The Wall Street Journal is on a Mission

The Wall Street Journal has been running stories for the past two weeks, almost non-stop, that are about the housing bubble. Unless you have a subscription, the link won’t work, but here is part of what they ran today.

[Lenders Clamp Down
On Inflated Appraisals

Overly Aggressive Valuations
Add Fuel to Housing Boom;
Requiring a Second Opinion

By RUTH SIMON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
May 26, 2005; Page D1

With home prices climbing at a double-digit pace in many parts of the country, lenders are increasingly worried about inflated appraisal values -- and some are taking steps to clamp down.

U.S. Bank Home Mortgage, a unit of U.S. Bancorp, has increased the number of in-house appraisers on its staff roughly 40% in the past 18 months -- cutting down its reliance on outside appraisers. The Minneapolis lender also is doing more audits of appraisals produced by outside firms, particularly in areas where home prices have been climbing rapidly.]