U.S. Completes Sale of Mortgage-Backed Securities - NYTimes.com

U.S. Completes Sale of Mortgage-Backed Securities - NYTimes.com
 Treasury Department announced on Monday that it had finished selling the $225 billion in mortgage-backed securities it bought to help stabilize the markets during the worst of the financial crisis.

The government ended up making a $25 billion profit on the securities, which are guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-owned mortgage finance companies. The profit came from interest payments, principal and rising prices for the securities, the department said. 

------------------------

Fines pile up for Wilton Manors home damaged by Wilma - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

Fines pile up for Wilton Manors home damaged by Wilma - South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
"City code violation fines have risen as fast as the water filling the buckets in Kenneth Dorsey's home, which is covered with disintegrating tarps for leaks that occurred even before a towering ficus crushed the roof during Hurricane Wilma.
The city has placed six liens totaling more than $1.3 million on the Northeast Second Avenue home, valued at $117,300, which Dorsey's parents bought brand new in 1951 and where he and his seven siblings were raised.
"The property is in deplorable condition," Mayor Gary Resnick said. "It's not an issue of money. It's an issue of safety."
------------------------------
Yes, but Bigfoot has to live someplace. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself.

George Zimmerman Neighbors Complained About Aggressive Tactics Before Trayvon Martin Killing

George Zimmerman Neighbors Complained About Aggressive Tactics Before Trayvon Martin Killing

A volunteer community watch captain who shot an unarmed Florida teenager to death last month had been the subject of complaints by neighbors in his gated community for aggressive tactics, a homeowner said.
George Zimmerman has not been charged in the Feb. 26 shooting of Trayvon Martin, 17, who was walking home from a convenience store in Sanford, Fla., near Orlando. Zimmerman, who patrolled the Retreat at Twin Lakes development in his own car, had been called aggressive in earlier complaints to the local police and the homeowner's association, according to a homeowner who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
-----------------------
This shooting is being investigated, but so far Zimmerman hasn't been charged with anything. If the local prosecutors decide to let him off, I think the Department of Justice may take up the case.  Somehow this man decided he had the authority to "patrol" the streets of his private gated community and confront people he considered "suspicious."  He even freaked out his own neighbors to the point that they complained to the homeowners' association.  He made 46 calls to the police from 1/1/11 on. Read the list of bullet points of his behavior here:
 http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/03/18/446768/what-everyone-should-know-about-about-trayvon-martin-1995-2012/

So is this an example of a privatopian vigilante who decides he is the law in that gated community?  This case is desperately in need of a full investigation.

The price of order: Pros and cons of homeowners associations

The price of order: Pros and cons of homeowners associations
 About 15 percent of housing developments in Berks have some form of homeowners association, said Glenn R. Knoblauch, executive director of the county planning commission. The biggest growth in planned communities with associations is in communities that will accept only residents age 55 and older.

In most cases the rules and regulations do preserve order, said Tom Campisi, executive director of the Community Association Institute of Pennsylvania, an industry group that advocates for such associations.

"You don't want your neighbors putting a junk car on blocks in their front yard," Campisi said. "An important thing to remember is that both sides, the association and the homeowner, have rights. They also have responsibilities."

Campisi said most disputes between homeowners and association boards involve a lack of communication and reasonableness. While not wanting to comment on the Yergers' case specifically, he said doing the reasonable thing and communicating your intentions before taking action often will prevent a dispute. 
------------------
Fred Pilot sent me this piece from the Reading Eagle in Reading, PA.  It is ironic that I wrote Privatopia while I was living in Reading and teaching at Albright College.  Didn't change a thing in Reading, though, did it?  That was in 1993-94. And here in the Reading Eagle we have the sort of thing that provincial journalist used to write in the 1990s --a silly, ignorant, one-sided puff piece for CAI and the CID industry, published as if it were a real feature article.  Today, of course, the news media are much more educated on this subject, and even a quick Google search will produce some insight into the actual situation owners face with this industry, the huge volume of reform legislation, the tsunami of association insolvencies, etc.  But in a cultural backwater like Reading, which is still in a 1950s time warp in every way, somebody with a job on a newspaper can still produce claptrap like this and have an editor sign off on it.  

$100 to Fly Through the Airport - WSJ.com

$100 to Fly Through the Airport - WSJ.com
 Hate the full-body scans, pat-downs and slow going at TSA airport security screening checkpoints? For $100, you can now bypass the hassle.
------------------
The way things are headed in this country, soon there will be two ways to do any governmental task. One will be according to the rules and laws. It will be arduous. The other will be the streamlined route of the wealthy, lubricated by all their money. There will be a private bypass for every public function.

Developer can't have it both ways, HOA residents argue

Esther Epstein has resided in the Beachwalk community for nearly 20 years.

She says when the area’s lake, also considered a common area, flooded in 2009, Moss told her the water was the responsibility of the Homeowners Association, which paid for the required pumping of the lake.

“There was water in my basement for over a month,” she said.

But her son, Jim Epstein, says Moss recently declared the lake is his, and that the Homeowner’s Association must pay him $56,000 to be allowed to use it.
------------------------
Privatize the gains, socialize the losses. Indeed.

Built by forced labor, German bunkers become homes - Yahoo! News

Built by forced labor, German bunkers become homes - Yahoo! News

BREMEN, Germany (Reuters) - German architect Rainer Mielke lives in a luxurious, light-filled penthouse atop a Nazi bunker that his elderly neighbors remember sheltering in during World War Two.

The architect has pioneered the art of converting the grim structures into bright living or working spaces, and his work is set to increase as Germany ramps up sales of the above-ground forts, originally designed as air-raid shelters.

Late Night FDL: Privatopia | Firedoglake

Late Night FDL: Privatopia | Firedoglake
It's nice when you invent a word and it gets picked up in the language, but it would be nicer if people acknowledged where it came from.

Three in 10 young adults live with parents, highest level since 1950s - CSMonitor.com

Three in 10 young adults live with parents, highest level since 1950s - CSMonitor.com
But is this altogether a bad thing? I love my kids and if they want to live with me while they get their lives launched, and that takes a little longer than it did twenty years ago, I don't see myself complaining about it. If they get married and have kids and are still living in their childhood bedroom I'll start getting concerned.

Mayor, unions at odds over fixes for Fresno budget - Politics - fresnobee.com

Mayor, unions at odds over fixes for Fresno budget - Politics - fresnobee.com


In an afternoon meeting with The Bee's editorial board, Swearengin and Scott moved the talk far away from the fiscal-emergency declarations and Chapter 9 bankruptcy threats that have made the city of Stockton a national example of financial incompetence.
At the same time, Swearengin and Scott drew a line in the sand for the city's 3,200 employees, implying that the Stockton scenario isn't far-fetched for Fresno for these reasons:
Three years of incessant layoffs, service reductions and penny-pinching haven't done the trick.
The city will struggle to close a $2.1 million general fund budget gap in the fiscal year ending June 30, let alone the huge gap projected over the next five years.
The revenue picture is flat -- sales-tax proceeds up a bit more than expected, property-tax proceeds down a bit more -- and Fresno is stuck in a farm-based economy traditionally slow to come out of recessions.

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/03/12/2757376/fresno-mayor-lays-out-financial.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

Will home prices fall 20% more? - 1 - housing & recession - MSN Money

Will home prices fall 20% more? - 1 - housing & recession - MSN Money
 The truth is, a combination of factors is set to push national home prices down an additional 10% or so before a hard bottom is found. And if Europe's debt mess and fiscal bickering in Washington result in another recession, the drop could be double that.
-----
See below. And the realtors I know are, as always, telling people what a great time it is to BUY, BUY, BUY.

More Boomers Selling Homes, but Who Will Buy Them? - US Business News - CNBC

More Boomers Selling Homes, but Who Will Buy Them? - US Business News - CNBC
 "As boomers downsize because of retirement, finances, health or death, they're expected to release some 26 million homes onto the market by 2030, according to the Policy Center paper. The problem is that echo-boomers, or Generation Y—those born between 1982 and 1995—may not be buying up the inventory, says Pendall, whose retired mother is trying to sell a home and downsize." --- 
 -------------------------
How can anybody expect them to buy homes? They owe a bazillion dollars in student loans and credit card debt and they just watched the price of housing fall through the floor and stay there. Now they should borrow $250K to buy a McMansion in the suburbs? Say what?

Legislators want fewer HOA rules on streets

Lawmakers have for a number of years proposed legislation that would stop HOAs from setting rules regarding public streets. The bills stem from resident complaints about being fined for parking their own vehicles on public streets in front of their own homes.

"The reason this bill keeps coming back year after year is because there's a problem we're trying to solve," said Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, who proposed one of this year's bills. "HOA communities do not have regulating authority over public roadways."
-----------------
As I said previously in this space, I've never understood the need for this bill. How can a private corporation assert jurisdiction over a public right of way? Have Privatopian principalities as George Staropoli refers to them gotten so powerful they believe they can annex or declare public roads within their sphere of influence?

Corrections Corporation Of America Sues Florida Town For Blocking New Detention Center

Corrections Corporation Of America Sues Florida Town For Blocking New Detention Center

The nation's largest private prison corporation sued a South Florida town this week, arguing that city officials are trying to "disrupt and derail" plans to build one of nation's largest immigrant-detention centers northwest of Miami.
Corrections Corporation of America's federal lawsuit claims that city officials in Pembroke Pines, Fla., are interfering with the company's "advantageous business relationship" with federal immigration authorities. Corrections Corp. reached a tentative deal with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last summer to build a 1,500-bed detention facility in Southwest Ranches, a quiet suburban enclave near the Everglades.
But residents and immigrant-rights groups have waged a battle against the company and elected officials who support construction of the jail.
-------------------------
All must kneel before our privatizing overlords.  Apparently not everybody is falling in line, though. How inconvenient.

Banks foreclosing on churches in record numbers | Reuters

Banks foreclosing on churches in record numbers | Reuters

"Since 2010, 270 churches have been sold after defaulting on their loans, with 90 percent of those sales coming after a lender-triggered foreclosure, according to the real estate information company CoStar Group.
In 2011, 138 churches were sold by banks, an annual record, with no sign that these religious foreclosures are abating, according to CoStar. That compares to just 24 sales in 2008 and only a handful in the decade before.
The church foreclosures have hit all denominations across America, black and white, but with small to medium size houses of worship the worst. Most of these institutions have ended up being purchased by other churches.
The highest percentage have occurred in some of the states hardest hit by the home foreclosure crisis: California, Georgia, Florida and Michigan."
--------------------------------

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Set to Default on $5.27 Million GO Bond Payments - Bloomberg

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Set to Default on $5.27 Million GO Bond Payments - Bloomberg


"Harrisburg (9661MF), Pennsylvania’s insolvent capital, says it will miss general-obligation bond payments for the first time next week as its receiver seeks approval for a plan to sell assets.
The city, carrying a debt load of more than five times its general-fund budget, will miss $5.27 million in bond payments due March 15 on $51.5 million of bonds issued in 1997, according to a notice its receiver posted on the Electronic Municipal Market Access system, a database for filings by debt issuers."
-----------------------
 Harrisburg was not allowed to go bankrupt under Chapter 9. Instead the city's finances were put in the hands of a receiver. And now all kinds of bad things loom on the horizon for the city and its employees.

Vietnam vet says he's being singled out; Local man fights HOA over soldier cut out

Eggleston also feels he's being a victim because there are other signs in the neighborhood—political signs that no one's asked for to be taken down.

Saahir said those homeowners have received similar letters to take down their signs, but short of police showing up or a court order, Eggleston said he won't be taking down his soldier.

"I'm going to leave it up until somebody of a higher authority than a homeowner's president tells me to take it down."
------------------------
Like I was saying a few months ago here, HOAs aren't viewed by some as legitimate forms of local government but rather nebbish neighbors with too much time on their hands. And more bad media coverage for Privatopia in this latest kerfuffle over patriotic displays. Film at 10.

The End of Ownership: Why Aren't Young People Buying More Houses? - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic

The End of Ownership: Why Aren't Young People Buying More Houses? - Derek Thompson - Business - The Atlantic

Fewer young people are finding jobs. Fewer young people are getting married. Fewer young people are buying homes.
-----------------------------
A trillion dollars in student loan debt is one reason. Add in the unfolding disaster that is the housing market. How can anybody expect them to go out and get married, buy a house, and have kids? Rick Santorum would no doubt blame it on single mothers.

Mayor lists Montana town and its population of 681 for sale at $1.4M | Mail Online

Mayor lists Montana town and its population of 681 for sale at $1.4M | Mail Online
Slightly used, but still serviceable.

Real estate deflation, municipal anti-blight efforts delay foreclosures

In addition, states and municipalities have grown more aggressive in the last few months in trying to force banks to maintain foreclosed properties, which have become blights on neighborhoods from coast to coast. Last month, lawmakers in Florida and courts in New York considered new ways to require lenders to alter loans to keep people in their homes or complete foreclosures more quickly.

“Under normal circumstances, the banks would be able to cover the cost of maintenance, upkeep and property taxes by just reselling the property, but these are desperate times, and banks are resorting to somewhat desperate measures in some cases,” said Daren Blomquist, a vice president at RealtyTrac, a real estate analysis firm. “It is more of a factor now because property values have come down and will not cover all these costs when the banks resell the property, if they can resell the property.
-------------------------
Foreclosure loses its utility when lenders can't make the numbers pencil out and leaving the homeowner in place can stave off local governments targeting REOs that aren't being maintained.