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On Saturday, October 29, 2011 from 12:00 Noon to 4:00 PM, you are invited to our Open Office at 2652 East Main Street in Stockton. If you are looking for residential, commercial, or investment properties in this area, don’t miss this opportunity to visit and meet with Dave Thurman, REALTOR®. Appointments are not necessary!

• Pick up a free list of homes!
• Foreclosure auction dates & information.
• Get pre-qualified for a home loan.
• Ask questions about foreclosures and short sales.
• Discuss agency and disclosure requirements.
• Become a member & start up your own Shaklee business
• First-time buyers and investors are welcome.

Citigroup paying $285M to settle SEC fraud charges

WASHINGTON (AP) — Citigroup has agreed to pay $285 million to settle civil fraud charges that it misled buyers of complex mortgage investments just the housing market was starting to collapse.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that the big Wall Street bank bet against the investors in 2007 and made $160 million in fees and profits. Investors lost millions.

The payment includes the fees and profit Citigroup earned, $30 million in interest and a $95 million penalty. The money will be returned to investors in the deal, the SEC said.

Citigroup neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations in the settlement.

“We are pleased to put this matter behind us and are focused on contributing to the economic recovery, serving our clients and growing responsibly,” Citigroup said in a statement.

The penalty is the biggest targeting Wall Street firms that mislead investors ahead of the 2008 financial crisis since Goldman Sachs & Co. paid $550 million to settle similar charges last year. JPMorgan Chase & Co. also settled similar charges in June and paid $153.6 million.

All of the cases have involved so-called collateralized debt obligations. Those are securities backed by pools of other assets.

In a civil lawsuit filed Wednesday, the SEC said Citigroup traders discussed in late 2006 the possibility of buying financial instruments to essentially bet on the failure of the mortgage assets being put together in the deal.

Rating agencies downgraded most of the investments that Citigroup had bundled together just as many homeowners stopped paying their mortgages in late 2007. That pushed the investment into default and cost its buyers — hedge funds and investment managers — several hundred million dollars in losses.

Among the biggest losers were Ambac, a bond insurer, and BNP Paribas, a European bank. Ambac had sold Citigroup protection against losses on the investment, allowing Citigroup to bet against it.

I found this article reading [recordnet.com]

On Saturday, October 22, 2011 at 2:00 PM, you are invited to an Open House at 2335 E Lafayette Street in Stockton. For a preview of this Home, check out my site at DaveThurman.com. Please do not hesitate to Contact Me if you have any questions or wish to schedule a private showing.

2335 East Lafayette Street, Stockton CA 95205

Custom Built Home plus Rental or Guest House on double 100×115 alley lot in East Stockton near Filbert Street and Hwy 4 Crosstown Freeway. Lots of off street driveway space and garages off alley. Very secured with wrought iron fences, windows, doors and alarm service. Main house is 3-bedroom 2-bath with a bedroom converted to an office. Includes formal dining, fireplace and central heat/air. Rental / Guest House is 1-bedroom 1-bath. This is a One-Of-A-Kind property being sold by the original owner/occupant/builder. Priced right at $99,500. See a virtual tour!

Last year, more than two million people were turned down for homes, according to federal data, often because the applicants didn’t meet certain lender requirements or because their applications were incomplete or otherwise problematic.  With lenders’ underwriting criteria becoming more rigorous in recent years, it’s important buyers know the most common triggers for mortgage-loan rejection.

Making sense of the story

• Insufficient income: Lenders want to be sure borrowers can afford to make the mortgage payments.  Lenders typically look for at least a two-year track record of income, which could hurt those who have changed jobs recently.
• Cloudy financial picture: Generally, total debt payments, including the mortgage, cannot exceed 45 to 50 percent of a borrower’s adjusted gross monthly income.  Overtime and bonuses are included only if the borrower has worked for the same employer at least two years, and has a history of receiving them.
• Poor credit: Lenders typically reject applicants with FICO scores below 620.
• Low appraisal: One of the predominant reasons buyers are turned down for home loans is because the appraisal on the property is too low.  A buyer may think he or she is purchasing a house worth $800,000, but if the appraisal comes in less than that, the lender will not loan the borrower the money.
• Property problems: Sometimes issues turn up within a house, like a major repair or safety issue that needs to be addressed, before an application can be approved.
• Information mix-ups: Approximately 12 percent of new mortgage applications were denied because of unverifiable information or incomplete credit applications, according to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council.

Related articles

• How to Boost Your Odds of Getting Approved for a Mortgage
• More parents finance their kids’ mortgages
• First-time buyers hit by lenders’ caution
• New appraisal standards to impact mortgage rates
• Loan rejections soon to come with explanation
• I think mortgage & appraisal standards are just right
• The Top 3 Real Estate Deal-Killers – and How Buyers Can Avoid Them
• Mortgage rationing still in force
• To Understand The Benefits Of A Realty Mortgage Do In Depth Research.

On Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 2:00 PM, you are invited to an Open House at 2335 E Lafayette Street in Stockton. For a preview of this Home, check out my site at DaveThurman.com. Please do not hesitate to Contact Me if you have any questions or wish to schedule a private showing.

2335 East Lafayette Street, Stockton CA 95205

Custom Built Home plus Rental or Guest House on double 100×115 alley lot in East Stockton near Filbert Street and Hwy 4 Crosstown Freeway. Lots of off street driveway space and garages off alley. Very secured with wrought iron fences, windows, doors and alarm service. Main house is 3-bedroom 2-bath with a bedroom converted to an office. Includes formal dining, fireplace and central heat/air. Rental / Guest House is 1-bedroom 1-bath. This is a One-Of-A-Kind property being sold by the original owner/occupant/builder. Priced right at $99,500. See a virtual tour!

Join the hundreds of thousands of people who have put their energy, talent and skills toward buidling healthier and happier lives around the globe…with shaklee products.

It’s one thing to promote health and wellness, it’s another to stand behind a trusted brand like Shaklee, who has been leading the natural health movement for more than 50 years. [read more]

DAVE THURMAN (of Stockton, CA): Your Source for Shaklee Products

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