F O R E !!!!!!! (closure)

Why, exactly do the pluggers yell, "FORE",before they hack the golf ball 30 yards into the zip code directly to the left?

I thought about this because, as our title intimates, foreclosures are, and have been on my mind lately. You see, there a foreclosure auction scheduled on the property next door to mine, and while in some climes, whole neighborhoods seem to be trending towards the "BIG F", in my corner of the world, it is as rare as a straight talking politician.

So "Fore" has been on my mind: Fore, as in beFORE, FOREfathers, FOREcastle, and so on and so on. You get the drift? "Fore" has something to do with "in fornt of" "ahead of" "the earlier in a sequence". So the golfer is yelling,. "Fore!", to tell everyone the sequence -- "I am going to hit the ball, then it is going to smash the windshield of that BMW yonder.

So, "Foreclosure" is saying (and this is being said by the "bank"). "We are going to do this," have an auction of YOUR home, "BEFORE we get closure to the promissory (Better to spell that 'I Promise I'm SORRY!') note you, the homeowner signed, with obviously your middle finger 'up-pointed' right at us."

Yup, that is what it is... a notification of a sequence of events...that is why they call it what they call it. Not that any of this matters to my neighbors...they are long gone: hightailed it back to the old country in the Pacific rim (stiffing the bank, the town the utilities, the newspaper boy and the guy who plowed out their driveway...).

Too bad, maybe the "bank" should have done something more proactive...maybe a "WayBeforeForeclosure".

Marching (or should we say "Juneing") Orders

Up top there we are talking about Orders, allright...Orders of Notice. For those not in the knowing, Orders of Notices are the little tidbits that come out of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Land Court -- Department of Trial Court, and they say, blahblah blah, "has filed with said court a complaint for authority to foreclose said mortgage in the manner following: by entry and possession and exercise of power of sale..." or some other such similar alliterative nomenclature snaking across the page.

In Belmont, as of today (6/10/11), 8 property owners have gotton one of these notices in the mail in 2011. In all of 2010, 12 folks were blessed with the banking benediction.

A quick look about shows that these owners in 2011 are spread out throughout the town: from the Waltham border to Cambridge up to the Lexington line. From "high end" to modest. Singles and condos and multi's (...oh my!).

I cannot say how this will play out, but can't help but wonder -- if Belmont is seeing this, what is happening elsewhere -- stay tuned.

Cond-OH!!!-nos in Belmont Sales up in 2011 so far...

Surprise, surprise... Belmont, the town that boasts itself as "THE TOWN OF HOMES", saw some "non-home action"! While the single home situation languishes in what folks say is the snow storm malaise (4 sales for January and February -- the worst ever), condominium sales in Belmont had their best year EVER in transactions as well as average price (aided by 2 big gun "Mitt Romney type" townhomes in the Woodlands)!

15 Condos had the ol' master deed docs and 6D's done over for new owners in January and February of 2011. That "one-ups" the previous best (2006) by ONE. Average price? 537k; taking out 2007's previously "Ruthian" tab of 512k. It took agents 108 days to get the job done; you have to go back to 2006 to find "better days" (2006 did it in an average of 97 days).

We can speculate on what this means for "The Town of Homes"; have we priced ourselves out of the market? or is Belmont going through the inevitable "Cambridgeification?...or perhaps is it what I call the "Condo-many-of-them Syndrome"...so many of them for sale.

A quick look at MLS shows us that as of this morning (3/3/11) there are 27 Single family homes for sale in Belmont: average offering price $1,076,000. And Condos?...well surprise, surprise there is a neat bookend of ALSO 27 condos for sale (average offer price $521k). One would think all is parity, but let us dig a tad deeper:

In the last 6 months, 5 single family home listings went EXPIRED -- read that as failed to sell during contract time. 21 condos struck out in that same period of time. It seems there is a "Shadow Market in Condos". Lots of folks want to sell 'em but they know there is no one to buy 'em. It is sort of like all those souls who have just given up on looking for a job and, as such, are NO LONGER counted in unemployment stats.

The crux of the problem may well go back to the craze that took off around 2004 when lots of 2 families were bought up and converted to condos: I call that the era of Con-DUMB-iniums and have written about it in these pages (search under the "Condominium Category" to the right, and you will find it). These condo buyers were newbies in a new strange land -- a "Town of Townhouses" (really flats that echo with he footfalls of the upstairs neighbor), and now they want out -- but they can't get out. And we are not even talking about the "under water owners".

What does this all mean? Who knows (again), but maybe agents should put on their urban thinking caps and start talking about Belmont as a "City of Apartment Dwellers" instead of a Town of Homes. It may well add up to a few more paychecks

Ghost Writing on the Wall

She comes to me and says, "I am interested in a home that is haunted."

I mishear -- I think she says something about hunting as in a hunting lodge.

Oh, heavens no,no,no she disputes, "NO I said haunted as in ghosts."

Now folks, I do not believe in ghosts. I also do NOT believe in Democrats in the White House, but they ARE there for the moment, so maybe just maybe there are ghosts.

"Sadly," I say, "when I search for ghosts, it does not come up on MLS."

"Oh, dearie", she laughs, "of course they won't come up. They are ghosts, they hide. We won't know until we get into the home. I'll feel them."

"Why," I foolishly ask (never ask a question unless you already know they answer!), "why do you needs ghosts?"

"Well, I am single, "she says, "and I am afraid to be alone at night. The ghosts will keep me company." Crissakes, I think to myself: I am in Great Expectations showing property to Miss Haversham...where's Estella when you need her (she was the Hot One!)...just my luck.

We head to one wreck in Billerica. What luck! She hears sound from above -- an "otherworldly presence coming down." Turns out it was squirrels in the attic.

We go to a dump in Burlington: sadly she prefers her ghosts to be Kosher -- I AM not MAKING THIS UP! (do ghosts eat?).

At the third home she looks at me and says, "I should have known you'd bring me to a place like this. Looks like something out of the Vampire Diaries! I knew it would come to this."

"Say wha'?", I stammer.

"Well look at you," she posits, "those sunk in cheeks, you are rail thin and youthful yet have the wear of the ages in your face, those eyes; big round, dark that seem to want to fly out of your head..." [note to myself -- oh brother, get me "outta" here!] "...Yes, you have the look of a benevolent vampire about you. NO no no...I want ghosts, not vampires to share my life."

Well folks, no sale, but I have to look at the bright side. I have a first time buyer who's not scared! I sent her to Bank of America for her preapproval -- if that don't scare her, nothing will!

A Friend in Need Should NOT Be a Friend (IN)Deed

She comes to me and says, "We were together for 5 years. It seemed only natural."

My friend here (ALL my friends are women), was showing me shapshots of the renovated kitchen in the condo she bought "yonder" about 8 years ago. "I mean," she postured, "We did so much work on the place, together, and he seemed to be the perfect guy!"

Now, folks, those of you who know me, can well attest that I work magic on women -- I make 'em disappear! I bring this up to point out that IF I knew what was the perfect man, I would have fashioned myself to be one long ago....So I asked her, "Perfect? How so."

"Well, single, never married, no kids, fortyish, living with his mother..." I lose it there...Any woman who thinks a forty-year-old living with is mother is perfect, well...'nuf said on that!

"So," she continues, "it was only natural. It seemed so normal to do it....And then I find out -- he's been in so many affairs that he should be a caterer! And he comes to me and tells me he's got some girl pregnant and, get this...he wonders if maybe it might be best if WE raise the child as OUR own!" And off she goes to Sobbingland.

"Well throw Old Lochinvar out, for crissake," I say.

"But I can't."

"Listen, honey," I move in for the heart-to-heart, "this is no time to play the conscience, the guy's a bum with a wet wick..."

"No it is not that," she cries, "we were an 'US'; a together, a 'WE'...so last year, I put his name on the deed. I can't throw him out; he owns the place too!" (And now even I'M crying!) "Yes, last year, while he was shakin' and bakin' in Miss GirlScoutCookie's oven, I was off at the lawyer changing the ownership of this place from a 'ME' to a 'WE'. On our 'quote' anniversary, 'unquote', I showed it to him. So Ya see, I can't throw him out, no more than he can throw me out! And he can bring his damn cupcake in with him, I suppose and we can all do a 3-some, or maybe THEY do a 2-some while I burp the baby." And inconsolable tears aplenty pour forth.

Readers, when words fail me (and they DO NOT FAIL very often), I think of cleavage, and here, words failed me... For a few short moments, I thought about how my friend would look in a shred of lingerie from the Frederick's of Hollywood collection (this situation was WELL beyond Victoria's Secret stuttering!).

"Uhhh, yeah," I say, my "unShakesperean moment continuing, "Uhh ya," and I say the only thing I can say, "Call your attorney."

Who knows, maybe it all can be undone. Maybe there is something in deceitful intent...but one thing is for certain -- don't make a friend, indeed, a friend IN DEED.

If it Sounds Too Good to be True, it is Probably a (NEW) Agent Talking

She's showing the listing of mine in Arlington. I'm there to make sure the dog does not bite. She's this cute little kitten of an agent holding out her shiny new business card, and showing me her license (still warm from the presses).

Her customer asks, "Where is the property line", and the sprightly, energetic young lass replies, "Over there...see the fence?" and she prances across the yard all the while talking about the shrubbery and other flotsam of greenery this "yard" will fairly produce under the pressure of a will green thumb.

I, of course, am not thinking green: I am turning red. As her customers plot and plan their futures in a tad of privacy under the canopy of a catalpa tree, I whisk the young agent over to an opposite corner, and as delicately as possible ask her, "Are you friggin' crazy or just stupid?" (OK I did not say "friggin'")

"What?" she asks.

"You," I say, "just told your customer where the property line is? How do you know? How do you know that the fence is not misplaced, or recessed or EVEN meant to be on the property line of THIS property or the neighbor's."

"Well," she says, rather non-plussed, "CAVEAT EMPTOR! -- Buyer beware!" and she jingle jangles off to show them the inside of the home with the new windows and new what nots (note to readers -- is something "NEW" if it is one month old? 1 year old? who is to say what is new?)

Ya see folks, here in my little corner of the world, there is NO SUCH THING AS CAVEAT EMPTOR -- BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!! No such thing, no such thing! We have, instead, 93A -- the Consumer Protection Act (MGL Chapter 93A).

93A protects consumers from, well... being misled and harmed by statements from those who are professionals in their fields. In other words it gives the inexperienced consumer protection from being rough-shod by some hi-falutin' wheeler dealer, right?

Right, but it DOES more: it "imposes responsibility for false statements made in good faith. The broker can obtain no refuge from liability because of the statement being made in good faith on her part" (from Grynowicki v. Silvia, 1994 Mass App 173).

Despite the new agent's best intentions and good faith, she runs afoul of consumer protection laws and risks heavy damages assessed --- and she DOES NOT EVEN KNOW IT!

So what to do? I took her buyers aside, and told them that the fence may or may not be the line. I told them we do not have a survey, and the owners of the home do not have a survey. The only way to be sure is with a survey. In other words I saved her (nicely sculpted at SuperFitness) BUTT!

So remember, buyers do not have to "beware" -- they do not even have to be AWARE! They just have to mention 93A!.

Order of Notice Review 2010

For those folks who do not know what is an "Order of Notice", let us move into the magical land of make believe: let us imagine this scenerio:

Scene 1, Take 1: Owner opens letter on the table. Perplexed by the big words, and stymied by the reference to military personnel, the owner puts down the letter, picks it up, reads it again.
Scene 2, Take 1: Owner divides the big words in the calligraphy on the page and realizes that this letter is notice that their "banker" intends to begin foreclosure proceedings. The letter in hand is serving notice that if the owner is active in the military service of his/her country, he/she should so make written notice to that effect...and so our story goes.

The "OON" is a good indicator on foreclosures. In Belmont, 12 neighbors got the OON in 2010. That is an imporvement of the 17 who got the riot act put on them on 2009. Sad, but a bucking of the trend as the chart below of surrounding towns details:


Waltham in 2010 104; in 2009 73
Lexington in 2010 20; in 2009 16
Arlington in 2010 38; in 2009 13
Medford in 2010 119; in 2009 111
Watertown in 2010 38; in 2009 38

This may well look like good news for Belmont, but silver linings, DO, in fact cover the storms. It may well be that so many of our homes were bought at such infalted prices, that banks DO NOT WANT TO FORECLOSE. Why foreclose on an unsellable property; why pick up ownership and have to pay those taxes? Better to let the defaulting owner dangle in the breeze (or hurricane).

Not too funny, but then, it isn't supposed to be.

Waltham Keeps on Ticking

I know the "keeps on ticking" refers to the old Timex watch ads, but come on, cut me some slack...it ain't easy being funny when you are trying to make pancakes for a middle schooler's breakfast. The reference refers to Waltham as in Waltham Clock, get it?...ah the heck with it.

At any rate Waltham's finest (agents) chimed out 265 single deals in 2010 up from 2009's 235. And they did it in 71 or so days -- 10 days faster than in 2009. Of course, according to MLS, prices dropped to $406,466 from 2009's $414,232 -- maybe that accounted for the "time change" (get it?).

Of course, all is not going according to the time tables in the "Watch City". 123 listings went expired or were cancelled in 2010. In 2009, 93 listings had the springs busted. That's an awful lot of time running out and an awful lot of "ticked off" sellers.

I cannot say what the new year will bring. Will things wind down? or will we move at "warp speed"? Time will tell.

Ooops...I did it again... (actually they did it)

Can you believe it, "shoppers"? One day left and the first quarter of this new decade is over...

Now, I know there's a bit of time left, but we may well jump the gun and begin to take a look at the slices and dices of how the "recovery" is coming along. Starting with that spendthrift Cambridge wannabe town of Belmont, we see 15 single family deals closed in the quarter...a big jump from the 11 of last year (must be that 8 grand tax gig, eh???). But whoa, what looms on the rear horizon, Kimmosabi? It ain't Uncas or the Last of the Mohicans...it is none other than the first quarter of 2008 -- wherein 29 RE attorney's got paid to write up 29 deeds. Whoa, Silver, we are being told that the LAST 2 years TOGETHER have not gotten up to where they can scratch the butt of 2008. IS that what we are being told??? Yup that is it.

I think this explains the scared stiff smile of the housewife house hucksters -- the ones who do one deal a year. They'll be down to zero at this rate (can you do a half a deal??? why not -- that's a condo, ain't it?).

Keep zooming back, my faithful companions. We will begin our town by town reviews...but WAIT, there's more...

...I will be at the House of Blues, sitting quietly for a change, but a couple of venues have asked me to return to the stand-up mike -- and I shall be doing so shortly. Now ...there's no more (change the channel, please).

Agents are full of S**T Redux, Redux as in again

'nuf said?... read on
By State House News Service
Belmont Citizen-Herald
Posted Mar 25, 2010 @ 01:02 PM
Boston, Mass. — Completed foreclosures in Massachusetts fell 19.6 percent in February, compared to January, but were 10.4 percent higher than in February 2009, according to data released Thursday morning. Also, foreclosure deeds jumped 13.8 percent to 2,058 in the first two months of the year from 1,809 during the same period in 2009, the Warren Group reported. Foreclosures started by lenders in Massachusetts in February were up more than 13 percent over January but down 7.5 percent from a year ago, according to data released Thursday morning. Over the first two months of 2010 foreclosure petitions – the first step in the foreclosure process – are down 6.1 percent from the comparable period in 2009, according to The Warren Group. “In the last six months, an average of about 2,100 foreclosure petitions were filed each month. That’s a pretty high level, but the pace is much lower than it was in the early part of 2008, when lenders were filing an average of about 3,000 petitions to foreclose a month,” Warren Group CEO Timothy M. Warren said in a statement.

Copyright 2010 Belmont Citizen-Herald. Some rights reserved

Agents are full of S**T -- Redux

Yesterday (see below) I put out some stats on Orders of Notice in my corner of the world, YTD versus last year for the same period. They painted a grim picture "malgre" the rosy smiles of the "housewife home hucksters" who daily run about hawking homes whilst "habidashing" about the kitchen curtains.

I was asked by many for some support of the numbers as they were from "only a small sample" of towns.

Herewith, I pick Suffolk County -- That is BOSTON, REVERE, CHELSEA, WINTHROP. Here goes...

1/1/10 to 3/18/10 560 Orders of Notice.
1/1/09 to 3/18/09 194 Orders of Notice.

As far as Middlesex South goes...

1/1/10 to 3/18/10 745 Orders of Notice
1/1/09 to 3/18/09 202 Orders of Notice

'nuf said?

Agents are Full of S**T

Here in my corner of the world, the next time your bubbly agent tells you how great things are in the world and how that world will only be greater for you if you buy this home "TODAY!!!!!!", ask that agent of yours about "ORDERS of NOTICE". Now, mind you, they probably do not know what those things are. My advice in that situation is to get another agent, FAST! Just call me, actually.

That is an order of notice over yonder the right there. Not a pretty thing I would hazard (privacy information has been blocked out), AND, it gets uglier as one learns about them.

Herewith is a small primer on what we will now abbreviate as OON:

An OON may be considered an solid indicator of foreclosures coming up. It is a required document filed at the Registry of Deeds that notified folks that their lender is going to foreclose on them. The OON is required because any person in the military can seek relief under the Service members Civil Relief Act (one rightly cannot foreclose on a bloke shooting down some scum bucket who wants to do harm to Americans).

An now, hers are some stats to ponder.

Looking at this year to date (1/1 - 3/18) there have been in "my" areas (Belmont, Arlington, Watertown and Medford) 66 OON's plopped in mailboxes of sinking homeowners; 37 of those are in Medford, by the way.

In the same period last year, there were 14!...Yes only 14 (11 in Medford).

That is a big clunk. When one thinks of all the foreclosures that have been laid to rest, and these numbers coming up that ARE NOT in the stats,...well conjecture is worth a few moments when next we "latte at Starbucks".

What does this mean? Well, we will expand our stat collection and see if the patterns are "All over the board". Then, we will be better able to discern if your happy agent is full of S**T, or completely down and out of the crapper already.

Sellin' the "Crib" for a new career

The caricature to the left is of the Salwens; Mr. and daughter Kevin and Hannah. It appears on page 23 of the March 15, 2010 of the New Yorker. The Salwens for those who have not heard are, now (at least for this week), writers with a successful book, and wanderlusts on a successful book tour bringing in the dough. Their book, The Power of Half details their story and subsequent "journey" spiritual journey, that is (oh brother!), not the book tour pay per speech journery tour that brought them to New York recently from their backwater hovel in Atlanta (actually it was an $800,000 home with an elevator, YES an elevator but why haggle).

Your see, the Selwens have this precocious (some would say obnoxious)daughter (that would be Hannah), now 15 or so, who, in 2006 as the family stopped at a red light, saw two men: a homeless rummy to the left and a rich folkster in a Mercedes to the right. She posited that if the guy to the right in the German car did not have such a good car (read that as not all the money he had), the rummy to the left would be able to have a meal (read that as government hand-out).

Ahhh, says the moron father...yes, but but but, and the kid says NO BUTS WE NEED TO GIVE IT ALL AWAY so that the rummies of the world can get to Burger King STAT! The father should have cut it off right there telling the kid she has no business suggesting the dispersal of HIS hard earned samoleons. Ditto, the father should have cut it off right there by telling the brat that, perhaps, the guy to the left (rummy) should ask the guy to the right for a job, and that what the kid is proposing is communism -- from each accrding to his abilites to each according to his needs. But Karl Marx NEVER did put together a best seller on that score (and it appears the Salwens have; see Barnes and Noble), but that is getting ahead of our opus.

To make that long story short, the Salwens SOLD their home for $800k, elevator and all, and gave half dough away to some seed eaters in Ghana (what ever happened to that Atlanta rummy right around the corner from them?).

And now, they are on the book tour.

We posit a few points here:

At first I was pondering saying what a true moron the guy is, but hey, the guy's got quite a financial head on his shoulders. Wealth is all fluid -- Look at it this way...he sells the ranch for a good a good bowl of rice, puts on the sneakers and runs for the hills. That's one way around the housing crisis.

But even better, he invests HALF of what he sells by dumping it off to some cuckholds out of the country (out of the country because inside the U.S.A. we could actually see how useless it is to give money to porch-sitters). I say "invests", because he writes the book about the experience and now he's rolling in the dough from Amazon, B&N, and all other sorts of cash registers, doing the tours, doing voice books and becoming a celebrity of the benificent type, just like that little girl who wrote a letter to Gorbachev in the 1980's (by the way, that kid died when she was about 13, I believe, in a private plane crash on way to a publicity event).

There is a moral to this story:

There are many folks who've come forward with interesting ways to sell a home and maximize profits in these hard times -- staging, loan take backs, point buy downs, rent-to-owns, who knows?..., but this guy wins the contest.

He sold his house for a best selling book writing career.

Bravo

A Self Serving Call to Action

The below quote came to me from my lobbying group, the National Association of Realtors. One wonders about these things. It is a plea to keep yet one more bail out going. The famous $8,000 to first time buyers is, after all just another bailout: it gives 8 grand to folks who may not deserve it and take it away from those who earned it (in the form of more debt to pay in the future -- which will be paid by rising taxes). At the risk of losing the love of my fellow agents, I say no; no to any of this. Let us all work hard, try hard, take a bit longer to recover, if necessary, but let us stop this govenmant mandated re-allocation of wealth.

Read the text:

"We have all seen first-hand the positive impact the first-time homebuyer tax credit is having on the real estate market recovery. As the expiration date for this successful program looms, we ALL need to make sure that Congress hears from us about the positive impact this program has had and ask them to extend it, and expand it, so that we can continue to see our markets fully recover."

60 Onley Street, Watertown by the numbers

A Fabulous Opportunity up and down the line! Open House on 8/23/09 12-1:30. Se you there at 60 Olney Street, Watertown, MA. Just click the title link above for full information.

I did not see YOUR NAME ANYWHERE...(or mine)...I looked

This is where YOUR 787 BILLION is GOING///...Note that solme agencies have not said what they are dong with it...why GIVE it to them????????????????????????????...oh I forgot, crooks don't need a reason to give away other peoples' money.

Department of Agriculture

The agency is receiving $28 billion -- $6.9 billion in discretionary funds and $21 billion in mandatory funds to go for specific programs -- including money to aid rural development programs and assistance for farmers. details

Department of Commerce

The U.S. Department of Commerce is receiving $7.9 billion, including $150 million for grants to economically distressed areas across the Nation to generate private sector jobs. details

Department of the Interior

The department was allocated $3 billion, which it is set to use for hydropower projects, preserving national parks, helping the Bureau of Indian Affairs, renewable energy development and beefing up research facilities used by the U.S. Geological Survey. details

Department of Labor; details not yet available

Department of State

The department will receive $602 million, which includes up to $38 million for USAID. The money will also be used for diplomatic and consular programs, addition to a capital investment fund, and money geared toward the International Boundary and Water Commission Construction. details

Social Security Administration

According to the SSA, the stimulus act provides for the one-time payment of $250 to individuals who get Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Social Security benefits. The payment is expected to reach individuals by late May 2009. details

Department of Veterans Affairs; details not yet available

National Science Foundation; details not yet available

National Endowment for the Arts

The stimulus act provides $50 million to be distributed in direct grants to fund arts projects and activities for state and regional art agencies -- as well as certain nonprofit organizations. details

Environmental Protection Agency

The EPA is receiving $7.22 billion for programs that will "protect and promote both 'green' jobs and a healthier environment," according to the agency's Web site. Some of the projects include improving water quality, shoring up infrastructure, cleaning up former industrial sites, reducing diesel emission and hazardous waste cleanup. details

Department of Transportation

Some $27 billion in stimulus funds are headed to states to provide critical repairs to crumbling roads and bridges throughout the country. On Tuesday, President Obama announced the package will help states "create a 21st-century infrastructure." details

Department of Homeland Security

While the full details haven't been released, the Department says about half of the stimulus funds will be "allotted to information technology-related programs." details

Small Business Administration

The SBA is receiving $730 million to make changes, it says, to the agency's lending and investment programs so that they can reach more small businesses that need help, including: temporary fee reductions on SBA loans, setting up a new loan program to help small businesses meet existing debt payments, technical assistance grants to small lenders and upgrading technology systems. details

Department of Health and Human Services

Around $59 billion is being invested in improving health and human services, including: construction of new research and educational facilities, improving childcare and community services, supporting renovations to community health centers and modernizing health information technology. details

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA is receiving $1 billion, which it says will be used to restore NASA-owned facilities damaged from hurricanes and other natural disasters, advancements in science and aeronautics programs. details

Department of Housing and Urban Development

The stimulus provides HUD with $13.61 billion for projects and programs, nearly 75 percent of which was allocated to state and local recipients on February 25, 2009.

HUD says the money will help generate jobs, modernize homes to make them energy efficient and help families hit hard by the economic recession. details

Department of Energy

The DOE has set out to use the funds to create or protect nearly 3.5 million jobs over the next two years, reduce dependence on foreign oil, invest in green technology, renewable energy projects and scientific research. details

Department of Education

Around $141 billion will go for saving or creating early childhood, K-12 and higher education jobs; create construction jobs related to school modernization projects; raising Pell grants and tuition tax credits for college, among other programs. details

Corporation for National and Community Service

The $201 million in funding will, according to the CNCS, support an expansion of AmeriCorps State and National and AmeriCorps programs that is aimed at "engaging citizens in addressing unmet needs and strengthening communities." details

Agency for International Development; details not yet available

Department of Defense

The DOD is receiving around $7.4 billion in stimulus funds -- and says it will spend the funds to upgrade facilities, make energy-related improvements, pay for military construction of hospitals, child development centers and facilities used to house soldiers and their families. details

Department of Justice

The DOJ will use the $4 billion its received to "enhance state, local, and tribal law enforcement efforts, including the hiring of new police officers, to combat violence against women, and to fight Internet crimes against children." details


Department of Treasury

The Treasury Department has allocated its share of the stimulus funds to go to the administrative budget: IRS Health Insurance Tax Credit Administration; Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; Community Development Financial Institutions; Financial Management Service; Internal Revenue Service.details

I love these reports

See below...nothing like a trade group to BEG!!!! oh please buy something. They forget...real estate is local, and personal and all the reports in the world are not worth the hole in a chicken's keyster compared to what is seen out the window of the coffee shop. Let's all wait 'til the full report comes out at 10 and then we can open our check books. Read on:

NEW YORK – A trade group report today on sales of existing homes is expected to show selling increased slightly in January. The increase would mark the second straight month of improvement from November's record low.

Sales are expected to rise to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.79 million units, from 4.74 million a month earlier, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters. The National Association of Realtors' report is due at 10 a.m. EST.

Wells Fargo; Go Far Away...please

See the below article pushed forward by Wells Fargo, you know the pigs who got 25 BILLION in Tax payer funds a few month ago and JUST THIS MONTH planned to have a 12 day bash at the Wynn Las Vegas -- until the got caught. which all goes to show, self interest is alive and well...what is the use of an affordability index if no one has the confidence to spend, and no one has the confidence to spend because they feel ripped off by Wells Fargo and the other. The affordability index is out of touch -- just like Fargo and the pigs in Congress who are touching you up...Read on

Big boost for housing affordability
Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Thursday February 19, 2009, 4:59 pm EST
Yahoo! Buzz Print Crashing home prices have led to the most affordable housing market in at least five years, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index released Thursday.

More than 60% of all U.S. homes sold during the last three months of 2008 were affordable - meaning that a family making the national median of $61,500 a year would pay 28% or less of their total income toward housing expenses.

At 62.4% affordable, the figure is up considerably from 56.1% in the previous quarter and 46.6% at the end of 2007, according to the report.

Topping the list of most affordable U.S. metro areas, which ranks areas with more than 500,000 in population, was Indianapolis. This is the city's 14th consecutive quarter in first place; it boasts a full 93% of all homes sold being affordable to median family households.

The least affordable was the New York City metro area, where only 13.9% of homes sold met the criteria.

In the fourth quarter, the national median home price fell to $190,000 from $205,700 in the previous-year period, according to a report issued last week by the National Association of Realtors. That combined with falling mortgage rates has made home buying the most affordable it has been since early 2002.

"Falling home prices and very favorable mortgage rates both contributed to the housing affordability gains we saw in the fourth quarter of 2008," NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a homebuilder from Tulsa, Okla., said in a prepared statement.

That still wasn't enough to get moribund housing markets moving again. Existing homes sold at an annualized rate of 4.74 million in December, according to the National Association of Realtors, down from more than 7 million during the boom.

And a government report revealed that new home sales crashed to an annualized rate of 331,000 in December, the lowest since record keeping began in 1963.

"Worsening economic conditions, historically low consumer confidence and uncertainty about future home prices kept many qualified buyers on the sidelines," Robson said.

Still no buying push

That affordability has improved so much does not necessarily make people go house hunting, according to Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research.

"You could argue that house affordability indexes are improving but that may not be the best way of defining whether it's a good time to buy," he said. "Concerns about the economy and whether they're going to still have a job have kept many homebuyers from stepping up to the plate."

During the boom, when house affordability plunged, buyers came out in droves. They were confident in the economy and afraid that home prices would soar out of reach. Today, just the opposite applies.

"Affordability is going to get even better," said Larson. "Home prices are not done falling. Buyers recognize this. There's no sense of urgency, and rightly so."

Indeed, according to Nicholas Retsinas, director of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, affordability, which was a major factor in homebuying during the boom, no longer matters very much. In most parts of the United States, affordability has returned to where it was in 2002 or 2003.

"The new barrier is willingness to buy," he said.

That's why one major goal of President Obama's housing-rescue plan involves slowing foreclosures to stabilize housing markets and foster consumer confidence.

"If that happens, maybe people will start thinking, 'Hey, maybe prices won't go down tomorrow,'" said Retsinas.

Most and least affordable

Affordability in Indianapolis, the 33rd largest metro area in the United States with 1.7 million people, was buoyed by fairly high median income of $65,100 and rock-bottom home prices. The median price for a home sold during the quarter was just $103,000, according to the National Association of Home Builders report.

Those prices, combined with reasonable mortgage interest rates, make home-buying in the area a snap. A buyer of a median-priced home putting 20% down would pay only about $450 a month in mortgage expenses.

But even though house buying costs are reasonable, the city's weakening economy meant it did not escape the foreclosure plague. More than 20,000 homes, representing nearly 3% of the city, received a foreclosure filing of some kind in 2008, the 26th highest rate in the nation.

Other most affordable towns were: Warren, Mich. (89.6%); Youngstown, Ohio (89.4%); and Detroit (89.3%).

In the New York City metro area, home prices took a steep dive during the quarter, to $455,000 from $500,000 three months earlier. But even that was not enough to dislodge the city from its rank as the most unaffordable metro area in the land.

Median income in the area is $63,000, less than in Indianapolis and, with home prices more than four times higher than in the Midwestern metropolis, only 13.9% of the homes sold there were affordable to median income families.

That was still a major improvement from two years ago, when only 5.1% of homes sold during the fourth quarter of 2006 were affordable. And New York households have been barely brushed by foreclosure so far with only 0.71% receiving some kind of foreclosure filing during 2008.

Other least-affordable metro areas included San Francisco at 20.6%, where affordability improved greatly from 5.7% during the second quarter of 2007; suburban Long Island, where 25.5% were affordable; and Los Angeles, where 26.9% were.

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And now for the Happy Numbers out of Washington

Just hide you cash under the bed and call it an honest mistake when they bag you for taxes...you'll be fine; just ask all the Obama-bend-over-boys (and babes)how they do it....

WASHINGTON – The unemployed population is getting older and more educated as companies ramp up layoffs and the recession deepens.

The total number of unemployed increased by more than 50 percent from January 2008 through last month, but the number of jobless Americans 55 or older jumped 70 percent, according to new Labor Department numbers released Friday.

And for people with college degrees, the number rose even more sharply, by nearly 85 percent.

The numbers confirmed a trend that job cuts are moving up the age and educational ladders, said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project.

Layoffs are hitting middle managers and professional services firms as the recession enters its 15th month. Stettner said that's a shift from earlier in the downturn, when job cuts were concentrated in industries like construction, retail and manufacturing, where workers are generally younger and less likely to have college degrees.

Many employers are reluctant to hire older workers, Stettner said, because they may demand higher pay and companies may not want to take a chance with those who are shifting careers.

Age is more of a factor than it has been in previous recessions: Americans over 55 made up 12.8 percent of the 11.6 million unemployed last month, double the proportion in January 1982, when the country was mired in a steep recession. The aging work force explains part of the difference, but not all, Stettner said. The proportion of older Americans in the labor force has increased by 50 percent since 1982, he said.

Meanwhile, Americans over 55 constituted only 10.6 percent of the unemployed in January 2003. Unemployment peaked that year in the aftermath of the 2001 recession.

Nearly 15 percent of the unemployed have a college degree, up from 13.8 percent in January 2003 and 9.7 percent in January 1993 — another year when unemployment peaked after a recession that ended two years earlier.

The information on age and college education is just a sample of the wealth of information, beyond the headline unemployment rate, that shows up in the Labor Department's monthly employment report. Here are some more details about who is included in the ranks of the jobless, by the numbers.

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COMPARING JANUARY WITH PAST DOWNTURNS

11.6 million: People unemployed in January 2009.

11.9 million: People unemployed in November 1982, the final month of the last recession of more than a year.

10.8 percent and 111.1 million: Unemployment rate and total work force in November 1982.

7.6 percent and 153.7 million: Unemployment rate and total work force in January 2009.

September 1992: Last time the unemployment rate was this high.

60.5 percent: Portion of the total population that had jobs in January.

May 1986: Last time the portion was this low.

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JANUARY UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BY GROUP

7.6 percent: Adult men

6.2 percent: Adult women

10.3 percent: Female heads of households

6.2 percent: Asians

6.9 percent: Whites

9.7 percent: Hispanics

12.6 percent: Blacks

20.8 percent: Teenagers

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LAID-OFF WORKERS

6.98 million: Unemployed in January 2009 who were laid off or completed temp jobs.

3.79 million: The same figure in January 2008.

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JOBS HARDER TO FIND

22.4 percent: Share of unemployed in January who've been looking for 27 weeks or longer

18.1 percent: The same figure in January 2008, one month into the recession.

22.8 percent: The share in June 2003, when the unemployment rate peaked after the last recession.

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SNAPSHOTS OF JANUARY'S UNEMPLOYED

2.75 million: People who were trying re-enter the work force after leaving work for reasons such as parenthood or retirement.

2.1 million: People who wanted to work, were available for work and had looked for work in the last 12 months, but had not looked in the last month.

7.8 million: People working part-time because of slow work or business conditions.

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WHO'S SURVEYED

60,000: Number of households interviewed in the monthly Census Bureau survey from which the unemployment rate is extrapolated.

40 percent: Portion of companies in the survey of businesses, from which payroll and job loss numbers are extrapolated, with fewer than 20 employees.

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LOCAL HIGHS AND LOWS

22.6 percent: Unemployment rate for El Centro, Calif., in December — the most recent month for which a local figure is available.

2.7 percent: December rate for Morgantown, W.Va.

George Bail-OUT

So we all gush and weep over the plight of George Bailey of the Bailey Building and Loan. And are we so uplifted when the town folk pour their money at him to well, shall we say it, BAIL him out of a jam?

You see, folks, Mr. GB mismanaged the bank; threw the money at those ill prepared to repay it (Violet get a little slip of cash into her purse). The old man grouses that all you have to do is "Shoot Pool" with the Bailey boys and you get a loan. And then, of course, Bailey kin folk loses the money! Leaves it all on a counter. Gone Gone Gone.

What we have here is not a sentimental story, but one of malfeasance and shame; one of poor management and judgement and one of honest folks having to "pony up" to pay for it. We have a bailout.

Now how is that for Xmas cheer?