 Saw this on Friday night, and whipped out the little camera because this is the highest I've seen: $4.19 a gallon, At 26th Street and San Vicente, in Brentwood.
Are rising gas prices an important regional economic story? It's sure beginning to look that way. It sure got me on the bus twice last week.
Submit your photo of high prices -- or low prices, or weird signage, whatever -- to the Pain at the Pump photo gallery in Your Scene at LATimes.com.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo Credit: L.A. Land
I've posted several times about lenders -- notably Washington Mutual -- freezing or reducing HELOCs, or home equity lines of credit. This article indicates that letters are going out right now to notify more borrowers that their lines of credit have been suspended or slashed: "Washington Mutual has slashed or suspended $6 billion in available home equity credit to its customers in an effort to reduce its risk in a flailing housing market."
More: "If they haven't already been notified, WaMu's customers across the country will learn of the change to their credit availability in a letter mailed to them in the next several days. The bank declined to disclose how many customers will be affected."
Analysis: This is why the Federal Reserve's job is difficult right now. On the one hand it is cutting interest rates to make borrowing more attractive. On the other hand it is strongly encouraging banks and lender to improve their balance sheets, which in many cases means: stop making the kind of loans you've been making lately.
There is also a fairness angle here: is it fair for banks to unilaterally reduce credit to even their best borrowers? I would point out, whether it's fair or not, it's not new; banks have always done this. Mark Twain: "A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain."
It's raining, folks. Cats and dogs and housing prices are falling from the sky. The banks want their umbrellas back.
Your thoughts? Insights? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Hat tip: Miami Meltdown
 Good morning, Big Brown, and others waking up on the East Coast.
Our little corner of Los Angeles is a riot of color these days, though I don't think I've seen one of these -- a purple orchid tree, captured here by photograher NatashaP, and Pieter Severynen's Tree of the Week.
The purple orchid tree -- Bauhinia variegata (a.k.a. purpurea)
"The semi-evergreen to deciduous purple orchid tree from India and China is deservedly popular here along our streets and in our gardens. When in bloom anytime from late winter through spring, it is generously covered with faintly scented, light pink to purple, orchid like, 2-3" wide flowers, beloved by hummingbirds. The genus contains dozens of equally spectacular orchid trees whose flower colors range from pink to purple, orange, red, yellow, and white. The Hong Kong orchid tree, Bauhinia x blakeana, whose flower appears on the Hong Kong flag, is also popular here. At first looks similar to the purple orchid tree, but it is smaller in stature, while its flowers are twice as large.
"Moderate to fast growing, the purple orchid tree has a tendency to be shrubby. It needs some helpful guidance pruning in youth in order to become a 30 feet tall by 30 feet wide roundhead (or whatever shape the tree trimmers select). The light tan to dark brown bark is smooth when young, becomes rougher with age. The broad, double-lobed, heart-shaped, 2-3 inch wide leaves have a deep notch at the top. The tree often blooms on briefly bare branches. Thereafter a large crop of messy, beanlike, brown seedpods may hang on the tree for quite a while, unless removed. The tree likes moderate watering, but is drought resistant.
"The curious leaf shape of all Bauhinia plants: broad, two-lobed, as if the two halves had grown together, is responsible for the genus name. Carl Linnaeus, (1707-1778), instituted our binomial plant naming system of one genus name (such as Bauhinia) and one species name (such as variegata) per plant. Members of a genus are sufficiently alike that they can interbreed, even if each species is otherwise obviously different from every other species. Linnaeus built on the earlier work of the brothers Gaspard and Jean Bauhin, two French-Swiss science marvels of the 1560-1624 period, both of whom were physicians, botanists and professors. Gaspard first published the concept of the genus-species description for each plant. Linnaeus so admired his botanical predecessors that the honored them by naming a genus after them, hence the name 'Bauhinia.' Linnaeus said that the shape of the leaf reminded him of two brothers who always stayed and worked together. We don't know if Gaspard and Jean
ever saw any plant later known as Bauhinia.
Thanks, Pieter, as always.
Your thoughts? Comments?
Photo Credit: NatashaP on flickr. Thanks, Natasha.
 I know readers here generally don't give a hoot about celebrity real estate, but I thought I'd make an exception for this item: a couple of celebrity-owned properties that have sat on the market for a while are now reduced in price.
Actress Angela Bassett and her husband have cut the asking price on their Hancock Park house from $5.99 million to $4.6 million, a price cut of 23%.
And actor Frankie Muniz (that's his house pictured) has reduced the listing price on this Hollywood Hills home from $3.875 million to $3.695 million.
Your thoughts? Comments?
Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times
 Excellent story today in the Wall Street Journal elaborating on a tidbit that was on the blog a while back: The anti-bailout website AngryRenter.com is run by Washington insiders who own million-dollar houses.
As L.A. Land reported a while back, the website is the brainchild of Freedom Works, a think tank run by Dick Armey (pictured), a conservative Republican from Texas who once served in House leadership.
The Journal: "Angry they may be, but the people behind AngryRenter.com are certainly
not renters. Though it purports to be a spontaneous uprising,
AngryRenter.com is actually a product of an inside-the-Beltway
conservative advocacy organization led by Dick Armey, the former House
majority leader, and publishing magnate Steve Forbes, a fellow
Republican. It's a fake grass-roots effort -- what politicos call an
AstroTurf campaign -- that provides a window into the sleight-of-hand
ways of Washington."
The Journal reports Armey is pulling down a comfortable $500,000 salary at Freedom Works, and that he lives on 78-acre spread in Texas valued at $1.7 million.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Hat tips: hp100, via e-mail, paynoattentiontothatmanbehindthecurtain, via comments.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
 If you, like I, were listening to the radio with one ear this morning, you might have heard a story that started off something like this: "A sign of hope today for the troubled housing market..."
Yes, there is a sign of hope. Housing starts were better than expected in April. There will be other signs of hope as the housing market begins to thaw out from near-freeze conditions. But no, these signs don't mean the housing market is anywhere near reaching a bottom.
First the news, from Reuters via L.A. Times: "Construction starts on new U.S. homes rose by a surprisingly strong
8.2% in April and applications for new building permits turned up for
the first time in five months, the Commerce Department said today in a
report showing the hard-hit housing sector still had some spring vigor."
Now, why that's not very significant: "Single-family starts continue to show weakness and [are] coming off a
17-year low," said George Adell, a fixed-income strategist with
Commerce Capital Markets in Jupiter, Fla. "We can't say we've hit a
bottom, but it's better than what we've seen."
There are roughly 2 million vacant homes for sale in the United States right now, prices of homes are falling, and credit is scarce for buyers with less than good credit. It is not a good time to be building houses. Sales of foreclosed houses now make up roughly a third of the housing market in California, and that percentage is likely to rise in the short term. Price declines in bubble markets (hint: we live in one) have been accelerating this spring, causing banks to re-calculate the damage to borrowers' balance sheets. Bank of America said this week those balance sheets are looking even worse now, according to a wire story: "Bank of America Corp. warned Tuesday that its losses on home-equity
loans would be worse than it predicted just three weeks ago, adding to
evidence that more consumers are falling behind on debts." When the biggest consumer bank in America says things are worse now than they were three weeks ago, that is not a sign of a bottom.
But maybe I'm wrong. If you think so, go ahead and school me. E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
 In the 2004 photo at right, an Ameriquest account executive named Jeanetta Standefor makes her pitch to appear on a cutting-edge cable TV show: She's talking about the quick money she's going to make remodeling a Pasadena condo and reselling it for a quick profit. Out with the Formica, in with the granite counters. She's a flipper!
Fast forward four years to today's newspaper: "The FBI arrested the president of a Pasadena company Wednesday, a day after a federal grand jury indicted her on fraud charges, accusing her of operating a real estate investment scam. The 11-count indictment, handed up in Los Angeles, charges Jeanetta M. Standefor of Altadena with wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering."
Same woman? From flipper to accused fraud ringleader? A parable for our times? I asked FBI agent Linda English, who spent Wednesday in federal court with Standefor and took a look at the photo above. "It is the same woman," she told me. I put in two phone calls to Standefor's lawyer, and haven't heard back.
The fraud charges against Standefor have nothing to do with flipping. She's accused of running a Ponzi scheme in which she allegedly convinced 600 people to invest $18 million dollars in what was described as a "foreclosure reinstatement" program. Investors allegedly believe they would make returns of up to 50% in 30 to 45 days by investing in a program that helped distressed homeowners refinance their mortgages and avoid foreclosure. The government alleges there was no such program at all, and that Standefor simply pocketed some of the cash -- and spent $1.9 million on cars, a fancy wedding and honeymoon, home renovations and other personal expenses.
Big giant hat tip: Geek Seek.
Photo Credit: L.A. Times.
Those who want to read the entire, original profile of the aspiring flipper, click below, the whole thing is there.
Read more "Pasadena story: From flipper to accused fraud ringleader" »
Breaking news from Reuters: "Key members of the U.S. Senate have reached a deal on a sweeping housing rescue plan that would see Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac backstop a government mortgage insurance fund, two industry sources said Thursday.
More: "Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the banking committee, said that a deal had not been finalized. But the plan outlined by the sources says the two mortgage finance giants would offer the funds to cover the costs of a $300 billion mortgage rescue fund."
One member of the Senate who will probably not be voting in support is our old friend Jim Bunning of Kentucky. Highlights of his comments today in opposition to the bill: "A major part of this bill is a big bailout for irresponsible lenders and borrowers.... The whole idea of bailing out people who took a gamble and lost is an irresponsible way to spend the taxpayers' money. I do not think the people back in Kentucky sent me to Washington to bail out speculators, Wall Street executives, and people who drained the equity in their homes to buy flat-screen televisions and new cars."
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.
Here's a wacky one: "A former Arizona real estate agent is suspected in five armed robberies
in San Luis Obispo County, including one of a real estate agent and
another at a real estate office.
More, from SanLuisObispo.com: "David
Albertsen, 64, is suspected of robbing the agent during an open house
in Atascadero on April 27, two days after he allegedly walked into a
real estate office in Arroyo Grande and robbed an employee at gunpoint,
according to police. Albertsen was licensed in Arizona, according to that state’s Department of Real Estate. He obtained it in February 2007, but it is currently listed as inactive."
Armed robbery generally isn't funny, but you have to admit there is an element of humor in this guy's alleged MO: "Paso Robles investigators say Albertsen robbed a man sitting in a
car at a gas station May 2, adding that he seemed rather apologetic
during the crime. 'He said, 'Sorry dude, but I’m kind of desperate,' the victim told police. The man was robbed of about $45."
The "Sorry Dude" robber.
Hat tip: KP via e-mail.
 News worth noting: "Directors and officers of Countrywide Financial, the beleaguered mortgage lender, must answer shareholder accusations of insider trading and an overall failure to monitor lending practices that led to the company’s collapse, a federal judge in California has ruled."
More, from The New York Times: "Rejecting the arguments of Countrywide executives and directors that they were unaware of lax loan operations that led to ballooning defaults, Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer of Federal District Court in Los Angeles ruled Tuesday that she found confidential witness accounts in the shareholder complaint to be credible and that they suggested “a widespread company culture that encouraged employees to push mortgages through without regard to underwriting standards.”
The law firm suing Countrywide has posted the ruling on its Web site, you can read it here.
Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com
Photo Credit: AP
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Saw this on Friday night, and whipped out the little camera because this is the highest I've seen: $4.19 a gallon, At 26th Street and San Vicente, in Brentwood.
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