ARE FORECLOSURE RATES REALLY CATASTROPHIC AND GETTING WORSE? NO.

THINGS ARE NOT AS BAD AS THEY WANT YOU TO BELIEVE - AND : THEY ARE GETTING BETTER:

CALIFORNIA (2/11/09):

Completed foreclosures in California dropped 31.5 percent from December to January, according to a Wednesday report from Foreclosures.com.

Only 14,351 foreclosures were completed in January, compared to 20,952 in December. The state still had more foreclosures than any other, followed by Florida with 10,007; Texas with 5,367; and Arizona with 5,250.

The state ranks second in pre-foreclosure filings, which dropped to 33,008 in January from 41,710 in December. Florida had the most pre-foreclosure filings, at 43,070.

California in September adopted Senate Bill 1137, which imposed new requirements on lenders to make contact with homeowners prior to filing for foreclosure. Alexis McGee, president of Foreclosures.com, says such regulatory moves are behind the drastic drop in foreclosures.

“Efforts last year by government and industry to lay the groundwork for housing recovery finally are yielding the hoped-for slowdown in the foreclosure hemorrhage,” McGee said in a news release. “The nation’s foreclosure crisis largely began in California. The comeback is spreading from there as well. It’s not quite time to pop that celebratory champagne. But Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s moratorium on foreclosures before the holidays, big lenders emphasizing loan workouts, and states taking steps to slow down foreclosures are all are working together to make a difference. And the significant drops have occurred despite the higher 7.6 percent unemployment rate.”

Nationwide, foreclosures are down 25.7 percent, to 72,694, from 97,841 in December. Pre-foreclosure filings dropped 12 percent from December to January from 190,467 to 166,860.

GEORGIA (2/12/09):

Georgia’s foreclosure activity slowed down in January, but the state is still in the top 10 for foreclosure rates, according to RealtyTrac’s January 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report published Thursday.

Georgia had 9,907 foreclosure filings -- default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions -- in January, down 7.11 percent from January 2008 and down 1.24 percent from December 2008. The state had one foreclosure filing for every 400 houses in January. Georgia had the eighth-most foreclosures of any state in January.

FLORIDA (2/11/09):

Florida foreclosures were down nearly 22 percent in January, to 10,007 from 12,786 in December. That mirrors a nationwide trend, according to the latest U.S. Foreclosure Index report from Sacramento, Calif.-based Foreclosures.com.

It's unclear whether this is a trend reversal, or just a blip in a continuing slide.

“Efforts last year by government and industry to lay the groundwork for housing recovery finally are yielding the hoped-for slowdown in the foreclosure hemorrhage,” Foreclosures.com President Alexis McGee said.

Nationwide, she reported, foreclosures were down 25 percent, to 72,694 in January from 97,841 in December. That’s the lowest number of completed foreclosures since April 2008. Only Texas and Michigan saw a month-over-month increase in foreclosures.

• FORECLOSURE RATES ARE HIGH BUT NOT OVERWHELMINGLY SO.

• AND RATES ARE ALREADY IMPROVING. WITHOUT OBAMA'S PORKULUS BILL, AND WITHOUT A NEW A EXPENSIVE NATIONAL FORECLOSURE PLAN.

• PERHAPS THE BANKS WITH A LOT OF EXPOSURE - (WITH EITHER BAD MORTGAGES OR DERIVATIVES BASED ON THEM) - DELIBERATELY MADE THINGS SEEM WORSE THEN THEY WERE BECAUSE THEY WANTED A BAILOUT.

OR PERHAPS BIGTIME INVESTORS - LIKE SOROS - HAVE A SELF-INTEREST IN DRIVING THE MARKET DOWN?

THEY SELL SHORT ON THE WAY DOWN, AND THEN GET THE FED TO SCOOP UP THE BANK AND CLEAN IT UP (REMOVING THE BAD LOANS), AND THEN THE INVESTOR-VULTURES LIKE SOROS GET TO SCOOP UP THE REMAINS - STEALING IT FROM THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND US TAXPAYERS - FOR A SONG.

THEY'VE DONE THIS ALREADY AS WE REPORTED 1/8/09 :

A seven-member investor group including billionaire George Soros and Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell have agreed to purchase failed lender IndyMac Bank, one of the largest casualties of the housing bust, for $13.9 billion.

IndyMac, which specialized in loans made with little down payment or proof of assets, was seized by the government in July after a run on the bank as the U.S. housing market collapsed. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that a holding company led by Steven Mnuchin, co-chief executive of private equity firm Dune Capital Management, agreed to buy IndyMac in a deal reached Wednesday.

The investors have formed a partnership, called IMB Management Holdings LP, that includes Dell's investment firm, MSD Capital. Once the deal closes, the investment group will pour $1.3 billion in new capital into IndyMac and continue to operate the Pasadena, Calif-based bank, the FDIC said.

"We have assembled a group of experienced private investors in financial services to acquire the former IndyMac and operate it under new management with extensive banking experience," Mnuchin said in a statement. "We will inject significant private capital into IndyMac so that it can once again effectively serve its customers and communities."

Investors in the partnership include five private equity firms or hedge funds: J.C. Flowers & Co.; Stone Point Capital; Paulson & Co.; a fund controlled by billionaire George Soros' Fund Management; and a fund controlled by Silar Advisors LP.

Dune Capital was founded in 2004 by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partners Mnuchin and Daniel Niedich.

J. Christopher Flowers, who launched, then dropped, a bid to buy student lender Sallie Mae last year, also is a former Goldman Sachs partner. Paulson & Co. made billions in profits in recent years by betting on the failure of risky home loans.

YOU READ THAT RIGHT:

• THE GUYS IN ON THE DEAL INCLUDE A MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR OBAMA SUPPORTER - SOROS,

• AND FORMER BUSINESS PARTNERS OF THE CURRENT SECRETARY OF TREASURY,

• AND ONE OF THE HEDGE FUNDS WHICH HELPED CREATE AND INTENSIFY THE RUN ON THIS BANK'S SHARES AND OTHER BANKS' SHARES.

(BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, SOROS IS IMMORAL EVIL ENOUGH TO DO THIS.)

PERHAPS SOROS IS CONTINUING TO TALK THE MARKETS DOWN BECAUSE HE WANTS TO SCOOP EVEN MORE:

Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.

"We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom."

• ACROSS THE COUNTRY THINGS ARE IMPROVING.

• IT SEEMS TO ME A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE A INTEREST IN MAKING THINGS SEEM WORSE THAN THEY ARE TO GET BAILOUT MONEY.

• AND OBAMA WENT NEGATIVE TO GET ELECTED AND TO PASS HOS PORKURIFFIC PORKAPALOZICIOUS PORKULUS BILL.

• SANTELLI IS RIGHT: WE'VE BEEN BULLSHITTED - I MEAN BULLDOZED - INTO UNDERWRITING THE LOSERS; THE LOSERS SHOULD BE TAKING THE BRUNT OF THE PAIN WHICH RESULTED FROM THEIR OWN MISTAKES; THEY SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO PASS IT ALONG TO THE TAXPAYERS.

IT IS FUNDAMENTALLY UNFAIR FOR THE LOSSES TO BE SOCIALIZED WHEN THE PROFITS WEREN'T GOING TO BE.

BOTTOM-LINE:

• AS SANTELLI SAID: FRUGAL PEOPLE WHO PROPERLY MANAGED THEIR OWN FINANCES SHOULD NOT BE PAYING FOR PEOPLE WHO TOOK INTEREST-ONLY AND/OR NO-DOWN PAYMENT ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGES IN REGIONS WHICH WERE MOST INFLATED. OR THE BANKS WHO MADE THEM.

*******UPDATE: VIA GLENN: THE PEOPLE AGREE!

[ASIDE: YES: MANY BANKS ARE IN REAL TROUBLE, BUT IT WASN'T OUR FAULT - SO WE SHOULDN'T BE FORCED TO PAY THE PRICE. IN THE 1933 THERE WAS A TYPICAL BANK RUN - ON DEPOSITS IN BANKS. THAT'S NOT HAPPENING NOW: MUCH OF THE CURRENT BANKING CRISIS IS DUE TO A RUN ON THE BANK STOCKS - AND THIS IS WHAT THE FED AND FTC AND SEC SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON.]