| Mortgage meltdown: Losing home through a lender short sale isn't easy ...
The East Bay has been hit particularly hard, especially Contra Costa County, primarily because it's the place so many first-time homebuyers get their feet wet in the Bay Area housing market. The East Bay Business Times reports that Contra Costa County ranked 10th statewide in July with one foreclosure sale for every 2,411 residents. Of course, many homeowners facing foreclosure are looking for a way to ease the pain of this situation, as well as avoid the black mark it will leave on their credit rating. Many can't or simply don't want to go through the hassle of refinancing, or trying to get the lender to modify the terms of their loan. So, another "solution" has been growing in popularity in the Bay Area: the short sale. A short sale, essentially, is what happens when a homeowner - with the mortgage lender's approval - sells his or her property for less than what is owed on the mortgage.
Despite economic turmoil nationally, our area stable
The state's $1 billion payday-lending business continued to grow and headed off a big legal fight in the 2007 General Assembly between supporters of a ban and reforms pushed by the industry. Car-title lenders also remained unregulated after a legislative stalemate. The battles galvanized payday-lending opponents throughout the year, and a Hampton Roads group formed to lead the push for a ban in 2008. Virginians filed suits over unlawful collection practices, and credit unions pushed programs to their members to combat payday lending. The loans were banned this fall to the military, cutting a chunk of the Hampton Roads customer base.
Coliseum Mall Major changes hit the Coliseum retail area, with the Coliseum Mall getting torn down to make way for the new outdoor Peninsula Town Center.
Brown Defends Northern Rock Talks
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown rejected accusations Sunday that his government was using taxpayer funds to make the sale of mortgage lender Northern Rock PLC more palatable for a private buyer. Brown also dismissed suggestions that Richard Branson, whose Virgin Group is Northern Rock's preferred bidder, had gained an unfair advantage because of his presence in a delegation of business leaders that is traveling with Brown in China and India. "I can reassure people entirely that any negotiations about Northern Rock will be taking place in London," Brown told reporters on Sunday. Northern Rock ran into trouble in September when short-term money markets dried up following the collapse of the U.S. subprime mortgage market. Heavily reliant on funding from those markets, Northern Rock approached the Bank of England for an emergency loan.
John Edwards Squeezed in Historic Race
January 24, 2008 · Political history is filled with those who run for vice president and who, one election cycle later, decide they are worthy of being the presidential nominee of their party. In the last four decades alone, we saw it with Ed Muskie, Hubert Humphrey's running mate in 1968, who went into the 1972 campaign as the Democratic front-runner for the top spot. There was Sargent Shriver, a late addition to the Democratic ticket in '72, running for president in 1976. The list also includes both those who made it to the vice-presidency, such as Walter Mondale, George H.W. Bush, Dan Quayle and Al Gore, as well as those who didn't, like Bob Dole and Joe Lieberman. All wanted to make the move to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. To no one's surprise, John Edwards is on that list.
American Society and the Economy
If you are, then good. Because youre at a point of very serious realization that everything is not always good and troubles always have a habit of cropping up. One thing that many Americans, and even people around the world for that matter, fail to do is plan for hardship. They get complacent. Times are good so they take every dime they make and then some and spend, spend, spend. They fail to save. They fail to think about reality. This is made even worse by so-called promises by government that they will take care of you if something happens.
When the safety net exists people take bigger risks than they normally would or even should. If you think about it like a high wire at the circus would you, as someone that has never attempted such a stunt if you didnt have a net under you? Probably not because odds are that you would be in for a world of hurt.
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