The Oldest Living Things in the World

Fifteen places to find some of the most ancient life on Earth.

Just For Fun ;>

Excerpt:
On every continent on the planet you can find ancient lifeforms that have been living for thousands, or in some cases tens of thousands of years, their lifespans varying wildly depending on the type of organism.
Many of these are trees. Earth is dotted with ancient trees representing the oldest individual examples of their species, the most elderly of which have been around for between 2,000 and 5,000 years, providing food and shade for some of the earliest human civilizations.
But the real longevity champions of the plant world are clonal colonies, a Utah aspen colony is up to about 80,000 years old!
 
My comment: And I thought California’s 4,800 year old bristle cone pine tree was old! This email newsletter would be a lot more boring without atlas obscura!! Somehow uspap, etc. can be sorta boring ;>
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Corelogic taking over? Lots of data, AMCs, MLS, education…

Excerpt: This morning, as I do every morning, I made some coffee and began work on one of the two appraisal reports that were soon to be due. The first was for an AMC known as Speedy Title and Appraisal Review Services. This appraisal management company is owned by CoreLogic. From their website…

As I opened my appraisal software program, ACI or Appraisers Choice, I noticed that it is owned by First American formally known as First American-Corelogic. Corelogic became a standalone business in 2010.
My comment: I knew they have been purchasing some companies… but not as many appraisal and data related. Wow!! Price declines…
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Renters now rule half of U.S. cities

Fifty-two of the 100 largest U.S. cities were majority-renter in 2015, according to U.S. Census Bureau data compiled for Bloomberg by real estate brokerage Redfin. Twenty-one of those cities have shifted to renter-domination since 2009. These include such hot housing markets as Denver and San Diego and lukewarm locales, such as Detroit and Baltimore, better known for vacant homes than residential development.

My comment: rent control in my city passed last March. We have a majority of tenants, primarly due to Victorians converted to apartments during World War II. I own rental property here and hate rent control. I appraised many rental properties in Oakland and Berkeley and never really thought about it until it happened to my rental property.

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In the April issue of the
paid Appraisal Today

  • How to get near the top of Google searches for FREE with no web site required!! 

  • Residential Cost Approach  Part 2 –  Reconciliation, obsolescence, sample comments By Denis Desaix, MAI, SRA
  • Get started in attorney work by doing divorce appraisals – much higher fees, no UAD, no underwriters, no AMCs
  • Why Does Regression Not Work? By George Dell, MAI, SRA, ASA
  • Is there really an appraisal shortage now? 
To read the articles, plus 2+ years of previous issues, subscribe to the paid Appraisal Today.
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The Midwest Is in Trouble

New Census estimates show the Snowbelt-to-Sunbelt migration pattern is deepening.

The U.S. Census bureau released population estimates covering counties and metro areas today, and the picture is grim for the post-industrial Midwest and Northeast. For example, the city of St. Louis lost nearly 3,500 residents between July 2015 and 2016, representing a 1.1 percent population drop-the sharpest out of any city in the country, and a much sharper local decline than in recent years. Chicago, too, saw its long-term losses compound, with the largest numeric decline out of any metro area: more than 21,000 people, or 0.4 percent of its population. A similar story unfolded in Baltimore, which saw a rapid acceleration in population loss from 2015 to 2016. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Syracuse, Hartford, Buffalo, Scranton, and Rochester also lost thousands.
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NAR Appraiser Trends Survey

Excerpt: Highlights
  • Satisfaction with most tested aspects of the appraiser’s work is low.
  • The typical respondent planned to remain an appraiser for 12.2years, but some were planning to leave sooner.
  • Regulation and compensation are the highest ranked reasons for leaving among the minority of respondents who are unlikely to stay in the field for another 5 years.
  • Few appraisers currently train newcomers to the field, though mosthave done training in the past.
  • Over one-third of current trainers do so for no compensation.
  • Appraisal compensation appears responsive to the increased demands of short turn-around and unique properties.
Click here to read the full report:

https://www.nar.realtor/reports/appraiser-trends-survey

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HOW TO USE THE NUMBERS BELOW. Appraisals are ordered after the loan application. These numbers tell you the future for the next few weeks. For more information on how they are compiled, go to www.mbaa.org 
 
Note: I publish a graph of this data every month in my printed newsletter, Appraisal Today. For more information or get a FREE sample issue go to https://www.appraisaltoday.com/products.htm or send an email to info@appraisaltoday.com . Or call 800-839-0227, MTW 8AM to noon, Pacific time.

Mortgage applications decreased 0.8 percent from one week earlier

WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 29, 2017) – Mortgage applications decreased 0.8 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending March 24, 2017.
The Market Composite Index, a measure of mortgage loan application volume, decreased 0.8 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased 0.4 percent compared with the previous week. The Refinance Index decreased 3 percent from the previous week. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 1 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 2 percent compared with the previous week and was 4 percent higher than the same week one year ago.
The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 44.0 percent of total applications, its lowest level since October 2008, from 45.1 percent the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 8.5 percent of total applications.
The FHA share of total applications decreased to 10.8 percent from 10.9 percent the week prior. The VA share of total applications increased to 11.0 percent from 10.1 percent the week prior. The USDA share of total applications increased to 1.0 percent from 0.9 percent the week prior.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($424,100 or less) decreased to 4.33 percent from 4.46 percent, with points increasing to 0.43 from 0.41 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with jumbo loan balances (greater than $424,100) decreased to 4.26 percent from 4.40 percent, with points decreasing to 0.26 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages backed by the FHA decreased to 4.24 percent from 4.33 percent, with points decreasing to 0.36 from 0.40 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 15-year fixed-rate mortgages decreased to 3.57 percent from 3.68 percent, with points increasing to 0.43 from 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs decreased to 3.30 percent from 3.41 percent, with points increasing to 0.28 from 0.25 (including the origination fee) for 80 percent LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.
The survey covers over 75 percent of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications, and has been conducted weekly since 1990. Respondents include mortgage bankers, commercial banks and thrifts. Base period and value for all indexes is March 16, 1990=100.

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