Stocks to Watch

Nearly 100 U.S. housing markets are now regarded as “improving,” with home prices and other indicators coming back from post-crash lows, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

That represents an increase of nearly one-third since last month, to a total of 98 communities, the NAHB announced today. New additions to the list include some of the nation’s worst-hit markets, Miami and Detroit among them.   “The number of improving housing markets has risen for six consecutive months, and 36 states now have at least one metropolitan area on the list,” said NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen. “This indicates that despite the many challenges that continue to drag on a housing recovery – including the tight lending environment for builders and buyers – improving conditions are slowly but surely spreading from one housing market to the next.” 

Employment, permits and home prices up

  To be regarded as improving, a local housing market must show heightened levels of employment, building permits and home prices over the past six months, as compared to post-crash lows. An additiona Full post…

federal aid to fill in the gaps,” Kelly said.

Even though it’s not politically popular, McCluskey said a good way to control rising tuition costs would be to cut federal aid to students, which would force colleges and universities to keep tuition low.

This isn’t the first time a politician has sought to control tuition costs. In 2003, Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon, R-Calif., proposed a plan to hold back aid to colleges and universities that raised tuition much faster than inflation. It met resistance from higher education and wasn’t passed.

It’s Friday the 13th, and I’ve been at the University of Miami School of Law’s Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning all week.  This morning there was some discussion on the future for estate planning attorneys.  While online documents may have some limited utility, some  feel that online software can take care of all their estate planning related legal needs.  I beg to differ.  Here are 13 reasons why a flesh and blood lawyer beats a computer program any day – a lawyer can:

1. Listen to your goals and desires and incorporate them into your plan.
2. Offer advice, not just words on paper.
3. Help with referrals to other trusted professionals.
4. Make sure that the documents are properly executed.
5. Make sure that any trusts are properly funded.
6. Make sure that beneficiary designations are properly completed.
7. Makes sure that accounts and real estate are  properly titled.
8. Help with managing assets of incapacitated family members.
9. Help with probate and trust administration.
10. Help with income, gift and estate tax matters.
11. Help ensure governmental benefits for disabled or incapacitated family members.
12. Serve as an advocate in dealing with financial institution and governmental bodies.
13. Care about you and your family!

Mortgage rates are starting out the New Year at or near their all-time lows, trending down slightly from the week before, according to rate survey figures released today by Freddie Mac.

Average interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 3.91 percent, matching their all-time low in the Freddie Mac survey, down from 3.95 percent last week. That’s close to a full percentage point lower than where they were last year at this time, when 30-year rates were averaging 4.77 percent, which seemed very low at the time.   Interest rates on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages and 5-year adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) also declined slightly from last week, hovering just above their all-time lows. Average rates on 15-year loans fell to 3.23 percent, down from 3.24 percent last week, while initial rates on 5-year ARMs dropped to 2.86 percent, down 2.88 percent last week.   Full post…

Remember the customer outrage over Bank of America’s plan to charge a monthly fee to have a debit card? That idea soon ended up on the scrap heap.

But many banks will be quietly increasing other fees in 2012, according to our partners at the consumer guide Angie’s List.

So don’t toss those letters from your bank that look like junk mail. It may be detailing a new fee.

Angie Hicks, founder of Angie’s List, said it’s important to review your bank statements or any literature you receive from your bank, so you can see notification ahead of time, and potentially change your habits or change your bank.”

New fees hitting bank customers

Angie says among the new bank charges to watch for:

    –New checking account fees.
    –Higher fees for using out of network ATM’s.
    –Costlier paper checks.
  

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More than 100 loan modification scams that targeted financially distressed homeowners through online advertisements have been shut down over the past week at the request of federal investigators.

The scams involved companies that the government says falsely promised to help homeowners obtain loan modifications through the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) in return for a fee charged up front.   The Office of the Special Investigator General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced that it has shut down 125 such operations that advertise through Google, Yahoo! and Bing. The HAMP loan modification program is part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). 

Used Web banners, online search advertising

   “Many homeowners who have fallen prey to these scams were enticed by Web banner ads and online search advertisements that promised, for a fee, to help lower mortgage payments,” said Christy Romero, Deputy Special Inspector General for SIGTARP. “SIGTAR Full post…