Month: May, 2007

3% altruistic

17 May, 2007 (11:23) | Uncategorized |

It sounds like a misprint — a non-profit that gives low-income borrowers money for the down payment on their first home, and HUD wants to shut it down — indeed, to shut down a whole industry?  Have they got something against charity? 
 

Are you questioning my motives, young man?
 
As reported on Bloomberg:
 
May 8 (Bloomberg) — [...]

How a lender thinks: Part 2, behaviors

16 May, 2007 (10:44) | Uncategorized |

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.]
 
Yesterday we saw that lenders view the world in Aristotleian elements of money and paper, like to receive things from behind the sanctity of their desks, and think that surprises are bad, volatility is bad, and calm is good.
 

All my loans are current
 
To a lender, security trumps upside, and known pain hurts [...]

How a lender thinks: Part 1, attitudes

15 May, 2007 (10:32) | Uncategorized |

So far in our subprime sequence, we’ve observed that all that jitters does not fold, watched New Century’s domino falls two ways, identified the dramatis personae of lending, and the right policy questions, and commented on What’s a delinquent borrower to do? In pursuit of wisdom, Dr. John H. Watson also visited Mycroft Holmes, [...]

Zoning: the portable hole

14 May, 2007 (11:33) | Uncategorized |

I was in New York City a while back, riding the subway from here to there, when I picked up the local free daily, AM New York, whose cover story showed an expostulating Donald and caused me to think, Trust Donald Trump to find a practical use for the portable hole.
 

“Weally?  Donald Twump used my [...]

Public housing: what’s wrong with this picture? Part 2

11 May, 2007 (09:11) | Uncategorized |

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.]

Yesterday we started to untangle the San Francisco Housing Authority mess of $15,000,000 (and counting) in total judgments that SFHA has not paid. SFHA has been getting little help from the City of San Francisco, and a series of vetoes from HUD.

None of these people work [...]