Business briefs: Home sales fall as buyers wait for lower prices
Published 7:41 pm Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Home prices in many parts of the country scream bargain. So why are houses sitting on the market for so long? Sales of previously occupied homes in the United States fell 27 percent in July, the weakest showing in 15 years, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday. It was the largest monthly drop in the four decades that records have been kept. Potential buyers are hesitating because they think home prices still have further to fall. And potential sellers — those with the stomach to put their homes on the market at all, anyway — are reluctant to lower their prices. “It really is a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Aaron Zapata, a real estate agent in Brea, Calif. “If all buyers perceive that home prices are coming down, then they will stop making offers — and home prices will come down.”
WaMu judge repeats document order
Holders of $1 billion in Washington Mutual Inc. securities are still trying to get documents from the company and JPMorgan Chase &Co. in a lawsuit they filed to protect their investment. A bankruptcy judge in Delaware reiterated on Tuesday a previous order for WMI and JPMorgan to provide the information being sought by the investors and urged them to do so by the Sept. 1 deadline requested by the investors. The investors claim Washington Mutual and JPMorgan have failed to identify relevant documents or provide the search guidance they need to wade through more than 130,000 documents in an electronic database. Attorneys for WMI and JPMorgan deny any effort to withhold information and say the securities holders won’t cooperate.
Coca-Cola workers strike in region
About 500 Coca-Cola employees went on strike Monday at six locations in Western Washington, including Marysville. Teamsters Local 117 said the company wants to eliminate health care for retirees and hike employees’ share of health insurance costs. Company spokesman Bob Phillips told KOMO News the company is willing to negotiate and is waiting for a call back from the union. The previous contract expired May 15. The union represents Coke workers in Aberdeen, Bellevue, Bremerton, Fife, Marysville and Tacoma.
Random House drops Amazon deal
An exclusive e-book deal between Amazon.com and the agent for such Random House classics as “Invisible Man” and “Lolita” is no longer exclusive, and no longer a deal. Random House Inc. and the Wylie Agency announced Tuesday that “Invisible Man,” “Rabbit Is Rich” and several other works were being “removed” from a program brokered between Wylie and Amazon that offered them as e-books available only through the online retailer. Instead, Random House, which had claimed electronic rights, will publish the books on a “non-exclusive basis,” meaning that consumers can buy them through Amazon, Barnes &Noble.com and other sellers of digital books.
From Herald news services
