Are We Nearing the End of the Subprime Follies?

Posted on March 26, 2008
Filed Under Economy, Mortgage Smarts | Leave a Comment

About a year ago, I started writing about what I saw to be looming problems in the mortgage industry. Check out my related posts on The Real Problem With Subprime Loans and this mortgage come-on in Mortgage Madness – Homebuyers Beware.

Within a few short months, things really started downhill and had tanked pretty well by the end of 2007. You can read more at imploded mortgage lenders where they track all the lenders that have folded since late 2006. So far, were at 246 – and counting.

Are we at the bottom? Probably not, but getting close. There’s certainly more trouble on the horizon. We just won’t know for sure until after it happens because all one can do is guess how many folks will actually default.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. We can probably assume most all of the subprime adjustable rate mortgages waiting to reset to higher rates, will end up in default because as the feeding frenzy was reaching it’s peak, the business being written made less and less fiscal sense.

According to this recent article, we should see ARM resets peak during the next couple months.

Nationwide, 1.5 million subprime adjustable-rate mortgages will reset to higher interest rates this year - with May and June being peak months, said Rick Sharga, a spokesman for Realty Trac, an online marketer of foreclosure properties.

Many of those borrowers are vulnerable to foreclosure either because their monthly payments will become unaffordable when the rate changes, or they already are having trouble making their payments.

Foreclosure filings typically are issued after a borrower has been in default for 90 days. Those borrowers then usually lose their home within three to four months if they can’t work out a deal with the lender or find a way to pay what they owe. Translation: Those whose loans reset in May and June could be in the foreclosure process by September and lose their home by the end of the year or early in 2009, Sharga said.

Not sure I entirely agree with this being the peak. It may be, but based on the most common reset periods of 2 and 3 years, I would give it until Spring of 2009 before saying we’re past the worst. It certainly won’t be over, but having seen the worst, the remainder could be more accurately estimated.

Why is this important? Because this isn’t just about people losing their homes…. continue reading….

MDI’s Air Powered Car – The Future is Here!

Posted on February 29, 2008
Filed Under Economy, Technology | Leave a Comment

This car runs on nothing but air, reaches speeds of nearly 70 mph, and runs for 125 miles before needing a recharge that takes a whole 3 minutes. Yes the car is for real, and expected to be available in showrooms as soon as August 2008.

The man behind the Air Car is Guy Negre, who was a Formula One racing engineer in a previous life, but for the last 15 years he’s been at MDI in Nice, France perfecting cars that use compressed air instead of internal combustion to move the engines pistons.

The air is compressed to 4350 psi and stored in tanks under the car. The high pressure (roughly 150 times the pressure in your tires), was a concern, but by making the tanks of carbon-fiber instead of steel, they’re lightweight, stronger, and will just split versus exploding in a crash.

At gas stations equipped with custom high-pressure air filling units, it would take only a few minutes to recharge the tank – about the same or less time than a gas fill-up. The cost for the 340 liters of compressed air would be about $2.00.

Drivers could also just plug in the cars on-board compressor at night and recharge the tanks in 4 hours.

By adding an engine that powers the compressor for recharging on the go, a hybrid model has been created that could take you from Los Angeles to New York on a single tank of gas.

Is anyone else thinking “where can I get one now?”

It’s not always so, but in this case, the immensely practical comes with a reasonable price tag. The Air Car models will range in price from $7,500 to $25,000.

MDI Air Car An agreement has been made with Tata Motors, India’s largest automaker, to begin producing the world’s first commercial versions of an air-powered vehicle. The CityCAT, at $12,700, will be one of the first of approximately 6000 of these zero-emissions Air Cars scheduled to hit Indian streets in the summer of 2008.

In addition, MDI has made deals to bring its design to 12 more countries, including Germany, Israel and South Africa.

Will we ever see these in the United States? I’d like to think so – in fact yesterday would be good continue reading….

Tata Motors Nano – World’s Cheapest Car!

Posted on January 10, 2008
Filed Under Economy, Technology | Leave a Comment

Would you drive one?

Just unveiled at the Delhi Auto Expo by the Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors Ltd is the “Nano” – the world’s cheapest car.

Touted as the means of bringing car ownership to millions, it is aimed at the country’s 65 million scooter riders who are currently unable to afford a car.

According to reports, the four-seater Nano will have a dealer price of 100,000 rupees ($2,500), and will go on sale later this year. This is less than half the cost of India’s cheapest car, the Maruti 800.

Tata Nano Car The car has rear-wheel drive, an all-aluminum body, and a rear-mounted 660cc engine with fuel injection, that delivers 33 bhp. It will get 60 miles per gallon, has a top speed of 75mph, and takes 21 seconds to get from 0 to 60mph.

It has a roomy passenger compartment with generous legroom, and has room for one suitcase in the front luggage compartment.

During the unveiling, Chairman Ratan Tata said “let me assure you and our critics the car we have designed will meet all safety norms and all foreign environmental criteria”.

But here are some more specifics before you decide… continue reading….

How Airport TSA Rules Affect Brand Loyalty

Posted on November 18, 2007
Filed Under Economy, Travel | Leave a Comment

For those who may not have attempted airline travel recently, this has to do with the ever-changing rules foisted on travelers by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA). Specifically the requirements regarding personal care items that may not be included in carry-on luggage.

As of this writing you can’t bring aboard any liquids, gels or aerosols in containers larger than 3 oz. Furthermore, all these type items must be inside a single 1 qt. Ziploc bag. They cleverly call this the 3-1-1 rule.

airpost security Now as a frequent traveler, I learned years ago to never check luggage, so along with millions of others, I’m affected by these security rules. That means having to find replacements for most toiletries. Some items you can pour into smaller containers, but that doesn’t really work so good for things like toothpaste, deodorant, or shaving foam.

So after perusing the travel-sized products section in the local stores, I found some that were acceptable substitutes, even though not my brand in all cases.

One of the really annoying things, (besides having to jack with doing this in the first place), is that the small sizes have to be replaced often, and the relative cost is ridiculous compared to larger economy sizes. continue reading….

Adams Golf Club Driver

Posted on November 24, 2006
Filed Under Economy, Personal Finances | Leave a Comment

After finally conceding I’m never going to play enough golf to get as good as I’d like to be, I broke down and got an over-sized driver as a shortcut way to improve my game. Yes, late to the dance, but hey the driver I had was still serviceable and I’m frugal (okay, cheap). Anyway, it seemed a reasonable compromise to compensate for spotty accuracy which is the natural result of not playing that often.

After playing a couple rounds, the verdict was no real surprise. continue reading….

DHL Needs to Try Harder

Posted on April 8, 2006
Filed Under A to Z, Economy | Leave a Comment

So what’s a reasonable expectation from a courier service that’s doing it right? For me, it’s simple – get my package to my door fairly quick, and intact. After all, that’s what they advertise. Doing most everything online these days and trying to save time wherever possible, means I make substantial use of couriers.

Most of the time, it’s FedEx and UPS doing the incoming deliveries – obviously not due to my choice, but they seem to be the guys showing up most often. I’m actually somewhat ambivalent as to the carrier, but am appreciative when they get the job done. I’ve had little experience with DHL until the other day. continue reading….

Quality vs Cheaper & Disposable

Posted on March 27, 2006
Filed Under A to Z, Economy | Leave a Comment

Things don’t last like they used to. What seems odd is that we’re fairly relaxed about it, so much so, we no longer have very high expectations. It’s sort of like, “oh well, it’s broke, go get another one”. Annoyance is the height of our discomfort.

From lawn equipment to electronics and everything in-between, it’s all become mostly disposable. In the past, when something broke, we’d usually get it fixed, but not so much now, because it’s just not worth it.

Lack of time is a large factor. We can’t be bothered going to the effort to get something repaired. It’s a lot easier to throw money at the problem to make it go away. Then again, the repair cost is often more than half the cost of replacement – that is if you can even find some place offering the service needed. continue reading….

Dell Computer Support - Less Than Should Be

Posted on March 20, 2006
Filed Under Economy, Technology | Leave a Comment

Dell makes a big deal of their support offering, both the initial warranty and the fee-based extended support. From an outside look, it appears to be a sound and well implemented model. However, having recently again tried making use of it, they are still lacking in overall execution.

Since Dell apparently monitors the blogosphere for references to themselves, this critique should eventually get to the right people. Yes, I know about the feedback surveys, but have yet to see much change as a result of submitting them.

The first gripe is the length of time required to reach a human. Even if that ordeal is necessary to make initial contact with the right department, subsequent calls should not require the same approach. At least allow immediate voice or dial responses without having to wait to the end of each dialogue. Even my airline gate check system can do that. Also, routing all direct extensions to group voicemail boxes is sort of useless. continue reading….

Just-In-Time Life - Riding the Edge of Disaster

Posted on February 27, 2006
Filed Under Economy, Healthy Living, Lifestyle | Leave a Comment

Our modern age of convenience makes just about everything we need or want available with a click on the computer, a phone call, or at worst a drive to the neighborhood store. There isn’t much we can’t have delivered or have done for us, and very few of our affairs we can’t manage online. And quite frankly, it’s great.

The “Just-In-Time” inventory and manufacturing methods utilized throughout the overall supply chain, and in most business’s have been invaluable in terms of efficiency and reducing costs. But mindlessly relying on them for daily living can make us less resilient and ill-prepared should the unexpected happen. The downside is that as we become accustomed to having what we want, when we want it, we gradually build a lifestyle that grows to depend on a vast interconnected and interdependent supply chain that in reality has no backup, little redundancy, and is far from failsafe. The question we should ask ourselves, is “what happens when it breaks?” continue reading….