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That's what I always thought. The Obamas had government help with their education, Lew had the mortgage "forgiveness", so they should be turning over their profits to the government, right?
I agree, and now they can add in Stegman and DeValk's comments.
"he expected to issue a decision relatively soon" thanks, H!
Hope they stop the sweep soon, so we (instead of Treasury) can benefit from the housing resurgence!
The ITB rose 1.42 percent to $27.87 yesterday. It's up 8 percent since the start of January--more than triple the broader market's gain--and has broken out to levels last seen during the sub-prime meltdown in 2007. In addition to DHI, the fund's largest holdings include Lennar and PulteGroup, whose quarterly results are due tomorrow. (DHI, PHM, and OC have seen bullish call buying in the last week.)
http://www.optionmonster.com/news/article.php?page=how_the_bulls_are_playing_housing_103072.html&src=msu
Good point, H! She should also ask them why Lew didn't sign his name anywhere, since the letter was addressed to him, and why they couldn't respond by 4/20, but 4/21 instead. :)
Existing-homes sales surged to their highest annual rate in 18 months, showing a promising beginning to the spring homebuying season, the latest report from the National Association of Relators said.
Total existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, jumped 6.1% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.19 million in March from 4.89 million in February—the highest annual rate since September 2013 (also 5.19 million).
This is positive news for the industry after existing-home sales collapsed 4.9% in January to the lowest rate in nine months, falling well below analyst expectations. And while they did pick up in February and edged up by 1.2%, there was still some stagnation in the market.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the housing market appears to be off to an encouraging start this spring.
"After a quiet start to the year, sales activity picked up greatly throughout the country in March," he continued. "The combination of low interest rates and the ongoing stability in the job market is improving buyer confidence and finally releasing some of the sizable pent-up demand that accumulated in recent years."
Furthermore, sales have increased year-over-year for six consecutive months and are now 10.4% above a year ago, the highest annual increase since August 2013 (10.7%). March's sales increase was the largest monthly increase since December 2010 (6.2%).
Total housing inventory at the end of March grew 5.3% to 2 million existing homes available for sale, and is now 2% above a year ago (1.96 million). Unsold inventory is at a 4.6-month supply at the current sales pace, down from 4.7 months in February.
The median existing-home price for all housing types in March was $212,100, which is 7.8% above March 2014, marking the 37th consecutive month of year-over-year price gains and the largest since February 2014 (8.8%).
"The modest rise in housing supply at the end of the month despite the strong growth in sales is a welcoming sign," adds Yun. "For sales to build upon their current pace, homeowners will increasingly need to be confident in their ability to sell their home while having enough time and choices to upgrade or downsize. More listings and new home construction are still needed to tame price growth and provide more opportunity for first-time buyers to enter the market."
The percent share of first-time buyers was 30% in March. This marks the third time since last March that the first-time buyer share was at or above 30%. First-time buyers represented 29% of all buyers last month; they were 30% in March 2014.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast increased 6.9% to an annual rate of 620,000, and are 1.6% above a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $240,500, which is 1.6% below a year ago.
In the Midwest, existing-home sales escalated 10.1% to an annual rate of 1.20 million in March, and are now 12.1% above March 2014. The median price in the Midwest was $163,600, up 9.7% from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the South climbed 3.8% to an annual rate of 2.19 million in March, and are now 11.7% above March 2014. The median price in the South was $187,900, up 9.3% from a year ago.
Existing-home sales in the West rose 6.3% to an annual rate of 1.18 million in March, and are now 11.3% above a year ago. The median price in the West was $305,000, which is 8.3% above March 2014.
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/33640-existing-home-sales-explode-as-spring-homebuying-season-officially-arrives?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=housingwire
The Legal Odds Are Shifting in the A.I.G. Case
By AARON M. KESSLER
APRIL 21, 2015
WASHINGTON — When David Boies delivers his closing arguments on Wednesday in a case that pits Maurice Greenberg against the federal government over the 2008 bailout of American International Group, he will have already achieved something that few had thought possible: a chance to win.
In 2011, when Mr. Greenberg filed his lawsuit, arguing that the government lifeline, which ultimately totaled $182 billion, had shortchanged A.I.G. shareholders, the case seemed unpromising at best. “Chutzpah,” several lawmakers had called it. Government lawyers described Mr. Greenberg as an “ingrate.”
Carl Tobias, a law professor and litigation expert at the University of Richmond, said the A.I.G. case had been widely seen as one that “really bordered on frivolous.” Referring to Mr. Boies, he said, “People couldn’t imagine how he could put together a legal theory that would really work.”
But as the trial unfolded in the fall in the United States Court of Federal Claims, Mr. Tobias said, the consensus among legal experts began to shift.
Document | Documents on A.I.G. Maurice R. Greenberg sued the United States Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2011, contending that their takeover of A.I.G. in 2008 was improper.
Using his conversational style of cross-examination, Mr. Boies managed to disarm, and at times dismay, a procession of government witnesses. One minute they would be chuckling at a joke, and the next nervously gulping down a glass of water as Mr. Boies burrowed in.
He confronted the architects of the bailout, including Timothy F. Geithner, Ben S. Bernanke and the Federal Reserve’s and Treasury Department’s lawyers, with their own emails, statements and handwritten notes, many unearthed publicly for the first time. The documents revealed that more internal doubt existed than was previously known about whether the Fed was crossing legal lines during its bailout of A.I.G.
The picture the government tried to paint in court of a clear need to act as the financial system teetered on collapse — extraordinary times calling for extraordinary measures — became more muddled as the trial continued.
“Now the court is thinking seriously about something that at the start looked like it wasn’t that strong a case,” Mr. Tobias said.
The decision will be up to Judge Thomas Wheeler, who is expected to issue his ruling this summer. Still, even if Mr. Greenberg’s claims for $40 billion are rejected, Mr. Boies will receive credit for turning around a case that had seemed a long shot into one that may be too close call.
“I thought from day one, he had virtually no chance. None,” said Kenneth R. Feinberg, the lawyer and victim compensation expert who has known Mr. Boies for nearly 40 years since they worked together for the Senate Judiciary Committee. “No matter what happens,” Mr. Feinberg said, “he has proven that it was a case worth bringing.”
The government, however, contends that Mr. Boies never found the smoking gun he was seeking, and that while there was certainly debate among Fed and Treasury advisers about aspects of the A.I.G. bailout, the reams of internal documents still support the government’s contention that officials acted lawfully and in good faith.
According to a person with knowledge of the government’s preparations, the case could hinge largely on a single fact: that A.I.G. shareholders never lost anything. Indeed, the value of their shares increased after the bailout. To prove a Constitutional violation requires someone to be harmed — and therefore even if the judge proves sympathetic to some of Mr. Boies’s arguments, the government believes the lack of economic loss will carry the day in its favor.
Wednesday will be the end of Mr. Boies’s 85th trial and the 10th involving litigation over more than $1 billion. Yet at age 74, Mr. Boies, who charges clients $1,500 an hour for his services, shows no sign of slowing down. In recent days, while preparing his closing arguments, he was bouncing between coasts, tackling more fallout from Sony Pictures’ huge data breach, and lining up television appearances.
Born in Illinois, he overcame dyslexia to graduate from Northwestern University and earn a law degree from Yale, using his near-photographic memory to make up for being a slow reader. Mr. Boies rose to prominence working for the white-shoe law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore. As a partner there, he was essentially set for life. But in 1997, after a dispute over Cravath’s attempt to drop the Yankees’ owner George Steinbrenner as a client, he abruptly left to form his own firm, shocking many legal observers at the time.
With Boies, Schiller & Flexner, Mr. Boies focuses on what he likes best: taking cases to trial.
“This is what he lives for. For him the courtroom is the crucible, and it’s what he loves,” said Joel Klein, who as United States Assistant Attorney General in the late 1990s brought Mr. Boies in to litigate the Microsoft antitrust case.
It was the Microsoft trial — and his devastating cross-examination of the company’s chief executive, Bill Gates — that helped cement Mr. Boies’s reputation, and give a lift to his new firm. Now, Mr. Boies finds himself on the other side, battling against the federal government, in service of his longtime friend Mr. Greenberg.
Of course, he does not go to trial alone. In the case of A.I.G., a small army of associates accompanied him to Washington when the action began in October, taking over an entire floor of the downtown Willard Hotel. The team also set up a “war room” at nearby Skadden Arps, where each day and late into the night, dozens of young lawyers crowded around a large table, churning away on computers and picking through boxes of documents on coming witnesses.
After a day in court, Mr. Boies would hunker down in an office adjacent to the war room, going over briefing books for the next day’s witnesses. He uses a color-coded system for his trial binders — organizing information by how directly it applies to the witness, so he can quickly find the pages he wants.
All big-time lawyers work tirelessly in preparing for court testimony. What makes Mr. Boies unusual among his peers is how effortlessly he seems to shift gears.
Once he feels ready, Mr. Boies is not shy about going out on the town with his wife, or watching a movie in his hotel room. (The night before Mr. Gates’s deposition in the Microsoft case, he watched “Tombstone.”)
To relax between cases, he hits the craps tables in Las Vegas, which he likens to meditation — easing his mind without requiring much strategy, or unplugs on a boat in the Caribbean.
In the courtroom, he brings an understated manner that will frequently catch witnesses off-guard.
“He’s not belligerent. He’s not a shouter. He’s not a bomb thrower,” Mr. Feinberg said. “He is very calm, and uses this friendly tone.”
Mr. Boies is certainly far from invincible, with his most prominent defeat coming at the hands of Ted Olson, in Bush v. Gore.
Mr. Olson, a prominent Republican, kept in touch with Mr. Boies, a Democrat, and they eventually became friends. The two men subsequently joined together in a bipartisan battle for same-sex marriage, challenging Proposition 8, California’s ban on the practice.
“He leads them into places where they don’t have a way out,” Mr. Olson said of Mr. Boies’s way of slowly drawing in witnesses until their own words trap them.
In a series of interviews since the fall, Mr. Boies explained why he was drawn to trials.
“A trial is a powerful vehicle to explain things,” Mr. Boies said. “It is the most time that anybody spends really thinking about one thing. Unless you are the analyst on the National Security staff that’s assigned to monitor Putin, and that’s all you do, day in and day out, very few people ever spend the time on a single subject that is spent during trial.”
He likened his approach to cases to an artistic endeavor.
“You’re kind of like a sculptor,” he said. “You start out with this big block of marble. Then during discovery, you begin to chip away and give some form to it. Then the trial is where you really structure things and now you’ve got it, you really know what you’ve done.”
As the A.I.G. trial ends, Mr. Boies acknowledged that credit for changing perceptions alone only went so far.
“I don’t really believe in moral victories,” he said. “You can have them when you’re dealing with public opinion, but in litigation you want to win the case. I want to win.”
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/04/22/business/dealbook/the-legal-odds-are-shifting-in-the-aig-case.html?referrer=
He bought and continues to buy a lot of Wells Fargo shares, but I don't know that he loaned them $5 billion in Sept 2008 like he did Goldman Sachs. Goldman paid him back in a few years plus $1.7 billion. Some people now see it as, of course, that was a no-brainier, Goldman Sachs was given preferential treatment, at the time of bailout. Like Boies was saying AIG's interest rate was 3-4 times as much.
Didn't Goldman Sachs get the best deal/terms, and then Buffett made out pretty nicely after that with Goldman.
"Buffett also invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs itself during the credit crisis of 2008, a time when most investors were giving securities firms a wide berth. That move, too, turned out well for the so-called Oracle of Omaha, as Goldman paid back the loan within three years and sent an additional $1.6 billion to Buffett in dividends."
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1420804
Pershing Square will post info about their next conference call and an email to send questions on their website. They hope to have it posted shortly.
I wonder what Wheeler thinks of this total arrogance and disrespect?
I thought the letter was to Lew? The response was sent back late 4/21, and Lew's name is nowhere in the letter.
Where did Joe Light get the letter?
Current Fannie, Freddie CEO's have a thing or two to say also.
USTreasury needs to be put in conservatorship in perpetuity. :)
We all get a personal check in the mail, right? :) Where do they get the power to, at any time, start taking 100% profits of privately held, publicly traded companies, and continue in perpetuity?
They're late for starters. Judges love that, NOT! Much fodder here for the attorneys, completely illegal. Luckily, the shareholders are still left to hold them accountable.
The part that caught my attention was that 47 out of 73 inspector generals sent that letter.
Thanks H, looking forward to closing remarks from Boies tomorrow. Rule of law, shareholders don't take risks on governments illegal actions.
speakers for that event
Feature Presentations: General Session
Clea Benson Reporter – Bloomberg
Guy Cecala CEO & Publisher – Inside Mortgage Finance
Angela Cheek Vice President & Counsel, Product Compliance – Ellie Mae
Raj Date Managing Partner – Fenway Summer LLC
Robert Dozier Chief Business Officer & Executive Vice President – FHLB Atlanta
Bill Emerson Chief Executive Officer – Quicken Loans
Commissioner Edward Golding - Federal Housing Administration & Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary to the Office of Housing – U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development
Rohit Gupta President & CEO – US Mortgage Insurance, Genworth
Robert Irick Founder – Buyers & Lenders Loss Protection Program
Maurice Jourdain-Earl Managing Director – ComplianceTech
Alex Jung Mortgage Lending Manager – BB&T Home Mortgage
Eric Kaplan Managing Director/Mortgage Finance – Shellpoint Partners
Patricia McClung Assistant Director for Mortgage Markets – Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Congressman Patrick McHenry – United States House of Representatives
Jeff Naimon Partner – Buckley Sandler LLP
Jim Parrott Falling Creek Advisors & Urban Institute
Ed Pinto Resident Fellow – American Enterprise Institute
Lew Ranieri Chairman & Founding Partner – Ranieri Partners
Bob Ryan Special Advisor – Federal Housing Finance Agency
Scott Reckard Financial Staff Writer – Los Angeles Times
Joseph A. Smith, Jr. – Joseph A. Smith, Jr. Monitoring Ltd.
Dr. Michael Stegman Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury for Housing Finance Policy – U.S. Department of the Treasury
Eric Stein Special Advisor – Federal Housing Finance Agency
David Stevens President & CEO – Mortgage Bankers Association
Ted Tozer President – Ginnie Mae
Break Out Session Speakers
Joe Weisbord Director – Credit and Housing Access, Fannie Mae
Steve Richman National Spokesperson, Genworth
Dennis Frio Director – Business Advisory Services, Grant Thornton
Matt Hunoval Founder, The Hunoval Law Firm, PLLC & Member of the North Carolina State Banking Commission
Kenneth Donohue Director & Senior Advisor of Government Services – CohnReznick
Andrew Liput President & CEO – Secure Settlements, Inc.
Bob Kucab Executive Director, North Carolina Housing Finance Agency
Ken Sykes President, North State Bank Mortgage
Kirk Whorf Chief Financial Officer, North State Bank
Sam Fleder Partner, Smith Debnam
Lauren Reeves Associate, Smith Debnam
Jeff Rogers Partner, Smith Debnam
Rick Goldbach Executive Vice President – Business Development, TowneBank Mortgage
Elizabeth Collins Deputy General Counsel & SVP, United Guaranty Corporation
The American Mortgage Conference is the place to find the answers and learn from experts to guide your professional decisions.
The field of housing finance is at a crossroads. As Congress focused on the revamp of the financial services marketplace in what became the Dodd-Frank Act, it moved to the backburner the question of reforming the Government Sponsored Enterprises and how financing homeownership will be accomplished for future generations. There are many questions…What will that marketplace look like? What will be the design of the delivery system? How will various related businesses be impacted? We can be sure that we will not see a return to the ways of the past. The recent collapse and recession have been too painful. It’s all a new frontier! The 2015 American Mortgage Conference on April 20-22 in Raleigh will bring together leading experts in the financial services industry, mortgage practitioners of every kind, policy makers and investors to discuss these important issues and to analyze what progress is being made in Washington. Come be a part of a unique meeting of both depository and non-depository institutions.
Who should attend?
Financial Institution CEOs, Chief Credit Officers, as well as Senior Lending Officers for both residential and commercial divisions as well as any individual and organization impacted by the mortgage lending process will find the information provided at the American Mortgage Conference beneficial and relevant in their day-to-day operations.
We would like to thank our sponsors who support this conference.
GOLD SPONSORS:
Smith MonitoringSunTrust Mortgage_Logo
TowneBank Mortgage_Logo
Genworth
SILVER SPONSORS:
NCHFA
Grant Thornton
FHLBAtlanta
Hunoval Law Firm
They didn't update their site until today. :) This one was yesterday.
Monday, April 20
4:15 PM EDT
Counselor to the Treasury Secretary for Housing Finance Policy Dr. Michael Stegman
Remarks at the 2015 American Mortgage Conference hosted by the North Carolina Bankers Association
500 Fayetteville Street
Raleigh, North Carolina
This event is open press. For additional information, please visit https://www.ncbankers.org/education/american-mortgage-conference/.
Thursday, April 23
2:05 PM EDT
Counselor to the Treasury Secretary for Housing Finance Policy Dr. Michael Stegman
Remarks before the 2015 House View Conference- RMBS
Hearst Tower
300 W 57th Street
New York, New York
This event is open press.
big bids out there
Tomorrow's headlines related to residential real estate: weekly mortgage applications, the FHFA's index of house prices, existing home sales, earnings from D.R. Horton
"The amendments to these agreements announced today should leave no uncertainty about the Treasury's commitment to support these firms as they continue to play a vital role in the housing market during the current crisis," the department said in a statement.
"But Hamsher and Norquist want to know now whether the bailout was in part the result of corrupt practices by Emanuel while he was a board member at Freddie in 2000-2001.
They cited a Chicago Tribune story that described a plan by the executives and the board to use accounting tricks to show shareholders they were reaping massive profits even as they continued down a path of risky investments. The profits were then used to justify the executives' big bonuses. When Emanuel left the board to enter Congress in 2002, he was qualified for $380,000 in stock and options and $20,000 cash.
In their letter to Holder, Hamsher and Norquist added that the White House has stonewalled any inquiries into Emanuel's role on the board, noting that the acting inspector general was "stripped of his authority earlier this year by the Justice Department, relying on a loophole in a bill Mr. Emanuel cosponsored and pushed through Congress shortly before he left for the White House."
The White House has not appointed a new inspector general to determine whether crimes were committed by the board to defraud investors, the two noted, and the statute of limitations for empaneling a grand jury is about to run out.
"Under the influence of Rahm Emanuel, the White House is moving a trillion-dollar slush fund into corruption-riddled companies with no oversight in place. This will allow Fannie and Freddie to continue to purchase more toxic assets from banks, acting as a back-door increase of the TARP without congressional approval," Hamsher and Norquist wrote.
The two wrote they would like the Justice Department to "begin an investigation into the cause of Fannie and Freddie's conservatorship, into Rahm Emanuel's activities on the board of Freddie Mac (including any violations of his fiduciary duties to shareholders), into the decision-making behind the continued vacancy of Fannie and Freddie's inspector general post, and into potential public corruption by Rahm Emanuel in connection with his time in Congress, in the White House, and on the board of Freddie Mac."
Asked about the letter on Thursday, White House spokesman Bill Burton did not address the allegations, saying, "I have the feeling that Rahm's job is very safe."
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-374176
That makes sense. Thanks Risk_it.
Looks like he still has some correcting to do. It was a much smaller payment, but no word of end of payments yet....
That was quick! There is already a correction at the bottom of the article. :)
The payment for 4th quarter did go out March 31st, so not sure if the author has that part right? We'll hear about 1st quarter in May with the earnings report, and that payment would go in June. Maybe, he slipped and has some inside info! :)
Sorry I meant the previous one was paid March 31st. Next one will go June 30th. (Just read through your post again, thought you meant the last one.)
Yes, the payment was made.
Bulls like PulteGroup into earnings
Mike Yamamoto | mike.yamamoto@optionmonster.com
PHM: SEE CHART GET CHAIN FIND STRATEGIES
PulteGroup attracted bullish option activity on Friday for the second time in less than a week, just a few sessions before the homebuilder reports earnings.
optionMONSTER's Heat Seeker system identified the purchase of 3,000 May 22 calls in less than 20 seconds, most of it in one print of 2,500 that went for the ask price of $0.84. Open interest in the strike was just 164 contracts before the trade occurred, showing that it is a new position.
This follows buying in the May 23 calls last Tuesday, part of what is known as a bullish roll. That was done by a investor who wants to stay positioned for a potential rally through the company's first-quarter results on Thursday morning.
Long calls lock in the price where the stock can be purchased, gaining if it rises and providing leverage to the underlying shares. But the contracts can quickly lose value if the stock stalls or pulls back. (See our Education section)
PHM slipped 0.67 percent to $22.19 on Friday, continuing to pull back along with other builders after U.S. housing starts and permits fell short of expectations in the previous session. The stock has been range-bound since its 52-week high of $23.36 in late February, when it saw call buying in the July contracts.
Friday's total option volume in the name was quadruple its daily average for the last month. Calls outstripped puts by a bullish 6-to-1 ratio.
Disclosure: I am long PHM.
Since mid month, that's been happening. And a few T-trades in preferreds
After Hours Volume: After Hours High: After Hours Low:
100,000 $ 4.89
(16:45:55 PM) $ 4.89
(16:45:55 PM)
Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/fnmas/after-hours#ixzz3XsxHaeY9
But, we're paying Lew, Holder, DOJ's salary. To those people I say, stop stalling, produce the requested docs, (Before your next vacation.) :)
Except courthouse has vacation days. DOJ goes on vacation. That was actually a benefit with a certain airline stock. :) The DOJ got closed down for 2 weeks, and the stock made its turning point that September. They need to stay busy, now through end of June, no excuses!
They need to wrap it up before the next vacation starts. No more vacations until questions are answered!! If you can't be forthright and answer questions, then don't take on the position of the Treasurer of the United States.