Fascinating Stuff

The news today is full of the governor of New York allegedly consorting with employees of a prostitution ring. Mr Spitzer, formerly known as the sheriff of Wall Street for his relentless pursuit of unethical behavior while the Attorney General of New York, apparently has another standard of conduct for himself. This is pretty much the definition of megalomania. It also describes political suicide. In the same framework of the sauce not necessarily being for the goose as well as the gander, three CEO's recently appeared before congress to explain why they were paid astronomical salaries while the shareholders they were charged with protecting were losing their respective shirts. One of them, Countrywide, is under investigation for loan fraud by the FBI. As a counterpoint to the discouraging behaviour of people in positions of trust, just a couple of days ago the news described a worker in a thrift store in Pomona who returned $30,000 she found while sorting donated clothing. Turns out the money had belonged to a woman recently deceased, and the family rewarded the finder for her honesty. The money had been in an envelope stuck into the corner of a box of clothing donated for charity. The finder reported there was never a thought of not turning in the money. Describe me as naive, but my belief is that this lady is a member of a very large majority, representative of most of us, and the other guys are beneath our contempt.
Real estate is relatively inactive. No Spring surge, or not yet at least. Prices are moderately declining still and likely to continue. Interest rates are moving in a tight range of low to mid 6%, and not likely to drop substantially. Mortgage money is available, lots of good programs, but underwriting standards are more rigorous. Essentially all that means is a prospective borrower should be able to demonstrate acceptable credit habits and the ability to service the debt, (make the payments). We have all kinds of stuff available, CalPERS, CalSTRS, 100% and down payment assistance programs for first time home buyers and others, even some loans for the credit challenged. All that plus commercial, which if someone owns a business may provide some cash from refinance if the home is already heavily burdened.
We're going to keep a positive outlook and assume most everyone is like the thrift shop lady, until it's proven otherwise. Watch for our billboard on the Esplanade near 11th in Chico this month.
As usual,
Thanks for visiting