The economy may be in a weakening phase, growing just 0.2 percent in the first quarter and the Atlanta Federal Reserve's forecast showing an expansion of only 0.8 percent by the end of June.

But this weakness likely won't be reflected in the Department of Labor’s job report for April, says New York Post columnist John Crudele.

"That’s because Labor uses trick statistics when it gives a picture of the springtime job market," he writes. "Each spring, Labor starts adding phantom jobs to its count— jobs they guess have been created but can’t prove have been created." -- Dan Weil in NewsMax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/StreetTalk/Crudele-beware-phantom-jobs/2015/05/06/id/643017/?
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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
1/2 of the mortgage lenders in the US don't require criminal and financial background checks, comprehensive testing, licensing or continuing education classes. Those people are in the BANKS. However, Dodd-Frank requires non-bank loan officerst to have all that. But, D-F also doesn't allow any transition for bank MLO's to become non-bank MLO's. Rep. Stivers has put in a bill (HR 2121) to allow a 90 day grace period for the bank MLO's to get their classes and licensing finished when moving to a non-bank. Since banks have pulled way back from giving mortgages these MLO's need to be able to find a new job in a non-bank mortgage office. (Sounds good to me.)
http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/90-licensing-grace-period-for-bank-los/?
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Shared and taken by Marbeliza Fernandes, lighthouse in Germany.

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...home prices and rents keep rising, but sharply declining homeownership means fewer households are benefitting and more and more households are being priced out of homeownership and forced to pay higher rents, a client note from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch says.

Similarly, home prices are up by 25% from the bottom in December 2011, while personal income has only grown by 12.8%, roughly half the level of home price growth. In the past (think housing bubble/crisis), large divergences between home price growth and income growth had disastrous consequences. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire http://www.housingwire.com/blogs/1-rewired/post/33766-monday-morning-cup-of-coffee-home-price-and-wage-divergence-raise-alarms

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The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties decreased to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.54% of all loans outstanding at the end of the first quarter of 2015.

This was the lowest level since the second quarter of 2007. The delinquency rate decreased 14 basis points from the previous quarter, and 57 basis points from one year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’sNational Delinquency Survey. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire http://www.housingwire.com/articles/33800-mba-mortgage-delinquencies-andforeclosures-drop-in-1q

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Shared and taken by Werner Polwein, New York City

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Gallup's U.S. Job Creation Index reached plus 31 in April, inching past its previous high of plus 30 from September of last year.
For the first time since Gallup began tracking the index in 2008, index scores are plus 30 or higher in all four regions of the country. Each region has a new high index score, with the Midwest leading the other regions at plus 33 in April. The index score in the East had never reached the plus 30 mark before the latest poll. -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire
http://www.housingwire.com/articles/33803-gallup-job-creation-index-highest-since-september-2014
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RealtyTrac: Flippers were 4% of all home sales in the first quarter

Average gross profit hit $72.5K -- Trey Garrison in HousingWire

http://www.housingwire.com/articles/33806-realtytrac-flippers-were-4-of-all-home-sales-in-the-first-quarter

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Shared and taken by Sergei Kostin, Crimea. Foros. Foros Church of Christ Resurrection.

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Nat'l Real Estate Post:
Clayton Homes is the largest builder of homes in the US, is owned by Warren Buffet. It builds mobile homes and has completely cornered the market. They sell the homes, insurance, finance the homes and furnish the homes, all by companies owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The interest rates are 7 points higher than the going rate and are mostly sold to low or middle income buyers. They are not regulated to the same standard that every other lender in the country is. (The whole situation sounds predatory to me.) We need more companies that will lend to mobile home buyers. http://thenationalrealestatepost.com/when-is-foreclosure-okay/?
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The March 2015 international trade deficit increased 43.1 percent from February, to $51.4 billion. Exports increased 0.9 percent to $187.8 billion, and imports rose 7.7 percent to $239.2 billion. -- US Department of Commerce
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Shared and taken by Hany Aziz, Fort de Saint John the Baptist, Berlenga Island, Portugal