Thursday, October 23, 2008 - 2:53 PM CDT

Tennessee ranks 15th in foreclosures

Nashville Business Journal

Tennessee had the 15th highest foreclosure rate in the nation in September, according to data released Thursday by RealtyTrac Inc.

Tennessee had 4,098 properties in foreclosure in September, or one per every 654 households, according to RealtyTrac, an Irvine, Calif.-based private marketer of foreclosure properties.

Tennessee’s foreclosure rate was up 1.61 percent from September 2007.

Nevada held the top spot for the 21st consecutive month in September. It was followed by Florida, California, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, New Jersey and Indiana.

Nationwide, foreclosure filings fell 12 percent in September from August to 265,968 properties. That is up 21 percent from September 2007. One in every 475 U.S. households was in foreclosure in September.

“Much of the 12 percent decrease in September can be attributed to changes in state laws that have at least temporarily slowed down the pace at which lenders are moving forward with foreclosures,” James Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, says in a statement.

Six states — California, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Michigan and Nevada — accounted for more than 60 percent of U.S. foreclosure activity in the third quarter, according to RealtyTrac. California alone accounted for more than 27 percent of total filings

Sales Continue Their Downward Trend

Continuing the downward trend the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors reported a 19.8% drop in sales compared to September 2007. (http://www.gnar.org/mlsrelease.htm) Year to date sale are down 27.5% and third quarter sales were down 26.5%.

There were two positive notes. Single Family inventory was down compared to last year for the second straight month, and down nearly 600 homes compared to last month. And the number of pending sale this year verses last year is tightening. This indicates that the percentage decline in sales in October is likely not going to match last months.

Dirty Secret Of The Bailout: Thirty-Two Words That None Dare Utter

From Jason Linkins

jason@huffingtonpost.com
A critical - and radical - component of the bailout package proposed by the Bush administration has thus far failed to garner the serious attention of anyone in the press. Section 8 (which ironically reminds one of the popular name of the portion of the 1937 Housing Act that paved the way for subsidized affordable housing ) of this legislation is just a single sentence of thirty-two words, but it represents a significant consolidation of power and an abdication of oversight authority that's so flat-out astounding that it ought to set one's hair on fire. It reads, in its entirety:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

In short, the so-called "mother of all bailouts," which will transfer $700 billion taxpayer dollars to purchase the distressed assets of several failed financial institutions, will be conducted in a manner unchallengeable by courts and ungovernable by the People's duly sworn representatives. All decision-making power will be consolidated into the Executive Branch - who, we remind you, will have the incentive to act upon this privilege as quickly as possible, before they leave office. The measure will run up the budget deficit by a significant amount, with no guarantee of recouping the outlay, and no fundamental means of holding those who fail to do so accountable.

The Greater Nashville Association of Realtors released the August 2008 homes sales figures today. Single Family home sales were down 32.3% with median single family home prices dropping 6.4%.

As I indicated last month the inventory of homes has stabilized, and in fact dropped from 15,844 in July to 15,636 which is the lowest it has been since March. We will need to see a continuation of the declining inventory coupled with increase in sales to bring the market back in to balance. The decline in inventory is a good start.

http://www.gnar.org/mlsrelease.htm

It is Joe Biden

I got my text at 2:43 this morning - so despite what MSNBC is reporting that it was not going out until 5:30 Eastern.

I was awake when it arrived because we are leaving to go to Tulane.

Sliver of Hope in the July Home Sales Figures

The Greater Nashville Association of Realtors has released the July 2008 sales figures and sales are down 25.7%. Bad news. Pending sales which are an indication of future sales are down 23.1%. Bad news. Inventory is up 12.6%. Bad news.

So where is the sliver of hope? A significant increase in the inventory is due to a big jump in the number of Farms, Land and Lots. Up nearly 50% to 6,182 vs 4,170 in 2007. The sliver of hope is that Single Family listings are up less that 1,000 compared to 2007 which indicates that the inventory is beginning to stabilize.

So why is the inventory of Farms, Land, and Lots up? In better times many developers do not add their inventory of lots to the MLS, since they marketing them directly to builders. As times get tough they broaden their marketing and place their lot inventories on MLS. It appears that this is why there has been such a year over year increase.

John McCain says Barack Obama acts like he's a celebrity. Maybe he should review his own life. Seems like the pot calling the kettle black.