Free Republic

Fort Myers sees wrath of Hurricane Ian

RUTH UNDERWOOD: A MOTHER OF INVENTION An integral part of Frank Zappa’s band the Mothers of Invention, Ruth Underwood stayed mostly in the background on stage and in the studio, filling the sound with her indispensable contributions on marimba, harp, xylophone, vibraphone and drums. Her reputation, as a multi-instrumentalist and composer, has only grown since the Mothers disbanded in the ‘70s. Ingrid Jensen, after taking a look at the musical legacy of Ruth Underwood, declares her ‘the undisputed queen of rock ‘n’ roll percussion’. It was 1967 when Ruth Komanoff first saw Frank Zappa perform in New York City, where...

New details emerged Wednesday about how a mole for the government of communist China managed to stay by Senator Dianne Feinstein’s side for nearly 20 years. It happened five years ago, but additional information is just surfacing about how the Bay Area senator’s office was infiltrated by a Chinese spy. The Bay Area is a hotbed for Russian and Chinese espionage. Late last year, the feds shut down the Russian consulate in San Francisco. You may remember the thick black smoke that billowing from building before Russian diplomats turned it over to authorities, presumably produced by burning

Jean Duley testified that she was "scared to death" of Bruce Ivins after he left her a string of harassing phone messages, according to an audio recording taken during a July 24 peace order hearing. Duley, 45, told Judge Milnor Roberts that Ivins planned to "go out in a blaze of glory," had bought a bulletproof vest and a gun and planned to kill his co-workers. The audio recording was obtained by The Frederick News-Post on Monday. Duley told the court she got to know Ivins while running group and individual counseling sessions at the Comprehensive Counseling Associates in Frederick...

Faced with the threat that Asian carp could enter the Great Lakes, Michigan is turning to the public for new ideas and plans to offer a prize to whoever comes up with a way to stop the voracious fish. Michigan's global search challenge comes after the U.S. government and others have spent hundreds of millions searching for a solution to stop the carp from entering the world's largest freshwater system. If they aren't stopped, officials fear the aggressive fish will crowd out prize native fish and hamper recreational boating in large sections of the lakes, which stretch from Minnesota, Wisconsin...

In the previously unseen footage, Kim Philby gives a seminar to East German spies A previously unseen video of one of Britain's most infamous spies describing his career as a Soviet agent has been uncovered by the BBC. The tape is of Kim Philby giving a secret lecture to the Stasi, the East German Intelligence Service, in 1981. It is the first time the ex-MI6 officer can be seen talking about his life as a spy from his recruitment to his escape. He describes his career rising up the ranks of MI6 whilst providing its secrets to the Soviet Union's...

Lender Processing Services (LPS) released its latest LPS Home Price Index (HPI) report, based on September 2013 residential real estate transactions.According to the report, U.S. Home Prices rose 0.2% in September, up 9.0% Year-Over-Year (YoY). LPS HPI – September 2013 The big winners? Nevada, Georgia and South Carolina. The big losers? NE “blue states”: Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. lpshpisept13 On a metro level, Myrtle Beach SC, Charleston SC, Atlanta GA, Miami and Naples FL were the big winners. The big losers? Most of Connecticut and Springfield MA. bigmetro Hey, at least bankrupt Modesto CA is making a comeback! So...

According to Zillow, the U.S. negative equity rate fell at the fastest pace ever in Q3 2013. That is good news … if you own a mortgage or a home. But not great news if you are one of America’s growing renters. Leading the recovery, due to house price recovery, is California. And second is Nebraska? In general, the West which was so hammered by the housing bubble burst is recovering nicely. zillownegeqmap11222013 Here is a map of counties regarding negative equity. Red is “bad”, blue is “good”. You can see that the West and select counties around the nation...

A bit of good news for the economy. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, mortgage applications rose from the previous week fr 5.53% while new home sales rose 421k in August. mbaststs0925134 The recent downward trend in the Bankrate 30 year fixed-rate mortgage has help lift sagging mortgage purchase applications by 6.65%. mbapurchbr092513 Mortgage refinancing rose 4.86% with the same decline in the 30 year fixed-rate. The refinance share of mortgage activity was unchanged at 61 percent of total applications from the previous week. The HARP share of refinance applications increased to 41 percent from 40 percent the week before,...

Put into place in 2009, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Home Affordable Relief Program (HARP) has been extended for two more years by the Obama Administration. The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) had the goal of helping 3 to 4 million borrowers avoid foreclosure. So far fewer than one million borrowers are in permanent modifications, and default rates on these modifications are high. As of March 31, 2013, the oldest HAMP permanent modifications, from the third and fourth quarter of 2009, are redefaulting at a rate of 46.1 percent and 39.1 percent. HAMP permanent modifications from 2010...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its January 2013 Refinance Report, which shows that refinance volume remained high through the first month of this year. There were nearly 470,000 refinances in January, with roughly 97,600 completed through the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP). This brings total HARP refinances to more than 2.2 million since the program’s inception in April 2009. • Borrowers in January with loan-to-value ratios greater than 105 percent accounted for 47 percent of the HARP refinance volume. • The number of completed HARP refinances for deeply underwater borrowers continued to represent a significant portion of...

There was an interesting article on Bloomberg and the Washington Post with the tantalizing title, “Why Obama’s plan failed to fix America’s housing crisis.” The article features Steven Nesmith (who wanted a bolder effort) and me (who said we shouldn’t have intervened at all). “They were well-intended, but they were not bold enough,” said Steven Nesmith, a former vice president at loan servicer Ocwen Financial Corp. who served as an assistant secretary in the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the administration of President George W. Bush. “They should have gone bigger and bolder with a robust plan to...

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is pleading with Europe to repeat the American banking experiment called TARP – Troubled Asset Relief Program. Europe already has programs in place such as LTRO. Geithner wants a huge infusion of cash into Euro banks (such as in faltering Spanish banks). Will it work? It will discourage further bank failures, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problem – government spent too much, borrowed too much and promised too many entitlements. Eurozone growth is feeble and simply giving banks more money may instill confidence in the banking system, but it does not necessarily help with more...

In a nutshell, the Obama Administration wants to expand the already existing the Home Affordable Modification Program (or HAMP) to forgive debt to those who are “underwater.” The Administration would require mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage insurance giants in the DC area, to forgive mortgage debt. Bear in mind that the housing and credit bubble were put into motion by President Clinton and HUD Secretaries Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo with their National Homeownership Strategy to encourage households to buy housing and accumulate debt. Here is the NHS document that was removed from HUD’s website: nhsdream1...

In a nutshell, the Obama Administration wants to expand the already existing the Home Affordable Modification Program (or HAMP) to forgive debt to those who are “underwater.” The Administration would require mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage insurance giants in the DC area, to forgive mortgage debt. Bear in mind that the housing and credit bubble were put into motion by President Clinton and HUD Secretaries Henry Cisneros and Andrew Cuomo with their National Homeownership Strategy to encourage households to buy housing and accumulate debt. Here is the NHS document that was removed from HUD’s website: nhsdream1...

Obama has less than one year to boost his ratings, and the latest housing bail-out plan is part of his campaign. But will it work in the long run? Let’s take a look. HARP 2.0 (Home Affordable Refinance Program) launched this week with the hopes of helping at least 1 million underwater borrowers refinance into today’s low rates, even if they owe much more on their home than it’s currently worth. While the rules are less stringent than the original not-so-effective HARP program, it still won’t save enough underwater homeowners from losing their homes. Why? 1). It only applies to...

President Obama’s message to spur the economy has changed from “pass this bill” to “we can’t wait.” And mortgage rates are the impatient administration’s first target. Rather than waiting for congressional action to improve the outlook for homeowners, the White House is making it easier to refinance loans backed by the Home Affordable Refinance Program. Though the executive branch can’t legally reach into the practices of private lenders, here is a look at a list of changes (and nudges) the administration plans to implement beginning on Nov. 15:

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama this week will announce a series of actions to help the economy that will not require congressional approval, including an initiative to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages, according to a White House official. The actions come as Obama is facing resistance from Republicans to a $447 billion jobs package he has urged Congress to pass. The first of the initiatives will be unveiled during Obama's three-day trip to western states beginning Monday. He will discuss the changes in mortgage rules at a stop in Nevada, which has one of the hardest-hit...

Today's adjustment to the government's HARP program to get anything with a pulse as close to the discount window as possible was not the only proposal to revive the moribund US housing market. According to a new proposal by HUD, beginning this month and continuing for a year, anyone with a just $100 will be allowed to buy a HUD-owned REO home. In essence: the new buyer is merely taking over the mortgage payments in a repeat of what happened in 1970s New York along the Central Park West corridor. Granted for now it is stricly limited to only... 28...

Las Vegas – Seeking to breathe new life into a sagging economy, President Obama will attempt an executive branch rescue of homeowners trying to refinance underwater mortgages, with a new initiative that lets people with little or no equity get a better interest rate at a reduced cost. The initiative, the first in a series of announcements expected this week by the president, applies to homeowners with federally guaranteed mortgages who are current on their payments. The revamped Home Affordable Refinance Program, which aims to avert foreclosures, is expected "to encourage new, lower-cost loans" to more homeowners who are paying...