About Bonner County, ID

It's official. President Obama has signed a bill that extends the tax credit for first-time homebuyers (FTHBs) into the first half of 2010. This program had been scheduled to expire on November 30, 2009.

THIS IS A MAJOR HOMERUN FOR MANY FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS (I have a few clients who will benefit from this)...

Are there other restrictions to taking the credit?

Friends of Chris Owens, local residents and the logging community host a fundraiser to benefit the Owens Family.

Chris Owens is a 30 year old Sandpoint native who was paralyzed in a logging accident August 17th, 2009. Chris is the father of three young children 3 ½, 2 and 5 months old.

Owens Family Fundraiser

November 7th, 3:00=10:00 at the

Bonner County Fairgrounds 4203 N. Boyer Ave, Sandpoint Idaho 83864

Dinner will be catered by Ivano’s and a no host bar provided by A&P’s.

Please come help our Chris and his family get through these hard times.

As we move into Winter, we are all expecting to see another 6 months of stimulus with the extension and expansion of the Home Buyer Tax Credit. The current proposal being worked through the Senate keeps the First Time Home Buyer with an $8,000 credit and for people with ownership for 5 years or more a credit of $6,500. We will keep our eyes and ears open as they iron out the unemployment bill that this extension and expansion is attached to.


Here is a solid commentary on the market from Mortgage News Daily, written by Victor Burek.

Mortgage rates ticked higher yesterday as prices of mortgage backed securities were pressured lower by a selloff in the long end of the Treasury yield curve. To remind readers, as prices of MBS and Treasuries fall, their yields or rate increase...price and yield have an inverse relationship. No major report or headline caused the moved lower, AQ and MG point out that it was a function of Friday's bond market rally being unwound before today's Treasury auction announcement and the FOMC meeting which was ignited by a "Build America Bond" issuance pricing in California. Their brains are complicated but we make a good team! Whatever the reason was, price losses held into the close and the majority of lenders repriced for the worse.

This morning the Mortgage Bankers' Association released the Weekly Mortgage Applications index. This data which tracks the weekly change in the amount of mortgage applications for refinance and purchase loans. An increasing trend in applications is a positive economic indicator. First, the purchase of a new home shows that the consumer feels comfortable enough with their own job security and finances to make a major purchase. Additionally, it will lead to many other purchases such as flooring, furniture, appliances, etc... to fill the home. Next, an increase in refinance activity should give consumers additional cash each month as they refinance to a lower interest rate and payment. With this increased cash flow, the consumer will have more funds to buy items which should increase future consumer spending and corporate profits. For these reasons, market participants track the applications index for signs of future economic momentum.

The report shows that the refinance activity moved higher by 14.5% last week as mortgage rates fell; however, the purchase activity posted a 1.8% decline. The decline in purchase activity is an indication of weaker home sales in the future.

Next we got a peek into the employment situation with the release of the ADP Employment report. This data is similar to the official government report we get on Friday with a couple key differences. First, the ADP report is compiled by a private company, Automatic Data Processing, not the government. Next, it only counts private payrolls and does not take into account government jobs. Historically, this report has varied greatly from the official report but it's accuracy has been improving. Since jobs are so crucial to any economy, market participants track this report to get a gauge on economic momentum but it continues to be of much less significance than Friday's official Employment Situation report.

Expectations called for a loss of 195,000 jobs, but the ADP reports that our economy lost only 203,000 jobs last month (ONLY HAHA). The prior months figures were revised from an initially reported loss of 254,000 to -227,000.

The final data release today was the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index. This data is a survey of 400 non manufacturing firms across the country regarding the strength of their business conditions. Readings above 50 indicate expansion while reading below 50 indicate contraction. Recent reports have shown that non-manufacturing business conditions have been improving with last month's report moving above 50 for the first time since the summer of 2008. Economists surveyed had expected to see continued improvement with a 51.6 reading but the actual reading came in lower at 50.6. With the Fed statement in a few hours, there was no reaction to this report.

Helping to keep the pressure on the fixed income sector to move lower is the announcement from the U.S. Department of Treasury regarding the size of the upcoming auctions next week. The announcement shows that they will offer $40billion of 3 year notes, $25billion of 10 year notes and $16billion of 30 year bonds which is basically in line with expectations.

The big news of the day will be the Fed statement at 2:15est. Today is the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee's 2 day meeting which occurs 8 times a year. At these meetings, our nation's monetary policy is set. It is widely expected that they will maintain the current Fed fund rate of 0 to .25%. As always with these meetings, the statement that is released is scoured by market participants for any hint at future monetary policy and their outlook on the economy. I suspect today's statement will be very similar to the last one. They will maintain the current rate "for an extended period" and caution about a slow and but steady economic improvement.

Lakedance Film Festival has gone through some changes since its beginnings four years ago. Its founder, Trevor Greenfield, wanted to bring a world-class event to small-town Sandpoint, Idaho. In the first year, there was no major sponsor, and the event was in the red. For the previous two years, Schweitzer Mountain Ski Resort sponsored the film fest, and last year they went into the black, making a small profit for the first time.

Schweitzer declined to be the backer this year, and Laser Image stepped in. Good timing too, because Lakedance was named to the Top 100 Film Festivals this year.

Three years ago I started the Cedar Street Bridge art show called the Sandpoint Art Break as a two-day event that was put on in support of Lakedance. I have also catered the special events during the fest since its inception, continuing this year through my affiliation with Dish Home Cooking.

The first night, last Saturday on Halloween night, the turnout was so-so, but the following Tuesday the crowd was among the largest ever for the Panida Theater.

I ran the concession stand, Evan's Brothers Coffee Roasters served awesome espressos, and a great time was had by all.

I will blog again later in the week to give you an update, but so far, a nice beginning to our very own Lakedance Film Festival.