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| Taking the foreclosure trolley to your new home
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| With foreclosed-upon homes now the market reality, Realtors and others involved in home sales throughout the country are finding innovative ways to sell the flood of properties. Sarasota is no exception.
Three local businesswomen have devised a free monthly trolley tour to showcase some of the best deals in some of the most desirable neighborhoods. During the "Home Trolley Tour," Chris Moon of Prudential Palms Realty selects the homes to visit, Priscilla Gratton of Colonial Bank advises buyers on a new loan program that allows for $35,000 worth of home improvements to be rolled into the mortgage and Rose Brasgalla of Sarasota Home Makeovers presents remodeling options.
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| @ Sarasota Herald Tribune | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0201 EDST
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| Lending is up, bankers say
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| In any case, the banking industry says lending activity has, in fact, trended upward despite the recession. Business loans were up year-over-year by 12 percent and consumer loans up 9 percent as of March, James Chessen, chief economist for the American Bankers Association, told Congress earlier this year.
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| @ Orlando Sentinel | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0315 EDST
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| Let the sun shine on solar
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More businesses warming to prospect of solar energy savings
Editor's Comment: This is a good read
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| @ Bradenton Herald | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0320 EDST
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| Wachovia economists: Florida has long way to go to pull out of recession
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| Wachovia Economics Group, in a 21-page report Friday focused on Florida, said the state is on pace to post an aggregate loss of 720,000 jobs, including a net loss of 430,000 this year. It projects Florida's unemployment rate topping out at about 11 percent, "and would rise even further if not for the significant out-migration of prime working-age adults to neighboring states and Texas."
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| @ St. Petersburg Times | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0330 EDST
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| Florida Economic Outlook
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Florida faces an even more difficult road to recovery. The Sunshine State went into recession a full nine months ahead of the nation, and excesses in housing and commercial real estate are considerably worse than the nation as a whole. Nonfarm employment is on pace to decline by nearly nine percent peak-to-trough, producing an aggregate loss of close to 720,000 jobs, including a net loss of 430,000 jobs this year.
Editor's comment: This is the full report. Good reading
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| @ Wachovia Bank | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0345 EDST
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| IndyMac borrowers battling to get modifications on home loans
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| Not everyone, though, can use the administration's Making Home Affordable program because it targets only loans owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. That means borrowers have to rely on their own servicers and the investors holding the notes to offer assistance. And not everyone will keep their home, a point that housing counselors point out to clients daily.
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| @ Chicago Tribune | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0400 EDST
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| Demand for Vegetable Seeds Is Rooted in Recession
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| The D. Landreth Seed Co., one of the oldest surviving corporations in the nation, has seen several owners and many shifts in its fortunes in the intervening 225 years. But if Landreth were looking down on his enterprise today, he probably would be grinning. After years in the doldrums, the consumer demand for vegetable seeds has abruptly climbed at a rate even industry veterans have never seen.
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| @ Washington Post | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0415 EDST
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| Even Forbes Is Pinching Pennies
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| With its yearly list of the most fabulously wealthy and legion of articles lionizing business leaders, Forbes magazine has long been a synonym for riches, success and a belief that business, left to its own devices, will create a better world. Although circulation has been basically stable at about 920,000, the average price per issue on subscriptions has been dropping steadily, which means Forbes — like a lot of magazines — is fighting to hang on to its subscribers.
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| @ New York Times | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0419 EDST
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| BRIC seeks global voice at first summit
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Leaders of the so-called BRIC nations will discuss ways to reshape the global financial system after the worst economic crisis for decades and ideas for a new reserve currency to reduce dependency on the U.S. dollar may be on the agenda.
Editor's Comment: Another good read for today
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| @ Reuters | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0646 EDST
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| Russia's Finance Minister Kudrin Shows Dollar Has No Rival as World Currency While BRIC Leaders Meet
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| “At this point there’s no alternative to the U.S. dollar in terms of deep liquid markets and trading 24-7 globally,” Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at the Bank of New York Mellon in New York, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “Nothing even comes close to the dollar in terms of reserve status.”
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| @ Bloomberg News | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0652 EDST
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| Public expects 2.4% inflation over year
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| The expected inflation rate has fallen sharply over the last year after reaching a peak of 4.4 per cent last August. However, widely discussed concerns that the global recession would lead to a Great Depression-like period of falling prices have not been reflected in the public’s outlook.
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| @ Financial Times - UK | Posted: 06/15/09 at 0655 EDST
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