Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Homes.com to integrate range of services for real estate agents, brokers
WHO: Global Tobacco Usage Leveling Off
Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/health/WHO-Global-Tobacco-Usage-leveling-off-122821284.html
Habitat for Humanity's loan lessons
Source: http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=28809528
10 cities with the flattest rents
Source: http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=28795506
McCain to Assess New Burmese Government's Human Rights Commitment
Mortgage Rescue Scams Real Estate Vacation Properties Loans and Mortgages
Update on Oil Economic Impacts
A quick update on previous post on oil: Goldman Sachs now estimates high oil prices -- if they stay at current levels -- will shave 1% of GDP next year. But that won't feed through to "core" inflation. Just a 2/10ths of a percentage point hit there.
Of course, a much higher oil spike has much larger impact.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/nbr/blog/2011/03/update_on_oil_economic_impacts.html
Home Sales Outlook Housing Starts President Obama Hope for home owners
54% of American Adults Now Believe Housing Recovery Remains Unlikely Until 2014 Or Later
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TruliaBlog/~3/6L9zyxTYQ7o/
Earth vs Space Chess: A Chance to Checkmate the Cosmos
Dominoes lined up for economic shakeup
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inmannews/~3/4IPvOVfqmas/dominoes-lined-economic-shakeup
Confessions of a Real Estate Junkie/Data Feed Landscape
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRealEstateBookBlog/~3/RqbE9tGcRZ0/
Short Sale Waterfront Homes Real Estate Agent Foreclosure Homes
Audience Milestones: Trulia?s Ascent to the Top
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TruliaBlog/~3/jA7fHvrbrrg/
Foreclosures Home Sales Outlook Housing Starts President Obama
Report: Sarah Palin Buys Scottsdale, AZ Home
Source: http://www.zillow.com/blog/2011-05-26/sarah-palin-buys-scottsdale-az-home/
Housing Starts President Obama Hope for home owners Fannie Mae
Domestic Rape in Congo a Rapidly Growing Problem
Interest Rates Celebrity Foreclosures Most Expensive Homes Luxury Home Prices
Homes of Stars from Hollywood?s Golden Age
Source: http://www.zillow.com/blog/2011-05-26/homes-of-stars-from-hollywoods-golden-age/
[Sweepstakes] Like us on Facebook. Love us on your iPad!
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TruliaBlog/~3/dpTvdpkZC3M/
Household Moving House Plans Home Warranties Commercial & Investment
Photos: President Obama in Poland
President Barack Obama and President Bronislaw Komorowski review troops during the arrival ceremony in the courtyard of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, May 28, 2011. A member of the Ceremonial Army Garrison stands with them. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Today President Obama was in Warsaw, Poland where he held a bilateral meeting Polish President Bronis?aw Komorowski and participated a discussion on democracy with President Komorowski and NGO’s.
President Barack Obama reaches to shake hands with President Bonislaw Komorowski of Poland following their statements to the press at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, May 28, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Later in the day, the President met Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and held a joint press conference.
President Barack Obama and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk make remarks during a press conference at the Chancellery Building in Warsaw, Poland, May 28, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Before heading back to Washington, the President visited the memorial to the victims of the Smolensk plane crash at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Military.
President Barack Obama pays his respects while visiting the memorial to the victims of the Smolensk plane crash at Field Cathedral of the Polish Military in Warsaw, Poland, May 28, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/28/photos-president-obama-poland
Activists Vow New Aid Flotilla to Gaza
Luxury Home Prices Mortgage Rescue Scams Real Estate Vacation Properties
Monday, May 30, 2011
Consumer Assumptions Altered by Crisis. Financial Future Impacted
Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke told an audience that while financial education has always been important in helping consumers make better economic decisions, the recent economic crisis has shifted the playing field, making financial education even more critical.
Duke spoke at a conference on the "Future of Life-Cycle Saving and Investing" co-sponsored by Boston University School of Management and the Boston Federal Reserve Bank.
Because of the financial crisis, many families have fewer financial resources and options. As a result the pace and timing of their saving and investing life cycle have been disrupted. For example, unemployment levels among recent graduates are high and starting salaries have declined. This means that the young will have to delay the start of saving and investing and they are living at home longer, often disrupting their parents' budgets.
Many consumers who should be saving for retirement are doing the opposite. A Vanguard study showed that hardship withdrawals from 401(k)s increased by 49 percent between 2005 and 2010 and other types of withdrawals increased by 56 percent.
At the same time, the responsibility for retirement savings is shifting from the employer to the employee and individuals are being forced to change retirement plans. The Social Security Administration reports that in 2009 and 2010, the proportions of persons claiming benefits at age 62 began to rise after several years of decline most likely because of the weak job market. "Opting to receive a smaller social security annuity earlier in life is just one of many hard decisions Americans have had to make in order to balance their short-term and long-term financial needs," Duke said. All of this makes it more important that individuals have an understanding of what they need in retirement and their investment options.
Disruptions make the always difficult task of managing one's longevity risk harder and require a level of financial knowledge other generations have not needed. Millions of older households will need to assess their pension distributions and make decisions about payout options for their defined benefit plans or about purchasing of annuities. Younger workers, who will probably not have pensions, will face complicated decisions about what they will need in retirement and how to get there; all done in a world of increasingly more complex retirement products.
"In short," Duke told the audience of educators, "your efforts to identify, address, and meet the financial education needs of consumers in all stages of the life-cycle have never been more urgent."
The financial crisis has changed all of our assumptions about the future and consequently consumer behavior is also changing. It is unclear whether these changes represent temporary or more permanent shifts in thinking and planning for the future but, as an example, consumers are continually changing their attitudes toward homeownership as the housing crisis evolves along with developments in the broader economy. FULL STORY
Consumers appear to be increasingly disconnected from mainstream financial services; more likely to use alternative products such as reloadable stored-value cards rather than credit cards. These don't carry the same federal protections as credit or debit cards and do not establish a relationship with a financial institution for other purposes such as checking accounts or auto loans.
"As more and more new products are introduced to the financial marketplace, it becomes more important for consumers to be able to evaluate and compare products' benefits and potential costs," Duke said.
The basic skills for navigating the financial world are developed in school so it is important to include skills in numeracy, language arts and decision making in curriculum and measure them by testing. "I also think that the work many of you are doing to make financial lessons more appealing to school aged children is extremely important given the competition for attention from media and web-based entertainment and games."
Financial education is a life-long endeavor. Consumers need clear and relevant financial information at critical "teachable" moments such as when buying a car or planning for retirement. Educators have to identify as many of these moments as possible and determine how to best support positive outcomes as those moments.
How financial education is delivered has a significant impact on its effectiveness. New technologies present exciting opportunities to deliver timely financial lessons and the technology such as apps for smart phones is making it possible to get information instantly. Duke said she is particularly interested in how technology can better serve lower-income populations who might be more interested in stretching their paycheck than in investing it.
Duke cited several studies that evaluated the effectiveness of specific education programs but said "the fact is that we have very limited data on how effective financial education is in improving financial well-being. The Financial Literacy and Education Commission, of which the Federal Reserve is a member, has only recently developed a core set of financial competencies, and has yet to establish the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that will meet these competencies." She suggested the need to answer some important research questions:
- What do people need to know to improve their long-term economic well-being and how does that vary by demographic groups?
- How do people obtain and process financial information? What sources do they use? Do outcomes vary by the source or timing of the information?
- Can we merely impart knowledge to improve outcomes or do we need to change consumer behavior as well? How can policymakers do this?
- How should we measure financial literacy to evaluate its impact on financial outcomes and predict future behavior and well-being?
Duke concluded by stressing the effect decisions about saving and investing have on the financial well-being of individual consumers and our national economic outcomes. Comprehensive, effective regulation of consumer products is the first step in ensuring positive outcomes for consumers, but consumers must also be equipped with the tools and information to make the best choices. For all the attention and resources that have been devoted to financial education we have very little information about the effectiveness of our effort.
GIVE FEEDBACK ON NEW MORTGAGE DISCLOSURES
...(read more)
Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/05242011_financial_literacy.asp
Luxury Home Prices Mortgage Rescue Scams Real Estate Vacation Properties
Champions of Change: Investing in Infrastructure for a More Competitive Economy
Editor’s Note: Champions of Change is a weekly initiative to highlight Americans who are making an impact in their communities and help our country rise to the many challenges of the 21st century.
Recently I was honored to join the “Champions of Change” discussion at the White House during National Transportation Week. We were asked to focus on transportation workforce issues, a very timely topic, and I am pleased to have this opportunity to provide further thoughts.
I am proud to be part of the transportation construction industry because we put people to work, improve the nation’s quality of life and enable our economy to be more competitive.
Several participants in the White House meeting mentioned the importance of reauthorizing the federal surface transportation and aviation programs. If we really want to put Americans to work, there is no better way than by passing long-term, well-funded versions of these important measures. The long-term certainty of federal transportation investment will give the industry a much clearer view of our future market opportunities. That will enable us to make additional investments in human capital, as well as equipment and supplies that will put even more Americans to work.
Freddie Mac Mortgage Crisis Real Estate Agents Housing Market
An Honest Conversation about Medicare
Fair enough. Let's begin this honest discussion by admitting no one knows for sure how to reduce Medicare costs. And that's a problem, because Medicare expenditures are projected to grow almost 6% a year for the rest of the decade.
To understand why program costs are exploding, you just have to look through the annual Medicare Trustees report on the financial condition of the program. The 2011 report comes out on Friday, but it will surely have the same analysis you can find in all the other reports. If you want to engage in this honest discussion, a good place to start is on page 45 of the 2010 report. There you will find the four trends driving Medicare costs:
- Growth in the number of beneficiaries
- Increases in the prices paid per service, which reflect both higher wages for health care workers and higher prices for the goods and services purchased by health care providers
- Increases in the average number of services per beneficiary ("utilization")
- Increases in the average complexity of services ("intensity")
Let's take these one at a time. The number of Medicare beneficiaries will soar over the next 25 years, rising from almost 49 million this year to 85 million in 2035. The only way to cut costs here is to kick people out of the program. I don't see that happening.
Wages and prices are the next cost driver. Only two things can be done here. Lower wages for doctors and nurses or make them more productive -- meaning get more work out of doctors and nurses then you get today.
Congress tried to lower wages. It capped payments to physicians using a formula. But when the formula became too tough, forcing deep cuts in wages, Congress relented. Thus the "doc fix" was born. Meaning, Congress voted to pay doctors more. I am not arguing the merits of the formula here, just pointing out that the effort failed.
What about productivity? No surprise, it is harder to measure productivity in a hospital than it is in an auto plant. The hospital's product is good health and an outcome like that is hard to quantify. There is no dispute though that if you could accurately measure health care productivity, it would be low and perhaps even negative!
Some studies found as much as one-third of the spending in our health care system does not improve health, adding up to a staggering waste of more than $700 billion.
What can be done about this? The President has created a panel of experts to study ways to use new payment systems to reward innovation and more efficient treatment of disease.
A worthy goal, but as the Trustees Report points out, efforts to eliminate waste and increase productivity through payment and delivery system reforms:
"These outcomes are far from certain . . . . Many experts doubt the feasibility of such sustained improvements and anticipate that over time the Medicare price constraints would become unworkable and that Congress would likely override them, much as they have done to prevent the reductions in physician payment rates otherwise required by the sustainable growth rate formula in current law."
Republicans want to give consumers more power to choose efficient plans on the theory that this will reward innovation and efficiency. But what happens when the "premium support" payments that Republican propose fail to keep up with the cost of health care? The same thing that happened to physician payments. Congress would likely override them too.
The real problem in Medicare comes when we get to cost drivers three and four. Health care costs are driven by people using more services and more complicated services -- utilization and intensity. In other words, Medicare beneficiaries see health care providers more often and those health care providers are performing more expensive tests and surgeries using new technologies.
Now we are at the heart of the Medicare cost problem. If we're being honest, we must change the way we deliver and consume health care. This is not something that happens overnight or because a bill is written in Washington. It will require constant innovation and reform. We will have to get better at determining which treatments improve health and which do not.
The Brookings Institution's Barry Bosworth put it well in an email: "I think the basic problem is that we cannot say no."
Are we willing to change that? And if not, are we willing to pay for Medicare's rapid growth?
You can having an honest conversation on Medicare means confronting some very difficult questions.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/nbr/blog/2011/05/an_honest_discussion_on_medica.html
Interest Rates Celebrity Foreclosures Most Expensive Homes Luxury Home Prices
Dominoes lined up for economic shakeup
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inmannews/~3/4IPvOVfqmas/dominoes-lined-economic-shakeup
Economy Interest Rates Celebrity Foreclosures Most Expensive Homes
Habitat for Humanity's loan lessons
Source: http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=28809528
More Than 50,000 New White House Visitor Records Online
In September 2009, the President announced that – for the first time in history – the White House would routinely release visitor records. Today, the White House releases visitor records that were generated in February 2011. Today’s release also includes several visitor records generated prior to September 16, 2009 that were requested by members of the public in April 2011 pursuant to the White House voluntary disclosure policy. This release brings the grand total of records that this White House has released to nearly 1.3 million records. You can view them all in our Disclosures section.
Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/27/more-50000-new-white-house-visitor-records-online
Next Generation Fuel Economy Labels Arm Consumers with Information They Can Use
Ed. Note: Cross posted from the Department of Transportation's Fast Lane blog. Secretary LaHood and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will hold a press conference today at 10:30 a.m. EDT on this to discuss the new fuel economy labels. You can watch the press conference live here.
This Administration has taken unprecedented steps to protect consumers at the gas pump. In March, the President announced a plan to reduce our oil imports by a third by 2025--leveraging domestic resources while reducing the oil we consume. Since the beginning, this Administration has been making investments and taking smart steps that are already helping us move towards this important goal. You can see it in our investment in alternative fuels and our support of electric vehicles--creating jobs while decreasing costs for consumers.
Most importantly, you can see it in the historic, national fuel economy standards for passenger cars and trucks achieved last year under President Obama’s leadership.
Today, I'm excited to join Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson in introducing new fuel economy labels that will empower car buyers with better information about what they will spend or save on fuel costs when looking to purchase a new vehicle. This is one part of President Obama's plan to provide Americans with relief from high gas prices and break our dependence on foreign oil.
These labels offer consumers more information in a more usable format. When shopping for a new vehicle, you'll be able to see your expected savings over a five-year period, a fuel economy comparison to other vehicles in the same class, and easy-to-understand guidance about each car or truck’s environmental impact. The bottom line is that these labels will help people make informed decisions when they're buying a car, so that they can save money at the gas pump.
The new labels also feature a QR code that allows car buyers to comparison shop on the go. Shoppers can scan the QR code with their smartphones to store that vehicle's information, compare it to other vehicles, and access www.fueleconomy.gov for even more information.
Because of President Obama's efforts and automakers' innovations, Americans today have many more options for fuel-efficient vehicles than ever before. And the new labels will help us make sense of those options and take advantage of the new, more energy efficient fleet to save money and reduce tailpipe emissions.
Perhaps the most terrific thing about these labels is that--despite their sophistication--they are easy to understand. We're talking about a new generation of labels for a new generation of cars.
We know that transportation is one of the biggest costs in any family's budget. When we provide more useful information about how a family's budget will be affected by a new car or truck purchase, we're empowering Americans to make better decisions and save more money.
And with the labels we're introducing today, shoppers will be armed with the most powerful informational tools yet to make the best decision for their families, their wallets, and the air we breathe.
Vacation Properties Loans and Mortgages Household Moving House Plans
Vouchers and Medicare
In a few weeks House Republicans are expected to release their budget plan for the coming year. It is not 100% clear now whether it will include a comprehensive overhaul of entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. I am hearing that it will not.
However, Rep. Paul Ryan, the Chairman of the House Budget Committee is to be commended for his willingness to take on the issues that are central to our long-run fiscal imbalance -- Social Security and Medicare. More specifically, Medicare. Because health care spending is the biggest issue. You can read more about that in a previous blog post.
Ryan's solution to Medicare's funding problem is to transform the system into a voucher program.
Future retirees would get a voucher -- effectively a check -- to cover a portion of the cost of buying their health insurance. Those making more money would get a smaller voucher. Lower income beneficiaries would get a larger voucher. If the price of buying medical coverage rises faster than the voucher, beneficiaries would pay more out of pocket. Here is how the Congressional Budget Office described the impact in a letter to Ryan:
Beneficiaries would . . . face higher premiums in the private market for a package of benefits similar to that currently provided by Medicare. Moreover, the value of the voucher would grow significantly more slowly than CBO expects that Medicare spending per enrollee would grow under current law. Beneficiaries would therefore be likely to purchase less comprehensive health plans or plans more heavily managed than traditional Medicare, resulting in some combination of less use of health care services and less use of technologically advanced treatments than under current law. Beneficiaries would also bear the financial risk for the cost of buying insurance policies or the cost of obtaining health care services beyond what would be covered by their insurance.
This is a fundamentally different approach to Medicare, but one that holds the promise of trimming spending dramatically. If beneficiaries saw more of the true cost of their health insurance, they are likely to demand more cost savings from providers. Or they will trim spending on treatments they deem discretionary.
So why isn't Ryan likely to propose this plan next month? Because the public already doesn't want any part of it. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found most Americans don't want Congress to cut spending on Medicare.
We're still caught in a world where the public sees the fiscal cure as being worse than the disease of living beyond our national means.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/nbr/blog/2011/03/vouchers_and_medicare.html
The Best Four Gardens in New York in May
This week, New York House of the Day featured homes with lush outdoor spaces from Greenport Village, Long Island, to Greenwich Village in Manhattan.Source: http://online.wsj.com/video/the-best-four-gardens-in-new-york-in-may/911C5827...
An Honest Conversation about Medicare
Fair enough. Let's begin this honest discussion by admitting no one knows for sure how to reduce Medicare costs. And that's a problem, because Medicare expenditures are projected to grow almost 6% a year for the rest of the decade.
To understand why program costs are exploding, you just have to look through the annual Medicare Trustees report on the financial condition of the program. The 2011 report comes out on Friday, but it will surely have the same analysis you can find in all the other reports. If you want to engage in this honest discussion, a good place to start is on page 45 of the 2010 report. There you will find the four trends driving Medicare costs:
- Growth in the number of beneficiaries
- Increases in the prices paid per service, which reflect both higher wages for health care workers and higher prices for the goods and services purchased by health care providers
- Increases in the average number of services per beneficiary ("utilization")
- Increases in the average complexity of services ("intensity")
Let's take these one at a time. The number of Medicare beneficiaries will soar over the next 25 years, rising from almost 49 million this year to 85 million in 2035. The only way to cut costs here is to kick people out of the program. I don't see that happening.
Wages and prices are the next cost driver. Only two things can be done here. Lower wages for doctors and nurses or make them more productive -- meaning get more work out of doctors and nurses then you get today.
Congress tried to lower wages. It capped payments to physicians using a formula. But when the formula became too tough, forcing deep cuts in wages, Congress relented. Thus the "doc fix" was born. Meaning, Congress voted to pay doctors more. I am not arguing the merits of the formula here, just pointing out that the effort failed.
What about productivity? No surprise, it is harder to measure productivity in a hospital than it is in an auto plant. The hospital's product is good health and an outcome like that is hard to quantify. There is no dispute though that if you could accurately measure health care productivity, it would be low and perhaps even negative!
Some studies found as much as one-third of the spending in our health care system does not improve health, adding up to a staggering waste of more than $700 billion.
What can be done about this? The President has created a panel of experts to study ways to use new payment systems to reward innovation and more efficient treatment of disease.
A worthy goal, but as the Trustees Report points out, efforts to eliminate waste and increase productivity through payment and delivery system reforms:
"These outcomes are far from certain . . . . Many experts doubt the feasibility of such sustained improvements and anticipate that over time the Medicare price constraints would become unworkable and that Congress would likely override them, much as they have done to prevent the reductions in physician payment rates otherwise required by the sustainable growth rate formula in current law."
Republicans want to give consumers more power to choose efficient plans on the theory that this will reward innovation and efficiency. But what happens when the "premium support" payments that Republican propose fail to keep up with the cost of health care? The same thing that happened to physician payments. Congress would likely override them too.
The real problem in Medicare comes when we get to cost drivers three and four. Health care costs are driven by people using more services and more complicated services -- utilization and intensity. In other words, Medicare beneficiaries see health care providers more often and those health care providers are performing more expensive tests and surgeries using new technologies.
Now we are at the heart of the Medicare cost problem. If we're being honest, we must change the way we deliver and consume health care. This is not something that happens overnight or because a bill is written in Washington. It will require constant innovation and reform. We will have to get better at determining which treatments improve health and which do not.
The Brookings Institution's Barry Bosworth put it well in an email: "I think the basic problem is that we cannot say no."
Are we willing to change that? And if not, are we willing to pay for Medicare's rapid growth?
You can having an honest conversation on Medicare means confronting some very difficult questions.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/nbr/blog/2011/05/an_honest_discussion_on_medica.html
Economy Interest Rates Celebrity Foreclosures Most Expensive Homes
President Obama in Joplin: "It's an Example of What the American Spirit is all About"
Today, President Obama traveled to Joplin, Missouri to meet with those in the community who lost so much in the tornados last week and participate in a Memorial Service at Missouri Southern University.
President Barack Obama hugs a woman who lost a loved one, during the memorial service for victims of the tornado in Joplin, Missouri, May 29, 2011.
Before the Memorial Service, President Obama visited one of the neighborhoods that was devastated by the tornadoes. After seeing the extensive tornado damage the President spoke to the people of Joplin and reminded them that they are not alone in this tragedy:
The main thing I just want to communicate to the people of Joplin is this is just not your tragedy. This is a national tragedy and that means there will be a national response. Craig Fugate, who has probably been the busiest man in the federal government over this last bit of months, has been on the ground since just the day after this happened, and he’s helping to coordinate with an outstanding team of state and local officials. We're going to do everything we can to continue whatever search and rescue remains. We are doing everything we can to make sure that folks get the shelter that they need, the support that they need.
President Barack Obama makes a statement to the press during his tour if neighborhoods devastated by last week?s tornado in Joplin, Missouri, May 29, 2011.
The President also thanked all of the volunteers and community members who are lending a hand to their neighbors during this difficult time:
So to all the volunteers who are helping out -- one of the things that’s been incredible is to see how many people from out of state have driven from as far a way as Texas, nearby Illinois, people just coming here to volunteer -- firefighters, ordinary citizens. It’s an example of what the American spirit is all about. And that gives us a lot of encouragement at a time when obviously people are going through a lot of hardship.
During the Memorial Service, the President spoke of the strength of the community coming together in response to the storm:
How we respond when the storm strikes is up to us. How we live in the aftermath of tragedy and heartache, that’s within our control. And it’s in these moments, through our actions, that we often see the glimpse of what makes life worth living in the first place.
In the last week, that’s what Joplin has not just taught Missouri, not just taught America, but has taught the world. I was overseas in the aftermath of the storm, and had world leaders coming up to me saying, let the people of Joplin know we are with them; we’re thinking about them; we love them. (Applause.)
Because the world saw how Joplin responded. A university turned itself into a makeshift hospital. (Applause.) Some of you used your pickup trucks as ambulances, carrying the injured -- (applause) -- on doors that served as stretchers. Your restaurants have rushed food to people in need. Businesses have filled trucks with donations. You’ve waited in line for hours to donate blood to people you know, but also to people you’ve never met.
Learn how you can lend your support to the people of Joplin.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks at a memorial in honor of the victims of the devastation from a F5 tornado on May 22nd in Joplin, Missouri, May 29, 2011.
Luxury Home Prices Mortgage Rescue Scams Real Estate Vacation Properties
Foreclosure crisis: Three important lessons to learn to help homeowners
A 21st Century Regulatory System
Ed. Note: Cass Sunstein, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, has an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal on 21st-Century Regulation and the ways federal agencies are eliminating unnecessary rules to save businesses money. Read it here. Sign up for email updates from the White House for news on 21st Century Government.
Earlier this year President Obama outlined his regulatory strategy – one that protects public health and welfare while promoting economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job creation. As a key part of that plan, the President called for an unprecedented government-wide review of rules already on the books to identify which ones need to be changed or removed because they're out-of-date, unnecessary, or just don't make sense.
Today, the results of that review are in. More than two dozen Agencies have identified initiatives with the potential to eliminate tens of millions of hours in reporting burdens, and billions of dollars in regulatory costs, and this is just the beginning. Cass Sunstein, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, wrote in the Wall Street Journal today:
The initial review announced today is just the start of an ongoing process. Our goal is to change the regulatory culture of Washington by constantly asking what's working and what isn't. To achieve that goal, we need to obtain real-world evidence and data. We also need to draw on the experience and wisdom of the American people—which is why the president has put an emphasis on asking the public for their comments, ideas and suggestions. And so, before today's plans are finalized, the public will weigh in.
Now's your chance to weigh in. Visit whitehouse.gov/regulatoryreform to read the agency plans and share your comments, feedback and questions.
Here are a few highlights from the agency plans (read them all here):
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is announcing a final rule that will remove over 1.9 million annual hours of redundant reporting burdens on employers and save more than $40 million in annual costs. Businesses will no longer be saddled with the obligation to fill out unnecessary government forms, meaning that their employees will have more time to be productive and do their real work.
- EPA will propose to eliminate the redundant obligation for many states to require air pollution vapor recovery systems at local gas stations because modern vehicles already have effective air pollution control technologies. The anticipated annual savings are about $67 million.
- The Departments of Commerce and State are undertaking a series of steps to eliminate unnecessary barriers to exports, including duplicative and unnecessary regulatory requirements, thus reducing the cumulative burden and uncertainty faced by American companies and their trading partners. These steps will make it a lot easier for American companies to reach new markets, increasing our exports while creating jobs here at home.
Want to learn more about the ways the Obama Administration is changing the culture in Washington? Sign up for email updates on 21st Century Government.
Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/26/21st-century-regulatory-system
Spy on your real estate competition
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inmannews/~3/exB_bRdZTqQ/spy-your-real-estate-competition
Housing Starts President Obama Hope for home owners Fannie Mae
Fate of Private-Label MBS Market Rests on Two Pillars
Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco told members of Congress last week that increased transparency in mortgage backed securities (MBS) and the implementation of Dodd-Frank Risk Retention regs were top priorities in the process of enticing investors back into the private-label MBS market. DeMarco's remarks came during testimony to the House Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs hearing on "Transparency as an Alternative to Risk Retention."
DeMarco said a significant contributor to the financial crisis was the poor quality of single-family mortgages originated from 2005 to 2008 and securitized by private label issuers and the GSEs. In the meltdown private investors fled the non-agency MBS market. Only two small private label securitizations have been completed in the last 13 months; almost all mortgage issuance in the country is executed through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or Ginnie Mae.
Risk retention, he said, seeks to protect investors and reduce information asymmetries by requiring that issuers of securities to have a disincentive to acquire poor quality loans because they will be required to hold a portion of the credit risk rather than passing it on (for example, keep more reserves on balance sheet). This should make securitizers more careful with the quality of loans they buy/originate. In return for higher-quality loan paper, private investors are expected to be more willing to provide funding capital for non-agency mortgages and other types of loans, thus facilitating the return of private capital to the markets.
Uncertainties will also be reduced by giving investors more information on the credit characteristics of the mortgages in the underlying pools. At the time of the crisis investors typically had access only to aggregated pool-level data instead of the kind of detailed loan-level data necessary for in-depth independent risk assessments.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates asset based securities (ABS) and has recently proposed changes to Regulation AB which codifies requirements for registration, disclosure, and reporting for all publicly registered ABS. Some of the major changes will require an issuer to provide standardized information about loans in the pool in computer readable format at the asset level (except for credit cards) at the time of securitization, even when new assets are added to the pool. The computer program to access the information must be accessible on the SEC's website. Five days will be required for the investor to consider the information rather than the almost immediate sale of ABS currently allowed. The new regulations will also repeal the requirement for an investment grade rating in order for the issuer to be eligible for shelf registration.
MBS guaranteed by the GSEs are exempt from the disclosure requirements of Regulation AB however the Enterprises have worked to make their disclosures parallel those of the SEC. However, neither GSE discloses all of the information required by the revisions. For example, both in the case of documenting how a loan amortizes and providing indication of the borrowers' ability to repay, the GSE's provide loan level data but not in the detail proposed by the SEC. The proposed regulation would also require the GSEs to report on modified loans; Freddie Mac provides limited information on such loans. Similarly while both GSEs disclose information on delinquent SFM in the MBS pools they do so at the pool level; Regulation AB will require loan level information.
DeMarco said while awaiting Congressional action on housing reform and the resolution of the GSEs, FHA and the GSEs are taking concrete actions that will enhance the mortgage market's operation regardless of the particular legislative course taken. These include developing uniform standards for data reporting on mortgage loans and appraisals and the recent announcement of the Joint Servicing Compensation Initiative to consider alternatives for future mortgage servicing agreements. Three weeks ago FHFA directed the GSEs to align their guidelines for servicing delinquent mortgages.
Still on FHFA's agenda, DeMarco said, is enhancing loan-level disclosures on GSE MBS both at the time of origination and throughout the security's life. This will help establish consistency and quality of such data and contribute to an environment in which private capital has the information needed to efficiently measure and price mortgage credit risk, shifting of this risk away from the government and back into the private sector.
DeMarco said his agency views risk retention and enhancing transparency of the mortgages backing MBS as complementary reforms. There is also value in moving the GSEs over time toward the loan level disclosures that the SEC changes to Regulation AB will require.
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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/05132011_housing_finance_reform.asp
First-ever foreclosed home in Dubai sold by Barclays for $332,145
Source: http://blog.foreclosure.com/2011/05/first-ever-foreclosed-home-in-dubai-sold-by-barclays-for-332145/
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US Remembers Its War Dead
Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/US-Remembers-Its-War-Dead---122796444.html
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A Good Jobs Report with Some Noise in the Number
Let's start out with this: Economists were expecting a soft jobs number for April. Somewhere between 150,000 and 200,000 jobs. We got 268,000 private sector jobs and hiring for previous months was revised upwards. Hours were up, a good sign that employers might have some incentive to bring on new workers.
But! There are two sides to an employment report. The government surveys employers to figure out how many people are hiring. And then the government surveys people to figure out how many are looking for work, how have given up looking for work, and how many say they have a job. Divide the number of people who say they are unemployed by the number of people in the labor force and you get the unemployment rate.
If the economy is creating jobs, why did the unemployment rate tick up to 9%? Some of this appears to be statistical noise. Here's what I got back from Daiwa Capital Markets' Michael Moran when I asked him about this:
"I view it as just a random shift. To me, the surprise was how fast unemployment was declining given the growth of the economy. The economy grew only moderately in Q4 and Q1, yet the unemployment fell a full percentage point from November. The quick decline was probably an aberration, and now we are coming back to reality."
The Household Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found the number of jobs in the economy fell by 190,000 last month. Unemployment went up by 205,000 jobs. Should we believe it? Well, consider that the Labor Department surveys about 50,000 households, but 400,000 employers.
There is a lot more information in the April employment report from employers. Which is why Mark Zandi at Moody's Analytics is taking this view:
"The Household survey results are very volatile month to month due to the small number of households that participate in the survey. Since the job recovery began at the start of 2010, the job gains in the household and payroll surveys are very similar."
Bottom line: Don't worry, be happy -- a little. We still are in a deep hole and there are still 5.8 million people who have been unemployed for more than six months. We need to dig out faster, but we are digging.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/nbr/blog/2011/05/a_good_jobs_report_with_some_n.html
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White House Business Council Roundtable Held in Mexico, Missouri
Twenty business leaders from Mexico, Missouri, joined me at the Mid America Brick plant recently for the first White House Business Council Roundtable meeting in Missouri. President Obama asked me, along with other senior Administration officials, to facilitate a discussion to seek their input on ways the federal government can improve economic conditions and help them create jobs.
When you think of “bricks and mortar” for cementing economic development, there is no better place than the heartland of America at a brick plant for a setting. Mexico, Missouri, was once known as the brick capital of the world, but its biggest factory shut down in 2002. An energetic entrepreneur, Frank Cordie, CEO of Mid America Brick, is bringing it back to life. Mr. Cordie graciously hosted and assisted with inviting key business leaders from the region. His company is using USDA funding, as well as other financing, to restore this icon of the local business community, which at one time was the main employer in this rural town. A tour of the plant made me believe he is well on the way to success. I have never found a more committed group of leaders to their community.
This roundtable was one of many the Obama administration is holding to get feedback on ways we can help businesses expand, create jobs and improve the economic base in their area. The goal was to hear what the Federal government should do more of -- and what we need to do less of – to help them jumpstart the economy. We discussed what resources the government needs to provide, and how we sometimes need just to get out of the way.
Obama Meets With European Leaders In Poland
Sunday, May 29, 2011
News Hub: Foreign Homebuyers Back in Droves
WSJ's Candace Jackson visits the News Hub to detail some very glamorous homes being scooped up by foreign buyers. Homebuyers from Russia and Brazil are leading the way back into the luxury home market. Photo: REUTERS/Rebecca Cook.Source: http://online.wsj.com/video/news-hub-foreign-homebuyers-back-in-droves/E6F575...
An Honest Conversation about Medicare
Fair enough. Let's begin this honest discussion by admitting no one knows for sure how to reduce Medicare costs. And that's a problem, because Medicare expenditures are projected to grow almost 6% a year for the rest of the decade.
To understand why program costs are exploding, you just have to look through the annual Medicare Trustees report on the financial condition of the program. The 2011 report comes out on Friday, but it will surely have the same analysis you can find in all the other reports. If you want to engage in this honest discussion, a good place to start is on page 45 of the 2010 report. There you will find the four trends driving Medicare costs:
- Growth in the number of beneficiaries
- Increases in the prices paid per service, which reflect both higher wages for health care workers and higher prices for the goods and services purchased by health care providers
- Increases in the average number of services per beneficiary ("utilization")
- Increases in the average complexity of services ("intensity")
Let's take these one at a time. The number of Medicare beneficiaries will soar over the next 25 years, rising from almost 49 million this year to 85 million in 2035. The only way to cut costs here is to kick people out of the program. I don't see that happening.
Wages and prices are the next cost driver. Only two things can be done here. Lower wages for doctors and nurses or make them more productive -- meaning get more work out of doctors and nurses then you get today.
Congress tried to lower wages. It capped payments to physicians using a formula. But when the formula became too tough, forcing deep cuts in wages, Congress relented. Thus the "doc fix" was born. Meaning, Congress voted to pay doctors more. I am not arguing the merits of the formula here, just pointing out that the effort failed.
What about productivity? No surprise, it is harder to measure productivity in a hospital than it is in an auto plant. The hospital's product is good health and an outcome like that is hard to quantify. There is no dispute though that if you could accurately measure health care productivity, it would be low and perhaps even negative!
Some studies found as much as one-third of the spending in our health care system does not improve health, adding up to a staggering waste of more than $700 billion.
What can be done about this? The President has created a panel of experts to study ways to use new payment systems to reward innovation and more efficient treatment of disease.
A worthy goal, but as the Trustees Report points out, efforts to eliminate waste and increase productivity through payment and delivery system reforms:
"These outcomes are far from certain . . . . Many experts doubt the feasibility of such sustained improvements and anticipate that over time the Medicare price constraints would become unworkable and that Congress would likely override them, much as they have done to prevent the reductions in physician payment rates otherwise required by the sustainable growth rate formula in current law."
Republicans want to give consumers more power to choose efficient plans on the theory that this will reward innovation and efficiency. But what happens when the "premium support" payments that Republican propose fail to keep up with the cost of health care? The same thing that happened to physician payments. Congress would likely override them too.
The real problem in Medicare comes when we get to cost drivers three and four. Health care costs are driven by people using more services and more complicated services -- utilization and intensity. In other words, Medicare beneficiaries see health care providers more often and those health care providers are performing more expensive tests and surgeries using new technologies.
Now we are at the heart of the Medicare cost problem. If we're being honest, we must change the way we deliver and consume health care. This is not something that happens overnight or because a bill is written in Washington. It will require constant innovation and reform. We will have to get better at determining which treatments improve health and which do not.
The Brookings Institution's Barry Bosworth put it well in an email: "I think the basic problem is that we cannot say no."
Are we willing to change that? And if not, are we willing to pay for Medicare's rapid growth?
You can having an honest conversation on Medicare means confronting some very difficult questions.
Source: http://www.pbs.org/nbr/blog/2011/05/an_honest_discussion_on_medica.html
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Rising rents and the real estate recovery
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/inmannews/~3/HJ8mGvS8J7Q/rising-rents-and-real-estate-recovery
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Thousands Protest Mladic Arrest
Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Thousands-Protest-Mladic-Arrest-122799394.html
Realtors Request Looser Credit Regs as Home Sales Decline
The National Association of Realtors today released Existing Home Sales data for April 2011
Existing Home Sales report on the number of completed real estate sales transactions on single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops. The methodology in calculating existing-home sales statistics is really quite simple. Each month the National Association of Realtor® receives data on existing-home sales from local associations/boards and multiple listing services (MLS) nationwide. The monthly EHS economic indicator is based on a representative sample of 160 Boards/MLSs. NAR captures 30-40% of all existing-home sale transactions with its monthly survey.HERE is the methodology for the data collectionQuick Recap from Reuters...
RTRS - US APRIL EXISTING HOME SALES 5.05 MLN UNIT ANNUAL RATE (CONS 5.20 MLN) VS MARCH 5.09 MLN (PRV 5.10 MLN)-NAR
RTRS - US APRIL EXISTING HOME SALES -0.8 PCT (CONS +2.0 PCT) VS MARCH +3.5 PCT (PREV +3.7 PCT)-NAR
RTRS - US APRIL INVENTORY OF HOMES FOR SALE +9.9 PCT TO 3.87 MLN UNITS, 9.2 MONTHS' SUPPLY-NAR
RTRS - US APRIL NATIONAL MEDIAN PRICE FOR EXISTING HOMES $163,700, -5.0 PCT FROM APRIL 2010-NAR
RTRS - US NAR SAYS 37 PCT OF U.S. APRIL EXISTING HOME SALES WERE DISTRESSED SALES VERSUS 40 PCT IN MARCH
Excerpts from the Release...
Existing-home sales slipped in April, although the market has managed six gains in the past nine months, according to the National Association of Realtors®.
Existing-home sales, which are completed transactions that include single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, eased 0.8 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.05 million in April from a downwardly revised 5.09 million in March, and are 12.9 percent below a 5.80 million pace in April 2010; sales surged in April and May of 2010 in response to the home buyer tax credit.Single-family home sales slipped 0.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.42 million in April from 4.44 million in March, and are 12.6 percent below the 5.06 million pace in April 2010. Existing condominium and co-op sales fell 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 630,000 in April from 650,000 in March, and are 15.0 percent below the 741,000-unit level one year ago.
Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast fell 7.5 percent to an annual pace of 740,000 in April and are 32.1 percent below a year-ago surge. Existing-home sales in the Midwest rose 5.7 percent in April to a level of 1.12 million but are 16.4 percent below a cyclical peak in April 2010. In the South, existing-home sales declined 4.1 percent to an annual pace of 1.95 million in April and are 9.3 percent below a year ago. Existing-home sales in the West slipped 1.6 percent to an annual level of 1.24 million in April and are 0.8 percent below April 2010.
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the market is underperforming. “Given the great affordability conditions, job creation and pent-up demand, home sales should be stronger,” he said. “Although existing-home sales are expected to trend up unevenly through next year, unnecessarily tight credit is continuing to restrain the market, along with a steady level of low appraisals that result in contract cancellations.
The national median existing-home price for all housing types was $163,700 in April, which is 5.0 percent below April 2010. The median existing single-family home price was $163,200 in April, which is 5.4 percent below a year ago. The median existing condo price was $167,300 in April, down 2.3 percent from April 2010.
“Home values, despite month-to-month volatility, have been remarkably stable in the range of $160,000 to $170,000 for the past three years,” Yun said. “Stable home prices in turn will steadily lower loan default rates, including strategic defaults.”
The median price in the Northeast was $225,400, which is 7.3 percent below April 2010. The median price in the Midwest was $133,200, down 5.1 percent from a year ago. The median price in the South was $142,800, which is 4.1 percent lower than April 2010. The median price in the West was $203,400, down 6.1 percent from a year ago.
Distressed homes – typically sold at a discount of about 20 percent – accounted for 37 percent of sales in April, down from 40 percent in March; they were 33 percent in April 2010.
A parallel NAR practitioner survey shows 11 percent of Realtors® report a contract was cancelled in April from an appraisal coming in below the price negotiated between a buyer and seller, 10 percent had a contract delayed, and 14 percent said a contract was renegotiated to a lower sales price as a result of a low appraisal.
Total housing inventory at the end of April increased 9.9 percent to 3.87 million existing homes available for sale, which represents a 9.2-month supply at the current sales pace, up from an 8.3-month supply in March.
“Although sales are clearly up from the cyclical lows of last summer, home sales are being held back 15 to 20 percent due to the very restrictive loan underwriting standards,” Yun said.
NAR President Ron Phipps, broker-president of Phipps Realty in Warwick, R.I., said the lending community needs to return to sensible standards. “We want to ensure that qualified buyers will be able to own their property on a sustained basis from a sound credit evaluation, but banks needn’t be so stingy as to only lend to those with the highest credit scores,” he said.
All-cash transactions stood at 31 percent in April, down from a record level of 35 percent in March; they were 26 percent in March 2010; investors account for the bulk of cash purchases.
“Very high shares of cash purchases, and high credit score requirements, have led to historically low default rates among home buyers over the past two years. This trend implies a gulf is opening between those who can and cannot have access to the American dream of home ownership,” Phipps said. “At the same time, existing guidelines from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae must be fully implemented so all appraisals are done by valuators with local expertise.”
Phipps added that proposals and regulations are being considered in Washington that could further constrain the housing market. “One of the most damaging proposals would effectively raise downpayment requirements to 20 percent, which would slam the brakes on the housing market,” he said. “What we need to do is simply return to the sound standards that were in place before the introduction of risky mortgage products.”First-time buyers purchased 36 percent of homes in April, up from 33 percent in March; they were 49 percent in April 2010 when the tax credit was in place. Investors slipped to 20 percent in April from 22 percent of purchase activity in March; they were 15 percent in April 2010. The balance of sales was to repeat buyers, which were 44 percent in April..
“Our data shows only one out of five first-time buyers needing a mortgage could afford a 20 percent downpayment, and without first-time buyers the trade-up market would stall with very negative consequences for housing and the overall economy,” Phipps said. “Ironically, low downpayment FHA and VA loans, which are so critical to this segment, have performed well and never needed a taxpayer bailout because those borrowers stayed well within their budgets.” NAR consumer survey data shows 56 percent of entry level buyers in the past year financed with an FHA loan.READ MORE: Existing Home Sales Still Hindered by Uber Tight Lending Regs
READ MORE: Tight Credit Limits Home Buyer Demand. Cash is King
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Source: http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/05192011_existing_home_sales.asp
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