“Right now things are starting to come unglued”
That’s a quote from Charles Gradante of hedge-fund consultant Hennessee Group. The only question is how far this thing is going to...
Borrowing & Spending
We recently looked at how Retail was doing. Given the noise yesterday from Home Depot (HD) and Sears Holdings (SHLD), warning about poor...
Underwater ARMs ?
How bad is the Adustable Rate Mortage (ARM) situation? Stephanie Pomboy via Barron’s Alan Abelson has the straight dope: ...
10 Questions About CDOs
James Hamilton at Econbrowser asks the remarkably sanguine question: CDOs: what’s the big deal? He does a nice job looking at many...
CDO Hedge Funds = Enron ?
Last night’s discussion of the Bear Stearn’s Hedge Fund melt down was remarkably sanguine. I guess to those who look at the...
Read it here first: Borrowing FICO Scores
Back in April, we discussed the unusual lending-related practice of "borrowing" someone else’s credit-worthiness. (Go...
Pressure on Home Prices ?
One of the themes TBP has developed over the years was that of the Slow-Motion-Slow-Down: As rates ticked higher, home sales would slow,...
Go FICO Yourself: Selling Your Credit Score
Here’s the latest scam to hit the Real Estate/Mortgages/Credit/FICO market: Buying and Selling FICO scores to qualify...
Real Estate and the Post-Crash Economy (Full text)
Real Estate and the Post-Crash Economy By Barry Ritholtz Thoughts from the Frontline, December 29, 2006 The Housing...