Desperately searching for scraps of bad economic news that could help push the economy into recession, Yahoo News finds one homebuilder in one state while ignoring the surging market everywhere for previously owned housing.  I read the headline below and almost started to weep because the economy is in such dire straits that luxury home–builders are struggling, especially in California. Luxury Homebuilder's Woes Show Mounting U.S. Slowdown Fears (Bloomberg) — Wealthy buyers are pulling back from some of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S., the latest sign that sky-high prices and fears of a recession are weighing on a key sector of the economy. Toll Brothers Inc., the nation’s largest publicly traded luxury-home builder, said late Tuesday that purchase agreements fell 3% from a year earlier, worse than a decline of less than 1% that was expected by a Bloomberg survey of six analysts. The company’s orders in California, home...(Read Full Post)