Maybe Alan Greenspan Was Right About Floating-Rate Mortgages

Back in 2004, Alan Greenspan suggested Americans might benefit from taking out more floating-rate home loans.

More than a decade after the former Federal Reserve chairman touted adjustable-rate mortgages, James McAndrews, the New York Fed’s director of research, has suggested that the U.S. may indeed have been better off with more floating-rate home loans. And just like Greenspan’s comments, the latest remarks come just as the U.S. central bank is preparing interest-rate increases that would ostensibly make it more expensive for borrowers with such debt.

Greenspan’s advice seemed particularly ill-timed.

From May 2004 through June 2006, the Fed increased its benchmark interest rate by 4.25 percentage points. Defaults then began to surge as borrowers with the adjustable rate mortgages, known as ARMs, failed to keep up with rising mortgage payments. Given what happened during the slump —combined with new underwriting regulations— almost no one is getting ARMs anymore, as seen in the chart below.

The point McAndrews makes is that had more homebuyers gone with floating-rate debt, perhaps in some ways the years following the crisis would have been less painful.

The benefits of the stimulus and ultra-low interest rate policy enacted by the Fed beginning in 2008 wasn’t passed on as quickly to homeowners with fixed-rate mortgages. Many borrowers got stuck in fixed-rate loans on which they owed more than the now-depressed values of their homes. Even as the Fed moved to cut official interest rates, the average interest rate paid on the total stock of outstanding mortgages fell much more slowly and by a lower amount, according to McAndrews.

“All this implies that a higher share of ARMs at the start of the financial crisis would likely have enhanced the effectiveness of monetary easing in reducing foreclosures and stimulating the macroeconomy,” McAndrews said in a speech last week.

see more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-27/maybe-alan-greenspan-was-right-about-floating-rate-mortgages

Haggerty bids for International Tennis Federation presidency

PARIS (AP) The former chairman of the U.S. Tennis Association has announced that he is running for president of the International Tennis Federation.

David Haggerty, who currently serves as a vice president of the ITF, says in a statement Monday that ''my goal is to strengthen the ITF's role as the world governing body for tennis and to increase revenue and communications throughout the tennis family so that we can ensure a healthy and viable future for our sport.''

Italy's Francesco Ricci Bitti is stepping down in September after completing a fourth term as president.

source: http://www.foxsports.com/tennis/story/haggerty-bids-for-international-tennis-federation-presidency-052615

Memorial Deal -- VA Mortgages

Memorial Day reminds us of the sacrifices of our military families today and in the past. One of the ways our nation honors and rewards veterans and their families is VA loans that enable them to buy and finance a home at a low interest rate, currently 3.37 percent on a 30-year fixed-rate loan -- and with zero down payment!

The VA does not make the loans. Instead it guarantees them, up to 100 percent of the appraised value of the property. And there is no mortgage insurance payment. In essence, the VA is guaranteeing the loan payments to the lender on your behalf, as a reward for serving your country. A VA loan can be accessed over and over again, as long as the original loan is repaid, with no age limit.

Here are some key facts about VA loans.

1. Service Eligibility: VA loans are available to those who served 90 days active duty in wartime or 181 days during peacetime (two years for those who began service after September 7, 1980) or six years in the National Guard. Applicants must have been honorably discharged.

2. Personal Criteria: Financial standards are somewhat less stringent for those applying for a VA loan (and yet VA loans have a far lower default rate than conventional loans). An applicant's credit score must be above 620 (although some VA lenders allow as low as 580). He or she must demonstrate steady income, a two-year history of self-employment or a stream of retirement/disability benefits. Spousal income can help qualify, and some spouses of deceased vets can qualify if the spouse died of a service-related disability. Applicants must have no unpaid liens or judgments, and they must wait two years after a Chapter 7 bankruptcy and one year after Chapter 13 to apply.

3. Qualifying Properties: A VA loan can only be used for a personal residence (a house or condo) but not an investment property. However, if the vet occupies the property, a VA loan can be used to purchase two- to four-unit properties, using the rental income from the other unites to offset the mortgage payments.

4. Loan Limits: The current maximum amount of a VA loan is $417,000 but as high as $801,950 for a multi-unit, owner-occupied property. And the loan limits are higher in Alaska, Guam, Hawaii and the U. S. Virgin Islands. However, VA loan eligibility can be applied to a jumbo mortgage of up to $1 million if the applicant makes a 25 percent down payment on the amount above the conventional $417,000 limit. (Thus on a $517,000 purchase price, the vet would only have a $25,000 down payment -- which amounts to less than 5 percent on the overall purchase price.)

see more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-savage/memorial-deal----va-mortg_b_7341474.html

Electric 'hypercar' Toroidion 1MW boasts 1,341 horsepower

A small Finnish automaker is producing an electric car that has so much horsepower that it makes a Tesla look like a go-cart.

The Toroidion 1MW, billed as a 100% electric "hypercar," boasts 1,341 horsepower, butterfly doors and a retro design.

 

It also has a breathtaking price tag.

Toroidion CEO Pasi Pennanen told CNNMoney that an exact price hasn't been set yet, but said the cost could range between $1.5 million to $3.5 million for the first batch of 100 cars.

The concept car was unveiled in mid-April by Monaco's Prince Albert II at a high-end Monaco car show called Top Marques.

Pennanen's young company has been working on building this car and its new battery technology for the last four years. The company employs roughly 15 people and has been completely self-financed so far.

Pennanen's plan is to get enough interest, investment and orders to build 100 Toroidion 1MW cars and begin delivering them to customers in about two years. He hopes to ultimately mass produce the car, bring the price down significantly and sell it to all kinds of customers, especially those drivers that appreciate Teslas and other electric vehicles.

read more: http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/06/autos/toroidion-1mw-electric-car/index.html?iid=ob_homepage_tech_pool&iid=obnetwork

Rafael Nadal: I am not as good as I was but I’m happy playing tennis

Rafael Nadal’s searing honesty has always sustained him in troubled times and, while the Spaniard is perhaps a couple of defeats short of a crisis, he admits this summer has not been one of his best.

So, two weeks out from defending his French Open title and just shy of his 29th birthday, it was no surprise to hear him dissect his travails here with typical candour.

“Today I am not as good as I was,” he said. “I don’t know if tomorrow I am going to be as good as I was. Life has been fantastic for me – and it still is.”

The immediate cause for his concern, of course, was losing in two quick sets on clay to Andy Murray in the final of the Madrid Open on Sunday. The man who owns nine French Open titles added: “Today I am not winning as much as I did in the past but life continues. Winning or losing doesn’t change life in general. Last year I won at Roland Garros but today I am not thinking about last year. Life changes, the career of everyone changes. I am happy playing tennis and I am happy with my life.

“I played bad in Barcelona. In Madrid, I played one bad match, the final. I have not been consistent enough for the first part of the season but don’t forget that I am sixth in the race [to the ATP World Tour Finals]. Without being very consistent, sixth in the race is not bad after coming back from an injury.”

At least he has a gentle opener in the Rome Masters on Wednesday, against the Turkish qualifier Marsel Ilhan. Defeat is unthinkable.

Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, might be the best player in the world right now but for more than an hour in mid-match on Court Centrale he felt the steady heat of the midsummer sun and the resurgent power of Nicolás Almagro’s racket before prevailing in three sets.

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He had skipped Madrid to save his energy for Paris and a typically robust start in Rome seemed to confirm he had made the right decision. The Spaniard thought otherwise and took him deep into the third set before the world No1 rounded it out 6-1, 6-7 , 6-3 in a tick over two hours.

Djokovic was not shaken but stirred into life at the finish. He revealed he also has some discomfort in his right arm, which appeared to manifest itself towards the end of the first set. “It has been bothering me last couple of days,” he said, adding puzzlingly, “but it’s not worrying me.”

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/12/rafael-nadal-i-am-not-as-good-as-i-was-novak-djokovic-rome-masters

Nomura, RBS Defective-Bond Suit Loss Seen Spurring Deals

 Nomura Holdings Inc. and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc may face $500 million in damages for what a judge called an “enormous” deception in the sale of defective mortgage-backed securities, a ruling that may spur other banks to settle similar claims tied to the 2008 financial crisis.

Nomura and RBS were excoriated in a 361-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan, whose ruling followed the first trial of claims that banks sold flawed securities to government-owned mortgage companies. After a three-week trial, Cote said they misled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and set a damages formula that may result in the government winning about half its original claim of $1 billion.

“The offering documents did not correctly describe the mortgage loans,” Cote, who heard the case without a jury, wrote Monday. “The magnitude of falsity, conservatively measured, is enormous.”

Before the trial, FHFA had reached $17.9 billion in settlements with other banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The ruling against Nomura and RBS may encourage other banks to settle mortgage-related suits brought by regulators and private investors rather than face the bad publicity and cost of an adverse judgment, said Robert C. Hockett, a professor at Cornell Law School.

“They look pretty bad,” Hockett said in an interview. “They look like the strategy has blown up in their faces.”

Cote ordered the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which filed the case, to propose how much the banks should pay as a result of her ruling.

‘Consistently Candid’

“Nomura is confident that it was consistently candid, transparent and professional in all of its dealings with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Jonathan Hodgkinson, a U.S.-based spokesman for the bank, said in an e-mailed statement. Nomura will appeal, he said.

Linda Harper, a U.K.-based spokeswoman for RBS, declined to comment on the decision.

FHFA is pleased with the ruling and “looks forward to submitting proposed damages,” the agency’s general counsel, Alfred M. Pollard, said in an e-mailed statement.

see more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-11/nomura-loses-trial-over-toxic-mortgage-after-16-banks-settle

Smart-growth consultants offer advice on sustainable development

A team of experts from the nonprofit group Smart Growth America visited Charlottesville recently to determine whether the city’s zoning code is helping the community become more sustainable.



“This is a community that cares about itself, from everything to protecting trees to small signs to historic districts to parks,” said Christopher Duerksen, a land-use attorney who has worked with many communities across the country. “But there’s a lot more that can be done.”

Charlottesville is one of 14 communities across the nation that won free assistance from Smart Growth America, an organization ...

source: http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/business/cbj/smart-growth-consultants-offer-advice-on-sustainable-development/article_d91c36bc-f266-11e4-ab53-f7e980eefab9.html

Mortgages Coming To Google Compare, New Automotive Ads Among AdWords Announcements

Google announced a number of new search advertising format and measurement initiatives in a livestream Tuesday, hosted by Jerry Dischler, Vice President of Product Management for AdWords.

No surprise, many of the announcements focused on improving mobile experiences and giving marketers better tools for measuring what has become a complex path to purchase, what Google refers to as “micro-moments”. The updates came against the backdrop of Google’s first official announcement that smartphone searches are now outpacing those on desktop in ten countries.

Last year’s AdWords livestream focused heavily on app discovery and engagement formats. This year, Google released a study released in partnership with Ipsos that shows heavy usage of search and app stores among smartphone users looking for apps and highlighted. Dischler also mentioned the recent pilot program of showing ads in search results on Google Play, noting that the company would be talking more about ads in Google Play at Google I/O later this month.

Google Compare Expansion

Google Compare in the US will soon expand beyond auto insurance and credit cards to include mortgages, as many in that industry have been speculating. Google is short on details, but says the mortgage product will roll out in the US later this year.

The auto insurance comparison service, which launched in California earlier this year, is also expanding to new states — to Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania — and will feature agent support. Finally, the credit card comparison product will now include cards from local issuers.

New Automotive Ad Formats

Google debuted a new ad format for automotive manufactures and ad listings for local dealers. The units are rolling out on mobile, with Chrysler as a launch partner, and will eventually be made available on all screens.

see more: http://marketingland.com/mortgages-coming-to-google-compare-new-automotive-ads-among-adwords-livestream-announcements-127561

The Power of Becoming a Visible Expert

Here’s something everyone intuitively understands.

If you create a strong presence in your market and become recognized for your expertise, you’ve got a platform for growth.

What’s less obvious is how to create that platform.

I just read the newly released report, Visible Expert Research Study: Management Consulting Edition, by researchers at Hinge that sheds light on how consultants can create a platform for growth.

The Hinge Research Institute studied more than 530 professional services firms to understand consultants’ challenges and their top marketing priorities. The results point the way for firms that want to grow.

The Hinge Research Institute studied more than 530 professional services firms to understand consultants’ challenges and their top marketing priorities.

The study focuses on what Hinge researchers call “visible experts.” These are people with high market “visibility and acknowledged expertise who can command influence within a specific target audience.”

The report outlines the impact of visible experts on a consulting practice, how buyers find them, what tools they use to raise their market visibility, and how consultants can accelerate their progress to becoming a visible expert.

Three of the report findings stand out.

First, when buyers of consulting services were asked how they learn about consultants, they said that they checked out the consultant’s online presence.

That’s not earth shattering news by itself, but here’s what’s striking. The use of online searches by prospective buyers seeking to learn about consultants has “eclipsed more traditional methods such as recommendations.”

The use of online searches by prospective buyers seeking to learn about consultants has “eclipsed more traditional methods such as recommendations.”

Wait. What?

To be precise, prospective buyers use a variety of sources to find a consultant, but a firm’s online presence keeps growing in importance.

The takeaway: Consultants who view their web presence as a necessary evil, not the foundation of their lead generation strategy, should rethink their marketing approach.

Second, the report shows what individual visible experts do to generate leads for their firms. Speaking, books, and social media top the list of lead generation tools for visible experts.

read more: http://www.managementconsultingnews.com/the-power-of-becoming-a-visible-expert/