The Financial Revival Group

Robert Shiller is another one of those guys that is worth listening to when it comes to the economy, the market and housing.

Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller says human nature, not China, explains market volatility Was the roller coaster week on Wall Street the bursting of a speculative bubble?

Most of you know that I have been a big follower of Harry Dent when it comes to markets and the economy. What we are seeing now in the stock market has been expected. What is up for discussion is whether this is just the beginning of something much bigger as Harry believes. Or, is this just a normal correction where you should just stay the course. Your call. I'll post some more articles as I find appropriate ones.

HARRY DENT: Get your crash helmets ready It's only going to get worse.

I'm looking forward to seeing this.

99 Homes - Official Trailer (2015) - Broad Green Pictures Watch Andrew Garfield & Michael Shannon in the new 99 Homes trailer! Coming to theatres September 25, 2015. In this timely thriller, charismatic and ruthless...

This isn't the end of the world. Our experience with this is that you can still BK out of the 2nd mortgage in a Chapter 7 if you owe more on the 1st mortgage than the house is worth. The only sticking point is that the 2nd lien stays in place even though the debt is no longer owed. Our solution to this if the client wants to keep the house is to go back to that lender after the BK is discharged and attempt to buy the removal of the lien. We have seen many of these liens removed for no charge from the lender after the BK is complete. It would have been nice to see this approved by SCOTUS but underwater homeowners are not going to get any breaks. If you are underwater, you are on your own. Wall Street owns everything. Including SCOTUS.

Supreme Court rejects 2nd lien stripping in Chapter 7 bankruptcies In a boon to commercial lenders, the U.S. Supreme Court held in a unanimous decision that a debtor in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding may not void a junior mortgage lien when the debt owed on a senior mortgage lien exceeds the current value of the collateral.

You have to do something different to get the results you are looking for with your underwater house.

Are you at the end of your rope with your house? There is not enough good news in the world and we want to turn up the volume on success stories of underwater homeowners.

You could make your payments and still lose your house! It's true, but we might be able to help you stop it. Like we did for Dave and Donna.

You could make your payments and still lose your house! There is not enough good news in the world and we want to turn up the volume on success stories of underwater homeowners.

I subscribe to this service and get these updates every week. I thought you might like to see this one. The summary is written to explain some of the things going on that affect the world economy.

Or, come to our Members Only Meetings where I talk about these issues and how they relate to Working America.

DENT DIGEST>> 05.15.15

U.S. Retail Sales Flat, Expected to Rise 0.2%… Excluding auto sales, retail sales were up a modest 0.1%. Without autos or gasoline, retail sales moved up only 0.2%.

What it means — This number made everyone blink this week. Not only were retail sales a disappointment in April, but the year-over-year number was dismal at negative 0.9%. A chunk of that had to do with lower gasoline prices, but the pain spread to other industries. Food sales fell, as did electronics, department stores, and beverages. This isn't what investors want to hear.

After a bleak first quarter with GDP growth of only 0.2% and expected to be revised below zero, flat retail sales in April point to continued weakness in the second quarter instead of a sharp rebound. They can’t blame the weather this time. The markets took the report in stride, calculating that economic weakness will keep the Fed on the sidelines a bit longer.

Slow sales confused some analysts. They point to savings from cheaper gasoline and rising consumer confidence as reasons that retail sales should be moving up. We can clear up the mystery. America is aging. The boomers don’t need more stuff. They need assets for retirement. This trend of consumers saving where they can and shunning debt will continue.

U.S. Consumer Debt Barely Grows in the First Quarter... Overall consumer debt increased by 0.2% in the first quarter, rising to $11.85 trillion. This is 6.5% below the peak in consumer debt at the end of 2007.

What it means — This stat is a bit misleading. While consumer debt is more than 6% below the peak in late 2007, the number of households in the U.S. has increased by 6.2%. On a per household basis, consumer debt is almost 13% below its peak.

Drilling into the numbers, mortgages barely moved in the first quarter. They increased by $6 billion to $8.17 trillion. Credit cards fell by $20 billion, while student loans continued their march higher, reaching $1.19 trillion. The most interesting part is that, even with ultra-low interest rates, consumers aren’t taking the bait and borrowing all they can. This relates to retail sales, which reflect the changing priorities of consumers.

Borrowing to consume is so 2005. The new trend is to pay down debt and pay with cash.

Interest Rates Keep Moving Higher… The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond yield moved above 3% for the first time in months, while the 10-year bond pushed above 2.25%.

What it means — Yields are moving higher overseas as well. Rates on the German 10-year bond jumped from 0.04% to roughly 0.80%, a big move in the interest rate markets. There’s a lot of speculation as to why bond prices are falling as yields move higher, but so far nothing has been convincing.

With the Fed feeling the heat to stand pat because of weak economic data, there’s not much else around to drive up rates. The European Central Bank (ECB) is still buying 60 billion euros worth of government bonds each week, which should cap the yield on bonds.

Will investors lose confidence in the ability of central banks to erase the business cycle? Maybe, but we think it’s a little too soon for that. We expected rates to go up a bit before turning lower again.

U.S. Industrial Production Drops 0.3% in April, Down for the Fifth Consecutive Month… Hand-in-hand with weak industrial production, capacity utilization fell 0.4% to 78.2%.

What it means — The strong U.S. dollar took its toll on exports, which weakened the manufacturing sector. But it’s not just the dollar causing pain. This area of the economy never got its groove back after the financial crisis.

Going back to the 1960s, capacity utilization averages around 80%, a level we’ve not seen since March of 2008. We reached 79.5% in November of last year, but have dropped off every month since then. No matter how high the equity markets go, there’s no denying that the U.S. economy is still not in full-recovery mode.

Euro Zone Industrial Production Down 0.3% Last Month... The decline was broad-based. Production was up 1.8% over the same period last year.

What it means — If the strong dollar curtailed exports in the U.S., then the weak euro should’ve boosted exports from the economic bloc, creating robust growth. Only, it didn’t. The euro zone countries are still neck-deep in an economic swamp. Even though euro-wide first-quarter GDP grew at an estimated 1.6% annualized rate, the engines of commerce aren’t firing on all cylinders.

Germany slowed, while France and Italy picked up a bit. Greece contracted yet again, making this the second consecutive quarter of contraction and the beginning of another recession.

Printing 60 billion euro per month to buy government bonds does wonders for equity markets. Yet it doesn’t quite translate into sizzling economic growth. Sound familiar?

Chinese Industrial Production up 0.57% in March… This is the lowest monthly growth since November 2009.

What it means — Output dropped for transportation, equipment, machinery and communications. The economic slowdown is happening all across the country. The efforts by the People’s Bank of China and the finance ministry to prop up the economy through interest rate cuts, reserve requirement cuts, deposit rate cuts, and many other measures haven’t worked.

As with other nations, the answer to a debt hangover is not more debt.

China Introduces New Loan Program for Banks… The Chinese government will extend low-cost loans to banks that first buy local government bonds and then use those bonds as collateral for the loans.

What it means — The Chinese government wants local governments to issue new bonds to refinance outstanding debt that carries high interest rates. The problem is that no one wants to buy these bonds. The central government is trying to entice banks to buy the bonds by dangling low-cost loans based on the bonds as collateral.

What this program does not address is why the banks would want the loan in the first place. Can’t they simply lend out their money instead of using it to buy dubious bonds and then use those bonds to secure a loan? This program looks like it is set up to fail, unless the government tells banks that it is their “patriotic duty” to buy the bonds. China remains a command economy.

Next Week — The week of May 18 brings reports on housing starts, existing home sales, and inflation. We also get minutes from the latest Fed and ECB meetings. With Greece almost out of cash, ongoing negotiations between that nation and its creditors will remain on the front page.

Harry & Rodney

Dent Research - Capitalizing on the Predictive Power of Demographics From commodities to real estate, markets, the economy, interest rates, entitlements and everything else, now you too can harness the power of demographics to stay ahead of the curve and survive and prosper through any booms and busts ahead.

Terri sent out a letter asking for your support in contacting our elected officials regarding the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act. It expired at the end of 2014 but there is a bill in Congress now to extend it. We think tenants of foreclosed homes should have some protection from the acts of Landlords. Here is some verbiage you can use when you email your elected officials.

"I am writing regarding HR Bill 1354 the Permanent Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act. I am concerned that the PTFA Act of 2009 (PTFA; P.L. 111-22, Division A, Title VII) expired at the end of 2014. The PTFA was the only federal protection for renters living in foreclosed properties. It provided most renters with the right to at least 90 days of notice before being required to move after foreclosure. The Arc supports this important legislation to enhance protections for tenants at foreclosure, including tenants with disabilities and their families. Please see that this Act is extended. Thank you,"

We want to thank Cheryl for this input.

One of our members sent me this article this morning. I did a little digging into it. When they say "Seriously Underwater Homes", they mean those that are underwater by 25% or more. Which leaves out millions of homeowners.
You have to have at least 10% positive equity to sell your house and get out even. You need 30% positive equity to sell and buy something else. These statistics are a bit misleading. If your income is solid and you can wait out the market. Good for you! If you need to make some decisions now, we have a whole community waiting to help you determine your best path. Call us for a free 15 minute phone consultation. 425-259-2600.

RealtyTrac: Share of seriously underwater homes rises The share of seriously underwater homeowners increased 0.4 percentage points from fourth quarter 2014, and while it is only a slight increase, it marks the first quarterly increase since the second quarter of 2012.

More on our Community. We had a great time at the Members Only Meeting last night in Federal Way. We continued our discussion about Prosperity. This was our 2nd session about how to add prosperity into your life. Be sure to be at the one of the May sessions. We're going to go deeper into how you can make your money and your quality of life grow. "Give it to me and make it easy."

Now there is a community that is safe and prosperous for Distressed Homeowners. You won't have to tell anyone you know, unless you want to.

Community and Prosperity for Distressed Homeowners There is not enough good news in the world and we want to turn up the volume on success stories of underwater homeowners.

I love what I do. I get to feel like Superman sometimes. Yesterday I got to help someone that no one else was able to help. We solved the issue and gave him easy action steps to follow. We did it in 20 minutes over the phone and got to send a great referral to a mortgage friend of mine too. Here is the story.

A guy called me and told me that his Mom and Brother were about to lose their house to foreclosure. The brother owns the house outright and Mom is an invalid who lives with him. They were a couple of weeks away from losing the house from several years of back taxes. They had already made lots of phone calls but no one had a solution for them.

We told him how to solve this for the long term. I gave him step by step instructions as to what to do and who to call. The client on the other end told me that he was actually tearing up because he knew this plan would work. If you know someone with a real estate or mortgage issue. Have them call us. We think outside the box and have relationships with some of the best people in the business to get things done.

The silver lining here... Whether you have equity or not is that the banks are going to be deluged with defaults on these. If you have a 2nd mortgage and would like it to go away for way less than you owe, call us. Let's talk about your situation and who your 2nd mortgage is with. (It makes a big difference) 425-259-2600.

Trouble ahead: Tidal wave of HELOC resets about to hit Home equity lines of credit taken during big housing bubble just before the crash may hit the millions of homeowners with HELOCs with a dramatic spike in payments. Will it upset a fragile economic recovery?

Steve Wins! Keeps his house and his kids. A little help goes a long way.

Steve Wins! Keeps his house and his kids. There is not enough good news in the world and we want to turn up the volume on success stories of underwater homeowners.

We're honored to help SO many families obtain their Financial Revival's, one family at a time!
I love my job!

Underwater Mortgage? You have more options than you realize. We'll educate and inform you about ALL of your options, and coach you to successfully navigate the path that's right for you. Watch this short video now.

16. Seattle, Wash.
MSA: Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
Median Income: $86,027
Q4 2014 median sales price: $360,000
Housing affordable at median family income: 51.2%
Cost Above National Average: Groceries: 5.8%; Utilities: -4.1%; Transportation: 9.8%; Health: 18.7%; Misc.: 8.9%

So which is more likely to happen? Incomes will go up to make things affordable or home prices will drop. Your future prosperity depends on how you answer that question and what you do about it. Call us for a free 15 minute phone consultation. 425-259-2600.

America’s Most Overpriced Cities In 2015 | Forbes To find the Most Overpriced cities, we started with America’s 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and Metropolitan Divisions (MDs), all with populations of 600,000 or more. MSAs and MDs are cities and their surrounding suburbs as defined by the Office of Management and Budget. First we…