Friday Facts May 27, 2011

FRIDAY FACTS
May 27, 2011

Here are some sound bites from NAR’s Midyear Legislative Meetings in Washington, D.C.:
Here is a link to my notes from the conference:

Dana Perino in answer to the question, “What is the end game for Fannie and Freddie?” Yesterday, another $8.5 billion went from the Treasury to the GSE’s. It makes people mad. What are those “F” words? There are 262 federal programs for financial literacy. Layering. People grew up believing that the worst thing you could do is default on a loan now watch neighbors who haven’t paid their mortgage and are still in their home 13 months later.

Senator Judd Gregg: Budget is on a totally unsustainable path. The Greek situation is not that far off from the U.S. – we’re just bigger and have more running room. This year we have a $1.2 trillion deficit. Debt will double in 5 years, triple in 10 years. $56,000 is added to the national debt every second since 2009. Three programs independent of health care are driving the deficit: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. The unfunded liability of these programs is $81 trillion. The present net worth of US citizens is $55 trillion. The total taxes collected in US history, $48 trillion.

Diana Olick, CNBC: This week home prices officially double-dipped. The pent-up demand is there. The problem is mortgage liquidity. 35% of all sales in March were all cash – an all time record. Only 22% of those were investors.

64% of buyers contacted only one agent during the home buying process. 66% of all sellers contacted only one agent during the home selling process.

Every fourth generation replicates itself. For example: There was a change in the psyche of the home buyer in the generation coming out of the Great Depression and there is now a change in that of the generation coming out of the Great Recession.

In 1950, less than 5% of all households had 2 wage earners. Today it’s 80%. In 1960, 28% of women with kids under 18 were in the work force and in 2009 it was 71%.