Home Price Continues The Decline
Today S&P released the Q2 figures for its S&P/Case-Shiller® Home Price Indices. Not entirely surprisingly, the numbers are suggesting that the average price for single-family house in the top 20 metro areas is down 3.2% from a year ago.
Out of the 20 metro areas tracked by the index, 14 reported a year-over-year decline and Detriot is leading the board with a tumble of 11%. Some other cities, however, are still maintaining single-digit appreciations, including 7.9% in Seattle and 6.9% in Charlotte.
Here are the individual readings and year-over-year changes of each of the 20 areas:
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The Second Great Depression or a Blip on the Radar?
The Easiest $1,100 From 10 Minutes of Work
What's the quickest money you've made? For me, the $1,110 Citibank posted to my credit card account last week should qualify.
Back in March, I shared in this blog that Citibank was inviting me to pay down my $40,000-strong credit card balance from multiple 0% APR balance transfer offers. Citi promised a cash reward of 10% of extra payments I would make that exceeds minimal payments, up to $550 per card. The program, called Payment Partner, is designed to encourage people with spotty credit to pay down the debt to avoid future loss on Citi's part, and for some reasons, I was classified as a credit risk.
I guess it is God's blessing that I opened Citi's letter the day the offer was going to expire -- due to my overseas assignment, I only have access to my mailbox every time I travel to Seattle. You know the rest from this blog: I called to sign up for the offer, made the extra payments, and several months later, I'm $1,100 richer, all for only 10 minutes of work!
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Money Magazine: The Best Places To Live 2007
It has been 20 years since the magazine started the first annual tally of Best Places to Live in this country. Today, Money Magazine just published its 2007 list. Here are the top three, and you can find the complete list of Top 100 towns at here:
1. Middleton, Wis.
Population: 17,400
Median home price (2006): $290,269
Average property taxes (2005): $5,067
Pros: Small-town charm; booming economy; extensive parks and bike trails
Cons: Do you like winter?
2. Hanover, N.H.
Population: 8,500
Median home price (2006): $428,329*
Average property taxes (N/A): N/A
Pros: Rich cultural and community opportunities; diversity
Cons: Winter isn't for wimps.
3. Louisville, Colo.
Population: 19,400
Median home price (2006): $322,812
Average property taxes (2006): $1,986
Pros: Historic downtown; hiking and skiing
Cons: Tech-heavy economy
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Stock Portfolio: Buffett’s and Mine
Today WSJ dubbed Warren Buffett as "one of the last buyers standing." The famous Oracle of Omaha's holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, just released its stockholdings as of June 30, 2007. According to StreetInsider.com, the legend investor opened two new positions, raised stakes on 8, and sold on 7.
New Stakes:READ FULL POST ...Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) 8,700,000 shares
Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) 2,781,800 sharesRaised Stakes:
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI)
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ)
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) from 4,000,000 shares to 8,000,000 shares
Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG)
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY)
US Bancorp (NYSE: USB)
WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) from 979,700 shares to 4,200,000 shares
Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC)Lowered Stakes:
Ameriprise Financial (NYSE: AMP)
Block H & R (NYSE: HRB) from 1,246,800 shares to 0
Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE: NSC) from 6,362,800 shares to 0
Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) from 1,483,400 shares to 0
Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC) from 10,000,000 shares to 6,310,200
Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) from 10,513,100 shares to 0
Western Union Co. (NYSE: WU) from 9,868,000 shares to 3,200,000 shares
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10 Dream Credit Cards
When Price Increase Is Not Price Increase
Earlier this week, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) published its quarterly survey of the national's real estate market. It is not surprising that the existing home sales declined more then 10 percent over last year, but what really makes the news is in almost two thirds of the metropolitan areas, median price of single-family home has year-over-year appreciation.
From the NAR news release:
Home price trends are improving in metropolitan areas but existing-home sales during the second quarter were below a year ago in most states, according to the latest quarterly survey by the National Association of Realtors.
In the second quarter, 97 out of 149 metropolitan statistical areas 1 show year-over-year increases in median existing single-family home prices, including nine areas with double-digit annual gains; 50 had price declines; and two were unchanged. In the first quarter of 2007, revised data shows 83 areas had annual price increases, while in the fourth quarter of 2006 only 68 areas were up.Total state existing-home sales, including single-family and condo, were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.91 million units in the second quarter, down 10.8 percent from a 6.63 million-unit pace in the second quarter of 2006. Six states showed increases in the sales pace from a year ago; one was unchanged and complete data for two states were not available.
How can this happen?
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Why You Shouldn’t Leave The Market Now
Last week I shared some frustration seeing the sharp decline of portfolio value. One commentator asked a good question: "... how would you really feel if you lose 10%, 20% or even 30% in the market in a span of months? How about 50%?"
Fair question. In the midst of this market turmoil, we all should have the same gut check. Will you be comfortable with another wave of sudden and significant deterioraton of personal wealth? Or should you leave the market for the peace of mind?
To this end, BusinessWeek's recent interview with John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group, offers some real insight. Here are some quotes:
On Why One Shouldn't Leave the Market Now
Even if I was pretty confident that the decline will continue—and I think it's more likely than not—you've not only got to get out right, you've also got to get in right. You must be right twice. So if you get out now, and the market goes way down another 15 or 20%, which is quite possible, they will be so scared they won't get in. So I'm a stay-the-course person.
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Is Your Money Market Fund Really Safe?
We always think money market funds are as good as cash, with the added benefit of more yield. Is that true?
New York Times named four money maket funds that own commercial paper (short-term IOUs) issued by companies facing potential S&P downgrade.
• Evergreen Institutional Money Market Fund ($16.6 billion)
• Evergreen Prime Cash Management Money Market Fund ($4.5 billion)
• Legg Mason Inc.'s Master Portfolio Trust Liquid Reserves Portfolio. ($52.5 billion)
• Columbia Funds Series Trust Cash Reserves ($62 billion)
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Buying On The Dip (And Mid-Month Report)
After quite some gut check, I made a stock purchase in early Thursday:
Stock: American Express Company (AXP)
Price: $56.66
Quantity: 150 shares
Commission: $8 (via Fidelity)
I was quite fortunate that I bought those shares near the intra-day low, and Fed acted decisively on the next day to cut the rate of the discount window by 0.50% and improve liquidity and confidence of the overall market. At the weekly close price of $58.89, I'm already 3.8% ahead in my AXP holding in less than two days.
Of course I'm not a trader so I will likely keep AXP in my stable for quite some time. Seriously though, American Express is a great company that is apparently ahead in the game, and the price of 17 times trailing earnings is very reasonable compared to that of Mastercard or Discover network.
So this brings us to the mid-month tally of portfolio performance:
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