California to pay down principal on problem mortgages
Mortgage rates swoon to record lows Homes shrink as market sinks California to pay down principal on problem mortgages Website walks buyers through first home purchase Real estate Q&A: Could the housing bubble have been predicted? As tax credit expires, new home sales sink by almost 1/3 Treasury inspector: Fraudulent tax-credit claims hit $134 million Reality Show Bootcamp: Tips from a talent coach Fannie Mae is getting tough on home walkaways' New home sales sink by almost one-third Housing market retreats in May Struggling homeowners find help outside Obama program Denied for federal mortgage aid, homeowners seek alternatives Building managers bend over backward to please Fido Real estate Q&A: Financial regulations and the free market You say squatter, they say owner: Vacant homes targeted under archaic law Home construction sinks as tax credit ends Builders put brakes on new homes as tax credit expires The Kids Are All Right' has N.Y. roots, but heart is distinctly West Coast A 1905 landmark home carries surprising asking price, but new owners will have few options on interior SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Lots of people will want to get in on this one: California is going to use federal money to pay down the mortgages of struggling homeowners.
The California Housing Finance Agency announced Wednesday that it will spend $420 million to trim individual mortgages by up to $50,000. Lenders will be asked to match the amount, a deal that could make thousands of mortgages newly affordable.
The program, launching Nov. 1, will be run on a first-come, first-served basis, said Evan Gerberding, marketing manager for the agency's "Keep Your Home" initiative.
"Unfortunately, there will likely be more demand than funding," she said.
Specifics on the selection process are still in the works. But the state will exclusively fund applicants from low- to moderate-income households. In Sacramento, for example, that's expected to mean people earning less than $68,000 a year. Borrowers will have to be delinquent or in imminent danger of defaulting, but have adequate income to continue paying after getting the help.
Gerberding advised people to keep checking the Keep Your Home website for applicant criteria to be posted later. She said people struggling to make payments shouldn't wait for the program to start, but should contact lenders and loan counselors now.
Thousands of Californians who meet the income guidelines will want in, but one fact will block many.
"This is to help people with purchase loans," Gerberding said Wednesday.
That rules out borrowers whose troubles began with cash-out refinances when their homes were worth more than now. Gerberding said exceptions may be made for people who refinanced to get lower interest rates. The program also requires that homeowners live in the house they mortgaged.
For years, federal and state governments have rolled out programs to stimulate loan modifications, and most have proved disappointing. California's new program is one of the first large-scale attempts at wholesale "principal writedowns," where loans are shrunk to more closely match today's home values.
"We think it's encouraging that they took on principal reduction in the way that they did, devoting most of the resources to it," said Kevin Stein, associate director of the California Reinvestment Coalition.
The low-income advocacy group has campaigned for principal reductions since 2007.
"That's the real need in California, to address the negative equity of borrowers being underwater," Stein said.
The California Housing Finance Agency, the state's affordable housing bank, estimates it will help 40,000 or more households avoid foreclosure with principal writedowns and other plans unveiled Wednesday. In all, the agency received $700 million for the relief programs, part of a $1.5 billion federal initiative to curb foreclosures in the hardest-hit housing crash states.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged to work with the agency "to ensure that these programs are implemented in a way that assists the greatest number of Californians."
"We anticipate offering this over the next three years," Gerberding said.
The agency will also spend $129 million providing up to $15,000 to help people catch up with late payments.
An additional $64 million will provide the unemployed up to $1,500 a month to pay the mortgage for six months.
Finally, homeowners will receive up to $5,000 to move when they cannot afford the mortgage under any circumstances.
In all, the program will steer a maximum of $50,000 to qualifying households to avert foreclosures.
The agency manager said there is no geographical quota. But help will roll first to hardest-hit counties, including much of the Central Valley.
In Sacramento, Placer, Yolo and El Dorado counties, 12 percent of mortgages are seriously delinquent or in the foreclosure process. And nearly half the region's mortgaged households owe more than the house is worth, according to housing industry tracker CoreLogic.
"There are thousands who could benefit," said Pam Canada, executive director of Sacramento nonprofit loan counselor NeighborWorks Homeownership Center.
The California Housing Finance Agency hopes banks will match the $700 million.
"We're asking lenders to come to the table with us on this," Gerberding said. "We can't force them to do that. But many of them have indicated they are happy to do that," she said.
costs are estimated at about $52 million - 7.5 percent of the funding.
More information is available at the Keep Your Home website: http://www.keepyourhomecalifornia.com/
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/06/24/2041838/california-to-pay-down-principal.html#ixzz0rq7Dn1Yu
Thursday, June 24, 2010
struggling
I started the All You Grocery Challenge this week. I have to keep my spending to $100 a week or less on groceries, eat healthy foods, and be creative. The money part is easy, the other stuff a little more difficult. It was made more difficult today by me coming home to no dinner cooked by my husband, and me getting home at 8pm. Well what's a girl to do? Fortunately I found some leftovers in the back of the fridge from the healthy dinner I made a couple of nights ago. What a relief! The last thing I wanted to do was order chinese! I feel like I'm struggling and I thought this would be no big deal. Just goes to show that even though you are good with your grocery budget you can still have issues if you are unprepared. I can always pull stuff out of my stockpile and cook something, but not necessarily quickly. I am thinking I need to do some freezer meals so I don't have this problem in the future leading to expensive take-out.
Stop impulse buying
Use the HALT Method to Stop Impulse Buying
No matter how frugal we are, the urge to buy has the ability to creep up on any of us. Curbing this urge can be difficult, even to the most logical of people. It turns out, however, that logic may be precisely the thing that can save us. Giving in to your emotions, when they surround an object, can lead to a whole lot of unnecessary spending.
What is the HALT method?
HALT is an acronym for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired. These four things can be main contributing factors in your desire to make an impulse purchase. Here's how you can use HALT the next time you feel the urge creeping up.
If I feel the urge to buy something outside of my budget, the first thing I think is, "When was the last time I ate?" If you're hungry, eat something. If you're angry, let it out to a friend. If you're lonely, reconnect with your people. Make a call. Or walk to your neighbor's. Take a nap if you're tired. If you address basic needs first, you will be less apt to use your wallet.
So by slowing down and replenishing your actual desires, you may be able to reassess your actual need for those sexy sandals or a fancy coffee shop latte.
How do you curb the urge to splurge?
Check out Moolanomy's full article over at How to Stop Impulse Buying!
No matter how frugal we are, the urge to buy has the ability to creep up on any of us. Curbing this urge can be difficult, even to the most logical of people. It turns out, however, that logic may be precisely the thing that can save us. Giving in to your emotions, when they surround an object, can lead to a whole lot of unnecessary spending.
What is the HALT method?
HALT is an acronym for Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired. These four things can be main contributing factors in your desire to make an impulse purchase. Here's how you can use HALT the next time you feel the urge creeping up.
If I feel the urge to buy something outside of my budget, the first thing I think is, "When was the last time I ate?" If you're hungry, eat something. If you're angry, let it out to a friend. If you're lonely, reconnect with your people. Make a call. Or walk to your neighbor's. Take a nap if you're tired. If you address basic needs first, you will be less apt to use your wallet.
So by slowing down and replenishing your actual desires, you may be able to reassess your actual need for those sexy sandals or a fancy coffee shop latte.
How do you curb the urge to splurge?
Check out Moolanomy's full article over at How to Stop Impulse Buying!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Fathers Day Freebies
Take Dad to TCBY for his free dessert! TCBY is providing Dads with a free ice cream cup or ice cream cone again this year. This ice cream freebie is available at participating locations, so be sure to call ahead to ensure that your local TCBY is participating in this Father's Day promotion.
Ikea has free coffee and breakfast for Dads
Ikea has free coffee and breakfast for Dads
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Free Menu planners
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Totally Target and Jamba Juice
Found a awesome blog today that keeps track of the target deals. http://www.totallytarget.com/ definitely worth checking out.
Bought some stuff tonight at Target with coupons. Both the checker and the guy behind me wanted to figure out how to do the coupon deals. It's so funny that people are amazed. Coupons have been around forever. Didn't anyone ever watch their mother?
Here is the Target Deal:
Buy 1 scrubbing bubbles toilet gel, Get 1 scrubbing brush refill free. Have 2 of those coupons
Scrubbing Bubbles Power sprayer shower cleaner $5 off coupon and $5 Target gift card coupon
$1 off Scrubbing bubbles toilet gel
Toilet gel is 3.94 each and Shower cleaner is $6.99
Less $13.88 in coupons is comes to $8.87
Take another $5 off with the gift card which brings it down to $3.37
Send in $5 rebate and I come out with a profit of $2.37
End result 2 toilet gels, 2 max toilet refills, and 1 shower power sprayer. Free with profit of $2.37
Also tomorrow Jamba Juice will have select flavors for $1. Sounds good to me!
Bought some stuff tonight at Target with coupons. Both the checker and the guy behind me wanted to figure out how to do the coupon deals. It's so funny that people are amazed. Coupons have been around forever. Didn't anyone ever watch their mother?
Here is the Target Deal:
Buy 1 scrubbing bubbles toilet gel, Get 1 scrubbing brush refill free. Have 2 of those coupons
Scrubbing Bubbles Power sprayer shower cleaner $5 off coupon and $5 Target gift card coupon
$1 off Scrubbing bubbles toilet gel
Toilet gel is 3.94 each and Shower cleaner is $6.99
Less $13.88 in coupons is comes to $8.87
Take another $5 off with the gift card which brings it down to $3.37
Send in $5 rebate and I come out with a profit of $2.37
End result 2 toilet gels, 2 max toilet refills, and 1 shower power sprayer. Free with profit of $2.37
Also tomorrow Jamba Juice will have select flavors for $1. Sounds good to me!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
$2 tank tops
* This Saturday, June 12, Old Navy will sell ribbed tanks for $2 each. Limit 5 per customer.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Lowering the cost of chiildbirth
It is well known around the natural childbirth experts that out of hospital births whether in a birth center or at home cost a lot less with no compromise in safety. In fact the safest place to have a baby is at home, not in a hospital as popularly believed. Here is a great video on the savings that could be gained by removing low risk women from the hospital to have a baby. It's very compelling.
There are 4.3 million births a year in the U.S.
Average cost for home birth is about $2,400
Average cost of birth center births is $5,300
Average cost of hospital births is $8,500
About 1% of the population give birth at home
If 5% of the population gave birth at home the savings would be:
1.304 billion at home
If another 5% gave birth in a birth center the savings would be:
675 million at a birth center
When prenatal care is provided by Certified Professional midwives, the incidence of low birth weight babies(costing an additional $15,100) go from 2.4% to 1.1% which is a savings of 84 million dollars.
Certified Professional Midwives provide competion which helps drive the cost down to the consumer. The average savings of the competition should drive the cost down about 10% bringing a savings of 3.2 billion a year.
Cesareans add about $5,300 to the cost of a birth.
The national average is 31.8%
19% to low risk women in the hospital
3.7% of home births
4.4% of birth center births.
If there is an additional 5% of people giving birth at home and an additional 5% giving birth in birth centers the savings would be $341 million dollars annually.
If the cesarean rate were reduced to 15% which is the current World Health Organizations recommendation the savings would be $3.5 billion annually.
If all of the about recommendations are taking it will result in a cumulative savings of 9.104 billion annually.
Here is a link to the above info.
There are 4.3 million births a year in the U.S.
Average cost for home birth is about $2,400
Average cost of birth center births is $5,300
Average cost of hospital births is $8,500
About 1% of the population give birth at home
If 5% of the population gave birth at home the savings would be:
1.304 billion at home
If another 5% gave birth in a birth center the savings would be:
675 million at a birth center
When prenatal care is provided by Certified Professional midwives, the incidence of low birth weight babies(costing an additional $15,100) go from 2.4% to 1.1% which is a savings of 84 million dollars.
Certified Professional Midwives provide competion which helps drive the cost down to the consumer. The average savings of the competition should drive the cost down about 10% bringing a savings of 3.2 billion a year.
Cesareans add about $5,300 to the cost of a birth.
The national average is 31.8%
19% to low risk women in the hospital
3.7% of home births
4.4% of birth center births.
If there is an additional 5% of people giving birth at home and an additional 5% giving birth in birth centers the savings would be $341 million dollars annually.
If the cesarean rate were reduced to 15% which is the current World Health Organizations recommendation the savings would be $3.5 billion annually.
If all of the about recommendations are taking it will result in a cumulative savings of 9.104 billion annually.
Here is a link to the above info.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Great American Campout
Spend a Night Under the Stars
The Great American Backyard Campout, June 26, 2010
National Wildlife Federation's Great American Backyard Campout is the ideal solution for today’s indoor kids who only spend a fraction of their day outdoors. Plus it is time to recapture an essential part of childhood--outdoor play.
Join in the fun with families, friends and communities for the sixth annual Great American Backyard Campout on June 26. National Wildlife Federation encourages parents and kids alike to trade their website for a campsite and screen time for green time to experience a night under the stars with Mother Nature.
In the last two decades, childhood has literally moved indoors with kids spending almost eight hours per day in front of electronic media. Simply put, the nature of childhood has changed, and there isn’t much nature in it. Doesn't leave much time to catch a firefly, does it?
Studies show that outdoor time helps children grow lean and strong, enhances creativity and attention spans, decreases aggression, and boosts classroom performance. Bottom line--healthier, happier kids.
A signature fund-raising event for the National Wildlife Federation's Be Out There movement, the Great American Backyard Campout will let kids explore a whole other world right in their own backyard, at a neighborhood-hosted campout, or at large community campouts.
When camper's register on National Wildlife Federation’s website, they'll get helpful information to make their camping experience a memorable one. There are also easy-to-use campout recipes, nocturnal wildlife guides, campfire songs and games, nature activities and more.
Official Website:
http://www.backyardcampout.org/
The Great American Backyard Campout, June 26, 2010
National Wildlife Federation's Great American Backyard Campout is the ideal solution for today’s indoor kids who only spend a fraction of their day outdoors. Plus it is time to recapture an essential part of childhood--outdoor play.
Join in the fun with families, friends and communities for the sixth annual Great American Backyard Campout on June 26. National Wildlife Federation encourages parents and kids alike to trade their website for a campsite and screen time for green time to experience a night under the stars with Mother Nature.
In the last two decades, childhood has literally moved indoors with kids spending almost eight hours per day in front of electronic media. Simply put, the nature of childhood has changed, and there isn’t much nature in it. Doesn't leave much time to catch a firefly, does it?
Studies show that outdoor time helps children grow lean and strong, enhances creativity and attention spans, decreases aggression, and boosts classroom performance. Bottom line--healthier, happier kids.
A signature fund-raising event for the National Wildlife Federation's Be Out There movement, the Great American Backyard Campout will let kids explore a whole other world right in their own backyard, at a neighborhood-hosted campout, or at large community campouts.
When camper's register on National Wildlife Federation’s website, they'll get helpful information to make their camping experience a memorable one. There are also easy-to-use campout recipes, nocturnal wildlife guides, campfire songs and games, nature activities and more.
Official Website:
http://www.backyardcampout.org/
Friday, June 4, 2010
Winco Deals
Winco has some good deals right now. Here is what I got today.
Keebler Wheatables. 2.18 less 1.50 coupon = ,68 cents
Taco Bell refried beans .48 cents less .50/2 coupon = free
Bar S hotdogs .68 cents less 1.00/2 coupon = .36 cents for 2
Oscar Meyer Bologna 2/1.96 less 1.00/2 coupon = .96 cents
Betty Crocker frosting .98 cents less .50 cent coupon = .48 cents.
Trix ceral 1.78 less 1.00 coupon = .78 cents
Hummus 3.28 less B1G1F coupon = 1.64 each
Immitation Crab 1.58 less 1.00 coupon = .58 cents
Got the same checker too who just marvels at my coupons. I hope I'm inspiring her!
Keebler Wheatables. 2.18 less 1.50 coupon = ,68 cents
Taco Bell refried beans .48 cents less .50/2 coupon = free
Bar S hotdogs .68 cents less 1.00/2 coupon = .36 cents for 2
Oscar Meyer Bologna 2/1.96 less 1.00/2 coupon = .96 cents
Betty Crocker frosting .98 cents less .50 cent coupon = .48 cents.
Trix ceral 1.78 less 1.00 coupon = .78 cents
Hummus 3.28 less B1G1F coupon = 1.64 each
Immitation Crab 1.58 less 1.00 coupon = .58 cents
Got the same checker too who just marvels at my coupons. I hope I'm inspiring her!
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Free summer movies
We have planned a fun-filled summer of select movies for kids and parents. Regal has proudly offered this free summer fun since 1991. Oh, did we mention that it’s FREE!
Selected G or PG movies start at 10:00am every Tuesday and Wednesday during the festival. Tickets and seating are first-come, first-served and are limited to theatre capacity.
The Free Family Film Festival is safe, lots of fun and a great way for kids to spend a weekday morning in the summer. Tickets for our 2010 Free Family Film Festival are exclusively available at select theatres’ box office on the day of the show.
Edwards theater Riverpark
06/15/2010-06/17/2010 Charlotte's Web (G)
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (PG)
06/22/2010-06/24/2010 Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (G)
Astro Boy (PG)
06/29/2010-07/01/2010 Doogal (G)
Monsters Vs. Aliens (PG)
07/06/2010-07/08/2010 Tale of Despereaux (G)
Planet 51 (PG)
07/13/2010-07/15/2010 Wallace and Gromit (G)
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (PG)
07/20/2010-07/22/2010 Kit Kittredge: American Girl (G)
Aliens In The Attic (PG)
07/27/2010-07/29/2010 March Of The Penguins (G)
Where The Wild Things Are (PG)
08/03/2010-08/05/2010 ARCTIC TALE (G)
Kung Fu Panda (PG)
08/10/2010-08/12/2010 Clifford's Big Movie (G)
The Spy Next Door (PG)
Manchester
06/15/2010-06/17/2010 Charlotte's Web (G)
Paul Blart: Mall Cop (PG)
06/22/2010-06/24/2010 Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (G)
Astro Boy (PG)
06/29/2010-07/01/2010 Doogal (G)
Monsters Vs. Aliens (PG)
07/06/2010-07/08/2010 Tale of Despereaux (G)
Planet 51 (PG)
07/13/2010-07/15/2010 Wallace and Gromit (G)
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs (PG)
07/20/2010-07/22/2010 Kit Kittredge: American Girl (G)
Aliens In The Attic (PG)
07/27/2010-07/29/2010 March Of The Penguins (G)
Where The Wild Things Are (PG)
08/03/2010-08/05/2010 ARCTIC TALE (G)
Kung Fu Panda (PG)
08/10/2010-08/12/2010 Clifford's Big Movie (G)
The Spy Next Door (PG)
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