A Toot of the Horn to Belmont

The NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Foundation today (April 16, 2009) announced the results of its tenth annual “Best Communities for Music Education” survey, which acknowledges schools and districts across the U.S. for their commitment and support of music education in schools. As the economy challenges state and local school budgets to adequately support education, the 124 school districts named by the NAMM Foundation demonstrate the unwavering commitment to provide music education for their students. The NAMM Foundation’s mission is to ensure that all children have access to quality music education programs that encourage lifelong participation in music making.

"The potential of music to help children reach their full development is understood by the school districts represented in this year’s survey results,” said Mary Luehrsen, executive director, NAMM Foundation. “We celebrate these communities that are committed to providing access to music education programs and bettering the lives of their students.”
The 2009 survey, which opened on Thursday January 15, and ended Friday, March 13, was available to all districts nationwide. This year, teachers and school district administrators, representing communities across the country, participated in the Web-based survey. The districts were measured across curricular and programmatic criteria as well as public support of their music programs. The survey was developed and administered by The Institute for Educational Research and Public Service, ! an affiliate of the University of Kansas.

Participants in the survey answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program, and other relevant factors in their communities’ music education programs. The responses were verified with district officials, and advisory organizations reviewed the data.
Throughout the survey’s ten years, many districts have reported that making the “Best Communities” list has had a positive effect on their ability to preserve music for their students amid budget cuts in arts programs.

In conducting the annual survey, the NAMM Foundation is joined by advisory organizations in the fields of music and education including, Americans for the Arts (www.americansforthearts.org), League of American Orchestras (www.americanorchestras.org), The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation (www.mhopus.org), The Metropolitan Opera Guild (www.operaed.org), Music for All (www.musicforall.org), Music Teachers National Association (www.mtna.org), National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts (www.nationalguild.org), National PTA (www.pta.org), Yamaha Corpora! tion of America (www.yamaha.com) and VH1 Save The Music Foundation (www.vh1savethemusic.com). The survey was conducted by The Institute for Educational Research and Public Service of Lawrence, KS, an affiliate of the University of Kansas.

Go to http://www.namm.org/news/press-releases/nationwide-survey-finds-best-communities-music-edu for the complete listing of school districts.

Fools Every Day (Not Just April)

It ever perplexes me that so many of the so-called service folk (real estate agents are in this fold) need excuses to keep in touch; an excuse to call, an excuse to pop by, an excuse to bother you, the reader, with an inane newsletter (usually prepared by an outside service).

Of all excuses, the most insidious is the birthday “note” or “e-greeting” or call or whatever acknowledgement of a day many folks do not want acknowledged. Sending a card to a person with whom your connection is generally of such a disposition that you would not ordinarily know, so to speak, when they were dropped into the “ol” litter basket, seems to me invasive.

One supposes, that such birth date information comes to a person via two sources: the personal -- I know you and I know of you and yours; this is ok, and then there is the other -- rather impersonal -– I looked at your personnel (or personal) files that have the date even though the supplied date was put there for another purpose. So it is that service folk use personal information (supplied to them as a requirement for getting service [and nothing else]) as an excuse to “make contact”.

Now, I do not do this. I treat a person’s birthday as a bit of his or her own little inner sanctum, and let it rest. Sadly such is not the reciprocal for me. In my corner of the world, Real Estate agnets have their birth day emblazoned on their licenses; one’s license lives and dies (or renews) on the very date the quack gave “ya” the slap on the hidden cheeks in the maternity ward way back when.

I have on this April Fools Day, received a card from a mutual fund (read used money) salesman (who got a token $57,000 from me last July and has parlayed into $33,000 [but I got the card!]), an e-greeting from my office (that I will not open), a personal note from an attorney (do I need a will?) and a host of other sharks.

I have decided to give them all a nice reciprocal gift. The e-greeting was sent back with an April Fool worm; the fund salesman will see my account transferred to Fidelity, and the lawyer, well he’s already a joke.

I DO NOT need excuses to make contact people. As a professional at what I do, my information is unique, timely, well placed, original and highly sought after. Folks want to hear what I have to say…and I don’t need to spy on them.

Real Hunk Real Estate

It is an open house. I am listening to the two women whispering in the living room. Listening in that manner when we want not to be noticed for listening,...you know, checking for things that need not be checked, blindly looking about, the better to focus all efforts on the ears.

"Look at him," whispers the blond one, "that chin."
"That chest!"
"The eyes,..like they make my clothes melt away..."
"He can melt my clothes anytime..." giggle, giggle.
"Get his card, get his cell number, (giggle) there's something to be said for "sexting (giggle)."
"God, he's a Real HUNK!"

I should point out that this open house in NOT my open house. The above noted indelicate comments were not directed at me but at the young Lochinvar whose visage rests in the bottom left corner of the property's information sheet.

Some men can just excite women to a frenzy.

I am at the open house on behalf of a first time buyer, a charming lady whose pluck and wherewith all have garnered her at fat 20% down payment on a home of her dreams. She has asked me to help her turn that dream into brick and stone, so to speak.

I take my buyer to the basement, point out a few things, talk some issues then it is back to the office to gambit strategy and write up an offer that will bring the sellers to their knees.

"This is great," my buyer says, "I was so scared about the whole thing, but you made it so easy to understand, now and into the future. I was a nut case before you took over. Now I am calm and ready to go! Thanks!"

There it is in a nutshell, folks....Some men excite women; I just calm them down.

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

"For Sale by Owner" StataGEEZ!!!

One wonders about the logic some folks apply when trying to sell thier homes without professional advocating. Not much to say about this bloke's Project Plan. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out...

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.

___

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.

___

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

___

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.

___

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.

___

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.

___

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.

___

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.

Smelling Change in the Air?

I thought I did smell change in the air, but perhaps it was just my wacky neighbor cooking on the outdoor grill...in the snow. Be that as it may, it is notable that, so far this year, in my corner of the world, little, Belmont, MA, 5 properties have gone under agreement since January 1, 2009 (18 days). What is notable in this number is the "DAYS ON MARKET" for these palaces -- they averaged a whopping 314 days on -- that is 10 months of no sale no sale no sale and now BANG, we have a deal.

Similar stats are showing up in surrounding communities (5 in Watertown, 8 in "booze free" Arlington, 10 in Medford).

We may well put this up to lower prices, but that does seem to be the case -- no dumps on these prices. Just folks beginning the long dive into the markets.

It is more likely that folks are seeing the other side of the news. A company announces 10,000 layoffs and we are in a tizzy. Another firm is dropping 10% of its staff and we throw a cow. Never mind -- once the ten percent get the ol' heave ho, that leaves a well placed,relaxed and even celebratory 90% out and about. It is these 90 percenters who are coming forward. The survivors in the modern jungle feasting on the carcasses of the fallen...Maybe that is what I smell.

Come Blow Your Horn in Belmont

In this the time, so we are being told, of darkness, it is a surprise to hear (since it is to be dark and we cannot see), the sign of the future. In my corner of the world, Belmont, it appears nearly 1,000 youngsters are involved in Music Programs run by the School Department's Music instructors. These programs are held during school, after school or on Saturday morns. The town is filled with little violinists, flutists and other sundry tweakers and tooters.

My own small one, after 1 year on the violin, opted for the oboe this year. In a nonce, she is up and running. So it comes a surprise that she is dropping said oboe in favor of another instrument -- the trombone. She will shift, no doubt under the careful eyes of her instructors (on Tuesdays in school and on Saturday mornings in the Town 4th Grade orchestra).

As for me...another instrument next to the lunch box in the morning -- and another one to put up on ebay