Yes and I think it was one or two days ago AHM filed for protection. As I remember they join about 50 other lenders is trouble.Makes one wonder if all those creative financing schemes are finally coming to terms with reality.

Sort of like the pump bizz... except we work  without the bailout ;~)

DEFINITION: CREATIVE FINANCING- creates gain for some & loss for others

;~)

The people that can not make the payment still will loose there home. The people that made the fine print will still make their money, so the only looser is still us small folks. Bush said yesterday he was not in favor of grants for the individuals that did not know what they were sighing up for but would favor bailing out the finical institutes. It is the lenders that ought to loose. They will loan money to anything breathing nowadays.... to hell with credit checks.

I think that you sum it up very well.

The sub prime borrowers were not sold homes, they were sold the concept of ownership and they fell for it.

CAVEAT EMPTOR indeed ;~)

this is way over my head.....lol

May I also add that some (pump) companies will feel this credit crunch also, and they are going to have problems refinancing their debt if they can refinance at all.

and now the world banks are joining this club.

There is no one buying pumps now in North America.

Values are falling every day...40-60 cents on the dollar you may find a buyer but there is no demand. Banks will look at taking a chance with current ownership vs. chapter 7 liquidation is my thoughts, but who knows. If you bought a machine for 500k last year and you need to sell it good luck getting 300 for it. The big boys are trying to dump equipment and it's going overseas...125k range and when will that market dry up ? Soon…… So the banks at current market conditions are upside down even with the big boys.

The credit markets for pumps are gone...next world of concrete will be a ghost town for pump manufactures.

I remember when I purchased my first home. It was in 1969 and the staggering price was $12,900.00. I lost sleep wondering how I was ever going to make the payments. After the shock wore off and I realized that it was a doable deal it became a game to pull out the amortization schedule and mark that months’ payment off. I gained a small percent of equity every month and the idea of home ownership seemed like a winner, which at that time it was.

Fast forward to today. Here is some young couple, having purchased their dream last year, trying to figure out how they are going to make the new adjusted payments on their ARM that had just switched off of the ‘special first year’ lower interest rate payment. Sticker shock – belated. Now not only can they just squeak by after the increase in payment, the amortization schedule on the loan has absolutely no correlation to the steadily decreasing value of the property. They are making payments on value that is not there anymore; it is depreciating like an automobile. What is wrong with this picture? Something is very broken. Why is it that it is better to be single and living in an apartment?  ;~(

where do you think Concrete Pumping fits into this....Risk and reward...prices need to go up 20-40% across board...IMHO

The end of the credit party

The once-endless stream of cheap credit is starting to dry up; buyouts, corporate deals take a hit.

By Grace Wong, CNNMoney.com staff writer

July 27 2007: 11:35 AM EDT

LONDON (CNNMoney.com) -- Dealmakers, investors and home owners in the United States are facing a grim summer as conditions for borrowers get worse.

Until recently, there has been a seemingly unlimited supply of cheap money to fuel leveraged buyouts and other takeovers. There was also an easy flow of mortgage money available before the housing market turned south and the crisis erupted in subprime mortgages made to borrowers with poor credit.

But now investors are showing a greater disdain for risky debt - and fears about a looming credit crunch have shaken investor confidence worldwide. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 311 points Thursday - its second-worst day of the year - and sent global stock markets reeling. The Dow opened lower Friday as well but later stabilized and was little changed in mid-morning.

Besides triggering a global stock selloff, the jitters are casting a shadow on the buyout boom and could slow down everything from private equity deals to corporate restructuring plans.

Housing slump gets longer, and longer ...

The housing market, meanwhile, is still struggling to find a bottom. The subprime meltdown started the worries in credit markets - and the extent of the problems in the subprime mortgage market remains uncertain.

"The ultimate outcome of the decline in mortgage credit quality is not wholly predictable," Moody's Economy.com said in a July 26 report. While there are efforts being made to forestall the surge in foreclosures, "the downside risks outweigh the positives," the report said.

Credit markets have been roiled as investors have begun shying away from risk, demanding better terms on corporate bonds and loans, meaning the old days of cheap, easy money for corporations may be past.

"This is part of a process of removing liquidity and increasing the expected returns required of people to tolerate risk," Charles Diebel, an analyst at Nomura International, said about the turbulence in the market.

Tighter credit is troubling to investors for two reasons. It's likely to slow the buyout boom that's helped prop up stock prices. And it could raise the cost of borrowing for companies, hurting corporate earnings. To date, there have been roughly 20 buyout-related debt deals that have been postponed as credit markets have tightened.

The battle to be 'King of the Street'

Earlier this week, Chrysler delayed a debt sale related to its takeover by Cerberus Capital Management. The sale of $12 billion in loans underwritten by JP Morgan (Charts, Fortune 500), Bear Stearns (Charts, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs (Charts, Fortune 500), Citigroup (Charts, Fortune 500) and Morgan Stanley (Charts, Fortune 500) was put on hold, according to Reuters Loan Pricing Corp. - although Cerberus said its purchase of Chrysler would still be completed in August.

The wave of credit worries is also upsetting corporate plans in
Europe. British pharmacy giant Alliance Boots, which is being taken over by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and an Alliance executive, ran into trouble financing its buyout earlier this week.

Britain's Cadbury Schweppes said Friday it's delaying the sale of its beverage unit because of troubles in the debt markets. The company said it pushed back the timetable of the sale "to allow bidders to complete their proposals against a more stable debt financing market."

Now there are concerns the darkening mood in the debt market could hit other big deals in the pipeline. A number of high-profile buyouts still need to be financed, including the $28 billion purchase of wireless phone company Alltel (Charts, Fortune 500) and the $44 billion takeover of Texas utility TXU Corp (Charts, Fortune 500).

"Clearly, deals will get done. But capacity again has become an issue. Syndicating a $5 billion loan once again seems daunting, arrangers say, to speak nothing of a $10-15 billion credit," Standard & Poor's Leveraged Commentary & Data said in a note Thursday.

If financing for buyout firms dries up, overall deal activity would be hit hard. Private equity firms have announced about $782 billion in deals this year, or about a quarter of worldwide deal activity, according to Thomson Financial.

The weak conditions also come when buyout firms may start crowding the exit doors, which would make it more difficult for other deals coming along.

Given the length of the current merger wave, which started in 2003, the M&A market is already ripe for a drop off, according to Scott Moeller, a visiting professor of finance at Cass Business School.

"At some point, this market will go down, and because of the way liquidity has driven this merger wave, when we have the fall - it's going to be steeper, and the drop is likely going to be faster than in the past," he said.

Private equity firms typically hold their investments for three to five years. The question now is will they be forced to start unloading the firms scooped up in the recent buying spree sooner than they had wanted.

It remains to be seen what will trigger the selling wave among private equity firms, but when liquidity starts to dry up, "everyone is going to rush to the exits," Moeller said. 

Bob, I have been saying the feds should have cut the interest rates for six months. You could see the writing on the wall and a lousy 1/4 point cut six months ago and another 1/4 cut last meeting would have bolster the economy and given some confidence. Now all those ARMs that are going up would be gowing down. Funny thing is if Feds cut the rates there will be a huge refinance and people will bail on the ARMs...problem is they may not qualify for the loans. We got a real catch 22 going on in the US housing markets. Prices are imploding some areas of AZ have seen 40-50% drop in values mostly outline areas. People bought with a long commute then fuel prices spiked interest rates increased and work slowed down, a tripple whammy. Now on to our business, no more markets to run too it's the whole US with only exception being Pacific NW but they are next and it's already started in the past month or two. Pump companies are falling like flies, reorganization and asking for relife from creditors is only way to survive, the crunch here is going past the one year mark and no recovery in site. Texas was six or eight months behind AZ, Florida hit in fall of last year.

I suspect the SE & SW will be the first ones to start recovery but it won't happen this year and the throws will follow through the US in any area that has not been hit yet. I expect virtually no sales in new concrete pumps.

All pump companies are working on negative debt to assets...Yes the big boys must raise prices or face closing the doors and being cut off from future funding. We might finally get out of the 70s prices...No raise in some 30 years coming to end. I suspect we see 30 to 40% increase in the price of pumping in the next two years.

Not like I wouldnt follow all they got to do is do it. If this round has not spanked every one in this biz then it's time to get out...We must mature as an industry.

Ya know the real estate market is getting bruetly beat up.Reposessions at all time records.I am wondering how the automotive finance world is fairing?.