Foreclosure Auctions Red Hot as REDC Prepares to Auction NY, NJ, Philly Foreclosures

Sun Mar 28, 2010

“Auction is part of REDC’s record 125 auctions in 71 days. The company has auctioned a U.S.- leading 7,350 properties for $415 million so far this year.”

“2010 is the year of the foreclosure,” Frieden says, referring to the three to seven million foreclosures that are hitting the market this year, doubling the number from 2009. “The market is white hot. The demand is there along with the inventory.”

The dismal state of foreclosures in the U.S. is staggering. The State Foreclosure Prevention Working Group, which is made up of state banking regulators and attorneys general, released a report that reports, “Despite efforts of servicers, homeowners, and the government, the foreclosure crisis continues to worsen. These signs point to more foreclosures in 2010 than in 2009.”

Revealed: The Ghost Fleet of the recession anchored just east of Singapore

28th September 2009

“The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination  -  and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year”

“Their numbers are equivalent to the entire British and American navies combined; their tonnage is far greater. Container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers – all should be steaming fully laden between China, Britain, Europe and the US, stocking camera shops, PC Worlds and Argos depots ahead of the retail pandemonium of 2009.”

“A couple of years ago those ships would have been steaming back and forth, going at full speed. But now you’ve got something like 12 per cent of the world’s container ships doing nothing.”

“Some experts believe the ratio of container ships sitting idle could rise to 25 per cent within two years in an extraordinary downturn that shipping giant Maersk has called a ‘crisis of historic dimensions.”

A site you may find of interest is Vesseltracker.com

A staggering 30% of U.S. rail cars are idle

Feb 24th 2009

“The only trains that are running at full capacity are the train sets in your basements. The real trains that move a substantial portion of our goods are in second gear. The Association of American Railroads estimates that 30% of their boxcars — 206,000 — have been placed in storage. Put end to end these cars would stretch from New York to Salt Lake City.”

“The main thing that hits home is the sheer number of idle cars. In effect, it means that 30% of our merchandise normally moved by rail is idle. This is a staggering amount.”

The Mayor Of Detroit’s Radical Plan To Bulldoze One Quarter Of The City

Mar. 10, 2010

“So his plan is to bulldoze approximately 10,000 houses and empty buildings over the next 3 years”

“But other smaller cities are already doing this kind of thing on a smaller scale. “

“The city of Youngstown, Ohio has been bulldozing a few hundred houses since 2005.”

“Flint, Michigan has already torn down approximately 1,100 houses mostly in outlying areas.”

“And there are a whole lot of U.S. cities that are in a serious state of decline – mostly in what is known as “the Rust Belt” of America.  Because of reckless U.S. trade policies, the once great U.S. manufacturing base centered in the Rust Belt has been dismantled and those jobs simply are never going to come back.”

Kansas City to Close Nearly Half Its Schools

March 10, 2010

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — “The Kansas City Board of Education voted Wednesday night to close almost half of the city’s public schools, accepting a sweeping and contentious plan to shrink the system in the face of dwindling enrollment, budget cuts and a $50 million deficit.”

“In a 5-to-4 vote, the members endorsed the Right-Size plan, proposed by the schools superintendent, John Covington, to close 28 of the city’s 61 schools and cut 700 of 3,000 jobs, including those of 285 teachers. The closings are expected to save $50 million, erasing the deficit from the $300 million budget.”

Quarter of U.S. homes ‘underwater’

11.3 million worth less than what’s owed on them

March 27, 2010

“More than 11.3 million homes nationwide — or about 24 percent — are now worth less than the mortgages on them, researchers say.”

“A typical borrower who is “underwater” won’t see positive gains in equity until 2015 to 2020, depending on the market, according to a study by First American CoreLogic.”

“Nevada had the highest percentage of negative equity with 70 percent of its mortgaged properties underwater, followed by Arizona at 51 percent, Florida with 48 percent, Michigan with 39 percent. California came in at 35 percent, according to First American CoreLogic.”

Bank ‘problem’ list climbs to 552

Number at risk of failing soars in latest quarter. Deposit insurance fund slips into the red for first time since 1992.

November 24, 2009

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — “Despite the frenetic pace of bank failures this year, 552 lenders are still at risk of going under, according to a government report published Tuesday.”

“The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said that the number of banks on its so-called problem list climbed to its highest level since the end of 1993. At that time, the agency red-flagged 575 banks.”

“The ongoing recession has already claimed 124 banks so far this year. But fears persist that the number will multiply in months ahead because banks are still taking losses on mortgage-related loans and face growing problems with commercial real estate.”