1. Orange County, CA Prices: From Front Page to Short Sale - Update: Since I posted, the price has been slashed to $439K (hat tip DeathtoSpeculators). This is even a little below the February price according to Case-Shiller, but is still well above the likely eventual price. - Calculated Risk

2.  Stuff of Memories: From Front Page (in 2005) to Short Sale- The following image is of the front page of the O.C. Register from July 19, 2005.- Calculated Risk 

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suggestions on fixing the mess - Economic View - The Case for a Newer Deal - Alan Blinder NY Times

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Investor Sentiment Improves on Worst of Credit Crisis Behind Us - The Market Oracle 

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Cash-Out Refis Lowest in Four Years - PAUL JACKSON - housingwire

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Foreclosures on Subprime Fixed (Rate) Below 1999-2004 - The chart above (click to enlarge) is from a new study by the CBO, showing foreclosures by type of mortgage through QIV 2007. As the chart indicates, the real mortgage problem is pretty much contained to subprime ARMs only, which make up less than 5% of the 75 million homes in America … Mark Perry  - Carpe Diem

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Another Reverse Mortgage Lender Purchased, A Growing Trend? - Reverse Mortgage Daily

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Signs of life in down market - Some markets see investor activity, multiple offers, price gains - Inman News

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IRA ARTMAN SECTION - thanks Ira:

FOCUS: Finance - Subprime mess’ beneficiaries? Lawyers, natch - Whether it’s Wall Street or Main Street, the spillover from the credit crisis has intensified companies’ legal needs - Financial Week

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Baseline 500: A Matter Of Survival At Moody`s - After Moody’s segregated its credit-analysis and reporting business from the unit that sells data and analysis tools …. When your house is crumbling around you, it’s easy to make drastic decisions. Like, say, grabbing on to that new lifeline to pull you clear of the rubble, rather than relying on sturdy supports designed to hold up a roof that’s no longer there. … - Baseline Magazine

Ira goes wild - 7 papers at SSRN:

Revisiting Rating Agency Regulation   - BENJAMIN J. KORMOS - The recent 2007 sub-prime mortgage disaster again demonstrates how CRAs’ decisive role in the market, without regulation to ensure their transparency and accountability, leads to abuses and - ultimately - to disaster.
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Subprime Standardization: How Rating Agencies Allow Predatory Lending to Flourish in the Secondary Mortgage Market   - DAVID J. REISS 
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Understanding the Securitization of Subprime Mortgage Credit  - ADAM B. ASHCRAFT and TIL SCHUERMANN  - FRBNY
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Legal and Economic Issues in Subprime Litigation  - ALLEN FERRELL and JENNIFER E. BETHEL 
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Credit Rating Agencies in Capital Markets: A Review of Research Evidence on Selected Criticisms of the Agencies  - CAROL ANN FROST
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How and Why Credit Rating Agencies are Not Like Other Gatekeepers  - FRANK PARTNOY 
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The Subprime Credit Crisis of 07  - MICHEL CROUHY and STUART M. TURNBULL 

posted by Bill Coppedge