For April, Elkhart County had 169 properties scheduled for sheriff's auction today with 53 of them getting canceled, leaving 116 being taken back by the bank at last count.
Of the 116 properties, 74 were from Elkhart, 27 from Goshen, 6 from Nappanee, 5 from Bristol, 2 from Middlebury, and 1 each from New Paris and Osceola.
There were 4 properties that were owed less than $50,000 on them with 3 of the properties in Elkhart and the remaining property being from Goshen.
There were 7 properties that had more than $200,000 owed on them with 5 of those owing more than $300,000 and one owing more than $1,000,000. The one owing more than $1,000,000 is a former grocery store in Elkhart that had been closed for awhile. Of the 7 properties, 4 were from Elkhart and 3 were from Goshen.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Swine Flu, The News and Priorities
Because of the job that I have, I drive around in my car a lot. And, since I am in my car so much, I have XM Radio to give me a variety of listening choices. This morning I was listening to CNN and they spent, what seemed like, a half hour talking about Swine Flu. I found this interesting, at first, because I had never heard of Swine Flu before and it sounded like this was some sort of big deal the way CNN was reporting it and devoting so much time to it.
Come to find out, there are 8 known cases of Swine Flu in the United States. A couple of these cases are in Texas and the rest are in California.
CNN interviewed Dr. Sanjay Gupta asking him various questions about this version of Flu. Dr. Gupta stated, and I am sumarizing, that the strain of Flu is hard to detect from other strains of Flu and he wasn't sure about treament. Maybe Thera-Flu would work, is what he said.
So, where am I going with this?
Why is CNN spending this much time on something that sounds like, well, the Flu? Don't get me wrong, I am sure that these 8 people are very sick and I hope that they recover. But a 1/2 hour on the FLU?
Why not spend that 1/2 hour talking about how there are an estimated 744,000 people in the United States that are homeless? What if they talked about how the average age of the homeless is 7 years old? What if they talked about how an estimated 13 million children in the US that are going hungry every day?
What if they had talked about how people can go out and help others in need? Think about the impact that could have. But, I guess, helping other people does not get ratings. Putting fear into people, I guess, does. What does that tell you about The News and Priorities?
Come to find out, there are 8 known cases of Swine Flu in the United States. A couple of these cases are in Texas and the rest are in California.
CNN interviewed Dr. Sanjay Gupta asking him various questions about this version of Flu. Dr. Gupta stated, and I am sumarizing, that the strain of Flu is hard to detect from other strains of Flu and he wasn't sure about treament. Maybe Thera-Flu would work, is what he said.
So, where am I going with this?
Why is CNN spending this much time on something that sounds like, well, the Flu? Don't get me wrong, I am sure that these 8 people are very sick and I hope that they recover. But a 1/2 hour on the FLU?
Why not spend that 1/2 hour talking about how there are an estimated 744,000 people in the United States that are homeless? What if they talked about how the average age of the homeless is 7 years old? What if they talked about how an estimated 13 million children in the US that are going hungry every day?
What if they had talked about how people can go out and help others in need? Think about the impact that could have. But, I guess, helping other people does not get ratings. Putting fear into people, I guess, does. What does that tell you about The News and Priorities?
Thursday, April 23, 2009
St. Joseph County Foreclosures 4/23/09
The numbers that I am posting today are from the last 2 weeks and represent homes that were scheduled to be taken back by the bank.
There were 104 properties scheduled for Sheriff's auction, 11 were canceled, leaving 93 that appear to have gone back to the bank. Of that 93, 65 of them were from South Bend, 16 from Mishawaka, 6 from Granger, 3 from Osceola, 2 from Walkerton and 1 from Lakeville.
There was 1 home that had over $200,000 owed on it, and that home was in Granger. There were 16 homes that had less than $50,000 owed on them, 14 were from South Bend and 2 were from Mishawaka. Of that 16, 1 of them owed less than $12,000 on the home.
There were 104 properties scheduled for Sheriff's auction, 11 were canceled, leaving 93 that appear to have gone back to the bank. Of that 93, 65 of them were from South Bend, 16 from Mishawaka, 6 from Granger, 3 from Osceola, 2 from Walkerton and 1 from Lakeville.
There was 1 home that had over $200,000 owed on it, and that home was in Granger. There were 16 homes that had less than $50,000 owed on them, 14 were from South Bend and 2 were from Mishawaka. Of that 16, 1 of them owed less than $12,000 on the home.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Federal Housing Rescue Plan Launches
The Obama Administration’s program to rescue distressed home owners got off the ground this week. The program was announced on Feb. 18, but it took several weeks to put the bureaucracy in place.
Six of the nation’s largest banks signed up to participate, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday. They are JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, GMAC Mortgage, Saxon Mortgage Services, and Select Portfolio Servicing.
Treasury says it is allocating $50 billion to the program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide the rest.
The plan calls for loan servicers to reduce interest rates so a family’s monthly mortgage obligation is no more than 38 percent of its pre-tax income. Loan servicers also can reduce loan balances. After the loans are modified, the government then provides enough money to reduce payments to 31 percent of income.
Participating servicers get $1,000 a year for each modification and another $1,000 a year for three years if the borrower remains current. Servicers get an extra $500 if they do the modifications before the borrower falls behind in his payments—and the borrower gets $1,500. Also, homeowners get $1,000 a year for five years if they remain current on their payments. The money must be used to reduce their principal balances.
Source: CNN, Tami Luhby (04/16/2009)
Six of the nation’s largest banks signed up to participate, the Treasury Department announced Wednesday. They are JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, GMAC Mortgage, Saxon Mortgage Services, and Select Portfolio Servicing.
Treasury says it is allocating $50 billion to the program. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide the rest.
The plan calls for loan servicers to reduce interest rates so a family’s monthly mortgage obligation is no more than 38 percent of its pre-tax income. Loan servicers also can reduce loan balances. After the loans are modified, the government then provides enough money to reduce payments to 31 percent of income.
Participating servicers get $1,000 a year for each modification and another $1,000 a year for three years if the borrower remains current. Servicers get an extra $500 if they do the modifications before the borrower falls behind in his payments—and the borrower gets $1,500. Also, homeowners get $1,000 a year for five years if they remain current on their payments. The money must be used to reduce their principal balances.
Source: CNN, Tami Luhby (04/16/2009)
2nd Largest Mall Owner Bankrupt
General Growth Properties Inc., the second-largest mall owner in the United States, declared bankruptcy Thursday. It was the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history.
General Growth and 158 of its more than 200 malls will operate under Chapter 11 protection as it seeks to refinance $27 billion in debt and restructure the business. General Growth said its properties would be open for business and operating as usual.
"Our core business remains sound and is performing well with stable cash flows," General Growth Chief Executive Adam Metz said in a statement. "While we have worked tirelessly in the past several months to address our maturing debts, the collapse of the credit markets has made it impossible for us to refinance maturing debt outside of Chapter 11."
The bankruptcy is seen as a warning sign of trouble ahead for other large commercial properties that are heavily leveraged.
Source: Reuters News (04/16/2009)
General Growth and 158 of its more than 200 malls will operate under Chapter 11 protection as it seeks to refinance $27 billion in debt and restructure the business. General Growth said its properties would be open for business and operating as usual.
"Our core business remains sound and is performing well with stable cash flows," General Growth Chief Executive Adam Metz said in a statement. "While we have worked tirelessly in the past several months to address our maturing debts, the collapse of the credit markets has made it impossible for us to refinance maturing debt outside of Chapter 11."
The bankruptcy is seen as a warning sign of trouble ahead for other large commercial properties that are heavily leveraged.
Source: Reuters News (04/16/2009)
Thursday, April 16, 2009
GCC Weekend Update
This was a skit that my church, Granger Community Church, did a couple months back on the economy. I thought it was pretty funny stuff.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Current Events
I co-lead a men's bible study group that meets every Friday morning at 6:00 a.m. at a restaurant in Mishawaka called Honkers. We have a great group of guys that attend and I have really grown some good friendships from it from guys like Augie and Thane just to name a couple. This week, it is my week to pick a topic, below you will find it. If you are interested in joining the group, it is an open group just as long as you are a guy, feel free to stop by.
With everything going on in the world today, I thought that I would take a few current
events and see how they relate to the bible and your views on them. Part of this discussion was inspired by something Rob Wegner put on his blog at http://entermission.typepad.com and by a suggestion made by my wife Kimberly. Other parts by Augie and Thane, the rest I just thought up. Anyway, here it goes:
With everything going on in the world today, I thought that I would take a few current
All last week we heard about the drama on the high seas when a little pirate ship about 30 ft long hijacked a U.S. ship and held it and the crew captive. The Navy was involved with one of their big war ships and had little effect for the first 4 days of this story until Sunday when it took some snipers to take out the pirates (which is super cool by the way). What I found fascinating about this, and this was from Rob’s blog, was how such a small thing (the pirate ship) could cause such a big problem. And how such a big problem could not be solved by a big solution (the Navy ship). It had to be solved with a smaller solution, the snipers.
1. Does this situation reflect anything that has gone on in your life in the past? Did you realize right away that the big problem required a small action to resolve or did you try a bigger solution first?
2. Can you draw any comparisons to this situation with anything in the bible?
3. Does this situation relate to our countries current economic situation?
There has been an uproar, of sorts, by Catholics lately over President Obama coming to Notre Dame because of his stance on abortion and stem cell research.
4. Should the President be allowed to speak at Norte Dame regardless of his policy? If you were the decision maker, would you allow him to speak? Why or why not?
Tony Morgan’s church, New Spring http://www.newspring.cc , played “Highway to Hell” to open up their Easter services this past weekend. When I first heard this, I did not know what to think about that. Part of me thought that there should be a much better way to open up an Easter service than with that song. Another, much bigger part of me thought “cool, I wonder how they used that?”
The service opened with scripture from Matthew scrolling the screen with flames coming off of each letter. Here was the scripture: You can enter God’s kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. They then sang the song Highway to Hell by AC/DC. And closed with the following scriptures scrolling across the screen:
Romans 5:8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:13 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
5. What do you think of a church playing Highway to Hell in service? Does the context and way it is presented matter to you? How would you react if your church played this song? Do you think that this was done for shock and awe?
Now more than ever, I think the parable of the talents applies more and more (Matthew 25:14-30).
6. How do you feel our government is handling the talents (tax $) that has been given to them over the past 8 months? Has the current economy made you change the way that you handle your talents? If it has, will it last or change again when things get better?
With everything going on in the world today, I thought that I would take a few current
events and see how they relate to the bible and your views on them. Part of this discussion was inspired by something Rob Wegner put on his blog at http://entermission.typepad.com and by a suggestion made by my wife Kimberly. Other parts by Augie and Thane, the rest I just thought up. Anyway, here it goes:
With everything going on in the world today, I thought that I would take a few current
All last week we heard about the drama on the high seas when a little pirate ship about 30 ft long hijacked a U.S. ship and held it and the crew captive. The Navy was involved with one of their big war ships and had little effect for the first 4 days of this story until Sunday when it took some snipers to take out the pirates (which is super cool by the way). What I found fascinating about this, and this was from Rob’s blog, was how such a small thing (the pirate ship) could cause such a big problem. And how such a big problem could not be solved by a big solution (the Navy ship). It had to be solved with a smaller solution, the snipers.
1. Does this situation reflect anything that has gone on in your life in the past? Did you realize right away that the big problem required a small action to resolve or did you try a bigger solution first?
2. Can you draw any comparisons to this situation with anything in the bible?
3. Does this situation relate to our countries current economic situation?
There has been an uproar, of sorts, by Catholics lately over President Obama coming to Notre Dame because of his stance on abortion and stem cell research.
4. Should the President be allowed to speak at Norte Dame regardless of his policy? If you were the decision maker, would you allow him to speak? Why or why not?
Tony Morgan’s church, New Spring http://www.newspring.cc , played “Highway to Hell” to open up their Easter services this past weekend. When I first heard this, I did not know what to think about that. Part of me thought that there should be a much better way to open up an Easter service than with that song. Another, much bigger part of me thought “cool, I wonder how they used that?”
The service opened with scripture from Matthew scrolling the screen with flames coming off of each letter. Here was the scripture: You can enter God’s kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. They then sang the song Highway to Hell by AC/DC. And closed with the following scriptures scrolling across the screen:
Romans 5:8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:13 Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
5. What do you think of a church playing Highway to Hell in service? Does the context and way it is presented matter to you? How would you react if your church played this song? Do you think that this was done for shock and awe?
Now more than ever, I think the parable of the talents applies more and more (Matthew 25:14-30).
6. How do you feel our government is handling the talents (tax $) that has been given to them over the past 8 months? Has the current economy made you change the way that you handle your talents? If it has, will it last or change again when things get better?
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