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Archive for December 10, 2007

Washington Mutual Sheds Jobs – Swears Off Subprime

December 10, 2007 johnmurphymn Leave a comment

Washington Mutual was a good sized player in the subprime markets.  They also have been very active in piggyback loans or second mortgages.  The news out tonight is that they are shutting down many offices and laying off thousands.

What I wonder about is earlier in 2007, we, as agents, heard that banks were staffing up their “Loss Mitigation” departments in order to be able to deal with all the foreclosures, delinquencies and short sales.  But I wonder, given the massive layoffs already announced in the banking sector, will it be even more difficult now to get through to a banker to discuss a short sale or get a decision on a foreclosure?  Only time will tell.

National Association of Realtors – Holding Steady for 2008

December 10, 2007 johnmurphymn Leave a comment

The National Association of Realtors came out with new estimates for 2007 and 2008 home sales. They are showing a very slight improvement to their previous estimate. This is a change for them as they have been revising downward with every estimate for nearly the past year.

Given that we are still seeing news such as UBS taking another $10 billion write down due to subprime losses, it’s certainly going against the grain by forecasting stable sales in 2008.

If you want to know whether or not you should trust the forecasting lately from the National Association of Realtors, read this entry over at Calculated Risk.