According to Gallup, Americans’ economic confidence and sense of well being both rose in January. Gallup’s Life Evaluation Index, which asks Americans to rate their current and future lives on a scale from 0 to 10, climbed to its highest level in 11 months, increasing to 50.1 from 48.4 in December. The number of respondents classified as thriving as opposed to struggling or suffering increased to 53.4 percent from 51.9 percent the month before. Americans’ improving sense of well being is tied to gains in economic confidence. According to Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index, which has been rising since August of last year, the country’s confidence in the economy is at its highest level since May 2011, though it isn’t as high as it was a year ago.

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The National Association of Realtors Housing Affordability Index reached a record high in 2011. The index, which began in 1970, measures the relationship between median home price, median family income, and average mortgage interest rate. The index defines 100 as the point where a median-income household has exactly enough income to qualify to purchase a median-priced home. In 2011, the index reached 184.5. Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, said the Midwest and South have the greatest concentration of areas where home buyers have the strongest purchasing power. According to Yun, the West Coast and Northeastern Seaboard have higher-priced homes which accounts for lower affordability ratings.

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B of A Can't Process All Refi Applications

Bank of America Corp. is limiting the number of refinance applications it accepts over the phone, telling borrowers who do not have an existing relationship with the bank that they may have to wait 60 to 90 days before their loan application can be processed, a B of A spokesman said Wednesday.

Don't accept that, refinance with Clearwater as we're running roughly 3 weeks start to finish. Call me or apply online, link below.

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Several Federal and State agencies announced today a 25 billion dollar foreclosure settlement with many of the largest banking institutions in the U.S.. While many of the details could possibly take years to iron out, the attached article provides a brief synopsis of what is known currently: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204642604577213032296123026.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet

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The number of foreclosures completed in 2011 fell 24 percent to 830,000 from 1.1 million in 2010. Data released by CoreLogic shows that, not only were foreclosures down year-over-year, but they also dropped 8.4 percent in December. Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, said the inventory of foreclosed properties has begun to shrink and the pace at which properties are entering foreclosure is slowing. At the end of 2011, 3.4 percent of all homes were in the foreclosure inventory. And though the rate at which foreclosures are completed has been slowed, in part, due to judicial and regulatory constraints, a declining number of foreclosures is key to a healthy housing market.

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