Record Low Interest Rates

[Shoops]

Mortgage Rates Hit an All-Time Low

Average interest on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to an all-time low of 4.69 percent this week, down from 4.75 percent a week ago, reports Freddie Mac.

Although rates have held below 5 percent since early May, Michael Fratantoni of the Mortgage Bankers Association notes that demand for purchase loans has fallen in six of the past seven weeks and now is at a 13-year low. Consumers have grown used to low rates, he explains, adding that they balk at buying because they are more concerned about stagnant wages and high unemployment.

Source: Washington Post, Dina ElBoghdady (06/25/10)

To do a search for homes you can visit www.BrandonSchuppe.com Click the top left link to search for home.

[Berwyn Patsy]

  Record low interest rates are great if you have a job, and at that,one that's pretty
secure.
   Until jobs are created back and the economy starts to grow, the purchasing of
homes will remain stagnant.
   Come, on President, get on the stick here, and in case you haven't notice your
popularity has gone down hill!

[rbain]

What do you think he should do to create jobs?

[Berwyn Patsy]

   Oh, maybe I am wrong, I thought the promises were, bringing the economy back, including
jobs, stabilizing the housing chaos, not to mention border and illegal reform statuses, the
deficit problem, and etc.
   The only interest he shows is in  his Health Care reform.

[tony la]

This jobs thing is not as easy as many people think.  We do not need just jobs, we need manufacturing jobs.  How are we as a nation going to compete for manufacturing jobs with say the Chinese, when they have no Unions.  No OSHA.  No environmentalists on their backs.  And tons of people willing to work for less than a dollar per day.

Just getting jobs is nothing.  You can hire all the temporary census jobs you want.  Manufacturing jobs that our government subsidizes, or are tied to producing products to the military, do not count in my book.

We are in real trouble.  Recently RE/MAX was in China doing a tour of the country.  As one of the owners of RE/MAX was going through a company that produces bricks.  He noticed that workers were moving brinks from one side of the plant to the other side by wheel barrow.  He mentioned to the tour guide why would they not have a convare belt to transfer the brick from one side to the other.  The answer was that a convare belt would cost in excess of 100k.  The can hire people at 25 cents per day to fill wheelbarrows and push them across the floor at a much cheaper rate.

We are in a time of adjustment, and until we all realize what we are up against we will be all lost.  They have more strait A students then we have students.  And how many students do you think they have in a class room.  I will bet the teachers union in China is not complaining about how many students they have to teach.   

[OakParkSpartan]

They also have a huge population of uneducated rural people.  They also have a very strong record with promoting academics.

Again, this is what our "blue collar" kids are competing against.  Do you think they have a better chance with a college degree or a better chance at manufacturing jobs which are leaving.

At some point, the yuan will increase in value (they let it rise a bit this past week) which will slow down their exports.  No OSHA, no EPA...have you ever been to Beijing in the summer?  I have friends that visit there and they say the pollution makes their lungs hurt.  Is that what you think we should strive towards?  That is a race to the bottom IMHO.

Also, China is starting to increase wages which means they may not be the low cost producer forever.

[rbain]

   Oh, maybe I am wrong, I thought the promises were, bringing the economy back, including
jobs, stabilizing the housing chaos, not to mention border and illegal reform statuses, the
deficit problem, and etc.
   The only interest he shows is in  his Health Care reform.

What do you think he should do to create jobs?

Ending illegal immigration won't fix the problem of shipping blue and white collar jobs overseas. Stabilizing the housing chaos won't create millions of new construction jobs- most of those jobs were a product of the chaos. As for cutting the deficit, you'd have more of a leg to stand on if you hadn't supported starting two wars WHILE cutting taxes on the richest Americans.

I think we need to wake up from the myth of "free trade" and go back to the policies that built the country- trade policies that encourage domestic production instead of rewarding companies that make Americans poorer. Basically dismantle what GHW Bush rightly called "vodoo economics".  

[billyjean]

   Oh, maybe I am wrong, I thought the promises were, bringing the economy back, including
jobs, stabilizing the housing chaos, not to mention border and illegal reform statuses, the
deficit problem, and etc.
   The only interest he shows is in  his Health Care reform.

What do you think he should do to create jobs?

Ending illegal immigration won't fix the problem of shipping blue and white collar jobs overseas. Stabilizing the housing chaos won't create millions of new construction jobs- most of those jobs were a product of the chaos. As for cutting the deficit, you'd have more of a leg to stand on if you hadn't supported starting two wars WHILE cutting taxes on the richest Americans.

I think we need to wake up from the myth of "free trade" and go back to the policies that built the country- trade policies that encourage domestic production instead of rewarding companies that make Americans poorer. Basically dismantle what GHW Bush rightly called "vodoo economics".  

To create jobs, you have to lower taxes across the board.  To Americans so they can find money to SPEND, and to businesses, so they can afford to hire and stay in business.

I agree with your comments totally on "free trade".  I suppose there is no need to state that big corporations, and even not so big corporations, have found cheap labor elsewhere.  When you avoid paying fair wages, there should be a penalty for that.  Again, the govenment failed (not just Obama either) to uphold the labor laws for quite some time.

Labor Dept. Offers Assistance to Illegal Immigrants Facing Wage Disparities

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/23/labor-dept-offers-assistance-illegal-immigrants-facing-wage-disparities/


What were we doing after the war that made our country thrive?  We had factories, corporations, small business ... all thriving ... BOOMING.  People worked and made decent money.  You don't see many factories around here anymore ... factories that had hundreds of employees that would spend money at other businesses surrounding the factory, etc.

Something is responsible for it all breaking down.  Someone wanted to kill the golden goose.

[billyjean]

This jobs thing is not as easy as many people think.  We do not need just jobs, we need manufacturing jobs.  How are we as a nation going to compete for manufacturing jobs with say the Chinese, when they have no Unions.  No OSHA.  No environmentalists on their backs.  And tons of people willing to work for less than a dollar per day.

Just getting jobs is nothing.  You can hire all the temporary census jobs you want.  Manufacturing jobs that our government subsidizes, or are tied to producing products to the military, do not count in my book.

We are in real trouble.  Recently RE/MAX was in China doing a tour of the country.  As one of the owners of RE/MAX was going through a company that produces bricks.  He noticed that workers were moving brinks from one side of the plant to the other side by wheel barrow.  He mentioned to the tour guide why would they not have a convare belt to transfer the brick from one side to the other.  The answer was that a convare belt would cost in excess of 100k.  The can hire people at 25 cents per day to fill wheelbarrows and push them across the floor at a much cheaper rate.

We are in a time of adjustment, and until we all realize what we are up against we will be all lost.  They have more strait A students then we have students.  And how many students do you think they have in a class room.  I will bet the teachers union in China is not complaining about how many students they have to teach.   

I guess it comes down to who has the most slave labor.  Hence, why US wants the illegals.  God, this is not much different that the days of ancient Egypt.

[rbain]

If you mean WWII there was huge government spending building the interstate highway system and sending GIs to college, and dramatically higher taxes on the top income brackets. We should also have heeded Ike's warning about the military industrial complex. Of course the Republican party today has morphed into the John Birch Society, and the Democrats are now to the right of Eisenhower. It was Reagan much more than any Democrats that buried Eisenhowers policies and replaced them with Barry Goldwater's, but without Goldwater's distrust of the Religious Right.

[OakParkSpartan]

   Oh, maybe I am wrong, I thought the promises were, bringing the economy back, including
jobs, stabilizing the housing chaos, not to mention border and illegal reform statuses, the
deficit problem, and etc.
   The only interest he shows is in  his Health Care reform.

What do you think he should do to create jobs?

Ending illegal immigration won't fix the problem of shipping blue and white collar jobs overseas. Stabilizing the housing chaos won't create millions of new construction jobs- most of those jobs were a product of the chaos. As for cutting the deficit, you'd have more of a leg to stand on if you hadn't supported starting two wars WHILE cutting taxes on the richest Americans.

I think we need to wake up from the myth of "free trade" and go back to the policies that built the country- trade policies that encourage domestic production instead of rewarding companies that make Americans poorer. Basically dismantle what GHW Bush rightly called "vodoo economics".  

To create jobs, you have to lower taxes across the board.  To Americans so they can find money to SPEND, and to businesses, so they can afford to hire and stay in business.

I agree with your comments totally on "free trade".  I suppose there is no need to state that big corporations, and even not so big corporations, have found cheap labor elsewhere.  When you avoid paying fair wages, there should be a penalty for that.  Again, the govenment failed (not just Obama either) to uphold the labor laws for quite some time.

Labor Dept. Offers Assistance to Illegal Immigrants Facing Wage Disparities

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/23/labor-dept-offers-assistance-illegal-immigrants-facing-wage-disparities/


What were we doing after the war that made our country thrive?  We had factories, corporations, small business ... all thriving ... BOOMING.  People worked and made decent money.  You don't see many factories around here anymore ... factories that had hundreds of employees that would spend money at other businesses surrounding the factory, etc.

Something is responsible for it all breaking down.  Someone wanted to kill the golden goose.

How does cutting taxes help when you have no income?  Deficit spending is part of what got us in this mess. 

Were the tax code written in a way that companies were not given an incentive to offshore jobs, you'd still see some manufacturing.  Also, if predatory pricing laws were enforced, imported goods would not be so cheap.

A country without a manufacturing base is eating its seed corn.

[billyjean]

   Oh, maybe I am wrong, I thought the promises were, bringing the economy back, including
jobs, stabilizing the housing chaos, not to mention border and illegal reform statuses, the
deficit problem, and etc.
   The only interest he shows is in  his Health Care reform.

What do you think he should do to create jobs?

Ending illegal immigration won't fix the problem of shipping blue and white collar jobs overseas. Stabilizing the housing chaos won't create millions of new construction jobs- most of those jobs were a product of the chaos. As for cutting the deficit, you'd have more of a leg to stand on if you hadn't supported starting two wars WHILE cutting taxes on the richest Americans.

I think we need to wake up from the myth of "free trade" and go back to the policies that built the country- trade policies that encourage domestic production instead of rewarding companies that make Americans poorer. Basically dismantle what GHW Bush rightly called "vodoo economics".  

To create jobs, you have to lower taxes across the board.  To Americans so they can find money to SPEND, and to businesses, so they can afford to hire and stay in business.

I agree with your comments totally on "free trade".  I suppose there is no need to state that big corporations, and even not so big corporations, have found cheap labor elsewhere.  When you avoid paying fair wages, there should be a penalty for that.  Again, the govenment failed (not just Obama either) to uphold the labor laws for quite some time.

Labor Dept. Offers Assistance to Illegal Immigrants Facing Wage Disparities

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/23/labor-dept-offers-assistance-illegal-immigrants-facing-wage-disparities/


What were we doing after the war that made our country thrive?  We had factories, corporations, small business ... all thriving ... BOOMING.  People worked and made decent money.  You don't see many factories around here anymore ... factories that had hundreds of employees that would spend money at other businesses surrounding the factory, etc.

Something is responsible for it all breaking down.  Someone wanted to kill the golden goose.

How does cutting taxes help when you have no income?  Deficit spending is part of what got us in this mess. 

Were the tax code written in a way that companies were not given an incentive to offshore jobs, you'd still see some manufacturing.  Also, if predatory pricing laws were enforced, imported goods would not be so cheap.

A country without a manufacturing base is eating its seed corn.

Once business gets a tax break, they can afford to hire more people.  It starts with business.  Then as people are hired, and they get a tax break, they have more money to spend to keep economy moving.

Let's face it, Brian, this whole thing is very complicated.  No easy fix.  How it came to all this I'm sure would be the fodder for a movie, but with what perspective?

My father always said years leading to his passing that this country was going down the tubes.  And it has.  Totally.  Somebody or something is responsible for it.  Who and What ? .. we'd be here for years posting about that.  There is total chaos in government and economy.  What will happen?  I have no idea.

All you 401Ks out there.  I'm sure are so happy that your retirement is tied to the stock market.  We've been conned.  Most educated ppl don't want to face that.

I agree with your comments, Brian, but seems nobody that can do anything about it cares anymore, beyond promises to get elected.

[billyjean]

Crunchie, I am really surprised at you ... and disappointed.

[buzz]

All you 401Ks out there.
 

My 401K turned into a 201K.

[Shoops]

I have to find it but I read an article a couple of weeks ago about how the tax deductions on interest for your home loan may be reduced or cut all together. "Again", this would be another way to eliminate a tax write off that's been around for years and cancel it in order to pay for these bail out programs and other Government expenses. Only people making over 250k a year will see a tax increase? I don't think so.

I also agree that the number 1 concern is jobs. Without jobs these interest rates can go to 1% but it doesn't matter if you don't have a job to make the payments.

Since the $8,000 tax credit ended at the end of April the phones have really slowed down with buyers looking to buy a home. I predict that this is going to cause another decline in values across the board. We may see another 10% to 20% decline in home values across the area.

[OakParkSpartan]

I have to find it but I read an article a couple of weeks ago about how the tax deductions on interest for your home loan may be reduced or cut all together. "Again", this would be another way to eliminate a tax write off that's been around for years and cancel it in order to pay for these bail out programs and other Government expenses. Only people making over 250k a year will see a tax increase? I don't think so.

I also agree that the number 1 concern is jobs. Without jobs these interest rates can go to 1% but it doesn't matter if you don't have a job to make the payments.

Since the $8,000 tax credit ended at the end of April the phones have really slowed down with buyers looking to buy a home. I predict that this is going to cause another decline in values across the board. We may see another 10% to 20% decline in home values across the area.

At what point do you think people will start looking at being 70-80k underwater, and decide that walking away and taking a 7 year hit on their credit is worth more than paying 80k that they will never see again?

[jake]

The banks need to go after the stragic defaulters.  Also, the government needs to discontinue to tax break on the foregiveness of indebtedness!   
I believe IL allows deficiency judgements, so banks need to pursue this path.  If you owe $225k on your mortgage and the bank only gets $150K through the foreclosure process, the borrower needs to pay the bank that $75K or continue to have that debt over their head until it is reduced, even if it takes 30 years.   
You do not get to just walk away. 

[OakParkSpartan]

The banks need to go after the stragic defaulters.  Also, the government needs to discontinue to tax break on the foregiveness of indebtedness!   
I believe IL allows deficiency judgements, so banks need to pursue this path.  If you owe $225k on your mortgage and the bank only gets $150K through the foreclosure process, the borrower needs to pay the bank that $75K or continue to have that debt over their head until it is reduced, even if it takes 30 years.   
You do not get to just walk away. 

Why?  Businesses do it all the time via bankruptcy.  Why should businesses be able to walk away from debt with the explanation of "it's business" whereas if an individual walks away, they are expected to pay for years?  Why treat the individual harsher than the business?

While the borrowers are not without fault, neither are the banks.  The banks approved these mortgages which had a very high element of risk to them. 

[jake]

If it is done through bankruptcy, that is another argument. 
I have issue with the strategic defaulters (CAN afford, decide not to) that want to walk away, as if mortgage debt in IL is non-recourse.  That is not treating individuals harsher than businesses. 

[OakParkSpartan]

If it is done through bankruptcy, that is another argument. 
I have issue with the strategic defaulters (CAN afford, decide not to) that want to walk away, as if mortgage debt in IL is non-recourse.  That is not treating individuals harsher than businesses. 

OK, I can agree with that.  Did you see the article in the Trib this weekend about the guy who went Ch 7 to get rid of his mortgage?  Apparently holders of 2nds are more likely to go after the debt than the 1sts.

What a mess.