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Saint Croix Falls, WI Real Estate News

By John M. Scott, Broker / Owner San Francisco Bay Area
(BRE # 01442690, Scott Keys Properties)
They Paved Paradise and put up a Parking Lot! I was inspired tonight by reading Roger Mucci's Blog post. Back in August 2000 I went back to visit Wisconsin for my 30th High School Reunion.  I hadn't been back to Grantsburg since my family moved away after my graduation in 1970. I had had enough of small town USA, and was ready for the adventure that lay ahead. You see, my Dad was a Preacher man. He always had 'the calling' to move every few years. The longest I ever lived anywhere growing up was 4 years, the average was 2, and the shortest was 1 year. My track coach in high school used to sing this song to me just to make fun: "The only one who could ever teach me was the son of a preacher man". If you're too young to remember it, just Google it or follow the YouTube link.   I went back...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
        May your stuffing be tastyMay your turkey plump,May your potatoes and gravy Have never a lump. May your yams be deliciousAnd your pies take the prize,And may your Thanksgiving dinnerStay off your thighs! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Thanks,Greg AdelmanMidwest Home Center LLC.715-483-0012612-735-4414 cell612-395-5444 fax www.midwesthomecenter.com         
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
Stocks are trading higher on news that Citigroup is set to receive a $306 Billion lifeline from the US Government, and an additional $20B in cash from the Treasury Department. In exchange, the Government will receive $27B of preferred shares, paying an 8% dividend. This is an enormous financial commitment by the US Government, but over time this deal could be a profitable one for taxpayers. Also helping Stocks move higher are talks of a larger than expected stimulus plan by the Obama administration, which could top $1 Trillion. Mortgage Bonds are trading near unchanged levels, and will likely take their direction from Stocks today. At 1pm ET, the Treasury Department will auction $36B of 2 Year Notes, and the additional Bond supply could weigh on Mortgage Bond prices later today. Existin...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
Over the years, MMG has continued to help the mortgage community discover and understand the disconnect between the 10-year Note and Mortgage Bonds. In recent times that disconnect has been very clear to anyone in our world - but in the past 24 hours, the disconnect has been dramatic. Since yesterday the 10-year Note has risen by 285bp, while Mortgage Bonds have risen 12bp!!! Do you think the media knows this? NO. Use this to inform your relationship partners and clients of what really drives fixed rate mortgages. So what happened? Yesterday the Fed Minutes from the October Fed Meeting were released. The Minutes expressed concern over the health of the economy and their future targets for employment and growth were lowered. But the big news was the "D" word. The Fed, after years of bein...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
Mortgage backed securities were off about 40 bps this morning, but are only off 9 bps currently.  I would continue to float and see if they continue to improve throughout the day.  Risks favor: Floating into Jobs Report Current Price of FNMA 6% Bond: $101.31, -34bp Mortgage Bonds are down sharply this morning after they have enjoyed a nice three-day 160bp rally higher. Prices are now resting just near important support at the 200-day Moving Average with the highly anticipated Jobs Report set for release tomorrow - read on for our Jobs Report Strategy. Initial Jobless Claims were 481,000, slightly worse than the 476,000 expected. The continuing claims jumped to 3.84 million, the worst in 25 years. A preliminary reading on 3rd Quarter Productivity, a measure of employee output per hour, r...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
Risks favor: Floating, with a finger on lock trigger Current Price of FNMA 6% Bond: $100.12, +19bp Mortgage Bonds are trading a bit higher, but already far off the best levels of the day. In a speech this morning, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey "The Dissenter" Lacker, said the US economy was definitely in a recession, but he believed it would be fairly moderate in size. "We are in a contraction. Up until the summer it was a fairly mild recession,". Mr. Lacker, is not a voting Fed member, but he will be back in the voting rotation in 2009. The ISM Index for October was reported at 38.9, which was much worse than expectations of 42. And even after the poor economic news, Mortgage Bonds failed to improve. Technically, Bond prices indicate indecision among Traders. The last five trading day...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
  Here is a new update for agents and customers:   -- Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM - News) today announced that it will reinstate a requirement for homeownership counseling and education for first-time homebuyers obtaining a MyCommunityMortgage® loan or a loan that relies on nontraditional credit to qualify. Effective January 1, 2009, the requirement is geared toward helping borrowers better assess their options and responsibilities both before and after they purchase a home.   In otherwards, agents, customers, originators all have to pay for the sins of others.  Sorry!   Thanks,Greg AdelmanMidwest Home Center LLC.715-483-0012612-735-4414 cell612-395-5444 fax www.midwesthomecenter.com 
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
To all:   I know it's scary out there, but just a note to wish all a Happy and safe Halloween! The markets are very volatile out there but with this uncertanty there is opportunity.  I have found that in times like this that it only makes us stronger for the next challange that may arrive.   Thanks,Greg AdelmanMidwest Home Center LLC.715-483-0012612-735-4414 cell612-395-5444 fax www.midwesthomecenter.com 
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
The first phase of the Troubled Asset Relief Program is being put in place.  The first $250 billion will be used to provide a voluntary capital purchase program to rebuild bank capital. Citibank, JP Morgan, Bank of America and Wells Fargo will all receive $25 billion. Second the treasury announced plans to guaranty commercial paper and inter-bank funding. Banks that participate will be charged 0.75% to protect their debt issuances.  (this means that the banks should start lending to one another again but the rates will be more expensive, which ultimately means loan rates will go up, but at least the markets will start lending again.) Third, deposit institutions can now offer full deposit insurance coverage on non-interest bearing deposit transaction accounts.  Regardless of the deposit ...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
Fall is hands down my favorite time of the year. It is sunny here in St Croix Falls, Wisconsin this afternoon. Crimson, rust, gold, bright yellow, evergreen all blend to create an incredible palate of color! The changing colors of the leaves is set off by the shadowy, dark grey stone and rock that line the St Croix River. The cold, clear water matches the sky's bright blue. I hope that you can take the time to thank God and appreciate the simple things that life has to offer. Big time problems and worries surround us all these days. But so do the promise of a better future and these beautiful colors of fall! For now, I am not going to worry about my MS. Or the stock market, or budgets, or meds. Today, at this moment, it is wonderful to be alive!   Thanks,Greg AdelmanMidwest Home Center...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
  The fourth in our series highlighting American Dream homes for under $500,000 takes us to sweet homesteads in the nation's heartland Writing about the Midwest of his boyhood in Life on the Mississippi, Mark Twain famously observed: "This region is new, so new that it may be said to be still in its babyhood... (O)ne may forecast what marvels it will do in the strength of its maturity."This week we offer some of the marvels the Midwest offers in its 21st century maturity -- affordable luxurious houses. In our Affordable Homes series so far, we've visited the Northeast, the Northwest, and the Southeast. The fourth leg in our search for affordable American Dreams under $500,000 takes us to the Great Middle, bounded by the Appalachians to the East and the Great Plains to the West. As you'l...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
With all of the dismal news put in the papers, finally, something that will help you and your customers out!  Here is a head lines for you I found: Mortgage-rate drop bright spot in Freddie/Fannie takeover If you closed on a house recently, prepare to kick yourself. One of the outcomes of the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the lowest mortgage rate in five months. That's right, mortgage rates have lowered, and are at the lowest rates in almost a half a year! Thanks,Greg AdelmanMidwest Home Center LLC.715-483-0012612-735-4414 cell612-395-5444 fax www.midwesthomecenter.com 
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Well its here, the Federal Government is finally taking out both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  While the national and world markets rose sharply over this news, the direct affect on real estate agents, brokers, investors and mortgage originators will have to be seen.   While bi-partisan support is noted on Capital Hill, the Republicans and Democrats both primarily use the two mortgage giants for different reasons.  For Republicans, the primary use is for capitalistic investment purposes and for Democrats, the primary use is for the housing availability for low to moderate income families.  Regard less of the exact outcome, there will be both pros and cons to this turbulent move.    I will continue to stay on top of it and will report our findings to keep you all abreast of what we feel w...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
6. "We're excited about your trip to Europe, too!" It's bad enough that the dollar is hovering near historical lows against most major currencies, but when you travel overseas, every transaction comes with big fees attached. Take out cash from an ATM in London, and you'll get hit with a foreign-transaction fee, plus a fee for using a competitor's ATM. All told, it can cost up to $7 just to withdraw $200. Everyone needs an emergency fundIt's a stash of cash, but how much do you need? And why should this take priority over other savings goals? Credit card purchases aren't much better. Visa and MasterCard charge 1% of the purchase price for converting currency. And the issuing banks may take another cut, which can bring the total to 3% of your purchase price, says CardRatings.com's Arnold....
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
 Do you assume that your bank serves your best interests? That a big bank's products are better? That your online account information is accurate? Don't believe any of it. 1. "Our branches are there to sell you, not serve you." In the late 1990s, bank branches were considered outmoded relics soon to be replaced by ATMs and Internet banking. But just the opposite happened. In 1998, there were 89,000 bank branches in the U.S., and by 2007, there were 97,000. Why? The industry realized that consumer banking is profitable and that despite the predictions of Silicon Valley wonks, the main criterion consumers use in choosing a bank is proximity, SNL Financial analyst Jennifer Payne says. But branches aren't just about convenience; they're a bank's primary sales floor. Brochures for services a...
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Here is a super article regarding home equity line of credits issued by lending institutions, specifically Savings and Loans.  These lending institutions are arbitrarily decreasing and some times closing home equity lines of credit for you and your customers!  Because of complaints, the OTS has issued a regulatory bulletin indicating when it is appropriate to do this.  Based on the guidelines that I read, a great many of the decreased or closed lines are being done so illegally.  If any of your clients have had this happen to them, please contact bank executive management to reverse their decision.   To have a bank illegally take away access to your customers money is a disgrace.  If a customer qualified for a home equity mortgage line of credit, paid for the refinance, and signed the l...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
The end of summer is coming, unfortunately, the leaves will be turning and high school football games will be being played.  Believe it or not, change is coming.  As far as we are all are concerned, we are all used to change, especially in our industry.  If fact with all of the changes that have happened in the real estate and finance arenas, we should be experts!  In fact we should almost be chameleon-like! Great financing options are still out there; however, it is more important that ever, to structure your customer's deals correctly from the beginning to make sure that they get through the ever tightening underwriting process.  We are still having good success in succeeding in this area, because we have always done it that way!!!  Is anyone sick of deals falling through because some...
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
We are getting a new model in.  We have surveyed real estate agents, clients, lookers and other dealers and have found that the customer is looking for a lower priced new home.  Since the foreclosed homes and lower end homes have been picked through, this offers a very good opportunity.  In addition we are having the home with all standard features, so people don't get excited about an option and realize there is an additional cost to it since it's an upgrade.  
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
We sold a new house for $73,000.  It is a three bedroom two bath house.  The market under $100,000 is very active now in our area.  There are many upper and mid scale foreclosure homes but the lower end has been picked through.  People are just now seeing that they can save time and money with modular homes. We live in a beautiful area but due to distance from a major city the growth has stopped. 
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By Greg Adelman
(Midwest Home Center)
So this Department of Water Resources representative stops at a TexasRanch and talks with an old rancher. He tells the rancher,"I need to inspect your ranch for your water allocation."The old rancher says, "Okay, but don't go in that field over there."The Water representative says, "Mister, I have the authority of theFederal Government with me.  See this card? This card means I am allowed to go WHEREVER I WISH on any agricultural land. No questions asked oranswered.    Have I made myself clear?    Do you understand?"The old rancher nods politely and goes about his chores.   Later, the old rancher hears loud screams and spies the Water RepRunning for his life and close behind is the rancher's bull. The bull isgaining with every step.The Rep is clearly terrified, so the old rancher immedi...
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