Monday, October 26, 2009

Your life will always be to a large extent what you make of it. 

The mold to your success and fortune are in your hands.

You cannot do everything, but you can do something.

You choose your thoughts and actions.  Nobody can do it for you.  Nobody will do it for you.  You have to make things happen.

If you take responsibility for your actions, you can achieve anything.

HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!!

“Every achiever that I have ever met says, ‘My life turned around when I began to believe in me.’”

Dr. Robert Shuller                                                                                                                      

Minister and Author

There is no investment you’ll ever make that will pay you so well as the effort to scatter sunshine and good cheer where ever you go.

The deepest principal in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.

If you treat someone as if they were what they ought to be and could be, they will become what they ought to be and could be.

Everyone thrives on being appreciated, loved and needed. 

There is no stimulus like that which comes from the consciousness of knowing that others believe in you.

Applaud others when they do something well.  Console them when they fall.  And cheer them when they recover.

As water is to a flower, so is praise to the heart of another.

Have an Awesome Day!!

Chance is turned into good fortune by successful people.  We are surrounded by all kinds of opportunity.

Luck is being at the right place at the right time.  Taking advantage of opportunity is always under your control. 

When you are mentally prepared, the right opportunity will present itself.

Talent alone won’t make you successful.  Neither will being at the right place at the right time unless you are ready.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears.

Have an Awesome Day!

(AP) – 31 minutes ago

NEW YORK — Shares of homebuilders were mixed Tuesday after a report showed home prices rising in 20 major metropolitan markets for a third straight month, while one analyst suggests the improvement is only temporary.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index gained 1 percent in August from July to a seasonally adjusted reading of 144.5. While prices are down 11.4 percent from August a year ago, the annual declines have slowed since February.

Prices are at levels not seen since August 2003 and have fallen almost 30 percent from the peak in May 2006.

Still, economists are concerned home prices cannot withstand falling consumer confidence, rising unemployment and foreclosures and the looming deadline for a first-time homebuyer tax credit. A separate report Tuesday from The Conference Board showed consumer confidence sliding unexpectedly.

Deutsche Bank analyst Nishu Sood wrote in a note to investors that foreclosures are the main reason home prices fell so fast and so far, and said he expects further pressure on home prices in 2010.

“Demand was boosted by investors and tax credits, supply was constrained by foreclosure moratoriums (and) modifications, and (Federal Housing Administration) financing was flowing freely,” he wrote. “This entry level stabilization was real, but it is principally government sponsored and therefore tenuous.”

Shares of homebuilders were mixed in afternoon trading. Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. added 21 cents, or 5.2 percent, to $4.28; Lennar Corp.’s stock rose 13 cents, or 1 percent, to $13.70; Meritage Homes Corp. gained 23 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $19.44; and shares of MDC Holdings Inc. advanced 34 cents, or 1 percent, to $34.59.

Toll Bros. lost 25 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $18.11, while DR Horton Inc. lost 7 cents to $11.86 and Ryland Group Inc. slipped 4 cents to $20.04. Pulte Homes Inc. edged down 4 cents to $9.66 and KB Home’s shares fell 13 cents to $15.32.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Published: Wednesday, 28 Oct 2009 | 5:01 PM ET

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AP

 The Senate’s top Democrat and top Republican each voiced support on Wednesday for extension of a soon-to-expire $8,000 tax credit for home buyers, but left unclear when the chamber would act.

 “There has been general agreement by a significant number of senators, Democrats and Republicans, to get this done,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said on the Senate floor.

 The chamber’s top Republican, Senator Mitch McConnell, also said most senators support the measure. “I certainly share his view,” McConnell said.

 The tax credit for first-time home buyers, which has helped lift the housing market out of its worst slump since the Great Depression, is set to expire on Nov. 30 and senators have been negotiating over how best to extend it.

 Under an agreement reached by key senators, the tax credit would be extended through the end of April and be expanded to cover repeat buyers who have been in their homes at least five years, sources familiar with the plan said.

First-time buyers would continue to get an $8,000 credit, while repeat buyers of primary residences would be eligible for a credit of $6,500, the sources said.

They said the credit would be available for individuals making up to $125,000 a year and couples earning up to $225,000 per year.

Timing of a Vote Uncertain

While extending the credit enjoys widespread support, its fate is caught up in a spat between Reid and McConnell over unrelated issues.

Reid had wanted to attach a bill to extend the homebuyer credit as an amendment to legislation to lengthen insurance benefits for unemployed workers. The Senate voted to take up the insurance benefit bill on Tuesday, but did not attach the homebuyer tax credit to the measure.

Despite that apparent roadblock, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, who has been involved in negotiations over the tax credit, told Reuters late on Tuesday that he expected the Senate would vote on the bill sometime this week.

“There are various paths and whichever works first is the one that is going to be” followed, he said, referring to the possibility that the Senate could vote on the bill independently or as part of separate legislation.

A spokeswoman for Reid said the unemployment insurance measure could get pushed to next week as lawmakers try to resolve differences over unrelated issues, which would delay consideration of the homebuyer credit extension.

“We will get this extension passed,” she said.

A report last week showed sales of previously owned homes hit a two-year high in September as buyers rushed to take advantage of the credit before its expiration date. However, a report on Wednesday showed new home sales, a much smaller segment of the market, tumbled unexpectedly last month.

Separately, a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association on Wednesday that demand for mortgages has fallen for the past three weeks as buyers move to the sidelines.

A buyer would have to close on the purchase of a home before Nov. 30 to take advantage of the current tax credit.

Fed Again Pledges To Hold Rates At Record-Lows

Policymakers Hope Rates Will Encourage More Spending

POSTED: 12:08 am EST November 4, 2009
UPDATED: 5:17 pm EST November 4, 2009

The Fed said economic activity has “continued to pick up” and that the housing market has strengthened — a key ingredient for a sustained recovery. 

But Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues warned that rising joblessness and tight credit for many people and companies could restrain the rebound in the months ahead. 

“Economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time,” they said. 

Against that backdrop, the Fed kept the target range for its bank lending rate at zero to 0.25 percent. And it made no major changes to a program to help drive down mortgage rates. 

Commercial banks’ prime lending rate, used to peg rates on home equity loans, certain credit cards and other consumer loans, will remain about 3.25 percent, the lowest in decades. 

Still, some credit card rates have risen over the past several months. In part, that reflects rate increases by lenders in response to escalating defaults on credit card loans. Lenders also pushed through increases before a new law clamping down on sudden rate hikes for credit card customers takes effect early next year. 

On Capitol Hill, the House voted Wednesday to accelerate the enactment date of the new rules to protect consumers from many such surprise changes. Credit card companies would have to comply immediately, rather than starting in February, unless they agreed to freeze interest rates and fees. But the proposal’s chances in the Senate are considered dim. 

The average rate nationwide on a variable-rate credit card is 11.5 percent, according to Bankrate.com. Lenders charge more and credit card customers pay rates higher than the prime because the debt they run up is riskier. 

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average at first held onto an increase of more than 100 points after the Fed’s announcement. But stocks eventually gave up most of their gains in a late-day slump. It wasn’t clear how much of a role the Fed’s statement played. Some analysts noted that investors are nervous as the release of the government’s October jobs report on Friday approaches. 

In normal times, the Fed controls only short-term rates. But after the financial crisis erupted, the Fed began buying longer-term Treasuries. Its purchases kept those rates lower than they’d otherwise be. 

This is good news for borrowers with auto loans, some student loans, 15- and 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and some adjustable-rate mortgages. But it hurts savers and people dependent on fixed incomes who would normally be enjoying higher yields. 

On Wednesday, the Fed stuck with its pledge to keep rates at “exceptionally low” levels for “an extended period.” Most analysts don’t think the Fed would begin to boost rates until next spring or summer. 

Fed policymakers “believe they need to keep rates low to ensure that the recovery doesn’t falter,” said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors. 

The central bank hopes low rates will encourage consumers and businesses to boost spending, which would invigorate the recovery. The Fed signaled that it can continue to hold rates low because inflation is all but nonexistent. 

The Fed has now entered a new phase: Managing the recovery rather than fighting the worst recession and financial crisis to hit the country since the Great Depression. 

The economy began growing again last quarter for the first time in more than a year. But much of that growth came from government-supported spending on homes and cars. The strength and staying power of the recovery are uncertain, especially once government supports are removed. 

In such a fragile recovery, a rate increase by the Fed is unlikely anytime soon, said Chris Rupkey, an economist at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi. 

“Growth does not mean a rate hike,” Rupkey said. 

As with past rebounds, the budding recovery won’t likely stop the unemployment rate from rising. The rate, now at a 26-year high of 9.8 percent, is expected to hit 9.9 percent on Friday, when the government releases the unemployment report for October. The jobless rate could rise as high as 10.5 percent around the middle of next year before declining, analysts said. 

At some point, once the recovery is firmly rooted, the Fed is likely to start signaling that higher rates are coming. One hint of an eventual rate hike would be the Fed’s changing or dropping its pledge to hold rates at record-low levels for an “extended period.” 

It’s a delicate task. Boosting rates and removing supports too soon could short-circuit the recovery. On the other hand, holding rates low and keeping government supports intact too long could unleash inflation. 

Though it didn’t change a program to help drive down mortgage rates, the Fed did say it will trim its purchases of debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to $175 billion, from $200 billion, because the supply of that debt has declined. 

At its previous meeting in late September, the Fed agreed to slow the pace of a $1.25 trillion program to buy mortgage securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It decided to wrap up the purchases by the end of March instead of at year-end. So far, the Fed has bought $776 billion of the mortgage securities. 

Its efforts to lower mortgage rates are paying off. Rates on 30-year loans averaged 5.03 percent, Freddie Mac reported last week. That’s down from 6.46 percent last year. 

Though the Fed will slow its purchases of mortgage securities, rates for home loans should remain low — in the 5 percent range– as long as the purchases continue, analysts say. 

“Do Not Wait; the time will never be “just right.”  Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”

Napoleon Hill  1883-1970, Author of Think and Grow Rich