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Fast Internet Service Has Become a Must-Have

Randy Ahern — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:09:34 GMT

Fast Internet Service Has Become a Must-Have

For today's home buyers, speedy Internet service ranks right up there with good schools, low crime rates, and accessible public transportation.

"Buyers ask what broadband services are available, who cable providers are and whether [Verizon's] FiOS is in place," said Tania Gonda, an associate with Weichert Realtors in Reston, Va.

She said a savvy practitioner should be familiar with the available services, including the advantages and disadvantages of each vendor, and whether the local neighborhood association or zoning laws restrict satellite antennas.

Seller who have installed a range of high-tech services should be able to provide specific information about the systems they have installed, Gonda added.

Source: The Washington Post, Gabe Goldberg (12/13/2008)

Greening Your Business

Randy Ahern — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 18:52:21 GMT

Greening Your Business

Tips on how to start making your business operations easier on the planet -- and on your bottom line.

Use Better Paper, and Less of It
The average office tosses out about 350 pounds of paper per employee, per year. Reducing your waste and purchasing paper with postconsumer recycled content can help save trees and nudge the pulp and paper industry, one of the most environmentally destructive industries in the world, toward a less damaging path.

Set your printers to print double-sided, or designate a draft tray and fill it with paper that's blank on one side.
Buy copier paper with a minimum 30 percent postconsumer recycled content. (100 percent is best!)
Collect used paper separately for recycling, and coordinate with your building manager and waste hauler to set up a recycling system that works for everyone. If you can, also recycle other materials, like aluminum, glass and plastic.
Stock bathrooms with postconsumer recycled tissue products. Tissue manufacturers destroy forests when they turn virgin wood into throw-away paper products. See our guide for ecologically preferable brands.

Cut Water Waste
One billion people on our planet can't get safe drinking water. In the United States, some rivers are being drawn down faster than nature can fill them up. Using water efficiently today will help ensure that future generations have access to the water they need.

Install faucet aerators and low-flow toilets
Check for and fix leaks
Recycle water
Landscape for maximum water efficiency

Create a Greener Working Environment
Employees are on the front lines of any sustainability initiatives your company chooses to make. Participation from all levels of your staff is a crucial part of any greening effort.

Buy less toxic cleaners to improve indoor air quality and reduce risks to employee health.
Create a green team with members from all divisions of your organization to help implement plans and bring new ideas to the table.

Stay Tuned
NRDC offers comprehensive getting-started guides to green building and to smart paper-use practices. If you are a business owner or manager and you'd like to hear from us when we add resources to help you green your business, sign up here.

Get Energy Efficient
Using less energy reduces the demand on power plants, the nation's leading contributors to global warming pollution and mercury pollution. And it saves a bundle on your energy bills.

Contact your utility company to arrange for a free (or inexpensive) energy audit. An engineer will examine your operations and provide you with a detailed report about how your firm can save on energy costs, from rebates to improved maintenance.
Turn off lights and unplug electronics after hours -- computers and other electronics use energy while they're plugged in, even when they're switched off. (Plug all your appliances into a power strip and you'll only have to flip one switch at the end of the day.)
Set computers to sleep and hibernate when inactive, and lose the screen savers. Flying toasters and slideshows can use up about $50 of electricity in a year. Look for power management or energy saving features on the control panel for Windows, or system preferences under the apple menu for Macs.
Use Energy Star office equipment -- most major brands carry energy-saving models marked with the Energy Star label.

Best Cars for the Money

Randy Ahern — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:00:31 GMT

Best Cars for the Money

By Jamie Page Deaton

The numbers don't look good. November car sales were down 30 percent from last year. While shoppers are used to doom and gloom sales numbers coming out of Detroit, the declines are now industry-wide, with Honda posting a 32 percent decline, Toyota sales dropping 34 percent, and even venerable Porsche reporting a nearly 50 percent drop in sales.

While these numbers obviously spell trouble for automakers, what they mean for car shoppers isn't immediately clear. The credit crisis has continued for months and with belt-tightening becoming the new American pastime, car shoppers are finding themselves adrift in a sea of bad industry news, rising new car incentives, and little advice for consumers.

More from U.S. News & World Report

» Award Winning Deals: Snag an Award-Winning Car at a Discount

» More 2009 Top Picks for the Money

That's where this year's U.S. News Best Car for the Money awards come in. Car shoppers face an uncertain economy and a shrinking ability to borrow. The key to surviving the current marketplace is to stretch your dollars as far as they'll go -- but that doesn't mean flocking to the biggest incentives. It means focusing on cars that are proven winners and offer a great value over the entire life of the car.

The Awards

The Best Car for the Money awards use data from U.S. News' online automotive rankings (at www.rankingsandreviews.com) to find cars that are among the best in their class. The rankings are based on the collective opinion of the automotive press, which helps to eliminate subjectivity and elevate expert opinion about each car. The awards also take initial price into account, but more importantly, they incorporate the five-year total cost of owning the car. Using data from IntelliChoice, an industry leader in determining new car values and ownership costs, the awards include how much buyers can expect to spend on maintenance and fuel, as well as how much of a hit they'll take from the car's depreciation. As a result, the awards tell you which cars are the best for your money over the long haul. Read more on the awards methodology.

The Winners

Across 14 new car classes, the clear winner is Toyota. Five Toyotas won Best Car for the Money in their classes, with Lexus, Toyota's luxury marquee, pulling in another three. Chevrolet and Mazda each claim two awards and Honda and Korean upstart Hyundai each claim one. Five of the award winners are even available as hybrids - most of which are also great values.

Despite ranging in size from the tiny Honda Fit to the hulking Chevrolet Tahoe, the winners have a lot in common. They share a high level of build quality that makes for worry-free and low-cost ownership. One of the reasons Toyota models take so many of the awards is because of their bulletproof quality. That not only lowers the cost of maintaining Toyotas -- it means that they retain value better than most other cars.

The winners have something else in common: they are favorites in the automotive press. Not because they tear up drag strips or star in music videos, but because they are extremely livable. Each winner occupies an automotive sweet spot that makes it an attractive choice for the vast majority of car shoppers. Take the Lexus ES, the Best Upscale Car for the Money: it doesn't drive as sharp as the BMW 3-Series and doesn't look as sharp as the Mercedes Benz C-Class, but taken as a total package, it's very comfortable to drive and easy to live with on a daily basis -- not to mention easier on your wallet.

Some winners, like the Mazda5, the Best Compact Crossover for the Money, take the best of what class leaders like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V have to offer, but pack in an appealing lower price. The case of the Hyundai Elantra, the Best Compact Car for the Money, proves what many have been saying for years: Honda and Toyota should watch their backs because Hyundai is making not just economical cars, but very good ones.

Time to Buy

It's a confusing time to be shopping for a new car. While there are some incredible deals to be had, many of those incentives are for cars that don't offer a lot of value in the long term. Worse, a car with thousands of dollars in cash-back offers may be tough to drive, and laden with features you don't need.

The U.S. News Best Car for the Money awards cut through fog surrounding the auto industry to point out the cars that combine value with day-to-day livability. As scary as it is to part with thousands of dollars in this economy, by sticking with the cars that offer maximum satisfaction at a minimal cost, your money will go further and your driving will be happier. And, who knows? Happy new car buyers may be just the stimulus this economy needs.

2009 Award Winners

Toyota Camry

Best Midsize Car for the Money

Honda Fit

Best Subcompact Car for the Money

Mazda Mazda5

Best Compact Crossover for the Money

Hyundai Elantra

Best Compact Car for the Money

Toyota Highlander

Best Midsize Crossover for the Money

Lexus RX

Best Luxury Crossover for the Money

Chevrolet Tahoe

Best Full Size SUV for the Money

Mazda Miata

Best Sports Car for the Money

Lexus GS

Best Luxury Car for the Money

Toyota Tacoma

Best Compact Truck for the Money

Chevy Silverado

Best Full Size Truck for the Money

Toyota Sienna

Best Minivan for the Money

Toyota Avalon

Best Large Car for the Money

Lexus ES

Best Upscale Car for the Money

More Info About The Cars Mentioned in This Article

2009 Toyota Avalon

MSRP:$27,845 - $35,185
2009 Chevrolet Truck Silverado 2500HD Extended Cab 2WD

MSRP:$28,745 - $36,785
2008 Mazda MX-5 MIATA

MSRP:$20,635 - $27,110
2009 Toyota Camry

MSRP:$19,145 - $28,695
2009 Honda CR-V

MSRP:$21,245 - $28,945

See all new cars

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Los Angeles Has Worst Ozone Pollution

Randy Ahern — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:56:28 GMT

Los Angeles Has Worst Ozone Pollution

The American Lung Association's 2008 State of the Air report ranks cities most affected by three types of pollution: short-term particle pollution, year-round particle pollution and ozone pollution.

The association found that 42 percent of Americans live in 216 counties where they are exposed to unhealthful levels of air pollution in the form of either ozone or short-term or year-round levels of particles.

About 30.4 million Americans – about 10 percent – live in 18 counties with unhealthful levels of all three pollutants, ozone, short-term and year-round particle pollution.

Here are the 10 most ozone-polluted cities:

Los Angeles/Long Beach/Riverside, Calif.
Bakersfield, Calif.
Visalia/Porterville, Calif.
Houston, Texas
Fresno/Madera, Calif.
Sacramento, Calif.
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
New York, N.Y./Newark, N.J.
Baltimore, Md./Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia
Baton Rouge, La.

Source: American Lung Association (12/22/2008)

Song Captures Glow of Homeownership

Randy Ahern — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:55:20 GMT

Song Captures Glow of Homeownership

When Charles Fox composed the theme song for the REALTORS®' Tournament of Roses parade float, which will be celebrating homeownership at the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Jan. 1, , his inspiration wasn't houses but the people who live in them. "It's people that make a house a home," Fox says in a video interview on the Web site of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. "What is a home but where we live our lives?"

Fox, a widely celebrated arranger who has worked with Roberta Flack among other musical legends, tapped lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman to help him bring out the special place of homes in people's lives. They came up with the memorable line, "See the chair, it waits with open arms for you/years of wear from hands that held you near, with laughter you still can hear, memories that you hold dear/No place that you would rather be than comfortable and happily at home."

"We didn't have to do much [to bring out the essence of home]," says Alan Bergman. "The feeling of home is universal and what one brings to it when one steps inside that door."

To bring the words and music alive, Fox and the Bergmans tapped singer Steve Tyrell, the highly-regarded balladist. "He has a smile in his voice," says Alan Bergman, "a welcoming feel to it."

"It's homey, comfortable," says Marilyn Bergman.

The conversation with the musical artists is one in a series of videos looking at the REALTORS®' Tournament of Roses parade float on REALTOR.org. Other videos look at the design and construction of the float. Watch the videos and listen to the song, composed exclusively for REALTORS®, at REALTOR.org. Learn more about the Tournament of Roses parade on REALTOR.org, too.

Source: NAR

Amid Rate Drops, Mortgage Applications Soar

Randy Ahern — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:01:17 GMT

Amid Rate Drops, Mortgage Applications Soar

With interest rates approaching reaching historic lows, the application volume for mortgages jumped a seasonally adjusted 48 percent last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's weekly survey.

Application activity for the week ending December 19th was 124.6 percent over the same period a year ago, the Washington, D.C-based MBA said. The spike in applications coincided with another drop in mortgage rates, as the government's efforts to unfreeze the residential-mortgage market show further signs of having the desired effect.

Applications to refinance existing mortgages increased 62.6 percent on a week-to-week basis, while applications filed for mortgages to buy homes increased a seasonally adjusted 10.6 percent.

Refinancings made up 83.2 percent of all applications filed last week, up from 76.9 percent the previous week.

According to the MBA survey, interest rates fell across the board:

Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.04 percent last week, their lowest level in more than five years.

This was down from 5.18 percent the previous week.

Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 4.91 percent, down from 4.93 percent the week before.
One-year ARMs averaged 6.36 percent, down from 6.63 percent.

Source: Mortgage Bankers Association and MarketWatch (12/24/08)

Unemployment Hurts Commercial Sector

Randy Ahern — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:59:13 GMT

Unemployment Hurts Commercial Sector

Shrinking employment is reducing the demand for commercial real estate, and the Urban Land Institute, an industry trade group, is predicting that the bottom of the commercial market is still six to 12 months away.

"There is a psychological component to all this," said Robert Gardner, managing director of real estate consulting firm Robert Charles Lesser & Co. "Exuberance on the upside is being compounded on the downside and markets will overshoot in the other direction."

Financing is almost impossible for developers to obtain in many parts of the country, even for modest projects. “The mega deal is done” at least for now, Gardner said.

"Usually some markets perform better than others," said Delores Conway, director of the Casden Economic Forecast at University of Southern California, "but demand is weak everywhere."

Source: Los Angeles Times, Roger Vincent (12/15/08)

Fast Internet Service Has Become a Must-Have

Randy Ahern — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:58:23 GMT

Fast Internet Service Has Become a Must-Have

Approval of proposal by CIT Group

Randy Ahern — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:45:22 GMT

Press Release

Release Date: December 22, 2008

For immediate release

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday announced its approval of the application under section 3 of the Bank Holding Company Act ("BHC Act") submitted by CIT Group Inc., New York, New York, to become a bank holding company on conversion of CIT Bank, Salt Lake City, Utah, to a state bank. The Board also approved the notices by CIT Group Inc. under section 4 of the BHC Act to retain certain nonbanking subsidiaries.

Attached is the Board's Order relating to this action.

Attachment (37 KB PDF)

Approval of proposal by GMAC and IB Finance to become bank holding companies

Randy Ahern — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:44:09 GMT

Press Release

Release Date: December 24, 2008

For immediate release

The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday announced its approval of the application and notices under sections 3 and 4 of the Bank Holding Company Act by GMAC LLC and IB Finance Holding Company, LLC, both of Detroit, Michigan, to become bank holding companies on conversion of GMAC Bank, a Utah industrial loan company, to a commercial bank and to retain certain nonbanking subsidiaries.

Attached is the Order relating to this action.

Attachment (73 KB PDF)