| Bad appraisals contribute to housing mess
Home buyers, sellers, real-estate agents and lenders all rely on comparable prices as the benchmark for an area's home values. But in many Valley neighborhoods, those comps can't always be trusted. Bad appraisals are often to blame. As the housing market corrects and prices return to normal levels, it's becoming apparent that inflated appraisals are behind many problems plaguing the Valley, say regulators, market watchers and many appraisers. .
SEC probes WaMu loans
The Securities and Exchange Commission is probing how Washington Mutual Inc., the nation's largest savings and loan, handled mortgages that were possibly based on inflated home appraisals.
"We are voluntarily and fully cooperating with the SEC's inquiry as well as the [Office of Thrift Supervision] and look forward to bringing the facts to both the regulators and public," the Seattle company said. OTS is the company's federal regulator.
SEC spokesman John Nester declined to comment yesterday.
Shares of Washington Mutual fell 57 cents, or 4 percent, to close at $14.10 yesterday. The company's stock has traded between $13.99 and $46.38 in the past year.
Shares of WaMu have dropped about 65 percent since mid-September, following some dismal financial disclosures and a lawsuit filed last month by New York's attorney general against one of its real estate appraisers, purporting the companies colluded to inflate home values.
PR pros smooth paths for developers
A new breed of public-relations experts is helping developers head off neighborhood dissent even before rumors that a project will block views, lower property values or snarl traffic sweep up and down the block. Professionals in this niche of community outreach may sit with a single resident on a Saturday morning at Starbucks, walk door to door with site plans in hand, make phone calls or even develop Web sites - all to make the details of a proposed project accessible and understandable to neighbors. "Most people are not very excited about a change and are concerned what it will do to impact them," says Susan Bitter Smith, who along with her husband Paul, runs Technical Solutions. Their neighborhood work on Grace Communities' proposal for a mixed-used project on the southwestern corner of Camelback Road and 44th Street paid off when local residents recently backed it while protesting two other proposals at the intersection.
Open ports to Cyprus traffic, says EU Parliament
The parliamentary vote and its reference to Cyprus resulted in increased interest on the situation on the island and particularly on the offer by President Papadopoulos for lifting trade restrictions on the breakaway state through the join use of Famagusta port under special arrangements. "The Famagusta proposal could be a showcase for cooperation and a good pilot (project), a concrete step showing to the people that a well balanced settlement supported by both parties would benefit both,'' Dutch MEP Camiel Eurlings, the EU Rapporteur on Turkey told me in an exclusive interview. Concrete "What is most important is to start talking about concrete measures, like those agreed in Paris, which could be a first step that provides a view of another future that will stress the advantages of the people coming together with the disappearance of the dividing line,'' Eurling said.
TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads
Who thinks we need a law to make English the official language of government. What American legislature is conducting business in some other language? And then he says that bureaucracy is destructive, after suggesting we bureaucratize the speaking of English. Dear, oh dear. But, too much talk about issue! Must talk about horse races! Gingrich says Romney has more delegates than anyone–I think that's wrong, actually! Yes. I am right. Here's the delegate count. Note Romney's use of Enron accounting. Also note that this story comes from ABC News! You'd think maybe someone there would tell Stephanopoulos that his own news division has a different answer. Gingrich thinks the "open" Hillary is better than the "austere" Hillary, and that it was strange to identify herself with LBJ.
We’ve been robbed of our Englishness
As the nation settled down on Wednesday night to watch England play Croatia, I sensed an air of optimism in the land. A feeling that all would be well. I mean hey, England were holding their own against Brazil when Croatia didn’t even exist as a nation state. So what chance would these swarthy-looking Yugo-ruffians have? They were minnows in a tank of sharks. They weren’t going to be beaten. They were going to be eaten. Hmmm. I’m afraid I knew we were going to lose moments before the match began. I looked at our players mumbling their way through the national anthem and realised they didn’t really care about playing for England. Because they don’t really know what England is. And truth be told, neither do I. When I was their age it was crystal clear.
Zimbabwe tribunal begins probe of attorney general
A Zimbabwean tribunal has begun proceedings to decide whether the nation's attorney general should be removed from office for allegedly abusing his power in a case involving a fugitive banker, state media said on Tuesday. Attorney General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele was suspended in December after police charged him with corruption in connection with his ties to James Mushore, former director of NMBZ Holdings who fled to Britain in 2004 during a banking crisis. Authorities accuse Gula-Ndebele of meeting Mushore overseas and promising he would not be arrested if he returned to Zimbabwe. Mushore was arrested in October after he arrived in the southern African nation. A three-member tribunal established by President Robert Mugabe late last year started its formal probe into Gula-Ndebele's conduct this week, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported, citing an unnamed justice ministry official.
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