioning the tactics of Mr. Pines:
Even if the laws could be applied, the result would not mean returning the homes to people who hadn’t been paying their mortgages. “It’s not like you get a free house. It’s never been ‘You get a free house,'” said Deborah Raymond, a Del Mar real estate attorney.
“I think he’s advising a Wild West mentality of handling cases,” said D.W. Duke, a Temecula real estate attorney. “I don’t think that’s the way attorneys should practice law. I think we have laws, and we have civil remedies through the courts for a reason.”
Towards the end, Angelo was cashing in $17,000,000 worth of stock options every five days, and he practically walks scot-free.
From the nytimes.com:
Angelo R. Mozilo, the former chief executive of Countrywide Financial, once the nation’s largest mortgage lender, agreed to pay $67.5 million on Friday to settle a civil fraud case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission last year. Countrywide itself is paying $20 million of Mr. Mozilo’s $67.5 million payment as part of an indemnification agreement he has with the company.
Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs paid a $550 million fine to settle securities fraud charges. Securities regulators are also investigating former senior executives at Merrill Lynch for possible securities fraud.
The deal came just four days before a jury trial was scheduled to begin in Los Angeles. David Sambol, the former president of Countrywide, and Eric Sieracki, the former chief financial officer, were also sued by the S.E.C. Both men settled their cases Friday as well; Mr. Sambol agreed to pay $5.52 million and Mr. Sieracki consented to $130,000. Mr. Sambol also is barred for three years from serving at a public company.
Mr. Mozilo’s agreement with the government is a humbling moment for one of the country’s most audacious and flamboyant financiers.
For years, Mr. Mozilo was among the highest-paid executives in America and his S.E.C. fine is a fraction of the vast wealth he amassed running Countrywide. In one eight-year period, from 2000 until he left the company in 2008, Mr. Mozilo received total compensation of $521.5 million, according to Equilar, a compensation research firm.
The residential project is located in the central Pacific zone of Costa Rica, near the national park Manuel Antonio, Quepos. To carry out the project in hand with nature, an area was chosen on the property that was clear of trees to carry out the construction of the required program, which must respect the natural environment and its characteristics as much as possible. Therefore there was no need to cut any tree that was located on the property, which reinforced the commitment to the environment.
Hat tip to DS for sending in David Streitfeld’s article from the N.Y. Times:
DENMARK, Me. — The house that set off the national furor over faulty foreclosures is blue-gray and weathered. The porch is piled with furniture and knickknacks awaiting the next yard sale. In the driveway is a busted pickup truck. No one who lives there is going anywhere anytime soon.
In 2003, her brother-in-law at the time offered to sell her a house on property adjacent to his. It was across from a noisy construction supply site. But it was ringed by maple, evergreen and willow trees, and who does not want to be a homeowner, especially when GMAC Mortgage will give you a loan for the entire purchase price and then another loan to improve the property?
“I was very happy,” she remembered. “It was a new beginning.”
Nicolle Bradbury bought this house seven years ago for $75,000, a major step up from the trailer she had been living in with her family. But she lost her job and the $474 monthly mortgage payment became difficult, then impossible.
It should have been a routine foreclosure, with Mrs. Bradbury joining the anonymous millions quietly dispossessed since the recession began. But she was savvy enough to contact a nonprofit group, Pine Tree Legal Assistance, where for once in her 38 years, she caught a break.
Are the title companies in trouble for insuring robo-signed REO sales, or MERS-related transactions?
Kingside said, “Not if the sellers are using grant deeds”.
Here’s the definition:
grant deed n. the document which transfers title to real property or a real property interest from one party (grantor) to another (grantee). It must describe the property by legal description of boundaries and/or parcel numbers, be signed by all people transferring the property, and be acknowledged before a notary public. The transfer is finalized by recording with the County Recorder or Recorder of Deeds. Importantly, a grant deed warrants that the grantor actually owned the title to transfer, which a quit claim deed would not, since it only transfers what the grantor owned, if anything.
A check of recently sold REO properties revealed that four major servicers – BofA, Wells Fargo, J.P.MorganChase, and IndyMac/FDIC – are all using grant deeds to convey ownership to the buyers. The grant deeds include the warranty, which should relieve the title insurers from responsibility (and put it on the servicers) for robo-signed deocuments fouling up the chain of title.
Click here for an Example of a Grant Deed used recently – remember the bank-owned house in Olivenhain listed for $999,000 that had 17 offers? It closed for $1,170,000, or 17% over list price. You can verify that sales price by taking the documentary transfer tax, $1,287 (at top of grant deed) and dividing by .0011.
OSAKA, Japan — Like many members of Japan’s middle class, Masato Y. enjoyed a level of affluence two decades ago that was the envy of the world. Masato, a small-business owner, bought a $500,000 condominium, vacationed in Hawaii and drove a late-model Mercedes.
