The Economic Downturn..

[k1]

FINALLY...

We were approved for a refinance.  Our payments will be reduced by about $400 a month for the next 3 months as a "trial basis" and if we make all the payments on time, that rate will be locked in.  (Which is silly because we've been making payments on time for the higher amount.)  It's still a lot of money each month, but now it's just slightly above rental rates for 2 bedroom apartments in our area. 

We probably could have gotten them down further, but we didn't want to push out the length of the loan since we've been in this house for about 1/3 of the length of the mortgage at this point.  Plus I'd like to have the house paid off before I'm retirement aged...

So now I'm waiting on the final thing I need to sign & fax back, and I need to sign a thing saying I promise to go to a HUD counseling session. (But from the sounds of it I don't actually have to go.)

[Bob]

Well now, very nice.

Beer time!

[RVR II]

I keep getting pestered by USAA about refinancing my home again (last time was 2009 and before that 2006) but I was told that I would need to be around 3% (currently 5%) to make it worth while..

I don't know what the current rates are but if they are close to 3%, I may inquire about that 

[k1]

I keep getting pestered by USAA about refinancing my home again (last time was 2009 and before that 2006) but I was told that I would need to be around 3% (currently 5%) to make it worth while..

I don't know what the current rates are but if they are close to 3%, I may inquire about that 

I think we're going to be around 3.49%. I have heard rates being just below 3 though.

[k1]

Hooray! Nearly 50% of all homes in Brockton are underwater on their mortgages!

http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x459325393/Underwater-mortgages-still-widespread-in-Brockton-Randolph

[Bob]

Wow, that tells me houses got way overpriced.   Yikes.

Are you or your family hurt by this (hurt would be trying to move soon)?

[k1]

The value on our house dropped by about 80K since we bought it according to the lender we refinanced through two months ago.  We would love to move since we're outgrowing this house and as you can probably guess by some of my other recent posts about our fine city, things are a bit more exciting than we'd prefer.  Having cops searching our yard for two idiots with guns while you're home alone with both kids is thankfully not a normal occurrence..

The main problem is that so many people in our neighborhood have been foreclosed on, then those houses sit abandoned, then people break in and steal all the copper pipes & trash the place.  One of the houses out behind us is still vacant after that happened a few years ago.

Plus I'd like to move a little closer to the school the kids go to.  It's about 25 miles from here, but it's a 40 minute drive.

[Bob]

Not fun.....

[wurwolf]

Well, I guess that's one way to avoid workers' strikes.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/16/news/companies/hostess-closing/index.html

Hostess Brands closing for good

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Hostess Brands -- the maker of such iconic baked goods as Twinkies, Devil Dogs and Wonder Bread -- announced Friday that it is asking a federal bankruptcy court for permission to close its operations, blaming a strike by bakers protesting a new contract imposed on them.

The closing will result in Hostess' nearly 18,500 workers losing their jobs as the company shuts 33 bakeries and 565 distribution centers nationwide, as well as 570 outlet stores. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union represents around 5,000 Hostess employees.

"We deeply regret the necessity of today's decision, but we do not have the financial resources to weather an extended nationwide strike," said CEO Gregory Rayburn in a statement.

Hostess will move to sell its assets to the highest bidder. That could mean new life for some of its most popular products, which could be scooped up at auction and attached to products from other companies.

A letter that Hostess sent to its network of stores that carry its product said it expects "there will be great interest in our brands." But it said it could not give a time frame for when the sales would take place and its products would be available again.

But even if those brands are bought and restarted, the Hostess workers will not get their jobs back.

"The industry has overcapacity. We're overcapacity. Our rivals are overcapacity," said Rayburn in an interview on CNBC. Asked if the shutdown decision could be reversed if the Bakers' union agreed to immediately return to work, he responded, "Too late."

While approval of the bankruptcy court is needed before the company can start selling its assets in liquidation, the company said production at all of its bakeries has ceased effective Friday, and that stores will no longer receive products from Hostess Brands. But products that are already in stores can be sold, and the outlet stores will remain open for several days to sell the products they already have.

Hostess had annual sales of about $2.5 billion. The company said it had been making 500 million Twinkies and 127 million loaves of Wonder Bread annually before Friday's shutdown.

Its bread brands, including Wonder Bread, Nature's Pride and Butternut, make the company the No. 2 bread baker in the country, according to Symphony/IRI Group. Bimbo Bakeries, maker of the Arnold and Stroehmann brands, is the No. 1 bread baker.

The company had given a 5 p.m. ET Thursday deadline for the bakers to return to work or face a shutdown of the company. The unions at Hostess could not be reached immediately for comment on the decision.

Hostess filed for bankruptcy in January, its second trip to bankruptcy court since 2004. It previously emerged from restructuring in 2009 after a four-and-a-half year process.

The company is now controlled by a group of investment firms, including hedge funds Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital.

In September, one of its major unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, voted narrowly to accept a new contract with reduced wages and benefits. The Bakers' union rejected the deal, however, prompting Hostess management to secure permission from a bankruptcy court to force a new concession contract on workers.

The Teamsters union, which represents 7,500 Hostess workers, has been sharply critical of the smaller Bakers' decision to strike, saying it was forcing the company to the cusp of liquidation. The Teamsters said Thursday that the Bakers' union should hold a secret ballot on the company's offer, rather than the voice votes that were held in union halls around the country that authorized the decision to strike.

"It is difficult for Teamster members to believe that is what the [Bakers' union] Hostess members ultimately wanted to accomplish when they went out on strike," said the Teamsters' statement.

The Bakers' union has made several statements earlier in the week saying management is to blame for the condition of the company, not the strike.

The new contract cut salaries across the company by 8% in the first year of the five-year agreement. Salaries were then scheduled to bump up 3% in the next three years and 1% in the final year.

Hostess also reduced its pension obligations and its contribution to the employees' health care plan. In exchange, the company offered concessions, including a 25% equity stake for workers and the inclusion of two union representatives on an eight-member board of directors. 

[Kete]

I'm really sad about this.  I assume that Twinkies and Ding Dongs will get bought up by somebody, but I could easily see Sno Balls disappearing forever.

One other thing....The post-apocalyptic landscape just won't be the same without Twinkies.

[D.B. Barnes]

I assume that Twinkies and Ding Dongs will get bought up by somebody, but I could easily see Sno Balls disappearing forever.

I, for one, will miss Sno Balls. I use them as road hazard warnings if I break down or blow a tire.

One other thing....The post-apocalyptic landscape just won't be the same without Twinkies.

[Bob]

Since twinkies will last forever, the ones made in the 1940s will work.   

I do see someone taking over the big brand names from this company.

And someone from the union needs to explain themselves pretty darned quick before the crowds come to their house and do stuff to them.  Ugh.

[wurwolf]

I thought that about Twinkies, too. Just buy a giant box of them and you're good for the next forty years.

And yeah, I feel like this is one instance where the union pretty much fucked things up.

[Lemming Howard]

You just know things are bad when the Teamsters are telling other unions to rethink a call for a strike.

[wurwolf]

This, from Frank Conniff's Facebook page:

Desperately bought and hoarded every Twinkie I could find. Then, later, someone told me they were going out of business.