Spokane in Bank Rescues Beaverton in Beaverton

Spokane's Washington Trust Bank purchased the assets of Beaverton's Pinnacle Bank.

clipped from www.oregonlive.com Pinnacle Bank fails; Oregon's first in 17 years by Jeff Manning, The Oregonian Friday February 13, 2009, 9:29 PM Oregon suffered its first bank failure in 17 years Friday afternoon when state regulators closed Pinnacle Bank, a small, one-office institution in Beaverton. The deepening recession has led to a surge in bad loans at banks across the country. The bad loans have weakened some banks' balance sheets to the point that regulators have stepped in and closed their doors. Pinnacle was a tiny bank with only $73 million in total assets and $64 million in deposits. Pinnacle, like Bank of Clark County, suffered not only loan quality issues, but also significant liquidity issues. Washington Trust bought the Pinnacle assets for $66.4 million and agreed to assume all deposits of Pinnacle. It also entered into a loss-sharing agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that limits the bank's potential losses on the loans it is acquiring, said FDIC spokesman David Barr.

No Housing Fix

Wasn't housing the root of the problem? Perhaps a $15000 credit would have been too much, but it was completely cut.

clipped from www.inman.com $15,000 homebuyer credit cut in compromise Stimulus package may restore higher loan limits By Matt Carter, Thursday, February 12, 2009. Inman News A proposal to provide a $15,000 tax credit to home buyers was stripped from a $789 billion economic stimulus package that appears headed for a vote Friday, but a restoration of higher loan limits for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA loan guarantee programs appears to have made the cut.

Low Mortgage Rates Available

Spokane real estate mortgage rates are still very low. With today's rates, the large resale inventory, and lower prices Spokane homes are very attractive.

clipped from www.cnbc.com Rates on 30-Year Mortgages Fall to Average 5.16% Rates on 30-year-fixed mortgages fell this week, offering homeowners a chance to refinance their loans, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 5.16 percent this week from 5.25 percent last week. A year ago, the 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.72 percent. Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist, said interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are almost 1.5 percentage points below last year's peak set in late July, "offering many homeowners an incentive to refinance." The new rate translates into a monthly payment savings of about $188 on a $200,000 loan, Nothaft said. Average rates for 30-year-fixed mortgages had been rising since hitting a record low of 4.96 percent a month ago, a decline attributed to the Federal Reserve's move to buy $500 billion in mortgage-backed securities to spur lending by banks.

Retail Sales Rebounding?

You won't hear this on the evening news?

clipped from seattlepi.nwsource.com Retail sales rise unexpectedly in January WASHINGTON -- U.S. retail sales jumped 1 percent in January, reversing a six-month declining trend and defying economists' expectations by posting the biggest increase in 14 months. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that January retail sales rose 1 percent from December after having fallen for six straight months. Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected January sales to show a drop of 0.8 percent. They plunged a revised lower 3 percent in December, which marked the weakest holiday selling season since at least 1969. "This is a big surprise, though the net rise in sales is less impressive than it looks because (December and November) were revised down by 0.3 percent each," Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a research note. "The headline relief today is welcome but it is unlikely to last."

New Jobless Claims Slightly Down

Is this good news or bad news? I bet the media emphasizes all the bad and overlooks any encouraging signs.

clipped from seattlepi.nwsource.com New jobless claims drop slightly to 623K The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of initial jobless benefit claims dropped to a seasonally-adjusted 623,000, from an upwardly revised figure of 631,000 the previous week. The latest tally still was above analysts' expectations of 610,000 claims. Economists consider jobless claims a timely, if volatile, indicator of the health of the labor markets and broader economy. A year ago, initial claims stood at 339,000. Virginia saw the largest drop in claims, a decline of 1,937, which it attributed to fewer layoffs in manufacturing. Drops of 1,000 or more also were reported in New Jersey, Missouri, Oklahoma and Connecticut. Among the states, California saw the biggest increase in jobless claims, a jump of 20,000 that it attributed to layoffs in construction and service industries. The next largest increases were in: North Carolina, with 8,663; Ohio, with 4,738; Georgia's 4,392; and Kansas, with 3,232.

Mortgage Help on the Way?

Solving the mortgage crisis is the best bet to turn around the economy.

clipped from www.nypost.com HOME LOAN ASSIST TARP COVERS MORTGAGE A cornerstone of the economic recovery plan that President Barack Obama is expected to unveil Monday will be modifying problem mortgages, The Post has learned. In a nod to Main Street over Wall Street, sources familiar with the plan say Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner plans to allocate almost half of the remaining $350 billion in funds from the Trouble Asset Relief Program to the so-called "Mo Mod," or mortgage modification, platform. "Mo Mod" is an algorithmic mortgage processing program that can rewrite up to 500,000 loans a month, and will be a major part of Treasury's plan to help repair tattered bank balance sheets. The 21-day "Mo Mod" program works by structuring a new mortgage that more accurately reflects a home's worth so that a troubled borrower no longer owes more on their home than the property is worth.

Resale Home Prices Fall (Less in Spokane)

All real estate is local!! Spokane real estate prices have fell some but not nearly as much. In my opinion, probably about half as much. Spokane homes have held their value better than many other regions.

clipped from www.inman.com Resale home price falls 9.3% in 2008 The National Association of Realtors today reports that the median price of single-family resale homes sank 9.3 percent in 2008 and is projected to dip another 2.4 in 2009 before rising 4.6 percent in 2010. Sales of resale homes fell 13.1 percent in 2008, following a 12.8 percent drop in 2007, and are projected to rise 4.1 percent this year and another 6.3 percent in 2010, the Realtor trade group also reported. Single-family new-home prices fell an estimated 7 percent in 2008 and are projected to fall another 1.7 percent in 2009 before rising 4.8 percent in 2010. New-home sales dove 37.8 percent in 2008 following a 26.3 percent decline in 2007, and are projected to drop 30.4 percent in 2009 before rising a whopping 44.9 percent in 2010, according to the latest monthly NAR forecast. After dropping from 103 in 2007 to 58 in 2008, NAR projects that consumer confidence will fall to 44 this year before kicking up to 55 in 2010.