Banks take mortgage hits while another bank rises on "open space"
Two financial institutions will likely take a combined $3 billion hit from home loans, bringing to about $22 billion the total estimated impact of the mortgage mess on U.S. banks, the Orlando Sentinel reports today. Of Bank of America, it writes:
The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank -- Florida's largest and Central Florida's third-largest -- is projected to lose $700 million from its leveraged home loans and $300 million in direct mortgage write-downs, Sanford Bernstein analyst Howard Mason told The Financial Times.Figures also indicate JPMorgan Chase will take at least $2 billion in mortgage-related charge-offs in its upcoming quarterly report, the analyst said.
Larry Carson follows up today on the story of a Howard County couple who sold their home and 3.2 acres to a developer in the face of condemnation threats by the county, which wanted the land so the developer could build a road. At the time, James and Maria Oliver were told that any land left over would be commercially worthless open space.
But now, with the road complete, Maple Lawn developer Stuart J. Greenebaum confirmed that a Sun Trust bank is set to rise on a portion of the Olivers' former property as part of a new shopping center along the east side of Maple Lawn Boulevard, a major thoroughfare through the neo-traditional community.
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