Home-loan demand soars

U.S. mortgage applications skyrocketed during the first week of 2007 as interest rates fell for the first time in five weeks, lending support to the view that the housing market is stabilizing, an industry trade group said Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and purchasing loans, jumped 16.6 percent to 671.1 for the week ended Jan. 5.

However, the monthly average shows a decline in the volume of applications for home loans, with the four-week moving average down 2 percent.

Borrowing costs on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, excluding fees, averaged 6.13 percent, down 0.09 percentage point from the previous week. Interest rates were above year-ago levels of 6.08 percent.

The MBA's seasonally adjusted purchase index, widely considered a timely gauge of U.S. home sales, soared 16.2 percent to 472.8, its highest since the week ended Jan. 20, 2006 when it reached 473.7. The index was also above its year-ago level of 457.4.

The group's seasonally adjusted index of refinancing applications surged 17.3 percent to 1,923.8. A year earlier the index stood at 1,497.5.

The refinance share of applications increased to 48.4 percent from 48.1 the previous week.

Fixed 15-year mortgage rates averaged 5.85 percent, down from 5.93 percent. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) decreased to 5.79 percent from 5.84 percent.

The ARM share of activity decreased to 20.1 percent from 20.4 percent the previous week, its lowest since July 2003.

The MBA's survey covers about 50 percent of all U.S. retail residential loans. Respondents include mortgage banks, commercial banks and thrifts.

Information About Investment Property

Any property that is purchased with the intent of gaining a return is considered investment property. Investment property can be an apartment building, a duplex, a single-family dwelling, vacant land, commercial property -- basically any type of real estate. The term investment property usually describes property that the owner does not occupy, but in some cases, the owner may occupy a portion of it.

Purchasing investment property can be a lucrative venture, whether one simply hopes to purchase a home or plans to make a business out of such investments. One strategy for beginners is to purchase an investment property such as a duplex, or other multiple family dwelling, and live in one unit while renting out the other(s). This way, monies collected from the renter or renters covers the note, leaving the owner without a mortgage payment. Eventually the property is paid off, and the purchaser continues collecting the rent for a profit.

The owner may also purchase another investment property, using the equity in the first property to finance the purchase. Equity simply means the fair market value of the property minus the amount still owed, including any liens. It is common to borrow against the equity in a property. Rates for such loans are fairly competitive because the property acts as collateral to secure the loan. The less risk there is in lending, the better the rates are.

Valuable Information About Liquidation

Liquidation is the process of taking a business real assets and turning them into cash, either to pay off debt or to reap a personal profit. Liquidation may be done either voluntarily by a company or individual, or in response to a declaration of bankruptcy as a way of repaying a portion of debtors.

Compulsory liquidation is ordered by a court, and the laws vary in different countries. Usually a court-appointed receiver takes over to analyze the company s assets and determine the best way to handle them. Originally, recovered cash from a compulsory liquidation was distributed evenly amongst debtors. Now certain debtors may take precedence over others, depending on the terms of the loans.

Voluntary liquidation may be done for a number of reasons. Some companies elect to undergo liquidation while their assets still outweigh their liabilities, if they believe their business will continue to degrade. By selling off assets early, these corporations may pay off debtors and still give a final dividend to shareholders.

A corporation with liabilities outweighing assets may also undergo voluntary liquidation, expecting a compulsory liquidation should they fail to pay off a significant portion of their debt. This type of voluntary liquidation is considered an appropriate response to an insolvent situation.

Inspector Lists Computers With Atomic Secrets as Missing

WASHINGTON, March 30 — The office in charge of protecting American technical secrets about nuclear weapons from foreign spies is missing 20 desktop computers, at least 14 of which have been used for classified information, the Energy Department inspector general reported on Friday.

This is the 13th time in a little over four years that an audit has found that the department, whose national laboratories and factories do most of the work in designing and building nuclear warheads, has lost control over computers used in working on the bombs.

Aside from the computers it cannot find, the department is also using computers not listed in its inventory, and one computer listed as destroyed was in fact being used, the audit said.

“Problems with the control and accountability of desktop and laptop computers have plagued the department for a number of years,” the report said.

In January, Linton F. Brooks was fired as the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Agency, the Energy Department agency in charge of bombs, because of security problems. The agency was created in the 1990s because of security scandals.

When the most recent audit began, the Counterintelligence Directorate was unable to find 141 desktop computers. In some cases, documents were found indicating that the computers had been taken out of service.

Previous incidents of wayward computers have also involved nuclear weapons information. But the office involved in this breach has a special responsibility, tracking and countering efforts to steal bomb information. Its computers would have material on what the department knew about foreign operatives and efforts to steal sensitive information.

The report includes a response from the security agency that generally agrees with the findings. But the inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman, noted in his report that “the comments did not include planned corrective actions with target completion dates.”

A spokesman for the department, Craig Stevens, said Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman “recognizes that we need to manage this place better.”

The counterintelligence office was recently merged with the intelligence office to improve operations, Mr. Stevens said.

Which Online High-Yield Savings Account is Best?

I’ve heard a lot about online high-yield savings accounts, but I’ve never bothered to look into them. It occurred to me today that it’s ridiculous to keep my “web money” in a no-yield checking account at Wells Fargo. As my blog revenue grows, I’m throwing away money by not having my savings someplace that pays.

I did some research. I googled for “high yield savings account” and “ING direct” and “HSBC Direct“. I followed promising links (and ads) from the search results. As of March 19th, here are the offers that I was able to find with minimal digging. All of these accounts are FDIC insured.

People banned from SNL

Adrien Brody became the latest person bannedn from SNL on May 10, 2003. He came out to introduce reggae musician Sean Paul, while wearing Rastafarian attire including faux dreadlocks. Without any prior notice, Brody began rambling in a Jamaican accent for close to 45 seconds before finally introducing the act incorrectly, misannouncing "Sean Paul" as "Sean John."

Adobe says NO WAY!!!

Adobe says you'll have to upgrade to new versions of popular (and really expensive) software like Photoshop, InDesign and DreamWeaver if you want them to run well under Windows Vista.

Current versions of many Adobe products won't run flawlessly under Windows Vista, this announcement only confirms that they never will. So, if you're a creative professional (who hasn't already jumped ship to OS X) start getting out the check book. Adobe's CS3 creative suite will be out next week, and it ain't gonna be cheap.

We probably should have realized something was up when Adobe's own document on Vista compatibility (which we wrote about almost a month ago) dodged the question by stating that Adobe would release free patches for "some of Adobe's currently available products." To our credit, it would have been much easier to spot if they'd said, "some of Adobe's currently available products, but not the ones anyone actually uses or cares about."