Can you stop paying for TV service?

Just read a great article about how to have t.v. without paying for a service.  Not sure I'm quite ready to cut the cord to my service, as they are also my internet and phone provider, but if  one of these gets to the point there's really no difference, why sure, I'd change.   Boxee sounds interesting.  Here's the article I got from a GEHA email and they got it from somewhere else.  Let's share the knowledge.

Cutting the ties to pay TV

As more and more consumers rely on their computers and smartphones for videos, movies and entertainment, some are beginning to change the way they view television. This includes saving money and cutting the cord on their paid TV service.

Could you and your family live without cable TV? And, if you were to make the switch to what’s often referred to as "streaming media," where would you begin?

Today there are some TV accessories that offer access to free services. Rather than pay on a monthly basis, you purchase the box once and then dial up what you want through the Internet.

Roku is a streaming box that, depending on the model, sells from $50 to $100. It offers a variety of content including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Pandora, HBO Go, MLB.TV, NHL Game Center and Flickr, among others. According to cnet.com, a leading source for technology reviews of all types, the core streaming functionality of the ROKU LT model makes it a great value.

Apple TV is another option. CNET reports that the browsing experience on Apple TV is "best-in-class for movies and TV shows." Plus, Apple TV provides "content portability." In other words, if you purchase (not rent) movies or TV shows, they are stored in a way that you can share that content with your iPhone or iPad.

Boxee is a small computer device that allows you to watch TV shows and Internet clips on your TV. You can buy a Boxee for about $200 or you can build your own using a new or used computer and free downloadable software. Most anything that’s on the Internet is available on Boxee, along with more than 40,000 TV episodes and movies. Plus Boxee allows you to play content you’ve personally recorded on your network or hard drive.

If you’re not quite ready to make the leap and cut the cord to your current TV content provider, consider calling them to see about paying a lower rate. Given the increasing competitiveness of the telecommunications industry, by taking a hard look at your TV package and those of other providers you just might be able to negotiate a lower fee for the paid TV service you have today.

Reprinted on April 6, 2012, courtesy of Yes, You Can. For more information, please visit yesyoucanonline.info

7 Reasons You Should Own Your Home

Great article from Realtors Magazine about owning a home, and why you should - including a calculator to figure the difference in renting and owning:

7 Reasons to Own Your Own Home

1. Tax breaks. The U.S. Tax Code lets you deduct the interest you pay on your mortgage, property taxes you pay, and some of the costs involved in buying your home.

2. Gains. Between 1998 and 2002, national home prices increased at an average of 5.4 percent annually. And while there’s no guarantee of appreciation, a 2001 study by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS^Ò found that a typical homeowner has approximately $50,000 of unrealized gain in a home.

3. Equity. Money paid for rent is money that you’ll never see again, but mortgage payments let you build equity ownership interest in your home.

4. Savings. Building equity in your home is a ready-made savings plan. And when you sell, you can generally take up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple) as gain without owing any federal income tax.

5. Predictability. Unlike rent, your mortgage payments don’t go up over the years so your housing costs may actually decline as you own the home longer. However, keep in mind that property taxes and insurance costs will rise.

6. Freedom. The home is yours. You can decorate any way you want and be able to benefit from your investment for as long as you own the home.

7. Stability. Remaining in one neighborhood for several years gives you a chance to participate in community activities, lets you and your family establish lasting friendships, and offers your children the benefit of educational continuity.

To calculate whether renting or buying is the best financial option for you, use this calculator courtesy of Ginnie Mae:

http://www.ginniemae.gov/rent_vs_buy/rent_vs_buy_calc.asp?Section=YPTH

Real Estate News

1.  MIP goes up .75 upfront on April 9.  Get under contract and get a file number before then to save upfront money and annual, which goes up .1.  Obama to use this money for Medicaid.  Go figure.

2.  Texas has a new bond program to help buyers pay for closing up to $10,000 but they only put $600,000 in to the program, which is 60 loans.  Have you seen the size of TX.  This won't last a week.
Won't help the housing market very well.'

3.  Amarillo, TX, has a much better program.  Pays 75% of closing and downpayment, never to be repaid if you stay in house 5 years.  Designed to help first time homebuyers with lower credit scores.  Of course, you still have to qualify under FHA or Conventional standards.

4.  If you have collections on your credit report, you have to be paying on them for 3 months or get them paid off before you can qualify for a loan now. 

5.  Happy State Bank has 2 new loans programs that help buyers.  If you are having trouble getting a mortgage loan, check them out.

My personal news:  wrote a contract tonight.  Keeping fingers crossed its accepted tomorrow. 

More news:  New listing 5304 Albert in Amarillo, home + mother-in-law apt.  Both updated and cute.  Outstanding kitchens.  $149,900.

4414 Alicia, 2/2/2 townhome in Puckett, $102,900.  OWC.  New windows, great woodwork, huge bathroom upstairs with both tub and shower and utility.  2 closets in each bedroom, plus 3 other closets.  Bank of floor to ceiling cabinets in kitchen.

Short sale in Adrian, TX, Over an acre of land in the city limits, 3/1 with pole barn, mud room and utility, $39,000.

WOMEN DATE MEN WHO OWN A HOUSE!!

When it comes to dating, homeownership can be the ultimate aphrodisiac.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- When it comes to dating, homeownership can be the ultimate aphrodisiac.
In a survey of 1,000 single people, more than a third of women and 18% of men said they would much rather date a homeowner than a renter.

Only 2% of women said they preferred to date a man who rents, while only 3% of men said they would choose a woman who rents over one that owns her home, according to the survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive for real estate site Trulia.

Both sexes also clearly prefer it when there's no roommate in the picture; 62% of survey respondents, men and women, prefer to date singles who live alone.

?? SHOULD INVESTORS GET LOANS TO IMPROVE PROPERTIES??

Just read an interesting article about 203K FHA loans and investors.  Investors at present are not allowed to get these rehabilitation loans to improve properties and make them more valuable.  But should they be allowed to?  Because in the past there were abuses, now no investor can get such a loan; but there are so many technological advances which would make it easier to monitor the system, maybe this is the answer to the glut of foreclosures sitting unsaleable on the market. 

Question 2:  Is selling these foreclosures in mass as rentals good.  Sounds good to me, but this article gives some thoughts there were new to me.  Like who wants to live in these type homes without modifications?  If Investors can't get the $$ for the remodel from an FHA 203K loan, will they just buy them and rent them as slumlords.

Read the article and come back and leave your opinion.  http://rismedia.com/2012-02-13/opinion-fha-should-reinstate-203k-loans-for-investors/

Why banks are scared Wells Fargo will change.

If you don't know what a correspondent lender is, its one that buys loans from other banks.  Here's a good article I found about BOA leaving that area and Wells Fargo doing 30% of all correspondent lending.  Read and get better educated about what goes on behind the scenes in mortgage lending.

Smaller Players Easing Squeeze in Third-Party

The greatest fear for small- to medium-sized nonbanks is that Wells Fargo—the “big kahuna” of mortgage finance—will exit the correspondent lending space. And what a fear it is: in the most recent quarter in which there are final numbers, Wells bought a stunning $41 billion of loans from others, giving it a market share of 30% in the channel.

Of course, there is nothing out there to suggest that Wells has any intention of leaving the correspondent channel or scaling back its presence in mortgage banking—though its wholesale production has been slipping for several quarters.
Recently, Bank of America (the second-largest buyer of closed mortgages) exited correspondent lending, which on the surface appears to be a major blow. But believe or not, there appear to be plenty of midsized lenders out there, looking to enter both the correspondent and wholesale channels, which is good news for the industry.

But the problem with these new entrants is that they don't have any “scale,” at least not right now.
Case in point is Banc of Manhattan Capital in Woodland Hills, Calif. In November the bank-owned company entered the correspondent channel, doing little business its first month, but in December its volume jumped to $50 million.

“We want to achieve scale,” said BMC EVP Dan Baruch, an alumnus of both Bank of America, and Countrywide Financial Corp.

Baruch's chief duty at the company is overseeing warehouse lending, a business he helped launch at CFC last decade. Baruch admits that his firm's warehouse volume is small but hopes that it will change for the better over time.

(BMC is a national lender in both warehouse and correspondent.)
Meanwhile, refinancings remain strong, accounting for about 70% of production. In a hot refi environment third-party lending (brokers/correspondents) tends to do better and figures collected by National Mortgage News bear that out.

In 3Q retail lending accounted for 52% of production nationwide compared to 8% for wholesale, and 40% for correspondent. The retail market share has been slipping steadily since the first quarter of 2011 when the channel registered a multiyear high of 56%.

It's long been said that wholesale and correspondent lending are cheaper than retail when it comes to counting costs—but during the housing/mortgage boom third-party lending produced lower-quality loans (or so it's been argued).

Unlike commercial bankers, mortgage bankers tend to be more entrepreneurial.
When a large player leaves a sector (such as correspondent or wholesale) almost immediately some company somewhere seizes on the sudden opportunity to pickup new business.

Last week's news that CitiMortgage was exiting the wholesale channel was received poorly in some sectors of the industry, until it was pointed out (by this newspaper) that table funding accounts for just 9% of Citi's overall residential production.

Will Citi be missed? Not according to some brokers I spoke with. “To tell you the truth their rates were nothing special,” said one New Jersey broker.

Who then might fill Citi's shoes? Maybe a firm like Cole Taylor Mortgage in Chicago. Two years ago Willie Newman, a former top executive at InterFirst Mortgage, joined the bank with the stated goal of growing its presence in residential finance.

A wholesale and retail lender, Cole Taylor funded $1.1 billion in 2011, more than doubling the bank's volume. In a few weeks it will receive its 33rd state lending license. That's not exactly in the same league as Citi, but it's a darn good start.

 

Fannie's Mae's Predictions for 2012

Copying this great article about Fannie Mae's Predictions.  Hocus, pocus.  Can they really see the future.  Did they predict 2008?  Ghastly!!  Read and enjoy.

Friday, January 13th, 2012, 2:17 pm

The housing sector will likely take incremental steps forward in 2012, though total originations will fall on fewer refinances, according to economists at Fannie Mae.

The second half of the year should outpace the first six months in terms of growth, though fiscal policy and political uncertainty in Washington will likely drive consumer and business activity, the mortgage giant said.

Chief Economist Doug Duncan said positive consumer activity and challenges in housing and the global economy will equate to moderate growth for the year.

"We're entering 2012 with decent momentum, especially on the employment side, which is fostering positive household and consumer behavior," Duncan said in a release. "Unfortunately, we expect this momentum to slow as we move through the first half of the year."

The report released Friday forecast total home sales to increase 3.5% to about 4.74 million in 2012 from 2011 with another 5% gain in 2013 to nearly 5 million. New home sales could jump 10.4% for 2012.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency home sales price index, excluding refinances, could dip 1.1% for 2012 from a year before, according to the forecast. Economists predicted the 2011 index would finish 4.6% lower than 2010.

Mortgage originations as dollar volume could see a decline as well in 2012, largely on a steep drop in refinances. The Fannie report said total originations will fall to $1.01 trillion in 2012 from a predicted final 2011 tally of $1.36 trillion. Economists expected refinancing to plummet to $540 billion from $894 billion.

Purchase mortgages, however, will rise to $471 billion in 2012 from a estimated 2011 total of $464, according to the report.

Total single-family outstanding mortgage debt will likely drop 1.3% to $10.14 trillion in 2012.

For the U.S. economy as a whole, Fannie researchers predicted real GDP would increase 3.3% in the fourth quarter to finish the year at 1.7% growth. Economists forecast 2.3% GDP growth for 2012 and 2013.

Write to Andrew Scoggin.

Here in Amarillo it does seem we are on an UPSWING and there do seem to be more buyers out there.  However, the old 645 credit score is still tied around buyer's necks.  If credit were loosened somewhat, I feel personally that we'd see more people out buying.  After reading today that home ownership is important to people, even if they are underwater, why is renting more in vogue than ever....because the credit has dried up for more people due to high credit scores. 

I see more investors willing to finance now, so maybe that will help some people get into homes.  After all if you can finance a home for 10% instead of leaving it in c.d.s making .75% why not be a lender instead of a borrower be.