Bankers Field Services

Census count poised for the big operation is facing a challenge from foreclosures . It is going to be more difficult and costly to obtain accurate statistics in 2010 as the foreclosure victims have shifted to live with families, cars or shelters. Many have been rendered homeless. This fact has been admitted by Director Robert Groves of the Census Bureau. He said some of the questionnaires would be mailed in 2010 but in all probability these will reach empty homes in those areas that have been worst hit by the foreclosure crisis.

By Jon D. Markman Contributing Writer Money Morning We haven’t looked at the new high list for some time, so I took a quick look to see what’s cooking. There were quite a few American Depository Receipts (ADRs) for Israel-based companies on the list last week, as well as a lot of U.S. retailers and apparel wholesalers.  J Crew Group Inc.   (NYSE: JCG ) surged to a big new one-year high on Thursday, up 15%, as did shoemaker  Skechers USA Inc.   (NYSE: SKX ) , up 14%; and Brown Shoe Co.

From The Oregonian : Boye Oshin is gambling with a bank to win $8,000. The 24-year-old Intel engineer has tried since June to buy a three-bedroom Hillsboro home. But the seller is still waiting for approval from the lender who would lose money on the deal. The house is underwater with the seller owing more than it’s worth. Oshin, on the other hand, needs the deal to close by Nov. 30 to score an $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time buyers. Can he make it? That’s anyone’s guess.

Image by reeltor99 via Flickr Well maybe not everybody, and maybe not quite recovered yet, However a consensus of several major real estate groups says that 2010 is the time for the expansion of the real estate market. According to several studies, the market of 2009 will mark the end of the real estate contraction and next year will mark an expected increase of almost 10% with a projected total of 5.403 million units closed in 2010 compared to an estimated 4.929 million units registered in 2009.

From the article Yes, The CRA Is Toxic: So Why is Congress Thinking About Expanding It? by Edward Pinto, who was the chief credit officer at Fannie Mae in the 1980s. There is no question that as the government pursued affordable-housing goals—with the Community Reinvestment Act providing approximately half of Fannie’s and Freddie’s affordable-housing purchases—trillions of dollars in high-risk lending flooded the real-estate market, with disastrous consequences.