Banks Paying Homeowners to Avoid Foreclosures
By Prashant Gopal
Banks, accelerating efforts to move troubled mortgages off their books, are offering as much as $35,000 or more in cash to delinquent homeowners to sell their properties for less than they owe.
Lenders have routinely delayed or blocked such transactions, known as short sales, in which they accept less from a buyer than the seller’s outstanding loan. Now banks have decided the deals are faster and less costly than foreclosures, which have slowed in response to regulatory probes of abusive practices. Banks are nudging potential sellers by pre-approving deals, streamlining the closing process, forgoing their right to pursue unpaid debt and in some cases providing large cash incentives, said Bill Fricke, senior credit officer for Moody’s Investors Service in New York.
Losses for lenders are about 15 percent lower on the sales than on foreclosures, which can take years to complete while taxes and legal, maintenance and other costs accumulate, according to Moody’s. The deals accounted for 33 percent of financially distressed transactions in November, up from 24 percent a year earlier, said CoreLogic Inc., a Santa Ana, California-based real estate information company.
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Comments »Is Facebook Accurately Counting its Daily Active Users?
Facebook’s monthly and daily active user tallies have been celebrated in Silicon Valley, but a deeper analysis of those figures has revealed that they might not tell the whole story.
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Comments »4 Board Members Leave Yahoo
Harley Davidson Names CEO as Board Chairman and Hikes Dividend
Western Union Tanks in A.H. After Earnings
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Five Fast Food Items You Won’t Find in the U.S.
HU SHENG/EPA/CORBISIt’d be nice to think you’d never settle for fast food when traveling abroad, but anyone who has logged significant mileage outside the U.S. knows that flight delays, language barriers, a sudden lack of funds, and other hiccups have a way of sabotaging even the greatest dietary intentions.
In other words: Sometimes you gotta eat McDonald’s.
One way to allay the guilt is by ordering an item specific to the country you’re visiting, rather than one of the many homogenized foods you can buy back home. It’s still fast food, of course, but at least it’s culturally relevant fast food.
To whet your appetite, here’s a sampling of five U.S. chains’ most unique overseas offerings.
Foie Gras Rossini Burger: Wendy’s in Japan
This wallet-shocking $16 sandwich is the highlight of the recently unveiled premium menu at Wendy’s restaurants in Japan. It’s pretty much what it sounds like: a square hunk of beef piled high with all the usual fixings (lettuce, tomato, red onion), plus a slab of buttery-rich foie gras. Anti-foie crusaders can try the Truffle and Porcini Grilled Chicken Sandwich instead—priced to move at just $12.50 a pop.
Patbingsoo: Burger King in South Korea
The chain’s spin on this popular shaved-ice dessert comprises sweet azuki beans, heavy cream, soft-serve ice cream, fruit cocktail, sliced strawberries, and sugary condensed milk. It’s the perfect chaser for BK’s Bulgogi Burger, a flame-broiled beef patty smothered in garlicky Korean barbecue sauce, padded with raw onions, and served on a sesame seed bun.
Der Nürnburger: McDonald’s in Germany
Three fat bratwursts snuggled up with bacon underneath a blanket of gooey orange cheese. Mmmm… mmmm… heart attack?
Golden Fortune: Pizza Hut in Malaysia
Commercials for this loaded Malay pie show it uniting estranged family members and giving lonely widows a reason to live. And why not? It’s piled fist-thick with crispy tempura king prawns, slivers of crab meat, some kind of unidentified “fish,” juicy pineapple chunks, and lime wedges. But it’s the pizza’s calorific cheese-stuffed dough ring—a.k.a. “crowns of cheesy liquid gold”—that really steals the spotlight. All of which makes Pizza Hut’s old Russian heavyweight, the Moskva (pizza heaped with sardines, tuna, mackerel, salmon, and onions), look positively wussy by comparison.
Egg Tarts: KFC in China
Gifting your loved one a box of these two-bite custard-y pastries on Valentine’s Day has become all the rage in China, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries, thanks mostly to a major push by Western marketers last year. Bloggers consistently rave that these flaky desserts are “to die for.” Split some with your significant other on a romantic date, along with a duo of shrimp burgers, side order of bacon mushroom chicken rice, and steaming bowl of congee with pickles.
WalMart Goes From Shit to Shinola
Improving their image is important and that is why Walmart is finally getting on board with healthier food choices for customers they have certainly lost by not recognizing the trend years ago…
Comments »U.S. Equity Preview: YUM, VECO, SPF, CSTR, NCR, & APC
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC US): The largest U.S. independent oil and natural-gas producer by market value reported fourth-quarter profit excluding some items that beat the average analyst estimate by 36 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Coinstar Inc. (CSTR) (CSTR US): The owner of the Redbox movie- rental kiosks reported fourth-quarter profit that beat analyst estimates and said it will buy the competing service operated by NCR Corp. (NCR US).
Standard Pacific Corp. (SPF US): The Irvine, California- based homebuilder reported fourth-quarter profit and sales that beat the average analyst estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
Veeco Instruments Inc. (VECO US): The maker of gear for chipmakers and data storage forecast first-quarter profit excluding some items of 13 cents a share to 34 cents a share. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey estimated 33 cents on average.
Yum! Brands Inc. (YUM US): The owner of the KFC and Taco Bell fast-food chains said fourth-quarter profit gained 30 percent as sales increased at stores in China.
Comments »Gapping Up and Down This Morning
Gapping up
CSTR +16.9%, NCR +8.3%, SPF +5.2%, NVO +2.7%, YUM +2.5%, KFN +1.6%, APC +1.4%, MT +1.2%, PRGO +2%, VSH +1.6%, APC +1.4%, MT +1.2%, KO 1.1%,
CLF +2.0%, MHS +1.2%, ESRX +0.7%, BPAX +17.1%, BMTI +4.9%, NVO +2.7%, HGSI +2.1%
Gapping down
KNXA -11%, PMCS -6.1%, IDCC -4.6%, VECO -4.2%, OMI -4.1%, SBH -3.9%, CBM -3.4%, BP -2%, AGNC -1.3%, RATE -5.7%, CFX -5.3%, IDCC -4.7%, VECO -4.2%,
GSK -2.4%, SREV -2%, RIO -1.7%, FCX -1.3%, BHP -1.2%, GOLD -1.1%, SLV -1.1%, BBL -0.9%, SDRL -1.7%, STO -1.6%, RIG -1.3%, TOT -1.2%, VPHM -6.6% ,
SBH -2.8%, ACHN -6.7%, WAG -2.6%, SOHU -1%, AZN -0.4%, DRIV -2.5%
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