Friday, September 30, 2011

Reverse mortgage loophole scaring away lenders

Some surviving spouses choose to stay put without paying off loan

The example might come under the main category of "you can't have it both ways."

Probably the last straw for the reverse mortgage lenders that exited the market this year (the list includes Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Financial Freedom, Seattle Mortgage) was not only the "trailing spouse" controversy but also the fact AARP filed a case on the topic, a move that the industry considered a low blow.

Lenders once looked to AARP as a silent supporter of reverse mortgages, but the huge group formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons has run for cover at signs of negativity.

AARP refuses to jeopardize its reputation, or advertising base, with any product or service it deems controversial even though some products and services are useful and necessary. According to 2008 records, AARP pulled in $652 million in royalties on insurance products alone that it blessed with its stamp of approval.

The AARP case was against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regarding its policies for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), the country's most popular reverse mortgage program. In a capsule, the case involved a surviving spouse who wanted to stay in her house after her husband died. She had not been listed on the loan. The judge ruled in favor of the lender because under the loan contract, the loan became due if the property was not the principal residence of one surviving borrower.

A reverse mortgage historically has enabled senior homeowners to convert part of the equity in their homes into tax-free funds without having to sell the home, give up title, or take on a new monthly mortgage payment. Reverse mortgages are available to individuals 62 and up who own their home.

The maximum amount of funds received is based on age, current interest rates and a current home appraisal. Funds obtained from the reverse mortgage are considered tax-free.

Reverse mortgage funds can be distributed either in a lump sum, regular monthly payments, line of credit, or in a combination of those options. When the house is sold, or the last remaining borrower dies or moves out of the home, the loan amount plus the accrued interest is repaid. The borrower can't owe more than the value of the home.

Most of the trailing spouses who remained in the home after one spouse died were part of the reverse mortgage agreement when it was first signed. However, several were left out of the document, usually because they were too young to qualify or because including them would have meant a reduced amount.

Now, some of those trailing spouses who were never vested in the reverse mortgage want to stay in the home without paying off the underlying reverse mortgage.

You can't have it both ways. You are either in the deal or out of the deal, but you cannot reap the benefits if you were never in the game. AARP sided with the trailing spouse.

The ramifications of the case have already taken a toll. In addition, some seniors have not made property tax and insurance payments, triggering a reverse mortgage clause that states lenders may begin foreclosure proceedings if taxes and insurance are not kept current.

Earlier this year, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) issued new, relaxed guidelines for dealing with HECM borrowers who are behind on or stopped paying their property taxes and homeowners insurance.

However, these issues -- along with slumping houses prices -- have pushed lenders away from reverse mortgages. Those reverse mortgage lenders that remain say that the pool of potential candidates continues to grow.

"We view this as a time of great opportunity," said Peter Bell, president and CEO of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. "As a result of the recession, home equity has emerged as the primary source of wealth among America's seniors and needs to be considered an essential retirement planning tool. And as some companies exit the sector, it creates room for others to enter and grow."

FHA reverse mortgage lending remained steady at $1.4 billion during the month of June. However, servicers filed 5,650 claims on FHA-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages during the first three quarters of 2011, a 70 percent jump from the same period in 2010.

Tom Kelly's new e-book, "Bargains Beyond the Border: Get Past the Blood and Drugs: Mexico's Lower Cost of Living Can Avert a Tearful Retirement," is available online at Apple's iBookstore, Amazon.com, Sony's Reader Store, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Diesel eBook Store, and Google Editions.

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Walk Score offers tools for commuters

DAILY REAL ESTATE NEWS

September 30, 2011

Walk Score offers tools for commuters

Apartment Search sorts craigslist apartment listings by distance from work

By Inman News
Inman News™

Apartment hunters can now type in their work address at WalkScore.com and see apartment listings from craigslist.org sorted automatically by estimated commute time.

Walk Score Apartment Search also provides links to MyNewPlace and ForRent.com to search their national databases for rentals with easy commutes.

"Access to public transit and minimizing commute times are high-priority, quality of life issues for many renters," said Mark Moran, MyNewPlace senior vice president of marketing, in a blog post on WalkScore.com.

"We're very pleased to offer Walk Score users access to MyNewPlace's extensive inventory of apartments and rental homes in virtually every neighborhood throughout the U.S."

According to the National Association of REALTORS®, more than three quarters of those in the market for a home rate being within a 30-minute commute to work as important.

Walk Score offers neighborhood maps showcasing local attractions that can also calculate commute costs from a home to a workplace. Website operators can embed the maps on their sites.

Launched in 2007 by "civic software" developer Front Seat, Walk Score generates "walkability" scores for properties and neighborhoods based on the ability to access services and attractions on foot. The company provides more than 4 million "walkability" scores a day on more than 8,000 websites.

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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Toney Bennett Rules!

Week Ending Sept. 25, 2011. Albums: Three Records Fall

Posted Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:34am PDT by Paul Grein

in Chart Watch

Tony Bennett 's Duets II enters The Billboard 200 at #1. This enables the 85-year old pop legend to supplant Bob Dylan as the oldest artist ever to land a #1 album. Dylan was nearly 68 when he topped the chart in May 2009 with Together Through Life. The fact that Bennett is more than 17 years older than the previous record holder suggests that this record is likely to be his for keeps.

Bennett also tops Frank Sinatra as the oldest artist ever to land a top 10 album. Sinatra was 79 in December 1993 when he made his final appearance in the top 10 during his lifetime. Coincidentally, his album was also titled Duets II. Grammy winner Phil Ramone produced both albums.

Surprisingly, this is Bennett's first #1 album. Bennett first cracked what is now The Billboard 200 in February 1957 with his album Tony. This enables him to set yet another record, for the longest wait for a #1 album. His more than 54 year wait surpasses Neil Diamond's wait of nearly 42 years between his first chart album (The Feel Of Neil Diamond in October 1966) and his first #1 (Home Before Dark in May 2008.)

This is Bennett's fourth top 10 album. He hit #5 with back-to-back albums in the early 1960s, I Left My Heart In San Francisco and I Wanna Be Around. He reached #3, his previous best mark, in 2006 with Duets: An American Classic. Bennett is the first artist to send two Duets albums into the top five.

Shameless Plug: Bennett's album is the third Duets collection to reach #1, following Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company and Reba McEntire's Reba: Duets. On Friday, I'll have a Chart Watch Extra in which I look at all 21 Duets albums to make the top half of The Billboard 200 through the years. Where else will you find The Notorious B.I.G. and Anne Murray on the same list? Check it out on Thursday.

Duets II is almost certain to win a Grammy in February as Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. This will be Bennett's 11th victory in that category, which was introduced in 1991. His closest rival is Michael Buble, who has won three times in the category. Buble sings with Bennett on the new album, just as he did on Bennett's first Duets collection.

Buble and k.d lang are the only artists to appear as guests on both of these albums. Bennett and lang have a long history of collaborations. They teamed to sing "Moonglow" on Bennett's 1994 album MTV Unplugged and "Keep The Faith, Baby" on his 2001 album Playin' With My Friends: Bennett Sings The Blues. The two singers also collaborated on an entire album, A Wonderful World, in 2002.

"How Do You Keep The Music Playing" is the only song to appear on both of Bennett's Duets albums. He sang it with George Michael on the first album and sings it with Aretha Franklin on the second. (Franklin and Michael were, of course, duet partners on 1987's chart-topper "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)." Bennett originally wanted Franklin to join him on "Lost In The Stars" (from the 1949 musical of the same name), but she preferred "How Do You Keep..." Bennett knows enough not to argue with a diva.

Bennett teams with Faith Hill on the new album. He teamed with her husband, Tim McGraw, on the first Duets.

Harry Belafonte's Calypso was the #1 album the week Bennett first cracked the album chart. The album, which featured the hit "Banana Boat (Day-O)," was a sensation, logging 31 weeks at #1. But the calypso craze was short-lived. While Belafonte remains a widely-admired star, he hasn't had a top 10 album since 1962, and he hasn't appeared on The Billboard 200 at all since 1970. This goes to show how extraordinary it is that Bennett has been able to connect with several generations.

Duets II debuts at #5 in the U.K. It's Bennett's first top five album in that country. Bennett first cracked the U.K. album chart in 1965 with I Left My Heart In San Francisco.

We have a broad range of ages in this week's top 10, from 85-year old Tony Bennett to a pair of teen acts: the R&B group Mindless Behavior (whose members are in their early teens) and 19-year old Demi Lovato. And just outside the top 10 is 14-year old Cody Simpson.

Adele's 21 dips from #2 to #3 in its 31st week. It's the first album in Nielsen SoundScan history (which dates to 1991) to spend its first 31 weeks inside the top five. This breaks a record set by Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard soundtrack, which spent its first 30 weeks in the top five.

21 is virtually certain to become the year's #1 CD and the year's #1 digital album. Surprisingly, no album has ever topped both year-end tallies. I wrote all about it in a Chart Watch Extra. If you missed it, here's a link. (I just updated all the sales tallies, so they're current.)

Gavin DeGraw's fourth album, Sweeter, bows at #8. This puts DeGraw back in the top 10 after his last album, Free, peaked at #16 in 2009. Press reports about DeGraw's really bad night in New York City (he was mugged and then hit by a car) put a renewed focus on the singer. (Note to publicists and managers: I wouldn't recommend this as a buzz-building strategy.)

Pearl Jam's Pearl Jam Twenty soundtrack bows at #10. It's the first soundtrack to a theatrically-released movie to crack the top 10 since Country Strong in January. This is the band's 10th top 10 album. The title is of course a play on the title of Pearl Jam's 1991 album Ten, which is the best-selling album to emerge from the Seattle grunge scene of the early 1990s. Ten has sold 9,886,000 copies. The runner-up from the Seattle scene, Nirvana's Nevermind, has sold 8,848,000.

Cameron Crowe, who directed Pearl Jam Twenty, has long been a fan of the band. Crowe included two Pearl Jam songs, "Breath" and "State Of Love And Trust," on the soundtrack to his 1992 film Singles. That soundtrack reached #6 in October 1992.

Most of Crowe's films have spawned hit soundtracks, which isn't surprising given his background as a rock journalist (notably for Rolling Stone). Other Crowe films to spawn charted soundtracks are Fast Times At Ridgemont High (#54), Say Anything... (#62), Jerry Maguire (#49), Almost Famous (#43), Vanilla Sky (#109) and Elizabethtown (#68).

Crowe and Danny Bramson won a Grammy for the Almost Famous soundtrack, which memorably featured Elton John's "Tiny Dancer." The album was voted Best Compilation Soundtrack of 2000.

In addition to having a Duets album at #1 on The Billboard 200, a duet ("Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5 featuring Christina Aguilera) holds at #1 on Hot Digital Songs for a fifth week. Will it remain on top of the Hot 100 for a fourth week? Check back later today when we post Chart Watch: Songs.

Here's the low-down on this week's top 10 albums.

1. Tony Bennett, Duets II, 179,000. This new entry is the first #1 album of Bennett's career. It's his fourth top five album. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "The Lady Is A Tramp" (with Lady Gaga) debuts at #102. "Body And Soul" (with Amy Winehouse) drops from #57 to #139.

2. Lady Antebellum, Own The Night, 125,000. The former #1 album dips to #2 in its second week. It's #1 on Top Country Albums for the second week. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Just A Kiss" rebounds from #27 to #12. "We Owned The Night" jumps from #79 to #62.

3. Adele, 21, 117,000. The former #1 album dips from #2 to #3 in its 31st week. It has been in the top five the entire time. Five songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Someone Like You," which holds at #2.

4. Demi Lovato, Unbroken, 96,000. This new entry is Lovato's third album. All three have made the top five. The album sold 53,000 digital copies, which puts it at #1 on Top Digital Albums. Seven songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "Skyscraper," which rebounds from #42 to #31.

5. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter IV, 84,000. The former #1 album drops from #3 to #5 in its fourth week. Seven songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs, topped by "How To Love," which drops from #13 to #18.

6. NeedToBreathe, The Reckoning, 49,000. This new entry is the Christian rock group's first top 10 album. The Outsiders hit #20 in 2009. The group is opening for Taylor Swift on her current tour. "The Reckoning" enters Hot Digital Songs at #98.

7. Mindless Behavior, #1 Girl, 36,000. This new entry is the R&B teen quartet's debut album. "Mrs. Right" jumps from #154 to #125 on Hot Digital Songs.

8. Gavin DeGraw, Sweeter, 34,000. This new entry is DeGraw's second top 10 album. Gavin DeGraw hit #7 in 2008. "Not Over You" jumps from #52 to #39 on Hot Digital Songs.

9. Jay-Z/Kanye West, Watch The Throne, 31,000. The former #1 album holds at #9 in its seventh week. It has been in the top 10 the entire time. Two songs from the album are listed on Hot Digital Songs. "Otis" (featuring Otis Redding) drops from #33 to #49. "Ni**as In Paris" jumps from #54 to #50.

10. Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam Twenty, soundtrack, 27,000. This new entry is the band's 10th top 10 album. It's the week's #1 soundtrack. This marks the first time since April that the week's top soundtrack has been from a theatrical movie rather than a TV show.

The Beatles' 1 drops from #6 to #17. It's #1 on Top Catalog Albums for the third straight week (and the 12th week overall). Five other albums drop out of the top 10 this week. Brantley Gilbert's Halfway To Heaven drops from #4 to #16, Staind's Staind drops from #5 to #28, George Strait's Here For A Good Time drops from #7 to #11, Dream Theater's A Dramatic Turn Of Events dives from #8 to #57 and The Devil Wears Prada's Dead Throne plummets from #10 to #68.

Cody Simpson's Coast To Coast EP bows at #12. The Australian pop singer is 14, a year younger than Justin Bieber was when he released his career-launching EP My World...Thrice's Major/Minor bows at #18. It's the band's fourth top 20 album...Opeth's Heritage bows at #19. It's the band's first top 20 album. Watershed reached #23 in 2008...Tori Amos's Night Of Hunters bows at #24. Unless it kicks in, it will become Amos' first regular studio album to fall short of the top 10 since 1994, when Under The Pink peaked at #12. The album is a departure for Amos: It was recorded entirely with acoustic instruments.

Superheavy's Superheavy bows at #26. All five members of this high-powered quartet have cracked the top 10 on The Billboard 200. Mick Jagger has amassed 36 top 10 albums with the Rolling Stones (yet none on his own). Joss Stone has had three. Dave Stewart had two with Eurythmics. Damian Marley has had two. A.R. Rahman made it with the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. Given this fire-power, this week's tepid entry is surprising. Which suggests two things: 1) You just never know. 2) Don't hold your breath waiting for Superheavy II.

The Lion King (in 3-D) was #1 at the box-office for the second straight weekend. The soundtrack sold more than 2,000 copies, too few to make The Billboard 200. The Lion King soundtrack has sold 7,803,000 copies since its release in 1994. Only two soundtracks have sold more copies in the Nielsen SoundScan era: Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard (11,827,000) and Titanic (10,143,000).

Celtic Thunder's Storm debuts at #1 on Top Music Videos. It's the Celtic group's second #1 video of the year. Heritage debuted in the top spot in February.

Coming Attractions: Look for J. Cole's Cole World: The Sideline Story to debut at #1 next week with sales in the 225K range. Blink 182's Neighborhoods will probably debut at #2. Four other albums are looking at top 10 debuts: Wilco's The Whole Love, Chickenfoot's III, Switchfoot's Vice Verses and Mastodon's The Hunter. Also due: Machine Head's Unto The Locust and Gloria Estefan's Miss Little Havana. Two catalog titles, Nirvana's Nevermind and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon, will also chart high.

Tony Bennett Releases Amy Winehouse Duet as Charity Single

Week Ending Sept. 18, 2011. Songs: Tony Sets A Record

VIDEO: Watch Tony Bennett and Amy Winehouse Sing 'Body and Soul'

21 Highest Charting Duet Albums

Photo by Michael Buble & Tony Bennett by KMazur/WireImage

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Gutter and Downspout Repair - 9/30 Money Pit e-Newsletter

Home Remodeling Repair & Improve Ideas & Solutions Radio & Podcasts Contact Us Community

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The Welcome Mat
As you get started with fall home improvement projects, one task that should be high on your to-do list is gutter maintenance. A fully functioning gutter system is the first line of defense against a wet basement, and now is the perfect time to make sure your gutters and downspouts are in good repair before a deluge of autumn leaves clogs up the picture. We have all the info you need to get your gutters in ship shape. You can do-it-yourself, but you don't have to do it alone.
This Issue

How to Repair Gutters and Downspouts
Wet basements are a problem all across the United States, in every climate, and in every type of home. The secret to keeping your basement dry is keeping the moisture down along your home's foundation. You'll need to give your gutter system a good inspection to make sure water is flowing properly away from your Money Pit. Here's how to make any needed repairs to gutters and downspouts. read more

Save Water and Money with Each Flush
A standard toilet uses 40% of the water you use in your home... that's nearly HALF of your water use. Imagine how much water and money you could save by reducing the amount of water you use with each flush. You can easily save water in the bathroom with HydroRight's dual flush system. Invented by a plumber, the HydroRight system can turn your toilet into one that saves water with every flush. read more

Be Prepared for Power Outages with a Backup Generator
It's never a good idea to wait until the last minute to make plans for a power outage. Power outages are not just inconvenient; electric power is necessary to maintain temperatures that prevent mold growth, food spoilage and burst pipes. A home backup generator is a solid investment when you consider the significant property damage that an extended power outage can cause. read more

Ask Tom & Leslie: Medicine Cabinet Update
I would like to do a minor update to our bathroom. The medicine cabinet is still in excellent shape but has gold metal trim around the mirrored doors. I assume this is holding the mirror to the door. Can I paint this or replace this to match the brushed nickel fixtures I'd like to use? read more

ON THE AIR: How to Clean a Fireplace Screen
Learn a quick and easy way to keep your fireplace screen clean and safe. Tree placement can cut down on energy costs as well as add beauty to your lawn. Find out how to keep your generator in top shape so you won't be left in the dark. Plus get answers to your home improvement questions about eliminating water stains from a ceiling, wood stoves for heating, unequal water pressure, staining a deck, refinishing a countertop, trimming overgrown trees, stress cracks, and installing a sump pump. read more

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