Housing

Home Prices Seen Dropping 10% in U.S. on Foreclosures – Bloomberg

Update on Possible GSE Principal Reductions - CR

Wells Fargo on Housing: Better Days Ahead, Prices to bottom mid-year - CR

Home Affordability Reality Check (Part 2 of 5) - Barry Ritholtz

Foreclosure reforms to widen – WaPo

Principle Reductions Grow - NAR

Is Foreclosure Abuse the Biggest Problem in the Housing Sector? - IRA

Until the Fed allows interest rates to rise and restores the arbitrage to the Treasury yield curve, the private label market for non-conforming loans and RMBS is not going to be revived — period. With the Fed keeping rates at zero and banks desperately seeking to put on earning assets, there is simply no “spread” available in the markets to incentivize private investors to take risk on non-conforming residential mortgages.

Economy

Why People Hate the Banks – Joe Nocera

Where Housing Once Boomed, Recovery Lags – NY Times

No Normal Recovery – Tim Iacono

Small changes add up, threaten future of access to higher education in California – Mercury News

Bay Area News

‘Star Wars’ giant’s Marin development hits snag – SF Gate

The Lucas Valley Estates Homeowners Association is crossing sabers with Lucas over his plans to build a 263,701-square-foot, mission-style digital technology production and filmmaking complex, complete with a wine cave and tasting room, on historic farmland known as Grady Ranch.

“Most of the community, honestly, feels this is an absolute travesty that anything should be going in at that location,” said Liz Dale, president of the association’s board of directors, which represents 174 property owners and as many as 500 residents in the neighborhood adjacent to the proposed development.

“It will be bringing a lot of commercial activity into a very beloved, fragile valley, where the people really treasure the quiet rural environment,” she said.

The Top 100 Bay Area Restaurants For 2012 – SF Gate

Misc.

Groupon looking like Pets.com of current tech boom – MarketWatch

Amazing: The Poorest Households Spend 9% of Their Income on Lottery Tickets – The Atlantic

Bay Area nonprofit fights to keep camp alive – Contra Costa Times

Alumni of Camp Jack Hazard, a popular youth camp in the Sierra Nevada, are on a mission to raise enough money to preserve it for future generations after the organization that ran the rustic facility for nine decades abruptly shut its doors last year.

“I think it’s crucial for people in the Bay Area to know about camp,” said Brett Dennen, 32, a former camp counselor turned successful musician. “People from the city need the mountains more than people who live in Oakdale or Modesto.”