States Contemplate Loans for Home Buyers

The $8,000 first-time home buyer mortgage tax credit, which is part of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is a great boon. But, it doesn’t help people who don’t have money for a down payment and closing costs.

Now some states are contemplating offering an $8,000 loan to home buyers before they close on the condition that they repay the loans as soon as they get their federal tax credits.

The idea has been adopted in Missouri, which advances the money to those who take out first mortgages offered through the state’s housing finance authority. The New York State Builders Association is lobbying the State of New York Mortgage Agency to adopt a similar strategy.

“A lot of states are trying to get through the technical aspects of this," says Gregory Brown, an assistant vice president for government affairs at the National Association of Home Builders. "I feel very confident they’ll find a way to make it work.”

Meanwhile, some home builders are taking matters into their own hands, offering programs that purchase the tax credit from borrowers prior to closing.

“This is a legitimate monetizing program that actually works,” says David Abrahamson, vice president of S.E. operations for American Home Key Mortgage Company, which makes the loans for many participating builders in the southeast.

Source: The New York Times, Bob Tedeschi and HousingWire.com, Paul Jackson (04/10/2009)

St. Joseph County Foreclosures 4/9/09

This week 71 properties were scheduled to be auctioned off at the sheriff's sale, 5 that I know of were canceled, leaving 66 properties for the auction. Of those 66 properties, 45 of them were from South Bend, 13 from Mishawaka, 4 from Osceola, 2 from Granger and 1 each in Walkerton and New Carlisle.

There were 2 properties that were owed more than $200,000 on them, 1 of which owed over $300,000. One was from Mishawaka and the one with the higher balance was from South Bend. Both are residential properties.

There were 9 properties that had less than $50,000 owed on them. One owed less than $20,000 which was up in Clay Twp. Of the 9 properties, 8 are from South Bend with the remaining property being from Mishawaka.

March Numbers for South West Michigan

South West Lower Michigan showed some improvement in units sold in March as volume was down only 7% while still being -21% for year to date. Benton Harbor showed the biggest gain as they were up 85% while Coloma/Watervliet (+33%) and Niles/Galien (+6%) also showed gains while Edwardsburg/Cassopolis was even with last year.

Dowagiac/Marcellus showed the largest decrease in units sold at -61%, Berrien Springs/Eau Claire -55%, Hartford/Lawrence -33%, Bridgman/New Buffalo -19%, St. Joseph/Lakeshore -12% and the South Haven area -5%.

Average sales price is still a bit of a struggle at -38% from last year. However, Berrien Springs/Eau Claire was +59%, Dowagiac/Marcellus +29% and Coloma/Watervliet was +14%. The Edwardsburg/Cassopolis are stayed consistent with last year and was even.

The largest declines in average sale price was the South Haven/Bangor/Covert area at -64%. The other declines were: Niles/Galien (-52%), Bridgman/New Buffalo (-51%), Hartfor/Lawrence (-43%), St. Joseph/Lakeshore (31%) and Benton Harbor (-6%).

Dollar volume was -43% from last year. Last year volume was at $30,764,995 while this year is at $17,642,378.

Top Economists Say Recovery Has Begun

Economic recovery is about making people feel more confident, says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com.

Zandi evidenced increasing home sales and gains in the stock market are some promising signs that the worst is over and people will start spending again.

“We’re starting to see some pent-up demand for goods,” he says.

But Zandi warns that the situation is still fragile. "Confidence is a very fickle thing. It can go from abject pessimism that pervades now to a more balanced view of the world rather quickly.”

Robert Brusca of FAO Economics is predicting strong growth in the last half of the year and a quick recovery for the labor market. "You've lost 5 million jobs. It shouldn't be hard to put 2.5 million jobs back on rather quickly after you hit bottom," he said.

Joseph Carson, chief economist at AllianceBernstein, calls improving home sales, a rising stock market, and better-than-expected retail sales in February and March good signs of a turnaround. By the time President Obama’s stimulus package takes effect, the economy will be ready, he says.

"The stimulus has a much better chance of working if trends are already turning up than if it needs to halt a decline," he said.

Source: CNNMoney, Chris Isidore (04/06/2009)

You Found Me

I just love well written songs! They inspire me and make me think. One of the things I love about music is that it is up to the interpretation from the person listening to it. What I may or may not get out of a song, might not be the same message you may or may not get out of it. Anyway, for the past month or two I can't get out of my mind the newest song by The Fray called You Found Me. I find this to be an incredibly well written song and thought I would share with you my interpretation of it. After looking on the internet, there seems to be a fair amount of opinion as to what this song actually means. So, here is my take/vision of this song.

I feel that this is a song about a man who has lost the love of his life and is in a lot of pain. Then, one day, he finds God and he lets out his anger, frustration and hurt. He lays out his baggage to God, which is what God wants us to do. "Where were you when everything was falling apart?" "Losing her, the only one who's ever known who I am, who I'm not, and who I want to be" are a couple of the lines that I feel illustrate his venting towards God. The rest of this song, I feel, is a conversation going back and forth between this man and God. The way the singer demonstrates this to me, is by the changing of his tone and voice on different lines of the song. Some, to me, sound like it would be coming from this hurt person, while others sound like they are responses back from God. The lines "Lost and Insecure" "Lying on the Floor" are in a different, more somber tone by this hurt man. Then God saying "You Found Me, You Found Me" "Surrounded, Surrounded" in a more upbeat way. I picture those lines coming from God with a big smile on his face! Happy that this man finally found him and letting him know that he was surrounded by Gods love. The man then asks God "Why'd you have to wait?" God responds with a question of his own back to the man "Where were you, where were you?" in a way saying that he had been there all along, you just were not looking. The man replies very sadly "Just a little late" acknowledging that he had not been looking for God when God then responds again with "You found me, You found me" in a more rejoiceful tone.

Later in the song, I think, God says "I've been calling for years and years and years and years" when he is cut off by the man who says "And you never left me no messages, You never sent me no letters, You got some kind of nerve taking all I want." It then breaks back into the chorus and at the end of the song a somber God asks the man the same question the man had asked God earlier "Why'd you have to wait, To find me, to find me?" I feel that speaking to God is kind of like that. Not answering you directly, but giving you the answer by making you think, throwing it right back in your face where you have to confront the truth.

Below is the link to the video that The Fray released for this song. It doesn't indicate that my interpretation is right, at all. But I'm sticking to my interpretation, because that is what the song is saying to me. What's your interpretation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obhdTlImFBo

Elkhart County Foreclosures For March

There were 94 properties scheduled for Sheriff's Auction for Elkhart County in the month of March, with 46 of those properties cancelled leaving 48 that were actually taken back. Of those 48, Elkhart had 24, Goshen 13, Bristol 4, Nappanee 3, Millersburg 2, with Middlebury and NewParis with 1 each.

There were only 2 properties that had less than $50,000 owed on them. One was in Elkhart and the other was in Goshen. And, there were only 2 properties that were owed more than $200,000 on them, both were in Elkhart.

Right now, there are 169 properties scheduled for Elkhart Counties Sheriff's auction for April, and 139 scheduled for May.

My Morning Drive

This morning, I had an appointment all the way over in Warsaw. Sometimes, when I make a trip like this, I have the radio off or down low-relax, and let the thoughts flow about whatever comes to mind. You can call it alone time, God time, my good friend and pastor Mark would probably call it a form of meditation. Anyway, I thought that I would share some of those thoughts from today.

*What do you think would happen if everyone turned off the news for a week? No CNN, no MSNBC or Fox news or local news. How do you think that would effect every ones attitude right now?

*What if Christians ACTUALLY prayed, instead of just saying they are going to do so?

*What if I actually prayed for the people I disagree with? Better still, what if I prayed to help me better understand the person I disagree with instead of praying that the other person change their view?

*What if I only complained about something if I had a solution to that complaint?

*What if everyone started praying for our leaders to succeed rather than to hope that they fail. What kind of impact would that have?

*What kind of impact would it have, if I truly appreciated all of the time I get to spend with the people that I love? How would that effect everyone around me?

And then my mind started wandering to Tiger baseball and the season at hand, but that will be a post for another time.