Mohave.net

8/27/2007 2:00:00 PM

Suzanne Adams Miner Staff Writer

Homeowners across the state will soon hear a knock on their doors from volunteers circulating petitions.

The Arizona Tax Revolt organization started shipping out thousands of forms for its two tax initiatives to more than 1,000 volunteers across the state last week.

“The cat will be out of the bag in September when the county mails the tax bills. We want to make sure our volunteers are out there and visible,” said Marc Goldstone, chairman of the Arizona Tax Revolt.

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12978&TM=44220.66

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12989

8/30/2007 1:04:00 PM

Suzanne AdamsMiner Staff Writer

Mohave County residents in unincorporated areas have two days left to get zoning permits for their new structures. Starting Saturday, the county will require all new buildings to meet the county building code. After a number of drawn out public hearings starting in December, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved expanding the code earlier this year. The Board of Supervisors approved the measure in May.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-home-prices-fall-record/story.aspx?guid=%7B02A14CEF%2D2941%2D4404%2D8056%2D418DDA9F0330%7D&dist=SecMostRead

Values down in 15 of 20 major cities, Case-Shiller finds
By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch
Last Update: 10:35 AM ET Aug 28, 2007

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. home prices fell at a faster rate in the second quarter, down 3.2% compared with the same period in 2006, Standard & Poor’s reported Tuesday.

It marked the largest year-over-year decline ever recorded in the 20-year history of the Case-Shiller home price index.

“This slow-burn downswing probably has a long way to go,” wrote Charles Dumas, an economist for London’s Lombard Street Research. “The backlog of unsold homes has reached a level at which buyers are likely to get nasty, insisting on deep price cuts. As repossessed homes come on the market over the next 18 months, downward pressure on home prices and whole neighbourhoods will intensify.”

“We are fast approaching the rate of price decline seen at the end of the 1990-91 recession, and the odds strongly favor blowing past this mark in coming months,” wrote Joshua Shapiro, chief economist for MFR Inc. “With supply overhang growing and mortgage financing tougher to obtain, home prices are going to soften considerably further in the quarters ahead.”

The last time prices fell so much, it took more than eight years for home prices to return to their peak level.

http://www.thestreet.com/_htmlmdb/newsanalysis/homebuildersconstruction/10376488.html

By Nicholas YulicoTheStreet.com Staff Reporter8/27/2007 10:51 AM EDT

Existing-home sales remained flat from June to July, but inventories spiked to a new high, demonstrating that the U.S. housing market continues to struggle. …..

The number of homes on the market rose 5.1% to 4.59 million units in July, representing 9.6 months of supply at the current sales rate. In June, the inventories were at 9.1 months of supply.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1655723,00.html

Commentary
Your House Is Worth Less? Good
Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007 By MICHAL KINSLEY

The last time we had this feeling of financial vertigo was when the Internet bubble popped seven years ago. But this is much worse: the value of our homes is collapsing. For generations, rising home prices have been central to our general sense of well-being.

So why is the real estate collapse a good thing? First, because the collapse of any financial bubble can be interpreted as a morality play: greed gets its comeuppance.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/24/magazines/fortune/eavis_citigroup.fortune/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote

If the Federal Reserve is waiving a fundamental principle in banking regulation, the credit crunch must still be sapping the strength of America’s biggest banks. Fortune’s Peter Eavis documents an unusual Fed move.

By Peter Eavis, Fortune writer
August 24 2007: 5:09 PM EDT

NEW YORK (Fortune) — In a clear sign that the credit crunch is still affecting the nation’s largest financial institutions, the Federal Reserve agreed this week to bend key banking regulations to help out Citigroup (Charts, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (Charts, Fortune 500), according to documents posted Friday on the Fed’s web site.
The Aug. 20 letters from the Fed to Citigroup and Bank of America state that the Fed, which regulates large parts of the U.S. financial system, has agreed to exempt both banks from rules that effectively limit the amount of lending that their federally-insured banks can do with their brokerage affiliates. The exemption, which is temporary, means, for example, that Citigroup’s Citibank entity can substantially increase funding to Citigroup Global Markets, its brokerage subsidiary. Citigroup and Bank of America requested the exemptions, according to the letters, to provide liquidity to those holding mortgage loans, mortgage-backed securities, and other securities.

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12966

Nicholas Wilbur
Miner Staff Writer

Travin Pennington didn’t walk out of the Bullhead City courtroom Thursday with any more e-mails than he walked in with, but both his and the city’s attorneys seemed content regarding the judge’s order.

http://www.minyanville.com/articles/BAC-CFC-GS-JPM-C-WB/index/a/13838

Fil Zucchi Aug 23, 2007 10:13 am

Are we seriously supposed to believe that the banks’ discount-window escapade and the BAC, CFC “investment” are two separate events that just happened to take place the same day?

I did not think I’d find myself this jaded after nearly two months of vacation, but in light of Bank of America’s (BAC) $2 bln dollar “investment” in Countrywide Financial (CFC), the made-for-Wall Street TV special of yesterday’s backslapping “man-I-haven’t-seen-you-since-that-football-game-tailgate-12-years-ago, how-u-doin’ pal?!” get-together at the discount window by JP Morgan (JPM), BAC, Citi (C), and Wachovia (WB) has suddenly morphed into a wobbling home movie of four trick-or-treaters just happening to stumble upon Boom-Boom’s doorstep and collecting $2 bln of fresh “trading crack”.

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12942

8/22/2007 1:22:00 PM
Email this article • Print this article
Nicholas WilburMiner Staff Writer

It was as if Paul Beecher hadn’t yet been fired. The tension in the packed Council Chamber was evidenced by expressions of shock on the faces of those in attendance as the mayor and several Council members went back and forth with their critics.

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=18&ArticleID=12945&TM=53626.71

8/22/2007 1:28:00 PM
Nicholas WilburMiner Staff Writer

According to Rhodes Homes representatives and Acting City Manager Jack Kramer, the missing stakes and monuments that outline the city’s well sites in Golden Valley have been replaced.Resident and local electrician Keith Walker told Council Aug. 6 that half of the surveying stakes marking the corners of the city’s four one-acre parcels had been graded over.