California Home Loan 360

Wary buyers and a shaky mortgage market slammed the brakes on Bay Area home sales in September, which reached their lowest level of any September in the past two decades.

Chart: September sales by county Wary buyers and a shaky mortgage market slammed the brakes on Bay Area home sales in September, with fewer homes of all types selling last month than during any September in the past two decades.

SEPTEMBER HOUSE SALES Abrupt changes in the mortgage market in August drove September home sales to their lowest levels in two decades.

LOS ANGELES - September homes sales in Northern California sank to their lowest level in two decades as mortgages became harder to get, a real estate research firm said Thursday.

IRVINE, Calif. -- After more than two decades in the mortgage business, Tony Ventimiglio got his big break in 2001 when he accepted a managerial job with a lender here in the heart of Orange County for $225,000 a year -- more than double what he had made in each of the previous four years.

IRVINE, Calif. -- After more than two decades in the mortgage business, Tony Ventimiglio got his big break in 2001 when he accepted a managerial job with a lender here in the heart of Orange County for $225,000 a year -- more than double what he had made in each of the previous four years.

If you think 20 to 30 minutes of cardio a few days a week is all you need to keep your health in check over the next few decades, it's time to wake up and smell the iron.

The divide between rich and poor in California has been growing for decades, with most of the jobs created in the state paying wages at opposite ends of the spectrum and the top earners pulling down the biggest gains, according to a report from a nonprofit research group.