NEWS
Midland again named top city for youth
Midland Daily News
October 12, 2011
For the fourth year in a row, the greater Midland area has achieved national recognition as one of the America's Promise Alliance 100 Best Communities for Young People.
The 100 Best designation recognizes communities across the country that focus on reducing high school dropout rates and providing service and support to youth.
Greater Midland has won again because it offers a myriad of programs for young people that promote volunteerism, leadership and educational excellence. Researched-based programs such as Safe Dates, SITCAP (Structured Intervention for Traumatized Children, Adolescents and Parents), and Moms Club/Kids Club have reached nearly 20,000 people to help improve relationship skills and offer support, a spokesperson said.
Midland youth development programs have contributed to a 35 percent reduction in delinquency, a 56 percent reduction in recidivism and a cost savings of approximately $1.5 million for Midland courts over the past three years.
The Lunch Box Learners program, which brings together elementary students and volunteers to work on reading skills, created 53 partnerships through eight schools and resulted in more than 500 books read during 2010-2011.
We are proud of Greater Midland for being named one of Americas 100 Best communities for kids, said Midland Mayor Maureen Donker. This award recognizes the hard work of many community members who have dedicated countless hours to making a difference in the lives of our young people.
In a nation where 7,000 students drop out of high school every day, we hope Greater Midlands initiatives inspire other communities across the nation to take action to solve the challenges facing their young people, said Marguerite W. Kondracke, Americas Promise Alliance president and CEO. Greater Midland is especially deserving of this recognition due to their efforts to ensure that their young people graduate high school and go on to lead healthy, productive lives. The community helps its youth prosper and become contributing members of society.
In addition to the 100 Best distinction, the top communities will receive a $2,500 grant, signage identifying the community as a 100 Best community, and access to community development resources through Americas Promise Alliance.
A list of all 2011 winners can be found at www.americaspromise.org/100best
Local organizations involved in the 2011 application process included the Chippewa Nature Center, City of Midland, Family and Childrens Services of Midland, Great Lakes Loons, The Legacy Center for Student Success, Midland Area Chamber of Commerce, Midland Area Community Foundation, Midland Area Partnership for Drug-Free Youth, Midland County Department of Public Health, Midland County Educational Service Agency, Midland County Probate Court, Midland Public Schools, Northwood University, The ROCK Youth Center, Shelterhouse, and United Way of Midland County.
Detroit's Future: Fair to Midland
By R.J. King, dBusiness.com
May / June 2011
Midland doesnt possess the allure of Charlevoix or Bay Harbor, yet its arguably the most prosperous small city in Michigan. For starters, real estate values in Midland have held their own in recent years, while home prices have slipped nearly everywhere else including in such desirable locales as Birmingham, the Grosse Pointes, and Bloomfield Hills.
Sure, Ann Arbor is larger, and is home to the University of Michigan, but its a college town that spills over with activity from fall to spring and quiets down during the summer months. The same goes for East Lansing, home to Michigan State University. Not many people vacation in either city, I suspect. Midland, meanwhile, draws its share of vacationers year-round.
One sign that Midland has more going for it than most cities its size population of around 41,000 is discernable from the air. When Alden B. Dow, the architect and son of Herbert B. Dow, the founder of Dow Chemical Co., designed Northwood Universitys campus, he bisected the S-shaped main road with a linear walking mall. The resulting image is that of a dollar sign.
Need more evidence? Theres an abundance of homes and structures designed in the Prairie School of architecture, which was the style most favored by Dow and famed designer Frank Lloyd Wright. The downtown district has few vacancies, the result of a prosperous residential base that is mostly employed by Dow Chemical and its surrounding affiliates like Dow Corning, Dow Roofing Systems, Dow AgroSciences, Dow Kokam, and Hemlock Semiconductor Corp.
The university, which offers undergraduate and graduate programs to some 2,300 students (the school operates several campuses around the world), caters to entrepreneurs, the sons and daughters of small business owners (especially automotive dealers), and foreign students lured by the prospect of learning every nuance they can about the American Dream.
The Midland Country Club just received a multimillion-dollar makeover and addition. As a result, the clubhouse is larger than the historic edifice at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Township, and is complemented by a separate, state-of-the-art swimming complex.
So whats the message for Detroit and other cities struggling to reverse years of decline? Embrace and engage the business community. Cater to workers by offering safe and attractive housing. Provide a first-class education system, and lure top scholars from around the country and the world.
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing is on the right path, and the stars are starting to align with his vision of restoring a world-class city. The Big Three automakers and their suppliers are no longer burdened by huge legacy costs, and they are profitable. A critical mass of high-tech companies in the downtown district should be tapped for support, as well.
By drawing as much investment and interest from the corporate community as possible, and by doing most of the little things right, Detroit can prosper. The city cant sit back and expect to be catered to. Rather, Detroit needs to set the table, pull out the chair, and prepare to deliver a memorable experience. db
***
Foreclosure sales dip for second straight month
By Jon Prior, HousingWire.com
Monday, July 11th, 2011
Mortgage servicers completed 68,000 foreclosure sales on the courthouse steps in May, down 7% from the previous month and the second straight month of declines, according to the Hope Now alliance of insurers, counselors and lenders.
Foreclosure sales dropped 14% in April. However, servicers started 176,000 foreclosures in May, up 8% from the previous month. Roughly 2.67 million mortgages remained in 60-day delinquency, up 1% from the previous month.
Modifications remained flat at roughly 85,000 through private initiatives and the Home Affordable Modification Program.
Private modifications dipped to 53,000 in May, a 7% decrease. In April, the drop on private workouts was 26%, allowing HAMP to take a larger share of completed modifications. Servicers completed 32,398 permanent HAMP modifications in May, up 12%.
"Despite increases in foreclosure starts and a decrease in proprietary modifications this month, there were still a few bright spots in fewer foreclosure sales, an increase in HAMP loan modifications and the third straight month of relatively flat 60+ day delinquencies," said Faith Schwartz, the executive director of Hope Now.
Schwartz added servicers have even more tools now to assist troubled homeowners. The Department of Housing and Urban Development will target roughly 30,000 borrowers with unemployment assistance through the Emergency Homeowner Loan Program. The Federal Housing Administration recently increased the forbearance period on its modification program, and banks are still signing up to 19 state programs under the Treasury Department's Hardest Hit Fund.
Since the housing meltdown in 2007, servicers completed 4.6 million modifications, according to Hope Now.
"While we have seen loan modifications flatten out in recent months, the overall numbers continue to illustrate the size and scope of what mortgage servicers, and their non-profit and government partners, have achieved on behalf of at-risk homeowners," Schwartz said. "This combination of new tools and extraordinary outreach efforts has resulted in the most comprehensive set of solutions available to at-risk homeowners to date."
Write to Jon Prior.
Follow him on Twitter @JonAPrior.
***Midland Voted The 4th Best Small City To Raise A Family!
Midwestern cities sweep our ranking of quiet, prosperous and family-friendly places.
By Francesca Levy, Forbes.com
Oct 25, 2010 Provided by: Share retweet
Big, bustling cities are magnets for adventure-seekers and ambitious young people. But the grit and flashiness that attract singles to New York, Los Angeles and Miami aren't necessarily what parents look for in a place to settle down. Young people looking to start a family might do well to look past the bright lights of the big city.
Instead, maybe consider a place like Dubuque, Iowa, Manitowac, Wis., or Marquette, Mich. These places boast solid average incomes, good educational prospects, low costs, short commute times and high rates of home ownership--all reasons why they rank as the top three small cities in America to raise a family.
So what is so special about these places? Our top-ranked city, Dubuque, Iowa, is much smaller than a place like New York, with a population of 92,139, but still one of the larger cities on our list (we only ranked cities with a population under 100,000). Dubuque's size puts it in a kind of sweet spot: large enough to be a center of industry, small enough to not be overcrowded. An economy that successfully diversified after the collapse of the local manufacturing industry contributes to an unemployment rate that's nearly half the national average, at 6.5%, and a median household income of $48,779. That means most families have the jobs they need. They also don't have to spend a lot of time getting there: Only 2.6% of the population spends an hour or more getting to work.
Our top three cities are all in the Midwest, and the region is home to 12 of the top 15 cities. It would seem that mountains, big skies and open plains lend themselves to family life. But while the small towns in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and Illinois dominate the list, there are small cities that shine in every region of the country.
The rugged mountain town of Casper, Wyo, is the highest-ranked family-friendly small city in the West, and ranked eighth overall in the nation. The city does particularly well providing residents with affordable housing--families there spend only 17% of their income on housing costs.
Auburn, N.Y., a tiny Finger Lakes town probably best known for its correctional facility, takes the top spot for the Northeast region, and comes in at No. 18 in the nation. Prison jobs boost the local income, which ranks 20th among small cities at $48,991.
The best Southern small city for families? Tiny Frankfort, Ky., with a population of only 69,659. It ranks No. 20 on our nationwide list. Frankfort may be small, but the few families there are well off: The median household income is $50,671.
To pinpoint the best small places to raise a family, we looked at quality-of-life measures that make living easier for families. We started with the most recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau on all Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas with a population under 100,000. That left us with 126 cities, which we ranked on five measures.
Short commute times improve family life because they give working parents more time at home with their kids, so we scored cities on the percentage of residents that spent an hour or more getting to work in the morning: the lower the better. Since educational outcomes are a key consideration of families looking to relocate, we ranked cities on the percentage of adults aged 25 and older that had at least a high school degree. We also scored cities on median household income, the rate of home ownership, and housing affordability, for which we used median housing costs as a percentage of income as a proxy. We averaged the rankings across these measures to arrive at final scores. When cities were tied in rank, we used the rate of homeownership to break the tie.
The choice of where to settle down and bring up youngsters is based on a number of complex and personal factors, many of which can't be measured in a ranked list. But things like affordability, education and jobs are often among them--and these off-the-radar metros have a great deal to offer.
***
Buying A Home Now Is A No-Brainer
By Ali Velshi, CNN chief business correspondent December 13, 2010: 9:26 AM ET
(MONEY Magazine) -- Is now the right time to invest in a house? Trick question. Actually, it's two questions.
Question No. 1: Is now the time to buy?
Question No. 2: Is buying a house a good investment?
The first answer is easy: With a few exceptions, if you have 20% to put down and good credit, now is a great time to buy. That's been the case all year, and I'd argue that we're probably closer to the end than to the beginning of the really great time. Let me explain.
Back in January home prices had dropped 28% from their peak. More important, interest rates were at historical lows. By locking in a mortgage for 15 or 30 years on a value-priced home, you were getting an incredible deal, even if home prices decreased. (I took my advice and bought a New York City apartment.)
At the time, I thought that prices and rates were more likely to rise than fall. I was half right: Home values have been inching up since the spring, but mortgage rates, incredibly, dropped further.
By August (the latest numbers available) the median home price had risen 1% over a year ago, but 30-year rates had dropped a half-point to 4.5%. Assuming 20% down and a 30-year mortgage, the total cost of owning a median-priced home is now down $16,000 from a year ago.
Home values may waffle over the coming year, but because Americans take out such large, long mortgages, rates are what really matter. And I am more likely to grow hair than see 30-year mortgage rates drop below 4%. It's far more likely that rates (and the cost of ownership) will rise.
Now for question No. 2: Is a house a good investment?
First, it depends on what you mean by investment. If your definition is strictly about dollars returned, a house probably won't be a great use of your capital. If you bought the median-priced house today with 20% down, to recoup your total costs (and I'm not including property taxes and maintenance here) over three decades, the home's value would have to rise about 3% a year.
That's likely, but you'll almost certainly (we all hope) do much better than that in the stock market. The fact is, however, that that's the normal case for housing; the booms that began after World War II and in the late 1990s were the exceptions.
Of course, there are places where you might do better. I bought my condo in Manhattan, a small island that, by virtue of the business done on it, has a sustained demand for property. And smaller, energy-efficient housing in cities or inner suburbs around San Francisco or Chicago is likely to be in higher demand than big, outer suburban homes with long commutes to Las Vegas or Atlanta.
According to urban and environmental planning professor William Lucy of the University of Virginia, this move toward urbanization in American housing is the reversal of a trend that's been in place since 1945. Keep it in mind when making your buying decisions.
That said, the key point to remember is this: Buying a fairly priced home at today's rates may be the best deal you will ever get. And who knows? It may even turn out to be a good investment.
3. The Cost of Waiting for Prices to Fall
by on February 11, 2011
Many purchasers have been sitting on the sidelines waiting for home prices to hit bottom. They want to guarantee that they are purchasing at the best possible price. Like them, we also believe that prices still have some room to fall in most markets. However, we disagree that waiting is a good financial decision. The buyer should not be concerned about housing prices. They should be concerned about cost.
The cost of a house is made up of the price AND THE INTEREST RATE they will be paying. Two different pieces of news released yesterday highlight this point.
PRICES
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) released their 4th quarter housing research report. In the release, they reported that home sales rose 15.4% in the 4th quarter over the 3rd quarter. They also showed that prices remained stable during the year:
The national median existing single-family price was $170,600 in the fourth quarter, up 0.2 percent from $170,300 in the fourth quarter of 2009.
A buyer who delayed a purchase might find solace in the fact that prices have not increased. However, the other news released yesterday paints a different picture.
INTEREST RATES
The Primary Mortgage Market Survey was released by Freddie Mac which showed that the 30 year fixed rate mortgage was at 5.05%. Frank Nothaft, vice president and chief economist of Freddie Mac said:
Long-term bond yields jumped on positive economic data reports, which placed upward pressure on mortgage rates this week&As a result, interest rates on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to the highest level since the last week in April 2010.
So prices have remained stable but interest rates have risen dramatically in the last 90 days. What does that mean to a buyer looking to purchase a home this year?
The price is the same. It just costs more.
Lets show you what the news means:
By sitting on the sidelines for the last 90 days a purchaser lost:
- $89.44 a month
- $1,073.28 a year
- $32,198.40 over the thirty year life of the mortgage
If you buy a $340,000 home, double all these numbers.
Bottom Line
Even if prices fall another 10% this year, the cost of a home will increase if interest rates go up more than 1%. Buyers should not worry where prices are going. They should be concerned where costs will be later in the year.
4. 3 Questions You Must Answer Before Buying a Home
If you are thinking about purchasing a home right now, you are surely getting a lot of advice. And most of that advice is probably negative. Why buy now with prices still falling? Dont you realize real estate is no longer a good investment? Dont you know that people who bought five years ago lost their shirt? We understand the concern your friends and family have. However, lets look at whether or not now is actually the perfect time to buy a home.
There are three questions you should ask before purchasing in todays market:
1. Why should I buy if house prices are still depreciating?
We believe that in most parts of the country prices will in fact soften in 2011. Price is the major concern for anyone selling a home. When you are buying, COST should be your primary concern however. Your monthly payment (cost) is definitely impacted by the price of the home you purchase. The other major component is the interest rate. Waiting for prices to bottom out while rates are increasing can wind up costing you more over the life of the mortgage (see chart here).
Over the last seven weeks, rates have increased over 1/2 a point going from 4.17 to 4.86. Looking at the attached chart shows this increase. Waiting for prices to bottom out seems to make perfect sense. Yet, at a time when rates are increasing, it might NOT make sense. Make sure you have a mortgage professional help you with this math before making a decision.
In an article last week CNN Money reported:
You can kiss those record lows goodbye, said Greg McBride, chief economist for Bankrate.com.
Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates, a provider of mortgage information said that the market reached a new plateau.
I dont think were going back to a 50-year low anytime soon without an economic collapse, he said. Rates will probably never revisit those levels.
2. When will I begin to see appreciation if I buy now?
This is a great question. Macro Markets, LLC is a company that studies housing prices. They started their Home Price Expectation Survey in 2010. They ask 100+ housing industry experts to project housing prices through 2015. The most current survey shows that the experts are predicting prices to soften until 2012. The experts then project prices to rise reaching a cumulative appreciation of over 10% by 2015.
Purchasing a home today makes great sense from a financial standpoint. Think of the old axiom: You want to buy low and sell high. We may be at the low point regarding the COST of a home. But, this decision should not only be a financial one.
That leads us to our third and final question:
3. Why am I buying a home in the first place?
This truly is the most important question to answer. Forget the finances for a minute. Why did you even begin to consider purchasing a home? For most, the reason has nothing to do with finances. The Fannie Mae National Housing Survey shows that the four major reasons people buy a home have nothing to do with money:
- A good place to raise children and for them to get a good education
- A place where you and your family feel safe
- More space for you and your family
- Control of the space
What non-financial benefits will you and your family derive from owning a home? The answer to that question should be the reason whether you decide to purchase or not.
Bottom Line
The COST of a home will probably remain relatively unchanged even if prices continue to depreciate. Dont allow money to get in the way of you making the right decision for you and your family. In the long run, the finances will work in your favor anyway.
5. BusinessWeek's Marc Roth says: If You Don't Buy a House Now, You're Stupid or Broke
Interest rates are at historic lows but cyclical trends suggest they will soon rise. Home buyers may never see such a chance again, writes Marc Roth
Well, you may not be stupid or broke. Maybe you already have a house and you don't want to move. Or maybe you're a Trappist monk and have forsworn all earthly possessions. Or whatever. But if you want to buy a house, now is the time, and if you don't act soon, you will regret it. Here's why: historically low interest rates.
As of today, the average 30-year fixed-rate loan with no points or fees is around 5%. That, as the graph abovewhich you can find on Mortgage-X.comshows, is the lowest the rate has been in nearly 40 years.
In fact, rates are so well below historic averages that it should make all current and prospective homeowners take notice of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
And it is exactly that, based on what the graph shows us. Let's look at the point on the far left.
In 1970 the rate was approximately 7.25%. After hovering there for a couple of years, it began a trend upward, landing near 10% in late 1973. It settled at 8.5% to 9% from 1974 to the end of 1976. After the rise to 10%, that probably seemed O.K. to most home buyers.
But they weren't happy soon thereafter. From 1977 to 1981, a period of only 60 months, the 30-year fixed rate climbed to 18%. As I mentioned in one of my previous articles, my dad was one of those unluckily stuck needing a loan at that time.
Interest Rate Lessons
And when rates started to decline after that, they took a long time to recede to previous levels. They hit 9% for a brief time in 1986 and bounced around 10% to 11% until 1990. For the next 11 years through 2001, the rates slowly ebbed and flowed downward, ranging from 7% to 9%. We've since spent the last nine years, until very recently, at 6% to 7%. So you can see why 5% is so remarkable.
So, what can we learn from the historical trends and numbers?
First, rates have far further to move upward than downward; for more than 30 years, 7% was the low and 18% the high. The norm was 9% in the 1970s, 10% in the mid-1980s through the early 1990s, 7% to 8% for much of the 1990s, and 6% only over the last handful of years.
Second, the last time the long-term trends reversed from low to high, it took more than 20 years (1970 to 1992) for the rate to get back to where it was, and 30 years to actually start trending below the 1970 low.
Finally, the most important lesson is to understand the actual financial impact the rate has on the cost of purchasing and paying off a home.
Every quarter-point change in interest rates is equivalent to approximately $6,000 for every $100,000 borrowed over the course of a 30-year fixed. While different in each region, for the sake of simplicity, let's assume that the average person is putting $40,000 down and borrowing $200,000 to pay the price of a typical home nationwide. Thus, over the course of the life of the loan, each quarter-point move up in interest rates will cost that buyer $12,000.
Loan Costs
Stay with me now. We are at 5%. As you can see by the graph above, as the economy stabilizes, it is reasonable for us to see 30-year fixed rates climb to 6% within the foreseeable future and probably to a range of 7% to 8% when the economy is humming again. If every quarter of a point is worth $12,000 per $200,000 borrowed, then each point is worth almost $50,000.
Let's put that into perspective. You have a good stable job (yes, unemployment is at 10%, but another way of looking at that figure is that most of us have good stable jobs). You would like to own a $240,000 home. However, even though home prices have steadied, you may be thinking you can get another $5,000 or $10,000 discount if you wait (never mind the $8,500 or $6,500 tax credit due to run out next spring). Or you may be waiting for the news to tell you the economy is "more stable" and it's safe to get back in the pool. In exchange for what you may think is prudence, you will risk paying $50,000 more per point in interest rate changes between now and the time you decide you are ready to buy. And you are ignoring the fact that according to the Case-Shiller index, home prices in most regions have been trending back up for the last several months.
If you are someone who is looking to buy or upgrade in the $350,000-to-$800,000 home price range, and many people out there are, then you're borrowing $300,000 to $600,000. At 7%, the $300,000 loan will cost just under $150,000 more over the lifetime, and the $600,000 loan an additional $300,000, if rates move up just 2% before you pull the trigger.
What I'm trying to impress upon everyone is that if you are planning on being a homeowner now and/or in the foreseeable future, or if you are looking to move your family into a bigger home, then pay more attention to the interest rates than the price of the home. If you have a steady job, good credit, and the down payment, then you really are being offered the gift of a lifetime.
Marc Roth is the founder and president of Home Warranty of America, which touches just about every part of the real estate industry since it sells through builders, real estate agents, title companies, mortgage companies, and directly to consumers.