Foreclosures account for one in three California resales - Default notices up 143% from a year ago - Inman News
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FHA:  Lender’s Remorse - Maurna Desmond  - … The agency has qualms about the expanded size and scope of its role, which traditionally was to help prospective first-time buyers of limited means purchase modest homes.  … - Forbes

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NAR considers new short-sale disclosure rules - Some MLSs have already adopted policies - Inman

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Effort to Rein In Fannie, Freddie Gains Steam - Treasury Puts Muscle Behind Bipartisan Push for Greater Oversight of Firms - Washington Post

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Underwriting Risk, April 2008 - Strategic Building Market Intelligence™ - John Burns RE Consulting

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Two-Thirds of California Defaults End in Foreclosure: Report - Borrowers in California - always the Golden State, but now also the center of possibly the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression — are finding loan workouts increasingly tough to come by as price depreciation… - housingwire

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Legg Mason Value Trust Investment Commentary - Bill Miller, CFA - The credit crisis that I wrote about last quarter culminated this quarter in the collapse and rescue of Bear Stearns, an event that I believe (though no one knows) ended the panic phase of the credit cycle. - Legg Mason

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“It seems we have developed a speculative culture” - … When talking about the current “housing slump” …  Dr. Shiller noted that there’s a good chance home prices will fall more than the 30 percent decline experienced during the Great Depression. Then he commented: Basically we’re in uncharted territory. It seems we have developed a speculative culture about housing that never existed on a national basis before. … - Tim Iacono - themessthatgreenspanmade

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Moody’s says Homebuilders at the Mercy of their Banks - Several lower-rated homebuilders survived 2007 merely because of the leniency of their lending groups. As 2008 unfolds, these same homebuilding companies will once again find themselves at the mercy of their banks, according to Moody’s. - Research Recap

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The coming mortgage crisis - … The problem with the housing market bulls is that they are thinking within the framework of past housing downturns. The current downturn is unlike any other since the Great Depression. No other downturn has started with houses so overpriced relative to rents.  … Goode Value Investing Blog

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IRA ARTMAN SECTION: thanks Ira

1.  Report: Subprime lending in the tank - Andrew Osterland  - FinancialWeek  
2.  How real estate tripped up GE - Frank Byrt - Most of the conglom’s Q1 EPS miss came from hung-up property deals. The rest of 2008 looks no better. -  FinancialWeek
3.  UBS puts its investment banking unit on a tight leash -  Private bank will no longer fund i-bank; capital ‘must be generated under its own steam’ -  FinancialWeek
4.  Financial crisis update  -  DanskeBank 

5.  THE SUBPRIME CRISIS: SIZE, DELEVERAGING AND SOME POLICY OPTIONS - … Section II therefore looks at default-model based estimates of losses. The point estimate on a default-model basis developed here is $422bn, assuming 40% recovery on defaulting loans and an economic and house price scenario benchmarked against previous episodes … - 25 page paper at OECD

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