Two more Banks Siezed by FDIC

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/banks-bite-bullet/

Two banks -- one in Illinois and one in Michigan -- failed on Friday night, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said, underscoring just how much the credit crunch is hurting financial institutions.

The FDIC said that depositors in both would continue to have uninterrupted access to their money, and they would still be insure. It estimates that the two failures will cost its insurance fund between $46 million and $53.5 million.

Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizIdeas.com

North Dallas (collin county/Denton Count) Home appreciation vs. Riverside CA

I've been looking for some good numbers to put the current housing/financial crisis into context. I think the below numbers provide such an idea for everyone out there. The counties below are in the "suburbian sprawl" where growth occurred during the mortgage crisis. New subdivisions occurred in droves in these respective counties in CA & TX.

Median Price
Riverside County Denton County Collin County
CA TX TX
August 2000 162,000 143,500 164,000
August 2001 185000 157,000 173,400
August 2002 215000 153,100 175,700
August 2003 260000 158,900 178,100
August 2004 334000 158,200 182,600
August 2005 388000 163,100 191,400
August 2006 420000 163,900 193,400
August 2007 394000 176,500 210,000
August 2008 247000 169,200 211,800
+50% overall +18% overall +29% overall

Source: http://www.LATimes.com
Source: http://recenter.tamu.edu/data/hs/hs212b.htm

Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizIdeas.com

1 in 3 Americans owe more on their home than it is worth

People are estimating that 1 in 3 people now owe MORE on their home than it is worth. Quite a sobering statistic.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizIdeas.com

Cook County Illinois Sheriffs are now refusing to enforce foreclosure evictions for renters

This is going to be interesting because

1) Many tenants are at NO fault and weren't told by their landlord re: the foreclosure
2) Many paid their bills and are being uprooted with little to no warning
3) It is going to have implications re: the default / foreclosure process in Chicago and, perhaps, throughout the U.S. if other people stop enforcing the evictions.

I personally understand where the sheriff is coming from. He wants to do WHAT IS RIGHT, which is ALOT of relief to a taxpayer who simply asks that much of his/her elected government officials / workers.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Dan Ross
http://www.betterbizideas.com/

Wall Street Bailout - MBS, CDOs, Credit Default Swaps and their Impact

A 1995 CBS video on 60 minutes re: derivatives.


Watch CBS Videos Online

a 2008 updated version....that hopefully helps people understand why this mess is happening.


Watch CBS Videos Online

Dan Ross
http://www.betterbizideas.com/

Linens N Things to Declare BK?

Anything related to housing (ie. disposable income spending in the home) is being impacted negatively MORE than other types of spending, including clothing (my 2 cents).

Rumors are now floating around that Apollo group, that bought Linens N Things for $1.6 billion back in 2005, will possibly declare bankruptcy in the near future......

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN1136290720080411

Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com

Immigration & Housing by Dan Ross

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080130/us_nm/usa_economy_immigrants_dc

As a resident here in the states since age 4 (now 28 years) I find that most Americans don't really understand citizenship, how it impacts the U.S. economy and what the pros/cons are of the U.S. vs. other industrialized, "modern" societies.

This article illustrates how immigration has impacted housing in the last 5 years.

Key Points:
1) More population = need for more roofs over heads
2) More purchasing of base level homes = appreciation and then everyone "upgrades" as they can afford more home.
3) Organic population growth or immigration growth are the two ways to grow a population and most modern societies are populating at < 2 adults per person, meaning that their populations are actually shrinking. Japan is the worst with European nations behind them. What saves the U.S. population growth is immigration and organic, hispanic population growth as this demographic tends to have larger families, on average, than other U.S. Households

Dan Ross
http://www.betterbizbooks.com/

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