| BIDDERS MIGHT LAND BARGAINS
The cream-colored rancher at 19131 Garrison Ave. in Castro Valley sold in about 11 minutes on a Friday afternoon in late July. But unlike the boom days, there was no staging, no standing-room only tours and the multiple offers were of a far different sort. Rather than the conventional "list and sell" method, the owner, who struggled to sell the house for about six months, let it go to the highest bidder. That bid came in at $450,000 - well below the mid-$500,000 asking price earlier this year, but above the $350,000 or so owed on the house, according to the auction company. Weakening prices, a flood of homes on the market and the widening credit crunch are pushing many more sellers to unload their homes quickly through a method best known in the art and collectibles world. Buyers, facing a fast-changing market that has been so unaffordable for so long, are taking the leap and praying for a discount.
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CAPE MAY — With a lawsuit presenting a possible roadblock to begin reconstruction of the Washington Street Mall's infrastructure this fall, the city filed a motion Monday asking the court to dismiss a lawsuit from a group of Cape May innkeepers. A group calling itself Concerned Taxpayers of the City of Cape May filed a complaint in Superior Court June 13 challenging the legality of a $3.5 million bond ordinance passed by city council in May. The group wants the court to declare the bond ordinance null and void. The complaint cites a city ordinance that specifies that the expense of maintaining curbs and sidewalks is the responsibility of adjoining property owners. It wants mall merchants to pay for new paving in front of their businesses. At a June city council meeting, residents complained if they must pay for installation of sidewalks in front of their homes, then mall merchant should pay for repaving in front of their shops.
Embattled Pastor Talks of Claims Against Him
The embattled leader of a Nashville church opened up for the first time. Curtis Bryant is confronting the serious allegations lodged against him by his own congregation. Bryant said he's done nothing wrong and will be back on the job Monday. When asked what he would be doing at 12:00 on Monday afternoon, Curtis Bryant said, "Curtis Bryant will go into the office and resume his duties in the ministry." Bryant said he will be back to his duty at noon Monday even if some at the church would rather see him pack his bags. "Those members who have brought these claims against their pastor may have been well intended, but it has been at a cost that really none of us wanted to pay," said Bryant. Money is exactly what this congregational conflict is all about.
Signs of subprime fallout trample shares
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks declined sharply on Thursday as several major financial institutions suffered losses in the subprime mortgage sector meltdown, sending investors fleeing from risky assets such as equities in favor of safer government bonds. Stocks added to their declines after the Wall Street Journal reported a second Goldman Sachs Group Inc. hedge fund was suffering losses and was selling its positions. Trading was extremely volatile, with stocks coming off their lows of the session shortly after the market opened following the New York Stock Exchange's imposition of trading curbs. The Nasdaq briefly turned positive, but was firmly back in negative territory by mid-afternoon. "A major issue in the mind of some investors is whether this is a systemic problem and does the whole thing implode.
Kirby McInerney & Squire LLP Announces Class Action Lawsuit On Behalf of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. ...
NEW YORK, Aug. 2, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Kirby McInerney & Squire, LLP announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired the publicly traded securities of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. (``American Home Mortgage'' or the ``Company'') (Nasdaq:AHM) between April 26, 2006 and July 30, 2007, inclusive, (the ``Class Period''). .
Agriculture and Rural America lost on credit provisions
Last night (July 26), U.S. agriculture and rural America lost. The House of Representatives approved by voice vote an amendment to strip provisions that would have strongly supported Congress' renewable fuels goals and provided new growth opportunities for agriculture and rural communities. The passage of the Frank/Bachus amendment means less capital available for renewable energy, fewer competitive mortgage options for moderately-priced home buyers in rural communities, and fewer opportunities for lower-income Americans to utilize USDA's guaranteed loan programs. All of this was brought to you by the vitriolic and disingenuous opposition promoted by an entirely self-interested banking lobby.Ironically, this vote came on the very evening the stock market dropped more than 300 points, largely on news that home mortgage financing and credit for new business ventures are rapidly drying up.
5 Hawaiians’ lawsuit against OHA back on
A group of five Native Hawaiians who want the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to spend most of its money on people with 50 percent Hawaiian blood or more will get another day in court. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco yesterday ordered U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway to hear the case in her Honolulu court after she rejected it last year. The five Native Hawaiians are suing OHA because they believe the agency has too many beneficiaries. They argue that most of OHA's $28 million annual budget should be spent on people with 50 percent Hawaiian blood or more. The lawsuit was filed by Virgil Day, Mel Ho'omanawanui, Josiah Ho'ohuli, Patrick Kahawaiola'a and Samuel Kealoha, all of whom are 50 percent Hawaiian or more.
In a dry summer, powerful farmers negotiate water deal
FRESNO, Calif. The U.S. government appears poised to turn over the rights to billions of gallons of water to a politically connected group of farmers, even as residents across the West are being asked let their lawns go brown and adopt other emergency measures to conserve water.Under a proposed settlement federal regulators are likely to present Wednesday in Washington, landowners in the Westlands Water District would gain the rights to 1 million acre feet of water, or 15 percent of the federally controlled water in California. That would make it the largest grant to irrigators since the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation was created in 1903, agency officials said. .
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