The Holidays At The Governors Mansion

A nice holiday outing might include a visit to the Governor's Mansion on Summit Avenue in St. Paul, which is now decorated for the holidays and will be open for public tours on three Thursday afternoons in December.

Many governors have lived in the mansion with their families, but Gov. Pawlenty's family spends most nights at their Eagan home. The governor and first lady Mary Pawlenty use the Summit Avenue mansion for many state events.

Horace Hills Irvine, then president of the Weyerhaeuser Timber Co., built the large Tudor home in 1911. His daughter Olivia Irvine Dodge grew up there and donated it to the state in the 1960s, after her mother died. Dodge is well-known as the patron of the Dodge Nature Center in West St. Paul.

The mansion is at 1006 Summit Ave., and the free public tours with live music will be from 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 4, 11 and 18.Courtesy Minnpost.com

Fannie & Freddie Freeze Foreclosures

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two biggest home loan finance companies, on Thursday said they would suspend foreclosures of occupied homes until early 2009, one of the biggest moves to date by the government to stem the tide of evictions and home losses.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said hiatus on foreclosures -- which will run from November 26 through January 9 -- will give mortgage servicers more to work out easier borrowing terms for troubled homeowners. Courtesy Reuters

Owners Find New Use For Condo - A Garbage Dump

A massive cleanup began on Monday at a condominium in Littleton, Colorado. About 200 bags of trash have already been filled and investigators say a few hundred more could be filled on Tuesday.

The trash is all coming from the 900-square foot home. "There is a foot deep of feces and it is unclear right now if it is animal feces or if it's human. And they said around the bathroom it's even worse," said Susan Hernandez, a neighbor.

A restoration team was set to come in on Tuesday to set up a chute from the third-floor balcony into a Dumpster to get all the garbage out. The conditions were discovered when there was a water leak that was flooding the lower levels.

Firefighters with the Littleton Fire Department came out and when they saw what was inside, they called the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. The restoration company is expected to take a week to clean out the apartment. Courtesy KUSA Television

We're Not As Big A Loser As The Rest Of The Nation

According to the latest Zillow Real Estate Market Reports, home values in the Twin Cities decreased -8.92% in the third quarter of 2008, compared to the third quarter of 2007. Nationally, home values decreased -9.7% during this same period. Good news!

Mortgage Refinance Short Term Solution To Terminal Problem

The banking industry has proposed modifying millions of mortgages to prevent foreclosure. However, changing home loans doesn't always prevent problems and most often it only delays the inevitable foreclosure. This according to Lender Processing Services, a mortgage payment processor that also tracks 80 percent of the outstanding home loans in the market.

"Industry evidence indicates that in a majority of instances loan modifications simply delay the timeline from default to foreclosure but don't prevent them from taking place," according to analyists at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, (KBW) a specialist in financial services. Their analysis of the current mortgage market was gleaned from information provided by Lender Processing Services. More startling, the report states that after mortgages are modified, roughly 25 percent go delinquent again after just one post-modification payment and more than half end up delinquinquent after multiple post-modification payments.

The internal models of Lender Processing Services suggest that the number of foreclosures will continue to rise through 2010 before peaking in 2011, according to the KBW analyists.Information courtesy KBW and Marketplace.com.

Talking Turkey: Now's The Time To Prepare For Thanksgiving

Fresh off of Halloween, let’s dive into Thanksgiving preparations. This is probably a good idea because there is so much going on during fall, the big feast can often sneak up on you. Here are some simple tips to add a special twist this year.

You don’t have to purchase new china or a tablecloth to update your color palette. Use an ivory or white tablecloth and bring color in with candles and napkins. It’s simple, inexpensive and very effective. The food is aromatic and beautiful and the true center of attention anyway.

Centerpieces do not have to be complicated. Scatter a variety of nuts or beans in your hurricane lamps or put out small floral arrangements. Avoid anything too big, you want to encourage cross-table conversation and have ample room for the food. Clean off your buffet table or set up a card table covered with a table cloth.

There is rarely enough room on the table for the all the food, so make sure you have room for the overflow ahead of time instead of scrambling once the hot food is ready to be served. Usually there are several desserts and not everyone is ready to indulge at the same time. Put the sweets out along with coffee and tea and allow people to enjoy them when they are ready.Courtesy RISMedia

Americans Seeing Value In 'Living Green"

A survey conducted at home shows in 15 cities across the country gauging consumer environmental practices suggests that many Americans are going green when it comes to their homes.

Despite “cost” being singled out by 36 percent of respondents as the greatest impediment to going green, half of those surveyed have paid more money for an energy efficient product in the past 12 months and one in three homeowners (30%) claim they would be willing to spend $5,000 or more on green improvements to increase a home’s appeal to potential buyers.

The findings are the result of the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Living Green Consumer Survey which looked at responses from over 2,300 consumers. The results were announced as a part of the Better Homes and Gardens and Green Works Living GreenTM Tour finale - the culmination of an eight-month, 15-city tour promoting healthy and environmentally friendly living.

Additional survey findings revealed that 82 percent of respondents believe they are informed when it comes to issues pertaining to the environment. Some of the other factors keeping survey respondents from being greener included convenience (22%), lack of knowledge on how to (18%) and lack of time (17%). However, many consumers reported engaging in “eco-friendly” or “green” acts in the past six months, including recycling (73%), replacing incandescent lights with CFLs (69%), conserving water (57%), adjusting the thermostat (51%) and purchasing energy efficient appliances (30%).

The Living Green Tour and Exhibit included stops in Hartford, Conn.; Greenville, S.C., San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston, Miami, Nashville, Tenn., Boston, Washington, D.C., Jacksonville, Fla., Atlanta, and New York. Courtesy RISMedia

Minneapolis Enacts New Rules For MAC Soundproofed Homes

Roughly 10,000 airport-area homeowners in Minneapolis will soon be governed by tougher and more expensive sound-insulation standards if they build additions. The Minneapolis City Council on Friday approved the standards, effective Jan. 1. The standards apply to homes that have gotten or will get noise insulation from the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

The city was required to draft, but not necessarily to adopt, such an ordinance under last year's airport noise lawsuit settlement with the commission. That settlement is producing sound-dampening treatments for thousands more homes. Minneapolis officials adopted the ordinance with the reasoning that it made no sense for MAC to insulate a home, then for the owner to puncture that envelope with an unprotected addition. City officials estimate that the requirements could raise construction costs by up to 15 percent.

Richfield and Eagan are both considering proposals and are expected to decide on their versions by the end of the year.

The Minneapolis change requires that new homes or home additions in the noisiest areas be built with materials that reduce outside noise levels by a specified amount within the house, and install central air conditioning or whole-house venting. Homes in the rest of the settlement area, and apartments, would need only central air. The restrictions don't apply to remodeling projects.

Courtesy Star Tribune

Sink A Putt, Win A House

Dan Brasch and Jenna Fletcher are trying to lure buyers to their home at 2511 Countryside Court not with a free luxury car but by offering to pay off the buyer’s mortgage — provided that the buyer makes a hole-in-one at the seventh hole of Stillwater’s Applewood Hills Golf Course.

According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Brasch convinced an unnamed sports marketing firm to underwrite the promotion for a $250 premium. If the buyer makes the hole-in-one, the sports marketing company will pay off the mortgage. The house has been on the market since June, and the offer expires on November 22. Photo courtesy NorthstarMLS.com

Citibank Calls Off Foreclosures - For Now

Citigroup says it is imposing a moratorium on most foreclosures as part of a series of initiatives aimed at helping at-risk borrowers remain in their homes.Citi said late Monday it won't initiate a foreclosure or complete a foreclosure sale on any eligible borrower who seeks to stay in a home if it is the borrower's principal residence, the homeowner is working in good faith with Citi and has sufficient income to make affordable mortgage payments.

Citi said it is also working to expand the program to include mortgages the bank services but does not own.

Additionally, over the next six months, Citi plans to reach out to 500,000 homeowners who are not currently behind on their mortgage payments, but who are deemed as potentially needing assistance to keep current with their payments. This represents about one-third of all the mortgages that Citigroup owns, the bank said.

Citi plans to devote a team of 600 salespeople to assist the targeted borrowers by adjusting their rates, reducing principal, or increasing the term of the loan, steps known in the mortgage industry as a workout.

Citi is targeting homeowners in geographic areas with higher-than-average unemployment and foreclosure rates, primarily in Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. The program is expected to affect about $20 billion in mortgages.

More than 4 million American homeowners with a mortgage were at least one payment behind on their loans at the end of June, and 500,000 had started the foreclosure process, according to the most recent data from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Low Home Prices Causes Surge In First Time Home Buying

Low home prices and excess supply helped drive a rise in first-time U.S. home buyers and reduce excess inventory, according to a study released Saturday by The National Association of Realtors.

According to the survey the number of first-time buyers rose to 41 percent from 39 percent of all transactions in 2007. National Association of Realtors Chief Economist Lawrence Yun attributed the increase to low home prices, "plentiful" supply and affordable interest rates. Looking ahead, Yun expects further increases in first-time home buyers because of a temporary first-time buyer tax credit and improvements to the FHA loan program.

According to the study, the median age of first-time buyers was 30, down from 31 in 2007. The median income for a first-time buyer was $60,600 and typical first-time buyers bought homes costing $165,000. Of first-time buyers who made a down payment, 69 percent used savings and 26 percent used money from a friend or relative. Another 7 percent received a loan from a relative or friend, while 16 percent used funds from their investments. A fixed-rate mortgage was chosen by 92 percent of those surveyed. Looking at home sellers, the median age was 47 with income of $91,000. Three-quarters of respondents were married, lived in their home for six years and had their home on the market for eight weeks.

Results from the survey come from a questionnaire that NAR mailed to 133,000 home buyers and sellers nationwide who bought their homes between July 2007 and June 2008.

Oh The Tumblin' Tumbleweeds

In a scene reminiscent of a science fiction film, residents in Cheyenne, Wyoming woke up Thursday morning to find tumbleweeds piled up against their windows and doors by the northwest winds, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported.

Tumbleweeds blow into town every autumn, but a city official says this week's dump is noticeable because the winds of Wednesday and Thursday were the first extreme weather after a relatively calm fall season.

The National Weather Service reported sustained winds of 35-40 mph in the city with gusts up to 66 mph.

Tumbleweed, also known as Saltwort, Russian thistle or Salsola is native to Europe, Asia and Africa but is believed to have been brought to the US in a consignment of flax.

The plants break away from their roots in the autumn and are carried by the wind, spreading their seeds as they go.

FDIC, White House Just Can't Agree - While Folks Lose Their Homes

Disagreements over how to structure a federal foreclosure-prevention program are complicating and potentially delaying what is likely to be the Bush administration's last attempt to forestall sliding home prices.

The White House and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. are at odds over basic questions about the effort's size and breadth, several government officials said. The expectation that a new president could immediately redraw the design and scope of any plan has further delayed matters.

The FDIC has been developing a proposal, which some estimate could help between two and three million homeowners, designed to encourage banks to rework troubled loans by providing a partial federal guarantee for losses on modified mortgages that meet specific criteria, people briefed on the proposal said. Under the plan, the government would cover roughly half the loss on reworked loans that went into foreclosure.

The plan would use between $40 billion and $50 billion from the government's $700 billion financial-market rescue fund to create these loss-sharing agreements between banks and the government.

The White House is reviewing several ideas, including a new one that would further expand the role of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Details of that proposal couldn't be learned, but it is expected to be different from that crafted by the FDIC.

The FDIC's plan was believed to be in advanced stages and some government officials felt it could have been unveiled last week. Several officials said the plan is strongly opposed by the White House, though officials there deny killing the idea.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson agrees with FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair that the administration needs to take additional steps to help homeowners, but has concerns with some aspects of Ms. Bair's proposal, according to people familiar with the matter. Among his concerns is that sharing eventual losses with the government could give lenders an incentive to push homeowners into foreclosure.

The FDIC's proposal has garnered support from multiple camps, as it is seen as the most aggressive in its effort to broadly modify loan terms. Still, because full details of the proposal haven't been released, it is unclear how it would prevent lenders from trying to take advantage of the new government guarantee.

Senate Democrats have called for the White House to support the FDIC's efforts in this area. Ms. Bair, a White House nominee who has sometimes been at odds with the administration over its response to the housing crisis, told a Senate panel two weeks ago that talks were continuing, but provided few details. Ms. Bair's term as FDIC chief extends until 2011.

Foreclosures tend to worsen the spiral of falling house prices because they depress the values of neighboring properties. They are also a central source of the problems undermining the financial system and the broader economy.

White House officials are consulting with multiple industry and government groups, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD, people familiar with the matter said.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the Bush administration would accept input from the winner of Tuesday's election and intends to move ahead quickly.