Weekly News Round-Up

DataQuick released its report on August home sales last Friday. Statewide, almost 38,000 homes sold, down a bit from July, but up 13.6% over this same month last year. The sad news was that 46.9% of those sales were foreclosures and that the median price is down 35% over a year ago. And, according to their report, “Adjusted for inflation, mortgage payments are back to where they were in late 2001.” As for the Bay Area stats, DQ reports that 7,232 homes sold in August, with a median price of $447,000 (down 31.8% over last year). “Bargain hunters scooped up distressed properties” in both Solano and CoCo counties, where foreclosure rates were 61.8% and 54.5% respectively.

“The Financial Meltdown Explained” over at the Online Journal, may be overly simplistic, but it’s laid out in simple terms in a straightforward way that we can explain to our [older] children. They may take liberties and use words like “crooks” and “fraud” and “scheme” a bit too often, but they are just putting down on paper, what many are muttering under their breath.

Glad to hear that the U.S. is not the only neglectful first-world government that has faced major financial crisis in recent decades. “Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way” chronicles a 1992 crisis in Sweden and the actions that government took on behalf of its taxpayers. Congress could learn a lesson from our European brethren.

A bit of enlightenment and vitriol from Leonce Gaiter over at OpEdNews.com. “The Elephants Among Us Chickens” dissects the argument from the powers-that-be that this current mess we find ourselves in is due only to home buyers not those running the financial institutions or the government. He says, “It reminds me of the old depression era cartoon that showed a gigantic celebratory elephant cavorting in a chicken coop. The caption quoted or paraphrased Dickens: ’Every man for himself,’ said the elephant said when he danced among the chickens.”

Hilarious post on The Front Steps last week while I was at the Redfin meeting in Seattle. Kenneth Kohlmyer has the sense of humor I need right about now. “Saw some interesting numbers today. The Data Quick numbers came out for August. They basically indicated that the Bay Area is going to cease to exist. Apparently, we are all going to get sucked down a rather large submerged drain. A gigantic rubber stopper is located in the silt about 600 yards to the northeast, off the coast of Treasure Island. A strategic command unit of trained bear underwater demolition aquanauts is standing by, ready to pull the plug at a moment’s notice.” Gotta love his perspective.

Recent Sweet Digs Posts:
SF: Sexy…and Steep
Global Warming or Not?
East Bay and Tri-Valley Properties to be Sold at San Jose Auction
Parties, Politics and Prius’: The Essence of Berkeley in Northbrae
Peninsula Snapshot: Serious Buyers Market