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Granted, they are quite late to the party, but The Market Oracle is talking about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s role in the housing bubble (and therefore the housing collapse that came afterwards).

Don’t even think about trying to fraudulently claim the first time buyer’s tax credit. The IRS is looking for people who do that.

Has housing hit bottom? I don’t know. I think it entirely depends which local housing market we are talking about. The good news is that prices nationwide are up for the first time in 3 years.

Unpaid property taxes are becoming  a problem for municipalities. It is important to remember that just about everybody who has a mortgage pays those property taxes automatically out of an escrow account run by the mortgage company. Should the mortgagee be in default, banks are still pretty good about making sure those taxes are paid off. It then stands to reason that if those taxes are not paid, it is either people who have completely paid off their mortgages, or banks that are shirking obligations.

And last, TheStreet.com has noticed that “About 70% of the Las Vegas-area houses and condos that resold in June were foreclosure resales, meaning those homes had been foreclosed on in the prior 12 months. That was up from 59% in June 2008 but the lowest for any month since it was 68.9% last December.” Notice that their definition of bank owned is that it’s been foreclosed in the last 12 months. Seeing as I can think of a half dozen currently listed addresses off the top of my head that have been bought from the bank, quickly renovated, and put back on the market long before the 12 month mark, I think that number is high.

See everyone in the morning for Friday Figures!