Marc's Mortgage Matter's

According to the police, a Texas woman lived in an apartment with her dead boyfriend for a week. Know why he didn't marry her? Cold feet.

And speaking of cold, here we are at the World Series...baseball in November in the Northeast. Lots of folks in mortgage banking like numbers and statistics, so here is one question (totally un-mortgage related) that is interesting: how many baseballs does a major league team use per season? It turns out that, on average, a ball only lasts 3-4 pitches (foul balls, scuffs, home runs, end of inning, etc.) so each game consumes roughly 100 balls. So with 30 teams, 162 games, the approximate usage is 220,000 balls per year! The ones that don't end up on fan's shelves are used for batting practice, or by minor league teams.

Most economists believe that although the internet bubble took its toll on stock prices and the stock market in general, the housing bubble has had more of an impact on our sense of well-being. It seems to remind us that, for whatever reason you attribute to the dramatic rise in housing prices (low interest rates, a government mandate to make loans to unqualified buyers, Wall Street, etc.), that the faster something goes up, the faster it comes down. Any time the price that people will pay today depends on the belief that other people will pay even more tomorrow, you have a potential price bubble.

Granted, people view a home differently than a share of stock. But in terms of commodities, if the price of carrots, or hay, goes up 40%, more carrots or hay will soon flood the market. If gold is going up, more mines work overtime and more panners will hit the streams. But the housing market is slightly different, in that most houses were built in the past, and it takes several months to build new ones. But as owners felt better about the worth of their house, they borrowed against it rather than sell it, leading to other problems. And the sense of rising values made owners feel smarter, better off, and added trillions to our sense of wealth. Since most families own their own homes, we all feel happier when real estate prices are going up. But we’re probably better off if prices are stable or even dropping slightly. It is easier for new buyers to purchase a home and easier for existing owners of starter homes to trade up.

And eyes continue to be on the tax credit extension, which either prolongs the inevitable or helps the housing market to stabilize and recover, depending on how one looks at it. A Senate committee reached a compromise to extend the credit, and also tacked on a $6,500 tax credit for other primary-home purchasers and raised the qualifying income limits to $125,000 for single taxpayers and $225,000 for joint taxpayers. Under the Senate panel compromise, buyers must have sales agreements in hand by April 30, but they will have until June 30 to go to settlement, the sources said. The measure still faces votes in the full Senate and the House.

So you think it is easy being a loan modification agent? Five people from Southern California, feeling they were victims of a loan modification scheme, took matters into their own hands and allegedly beat and tortured two loan modification agents. The defendants are charged with torture, false imprisonment by violence, and second-degree robbery. According to authorities, they live in a house in foreclosure, allegedly sought loan modification assistance from the victims but believed that nothing was being done and wanted their money back. The victims also were allegedly robbed of their loan paperwork (gasp - their loan paperwork!?!) and personal belongings. LOL no, I did not make this up!

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!