Hornung: Rising rates no reason to give up | Inside Real Estate News

Highlights:

• Lane Hornung addresses rising rates.
• Rates remain low by historical standards.
• Rates and home prices may rise even more.

Lane Hornung

In May, mortgage rates started to rise from their historical lows and now are hovering around 4.5 percent, more than a full percentage point higher than they were at the absolute bottom. However, they are still low by historical standards.

An analysis by InsideRealEstateNews of more than four decades of interest rate data, found the average 30-year, fixed-rate loan at the end June was 8.56 percent.

What do rising rates mean for today?s homebuyer? A look at options for a prospective homebuyer in today?s market is the subject of this month?s conversation between Lane Hornung, founder and President of 8z Real Estate, and John Rebchook, of InsideRealEstateNews.com.

John: Lane, what is house-hunting like today for someone who has been searching for a home for a few months, but still hasn?t landed one?

Lane: It could be a bit frustrating. Let?s say you were pre-qualified for a $300,000 home earlier this year and you started looking. You may have been out-bid and lost out on a listing or two that you really wanted. Now, your buying power has been eroded because of rising interest rates.

John: What does that mean for the consumer?

Lane: It?s a double whammy. Instead of a $300,000 home, you may now only qualify for a $270,000 home due the increase in rates. The second part of the double whammy is that homes prices have been rising. A home priced at $300,000 at the beginning of the year might now cost $315,000 or $330,000.

John: What are some of the options for this theoretical homebuyer?

Lane: One option, of course, is to take your ball and go home and get out of the market.

John: Is that a good idea?

Lane: Not necessarily, assuming you are buying for the right reasons. That is, you truly want or need a house and plan to stay in the house for a number of years. In some ways, throwing in the towel is an emotional decision borne out of missing the absolute bottom. It may not be the most rational decision, financially speaking, if you really want a home.

John: Can a prospective buyer count on a better time to buy in the future, with the idea that rising rates and more inventory will drive down prices?

Lane: It is very hard to time any market, whether it is the housing market or the stock market. Does the housing market care that you gave up? No, it does not.

John: Do you think we will ever see rates around 3.3 percent again?

Lane: If I were going to place a bet, I think it is more likely that rates will go higher, rather than fall back to their all-time lows. Also, keep in mind that a 4.5 percent rate, historically speaking, is a great rate.

Rising rates always knock some people out of the market and hurt affordability. On the other hand, rising rates can mean that the economy is getting better. If people have more money, and consumer confidence rises, that will increase the demand for housing.

John: So people can?t count on rates and or housing prices being lower a year from now?

Lane: Of course, nobody knows. Typically, real estate markets follow five-to-seven-year cycle and we are a couple of years into that cycle. That could mean that a year from now that $300,000 home is even more expensive than today, and interest rates are higher. If that is the case, you are only hurting yourself by waiting.

John: What are some of the options for someone who is prequalified for a $300,000 home?

Lane: One thing they could do is lower their expectations and buy a $270,000 home. Another option a good broker may suggest is a different neighborhood that is not quite as expensive as where they were previously looking,but close to those expectations.

John: How about an adjustable rate mortgage?

Lane: An ARM can be a very good choice, especially if you only plan to stay for 5 to 7 years. I?ve seen some very attractive ARMs recently. They are already starting to fill the void caused by rising fixed-rates.

John: Thanks, Lane.

8z Real Estate?is a sponsor of InsideRealEstateNews.com along with?Universal Lending?and?Land Title Guarantee, A monthly Q&A with Lane Hornung is a feature of IREN.?

Have a story idea or real estate tip? Contact John Rebchook at? JRCHOOK@gmail.com. To read more articles by John Rebchook, subscribe to the Colorado Real Estate Journal.

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Source: http://insiderealestatenews.com/2013/07/31/hornung-rates-remain-low/

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Loeb blasts Sony's 'bloated' entertainment division

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai has said the company's entertainment division is off limits.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Since May, the hedge fund investor has pressed Sony to spin off its entertainment division. The Japanese electronics giant has responded by indicating its movie and music business isn't going anywhere near an auction block at the moment.

Now, Loeb is increasing pressure on the company -- and he's not dancing around the key issues.

"Keeping entertainment underexposed, undervalued and underperforming is not a strategy for success," Loeb wrote in a July 29 letter to investors with his Third Point fund.

The letter says that profits from the division lag behind its competitors, a trend exacerbated by recent summer blockbuster films like After Earth and White House Down that "bombed spectacularly at the box office."

Loeb also issued a sharp critique of management in the entertainment division, saying the operation has a "famously bloated corporate structure, generous perk packages, high salaries for underperforming senior executives, and marketing budgets that do not seem to be in line with any sense of return on capital invested."

Sony won't realize its full potential unless it stops treating its entertainment division as a "red-headed stepchild," he said.

Related story: Nintendo's big problem

Third Point, as one of Sony's largest shareholders, has continued to raise its stake. In June, the fund boosted its holdings to about $1.4 billion.

Sony's earnings could benefit directly from a separation, as it "stands at the crossroads of compelling corporate opportunity and massive Japanese economic reform," Loeb wrote previously in a letter to the company. "Under Prime Minister Abe's leadership, Japan can regain its position as one of the world's preeminent economic powerhouses and manufacturing engines."

Related story: Why Dan Loeb loves Japan

Loeb has been vocal about his interest in Japan, telling investors that his firm is "extremely focused" on the country. At a hedge fund conference in May, Loeb said Japanese stocks were cheap despite recent strong gains.

Sony was noncommittal when asked for comment on Tuesday. The company said in a statement that it was "focused on creating shareholder value" while the board reviews Loeb's proposal, and "looks forward to a constructive dialogue with our shareholders."

Sony shares gained 3% in Tokyo trading and have surged 121% so far this year. The company will release its latest quarterly earnings report on Aug. 1.

-- CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki contributed reporting.

First Published: July 30, 2013: 4:52 AM ET

Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/money_technology/~3/nwiY-netBk4/index.html

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Arkansas water park closes after rare meningitis is confirmed

By Suzi Parker

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Reuters) - A popular Arkansas water park voluntarily closed after a 12-year-old girl who swam there was diagnosed with a rare case of parasitic meningitis, authorities said on Monday.

The Arkansas Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the case last week. The owners of Willow Springs Water Park, which has been operating for 85 years, closed the park on Friday.

The disease is caused by a "brain-eating amoeba," according to the CDC website, that is found in warm rivers, lakes and streams, primarily in the southern United States.

The parasite can cause a rare but severe brain infection that is usually fatal. When the parasite enters the body through the nose, the illness can occur, the Arkansas Department of Health said.

Arkansas Health Department spokesman Ed Barham said tests had determined that the amoeba was in the water at the park.

The girl was in critical condition at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock, the Arkansas Department of Health said on Monday.

This is the sixth case of the disease in Arkansas in 40 years, the health department said, adding that the last case in the state was in 2010. There were 31 cases of the infection in the United States from 2003 to 2012, the CDC said.

"It is exceedingly rare," said Dirk Haselow, a state epidemiologist. "A sporadic case occurs one in 33 million."

(Reporting by Suzi Parker; Editing by Greg McCune and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arkansas-water-park-closes-rare-meningitis-confirmed-235129458.html

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"The Limbaugh problem is simply a reflection of the GOP problem: His followers a...

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House, Senate at odds over 2014 military, civilian pay raise

Congress is on a collision course over 2014 pay raises for service members and federal civilians.

In the House of Representatives, lawmakers support a 1.8 percent increase on Jan. 1 for active-duty and reserve troops, which would match last year?s average growth in private-sector wages. Defense civilians, whose pay has been frozen for three consecutive years, would get no increase in 2014.

But on Tuesday, the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee rejected the House plan. The panel?s version of the 2014 defense appropriations bill includes a 1 percent pay raise for military and civilian workers, effective Jan. 1.

Differences between the House and Senate plans will have to be reconciled before a final bill passes.

The White House and Defense Department are siding with the Senate. Defense and service officials are making an increasingly aggressive stand against a 1.8 percent pay raise, saying the slightly bigger increase would add $580 million to the defense budget in 2014 and $3.5 billion over five years. That money could be used instead for weapons modernization and other needs, officials have argued.

The White House opposes freezing federal civilian pay for a fourth year. The Defense Department?s cost for a civilian raise next year would be about $430 million, an expense that would eat up part of any savings realized from a lower military raise.

Source: http://www.navytimes.com/article/20130730/NEWS05/307300024

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Governors Martinez, Sandoval Can Teach GOP on Hispanic Outreach

Republican strategists are looking to the governors of New Mexico and Nevada for pointers as they focus efforts on trying to capture the surging, but traditionally Democratic, Hispanic vote to help turn more states red and recapture the White House.

Both states are primarily Democratic, but they elected Hispanic GOP Governors three years ago ? Susana Martinez in New Mexico and Brian Sandoval in Nevada.

According to Politico, campaign observers attribute their success to being able to stay true to the core GOP messages of smaller government and lower taxes, without alienating Latinos and women on social issues.

Both also focus almost exclusively on home-state issues and building their own brands as distinct from that of the national Republican Party, Politico reported.

While Martinez and Sandoval drew only a third of Hispanic support during their 2010 campaigns, they have since made strides among Latino voters by taking positions in the national immigration debate which has helped them engage more with the community.

Both now hove approval ratings near or above the 60 percent mark, Politico reports.

"Both of them have managed to build their own brand and stay far away from the national GOP infighting and Washington dysfunction," GOP strategist Ana Navarro told Politico. "They've stuck near to home; they've worked really hard . . . They are very busy being governors."

Latino Decisions pollster Matt Barreto suggests Republicans can continue to make strides with Hispanic voters even if they don't agree on all policy issues. Outreach is the key to success, he said.

"You have to either be a Hispanic Republican or be a Republican who is completely comfortable with the Hispanic community and Hispanic issues, like George W. Bush," Barreto told Politico.

? 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/gop-strategists-hispanic-vote/2013/07/29/id/517539

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Software experts attack cars, to release code as hackers meet

Security

Jim Finkle Reuters

12 hours ago

Car hacking is not a new field, but its secrets have long been closely guarded. That is about to change, thanks to two well-known computer software hackers who got bored finding bugs in software from Microsoft and Apple.

Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek say they will publish detailed blueprints of techniques for attacking critical systems in the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape in a 100-page white paper, following several months of research they conducted with a grant from the U.S. government.

The two "white hats" ? hackers who try to uncover software vulnerabilities before criminals can exploit them ? will also release the software they built for hacking the cars at the Def Con hacking convention in Las Vegas this week.

They said they devised ways to force a Toyota Prius to brake suddenly at 80 miles an hour, jerk its steering wheel, or accelerate the engine. They also say they can disable the brakes of a Ford Escape traveling at very slow speeds, so that the car keeps moving no matter how hard the driver presses the pedal.

"Imagine what would happen if you were near a crowd," said Valasek, director of security intelligence at consulting firm IOActive, known for finding bugs in Microsoft's Windows software.

But it is not as scary as it may sound at first blush.

They were sitting inside the cars using laptops connected directly to the vehicles' computer networks when they did their work. So they will not be providing information on how to hack remotely into a car network, which is what would typically be needed to launch a real-world attack.

The two say they hope the data they publish will encourage other white-hat hackers to uncover more security flaws in autos so they can be fixed.

"I trust the eyes of 100 security researchers more than the eyes that are in Ford and Toyota," said Miller, a Twitter security engineer known for his research on hacking Apple's App Store.

Toyota spokesman John Hanson said the company was reviewing the work. He said the carmaker had invested heavily in electronic security, but that bugs remained ? as they do in cars of other manufacturers.

"It's entirely possible to do," Hanson said, referring to the newly exposed hacks. "Absolutely we take it seriously."

Ford spokesman Craig Daitch said the company takes seriously the electronic security of its vehicles. He said the fact that Miller's and Valasek's hacking methods required them to be inside the vehicle they were trying to manipulate mitigated the risk.

"This particular attack was not performed remotely over the air, but as a highly aggressive direct physical manipulation of one vehicle over an elongated period of time, which would not be a risk to customers and any mass level," Daitch said.

'Time to shore up defenses'
Miller and Valasek said they did not research remote attacks because that had already been done.

A group of academics described ways to infect cars using Bluetooth systems and wireless networks in 2011. But unlike Miller and Valasek, the academics have kept the details of their work a closely guarded secret, refusing even to identify the make of the car they hacked.

Their work got the attention of the U.S. government. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun an auto cybersecurity research program.

"While increased use of electronic controls and connectivity is enhancing transportation safety and efficiency, it brings a new challenge of safeguarding against potential vulnerabilities," the agency said in a statement. It said it knew of no consumer incident where a vehicle was hacked.

Still, some experts believe malicious hackers may already have the ability to launch attacks.

"It's time to shore up the defenses," said Tiffany Strauchs Rad, a researcher with Kaspersky Lab, who previously worked for an auto security research center.

A group of European computer scientists had been scheduled to present research on hacking the locks of luxury vehicles, including Porsches, Audis, Bentleys and Lamborghinis, at a conference in Washington in mid-August.

But Volkswagen obtained a restraining order from a British high court prohibiting discussion of the research by Flavio D. Garcia of the University of Birmingham, and Roel Verdult and Baris Ege of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

A spokeswoman for the three scientists said they would pull out of the prestigious Usenix conference because of the restraining order. Both universities said they would hold off on publishing the paper, pending the resolution of litigation.

Volkswagen declined to comment.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston; Additional reporting by Joseph Lichterman in Detroit and Christine Murray in London; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Peter Cooney)

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2f417d1f/sc/21/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Csoftware0Eexperts0Eattack0Ecars0Erelease0Ecode0Ehackers0Emeet0E6C10A773444/story01.htm

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