Young ladies of the world be warned: my beautiful wife Erin and I are having a son. I’m told this makes my life infinitely easier. If you’re having a son you have to worry about one guy, but if you’re having a daughter you have to worry about every guy.
I’m also going to be celebrating my big 30th birthday on Thursday, May 24th. Going to be a wine tasting of epic proportions over at Tim’s Wine Market in Orlando. I will be bombarding you with reminders between now and then, but go ahead and carve that evening out of your schedule for me. And for wine.
Alright. Family stuff over. Let’s talk business.
The HARP 2.0 refinance program aimed at refinancing underwater mortgages (when you owe more than the property is currently worth) is gaining some serious momentum. While many lenders had much of the program’s intent lost in translation, a few lenders brought it to market carte blanche. As such, a lot of homeowners are getting to take advantage of the current interest rates. Seriously people, if it’s your tax dollars that are going towards keeping these interest rates so dang low you might as well get the benefits that come along with it. Just seems to make sense. So, if you haven’t already (and a lot of you have, which I am pleased about) give me a call and let’s at least see what potential benefit is available to you. Doesn’t hurt to check.
Our economic recovery was projected to be choppy, and the numbers aren’t disappointing in that respect. Homebuilder sentiment took an unexpected turn for the worse. Job creation slowed. Unemployment rate dipped. Inflation measures remain subdued. The Federal Reserve assured the markets that further quantitative easing was very likely not going to happen. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
However a lot of big names are pointing to the housing market as a soon-to-be hotbed of optimism. Hard hit markets like Phoenix and Miami are starting to roar back into existence. J P Morgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon was recently quoted as saying “I believe that we are very close to the inflection point. People look at prices that are still coming down, but all other signs are pointing green.” And he’s not alone in his assessment. The Kiplinger economic report indicates that despite the fact that a housing recovery will be slow, it will still begin to happen this year. Bank of America is even starting to bet on a housing recovery.
Does that mean you have precious little time to run out and buy a house before prices go through the roof and interest rates jack up to double digits? Probably not. But it’s better news than we’ve been getting for a while. It means that now might be a decent time to buy if you NEED a home to, ya know, live in. Crazy thought, I realize.
The recent jobs report numbers sucked. Pretty badly. Only 60% of what analysts projected was going to get created, and they weren’t overly optimistic in their projections. Not the finest thing to have happen as our Commander-in-Chief prepares for political fisticuffs.
Speaking of which, it appears that Mitt Romney is the inevitable Republican nominee despite Newt Gingrich’s admirable yet misguided tenacity. When the official word hits the headlines, I am sure Mitt will put on his finest grey suit and demurely say “Hooray” whilst churning butter and watching C-SPAN. Then he’ll retire to his favorite armchair to sit and heavily consider the effectiveness of the fertilizer he’s using in his herb garden.
He’s boring is what I’m getting at. So enjoy voting for Obama or ...against Obama. Maybe if Mitt got Sarah Palin as a running mate I’d be more interested. Or a velociraptor with machine guns taped to its head. Just to provide a little contrast to ol’ Mitt-eroo. Either choice would be equally exciting. And likely equally effective.
And now to cover a ton of stories that didn’t make this newsletter in a single sentence each: Apple’s stock price has taken an absolute pounding over the last week, so maybe someone should ask Siri what to do about it. I tip my hat to everyone who participated in the Boston marathon because now they know what cremation feels like. Our Secret Service enjoyed a not-so-secret romp with some Colombian whores because, let’s face it, Colombian whores are awesome romping buddies. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un claimed the title of “Worst Attempt at a Missile Launch Ever” when a paper airplane flew further than his country’s mighty war technology.
I miss Kim Jong Il already.
