The Giving Spirit
Did you know giving back to the community not only benefits others, but can also improve your health? It’s what is known as a “helper’s high”: volunteers report greater life satisfaction and better physical and mental health than non-volunteers.
The holiday season always inspires generosity, and in today’s challenging economic climate, there are many non-monetary ways to give back to your community. Check out the ideas below for inspiration, then add a few new ones of your own!
• Donate “gently worn” clothing and coats to a local shelter.
• Read to at-risk kids or help them with their homework.
• Collect and deliver toys to a charity or firehouse in your area.
• Hold a canned food drive to benefit your local food bank.
• Serve a meal at a senior center or soup kitchen.
• Organize a group to sing carols at a nursing home.
• Visit hospitals or nursing homes to cheer up patients
or residents who seldom get visitors.
For more volunteer ideas in your area, check out
Volunteer-Match (www.volunteermatch.org) or
Craigslist’s volunteer section (www.craigslist.org).
Foreclosure Mess Update!
Banks have lifted their freeze on foreclosures. It seems a doomsday scenario will be averted. There is no way to absolutely predict what the fallout will be from the banks’ negligence in their foreclosure filings. There will be lawsuits and some will cry out for the banks to make forms of restitution to injured parties. However, it seems the problem will not be of the magnitude originally expected.
The title companies who were threatening not to issue insurance to some foreclosed properties are softening their position as well. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Title insurers have decided not to require lenders to provide a blanket shield from claims caused by flawed foreclosures after discussions around crafting an industry-wide agreement fell apart.
… First American Financial Corp. said Thursday that the Santa Ana, Calif., company had concluded that requiring banks to indemnify the title insurer from foreclosure errors resulting in questions about who owns clear title to a property was unnecessary “given the actions taken by lenders to remediate deficiencies and to improve their processes going forward,” said Dennis Gilmore, First American’s chief executive.
… Stewart Title Guaranty Co. said in a statement Thursday that the unit of Stewart Information Services Corp., of Houston, “stands ready to issue its title insurance to purchasers of foreclosed properties from institutional lenders representing that they have followed all applicable legal processes.”
Can Rates Go Down Any More?
It appears they CAN and that they WILL. The buzzwords today are Quantitative Easing. It is another of the weapons the Fed has at its disposal to impact the economy, as a whole, and interest rates in particular.
Let me explain. In so far as the Fed has already lowered the rates they charge to lending institutions as much as they can, and they still see a sluggish economy with weak employment numbers and growth, the Fed appears ready to enter a second round of Quantitative Easing (QE). QE is when the Fed begins to buy Mortgage Backed Securities in earnest. They do that by paying more that the market price for MBSs; therefore, pushing interest rates lower.
But why do it? I mean rates are historically low already. Is lowering rates another quarter or half percent going to get someone to buy a house that hasn’t already gotten off the fence? Maybe, but I can’t see the number of people deciding to buy at 4% rates being that significant as compared to those looking to buy at 4.5%. There HAS to be other reasons. Maybe….
- The Fed realizes that lower rates will stabilize home prices. Lower rates mean borrowers can borrow more money based on their income, enabling them to pay more for a home which can slow the decline of prices, stabilize prices, and in a few areas even raise prices of homes.
- The Fed needs to look like they are doing SOMETHING to energize the economy or get consumer confidence turned around.
- The Fed has an agenda other than lower mortgage rates. Maybe the Fed is using the lowering of rates, in an effort to devalue the US Dollar abroad. By lowering the value of the dollar, our products become a better bargain to buyers overseas. So, maybe, just maybe, this is actually an attempt to kick start the economy. If we sell more products overseas, we need to produce more products, hire more employees to make, sell, and distribute those products. Can I smell job growth through QE?
Understand that a weakened dollar will eventually force rates to move up (to re- strengthen the dollar); so, there is going to be a window of even more incredible mortgage rates, but, the window will need to be carefully watched because it can’t be left open forever.
There is no history we can point to predict if QE can or will work. Nor is there any real indication of the level of aggressiveness the Fed will take in this area. (Listen to the rhetoric between now and next week’s release of the Fed’s Beige Book as hints.) It may just be another shot in the dark, but personally, I am in favor of ideas that promote job growth more than government hand outs and bail outs.
Terrie Fink And Associates 