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AP Business NewsBrief at 2:14 p.m. EDT
(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) AP IMPACT: Weak rules cripple appraiser oversightCHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) _ As soaring home prices set the stage for America's great housing meltdown, a critical step in making sure those home sales were a fair deal _ the real estate appraisal _ was undermined from within. After the nation's last major banking disaster, Congress set up a system to catch rogue appraisers. Their game: inflating the value of homes at the direction of equally unscrupulous real estate agents and mortgage brokers, whose commissions are determined by the size of the deals.
Inflated appraisal nearly cost family its homeHOPE MILLS, N.C. (AP) _ After 25 years as a doorman on Manhattan's Upper East Side, Carl Petrone was ready to retire from the cold winters and his daily commute. Petrone and his wife, Marie, wanted a home someplace warm, and found it in North Carolina _ a red-brick tri-level on a quiet, tree-lined street. It was bigger than their tiny place in New York and came with the right price.
Questions and answers on hiring an appraiserQuestions and answers on how consumers can ensure they are getting an honest appraisal when buying or selling a home, refinancing an existing mortgage or taking out a home equity loan or line of credit: Q: Who orders an appraisal?
Kosher meatpacker struggles after immigration raidPOSTVILLE, Iowa (AP) _ Three months after the nation's largest immigration raid, chickens and beef carcasses are again moving down the line at Agriprocessors' sprawling kosher meatpacking plant, but managers acknowledge that business still isn't back to normal. The biggest problem is hiring people to replace the 389 workers arrested by immigration agents, managers told The Associated Press. More than 1,000 people worked at the plant before the May 12 raid.
Qwest, union keep talking as contract expiresDENVER (AP) _ Qwest Communications International Inc. and members of its largest union kept negotiating Sunday as a labor contract expired. Workers represented by the Communications Workers of America had voted to authorize a strike if needed, but CWA organizing coordinator Al Kogler said no strike had been called when the contract expired after 11:59 p.m. Saturday.
A small town struggles after immigration raidPOSTVILLE, Iowa (AP) _ A vague unease whispered through this tiny town in northeastern Iowa, where the rolling hills are a study in vivid colors _ red barns, white clapboard houses, and vibrant green cornfields plowed with almost architectural precision. It drifted through Postville's downtown, where restaurants serving tamales share three short blocks with El Vaquero clothing store, a kosher food market and the Spice-N-Ice Liquor and Redemption store.
Breaking up big banks questioned as losses mountNEW YORK (AP) _ America's biggest banks have suffered unprecedented losses from the ongoing credit crisis, and that's made some investors question whether the big financial conglomerates should be broken up in order to survive. Break-up advocates, who for months have been clamoring for Citigroup Inc. to be dismantled, got some validation of their viewpoint this past week. Europe's UBS AG _ created through the combination of Swiss Bank Corp. and Union Bank of Switzerland in 1997 _ on Wednesday laid the groundwork to tear up its business model after another quarter of steep losses.
Former DirecTV head named LA Times publisherLOS ANGELES (AP) _ Eddy Hartenstein, a former head of DirecTV, will become publisher of the Los Angeles Times, the newspaper reported Saturday. Hartenstein, a pioneering satellite television executive with no newspaper experience, will take over Monday. His job will be to invigorate a newspaper that has cut hundreds of jobs as it struggles with plunging circulation and ad revenue in the Internet age.
Oil touches 3-month low on stronger US dollarNEW YORK (AP) _ Oil fell to its lowest price in three months Friday, briefly touching the $111 level after the dollar muscled higher and OPEC predicted the world's thirst for fuel next year will fall to its lowest point since 2002. Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $1.24 to settle at $113.77 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after falling to $111.34, its lowest price since May 2 and more than $35 _ or 24 percent _ below its July 11 trading record above $147.
Merrill facing NY lawsuit over securities saleNEW YORK (AP) _ New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Friday he sent a letter to Merrill Lynch & Co. notifying the investment bank that his office will file suit against it imminently as part of an investigation into the collapse of the auction-rate securities market. "We have been trying to resolve the matter," with Merrill, Cuomo said during a conference call with reporters. Cuomo said he has not been able to reach a satisfactory agreement with the bank.
Copyright ? 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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