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WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that a full economic recovery could take nearly three more years, and it went further than ever to assure consumers and businesses that they will be able to borrow cheaply well into the future.
The central bank said it would probably not increase its benchmark interest rate ... [Read More]
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WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that a full economic recovery could take nearly three more years, and it went further than ever to assure consumers and businesses that they will be able to borrow cheaply well into the future.
The central bank said it would probably not increase its benchmark interest rate until late 2014 at the earliest — a year and a half later than it had previously said.
The new timetable showed the Fed is concerned that the recovery remains stubbornly slow. But it also thinks inflation will stay tame enough for rates to remain at record lows without igniting price increases.
Chairman Ben Bernanke cautioned that late 2014 is merely its “best guess.” The Fed can shift that plan if the economic picture changes. But he cast doubt on whether that would be necessary.
“Unless there is a substantial strengthening of the economy in the near term, it’s a pretty good guess we will be keeping rates low for some time,” he said.
The Fed has kept its key rate at a record low near zero for about three years. Its new time frame suggests the rate will stay there for roughly an additional three years.
The bank’s tepid outlook also suggests it’s prepared to do more to help the economy. One possibility is a third bond-buying program that would seek to further drive down rates on mortgages and other loans to embolden consumers and businesses to borrow and spend more.
Information obtained from the Calif. Asso. of Realtors with permission.
Article printed in the Mercury News and A.P. Jan. 25, 2012.
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The Fremont Planning Commission held a work session on Thursday, Nov 17 to discuss the proposed Climate Action Plan (CAP). Among the implementing measures is a Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO) that would require energy retrofits be completed when a home is sold. This could cost a home seller hundreds of dollars.
Realtor members have ... [Read More]
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The Fremont Planning Commission held a work session on Thursday, Nov 17 to discuss the proposed Climate Action Plan (CAP). Among the implementing measures is a Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO) that would require energy retrofits be completed when a home is sold. This could cost a home seller hundreds of dollars.
Realtor members have testified at several meetings and met with Fremont officials in an attempt to remove these proposals from the CAP. The Planning Commission appears to understand the negative impacts such requirements would have on the real estate market. However, City staff are still set on including the RECO, and it’s point-of-sale requirements, in the final CAP.
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Federal authorities have charged seven men with infecting millions of computers with a virus-like program that tricked users’ Web browsers into navigating to phony pages stocked with ads, earning the defendants as much as $14 million. This type of online fraud is known as click-jacking, which waits for users to click on links to popular ... [Read More]
Housing affordability increased in California in the second quarter as prices dropped from the same period a year earlier, according to the Calif. Assoc of Realtors.
Fifty-one percent of California households could afford a single-family home priced at the median, according to the CAR. That was an increase from 46% during the same period last year, ... [Read More]
Housing affordability increased in California in the second quarter as prices dropped from the same period a year earlier, according to the Calif. Assoc of Realtors.
Fifty-one percent of California households could afford a single-family home priced at the median, according to the CAR. That was an increase from 46% during the same period last year, when buyer tax credits fueled the market and pushed up prices. Affordability decreased from the prior quarter, but that was due to seasonal variations that pushed up prices.
Potential buyers needed to earn a minimum annual income of $63,080 to qualify for the purchase of a home priced at the state’s median, $293,580, which is the price at which half the homes sold for more and half for less. The house payment on that purchase, including taxes and insurance, would be $1,580, the group reported, assuming a down payment of 20% and an effective composite interest rate of 4.85%.
During the second quarter, affordability fell in the priciest parts of the state. San Bernardino County was the most affordable in the state, with a rate of 77%, while San Mateo County was the least affordable, with only 21% of households in the state able to afford that county’s median-priced home, the group reported.
That’s great news, so it’s now time we all buy instead of rent. Call me if you need help.
This information was obtained by permission from the Calif Assoc of Realtors.
We are now in the fifth year of a housing crisis in which more than 3 million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure, with millions more still at risk.
Every initiative to stem the tide of misery has fallen short in the face of continued economic gloom.
Over the next few weeks, several initiatives aimed at ... [Read More]
We are now in the fifth year of a housing crisis in which more than 3 million Americans have lost their homes to foreclosure, with millions more still at risk.
Every initiative to stem the tide of misery has fallen short in the face of continued economic gloom.
Over the next few weeks, several initiatives aimed at reforming the foreclosure process, holding mortgage lenders and services accountable for their past abuses, and creating more effective mortgage workouts are coming to a head.
Typically, banks and other lenders retained almost no financial interest in the mortgages they originated, other than the duty to service them — collect payments and pursue delinquent borrowers, say — for which they received a fee.
Several drawbacks to that system emerged when the housing economy crashed. Because the loans weren’t going to stay on their books, the lenders hadn’t been too careful about whom they lent to and on what terms.
Perhaps the biggest problem is that although the servicers, which include huge banks such as Bank of America and Wells Fargo, are burdened with the responsibility to renegotiate mortgages to keep borrowers out of foreclosure, their authority to do so on behalf of investors is murky.
As a result, though the investor, the borrower and the economy in general benefit if a home is kept out of foreclosure, even if that means its owner makes lower payments than were required by the original mortgage, the servicing banks are leery of renegotiating too aggressively.
The most closely followed remedial effort involves the 50 state attorneys general under the leadership of Iowa Atty. Gen. Tom Miller.
Last March, the group produced propsal for foreclosure reforms that drew fire from some consumer advocates for being too lenient — its provisions include mandates that banks comply with state law in dealing with borrowers, as if that’s a novel concept — and from business interests for putting too much pressure on banks to reduce principal balances for homeowners having trouble keeping up payments on homes with values that have fallen below the mortgage balance.
Information obtained by the Calif. Asso of Realtors & the L.A. Times. For the whole story: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/14/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20110814
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