I went fishing this morning but after a short time I ran out of worms. Then I saw a cottonmouth snake with a frog in its mouth. In case you didn't know, frogs are good bass bait.
Knowing the frog couldn't bite me with the frog in its mouth; I grabbed it right behind it's head, gingerly stole the frog and put it in my bait bucket. Now the dilemma was how to release the snake without getting bit.
So, I grabbed my bottle of Jack Daniels (which I always have on me) and poured a little into it's mouth... Okay a lot of whiskey. It's eyes rolled back, it let out a little snake burp and it went limp.
I released the snake into the lake without incident and carried on fishing, using the frog. Not long after I felt a nudge on my foot.
It was that darn snake... with two more frogs.
Shared by Josh Foster at BNP Media
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Because this issue is so important, I am posting the whole thing here. I am also tweeting it. Please, tell your buyers about this government intervention.
National Real Estate Post - Biggert Waters Flood Act Disaster |
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Posted: 03 Sep 2013 11:04 PM PDT
FEMA in conjunction with the Biggert Waters Flood Act is causing a whole new disaster with the victims of hurricane Sandy by forcing many people into unaffordable home improvements or massive flood insurance premiums.
Years ago President Ronald Reagan once aptly said the 8 scariest words in the English language; “We’re from the Government, we’re here to help.” We laugh because all good comedy is laced with hard truths that are simply easier to laugh at than cry. This was the case yesterday when I woke up to write the script for The National Real Estate Post, daily video. Usually we will look at stories that we’ve been considering that have adequately fermented prior to putting the idea to Show. Today was different. As I scrolled through my daily feeds I saw an article at nbcnews.com that had me jump out of my seat and reflect on Reagan’s words in the same fashion a 4th grader reflects on giving his lunch money away over threat of a serious ass kicking. So here we are, onto today’s show. The articles headline was “$20,000 for flood insurance? Sandy survivors facing tough rebuilding choices.” OK, so who’s not gonna bite on that title! After all, $20,000 a year is nearly $2,000 per month; or about 300 times what any reasonable policy should cost. Yet here we are. So as the Talking Heads once said “How did we get here?!”  Here’s how. Folks within FEMA and the Federal Government have been looking at the growing costs of fulfilling flood policies with episodes like Katrina, Sandy, and Rita (remember Rita was like Katrina’s bitchy little sister that ravaged the same area just a few months after Katrina.) In short, it’s widely believed that our costs on flood policies are outpacing the money being brought in from payment on said flood policies. When you add that with the, also, wide belief that erratic storm seasons are going to become less erratic and more the norm, it left Washington and FEMA scrambling on how to make up the projected shortfalls on FEMA’s reserves.Enter the Biggert Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. Oh, this was just put into action “Now;” at the speed of Government. Anyways what this act does is outline a way for the Government to Replenish their flood insurance funds by rezoning flood regions throughout the United States. As you can imagine, and rightfully so, areas around water, and along coasts, stood to suffer the most with higher policies. And the truth is, that should probably be the case. Think about it, if you stand a higher chance of flooding than you should pay more money. Duh!!!! However, the amount of money that these guys are paying is beyond anything that anyone would consider reasonable. For example, and as outlined by the show that you just watched, some of these policies are upwards of $20,000 per year. So how does that happen? Like this. Because of the rezoning, areas that are deemed higher risk are subject to new and improved building regulations. If it’s deemed that you might flood than your house is going to need to be elevated. And, your elevation is going outlined by the new and improved flood map. Here’s the problem. Listen Close. Some of these people that were devastated by Sandy were paying on policies, earnestly paying on policies, based on the previous standards. So when their policies hit triple cherries after the Storm, they got paid. The problem is, the payment was sufficient to allow them to rebuild their old homes. The bigger problem is, new flood map zoning say’s they need to rebuild a better home to meet the new and improved standards. Of course the new and improved standards cost more money. New and improved always costs more money. The issue these Sandy Survivors have is they don’t necessarily have the money to make the improvements to get reasonable policies. Some of these FEMA improvements could cost Sandy Survivors upwards of $100,000. As we know, most Americans don’t have that type of Jack laying around. So what do you do? The only other option with the new FEMA flood map is to pay the higher policy for a home that is not built up to new specifications. Let’s face it, if you don’t have the money for the improvements, this is the next logical option. Enter problem number two. FEMA’s got this thing so screwed up that the amount of money needed for improvements is unreasonable. So if you default to the next logical option, the payments on a substandard policy might even be more outrageous. Think about it, a $20,000 annual policy? The payment on the insurance would be higher than what most payments on the actual house would be! And this is the new and improved option the Government has come up with as a viable solution. So you might be asking yourself, you should pay more money for higher risk homes. Agreed. But now ask yourself, what’s the good of making payment so high and improvement so prohibitively demanding that neither are realistic. What the hell is the good? Can we do better? In a time when Washington all but banters around giving homes away to garner support, what the fuck is the problem with giving survivors of the Sandy catastrophe an honest chance of fighting back and keeping their homes. These terms are unreasonable and it’s truly unbelievable that NOBODY with any authority has not come out and said, as my 14 year old kid my text “WTF,” because if ever strong and offensive language was needed in our industry, this might be the case. So help from the government, I might just side with President Reagan and conclude that Federal Help might be worse than the Hurt they |
"The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short: but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." Michelangelo
This quote adorns the wall at Mojave, the home of Virgin Galactic. Rest assured we are setting our aim very high indeed!
By Richard Branson. Founder of Virgin Group
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New estimates derived from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey by Sentier Research indicate that the real (inflation-adjusted) median annual household income in America has fallen by 4.4 percent during the "recovery," after having fallen by 1.8 during the recession. -- Shared by Jeffery H. Anderson
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Second-quarter data from the National Credit Union Administration shows federally insured credit unions experienced brisk loan growth, reporting their highest net worth since 2008 and record membership levels in the second quarter.
The delinquency ratio and net charge-offs are significantly lower than they were a year ago, which is good news for the credit union industry. “The delinquency ratio for credit unions is still very, very low,” said Gentile, who noted that people are finally able to pay their bills. “That’s a very good sign for the economy overall.” -- Megan Hopkins in HousingWire
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“Homeowners who already have ample equity are quickly building on that equity, while the 8.3 million homeowners on the fence with little or no equity are on track to regain enough equity to sell before 2015 if home prices continue to increase at the rate of 1.33% per month that they have since bottoming out in March 2012,” said Blomquist. -- Megan Hopkins at HousingWire
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Mortgage applications finally inched higher after a couple weeks of declines, increasing 1.3% in the latest Mortgage Bankers Association survey.
The average contract interest rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage with a conforming loan limit fell to 4.73% from 4.80%.
Meanwhile, the 30-year, FRM jumbo dipped to 4.71% from 4.78% last week.
(Do you see that jumbo loans now have lower interest rates than regular MI?)
The average 30-year, FRM backed by the FHA also decreased to 4.48% from 4.52% a week ago.
Additionally, the 15-year, FRM slipped to 3.75% from 3.84%, and the 5/1 ARM fell to 3.49% from 3.50% last week. -- Brena Swanson at HousingWire
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s top supervision and enforcement officer, Steven Antonakes, will also serve as the CFPB’s second-in-command.
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“Home prices continue to climb across the nation in July with markets hit hardest during the downturn leading the way,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and chief executive of CoreLogic.
Other states with the highest price increases since July 2012 are: Arizona (up 17%), Wyoming (16%), and Oregon (15%). -- Brian Collins at Orignation News
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Construction spending in the U.S. grew in July to its highest level in four years, due to gains in residential real estate, Bloomberg News reports.
Outlays climbed 0.6% to a $900.8 billion annual rate, the most since June 2009, after being little changed in June, the Commerce Department reported today in Washington.
“We’re going to continue to post growth,” Mike Englund, chief economist at Action Economics LLC in Boulder, Colorado, said before the report. “It’s growing a little faster than the broader economy, obviously getting help from residential construction.”
Source: Bloomberg
-----------------------------------------------The government is throwing a lifeline to borrowers who lost their homes due to the recession, in an attempt to widen the pool of potential borrowers.
Per The Wall Street Journal:
A recent rule change lets certain borrowers who have gone through a foreclosure, bankruptcy or other adverse event—but who have repaired their credit—become eligible to receive a new mortgage backed by the Federal Housing Administration after waiting as little as one year. Previously, they had to wait at least three years before they could qualify for a new government-backed loan.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
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The city council in North Las Vegas rejected a plan proposed by Mortgage Resolution Partners to utilize the power of eminent domain to refinance underwater mortgages. The plan was struck down in a five-to-zero vote. -- HousingWire
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While other states start to recover, homeowners in Ohio and other Midwestern states are struggling to regain equity in their houses, with more than 30% of mortgaged homeowners in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois owing considerably more than their homes are worth. Per The Columbus Dispatch:
With Syria in the mix, housing is no longer going to capture lawmakers’ attention in the months of September and October. And what an upset that is, considering the first Treasury white paper on GSE reform came out in 2011, three years ago in February.
Analysts with Compass Point Research & Trading believe the Syria debate will cause lawmakers to punt on the federal budget and the debt ceiling debate.
"We do not believe that the federal government will shutdown, or that the debt ceiling will be breached, but note that the Congressional consideration of military action in Syria increases the likelihood that lawmakers push the impending budget battles to the end of 2013," Compass Point analysts noted. -- Kerri Anne Panchuck in HousingWire
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Shared by Virgil Cowen
In Ohio, 31% of homeowners with loans owe at least 125% more than their estimated home value, RealtyTrac said. In central Ohio, the figure is 27 percent.-------------------------------------------
In all, RealtyTrac estimates that 10.7 million homeowners, or 23% of those with mortgages, are “deeply underwater,” down from 11.3 million in May and 12.5 million last September. -- HousingWire
With Syria in the mix, housing is no longer going to capture lawmakers’ attention in the months of September and October. And what an upset that is, considering the first Treasury white paper on GSE reform came out in 2011, three years ago in February.
Analysts with Compass Point Research & Trading believe the Syria debate will cause lawmakers to punt on the federal budget and the debt ceiling debate.
"We do not believe that the federal government will shutdown, or that the debt ceiling will be breached, but note that the Congressional consideration of military action in Syria increases the likelihood that lawmakers push the impending budget battles to the end of 2013," Compass Point analysts noted. -- Kerri Anne Panchuck in HousingWire
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Shared by Virgil Cowen
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