From CNBC:
Mortgage demand from homebuyers drops even as interest rates pull back to April lows
Mortgage rates last week dropped to the lowest level since April, but buyers are still struggling to afford today’s housing market. As a result, mortgage demand flattened at a weak pace. Total mortgage application volume inched up just 0.5% from one week earlier, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($766,550 or less) decreased to 7.08% from 7.18%, with points decreasing to 0.63 from 0.65 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment.
Applications to refinance a home loan, which are most sensitive to weekly rate changes, increased 5% for the week and were 7% higher than the same week one year ago.
“Treasury yields continued to move lower last week and mortgage rates declined for the second week in a row,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s vice president and deputy chief economist. “The decline in rates led to a small boost to refinance applications, including another strong week for VA refinances. However, the overall level of refinance activity remains low.”
Applications for a mortgage to purchase a home fell 2% for the week and were 14% lower than the year-earlier period. The drop was driven by a 9% decline in FHA applications. Those loans are favored by first-time or lower income buyers because they allow much smaller down payments than conventional loans.
“While the downward move in rates benefits prospective homebuyers, mortgage rates are still much higher than they were a year ago, while for-sale inventory remains tight,” Kan added.
Ha!
First!
It’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.
Praise the Lord for another wonderful day ahead of us.
Yes, your honor. Ninety seconds.
Then he quietly moaned Eeevannnka and ejaculated.
A “deal” allegedly offered by Donald Trump to big-oil executives as he sought $1bn in campaign donations could save the industry $110bn in tax breaks if he returns to the White House, an analysis suggests.
The fundraising dinner held last month at Mar-a-Lago with more than 20 executives, including from Chevron, Exxon and Occidental Petroleum, reportedly involved Trump asking for large campaign contributions and promising, if elected, to remove barriers to drilling, scrap a pause on gas exports, and reverse new rules aimed at cutting car pollution.
IT’S MORNING AGAIN IN AMERICA
UPDATED THU, MAY 16 20247:19 AM EDT
Stock futures edge higher after S&P 500 closes above 5,300 for the first time.
Record breaking stock market
401k all time high
No unemployment
Corporations exceeding earnings
Consumers spending
AI increasing productivity
Here comes the sun, dooo do doo doo doooo
LAx – tax breaks? That is business as usual in Washington.
Corporate PACs, corporate executives, and other corporate employees give tens of millions to congressmen every year while discussing these exact same tax breaks and loopholes. Both sides of the isle.
Take the money out of elections and it all goes away. They will never vote for it.
Here are some senible regulation.
Bar members of Congress from accepting contributions from the interests that they oversee in committee.
Ban lobbyists from fundraising for members of Congress.
Expand restrictions on the revolving door that allows members and staff to move from K Street to Capitol Hill.
Help members of Congress act independently of lobbyists by increasing their policymaking support.
Help members of Congress focus on their constituents by matching small donor contributions.
Never going to happen.
re: Here comes the sun
My lawn has never looked better.
Just wait until we get zero rain in August with 16 consecutive 100 degree days.
My lawn has never looked taller. A lot of clover grew in this year so I need to let the grass grow taller to choke some out. I’ll mow it higher too. But yes, all that winter rain combined with a rainy May should make it easy to maintain through at least the start of the summer. I’ve been waiting desperately to stain my deck with a second coat, but I can’t find a sure 24-hour rain-free block of time to do it. All of my deck furniture is out on the lawn and my weeping Willow is beginning to engulf all of it.
re: 100 Degree days..
On millionaires row down here the ones that are real ballers have inground sprinkler systems. I will however only run mine every other day when it gets hot. The bill for the extra 20,000 gallons a month stings so I try and keep it down. My system has an iPhone App which I can adjust easily too.
I put down the pre-emergent, weed killer and lawn fertilizer down early and now I fertilize again at the end of June. There is also some moss treatment I need to put down as well.
Still have not opened my pool as some have around here. I will begin the work on my backyard Oasis probably between soccer games this weekend.
Anyone who claims Trex and Azek is maintenance free never lived through a rainy spring in Jersey.
I’ll be power washing for a whole weekend. Not to mention I’m going to have to paint the PVC fascia now too. Guess it’s better than wood, I don’t need to stain.
Really need someone to come out and aerate the lawn.
Aerate and overseed. Best done in the late summer or fall.
I put down 100 lbs of new seed last year…one of the reasons the lawn is now looking great.
It’s easy to do ..the Classen over-seeder digs the holes and drops the seeds. Rent one for 1/2 day and stop by Tractor supply and pick up a 50 lb bag of uncoated seed. Uncoated means you get twice as much. Coated is for very dry areas.
.https://www.homedepot.com/p/rental/Classen-Overseeder-TS-20HD/316821697
Landscaper and Lawn Doctor take care of it for me.
I don’t do windows or farming.
grim says:
May 16, 2024 at 9:18 am
Really need someone to come out and aerate the lawn.
re: “I’ll be power washing for a whole weekend”
Me as well, need to clean my patio pavers and re-sand again…
I use the surface cleaner with spinning wands. It makes quick work of it. Will clean a large area very quickly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYGxZgvhbiI
I had the powerwasher out yesterday as all this moisture was turning the whit stucco exterior of my detached garage into a green algae coated mess. Did the garage door and a quick spray only soap and rinse of the new car. It’s got that great shiny dirty look now. No matter how those spray car washes are advertised. If you don’t use a sponge or dry off the droplets afterwards, the results are still going to suck. On the bright side, it took five minutes and my shoes and socks stayed dry.
As for synthetic vs wood decks. My deck is now 11 years old. It probably cost somewhere between 1/3rd and 1/4 of what it would have cost to do it in synthetic. I sanded the deck once, and this is the second time I am staining it. So all in, it probably cost me about 20 hours of maintenance and about $200 in stain. Though, we did rebuild the stairs this year because the original was done very poorly and was too wobbly. We also removed and replaced three warped boards, which really took about ten minutes time. It looks as good as new. Though, if we didn’t maintain it, it would absolutely be falling apart by now.
It’s nothing personal, but I find both decks and fences made out of that synthetic stuff just looks so plastic-like. It also attracts dirt way more easily than wood. Everyone I know who put in one of those white plastic fence now has a green plastic fence, even after power washing. Not sure what the big deal is to repaint a wood fence or really anything that need painting or staining. That Wagner paint sprayer makes such quick and easy work of it.
https://www.amazon.com/Wagner-Spraytech-2419326-Handheld-Adjustable/dp/B0CK3HYF82
When I used to wash/wax my car weekly, I would wash, then drive around the block to get the air out of all the tiny openings. Then dry again. Not a single water spot. Eventually, I realized, if I never wash my car, I never get pulled over, so I stopped.
If you mix clover into your lawn, you never have to fertilize or aerate. It crowds out all the bad weeds as well.
Yeah, there’s just too much clover. This is what happens when you cut down on the fertilizer and weed killer. The clover is spreading like wildfire.
No royalties for his books. His debt is increasing and his cash is dropping while having a job. He’s just like gen z.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13426227/joe-biden-debts-book-sales-financial-records.html
NATO > Eminent Domain. Hehe.
The Serbian government has approved a contract with Jared Kushner on plans to build a luxury hotel on the site of the former defense ministry in Belgrade.
The complex was bombed in 1999 by NATO forces with the backing of the United States during the war Serbia was then waging with Kosovo. It is now considered a prime undeveloped real-estate site in the middle of a much-changed city, and Mr. Trump himself had considered building a hotel at the same site in 2013.
BREAKING NEWS!
UPDATED THU, MAY 16 202411:50 AM EDT
Dow rises above 40,000 for the first time as bull market gains steam: Live updates
The Dow was last up 127 points, or 0.3%. At its high of the day, the average touched 40,0051, the culmination of a bull market that began in October 2022.
October 22, 2020: In final presidential debate, Trump says if Biden is elected, the stock market will crash. (The Dow closes at 28,363.)
May 16, 2024: The stock market reaches a new record high as the Dow hits 40,000 for the first time ever.
Lib, I actually prefer the max clover. The grass is still alive within it.
ROFL – Lazy ass lying lawyers… Should be sent back to Jail for this..
“Michael Cohen now pressed about using AI to help his attorney draft a letter to get his supervised released ended early. Cohen admits his AI search turned up fake cases, which he then submitted to his attorney. The attorney cited those phony cases in the letter.”
FYI he has been suing the government for years to get off supervised release. All these new lies should be enough to send him back. He is not rehabilitated..
BRT,
Well if you need some more, feel free to pluck some of mine. I’m sure there’s a four-leafer in there somewhere.
Lib – Since you are cheap and won’t pay for the good stuff you could dry it out and smoke it.
VSG,
now all you need is for it to trickle down.
There’s actually a ton of 4 leafers in my lawn. Come to think of it, I’ve had water disasters every year leading into Memorial Day weekend. But yesterday, it was my neighbors water main that broke. Guess I am lucky.
Cohen admits his AI search turned up fake cases, which he then submitted to his attorney.
Fatal flaw in any AI is the data is relies on may be crap. Garbage in, garbage out. Reminds me of the machine the pharmacies have for dispensing popular meds. If the pharmacists loads it wrong, it leads to hundreds of errors instead of just one.
Brutal…
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/16/style/gina-rinehart-namatjira-portrait-australia-intl-scli/index.html
BRT – It’s a letter to the court. It’s bad faith and making false statements. There should be jail time for his attorney and him.
( )( )====D eeeeeevvvvvaaaannnka
LAX is showing his age again.
HMB,
I am in the entertainment IP royalty space. Book deals rarely recoup their initial advances, especially if the deal is with a celebrity type to pad the publisher’s roster. The advance recoups slowly over time, but the statements indicate zero royalteis due.
Lib, you’re a legend
Once ensconced in Vegas give me a buzz, we’ll catch a show.
Sure.
It’s not like I won’t still be around here.
1:44 when ur a Jet, ur a Jet!
Smoke em if you got em?
“Today my administration took a major step to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug,” Biden said in a video posted to social media. “It’s an important move towards reversing longstanding inequities.”
BTW this marijuana change now allows the pharmaceutical industry to enter the cannabis business. Supposedly it would also require a significant amount of mandatory federal oversight mostly from FDA and DEA including tracking of dispensary clients/patients by Pharmacists..
Lets see who benefits…..
For decades GOP weaponized the DOJ with cannabis laws against black peoples.
Juice Box says:
May 16, 2024 at 3:51 pm
BTW this marijuana change now allows the pharmaceutical industry to enter the cannabis business.
And none of them are getting out of Federal Jail early. Drug dealing is still a crime.
Boomer
That’s interesting. If the book sales don’t cover the advance, does the author have to pay it back?
Wonder what happened to the advance and why are they burning cash. They have less than 2.6 million in assets
And their cash on hand has dropped a lot and their debt has increased.
why are they burning cash?
Hunter Biden’s Sugar Daddy says he is tapped out. Who is paying now? He has two trials in two states.
Hiiiiigh everyone
Juice: I would have thought that at the Biden s age they would have been mortgage free years ago.
3b – He borrowed 50k from his 401 plan? WTF?
Juice: What for? It makes no sense.
3B – Lawyers he had to have hire them.
Juice: True. Still though I would have thought he would have a lot more money.
He had a lot of funerals to pay for. Plus those adult diapers are very expensive.