by Calculated Risk on 9/30/2011 12:29:00 AM

• A story about the guy that checks the house after foreclosure from the NY Times: The Closer

When a lender forecloses on a property, one of the first things he does is send somebody out to see if there is a house still standing and whether there’s anybody living there. That’s my job. Sometimes the houses are crack dens or meth labs, sometimes the sites of cock- or dog-fighting operations, sometimes the backyard is filled with pot. And sometimes the house is a waterfront mansion in a gated golf community worth well over seven figures. Variety is the rule.

• From Bloomberg: One in Five Modified Loans Default Again, U.S. Comptroller Says (ht Mike in Long Island)

One in five homeowners whose mortgages were modified under a program aimed at reducing foreclosures defaulted again within a year after their payments were cut, the U.S. Comptroller of the Currency reported today.

• From Catherine Rampell at Economix: Job Losses Across the Developed World (ht Picosec)

Across the developed world, the biggest job losses in the 2008-9 downturn were in mining, manufacturing and utilities, according to new data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Check out the chart. Construction job losses in the U.S. were small compared to Spain, Ireland and Portugal.