Here’s a couple (here are a couple …) facts & figures about subprime loans, etc., courtesy of the Associated Press:
The No. 1 reason its customers have been defaulting on mortgage loans is because their income was cut. That accounted for almost 60 percent of its loan defaults in the first 10 months of this year; [...]

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Recently, a “non-bail-out” program was announced by the federal government, put together with great care by the US Treasury Secretary and many major lenders.
One of the elements of the proposal would freeze the interest rates on many loans. (The program has not been approved or made law, btw, it’ll be another 90-days before [...]

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A story from the Journal discusses reverse mortgages, and how more and more elderly homeowners are using them in order to save their homes from foreclosure.
With a reverse mortgage, the bank makes payments to the homeowner instead of the homeowner making payments to a bank.
The loan is repaid, with interest, when the borrower sells [...]

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Toward the end of the year, everyone’s out with data on just about everything.
Today I read about the number of murders going down in many major US cities, this year.
Year-to-date, at least.
Unfortunately, some cities have experienced increases.
Specifically:
City — 2007 — 2006
Boston — 66 murders — 73 murders;
New York City — 484 murders — 582 murders;
Chicago [...]

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Dateline, December 27, 2007, Stamford, New York

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Popularity of this post: 11%

Yesterday, the Globe ran an article about a woman who owns a three-family home on Callendar Street (actually, Callender Street), in Dorchester.
Still home for Christmas - By Donovan Slack, The Boston Globe
When dawn broke Christmas morning, Kendra Jackson smiled as she watched her 11-year-old daughter tear shiny, red wrapping paper from a gift. Then she [...]

Popularity of this post: 20%