Chip-maker Allvia buys Hillsboro plant

What does this article mean for residents of Hillsboro? It means that when companys move to Hillsboro, more jobs are created and with jobs, housing is needed. Read through this and tell me your thoughts.

Chip-maker Allvia buys Hillsboro plant
Portland Business Journal

Chip-maker Allvia Inc. has acquired the 178,000-square-foot Hillsboro manufacturing plant once operated by Etec Systems Inc.
The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said over the next few months it will acquire the equipment to start chip-production in the plant some time next year.
It did not say how many people it plans to employ.
Allvia now manufactures in Sunnyvale. It will keep both facilities operating with a plan to eventually move full volume production to the Hillsboro site.
The company announced in February that it secured $5 million from private investors to expand its manufacturing capacity, bringing the total investment in the company to $25 million. It used a portion of those funds to acquire the Hillsboro property.
Allvia has not disclosed details of the acquisition. But commercial real estate firm Colliers International announced last week that the facility — at 21515 NW Evergreen Parkway and marketed as the “E-Tech Building” — was sold for $5.25 million to Jacques Ventures LLC of San Mateo, Calif.
The site was the previous home of Etec Systems Inc., a division of Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip-maker Applied Materials Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT).
Applied Materials said in it’s 2008 annual report that it sold the Hillsboro building, 26 acres of Hillsboro land, and two Asian facilities, for $38 million in fiscal 2007.

Home sales rise 9.4 pct. in Sept., beat forecast

Home sales rise 9.4 pct. in Sept., beat forecast
September home sales up 9.4 percent, beating expectations as tax credit spurs sales
By Alan Zibel and Alex Veiga, AP Real Estate Writers
On 11:57 pm EDT, Friday October 23, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Racing to complete their purchases before a tax credit for first-time owners expires, homebuyers pushed sales up last month by the largest amount in more than 26 years.

AP - Chart shows the 10 best and worst housing market sales percent change for August 2009 from the previous ...

After jumping 9.4 percent in September, home resales are up nearly 24 percent from the bottom in January, the National Association of Realtors said Friday. But the housing market's momentum could easily peter out if Congress doesn't extend the credit of up to $8,000 for first-time buyers beyond its current Nov. 30 deadline.
John Kindschi, a 33-year-old aircraft mechanic who lives north of Seattle, didn't want to miss out. After a yearlong search, he and his family bought a three-bedroom house for $206,000, completing the purchase last week.
"It was getting down to crunch time," he said. "We had no idea if the credit was going to be extended."
Nationwide sales rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.57 million last month, from a downwardly revised pace of 5.1 million in August. It was the strongest month in two years and beat economists' forecast of 5.35 million, according to Thomson Reuters. Sales, however, are still down 23 percent from their peak four years ago.
In another positive sign, the inventory of unsold homes on the market fell almost 8 percent to 3.6 million. That's less than an eight-month supply at the current sales pace, and the lowest level since March 2007.
The competition for low-priced foreclosures has become fierce in places like Las Vegas and Southern California. Aldo Martin, 28 of Covina, Calif., had to put offers on 16 houses before having one accepted this week.
"We'd go look at eight houses and if we liked five of them, make offers," said Martin, a sales supervisor. "Your odds are better. We got aggressive."
Marty Rodriguez, owner of a Century 21 real estate brokerage east of Los Angeles, said half of her transactions last month were low-priced foreclosures and short sales, where the sales price is lower than the mortgage balance.
"You have so many buyers in that lower price range," she said. "Sometimes my agents are writing five offers for one buyer on different properties just trying to get one property -- and not getting accepted. It's a little crazy."
Still, economists caution that the pain from the worst housing bust since the Great Depression probably isn't over yet.
While home sales and housing construction have risen steadily after hitting bottom earlier this year, most economists believe that prices, which recently stabilized, will resume their descent. The median sales price last month was $174,900, down almost 9 percent from $191,200 a year earlier, and slightly lower than August's median of $177,300.
The main reasons prices are weak: Unemployment and foreclosures are still rising. With the current 9.8 percent jobless rate expected to rise as high as 10.5 percent next year, foreclosures will continue to set records.
Nationwide, more than 3 million households are either three months behind on their payments or in foreclosure, according to First American CoreLogic, a research firm.
Many delinquent borrowers are still being evaluated for help under the Obama administration's mortgage assistance plan. If they don't qualify, the odds are high they will lose their homes.
Fears about job losses are stifling some sales, said David Hudson, an agent with Exit Realty Platinum outside Atlanta.
"Buyers are still nervous," he said. "They're worried about buying a house, and then all of a sudden, I might not have a job."
A steady job as an operating room nurse is one reason Hope Carson, 41, is able to buy a home. She's planning to make an offer next week on a foreclosed property outside Atlanta and is hoping the deal will close in time for her to qualify for the tax credit.
After searching for about a month in a price range of about $140,000, she has narrowed her choices to two homes, both in foreclosure.
"Is there a little bit of guilt behind that? Absolutely," she said. "You know that somebody was forced to move out."
To entice more buyers like Carson, Senators Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., want to extend the tax credit through June 30, and expand it to include all home buyers, at an estimated cost of $16.7 billion.
Realtors and homebuilders are loudly in favor, arguing that the tax credit is crucial to get the housing market back on its feet.
"We are not there in terms of removing the consumer fear factor," said Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist.
However, some analysts say the tax credit may not be as critical to the housing market as real estate agents suggest. The Realtors association has "an incentive to talk up the effects of the credit as it is urging Congress to extend it, and it therefore may be exaggerating the credit's effects," wrote Nomura Securities economist Zach Pandl.
One potential roadblock to an extension also emerged this week.
There are concerns that some of the 1.5 million applications for the tax credit are fraudulent. The Treasury Department's inspector general for taxes questioned the legitimacy of some 100,000 claims for the credit, potentially including some illegal immigrants and 580 people under 18.
Alex Veiga reported from Los Angeles.

Fed survey: Housing, manufacturing drive recovery

Fed survey finds housing, manufacturing improvements drive early stages of recovery

In this June 17, 2009 file photo, James Sellers, left, vice president of AUS Manufacturing Co.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Improvements in housing and manufacturing are driving the early stages of the economic recovery, according to a Federal Reserve survey released Wednesday.

AP - FILE - In this June 17, 2009 file photo, James Sellers, left, vice president of AUS Manufacturing Co., ...
The Fed's latest snapshot of business conditions nationwide found "many sectors" of the economy either stabilized or logged modest improvements over the last six weeks. The pickups, though, often were from "depressed" levels of activity.
Still, the new report adds to evidence that a recovery has started from the worst recession since the 1930s. Only two of the Fed's 12 regions -- Atlanta and St. Louis -- reported weaker overall economic activity.
An $8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers boosted the housing sector. There's been concern among private economists and some lawmakers that recent gains in housing will fizzle out when the credit ends. It is slated to expire Nov. 30, although some in Congress are mulling an extension.
Meanwhile, factories increased production as businesses restocked depleted inventories. Part of that restocking was due to the now-defunct Cash for Clunkers rebate program, which caused a brief burst in car sales.
Both housing and manufacturing continued a "pattern of improvement that emerged over the summer," the Fed observed.
By contrast, the Fed said weakest link in the recovery was commercial real estate. Conditions were described as "either weak or deteriorating" across all 12 regions surveyed.
Consumer spending also remained weak, the Fed said.
Consumers, whose spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic activity, are expected to stay cautious given rising job losses, stagnant incomes and hard-to-get credit.
"Reports of gains in economic activity generally outnumber declines, but virtually every reference to improvement was qualified as either small or scattered," the Fed survey said.
For instance, Dallas cited slight improvements in residential real estate and at staffing firms. New York noted gains predominantly in manufacturing and retail. Philadelphia, Cleveland and San Francisco cited small pickups in manufacturing. Kansas City noted upticks at technology companies, while Richmond observed revenue gains at service companies.
The nation's unemployment rate climbed to a 26-year high of 9.8 percent in September, and is expected to top 10 percent this year. Economists predict it will rise as high as 10.5 percent by the middle of next year before slowly drifting down.
Districts reported "little or no increase to either price or wage pressures," but there were some references to downward pressures, according to the survey.
In a separate report, the Labor Department found that unemployment rose in 23 states last month. While layoffs have slowed, companies remain reluctant to hire. Forty-three states reported job losses in September; only seven gained jobs.
Many analysts believe the economy started to grow again in the third quarter at a pace of at least 3 percent, and is continuing to expand now. The government releases third-quarter results next week. If analysts are right, that would mark a turning point for the economy, which has contracted for a record four straight quarters.
The central bank's survey findings will figure into discussions when Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues meet Nov. 3-4. The Fed is expected to keep interest rates at record low at that time and probably into next year to help foster the recovery.
Inflation, meanwhile, was under wraps, the Fed report suggested. That gives the central bank leeway to keep rates low.
Competition, cautious consumers and expectations for a lethargic recovery mean companies won't be rushing to boost prices, the report said.
Known as the Beige Book, the survey does not include precise figures, but rather offers anecdotal snapshots of economic and financial activity nationwide.

By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
On 3:45 pm EDT, Wednesday October 21, 2009

Who Made Our Nice Home???

The other night I was getting ready to put my 3-year-old son to bed, and was telling my wife how much I appreciated her for making our home so nice. My son stopped what he was doing and replied, "No Dad, Arbor made our home nice!"

My wife and I had to laugh at our son's wit. For those of you who don't know I was an Arbor customer before I was an Arbor employee. As soon as our son started being interested in Bob the Builder, he began to ask us who built our house. With that, we told him the whole story about Arbor building our home from the dirt up...and not only building our home but our beautiful neighborhood as well. I guess that really stuck with him because (as hard as my wife works to make the inside of our home) Arbor will always get the credit for our house.

If you have ever worked with me (or come into look for a home in the future) you will notice my passion for my job and the company. Yes I love the job that I do, but part of the reason is that I believe in the product. I am not just a Realtor; I am a happy homeowner.

Stocks rise as earnings reports top expectations

Stocks climb as earnings jump past expectations; Eaton, Gannett gain after results top views

By Ieva M. Augstums and Tim Paradis, AP Business Writers
On 5:27 pm EDT, Monday October 19, 2009


NEW YORK (AP) -- Investors are seeing the kind of earnings numbers that make them feel confident about stocks.

AP - Specialist Glenn Carell, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, Oct. 19, 2009. ...
The stock market stepped to new highs for the year Monday after a handful of earnings reports bolstered hopes that the economy is coming back sooner than many analysts had thought.
That is helping some investors move past a bout of nerves about whether expectations for the economy are stretched too far. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 96 points, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose but ended just shy of 1,100, having topped that level during the day.
Industrial equipment maker Eaton Corp. said it was seeing improvement in key markets and raised its full-year profit forecast. Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. managed to post a profit despite a sharp fall in revenue.
The gains came ahead of quarterly earnings released after the closing bell from Apple Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. Both wound up beating forecasts.
Apple blew past expectations because of increased sales of the iPhone, while Texas Instruments' profit and sales came in above the improved forecast the chip maker issued just last month. Share of both tech companies gained in after-hours electronic trading.
The reports are adding to investors' expectations for the technology industry. Last week, Google Inc. and chipmaker Intel Corp. posted solid earnings. Many tech companies have strong balance sheets have large amounts of cash that have enabled them to weather the recession better than companies in other industries.
Caterpillar Inc., Coca-Cola Co. and DuPont are slated to report results before the opening bell Tuesday.
A drop in the dollar also helped push commodity prices higher, which in turn helped stocks of materials and energy companies.
Investors are relieved to see better results in a broad range of industries following some downbeat news last week from major banks, which reported rising loan delinquencies.
Burt White, chief investment officer at LPL Financial in Boston, noted that three of every four companies have topped analysts' expectations for earnings in the July-September quarter. While most have yet to report, the early results are a sign that companies are holding up better than many had predicted.
"The recovery is moving faster than analysts can sharpen their pencils and revise their estimates upward," he said.
The Dow rose 96.28, or 1 percent, to 10,092.19. The broader S&P 500 index rose 10.23, or 0.9 percent, to 1,097.91. For both indexes, it was the highest close since Oct. 3 last year.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 19.52, or 0.9 percent, to 2,176.32.
The day's advance came on the 22nd anniversary of the 1987 stock market crash known as "Black Monday," which saw the Dow plunge a record 22.6 percent on worries about interest rates and slowing economic growth.
Bond prices were mixed. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.38 percent from 3.42 percent late Friday.
Investors grew hopeful that Federal Reserve policymakers would be able to withdraw some of the money supporting the economy as conditions improved. That could help prevent inflation, which is a worry for investors because of the huge amounts of money the government has pumped into the financial system.
The New York Federal Reserve, which carries out the central bank's market operations, said it has been preparing plans for how it could begin weaning the economy from monetary stimulus.
The dollar mostly fell against other major currencies, while gold prices rose. The ICE Futures U.S. dollar index, which tracks the dollar against other major currencies, fell 0.3 percent. It is at its lowest level since August 2008.
Light, sweet crude rose $1.08 to settle at $79.61 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB index, a measure of commodities trading, jumped 1.3 percent to its highest level of the year.
Among companies posting earnings, Eaton rose $3.47, or 5.7 percent, to $63.89, while Gannett advanced $1.06, or 8.2 percent, to $14.06.
Apple rose $1.81, or 1 percent, to $189.86 in the regular session and rose 6.7 percent in electronic trading after its report. Texas Instruments rose 77 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $23.52 and added 2 percent in late trading.
Bob Jergovic, chief investment officer at CLS Investments in Omaha, Neb., said investors are now trying to determine whether a recovery in corporate profits will continue and, if so, whether that will help the overall economy if companies are more willing to hire and make investments.
"We're in that phase where the market has really got to sort it out," he said. "Can we make that handoff from a profit recovery to an economic recovery?"
More than two stocks rose for every one that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.1 billion shares compared with 1.4 billion Friday.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 6.16, or 1 percent, to 622.34.
Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.8 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 1.9 percent, and France's CAC-40 advanced 1.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 0.2 percent.

Dow closes above 10,000 for 1st time in a year

Back on September 28th, I had predicted that the Dow would jump to 10k. Well here it is. Now where do we go?

Dow closes above 10,000 for 1st time in a year
DJ comeback: Stock market's best-known barometer closes above 10,000 for 1st time in a year

By Tim Paradis, AP Business Writer
On 5:49 pm EDT, Wednesday October 14, 2009

The best-known barometer of the stock market entered five-figure territory again Wednesday, the most visible sign yet that investors believe the economy is clawing its way back from the worst downturn since the Depression.
The milestone caps a stunning 53 percent comeback for the Dow since early March, when stocks were at their lowest levels in more than a decade.
"It's almost like an announcement that the bear market is over," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. in Boston. "That is an eye-opener -- 'Hey, you know what, things must be getting better because the Dow is over 10,000.'"
Cheers went up briefly when the Dow eclipsed the milestone in the early afternoon, during a daylong rally driven by encouraging earnings reports from Intel Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The average closed at 10,015.86, up 144.80 points.
It was the first time the Dow had touched 10,000 since October 2008, that time on the way down.
"I think there were times when we were in the deep part of the trough there back in the springtime when it felt like we'd never get back to this level," said Bernie McSherry, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Cuttone & Co.
Ethan Harris, head of North America economics at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, described it as a "relief rally that the world is not coming to an end."
The mood was far from the euphoria of March 1999, when the Dow surpassed 10,000 for the first time. The Internet then was driving extraordinary gains in productivity, and serious people debated whether there was such a thing as a boom without end.
"If this is a bubble," The Wall Street Journal marveled on its front page, "it sure is hard to pop."
It did pop, of course. And then came the lost decade.
The Dow peaked at 14,164.53 in October 2007, then lost more than half its value after the financial meltdown last fall. At its low point, the average stood at 6,547.05. The breathtaking rally since then brings stocks to roughly break-even for the past 10 years.
On Wednesday, the Dow rose 144.80, or 1.5 percent, to 10,015.86, its biggest gain since Aug. 21 and highest close since Oct. 3 last year.
Broader indexes also climbed to 2009 highs. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 18.83, or 1.8 percent, to 1,092.02. The index, the basis of many mutual funds, is up 61.4 percent from a 12-year low in March.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 32.34, or 1.5 percent, to 2,172.23. It's up 71.2 percent since March.
So where does the market go from here?
Some market watchers see 10,000 as an illusion because there are still lingering threats to an economic recovery -- rising unemployment, weak consumer spending and a battered housing market.
The investors who have driven stocks higher since March are the pros: hedge funds and institutions whose furious selling hastened the collapse of the market in the first place.
And red flags are showing up in the technical charts that professional investors use as they make their trading decisions. The Dow sits about 18 percent above its average of the past 200 days.
"The market by all technical indicators is completely overbought, just like back in March it was completely oversold," said Rich Hughes, co-president of Portfolio Management Consultants in Los Angeles.
On the other hand, Wall Street analysts say 10,000 is more than just a number -- it can have legitimate psychological implications.
A recovering stock market soothes the psyche as people watch their portfolios and 401(k) retirement accounts being replenished. And if people start spending again, that may persuade more investors, including some reluctant pros, to go back into the market.
"Psychology plays a huge role in investing, so when you're trying to overcome the huge levels of panic and fear that we've seen over the last year, psychology shouldn't be discounted," said Carl Beck, a partner at Harris Financial Group.
Many investors, especially individuals, are afraid they'll put money into the market only to watch it disappear if stocks plunge again. It's happened before: In 1975, stocks rose 53 percent in less than four months after a recession. Then they lost 11 percent before climbing again in early 1976.
If stocks follow historical patterns, they could be nearing their peak. Assuming the recession technically ended this summer, as many economists believe, the Dow's surge since March puts it near where past rebounds have started to fade.
On top of that, there are still plenty of problems that could trip up the market. Companies posted better-than-expected earnings in the second quarter, but mostly because of cost-cutting, not the sales increases needed to keep growing.
Earnings reports from chip maker Intel Corp. and banker JPMorgan Chase & Co. gave the Dow its final push past 10,000.
JPMorgan, the first major bank to report third-quarter earnings, stoked the market's optimism as it easily beat Wall Street's expectations, reporting a profit of $3.59 billion for the July-September period. The stock, a Dow component, rose $1.50, or 3.3 percent, to $47.16.
Financial stocks have posted the biggest gains since the rally began, but they were also among the most decimated. JPMorgan is up 197 percent and Bank of America Corp. is up 492 percent.
Intel also beat analysts' estimates, reporting a smaller-than-expected drop in profits and sales after the market closed Tuesday. Intel rose 34 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $20.83.
Individual investors remain cautious. In August, well into the rally, they put $11 into bond funds for every dollar they put into stock funds, according to the Investment Company Institute, the mutual fund trade group.
But they appear to slowly be coming back to stocks. Retail brokerage TD Ameritrade reported an average of 431,000 trades a day in August, up from barely more than 300,000 when the market was sliding in January and February.
If the market can hold Wednesday's milestone, investors should grow even more confident.
"It wouldn't surprise me if it made Joe Main Street more comfortable," David Kelson, portfolio manager of Talon Asset Management in Chicago.
Bond prices fell as stocks soared. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.42 percent from 3.35 percent late Tuesday.
Oil jumped $1.03 to settle at $75.18 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 12.24, or 2 percent, to 623.94.

Intel profit falls but outlook upbeat, stock jumps

Intel profit falls but outlook upbeat, stock jumps
Intel profit falls 8 pct but chip maker offers better-than-expected guidance, shares leap

By Jordan Robertson, AP Technology Writer
On 5:26 pm EDT, Tuesday October 13, 2009


The world's No. 1 microprocessor maker said Tuesday that profit and sales both fell 8 percent in the July-September period, as the company was hurt by sluggish demand from businesses and lower prices for its chips. Intel has insisted things are improving, however, and offered better-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter, sending its shares up nearly 5 percent.
As the first major technology company to report third-quarter earnings, Intel's numbers will lend insight into the strength or weakness of PC makers' demand for new chips. What the figures don't show, though, is whether PC companies are stocking up on chips to replenish low supplies, or whether they expect especially brisk sales of computers to consumers and businesses. That will begin to play out in the coming weeks, as the holiday season gets under way with a new edition of Windows available Oct. 22.
Intel said after the market closed that its net income was $1.9 billion, or 33 cents per share. Analysts expected 28 cents per share, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters. Last year, Intel's profit was $2.0 billion, or 35 cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Sales were $9.4 billion, better than Wall Street's forecast of $9.0 billion.
Intel had bumped up Wall Street's expectations twice. The first time was in August, when it raised its guidance, and the second was last month, when its CEO, Paul Otellini, predicted that PC sales could defy predictions by growing in 2009, which would avert the first year-over-year sales decline since 2001.
Still, the company's latest numbers show the recession continues to take a toll, even as Intel gets more skillful at wringing more out of its business.
The company's gross profit margin was 57.6 percent of revenue. Its previous forecast was for 51 percent to 55 percent of revenue, and in the last quarter the figure was 50.8 percent of revenue.
Gross margin is especially important for a manufacturing-intensive company such as Intel because it measures how well a company is controlling its costs. Making computer chips can be prohibitively expensive.
For the fourth quarter, Intel forecast sales of $10.1 billion, plus or minus $400 million. Analysts expected $9.5 billion.
Intel shares jumped 96 cents, 4.7 percent, to $21.45 in extended trading. Before the earnings report the stock had closed at $20.49, up 9 cents on the day.

Survey of top economists find most believe recession is over

Survey of top economists find most believe recession is over

By Chris Isidore, CNNMoney.com senior writer
On 10:28 am EDT, Monday October 12, 2009

More than 80% of top economists believe that the recession that started almost two years ago is finally over. But most don't expect meaningful improvement in jobs, credit or housing for months to come.
That's according to a survey released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). The group asked 43 top economists last month if they believe the battered U.S. economy has pulled out of the worst U.S. downturn since World War II. Those surveyed include economists from leading Wall Street firms and major corporations, as well as from highly respected universities and research firms.
Thirty-five respondents, or 81%, believe the recovery has begun. Only four, or 9%, believe the economy is still in a recession. The other four say they're uncertain.
Economists in the survey forecast that the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3% in the three months that ended in September, though the official reading of gross domestic product won't be out for weeks.
And all of the economists surveyed expect the recovery to be slow and painful, leaving many people and businesses feeling the effects of the downturn for years to come.
The only organization that can officially declare the beginning or the end of a recession is the National Bureau of Economic Research. But that group doesn't make any sort of declaration until months after the fact, in order to take into account final readings of various economic measures such as employment, income and industrial production. For example, the NBER didn't declare that the recent recession had begun in December 2007 until a full year after the fact.
Lingering weakness
The NABE survey results echo comments made by many other prominent economists who have recently said they think the economy hit bottom at some point this summer.
Most notably, a recent statement from the Federal Reserve declared that economic readings "suggest economic activity has picked up following its severe downturn."
Still, the NABE survey found that economists are forecasting lingering weakness in the labor and housing markets, and that the tight credit markets will continue to be a drag on economic growth into next year.
Unemployment, which was at a 26-year high of 9.8% in September, is forecast to hit 10% during the last three months of this year, and stay there through the first quarter of 2010. By the end of next year, it's only expected to fall back down to 9.5%.
About 54% of those surveyed don't expect the economy to regain the jobs it lost during the recession until 2012, while another 38% expect that to take even longer. Just three of the economists that the NABE spoke to expect these jobs to come back in 2010 or 2011.
And many don't think the worst is over yet for housing either. About a third of economists believe that home prices won't bottom out until early 2010 or later, while a quarter of them believe the low will come in the fourth quarter.
Half of those surveyed expect the financial markets to continue to be a drag on the economy until next year, while 30% of them said that trend could continue into 2011.
The NABE last surveyed economists in May, and they were far less optimistic at the time. Only 18% of them thought the economy would recover in the last quarter of 2009, while 7% saw a turnaround sometime in 2010.

How Long Will Mortgage Rates Stay Low???

So as I sit here in jury duty, I began surfing the net (don't worry, the case hasn't started yet). I came across this article about interest rates. What it basically says is that you need to buy a home before the rates go up! Take a read.

Mortgage rates remain below 5 percent

Freddie Mac: Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages stay below 5 percent for 2nd-straight week

On 11:59 am EDT, Thursday October 8, 2009


McLEAN, Va. (AP) --The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.87 percent, down from 4.94 percent last week, Freddie Mac said. The last time rates for 30-year home loans were lower was the week ending May 21, when they averaged 4.82 percent.
This week's average rate for 30-year mortgages remained above the record low of 4.78 percent established in the spring. Last year at this time, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.94 percent.
Low rates make home buying or refinancing more attractive for consumers. Case in point: refinance applications climbed 18 percent from last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Wednesday.
By refinancing at current rates, borrowers could trim nearly $134 off their monthly mortgage payments on a $200,000, 30-year fixed-rate loan, Freddie Mac said.
"Such low rates are spurring mortgage demand," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac's chief economist.
Still, borrowers may want to consider the Federal Reserve's recent announcement that it is slowing down a program intended to lower mortgage rates and boost the housing market. Analysts say mortgage rates should remain low for now but could eventually move higher, and homeowners who want to refinance mortgages shouldn't drag their feet.
Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.
The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage fell to 4.33 percent from 4.36 percent last week, according to Freddie Mac. This week's rate on 15-year mortgages was the lowest since Freddie Mac started tracking it in 1991.
Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.35 percent, down from 4.42 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages rose to 4.53 percent from 4.49 percent last week.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 point for 30-year and 15-year mortgages, and 0.5 point for five-year and one-year home loans.

HGTV Visits Arbor Homes

HGTV came and visited Arbor Crossing. They were shooting My First Place. It is where first time home buyers search out 3-4 separate properties that they want to live in. It was exciting to be able to showcase this beautiful Arbor Neighborhood. Keep your eye out for Arbor Crossing on HGTV's My First Place.

Scramble for $8K

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Aspiring homebuyers rushed to take advantage of a tax credit for first-time owners that expires in November, driving up the number of signed sales contracts for the seventh straight month in August.

Construction spending also rose unexpectedly in August on the biggest jump in housing activity in nearly 16 years, another sign the real estate market is recovering from its four-year slump, data Thursday showed.
Sales and homebuilding are being fueled by a tax-credit of up to $8,000, low mortgage rates and cheap foreclosures. In some of the most hard-hit areas, like Phoenix and Las Vegas, there are bidding wars for deeply discounted properties. And in all but a few cities, home prices are slowly starting to rise, reversing their three-year descent.
To make sure first-time buyers can complete their purchases by the Nov. 30 deadline, real estate agents "have been pushing buyers to sign a contract at least a couple months in advance" according to Abiel Reinhart, an economist with JPMorgan Chase.
More than a dozen bills have been introduced in Congress to extend the credit, but it's unclear if lawmakers want to continue to subsidize the market.
The National Association of Realtors said Thursday its index of sales agreements rose 6.4 percent from July to 103.8, beating forecasts. It was the highest since March 2007 and 12 percent above a year ago. Economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected the index would rise to 98.6.
Typically there is a one- to two-month lag between a contract and a done deal, so the index is a barometer of future sales. However, new rules for home appraisals and rigid lending standards have scuttled many sales agreements recently. In addition, the index may also double-count some buyers who agree to purchase other homes after the first deal falls through.
These factors have made the index a less reliable gauge for completed sales. Despite a steady increase in the number of signed contracts this summer, for example, completed sales actually took an unexpected 2.7 percent dip in August.
"Perhaps the real question is how many transactions are being delayed in the pipeline, and how many are being canceled," Lawrence Yun, the Realtors' chief economist, said in a statement. "Without historic precedents, it's challenging to assess."
Pending sales were up 16 percent in the West and 8 percent in the Northeast. They were up 3 percent in the Midwest and nearly 1 percent in the South.
Home prices, meanwhile rose 1.2 percent from June to July, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 major cities. On a seasonally adjusted basis, prices rose in all but three metro areas, Las Vegas, Detroit, and Seattle.
Housing experts, however, remain divided on whether the price gains signal a definite bottom to the worst housing downturn in decades or just a brief respite from plummeting prices.