Washington Mutual: WaMu and the $239 Billion in Outstanding Loans. $52.9 Billion in Option ARMs. Analysis for the Upcoming Year.
Washington Mutual has been taking a major hit with the current credit and housing crisis. Washington Mutual is down 71% on a year to date basis and with the recent announcement of a $3.3 billion quarterly loss, things will continue to be difficult. Washington Mutual is categorized under a S&L/Savings Bank and even given the current share price, is still ranked amongst the top for market cap in this category.
Nearly 1.5 Million Foreclosure Filings in 2008. California Represents 110,000 of Those Foreclosures.
Everyone by now realizes that not all states are facing the same problems with the current housing market. Foreclosures are now accelerating in states that had the highest appreciation in prices and consequently, are causing the most financial damage that is rippling throughout the economy. Foreclosures are the worst sign in any housing market. They destroy money. Lenders lose money since in rare circumstance are they able to recoup the full face value of the mortgage. Borrower are harmed since they lose their home and any semblance of good credit. Much of the rhetoric in Washington is shrouded around these stories and most people realize that there is very little good that can come from a foreclosure.
Washington Mutual: WaMu Bank Offering Great CD Rates and Encouraging People to Come in Person?
Washington Mutual, the Seattle based S & L is recently facing market stress with their second quarter earnings report showing that the company lost $3.3 billion. Today the nation’s largest thrift sold off again on concerns that they may be losing some of their sources of funding. The challenging aspect of this is that Washington Mutual employs 45,883 employees. Compare this to IndyMac who employed slightly under 9,000 employees when taken over.In addition, IndyMac had $32 billion in assets while Washington Mutual has $320 billion. Take a look at the stock price for the past year and you’ll see that there has been tremendous volatility:
Mortgage CSI: Investigating a Countrywide Pay Option ARM under the Financial Microscope.
Unless you’ve actually gone through the hardship of losing your home through foreclosure, it may be difficult to understand the intricacies of how one mortgage loan can upset your entire budget. We get anecdotal stories of people having their loans reset or losing their home but we rarely get a glimpse at the loans. For one, individuals would rather not discuss the loan and most of time which is completely understandable, people for the most part want to keep the situation private. So the public normally doesn’t get to see how toxic some of these mortgage products really are.
Southern California Half Off Sale: 11 Los Angeles County Zip Codes with 50% Year over Year Price Drops.
What once seemed like a total impossibility has occurred in Los Angeles County and in many other cities throughout Southern California. During the decade long housing boom, you would be thought mad if you would guess that any zip code in Los Angeles County would fall 50% in any given year. In fact, during many of the years each and every zip code was appreciating in the double digits. It was an unprecedented boom that took no prejudice on any city or area in the county.
Zillow: Concentric Circles of Pain. Examining how the Epi-Center of Housing is Collapsing and the Future of Real Estate Tools.
Zillow once again is showing why it is two steps ahead of those in the housing industry. First, they manage to aggregate an incredible amount of data including tax records and previous sales prices all in one simple to use website. That is the primary function that set things off. Zillow integrates modern mapping technology, real estate tax records, previous sale information, and puts it all under one simple to use search site.
FDIC: Punishing Savers: How the United States Encourages Irresponsible Financial Management. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The FDIC insurers deposits at most institutions up to $100,000 for individual accounts. Many people haven’t put this to the test until the recent collapse and takeover of IndyMac Bank based out of Southern California. The bank when taken over had $32 billion in assets and $19 billion in deposits. $1 billion in these deposits was over the $100,000 limit.
Stimulus Check Gone with Price of Oil: Running the Actual Numbers Behind the Non-Issue Stimulus Checks.
You may be wondering why the $150 billion stimulus package has had such a minimal impact on the markets and the general economy. The problem is, the entire stimulus package was spent merely keeping up with rising oil prices. Since the start of the year, oil has gone from $95 to $145 to the current $136. Yet we have remained in the high area for sometime. So let us take some rough estimates from the last month to see how many days it took to wipe out that stimulus.For the month of June, oil per barrel averaged $130. This is 36 percent higher than the $95 point we started at in the beginning of the year. So let us look at some data:
Is Oil Having an Impact on Housing? Taking a Look at Los Angeles County.
High gas prices are nothing new to those that live in Southern California. But there is something surreal about seeing prices quickly approach $5 per gallon. In fact, as you scroll through the list of your local gas station options, you’ll already see $5 a gallon for diesel serving as a highlight of coming attractions.
California Home Prices Down 35% From a Year Ago. Sales are up due to Distress Sales.
There may be a silver lining in falling prices and that is, homes are selling. Maybe not at the blistering pace of the early 2000s but there is definitely a minor jump in those searching for bargains in the now heavily hit
