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American incomes down 8.3% since 2007. In 2007 the median income was $56,080, in 2012 it was $51,017. For the record, there is one demographic trend to note in these numbers. Even if the economy were going gangbusters, the aging of the baby boom generation would be a weight on US income levels. Generally speaking older people have lower income levels, which can drag down overall median income. The number of households in which the head of the household was 65 or older rose by roughly 1.1 million in 2012, a 4% increase over the prior year. New numbers on American earnings add an important element to the current focus on how the country and the financial system are faring five years after the failure of Lehman Brothers sent the US financial system and the economy into a tailspin. (It also just happens to be the second anniversary of the start of the protests that became the Occupy Wall Street movement.) The data show many American families still haven’t pulled out of it. -- Shared by Ritchie King in Quartz and LinkedIn.
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You probably won’t be receiving a utility bill from Google anytime soon, but the search giant is slowly but surely morphing into a literal power broker. Yesterday (Sept. 17), for instance, Google announced that it would buy all the electricity generated by the 240-megawatt Happy Hereford wind farm to be built near Amarillo, Texas. But the nation’s utility executives probably are not feeling lucky these days. They are already fretting about losing revenue as a growing number of homeowners install solar panels to power their abodes with free sunshine. With the Happy Hereford wind farm, which is expected to go online in late 2014, Google will have power-purchase agreements for more than 570 megawatts of wind energy. It has also invested directly in renewable energy projects, such as the $168 million it put into the 370-megawatt Ivanpah solar thermal power plant nearing completion in the southern California desert. These are still small amounts, but it may be only a matter of time before Google becomes a force in the power markets, whether it intends to or not. (http://qz.com/125407) Shared by Todd Woody in LinkedIn
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Now we know at least one official associated with the city of San Francisco would like the larger municipality to take on eminent domain as a solution to help underwater borrowers, in the same way that Richmond, Calif., has been pursuing that strategy.
"Until these lawsuits are resolved, homeowners may not know who to pay or the amount they need to pay off their mortgage. Additionally, any purported extinguishment of an original mortgage obtained through the eminent domain process may cause title insurance to be unavailable in subsequent transactions, or, at a minimum, result in exclusions from title insurance coverage. Title insurance protects real property owners and mortgage lenders against losses from possible defects in the title. In addition, rulings on eminent domain challenges in one jurisdiction will likely create a ripple effect impacting the legality of this type of eminent domain in all jurisdictions.”
So if it was a mystery Wednesday as to why title insurers took a tumble on the New York Stock Exchange, perhaps the above stated fears were the underlying cause.
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Foreclosure starts continue to yo-yo after falling from 72,700 in May to 57,300 in June, data from RealtyTrac revealed. From June to July, foreclosure starts have inched back up to 60,600.
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Remember Talk Like A Pirate Day is Sept 19
Shared by George Takei---------------------------------------------------------------
A rapid decline in foreclosures sales and new foreclosure filings have helped to reduce the impact of distressed property sales on overall home prices, FNC said.
Foreclosure sales accounted for 12.2% of total home sales, down from 17.3% in July 2012. -- Brad Finkelstein in Origination News.
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Are the numbers of first-time buyers shrinking, victimized by cash-bearing investors, credit-tight lenders mounting mortgage interest rates and soaring home prices? Are they “increasingly getting left behind in the real-estate recovery” as the Journal reported n July?
Well, not exactly, argue two economists from the Atlanta Federal Reserve. Reports based on surveys of Realtors to the contrary, first timers are doing just well as ever, thank you very much. “We do not share the concern about weakness in housing demand going forward because we are not convinced that the data indicates a material decline in first-time buyer participation,” concluded researchers Jessica Dill and Ellyn Terry. -- Shared by Steve Cook in Real Estate Economy Watch.
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Check the most and least lucrative careers here http://n.pr/17ATa42. -- Shared by Guy Kawasaki
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This will be good news to the smaller mortgage lender, since it now has room to expand its share in the market. According to analyst Brian Klock at financial services firm Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lending trends now favor the small banks over the large. Lending overall is up more than 3% quarter-to-date (QTD). -- Shared by Jared Gaffney in REwired
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A federal district judge shut the door on Wells Fargo's (WFC) attempt to prevent the rollout of a controversial eminent domain rescue plan for underwater borrowers in Richmond, Calif.
U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer dismissed the bank's push for an injunction without prejudice, claiming the case was not ripe, or legally ready for court, since it rested on future events that have yet to occur. -- Shared by Megan Hopkins in HousingWire
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Mortgage applications shifted gears, increasing 11.2% from a week earlier, the Mortgage Bankers Association said this week.
Meanwhile, the refinance index grew 18% from the prior week, while the purchase index rose 3%.
As a whole, the refinance share of mortgage activity inched back up to 61% of total applications, up from 57% a week earlier. -- Brena Swanson in HousingWire
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