{"id":2074,"date":"2008-06-20T09:50:39","date_gmt":"2008-06-20T16:50:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/?p=2074"},"modified":"2010-01-22T19:09:43","modified_gmt":"2010-01-23T03:09:43","slug":"link-roundup-taxes-fraud-layoffs-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/20\/link-roundup-taxes-fraud-layoffs-oh-my\/","title":{"rendered":"Link Roundup: Taxes, Fraud, & Layoffs (oh my)"},"content":{"rendered":"

There have been a lot of local real estate stories this week that are worth mentioning, but aren’t big enough to merit their own post. So it’s time for another link roundup.<\/p>\n

Tax Assessments & Government Revenue<\/strong>
\nFirst up, while tax assessments may be falling in Pierce and Snohomish<\/a>, it looks like they’re still on the rise in King County. Aubrey Cohen reports for the P-I: With house prices down, why are tax assessments up?<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The King County Department of Assessments recently sent Brian White a notice saying his Phinney Ridge house was worth 12.5 percent more this year than in 2007.<\/p>\n

“We’re not thrilled, but it was not unexpected,” White said Monday, noting the increasing popularity of his neighborhood.<\/p>\n

But the jump in value seemed to contradict the fact that the median price of a house sold in May was down 2.7 percent from a year earlier in Seattle and 6.2 percent countywide, according to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also note Aubrey’s follow-up blog post: Banging … head … against … wall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking of tax revenues, Washington state’s interim chief economist Steve Lerch predicts a continued downturn in the state economic picture thanks to the real estate bust. Rachel La Corte with AP reports via the Seattle Times: WA state income down $167 million next 3 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Washington’s treasury will take a $167 million revenue hit over the next three years due to the weakening economy, the state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council was told Thursday.<\/p>\n

Steve Lerch, the state’s interim chief economist, told the council that sales and business taxes are down and real estate excise tax collections have seen a significant decline.<\/p>\n

Lerch said that on the real estate tax collections, “we are forecasting what would essentially be the worst downturn we’ve seen in the past 25 years.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Uh-oh, I hope the AP copyright police<\/a> don’t come knocking on my door. Here’s another story on the same topic from the Olympian: State forecast indicates economic slowdown will linger<\/a>. Also, if like me you were wondering after reading this article “what happened to ChangMook Sohn,” the answer is that he’s running for state treasurer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even Seattle Has its Share of the F-word (Fraud)<\/strong>
\nHere’s a real shocker: 6 from Seattle-area indicted in crackdown on mortgage fraud<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Six Seattle-area people have been indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with “Operation Malicious Mortgage,” a national takedown of mortgage-fraud schemes that has resulted in more than 400 arrests nationwide and losses estimated at more than $1 billion \u2014 nearly $8.4 million in the Seattle case alone.<\/p>\n

Those indicted included a disbarred lawyer, a former bank-loan officer and a mortgage broker, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. Others include the owner of several shell corporations that “flipped” houses as part of a scheme using unqualified “straw” buyers who allowed inflated loans to be made in their names, only to default on the mortgages, the indictment says.<\/p>\n

The case is among 144 prosecutions involving 406 people nationally.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But I thought Seattle was squeaky-clean? No fraud or flipping here, just Microsoft employees with money burning a hole in their pocket, looking to buy a modest $800k 3 bedroom. Actually the shocker is that it only<\/em> involves 406 people nation-wide. Here’s hoping that they’re just getting started.<\/p>\n

\"Pets.comShutdowns and Layoffs<\/strong>
\nExpect to see more stories like this as the slowdown gets rolling here in the Pacific Northwest: Developer Barclays North will fold, says founder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Battered by the national housing slump, developer Barclays North, a real-estate powerhouse whose sales once topped $45 million, will fold July 4, the Lake Stevens-based firm announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The closure, which follows a months-long scramble by founder and CEO Patrick McCourt to placate lenders, shows how the nation’s real-estate downturn is rippling through the local market.
\n…
\nBarclays North typically took large undeveloped parcels of land, obtained all the necessary permits and resold the tracts to major homebuilders.<\/p>\n

But Barclays entered this year in default with at least 56 creditors and faced a barrage of lawsuits this spring as some lenders exhausted their patience.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And along those same lines, it’s time for yet another round of layoffs at WaMu. The Times<\/a> and P-I<\/a> both have stories on that one today.<\/p>\n

Washington Mutual Inc. cut another 1,200 jobs Thursday, including 260 in Seattle, the third such round of layoffs in less than a year.<\/p>\n

While the number of employees to be cut isn’t as large as the two most recent reductions, it’s still a reflection of the company’s continuing struggles in dealing with the mortgage finance mess and WaMu’s losses stemming from rising loan delinquencies and defaults.<\/p>\n

“We will do what we must to return the company to profitability faster and to restore shareholder value,” WaMu Chief Executive Kerry Killinger said in a letter to employees.<\/p>\n

And Killinger suggested the company might not be done cutting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sucky.<\/p>\n

(Aubrey Cohen, Seattle P-I<\/a>, 06.18.2008<\/em>)
\n(Rachel La Corte, Associated Press<\/a>, 06.19.2008<\/em>)
\n(Brad Shannon, The Olympian<\/a>, 06.19.2008<\/em>)
\n(Mike Carter, Seattle Times<\/a>, 06.20.2008<\/em>)
\n(Drew DeSilver, Seattle Times<\/a>, 06.20.2008<\/em>)
\n(Bill Virgin, Seattle P-I<\/a>, 06.20.2008<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There have been a lot of local real estate stories this week that are worth mentioning, but aren’t big enough to merit their own post. So it’s time for another link roundup. Tax Assessments & Government Revenue First up, while tax assessments may be falling in Pierce and Snohomish, it looks like they’re still on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[612,198],"tags":[345,175,276,326,226,171,111],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-assessments","tag-developers","tag-fraud","tag-layoffs","tag-sohn","tag-tax-revenues","tag-wamu"],"yoast_head":"\nLink Roundup: Taxes, Fraud, & Layoffs (oh my) \u2022 Seattle Bubble<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seattlebubble.com\/blog\/2008\/06\/20\/link-roundup-taxes-fraud-layoffs-oh-my\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Link Roundup: Taxes, Fraud, & Layoffs (oh my) \u2022 Seattle Bubble\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"There have been a lot of local real estate stories this week that are worth mentioning, but aren’t big enough to merit their own post. 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