White House opposes Senate housing bill

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

All kinds of news is breaking out on the real estate beat today. A quick catch-up:

--The White House voiced strong opposition to the Senate housing bill, saying it ‘will likely do more harm than good by bailing out lenders and speculators, and passing on costs to other Americans who play by the rules and honor their mortgage debt obligations.’

--Washington Mutual found some new friends with money: ‘The Seattle-based thrift scored a $7 billion capital infusion Tuesday from a group led by private equity shop TPG.’ WaMu said ‘mortgage problems will lead to a $1.1 billion quarterly loss and the elimination of 3,000 jobs.... It also plans to close its 186 stand-alone home loan offices and stop offering loans through mortgage brokers.’

--The National Assn. of Realtors reported that ‘pending sales of previously owned homes fell a bigger-than-expected 1.9% in February to the lowest level on record.’

-- Last, never least, the L.A. Land blog launched several photo galleries in the popular, user-generated LATimes.com photo gallery Your Scene. The above photo, taken in Mar Vista this morning, is from the Foreclosure gallery. Post your photos, it’s easy and free. Other L.A. Land galleries include Weird L.A. Houses, Under Construction and Tree of the Week.

Thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com.