According to Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff, middle-class millionaires now account for 10% of the U.S. population. In doing research for their book The Middle-Class Millionaire, they studied almost 4,000 households to better understand attitudes, values and purchasing patterns.
Mortgage rates continued to move upwards during the
week ended February 28 according to the Primary Mortgage Market Survey
report released by Freddie Mac.
At least there will be some people who will not suffer unduly from the
subprime mortgage mess - even if they played a role in creating it.
The chief economists of the National Association of Realtors®
(NAR) on Thursday predicted that sales of
existing homes will probably remain flat through late spring and
then begin a gradual recovery during the second half of 2008.
The Federal Reserve on Thursday announced that, in 2007, American
ownership in their homes as measured by equity fell below 50 percent for
the first time since records were first kept in 1945.
Yet another program to help homeowners who are delinquent on their
mortgages was announced last week by Fannie Mae.
The Carlyle Fund announced this week that it had
failed to meet margins calls on its $21.7 billion portfolio.
First, The Wall Street Journal reported that
Countrywide Mortgage and Wells Fargo
and Company were under investigation by the Attorney General of Illinois
for having improperly steered minority borrowers into
high-cost or inappropriate loans.
Three executives from major mortgage industry companies were on the
hot seat Friday. The committee, headed by Rep. Henry Waxman, questioned
Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide Financial, Stanley
O’Neal, former chief executive of Merrill Lynch & Co., and
Charles Prince, former CEO of Citigroup, Inc.
The statistics are all over the place, but it is clear that not only
are mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures skyrocketing, but millions of
homeowners are “upside-down” in their mortgages.
Mortgage interest rates made substantial moves during
the week ended March 6 and 7, but according to surveys conducted by
Freddie Mac and by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) they made the
moves in opposite directions.
Ranger Rob posted a photo: A very horrible photo of our first cook-out in Baghdad. We ate very well that night! Training Ops Ranger Rob posted a photo: Prior to headed to the dreaded Baghdad, we spent several pleasurable month at Ft Dix, NJ […]