The high price of copper is hitting home — literally. The metal’s skyrocketing scrap value is inspiring criminals to hit houses, making off with copper coils in air-conditioning units, copper wires, even the copper pipes used for plumbing, leaving some perplexed residents without running water. In the past several months, police departments across the country have reported a surge in the number of copper-related thefts at homes, businesses and elsewhere.

Driven by increased world demand for commodities, prices of steel, copper, aluminum and other metals are at historic highs. The price of copper has more than doubled in the past year, closing yesterday at $3.65 a pound on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of copper scrap — which is processed and sold to metal-making firms — has also doubled, with high-grade scrap now fetching around $3 or more per pound at scrapyards, and lower-grade scrap less, depending on quality, according to scrap-metal dealers. Copper isn’t the only metal sought by thieves. Products made from aluminum and steel are also being targeted — everything from beer kegs to aluminum luggage carts. But thefts of copper — which commands a higher price — are especially onerous for homeowners and builders, as the metal is used throughout modern homes, including the inner coil of central air-conditioning units, electrical systems, gutters and water pipes. (more…)

search for : high price of copper, copper-related thefts

New evidence of a housing market slowdown emerged Tuesday - growth in the price of a single family home was just 1.17 percent in the second quarter, a decline of more than one percentage point from the prior quarter when prices grew 2.20 percent. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), which released the report, said it was the slowest quarterly increase since the fourth quarter of 1999 and was the sharpest quarter-to-quarter pullback since OFHEO began the index in 1975.

OFHEO’s numbers are generally regarded as the most accurate gauge of housing prices. Instead of measuring the average sale prices of homes, it compares repeat sale prices of the same single family homes. Even so, according to Jonathan Miller of Miller Samuel, an appraiser in New York, the slowdown may be even more pronounced than the numbers are showing. “The index may not reflect what’s really happening out there,” he said. Miller thinks that many sellers are holding out for unrealistically high asking prices, and the buyers actually purchasing homes are only the ones willing to pay those higher prices. “That’s why there’s been such a drop-off in volume,” says Miller. In a normal market those sellers would more readily accept lower bids but, conditioned to oversized price increases, they are reluctant to abandon their asking prices. (more…)

search for : single family home

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s role as a benefactor for local communities on its periphery is starkly revealed in a new study commissioned by the National Park Service. Its economic impact on several counties in Tennessee and North Carolina amounts to several hundred million dollars and provides work for upwards of 14,000 people, the study says.

By contrast, the park draws more than twice as many people as the second-ranked national park and generates half again as much in revenue and jobs in the local economies. Results of the study were released Tuesday by Bob Miller, management assistant at the Smokies park. James Gramann, a social scientist at Texas A&M University, who also is affiliated with the park service, conducted the study. Miller’s statement, says Fran Mainella, director of the park service, asked in 2004 for an annual study on parks’ economic impact on surrounding communities beginning with 2005. It is those results that were made public Tuesday. They provide a state-by-state breakdown of how the 388 parks’ visitor spending be (more…)

search for : Great Smoky Mountains National Park, National Park Service, Tennessee, North Carolina

When you apply for a mortgage to purchase a home, how do you know if you’re being quoted higher rates or fees than you deserve? Equally important: Did you know that Congress passed legislation requiring that lenders notify you whenever they price you higher — even slightly higher — than other applicants?

The 2003 law directed all lenders to issue “risk-based pricing” notices to applicants whenever negative information in their credit files leads to rates or fees that are “materially less favorable” than the terms available to other applicants. This is particularly important for mortgage applicants because even small differences in FICO (Fair Isaac) scores can lead to unfavorable quotes. For example, as of last Friday, a mortgage applicant with a FICO score of 639 would be charged 7.68 percent for a $216,000 home loan, while an applicant with a score just 21 points higher would be quoted 6.7 percent for the same size loan. (more…)

search for : mortgage, risk-based pricing, FICO

Whether there is global warming is debatable, but the excessive heat wave of 2006 and the thousands of families left without power for as many as eight days left many Americans wondering if the current structures for generating electricity — coal, natural gas and nuclear power — are enough to meet the demands of the growing number of homes and businesses in need of power.

The record growth in wind power is driven by demand for the popular energy source and concerns over fuel price volatility and supply. It was also made possible by a timely renewal of the production tax credit (PTC), a federal incentive extended in the Energy Policy Act signed a year ago by President Bush. Previously, the credit had been allowed to expire three times in seven years, and this uncertainty discouraged investment in wind turbine manufacturing in the country. AWEA is calling for a long-term extension of the PTC before its scheduled expiration at the end of 2007 to avoid further on-again-off-again cycles and encourage long-term investment. (more…)

search for : global warming, generating electricity, nuclear power, wind power, production tax credit

Many sellers have come to realize they’re better off with the services of agents armed with the best possible marketing schemes they can find, either online or off. Sellers also benefit from neighborhood expertise agents bring when pricing their homes. Buyers use the local expertise to find the right home, and they depend on an expert’s skills at the negotiation table.

When the Internet came into households across the land, it revolutionized the way people bought plane tickets, stealing business from bookers. It gave investors the power to trade stocks without stock brokers. As more and more real estate information came online, professionals in the field feared they’d share the same fate. ut after a while, recognizing the complexities of the home-purchase process, the profession took comfort in knowing that consumers wouldn’t be able to take real estate as lightly as purchasing an airline ticket or booking a hotel room, said Marnie Blanco, a technology-services executive with Re/Max International. “A home purchase can be an emotional purchase for you,” she said. Selling a home on your own can also be emotional and time consuming. What the Internet does is educate consumers about what’s out there, preparing them for the real estate road ahead of them. he National Association of Realtors, the industry’s trade group, estimates 77% of home buyers used the Internet to search for a home in 2005. A decade ago, only 2% did so. (more…)

search for : real estate, National Association of Realtors