Natural Gas Pipeline Maps

On September 9, 2010 a 30-inch diameter natural gas transmission pipeline (Line 132) owned and operated by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) ruptured in a residential area in San Bruno, California. The explosion and fire killed 8 people, destroyed 37 homes and damaged another 18 homes in the blast vicinity. Before and After Photos

We would not want to own a home within the blast zone at any price and would try to avoid homes close to the pipeline that are at risk of destruction from a fire.

These Natural Gas Pipeline Maps should be useful in selecting a safe place to live.

Before

After

• Natural Gas Pipeline Maps
  
• California
  
• Santa Clara
  
• Palo Alto, Stanford & Mtn View

FHA Slashing Reverse Mortgage Costs

According to the LA Times, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is finalizing plans to reduce the initial mortgage insurance premium on certain loans to 0.01% of a home's value from 2%.

A home-equity conversion mortgage is a federally guaranteed reverse mortgage designed to let homeowners 62 or older tap the equity in their homes. The loans and accrued interest don't have to be repaid until the owner sells the home, dies or fails to live there for one year, but the loans have traditionally carried significant upfront and annual expenses.

According to participants on the conference call, there would be two types of home-equity conversion mortgages beginning this fall: a "standard" loan and a "saver" loan.

The saver loan would have an upfront mortgage insurance premium of 0.01% of a home's value, but the amount that could be borrowed, known as the principal limit, would be reduced by at least 10%. That would lower the risk to the FHA, which guarantees the loans. Because a smaller amount could be borrowed, the saver loan could be marketed as an alternative to a home-equity line of credit to seniors on fixed incomes who can't make the monthly minimum interest payments required on such lines of credit.

Under the standard loan, the upfront mortgage insurance premium charged by the FHA would remain 2% of the property value (or a maximum of 2% of the FHA maximum loan limit of $625,500), and the principal limit would be cut 1% to 5% of a home's value, depending on the borrower's age.

For both loans, the monthly mortgage insurance premium, which is 0.5% of the mortgage balance for a traditional home-equity conversion mortgage, would increase to 1.25%.

According to David Chee , the FHA will reduce Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) proceeds ands raise premiums in October:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will increase the annual Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP) charged on the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage from .50% to 1.25%. Additionally, they will likely reduce the available proceeds from a reverse mortgage by a “single digit” percent. This will take effect in October. 2010. HUD said these changes are necessary to ensure the program is sustainable. The current National Lending Limit is also set to expire on January 1, 2011. It is currently at $625,500 and will return to $417,000 unless Congress extends it. These changes will reduce the proceeds from a reverse mortgage. If you are considering a reverse mortgage in the near future, now is the time to act. If you would like more money and less fees, prior to the reduced benefit change in October, please call David Chee, Vice President and Certified Public Accountant at Seniors Reverse Mortgage Inc. at 1-800-967-3575.

No Money Down Home Loans Are Here Again

The pilot program is called "Affordable Advantage," and it has now been adopted by four states as of Sept. 10, 2010. These are Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Other states, such as California, Colorado and Pennsylvania have similar state programs. The deal includes a program to help homebuyers if they become unemployed, lowered fees and there is no requirement that the homebuyer purchase mortgage insurance.

To qualify:

* First time homebuyer
* Credit score above 680
* 30-year fixed rate mortgages only.
* $1,000 down payment. Buyers put in $1,000 and must live in the home.

With a possible $1,000 state housing grant, you pay nothing down!

For more information, see How To Get a No Money Down Home Loan - Affordable Advantage Program

Related Stories

Best Mortgage Rates

Historical Mortgage Rates

Network Capital Mortgage Rates

Below are the mortgage rates for Network Capital.

From Network Capital Mortgage Rates

Fixed Rate Loans as of 9/2/10

30 yr Fixed:3.750% - (3.890% APR)
30 yr FHA: 4.250% - (4.930% APR)
15 yr Fixed:3.375% - (3.700% APR)
5 yr Fixed:3.375% - (3.352% APR)

For More Information, see:

• Real Estate
• Best Mortgage Rates
• Top Lender Survey

Current LIBOR Rates

LIBOR RATES for Aug. 11, 2010

End of Day quotes for LIBOR Rate Quotes

• 1-week LIBOR Rate = 0.26%
• 1-Month LIBOR Rate = 0.27%
• 3-Month LIBOR Rate = 0.38%
• 1-Year LIBOR Rate = 0.97%

For current LIBOR quotes and charts, see LIBOR Quotes

LIBOR is the London Interbank Offered Rate. It is a daily reference rate based on the interest rates banks in the London wholesale money market (or interbank market) offer to lend unsecured funds to each other. LIBOR is usually slightly higher than the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID). LIBID is the rate the same banks are prepared to accept deposits.

For more information, see

• Current Libor Rates
  
• Historical Libor Rates
  
• Libor at a Glance

Single-Family Home Prices in Gold

Home Price to Gold Price Ratio: Median single-family home price divided by the price of an ounce of gold

Chart of the day says "it currently takes 153 ounces of gold to buy the median single-family home.

This is considerably less that the 601 ounces it took back in 2001.

When priced in gold, the median single-family home is down 75% from its 2001 peak and remains well within the confines of its five-year accelerated downtrend."

Top CD Rate Surveys

==> Highest APY CDs with FDIC <==
.
CD Rates at Largest US Banks

Source: Chart of the Day

Home Prices Bottomed February 2009

This week Standard & Poors released the January Housing Price Index. While the index showed a small decline from December, prompting some to say that we're in a double-dip, a look at the index over time seems to indicate that we put in a bottom in February 2009 and are leveling out after a little bump last summer. To draw your own conclusions, visit Seattle Bubble and take a look at the raw Home Price Index numbers in the fourth graph down the page.

Jim Rogers Says US Bonds & Chinese Property in a Bubble

Jim Rogers, author of “A Bull in China” told Bloomberg News today (Rogers Says Shanghai, Hong Kong Property in Bubble) that Shanghai and Hong Kong property prices may fall after being driven higher by speculative demand.

Rogers says the rest of the Chinese economy is “hardly in a bubble."

“Certainly, Shanghai real estate or Hong Kong real estate should decline.”

“China now realizes that they’ve created too much money, that prices are going up too much and they’re trying to slow things down,” Rogers said. “These things are designed to take some of the heat out of the economy. Let’s hope it works.”

“My goodness, if anything's in a bubble in the world, that and U.S. government bonds are certainly very overpriced.”

Bloomberg reported "China’s property sales jumped 75.5 percent to 4.4 trillion yuan ($644 billion) last year, led by the eastern cities of Zhejiang and Shanghai" while U.S. 10-year treasury notes yield 3.67% and the 20-year average is 5.54%.

More information:

• US Treasury: Rates at a Glance
  
  
• US Treasury: Auction Calendar