About Lake County, IN

First a smattering of posts from my new favorite legal blogger in Northwest Indiana -

Surprising Victory for Illinois Medical Malpractice Victims

Drunk Driver Causes Mishawaka Officer's Death, MADD Proposes Solution

Judicial Technology and Automation Committee Makes Progress Toward Statewide Odyssey Case Management System

Have you noticed how few attorneys take the time to blog, to even communicate with their clients? Well I have and I was pleased to find this legal team that was contradicting the trend.

Northwest Indiana Lawyer - An Internet resource intended to educate practitioners as well as laypeople, creating awareness of the rights and compensation to which Northwest Indiana residents may be entitled.

Sounds kinda legalese doesn't it? Well one thing that occurs to me is that attorneys could actually get sued, by other attorneys of course, if they gave legal advice on their blogs. What a crazy world we live in, where a professional in any career would have to be careful giving free advice because if consumed by the wrong and naive citizen they could turn around and sue. Wow.

• So let's shoot straight, if you want some legal assistance and you're currently in Northwest Indiana ... I can recommend this office of attorneys. I'm actually a client myself.
  
• If you are looking for legal assistance in the areas of real estate law, collections disputes, credit repair, loan modifications, or defense ... check out the company that I believe is Northwest Indiana's preeminent lawyer blog.
• If you are interested in suing someone for some made up dispute, an ambulance chaser, a scammer ... call someone else.

If last week didn't have your head spinning from the FOMC meeting, the first State of the Union Speech by President Obama and mixed remarks from Barney Frank, then this week should be right up your alley.

Monday's first economic report will be the January's Personal Income and Outlays. Not only do the experts expect an increase in consumer's ability to spend, but they also expect current spending to rise both by 0.3%. Also on slate for tomorrow is January's Institute of Supply Management (ISM) Manufacturing Index. As one of the earliest pieces of economic data released each month, expectations are for the ISM Index to still show growth but less than December.

Pending Home Sales will be released on Tuesday and should be a non-event as winter doldrums and the holidays have distracted potential home buyers thus far. This report is not a major technical report but will impact the psychology of traders if the report shows any dynamic growth.

Wednesday will be led off by the ADP National Employment Report as a precursor to Friday's Employment report from the Labor Department. Although not considered to be as all inclusive as Friday's report, the ADP Report tends to shed light on the direction of white collar jobs.

December's Factory Orders and 4th Quarter Productivity will be the highlights on Thursday. Although both of these reports reflect the direction of the manufacturing sector, they should be a non-factor unless they vary significantly from Economists forecasts.

The most important report of the week and almost every month will come on Friday with the release of the January Employment. Forecasts are in for the addition of 13,000 new jobs with the national unemployment rate to remain at 10.0%. It has been said that the US economy has to produce a minimum of 125,000 jobs a month just to stay up with population growth. Whatever the number, the employment numbers will surely provide direction for the markets not only on Friday, but also for weeks to come.

Quick general rule of thumb when keeping an eye on mortgage rates.

• Weak Economic News: $$$ from Stocks --> Bonds = Home Loan Rates Improve
• Strong Economic News: $$$ from Bonds --> Stocks = Home Loan Rates Worsen

Want to see what other economic reports might impact home buyers in the coming week? Stop by and check out the Mortgage Market Update Provided to You Exclusively by The Barath Group.

This Is The Week Ahead for January 31st.

Five Recent Blog Posts of Interest:

1. The Irony - HAMP Offered Stated Income Loan Modifications
2. Let's Get Excited Indianapolis, BarCamp is Coming! #rebcin
3. How Long Can FHA Sustain Their Role in the Housing Market?
4. What Are You Doing to Keep The Dream Alive?
5. How Will Your Real Estate Business Be Affected by Higher Mortgage Rates

FEATURED Blog Posts on ActiveRain:

• Realtors®Please Stop with the New Listings!
• Existing-Home Sales Up, But Not All It's Cracked Up To Be!
• How Legitimate is the NAR Housing Affordability Index

Thank you for reading my ActiveRain blog where I share my personal insight as a mortgage planner.

Did you know that I also write an outside blog dedicated to Northwest Indiana mortgages and real estate?

This is a summary of my newest blog entries from the past week from WelcomeHomeNWI.com.

Publish Date: January 29, 2009
Are Home Values Up or Are Home Values Down?
Excerpt: Reporting on a two-month lag, the government said home values rose 0.7 percent in November. National home prices are at their highest point since February 2009. But before we look too much into...

Publish Date: January 27, 2009 - Evening Edition
Putting Today's FOMC Statement into Plain English
Excerpt: The Federal Open Market Committee voted to leave the Fed Funds Rate within its target range of 0.000-0.250 percent. In its press release, the FOMC noted that the U.S. economy "has continued to...

Publish Date: January 27, 2009
My Mortgage Rate Lock Strategy Before FOMC Press Release
Excerpt: The Federal Open Market Committee ends a scheduled, 2-day meeting today in Washington. It's the first of 8 scheduled meetings for the policy-setting group in 2010. The group adjourns at...

Publish Date: January 26, 2009
Good News Home Buyers - Existing Home Sales Tanked
Excerpt: Just one month after from blowing away Wall Street, December's Existing Home Sales hit the skids, shedding nearly 17 percent and falling to a 4-month low. Don't be alarmed, though. The plunge...

Publish Date: January 25, 2009
What's Ahead for Mortgage Rates This Week: January 25th
Excerpt: Conforming and FHA mortgage rates improved last week on the combination of weaker-than-expected economic data and new anti-banking rhetoric from the White House. The S&P 500 shed...

Weekly Blog Update for the Week Ending January 30th.

Five Recent Blog Posts of Interest:

1. The Irony - HAMP Offered Stated Income Loan Modifications
2. Let's Get Excited Indianapolis, BarCamp is Coming! #rebcin
3. How Long Can FHA Sustain Their Role in the Housing Market?
4. What Are You Doing to Keep The Dream Alive?
5. How Will Your Real Estate Business Be Affected by Higher Mortgage Rates

FEATURED Blog Posts on ActiveRain:

• Realtors®Please Stop with the New Listings!
• Existing-Home Sales Up, But Not All It's Cracked Up To Be!
• How Legitimate is the NAR Housing Affordability Index

With so much talk about the Federal Open Market Committee's press release yesterday, Apple's new iPad, the lackluster state of the union address last night and a variety of other business related news, I wouldn't blame you for missing the anti-climatic revisions to President's Obama foreclosure prevention plan.

Today's press release by the Treasury Department was to have been the next step forward to improve the effectiveness of the Making Home Affordable Program (HAMP). If you recall, HAMP was launched last April to slow down the rapid rise in foreclosures through loan modifications. Here are some interesting results of HAMP as of year end 2009.

• Only 66,500 Permanent Loan Modifications; 900,000+ Application Requests
• 100+ Servicers Participating in HAMP; Accounts for 89% of ALL Mortgage Debt
• $500 per Month - Median Monthly Savings

In the haste of rolling out HAMP last summer, the Treasury Department allowed applicants to get approved for a temporary loan modification based on an oral application. It was then left to the servicers to chase down the paperwork over the 3 month trial period. If everything was accurate and the homeowner made the new payments on time, then the temporary loan modifications would become permanent.

Right now the HAMP only has a 7.4% success rate from application to permanent loan modification. Consequently, the Obama administration and the Treasury Department want to improve their success rate.

Can you guess what the big announcement was today?

In order to improve their success rate, they want to be able to get more homeowners converted from their trial loan modifications to permanent loan modifications. How will they accomplish this task?

From now on, homeowners will be required to submit all paperwork in advance of being offered a temporary loan modification. This way all that is left is for the homeowner to make their payments for 3 months. There are other things that were revised and updated, so go ahead and read the complete Supplemental Directive 10-01, Home Affordable Modification Program - Program Update and Resolution of Active Trial Modifications.

The Irony - HAMP Offered Stated Income Loan Modifications

Five Recent Blog Posts of Interest:

1. Let's Get Excited Indianapolis, BarCamp is Coming! #rebcin
2. How Long Can FHA Sustain Their Role in the Housing Market?
3. What Are You Doing to Keep The Dream Alive?
4. How Will Your Real Estate Business Be Affected by Higher Mortgage Rates
5. Weekly Blog Update for the Week Ending January 23rd

FEATURED Blog Posts on ActiveRain:

• Realtors®Please Stop with the New Listings!
• Existing-Home Sales Up, But Not All It's Cracked Up To Be!
• How Legitimate is the NAR Housing Affordability Index

What is better than a child playing and learning at the same time? That is what Bellaboo's Children's Play and Discovery Center in Lake Station, Indiana accomplishes in the 23,000 square foot center with hands-on activities.

Designed for ages nine and younger, at Bellaboo's kids can enjoy a construction zone, art studio, a pretend supermarket, pizza parlor and kitchen. There's ever a room just for toddlers and infants.

Parents are not left out of the fun. For the adults, there is Wi-Fi in the cafe located in the center of the building surrounded by the play areas.

Since Bellaboo's Play and Discovery Center is open year round, today may be the perfect day to visit. Bellaboo's is located in Three Rivers County Park at the intersection of 28th Ave and Colorado St in Lake Station, Indiana. For more information, their website is www.MyBellaboos.com.