TRIANGLE - APARTMENT SALES ARE BOOMING
Triangle, North Carolina. The first quarter sales of apartment complexes in the Triangle totaled $706.7 million. That is nearly equal to the total volume of sales during all of 2007! Demand for aparments and increasing rents are the reasons that are driving the demand to acquire them.
WACHOVIA - BAD LOANS COST JOBS. During the all heat and very little light lending period of making subprime loans Wachovia not only made them BUT they compounded the problem by purchasing Golden West Financial of California who made a truckload of those loans. It was something they admit they should not have done. Now, when they are looking for ways to cut expenses, who gets it in the neck? Their employees. Wachovia will be cutting some 500 jobs.
I recently said that the major banks could lose hundreds of billions of dollars in this subprime debacle and still smile “all the way to the bank” because smaller banks and other mortgage lenders would be driven out of the business which they could then take over and control. In today’s News and Observer there is an article in which Ken Thompson, the bank’s CEO, talked about the bank’s commitment to the mortgage industry. It is reported that he said, “We see mortgage as a big opportunity for us. We think it’s a market that’s going to be dominated by a few large banks and we see Wachovia being a part in that.” I don’t see how he could have stated the situation more clearly than that. The follow-up is - who cares? Unfortunately, not very many and certainly not the politicians who are tied to the banking industry.
John Fish (919) 696-3474 Email: Marvmax@mindspring.com Website: www.JohnFish.com
