Housing Market

I told my brother that the time to buy a house in Ventura County would be 6 months after Countrywide goes bankrupt or lays off half their employees.

That should be about a year, year-and-a-half out now, judging by the headline "BofA to cut 7,500 jobs after Countrywide deal".

Look out below!

Trades: with the DOW sinking like a lead balloon and GS issuing high-profile "SELL" ratings, I knew it was time to buy. So I closed 3 positions:

1. RIMM - held for one day for a 13% profit.
2. SKF - Ultrashort Financials sector - the financials have not been so low since the Bear Stearns collapse in March.
3. PHM - My smallest homebuilder position, and perhaps my most profitable. Originally, Pulte looked like they would have serious trouble refinancing debt due later this year and next. They still may, but their cash flow is holding up better than expected, they've refinanced a couple of bonds already, and today is a good day to buy.