A demonstrator at yesterday's hearings on Capitol Hill lets Bernanke and Paulson know what he really thinks about the bailout plan: See photo here.

The blogosphere keeps expanding. in June 2008, Technorati tracked blogs in 81 languages.

From Technorati's State of the Blogosphere 2008 - a five part series, published starting today.

My daughter Liz and her husband Phil closed on a house last week, as Wall Street melted down. We had a house warming party Sunday night and throughout the weekend the neighbors stopped by to welcome them to the neighborhood. Phil and Liz saved to buy the house and discussed how they must watch their spending, but that is OK because they love the little two-bedroom home.

That is how it works, nothing more and nothing less.

I recently heard about a big real estate brokerage owner who was selling his house and going to rent. He often rants about buyers not realizing it is a good time to buy.

That is why things don't work.

"You save the banking system, now what are you going to do with all this distressed property?"

--Dennis Hedlund, president and founder, iEmergent, "$700 billion question: fate of bad loans," Inman News.

"There is only one thing necessary to understanding what is happening and it is this: no one at U.S. Banks, no one at the Federal Reserve and no one in politics can accept the reality that real estate assets in this country remain oversupplied, overpriced and overleveraged."

--Kevin Depew, executive editor of Minyanville.com, "Will the Bailout Succeed?"

"Short-sellers ensure that bad news is more quickly reflected in market prices. Capital is thereby allocated to more productive uses. If there had been more short-selling of Northern Rock during its ferociously irresponsible expansion based on borrowing money in the wholesale markets and lending it out as mortgages, much public money might have been saved later on."

-- former hedge fund manager Oliver Kamm, "In defence of the herd of greedy pigs," The Times of London.

Connect has gone Global and the conference program is now online. If you haven't been to the events web site recently (it's under the events tab on Inman.com) - go check it out. Here's just some of what you'll get out of coming to Connect this January:

1. Find out what's going to happen in 2009.

2. Learn how the top companies are cutting costs, getting lean and staying profitable.

3. Hear how US brokers and agents are tapping global real estate markets.

4. Master marketing your listings to the world.

5. See innovators, new business models and best practices you've never seen before.

6. Discover new technologies that will help you tap global buyers.

7. Get what it really means to build a killer web site.

8. Meet and network with hundreds of global innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, executives and brokers and agents.

9. Bloggers Connect is back!

10. Check out our inaugural Digital Video Summit.

But enough sizzle, let's cut to the meat of this post...

There's only 5 days left until the price increase on Friday, so make sure you get your registration in today and save some money!

And sponsors - make sure you check out all of our available packages. There's still time to reserve your space at Connect.

See you all in New York.

Attentive room at Connect SF 2008

photo by server pics

Blogger The Notorious R.O.B. writes on the beginnings of a 'web-centric' model for real estate.

 Financial-Bailout Proposal 

This is the proposal from Treasury Department for authority to buy mortgage-related assets:

Section 1. Short Title.

This Act may be cited as ____________________.

Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Authority to Purchase.–The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.

(b) Necessary Actions.–The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:

(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;

(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;

(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;

(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and

(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.

Sec. 3. Considerations.

In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration means for–

(1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and

(2) protecting the taxpayer.

Sec. 4. Reports to Congress.

Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act and the considerations required by section 3.Sec. 5. Rights; Management; Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Exercise of Rights.–The Secretary may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act.

(b) Management of Mortgage-Related Assets.–The Secretary shall have authority to manage mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio risks therefrom.

(c) Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.–The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act.

(d) Application of Sunset to Mortgage-Related Assets.–The authority of the Secretary to hold any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act before the termination date in section 9, or to purchase or fund the purchase of a mortgage-related asset under a commitment entered into before the termination date in section 9, is not subject to the provisions of section 9.

Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.

The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time

Sec. 7. Funding.

For the purpose of the authorities granted in this Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities, the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses. Any funds expended for actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure.

Sec. 8. Review.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Sec. 9. Termination of Authority.

The authorities under this Act, with the exception of authorities granted in sections 2(b)(5), 5 and 7, shall terminate two years from the date of enactment of this Act.

Sec. 10. Increase in Statutory Limit on the Public Debt.

Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000.

Richard Gaylord, president of the National Association of Realtors, has his say on HUD's RESPA reform proposal on The Hill's Congress Blog -- "Where lawmakers come to blog."

The irony of the blog's tagline will not be lost on those who believe that if industry groups like NAR don't actually write the laws and regulations that govern them, they have --ahem -- considerable say in the process.

If you really want to know how the sausage is made, the Congressional hearing Gaylord refers to is covered in detail in an Inman News story this week.

Footnote: How impressed are you that they got the REALTORS® trademark registration into the URL?

Better Homes and Gardens COO Nicolai Kolding gives the lowdown on the Clean Slate Blog.

So which Phase is your market in now?

Check out the new Brookings Paper by Karl Case: "The Central Role of House Prices in the Financial Crisis: How Will the Market Clear?" (PDF download link)

We loved this quote about how Californians can take a market beating because good times always seem to be around the corner.

And of course Californian's have been here before. Most residents were here to see the three previous boom-bust cycles.  Every time home prices fall substantially, within a few years they came roaring back. Even now, anyone who bought or owned in California more than five years ago is worth a small fortune. The attitude of buyers in our 2008 survey is quite upbeat.  Especially in California, buyers acknowledge that prices are falling rapidly now, but they still believe that "it is a good time to buy because prices will rise in it the future."