The Art of Happiness

Making Each Day Your Best

In The Art of Happiness, the Dalai Lama shares this powerful insight into life:

"I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. [Regardless of religion], we are all seeking something better in life. So I think the very motion of our life is toward happiness."

But how are we to achieve this happiness that we all seek? What common factor can we rely upon, regardless of our health, wealth, appearance, family, etc? The Dalai Lama goes on to discuss how the mind can be trained for happiness, despite a lack of material wealth and success. It's that whole idea of "wanting what you have versus having what you want."

Stephen Covey refers to this as "responsibility," or the ability to choose your response. Tony Robbins calls it "reframing your perspective". James Allen simply calls it "self-control." Whatever name it goes by, the principle is the same: We all have the power to think positive thoughts, and to react positively to every "negative" thing that happens in our lives.

Why, then, is it so hard to do?

Because like anything of any worth, it takes effort. It takes practice. It takes time. And like most skills, the sooner you begin, the sooner it gets easy. But no matter how old we are, we can all start practicing positive thinking today, and begin being happier immediately.

It's very easy to get out of practice, however, so it's best to surround yourself with triggers for happiness. Music is one of the best triggers. Just think how happy we get when we hear Little Orphan Annie singing, "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow," or Bobby McFerrin crooning, "Don't Worry, Be Happy." We can also remind ourselves with little incantations such as "look on the bright side" when things aren't going as planned.

I hope this tip brightens up your day!

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Selecting a New Water Heater

Many homeowners wait until their water heater fails before shopping for a replacement. Because they are in a hurry to regain their hot water supply, they are often unable to take the time to shop for the most energy efficient unit for their specific needs. This is unfortunate, because the cost of purchasing and operating a water heater can vary greatly, depending on the type, brand, and model selected and on the quality of the installation.

To avoid this scenario, you might want to do some research now--before you are faced with an emergency purchase. Familiarize yourself today with the options that will allow you to make an informed decision when the need to buy a new water heater arises.

Types of Water Heaters Available

Within the last few years, a variety of water heaters have become available to consumers. The following types of water heaters are now on the market: conventional storage, demand, heat pump, tankless coil, indirect, and solar. It is also possible to purchase water heaters that can be connected to your home's space heating system.

Storage Water Heaters

A variety of fuel options are available for conventional storage water heaters--electricity, natural gas, oil, and propane. They range in size from 20 to 80 gallons (75.7 to 302.8 litres). A storage heater operates by releasing hot water from the top of the tank when the hot water tap is turned on. To replace that hot water, cold water enters the bottom of the tank, ensuring that the tank is always full. Because the water is constantly heated in the tank, energy can be wasted even when no faucet is on. This is called standby heat loss. Newer, more energy efficient storage models can significantly reduce the amount of standby heat loss, making them much less expensive to operate.

Demand Water Heaters

It is possible to completely eliminate standby heat losses from the tank and reduce energy consumption 20% to 30% with demand (or instantaneous) water heaters, which do not have storage tanks. Cold water travels through a pipe into the unit, and either a gas burner or an electric element heats the water only when needed. With these systems, you never run out of hot water. But there is one potential drawback with demand water heaters--limited flow rate. Typically, demand heaters provide hot water at a rate of 2 to 4 gallons (7.6 to 15.2 litres) per minute. This flow rate might suffice if your household does not use hot water at more than one location at the same time (e.g., showering and doing laundry simultaneously). To meet hot water demand when multiple faucets are being used, demand heaters can be installed in parallel sequence. Although gas fired demand heaters tend to have higher flow rates than electric ones, they can waste energy even when no water is being heated if their pilot lights stay on. However, the amount of energy consumed by a pilot light is quite small.

Heat Pump Water Heaters

Heat pump water heaters use electricity to move heat from one place to another instead of generating heat directly. To heat water for homes, heat pump water heaters work like refrigerators in reverse. Heat pump water heaters can be purchased as integral units with builtin water storage tanks or as add ons that can be retrofitted to an existing water heater tank. These systems have a high initial cost. They also require installation in locations that remain in the 40° to 90°F (4.4° to 32.2°C) range year round and contain at least 1000 cubic feet (28.3 cubic meters) of air space around the water heaters. To operate most efficiently, they should be placed in areas having excess heat, such as furnace rooms. They will not work well in a cold space.

Tankless Coil and Indirect Water Heaters

A home's space heating system can also be used to heat water. Two types of water heaters that use this system are tankless coil and indirect. No separate storage tank is needed in the tankless coil water heater because water is heated directly inside the boiler in a hydronic (i.e., hot water) heating system. The water flows through a heat exchanger in the boiler whenever a hot water faucet is turned on. During colder months, the tankless coil works well because the heating system is used regularly. However, the system is less efficient during warmer months and in warmer climates when the boiler is used less frequently. A separate storage tank is required with an indirect water heater. Like the tankless coil, the indirect water heater circulates water through a heat exchanger in the boiler. But this heated water then flows to an insulated storage tank. Because the boiler does not need to operate frequently, this system is more efficient than the tankless coil. In fact, when an indirect water heater is used with a highly efficient boiler, the combination may provide one of the least expensive methods of water heating.

Solar Water Heaters

Through specially designed systems, energy from the sun can be used to heat water for your home. Depending on climate and water use, a properly designed, installed, and maintained solar water heater can meet from half to nearly all of a home's hot water demand. Two features, a collector and a storage tank, characterize most solar water heaters. Beyond these common features, solar water heating systems can vary significantly in design. The various system designs can be classified as passive or active and as direct (also called open loop) or indirect (also called closed loop). Passive systems operate without pumps and controls and can be more reliable, more durable, easier to maintain, longer lasting, and less expensive to operate than active systems. Active solar water heaters incorporate pumps and controls to move heat transfer fluids from the collectors to the storage tanks. Both active and passive solar water heating systems often require "conventional" water heaters as backups, or the solar systems function as pre-heaters for the conventional units. A direct solar water heating system circulates household water through collectors and is not appropriate in climates in which freezing temperatures occur. An indirect system should not experience problems with freezing because the fluid in the collectors is usually a form of antifreeze. If you are considering purchasing a solar water-heating system, you may want to compare products from different manufacturers. Just choosing a solar water heater with good ratings is not enough, though. Proper design, sizing, installation, and maintenance are also critical to ensure efficient system performance. Although the purchase and installation prices of solar water heaters are usually higher than those of conventional types, operating costs are much lower.

Criteria for Selection

As with any purchase, balance the pros and cons of the different water heaters in light of your particular needs. There are numerous factors to consider when choosing a new water heater. Some other considerations are capacity, efficiency, and cost.

Determining Capacity

Although some consumers base their purchase on the size of the storage tank, the peak hour demand capacity, referred to as the first-hour rating (FHR), is actually the more important figure. The FHR is a measure of how much hot water the heater will deliver during a busy hour. Therefore, before you shop, estimate your household’s peak hour demand and look for a unit with an FHR in that range. Gas water heaters have higher FHRs than electric water heaters of the same storage capacity. Therefore, it may be possible to meet your water-heating needs with a gas unit that has a smaller storage tank than an electric unit with the same FHR. More efficient gas water heaters use various non-conventional arrangements for combustion air intake and exhaust. These features, however, can increase installation costs.

Rating Efficiency

Once you have decided what type of water heater best suits your needs, determine which water heater in that category is the most fuel efficient. The best indicator of a heater's efficiency is its Energy Factor (EF), which is based on recovery efficiency (i.e., how efficiently the heat from the energy source is transferred to the water), standby losses (i.e., the percentage of heat lost per hour from the stored water compared to the heat content of the water), and cycling losses. The higher the EF, the more efficient the water heater. Electric resistance water heaters have an EF between 0.7 and 0.95; gas heaters have an EF between 0.5 and 0.6, with some high-efficiency models around 0.8; oil heaters range from 0.7 to 0.85; and heat pump water heaters range from 1.5 to 2.0. Product literature from manufacturers usually gives the appliance’s EF rating. If it does not, you can obtain it by contacting an appliance manufacturer association. Some other energy efficiency features to look for are tanks with at least 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) of foam insulation and energy efficiency ratings.

Comparing Costs

Another factor uppermost in many consumers' minds is cost, which encompasses purchase price and lifetime maintenance and operation expenses. When choosing among different models, it is wise to analyze the lifecycle cost--the total of all costs and benefits associated with a purchase during its estimated lifetime. Units with longer warranties usually have higher price tags, though. Often, the least expensive water heater to purchase is the most expensive to operate.

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Courts Are Delaying Foreclosures

Miami, FL - . The recent suspensions of foreclosures by four major companies that service mortgages
compound a problem that had existed for years in states where foreclosures are handled
by the courts.

In the 23 states in which foreclosures must be approved by a judge, the process takes
longer than in states where courts are not involved, and some economists say it's among
the factors delaying a housing rebound.

One comparison widely cited: In California, where judges don't handle foreclosures,
the housing market appears to have hit bottom a year ago and has been bouncing back.
In Florida, where foreclosures go through the court system, prices keep falling, and
foreclosure inventory continues to rise.

On Friday, Bank of America Corp. announced it would suspend foreclosure sales in all
50 states. That follows the bank's earlier suspension of tens of thousands of foreclosures
in the states that handle foreclosures through the court system, a move also taken by
GMAC Home Mortgage, Inc., a unit of Ally Financial Inc.,
and J.P. Mortgage Chase & Co.'s home-loan unit.

Meanwhile, several state attorneys general, as well as members of Congress,
are calling for an across-the-board foreclosure moratorium on foreclosures to sort out
alleged irregularities in foreclosure documents submitted by the banks.

Obama administration officials said such a move risked worsening the housing crisis
because foreclosures account for such a large share of all home sales. "Stopping that
process could have significant impacts on prolonging the housing recovery,"
said David Stevens, the commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration. Mr. Stevens.

White House adviser David Axelrod on Sunday questioned the need for a moratorium, saying that valid foreclosures with accurate documents should go ahead. "Our hope is this moves rapidly and that this gets unwound very, very quickly,'' he said on CBS's "Face the Nation"

Richard Cordray, Ohio's attorney general, said Sunday that as many as 40 state
attorneys general across the country intend to open an investigation of lenders and
servicers to figure out the scope of the problems with foreclosure documents.

While it remains unclear how long the foreclosure process will be stalled,
economists say any delay is bad for the housing market long-term. "Foreclosures are being delayed with good intentions, to protect consumers, but it's really just delaying the inevitable," says John Burns, a real estate consultant in Irvine,Calif. "They're delaying the eventual housing recovery."

A report released last month by RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures,
found that foreclosures sales amounted to an average of 24% of all home sales
during the second quarter of this year, which totaled about 248,000 homes.
In Nevada, one of several western states that was hard hit by the housing downturn,
foreclosure sales comprised 56% of all sales activity.

"Before all the bank suspensions and the robo-signers, we were headed for some big price declines in the fourth quarter. But now, in a place like Florida, in the short term, this will stabilize prices, because there won't be this bubble of supply hitting the market all at once," says Ivy Zelman, a housing analyst at Zelman & Associates in Cleveland.

While slowing foreclosures could have some positive benefits—stabilizing prices in the short term—economists argue that the vast majority of borrowers in trouble ultimately lose their homes, and the delays and interventions do more harm than good.

Florida and California have led the nation in foreclosures since the housing crisis began and both saw average home prices drop more than 50% between 2007 and 2009.

But while the percentage of mortgages in foreclosures continues to rise in Florida, it is falling in California.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics, said that price recoveries in states is closely tied to the length of the foreclosure process and has pressed for a standardization of foreclosure laws at the federal level to expedite the process.

The judicial process isn't the only determining factor. California's economy is more diverse than Florida's and real estate, long term, has always been a stronger bet in California, which explains why buyers would pounce once prices declined.

Data prepared for The Wall Street Journal by LPS Analytics shows that the time it takes for a borrower to go through the foreclosure process nationally has steadily climbed in all states in the past five years, and now takes an average of 478 days, up from 302 days in early 2005.

In Florida, the average foreclosure now takes 573 days. In California, the average is 457 days, though many take less than 120 days.

"We're seeing a mess and we're seeing a process that takes anywhere from nine months on the short end to two or three years," said Peter Murphy, president of Tampa, Fla.-based Home Encounter LLC a realty firm.

He says that in the last week, as the documents issue unfolded, he saw 15% of all foreclosure-sales listings of bank-owned homes yanked from the market. "I would expect that if we didn't have the judicial process, we'd be either right at the bottom, or we'd be bumping along the bottom getting ready to recover."

　Consumer advocates say the judicial process gives consumers a better chance to work out their problems. But Florida's court system is so overwhelmed with foreclosures that last year it began calling judges out of retirement to handle hundreds of foreclosure cases a day in a forum that became known as the "rocket docket."

Economists argue the efforts are wasteful because in the large majority of cases, borrowers have already turned over the keys to the home and walked away from their loans. Others stopped paying because, they said, defaulting was the only way to get their lender to consider a loan modification.

Matt Johnson, a 37-year old preacher and schoolteacher who now lives in Tampa, Fla., bought a $250,000 home in Gainesville at the height of the market in 2006. He defaulted three years later, hired a lawyer, failed to sell the house and hasn't made a mortgage payment in thirteen months. The home is vacant, awaiting repossession.

In California, when a homeowner defaults, the lender sends a notice, then must wait 90 days before scheduling a trustee sale of the house. The trustee sale must occur at least 21 days after it is scheduled, meaning that the quickest California foreclosures can take 111 days after default.

Samuel Kuoha, a 63-year old retired police officer and karate instructor, lost his home in El Cajon, Calif., in less than four months after defaulting on the $450,000 mortgage, which he refinanced in 2004 into a subprime loan, with payments that reset from $2,800 to nearly $5,000 per month. He says instead of serving him with papers, about 100 days after he defaulted, a bank representative gave him 30 days notice to move out.

"Next thing we know, some guy walked up to the door, and told my wife that they now owned the home, that they had bought it on the courthouse stairs," he said. Mr. Kuoha has since moved to Arizona, where he rents a house from a friend.

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Bank of America Halts Foreclosures

Miami, FL - .Bank of America Corp. imposed a nationwide moratorium on foreclosures and the sale of foreclosed homes after it came under intense pressure from a government-run housing-finance giant worried about documentation problems, people familiar with the situation said.

The bank called the halt as concern mounted from legislators and state prosecutors about procedures used by lenders to foreclose on homes. Many banks use so-called robo signers, employees who sign hundreds of documents a day, without carefully reviewing their contents, when foreclosing on homes. Critics say that could result in improper foreclosures.

Freddie Mac, the government-run mortgage-finance company that along with Fannie Mae owns many of the mortgages serviced by banks, pressed Bank of America to expand its search for problems with the foreclosure documentation process, said the people familiar with the situation.

On a call Thursday with several banks that included Bank of America, a Freddie official said the mortgage company wanted the institutions to look at foreclosure documentation across all 50 states, and asked them to consider putting a stop to the entire foreclosure process, say people familiar with the call.

Many in the banking industry fear that the widening paperwork problem could cause further delay on foreclosures and threaten an already weak housing market, which in turn is stalling the broader U.S. economic recovery. On the other hand, it could provide a brief financial respite to people who have defaulted on their mortgages and are still occupying their homes.

As of August, there were more than 4.4 million home loans that were either in the foreclosure process or 90 days past due, according to mortgage research firm LPS Analytics. Since 2006, about 6.4 million homes have been lost through the foreclosure process.

Edward DeMarco, who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said in an interview that officials were working to find a "tailored" response to the foreclosure problem that won't cause broader problems for the fragile housing market. "We are trying to be quick but measured in the approach and the response taken," he said. "We're concerned about the whole housing market, and we're concerned about what this means for taxpayers and other market participants."

Last week Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Ally Financial Inc. agreed to more closely examine documents used in 23 states where a court's approval is required to foreclose on a home. J.P. Morgan said its review suspended nearly 56,000 foreclosures.

In conversations with Bank of America, Freddie said financial penalties or litigation could result if the bank did not take additional steps, said a person familiar with the conversations. Bank of America told Freddie that an audit of procedures in the 23 states uncovered no errors, this person said.

But Freddie said the work didn't go far enough and asked for a review in all 50 states, as well a stop to any foreclosure sales, said people familiar with the situation. Freddie Mac declined to comment.

Bank of America Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said Friday that the bank hasn't found problems in its foreclosure process, but opted to temporarily halt all foreclosures to "clear the air." He said the bank wants to "go back and check our work one more time."

Its decision is expected to stop "a couple of thousand" foreclosure sales scheduled for the next week, according to one person familiar with the matter said. The bank declined to specify how many homes it has in the foreclosure pipeline.

So far, Bank of America is the only lender to expand its foreclosure freeze, but others may be forced to begin or broaden a review, banking executives say. Wells Fargo & Co., one of the nation's largest mortgage lenders, says it hasn't stopped foreclosing on any properties.

At this point, J.P. Morgan isn't expanding its foreclosure moratorium, but is widening its document review beyond the 23 states where it has frozen foreclosures, according to a person close to the bank.

Bank of America services 14 million mortgages, or one out of every five in the U.S., and its loan-servicing portfolio exceeds $2.1 trillion in size. Of its mortgages, 10 million came from its 2008 acquisition of troubled California lender Countrywide Financial Corp. More than 80% of its delinquent loans were acquired through Countrywide.

A push over the last week from politicians and law-enforcement officials troubled by reports of foreclosure problems only intensified the pressure on Bank of America, which has been working to improve its relations in Washington. It concluded that reviews in just 23 states wouldn't cut it with elected officials in the other states, a person close to the bank said.

"In this intense political season we are in, it didn't play well to say do it in some states but not your state," this person said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), whose state has been hit hard by foreclosures, and House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns (D., N.Y.), both said Friday they welcomed Bank of America's move and called on other banks to follow.

Cassandra Toroian, chief investment officer at Bell Rock Capital LLC, a money-management firm, says the additional reviews are unlikely to significantly impact the outcome for homeowners who are facing foreclosure. "It's just delaying the inevitable," she says.

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10 Trouble Spots to Consider When Purchasing a Foreclosed Home

It’s easy pickings out there for many potential home buyers. Housing prices are at their lowest in more than a decade, inventories are high, analysts are predicting a new wave of foreclosures and the government is offering two substantial tax credits for which many home buyers qualify.

But bargain buyers beware, warns Vince Mastronardi, whose property preservation business has been busy preparing foreclosed homes for sale.

“Buyers need to educate themselves about the potential pitfalls of purchasing a distressed property,” says Mastronardi, president of On-Site Specialty Cleaning & Restoration. “It’s not so much what damage occurred, but the source of that damage and how long before the problem was addressed.”

These 10 signs may indicate that trouble is around the corner.

1. Unheated house in winter months. If the home has been properly winterized, there’s no need for heat. But if the home has not been properly winterized, pipes will burst and cause water damage.

2. Missing sinks, toilets and other fixtures. Make sure they’ve been properly removed and not ripped from walls and floors.

3. Peeling, bubbling, and discolored paint; swelling in walls or ceilings (especially around kitchens and bathrooms) or a musty odor all indicate water damage and, potentially, the presence of moisture and mold.

4. Fungus growth inside cabinets, behind drawers and built-ins. Fungus could mean that there has been water damage. Since water falls down, look for the source above the mold.

5. Blocked drains or pipes will cause future problems and may have already created sewage backups.

6. Black cobwebs, greasy gray residue on walls and/or a strong oily odor. This could point to potential soot damage or a malfunctioning furnace.

7. An older home with extensive renovations. Check with the city for pulled permits in order to get remolding details. If asbestos is present and has been disturbed, be sure it’s been remediated by a certified specialist.

8. Excessive painting of every nook, cranny, door and floor may mean that the seller is covering up mold.

9. Discolored subflooring. From the basement, check the subflooring above for stains and small holes, both caused by mold.

10. Air Quality. The air quality within a home tells a lot about the home’s condition. Be sure to include air and surface testing in your home inspection. It’s a few hundred dollars well spent.

“Time and technique are the most important factors of effective clean-up and preventing future problems like mold or contamination,” Mastronardi explains. “Ideally, professional cleanup begins within a few days of the damage; technicians are trained, certified or licensed; and equipment is specialized and up to date.”

Ask the seller to explain how the damage was fixed. Plus, check out the company that performed the repairs to ensure it has industry-recommended certification. If needed, follow-up with the seller or repairing company for specific repair details.

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Paperwork Missteps to Prolong Foreclosure Crisis in Certain States

Three major mortgage lenders have halted foreclosures in states where the process is handled through the court system after suspicions surfaced that employees did not follow legal procedures in preparing the required documentation. GMAC Mortgage was the first to do so, followed by JPMorgan Chase and then Bank of America.

Analysts warn that the practice of rubber-stamping foreclosures without following legal statutes may go far beyond these three, with more foreclosure suspensions expected in the coming weeks. These paperwork problems are widely expected to draw out the already devastating foreclosure crisis in the affected states.

At the request of a number of DSNews.com readers, we have dug a little deeper to provide a list of the states where judicial foreclosures are the standard and that are most likely impacted by the foreclosure suspensions announced.

According to data provided by RealtyTrac, the 23 states listed below primarily use the judicial foreclosure process, with two additional states (Hawaii and Nebraska) employing judicial procedures “fairly often.”

1. Connecticut
2. Delaware
3. Florida
4. Illinois
5. Indiana
6. Iowa
7. Kansas
8. Kentucky
9. Louisiana
10. Maine
11. Maryland
12. Massachusetts
13. New Jersey
14. New Mexico
15. New York
16. North Dakota
17. Ohio
18. Oklahoma
19. Pennsylvania
20. South Carolina
21. South Dakota
22. Vermont
23. Wisconsin

A spokesperson for RealtyTrac explained that all states allow for foreclosures to be handled through their judicial system, but the 23 listed here are the ones where it is most commonly used.

According to a Mortgage News Daily blog, the memo GMAC sent to its “preferred agents” alerting them of its foreclosure suspension includes all of the states listed above with the exclusion of Delaware, Maryland, and Massachusetts. In their place, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Nebraska were added to GMAC’s list.

Bank of America has provided DSNews.com with its list of affected states. It contains all the states cited by RealtyTrac above, with the omission of Maryland and Massachusetts and the addition of Hawaii and Nebraska.

A spokesperson for JPMorgan responded to our inquiry with “We aren’t sharing at this point.”

The analysts at the credit rating agency DBRS wrote in commentary released Monday, “Apparently, in an effort to keep up with the ever increasing volume of foreclosures, many servicers are now realizing they violated the foreclosure commencement requirements of judicial jurisdictions which necessitate that: 1.) anyone who signs an affidavit must have verified all of the information contained within the document to ensure its accuracy and; 2.) all affidavits must be executed in the presence of a notary.

The analysts added, “DBRS believes that servicers will be able to quickly correct and refile any deficient affidavits in addition to implementing the appropriate controls to ensure there is not another breakdown in process. However, RMBS [residential mortgage-backed securities] that contain these loans will likely experience higher loss severities due to longer liquidation timelines.”

The Association of Mortgage Investors issued a called to all RMBS trustees on Friday urging them to “perform their fiduciary responsibilities and protect millions of American pensioners and retirees, in the wake of reports about serious irregularities in the processing of legal affidavits by the nation’s largest mortgage servicers.”

The group says the news that has come to light “undermines the integrity and the operational framework of the housing finance and mortgage system as it exists today.”

In all cases where underlying loan files do not have the legal documents required under RMBS pooling and servicing agreements (PSAs), the Association of Mortgage Investors is demanding servicers immediately pursue the repurchase of these loans.

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Existing Home Sales Improve a Bit

The National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reported that existing home sales advanced modestly in August, rising 7.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.13 million units. This follows the dramatic 27% decline  in July — an adjustment to the effects of the home buyer tax credit and its deadlines, which drew home sales that normally would have occurred in July and August forward into March and April.

While the modest rise in home sales in August was a welcome development, it was still the second lowest level since the NAR began reporting total existing home sales, which includes condominiums and coops, in 1999.

The turn-around in August was consistent across housing sectors and regions. Single-family home sales rose 7.4% from 3.37 million in July to 3.62 million, the second lowest sales rate since July 1995. Meanwhile, condominium and coop sales rose 8.5% to 510,000. Regionally, total home sales increased 7.9% in the Northeast, 5.0% in the Midwest, 5.2% in the South and 13.8% in the West.

Home affordability conditions are the best in more than a generation, with the average commitment rate for a 30-year fixed rate mortgage at a record low of 4.43% in August and the NAR median house price back down to its 2003, pre-boom level.

Although this has not been reflected in recent home sales, economic conditions and job growth are expected to improve in this year’s fourth quarter, setting the stage for a sales rebound

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