Changes

Like hundreds of towns in the Northeast, Bloomfield had an unreal feeling today, as the one of the earliest snowstorms in recorded history hit the region. Forget about driving anywhere. With large tree branches continually snapping all around, it was even scarier to walk outside to shovel your sidewalk. For the NYC/NNJ area, there were no comparable events in anyone's memory. Just a new variation in another year of remarkable weather events.

Is this the new normal? Some key climate change deniers are beginning to reevaluate their positions. A recent study by a major skeptic funded by the Koch Brothers concluded that the facts were unmistakable. As is often the case, the best coverage was by Jon Stewart.

The Most Haunted Home's for Sale or Rent

Among the top ten Real Estate deals this week are some of the most haunted houses in the U.S. Several have connections to celebrities including Dean Martin, Mike Tyson, Janet Leigh and Ozzie Nelson. The majority are are located in California but the scariest may be in upstate New York(at right) on 8 acres for 289k.

Get Ready for E-Cat

This Friday, Andrea Rossi's E-Cat Energy Catalyzer technology will either make the history books by producing a Megawatt of thermal energy or will fizzle as have so many "revolutionary" energy pipe dreams. Rossi explains his new cold fusion inspired process here.
Updated 10/29: Initial tests were successful! Stay tuned...

Rising Rates Threaten Refi Plans

From CNBC.com:

Rates dropped to record lows a month ago, and while more borrowers went to refinance, the volumes were still very low. Then, more recently, we see basically a quarter point rise, and refinances fall off a cliff. The goal of the refinance proposals is to get the allegedly 3/4 of underwater borrowers with above-market mortgage rates (about 8.9 million according to CoreLogic) a break on their monthly payments. This would supposedly lessen the threat of default as well as add much-needed spending power back into the economy.

Bloomfield Mega-Mortgage Scammer Sentenced

A loan officer from a Bloomfield-based business was sentenced Monday to 366 days in prison for his role in a $1.5 million wire fraud case, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

David Wynn of Englewood, from Home Start America Inc., previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, along with its chief executive officer and founder, Michael Kaufman, who has yet to be sentenced.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Kaufman founded HSA in Bloomfield, N.J., and at one time employed more than 30 people. Kaufman, through HSA, purchased and sold residential real estate properties. As part of the scheme, Kaufman and others recruited people – often first-time home buyers – to purchase properties quickly, with promises of no money down, no closing costs, and repairs paid for by HSA. Kaufman would then steer the purchasers to loan officers, including Wynn.

Many of the properties sold by HSA had actually been bought by HSA shortly before, and then “flipped” to the unsuspecting buyers for far more than HSA paid. Kaufman, Wynn, and others falsely inflated the buyers’ income and assets on loan documents to make it appear that the buyers could afford the properties HSA was selling, when the purchasers did not have the means to buy the properties.

Victim financial institutions – relying on the false figures in the loan documents – then issued the mortgage loans, unaware of the purchasers’ true financial conditions. HSA and Kaufman received illicit profits when the transactions closed, and Wynn and other loan officers received commissions for their fraudulent work. After the closings, the buyers could not make the payments on the properties, and nearly always lost the properties to foreclosure.

The fraud, which began as early as 2002 and lasted through June 2005, caused over $1.5 million in loss to the banks, and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits for Kaufman and HSA.

The World’s First Vertical Forest

Although not yet a reality, this adventurous design goes well beyond being a mere concept. Designed by Stefano Boeri - architect, academic and former editor of design and architecture magazine Domus - his Bosco Verticale is a towering 27-story structure, currently under construction in Milan, Italy. The Bosco Verticale is designed to produce and optimize energy. It should help to balance the heavily polluted Milanese microclimate.

According to Inhabitat.com:

Each apartment in the building will have a balcony planted with trees that are able to respond to the city’s weather — shade will be provided within the summer, while also filtering city pollution; and in the winter the bare trees will allow sunlight to permeate through the spaces. Plant irrigation will be supported through the filtering and reuse of the greywater produced by the building. Additionally, Aeolian and photovoltaic energy systems will further promote the tower’s self-sufficiency

Future Plans and Prognostications

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is out with predictions for the future of the U. S. economy as it applies to the housing market. Among their forecasts:

--Fixed mortgage rates are expected to remain low by historical standards, finishing 2011 at around a 4.5% average for the year, falling slightly to 4.4% for 2012 and climbing back up to 4.9 by 2013.

--Total existing home sales will stay around the 4.9 million
unit pace for 2011 and 2012, before increasing slightly to 5.2
million units in 2013 as the broader economy recovers. The
recovery in the new home sales will have a comparably slow start,
and may well be slow for most of 2012, but will show some
meaningful increases in 2013.

--Home price measures that exclude distressed transactions have
stabilized, and certain markets are showing year-over-year
appreciation.

--The unemployment rate will increase slowly until the second
quarter of 2012, hitting 9.3%, from the current level of 9.1%. It
is expected to be around 9.1% for 2011, 9.3% for 2012, and 9.1%
for 2013. Even though both economic and job growth are in
positive territory, they are still insufficient to lower the
unemployment rate in the near term.

And then there are the solar storm warnings

Chinese Biofuels -- Stir-Fry or Hogwash?

China’s omnivorous global appetite for energy resources is well known.

While biofuel production is one of the rising energy stars of the 21st century, it is unlikely to become a significant source for China in the near future, as the country’s arable land is devoted first and foremost to feeding the country’s massive population 1.3 billion citizens, unless a feedstock can be found that grows well on marginal land.

But the issue of food may yet prove to contribute to the country’s energy output by recycling a traditional component of Chinese cuisine – used cooking oil. According to a recent article in the People’s Daily, Beijing’s 19 million inhabitants are seeing the grease used to fry up their dim sum and other delicacies carted off by eight licensed collectors of used cooking oil, known as “hogwash,” for recycling into biofuel.

Hogwash oil is extracted from rotten pork and peroxided oil, used repeatedly in frying. The bad news is that when hogwash oil is reused in restaurants, it can breed a number of diseases, doctors suspecting that it is even a potential carcinogen.
Recycled into biodiesel fuel, hogwash oil accordingly becomes a public health service.

More from John C.K. Daly at OilPrice.com....

Another Week in Real Estate Unreality

It was another wild week for homeowners: The House of Representatives voted to renew the National Flood Insurance Program, interest rates remained at record low levels, homeowners called on Congress to keep the mortgage interest deduction, and lower FHA loan limits went into effect. Check out the houselogic.com blog to catch up on the most important home ownership headlines and highlights from the week.

New Jersey Homes are 3rd Priciest in U.S.

The following is a list of states ranked by the highest median list price of homes viewed at real estate search site Realtor.com in August:

Top 10 Places with Highest Median List Price of Homes Viewed at Realtor.com in August (among 50 states and Washington, D.C.)

State Med. list price of homes viewed
U.S. $214,990

Washington, D.C. $459,000
Hawaii $450,000
New Jersey $349,500
California $339,900
Massachusetts $339,900
Connecticut $299,900
Maryland $289,900
Rhode Island $279,900
New York $275,000
Virginia $275,000
Source: Realtor.com.

Tree Houses or Trailer Park?

This photo just popped up on a site for humorous pix. It may be a photoshop job, an environmental art project or a new reality in high rises. We'll update when we learn anything.

Rise in 20 City Home Price Index

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city composite home
price index, which will be released on Tuesday, likely rose 1.2%
in July from the previous month, a Zillow Inc. forecast showed.
The Case-Shiller, a key housing price index that covers 20 US
metropolitan areas, likely fell 4% in July from the year-ago
period, Zillow said. The S&P/Case-Shiller 10-city index is
expected to show the same month-over-month increase compared
to June, while also registering a decline of 3.4% from a year
earlier. "The market is full of conflicting signals right now
with August consumer confidence down by 25%, July pending homes
slipping, and the four-week moving average of mortgage applications
also dipping," said Zillow Chief Economist Stan Humphries in a
statement.

Humphries' expectations for the Case-Shiller index were
initially much weaker, but were bolstered recently by two
indicators. The Zillow home value index, a key factor in its
Case-Shiller forecast, rose 0.12% in July, and August home sales
rose 7.7%, well ahead of expectations. Still, uncertainty is
plaguing the market and will exert a drag on housing.

Monday's All Day Program to Help Distressed Homeowners

A community outreach program to help homeowners deal with foreclosure is being held Monday at the Hanover Marriott on Route 10. The free event, which is being coordinated through the Morris County Foreclosure Task Force, is slated to run from noon to 7:30 p.m. and will feature counselors and representatives of a variety of banks, services and social service agencies looking to help area residents who are facing housing troubles.

Hope Now is a nationwide initiative through which government agencies, counselors, mortgage companies, investors and other mortgage market participants help homeowners in distress stay in their homes and prevent foreclosures, according to the initiative's website.

Representatives of social service agencies also will be on hand with information on programs, including job training and energy assistance. Agencies that will be present include Project Self-Suffiency, NORWESCAP, banks and other social service agencies.

http://www.njherald.com/story/news/0925-2011-brief-clone

The Link Between Home Values and Jobs

Robert Freedman, Senior Editor at REALTOR® Magazine, describes how declining home values have stifled the growth of small business startups:

The pressure on home equity has been tough on everybody since the downturn but one segment of the population that’s been especially hard hit is the small business owner. Thanks to tight underwriting requirements by lenders, small business owners have been struggling to get capital just to keep their doors open. With lenders closed off to them, the only place left for them to go for capital is their own assets. That means tapping their savings or retirement accounts or their home equity, which is often their biggest source of wealth — or at least used to be.....

More, including a video clip, from My Realtv News:

From High LIne to Low Line

New York City's High Line - the now famous abandoned train-track-turned-park - has become well known around the world as a spectacular example of urban revitalization through smart design, even inspiring copycat elevated parks. Now Manhattan is considering another abandoned train track park renovation project called "The Low Line" - this time in the Lower East Side neighborhood. The big difference l is that the abandoned train station in question is entirely underground (below Delancey Street) - a subterranean challenge which would require an innovative approach to lighting in order to facilitate plant growth and human comfort. (Anyone who has ever been inside a NYC subway station knows that a lot of work would be required to transform one of these dank dark caves into a tranquil, pastoral setting).

That's why we're intrigued by this ingenious proposal for the new Low Line underground park by architect James Ramsey, the principal of RAAD, in part with Dan Barasch of tech think tank PopTech, to pump natural sunlight into the subterranean space with fiberoptic cables and mirrors, somewhat like a solar tube or a sunlight transport device (which we've covered here and here on Inhabitat), allowing plants to grow and creating a serene and sunny underground urban oasis.

The next task is to sell the neighborhood on a park with walls and a ceiling supported by I beams. Community Board 3 got its first look at the plan on Wednesday, giving residents the chance to start imagining what it might feel like to loll on a subterranean sheep meadow Another idea might be to include retail spaces and maintain a pubic arcade along a central corridor. This way private money pays for some of the capital costs and maintains it.

Some skeptics consider the logistics too complex to render a final park that is anything more than a glorified subway station. Perhaps, but why not start by converting q few functioning subway stations into more parklike environments.

Surprising Swing Up in Home Sales

Sales of previously owned homes came in 18.6 percent higher last month when compared to August 2010, according to data released Wednesday by the National Association of Realtors (NAR).

The latest numbers far surpassed market expectations. Many analysts were forecasting a decline while others were predicting a much more modest increase, with projections for the annual rate ranging between 4.61 million and 4.80 million.

Household Debt and Wealth Both Fall in Second Quarter

The level of U.S. household debt compared with after-tax income fell in the second quarter to the lowest level since 2004, according to data released on Friday. This may mark the continuation of a trend that could lay the foundation for greater consumer spending.

A Federal Reserve report showed that household mortgage debt fell while after-tax income rose in the second quarter. However, consumer credit, which accounts for a smaller portion of household balance sheets, rose.

More from housingwire.com:

Montclair's Butterfly Tent

“How does one become a butterfly? They have to want to learn to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.”
― Trina Paulus, Hope for the Flowers

The Solar Lining Behind the Solyndra Fiasco

Grist is pointing out that the bankruptcy of the solar company Solyndra which media reports have depicted as the end of solar power in the U.S. This is like saying there is no future for the internet because Netscape went out of business.

The irony of it all is that Solyndra was the victim of a big success -- the price of solar power has fallen rapidly, making more expensive technologies like theirs uncompetitive, but more importantly, making solar power a real player in the U.S. energy economy -- especially in New Jersey.

Another Day, Another Record Low in Rates

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed mortgages fell this week, with the current rate borrowers were quoted on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace at 3.89 percent, down from 3.92 percent at this same time last week. This rate represents the lowest rate recorded since Zillow Mortgage Marketplace launched The previous low was 3.92 percent, first recorded on Aug. 10, 2011.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate stayed below 4 percent for the majority of last week, hovering between 3.92 and 3.99, until jumping to 4.09 percent yesterday. The rate quickly returned to 3.92 percent the same day and spiked one last time before plummeting to the current rate early this morning.

Additionally, the 15-year fixed mortgage rate this morning was 3.12 percent and for 5/1 ARMs, the rate was 3.48 percent.

In Memorium

‎"I'm caught off guard more often than I would like today, that it's still such a powerful shock. That whole surrealness, it just hits you again - like, did that really happen? "
ELLEN MORAN, whose brother John, a New York City firefighter, was killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Enticing Promise of SPIN Farming

In these days of recession-ready frugal green living and personal green stimulus plans, many folks are looking for new sources of primary or secondary income. While farming may sound like it needs major capital investment, increasing numbers of people are growing surprising amounts of food on surprisingly small plots of land. Some are renting, others own land.
One solution may be to SPIN your garden into a profitable mini-farm.

ForSalebyOwner.com Founder Finally Hires Broker to Sell

Ahh, sweet irony! Founder and former CEO of ForSalebyOwner.com, Colby Sambrotto listed his 2,000 square foot New York condo, a two bedroom in Chelse, on his own through online classified ads and FSBO sites, but after six months, he opted to hire New York broker Jesse Buckler who immediately advised a price change as the listing was not attracting the right buyer.
Can you guess what happened next?

According to AgentGenius.com, the broker persuaded Sambrotto to RAISE the asking price. He woud up attracting multiple offers and closing for $150,000 over the original asking price -- $2.15 million--with the help of a real-estate broker and a standard 6% commission...

US Freezing Payments to Chase and B of A

The Treasury Department will withhold payments once again to Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase for their poor performance modifying mortgages in the second quarter. Both banks need substantial improvement to their operations within the Home Affordable Modification Program(HAMP), according to the compliance review conducted by the Treasury.

The Treasury compliance team looked at how each participating servicer performed when contacting homeowners, evaluating them for the program and how they assisted with any questions or document submissions. Including these judgments, the Treasury also looks at HAMP data gathered by Fannie Mae to determine which servicers need improvement.

The government first criticized these lenders in June, along with Wells Fargo & Co. and Ocwen Loan Servicing, and began withholding financial incentives of up to $1,000 per permanent loan modification. Wells Fargo and Ocwen were taken off the list of lagging companiesin the second quarter.

Since HAMP launched in March 2009, servicers started more than 791,000 permanent modifications with roughly 28,000 reported in July, according to the latest Treasury data. Roughly 1.6 million trials have been extended, and more than 763,000 canceled due to a redefault or not enough information was submitted. (Note: Chart above reflects activity to 11/09)

Time for a Fresh Look

New month. New season. New look. Hope you like it.
We've also tried to rearrange some of the links and interactive widgets so that they're more accessible and make room for the addition of some new elements ion the near future. Analytics is showing that you're searching out posts that we've written up years ago so a few of the more popular links may pop up once agin on the right sidebar.

The Power of the Passaic (Video)

A couple of miles upriver from the nationally renowned Great Falls, Little Falls can sometimes be even more turbulent after a storm. It's sound and fury two days after the "departure" of Hurricane Irene is awesome to behold.

Seen here just after reaching the high water mark in hundreds of Little Falls township homes on it's way to invading hundreds more in Paterson and other towns downriver.

The Market Improves for Irene Survivors

Perfect time to check out those flood prone homes for good deals. If the basements are dry after this weekend's rains, they'll probably always be dry. If they're wet and require flood insurance, you may save enough to flood proof it and still make a profit.
We wrote about this strategy over 4 years ago and the advice applies now more than ever since interest rates may never be lower and sellers have never been more motivated.
If you're thinking of selling and your basement stayed relatively dry, this may be the ideal time to enter the market.

Fixer - Uppers at the Height of Abandonment

Just as with foreclosed homes, many of the grandest of skyscrapers occasionally fail to become economically viable and fall into abandonment. Gadling.com has compiled a selection of such structures located from North Korea to Venezuela. These structures differ in their stories and circumstance, but each is a fine glimpse at post-apocalyptic urban decay.

Time to Update Sunday Open House Schedule!

37 are still scheduled for this Sunday in our small part of NNJ. Wake up guys!

The East Coast Quake

The United States Geological service has a site that monitors earthquake reports, It includes a revealingr Community Internet Intensity Map.
UPDATE: The screen capture above was posted about an hour after the quake. You can click here to see the latest update of their map(zoom out) which reflects thousands of additional reports.

Go North Young Critters!

Animals and plants are shifting their natural home ranges towards the cooler poles three times faster than scientists previously thought. In the largest study of its kind to date, researchers looked at the effects of temperature on over 2,000 species.
They report in the journal Science that species experiencing the greatest warming have moved furthest.

Scientists have previously reported on individual species moving towards the poles or uphill, in mountainous regions, as their traditional habitats shifted due to global warming. But this new study analysed data on more species to get a more comprehensive picture. On the average, these species are moving to higher elevations at 36 feet per decade and higher latitudes at 10.5 miles per decade. at the extreme end, the comma butterfly in Great Britain has moved more than 135 miles in 21 years. According to USA Today, the average distances are two or three times faster than when it was last measured, in 2003.
Might be time to invest in Canadian real estate.

Banks Increasing Incentives for Short Sales

NJ Realtors are beginning to notice that banks are more willing than ever to expedite the short sale process. They've naturally tended to avoid working with underwater sellers since their mortgage holders were so often understaffed and uncooperative in responding to buyer's offers.
A short sale is a home that’s priced below the seller’s mortgage balance, because the balance exceeds its current market value. Banks agree to short sales because the next best alternative is often foreclosure, which will cost them even more. With local foreclosures suspended for nearly a year because of the "robo-signing" fiasco, short sales have come to dominate the market.
They've come to realize that increasing their staffing and speeding up the extra paperwork involved, saves them money in the long run.

Caring for Older Homes

Older homes need special attention. Ron Holborn, a fellow Realtor from Southern California, suggests his top five tips on how to keep your older home safe and going strong.

1. If your home has an old boiler system, replace with a modern, efficient boiler or furnace for energy savings.

2. If central air isn’t an option, consider installing a large ventilation fan or whole-house fan in the attic. The fan can bring in a breeze through the open windows in the house.

3. If your home has knob and tube electrical wiring, replace it with a safer, modern system with a new electric panel and house wiring.

4. Inspect the roof every six months. Replace or repair worn or cracked shingles immediately. If the roof is more than 20 years old and most shingles are worn or damaged, it’s time to replace it.

5. Steel plumbing pipes can clog from internal rusting. Replace them before they burst or reduce your water pressure.

Dozens more tips from Realtors nationwide can be found on Holborn's ActiveRain blog.

Updated Details of Apple's New HQ

Two months ago, when Steve Jobs originally introduced his grandest vision for Apple's future, eyebrows were raised concerning it's practicality. This finalized plan, presented to the Cupertino Planning Board, may or may not be a prototype of the corporate headquarters of the future, but somehow it makes sense for Apple.

HUD's New Tool for Mapping Local Foreclosures

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has unveiled a Web-based mapping tool displaying the location of all foreclosed properties held by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) -- nearly half of all "real estate owned" (REO) properties in the U.S. The goal is to help local communities, homebuyers and investors locate and acquire government owned properties.

As HUD explains it:HUD's REO Portal "is a consolidated neighborhood listing and mapping tool to assist neighborhood stabilizers in identifying Real-Estate Owned (REO) properties from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA in targeted geographies. The portal supports more efficient disposition of REO properties to support the stabilization of neighborhoods and recovery of local housing markets by enabling a neighborhood-focused strategic approach to acquisition. "

Breaking it Down for Climate Change Skeptics

It's not just the statistics of another hotter than usual summer. There is a set of phenomena we would see happening if human-emitted greenhouse gases were causing climate change. There is a set of phenomena that are happening. They are the same phenomena.
Skeptical Science has more graphics and an extended web page to elaborate. Scroll down for an extended online discussion on the subject.

Your New Landlords, Fanny and Freddie?

Thinking out of the foreclosed box, the Obama administration is has a novel idea for easing the impact of it's 250,000 repossessed residential properties on the housing market. They're considering renting them out. They've asked for reactions from housing experts, Realtors, and the public -- and they've gotten an ear full. Here's a selection from the hundreds of reader comments that followed some online news clips on the idea:

….This will invariably become another entitlement program that creates its own constituency taxpayers can ill afford. Do you honestly believe the federal government is going to kick people out of these houses as renters quit even paying rent? Sell the houses, take the (taxpayer) loss, and move on.... they will take a loss in the short term but in the long term these distressed properties would become valuable assets which could be sold for profit or kept as rental income.....this will only lead to the "slumification of America" as Democrats will look to place Section #8 housing into residential/suburban neighborhoods --under the label of affordable housing.…these bulk sales would have to be done at very low prices to make it work and even then the rent prices probably would not cover expenses.....A bottom wont be made in the housing market until the supply demand equation reaches an equilibrium point. There is still an enormous supply of homes that no amount of government solutions will eliminate...

If approved, the program would most likely be tested out in states that have had the most foreclosures along with the highest demand for rentals such as Florida, Nevada, and Arizona. The deadline for responses is September 15.

S & P Credit Drop Extended to Fannie and Freddie

Standard & Poor's on Monday downgraded the credit ratings of
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and several other U.S. government
entities, reflecting their dependence on federal support.

Ten of the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks, which also provide
funding for home loans, also received downgrades. Two of the
Federal Home Loan Banks--of Chicago and Seattle--already had the
lower AA-plus credit rating. The downgrades of Fannie and
Freddie reflect the mortgage firms' "direct reliance" on the U.S.
government, S&P said. Fannie and Freddie depend on the U.S.
government's support to stay afloat, and therefore would be on a
shaky footing if the U.S. ever defaulted on its debt.

Fannie and Freddie, which were placed under federal control in September 2008, receive infusions
of cash from the Treasury Department on a quarterly basis if
their net worth drops below zero. Stabilizing the two firms has
cost taxpayers $141 billion so far.

Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Time to get our priorities straight. Here's a newly written summary of 7 elements for a happy life, by Henri Junttila, that are great to keep in mind lest we become overly preoccupied by interest rates, property values and global warming. After you've read his brief, just keep in mind the the key words which are Here and Now, Relationships, Kindness, Growth, Goals, Embracing Death, and Following Your Heart. Scroll down for contributions and comments from readers of the dumblittleman.com website.

Stock Market Dives -- But So Do Interest Rates

We just checked our interest rate calculator on the far right and did a double take. At the moment I'm writing this it's at an all time low of 4.01%. Since Zillow's numbers tend to be on the low side, we've included some other major lenders above.

World's Most Expensive Cities

Luanda, Angola, now holds the dubious title of the most expensive city for expatriates to live in according to Mercer Consulting’s annual cost-of-living survey released last month.

Mercer surveyed 214 cities across five continents, measuring the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

New York is used as the base city for the index, and all cities are compared against this location. Currency movements are measured against the U.S. dollar.London ranked 18th, while Paris dropped 10 places to No. 27 from 17th last year. New York was the priciest U.S. city, with a rank of 32, falling from 27 last year.

The cost of housing — often the biggest expense for expats — figures prominently in determining where cities are ranked, Mercer said. Karachi, Pakistan, retained its place as the world’s least expensive city. The Mercer survey found that it was more than three times as costly for an expatriate to live in Luanda as in Karachi.

New Fuel Efficiency Standards Challenged by GOP

Last week, environment -alists received news that President Obama had reached a landmark agreement with 13 automakers to pursue a 54.5 MPG average fleet goal by the vehicle model year 2025. The agreement was a huge step forward for Obama’s environmental campaign, and shows that automakers and our government are on the same page when it comes to fuel efficiency.

"This is another important step toward saving money for drivers, breaking our dependence on imported oil and cleaning up the air we breathe,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “American consumers are calling for cleaner cars that won’t pollute their air or break their budgets at the gas pump, and our innovative American automakers are responding with plans for some of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in our history.”

In 2010, Obama had already imposed a rule that will require vehicles from model years 2012 to 2016 to reach fuel-efficiency of 35.5 mpg. The rules will save drivers a whopping $8,000 per vehicle at the pump, but Republicans aren’t having it. Claiming that Obama violated administrative law by meeting with automakers behind closed doors, Inhabitat is reprting that the GOP, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cali.), is launching an investigation into the new fuel economy requirements.

New Fuel Efficiency Standards Challenged by GOP

Last week, environmentalists received news that President Obama had reached a landmark agreement with 13 automakers to pursue a 54.5 MPG average fleet goal by the vehicle model year 2025. The agreement was a huge step forward for Obama’s environmental campaign, and shows that automakers and our government are on the same page when it comes to fuel efficiency. The rules will save drivers a whopping $8,000 per vehicle at the pump, but guess what? Republicans aren’t having it. Claiming that Obama violated administrative law by meeting with automakers behind closed doors, the GOP, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Cali.), is launching an investigation into the new fuel economy requirements.

http://inhabitat.com/gop-investigating-obamas-new-fuel-economy-rules/

Read more: GOP Investigating Obama's New Fuel Economy Rules | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Time to Consider Putting Your Home Search On A Fast Track

With the current Debt Crisis facing the increased possibility of Default, downgrading of our government's credit, and the prospect of skyrocketing interest rates, now might be the time to put your home search on a fast track. HGTV"s FrontDoor.com has posted their 10 step scenario for speeding up the process to the max and closing your deal on the tightest of deadlines. Their 10 steps:

1. Start your search online

2. Get pre-approved

3. Look for motivated sellers

4. Prioritize your housing needs

5. Find a great buyer’s agent

6. Steer clear of short sales

7. Try a real estate auction

8. Negotiate repairs

9. Have cash read for closing

10. Have a Plan B

Depending on the property you pick, our team of Century 21 specialists have locked in a low interest rate in a matter of days.and closed deals as quickly as 3 weeks.

More Financing Options Needed to Stem Foreclosures

The housing market could face an onslaught of new foreclosures if policy makers and industry professionals fail to develop more financing options that keep real estate investors active in the market, Amherst Securities Group said in a report yesterday. The
problem is twofold, according to the analyst group. On one hand,
the market needs to stifle a growing supply of distressed
properties by implementing solutions — including principal
write downs — that will save homes from distressed inventory
pools. The second step is ensuring the market has multiple
financing options available to investors who want to buy up the
existing streams of distressed and existing real estate. "Rental
yields are high enough to entice some amount of private capital,
but financing for investor properties would certainly attract
more capital and cushion further home price declines," the agency
said in its Amherst Mortgage Insight report.

Amherst Securities believes 10.4 million homes are still at risk
of going into default after analyzing the number of loans that
are currently classified as non-performing, previously delinquent
and underwater. The tightening of underwriting guidelines also
is making it more difficult for investors and homebuyers to get
into the market to extract the access inventory.

Growing Evidence of Connecticut Cougar Migration

The cougar, also known as puma, mountain lion, mountain cat, catamount or panther, depending on the region, is a mammal native to the Americas. This large, solitary cat has the greatest range of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere, extending from Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes. An adaptable species, the cougar is found in every major American habitat type. Although large, the cougar is closer genetically to the domestic cat than to true lions.

Numerous reports of sightings of the animal in suburban Connecticut, had beed dismissed by conservation officers as unlikely, since the species had long since been thought to be extinct in the eastern U.S. On June 11, the rumors were confirmed with news of the lions demise -- hit by a car on a highway near Greenwich. Treehugger.com just reported that DNA tests matched those of his nearest relatives from South Dakpta suggesting that the mountain lion had somehow managed to prowl through at least six states covering 1800 miles of midwestern farms, highways, and wilderness without being spotted.

New Push for Conforming Loan Limit Extension

In 2008, Congress allowed Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee or buy mortgages worth as much as $729,750 in most neighborhoods. The limits will expire Oct. 1 and drop to $600,000 or more, varying by county. (The darker areas in the map show counties that will face the biggest drops.)

Housing Wire is reporting that Mortgage Bankers Association CEO David Stevens, the former director of the FHA, said he would like to see the limits extended through the end of 2012.

"While we had hoped improved economic conditions could warrant a return to the loan limits established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the reality is that the temporarily higher loan levels are still needed. A number of bills have been introduced that would extend these limits and we urge Congress to address this important issue," Stevens said in the letter to Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) and Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) introduced just such a bill last week, which would extend the limits for another two years.

NJ's Undiscovered Lake Escape

Like Minnesota, New Jersey is a land of many lakes, most of them private or hard to access without long hikes, Louis Morris County Park couldn't be much easier to get to. It's a mere 4 miles west of Morristown. Perhaps one of the reasons it's parking lot is never full is that the wealthy towns nearby all have private pools or town pools. Maybe it's the history of geese-induced closings(rare in recent years). We arrived as per our usual late Sunday timetable to find 3 youngsters in the roped off section of Sunrise Lake being well supervised by two lifeguards. We were swimming far enough from them to avoid the slightest ripple in the refreshing waters. A couple of paddleboats were sliding across the lake and a few fishermen could be seen on the far shore. Peace!

Foreclosure Painting More Timely Than Ever

Some real estate agents tend to regard foreclosure properties as just an "asset" that can be unloaded quickly once it becomes vacant.
"Foreclosure" should remind us that there are still people involved. As with many of gallery painter Max Ginsburg realistic paintings, this one looks like it could have been done during The Depression. An exhibition of 60 paintings dating from 1956 to the present by the New York illustrator will be on view at the Salmagundi Club at 47 Fifth Av. at 10th St. in New York City from July 18 to August 5. A major book with 150 reproductions will be published in September. The opening reception Thursday July 21 between 5:00 and 8:00pm

Countrywide and Wells Fargo Return 193M to Homeowners

Some troubled homeowners got the promise of a little relief Wednesday in the form of separate settlements with Bank of America's Countrywide Home Loans and Wells Fargo & Co. Nearly $108 million in refund checks are being mailed to homeowners allegedly overcharged by Countrywide Home Loans as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

In an unrelated action against Wells Fargo, the Federal Reserve Board issued a cease-and-desist order and assessed an $85-million civil penalty over allegations that Wells Fargo Financial Inc. employees improperly pushed borrowers into more expensive subprime loans and exaggerated income information on mortgage applications from January 2004 to June 2008.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission reached the settlement with Countrywide, which is now owned by Bank of America Corp., and said Wednesday that the agency was beginning to mail the checks to 450,177 defaulting homeowners from whom the company allegedly collected excessive fees.

Lead Testing Advised for All Ringwood Residents

WCBS News is reporting that lead levels in homes just outside a New Jersey superfund site have been found to be dangerously high and that has some observers demanding quick action. Photo by Chris Pedota

The sludge dumped on the site continues to surprise the people trying to clean it up — and the residents trying to live their lives nearby. Environmentalist Robert Spiegel is so alarmed he said the entire population of this rural community should be screened for contamination.

Recent soil tests show that some homes in the area have lead levels of 22 thousand parts per million in their yards. That’s 50 times what the government considers safe. The EPA said it has removed 37,000 tons of soil and debris from the site since 2004 and has no estimate how much more is left.

The New Jersey Department of Health has offered lead screening for children living here, but not for adults, few of whom have health insurance or the means to get the tests themselves. A spokesperson for department in Trenton said it’s taking the advisory panel’s recommendation under advisement.

Closing Costs Compared

Bankrate.com's exclusive survey of lenders in each state and Washington, D.C., reveals which borrowers are likely to face the highest costs and includes a detailed breakdown of fees in each state. The estimates are based on a borrower with excellent credit buying a $250,000 homeResearchers requested a good faith estimate for a $200,000 loan, assuming a 20 percent down payment and good credit.

The table below ranks the states, from most expensive closing costs to least expensive, by average closing costs charged by the lending industry for a mortgage in each state.(Click on graphic to enlarge) Your costs will be higher than shown here because the most highly variable costs are not included: taxes, other government fees and escrow fees. While New York continues to lead the nation in costs, New Jersey is inching up from 9th place to a tie for 7th.

Bankrate surveyed one city in 49 states, two cities in California -- Los Angeles and San Francisco -- and the District of Columbia. An asterisk below denotes a tie.

SBA Loans Now Available for NNJ March Flood Victims

WASHINGTON – Residents and businesses affected by the severe storms and flooding on March 10-17, in Essex, Morris and Passaic counties in Northern New Jersey can apply for low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills announced today.

Mills made the loans available in response to a letter from New Jersey Gov. Christie on June 9, requesting a disaster declaration by the SBA. The declaration covers Essex, Morris and Passaic counties and the adjacent counties of Bergen, Hudson, Hunterdon, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren in New Jersey; and Orange and Rockland counties in New York.

“The SBA is strongly committed to providing the people of New Jersey with the most effective and customer-focused response possible to assist homeowners, renters, and businesses of all sizes with federal disaster loans,” said Administrator Mills. “Getting businesses and communities up and running after a disaster is our highest priority at SBA.”

“Loans up to $200,000 are available to homeowners to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate. Homeowners and renters are eligible for loans up to $40,000 to repair or replace damaged or destroyed personal property,” said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA’s Field Operations Center East in Atlanta. SBA’s customer service representatives will be on hand at the Disaster Loan Outreach Center to answer questions about the disaster loan program, explain the process, issue and help individuals complete their applications.

Those affected by the disaster may apply for disaster loans from SBA’s website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/.
The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is August 15, 2011. The deadline to return economic injury applications is March 14, 2012.

The Debt Ceiling Debate and Real Estate

Since the United States is in a deficit position, the only way we can continue supporting our expenses is by borrowing. This is where the Debt Ceiling comes in.

If Congress does not raise the ceiling on our debts, it means only one thing ...

We will find it difficult to borrow more money by selling more Treasury Bonds because no one will trust us to pay it back.

If we cannot sell more Treasury Bonds, we won’t have enough money to cover our debts.

If we don’t have enough money to cover all our debts, we will have to ‘default’ on some of our debts.

If we default on our debt, we’re no different than you or me, who hit hard times and start paying only the interest on our credit card debt.

Because we must default on paying back our debts in full, interest rates on any new debt we manage to acquire will skyrocket. In other words, U.S. Treasuries will become junk bonds.

And junk bonds — bonds whose repayment is questionable — require high interest rates for investors to take on the risk.

When this happens, all interest rates will skyrocket. On auto loans. Credit cards. And, of course, mortgage loans.

And there goes the real estate market.
This was posted by Judy Chapman, a Chicago /Realtor, on her ActiveRain Blog.