The news of Greece's debt crisis hit the financial markets hard last week. The Euro lost 16% of its value in just 4 months. There is great concern that Portugal, Spain and Italy will follow suit. Is the U.S. on the same path? Our leaders continue to spend hundreds of billions of dollars they don't have. Helicopter Ben is living up to his famous speech that money falling out of the sky would only help the economy. Easy for him - it simply comes out of a computer now. And the solution our leaders have found to pay off our debt is to devalue the dollar to devalue the debt. What about your dollars? Get them into something besides paper. Housing is and always has been one of the best hedges against inflation. How about a solid brick home near jobs in the strongest economy in the U.S.?
Here's to Protecting Your Wealth.
FINANCING
The number of markets on most lender's declining markets list is declining! We area getting closer to recovery in many U.S. markets, and some are well on their way back up. Dallas had a 5% increase in average home price this year from last! But remember: when an economy recovers, interest rates go up. The window of opportunity to buy cheap homes with cheap interest rates is closing. Our international friends cannot believe we can lock in such low interest rates for 30 years. They only have adjustables. Sometimes we just don't know how lucky we are.
THE MARKET
Good news from PMI's research and underwriting department. 356 of the United States' 384 MSA's (Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a declining Risk Score. In addition, the number of MSAs in the riskiest category (90 - 100) fell by 26.4% during the fourth quarter, while those in the least risky (0 - 10) shot up by 79%. And the number of MSA's that have better than even odds of higher housing prices in the next two years increased 26.5% to 186 from 147 in the prior quarter. Most MSA's in CA, FL, NV and AZ remain at highest risk for future declines in value, according to PMI. Cleveland and Memphis were listed as lowest risk of future declines. PMI is a mortgage insurance company based in Walnut Creek, CA.
Tags: Current Events, dollars decline, Financing, Inflation, Interest Rates, Market Indicators
