Mexico International

By Jason Lange and Leah Schnurr

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. consumer sentiment rose to its highest level in more than four years in early May as Americans remained upbeat about the job market, a survey released on Friday showed.

Separate data earlier in the day showed U.S. producer prices unexpectedly fell in April as energy costs dropped by the most in six months, a sign of easing inflation pressures that could give the Federal Reserve more room to help the economy should growth weaken.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s preliminary May reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment improved to 77.8 from 76.4 in April, topping forecasts for a small decline to 76.2.

It was the highest level since January 2008.

Despite the recent slowdown in job growth, nearly twice as many consumers reported hearing about new job gains than said they had heard about recent job losses, the survey said.

Even so, consumers were only slightly more optimistic about declines in the unemployment rate than they were a year ago, with only one in four expecting it to fall in the year ahead.

However, economists polled by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, expect the U.S. unemployment rate to average 8.1 percent this year, and to fall to 7.7 percent next year.

Employers cut back on hiring in April and March after an acceleration at the start of the year. April’s unemployment rate eased to 8.1 percent as more people dropped out of the work force.

In a potential harbinger of increased spending, consumers’ buying plans for vehicles and durable goods improved at the beginning of the month, with 65 percent saying buying conditions were favorable, the highest level in more than a year.

“Households are feeling more comfortable. It’s pretty good news for consumer spending,” said Gus Faucher, senior macroeconomist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh.

U.S. stocks were little changed in mid-morning trading, weighed down by the revelation of JPMorgan Chase’s $2 billion trading loss.

Also on Friday, the Labor Department said its seasonally adjusted producer price index dropped 0.2 percent last month. That was the first drop this year and the biggest decline since October.

“Looking ahead consumer prices should remain contained,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. “The Fed shouldn’t be worried about inflation.”

Economists polled by Reuters had expected prices at farms, factories and refineries to be flat last month.

A rise in gasoline prices last year pinched consumers and fueled higher inflation, but the Fed has maintained that the spike would be temporary. A report on consumer prices due next week is expected to give further signs that inflation is ebbing.

Still, the annual inflation rate targeted by the Fed continues to hover around the central bank’s 2 percent goal, and Friday’s price data did not appear to change investor’s views on the outlook for monetary policy.

A number of Fed officials appear loath to take further action to help the economy, with some arguing the central bank needs to get ready to being withdrawing its extraordinary stimulus. The Fed has maintained since January that it expects economic conditions to warrant holding overnight interest rates near zero through at least late 2014.

The consumer sentiment report showed Americans’ inflation expectations continued to ease after a run-up in March. The one-year inflation expectation fell to 3.1 percent from 3.2 percent, though the five-to-10-year outlook edged up to 3.0 percent from 2.9 percent.

“This is good news for the Fed. It gives them still room (to) maneuver in the year ahead,” survey director Richard Curtin told Reuters Insider.

The report on producer prices for April showed wholesale prices 1.9 percent higher in April than a year earlier, the weakest reading since October 2009.

The drop in PPI was due to a 1.4 percent decline in energy prices, the biggest drop since October. Gasoline costs slumped 1.7 percent while prices also fell for residential natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas.

Wholesale prices excluding volatile food and energy costs rose in line with economist’ expectations, up 0.2 percent after March’s 0.3 percent gain.

Fueling gains in the core index, wholesale pharmaceuticals prices gained 0.4 percent. Higher prices for civilian aircraft also pushed up core prices.

In the 12 months to April, core producer prices increased 2.7 percent after rising 2.9 percent the previous month. April’s reading was the lowest since August and just below analysts’ expectations.

(Additional reporting by Richard Leong in New York; Editing by Theodore d’Afflisio)

Posted by Jessica Huseman on April 30, 2012 03:16 PM

With the number of families who have left their homes due to foreclosure, rental properties are continually scarcer. This — if you believe in supply and demand — means higher rents.

Information released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Monday indicated that housing vacancy rates declined in the fourth quarter as more people moved into rented homes. The proportion of families renting has now reached a 15-year high, while homeownership reached a 15-year low.

Families who lost their homes to foreclosure related to financial pressures may be in for another nasty shock. The less rooms for rent, the more they cost.

“We expect strong demand and constrained supply to contribute to rental inflation of 3% or so in 2012, and for landlords’ rental yields to improve to 5.75%,” Capital Economics analysts said. “That would comfortably beat the yields available on Treasurys.”

In other words, rents are rising. While this is great for landlords and multifamily investors who stand to make a nice profit, could families who moved to find a cheaper place to live be forced to downgrade even more?

Turns out, yes. According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the median rent was $721 per month in the first quarter of 2012, up 5.6% from a year earlier. There is no sign that prices will slow any time soon.

While this will make it more difficult for would-be renters to find a place to live, it may spell worse things for the economy as a whole. On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported the numbers could mean a boost to inflation.

“Actual rents influence what homeowners think their own homes would rent for. And within the consumer-price report, rents and owners’ equivalent rent account for 40% of the core index that excludes volatile food and energy items,” it said. “In March, yearly shelter inflation was running about 2.1%, setting a floor under core inflation, which was running at a 2.3% annual pace.

“According to the Fed’s own forecasts, core inflation (measured slightly differently than the consumer-price index) is expected to range between 1.8% and 2% by the end of this year. Hitting that target will be difficult if shelter inflation edges higher.”

So while rising rental prices might be a nag in the side of not-so-well-off homeowners, it may be a real problem for the economy as a whole.

To learn more about this article go to http://www.housingwire.com/rewired/rising-rents-mean-bad-news-renters-economy

jhuseman@housingwire.com
@JessicaHuseman

A PulteGroup survey of renters says more expect to buy homes in the next two years.

By Teresa Burney

They may have watched the value of their parents’ homes soar then crash. And, chances are, they know someone who is losing their home to foreclosure. Still, the hope of homeownership is alive among people who rent and want to buy, according to a recent survey by PulteGroup.

The home builder’s survey results showed that 60% of renters who say they want to buy a home in the future have increased their intent to buy compared to a year ago. And 61% of that group says they plan to purchase a home within the next two years.

It also indicates that homeownership continues to be as much an emotional desire as a practical one. Nearly half said they wanted to own a home because they would like being able to call themselves homeowners.

At the same time, 44% still said they thought buying a home is a good investment. And then there were the practical respondents, 36%, who said they wanted to own a home for more space. The percentages were similar across the country.

The results mirrored PulteGroup’s on-the-ground anecdotal information. “We are seeing a renewed sense of optimism, especially from young professionals and young families visiting our communities nationwide,” Deborah Meyer, PulteGroup senior vice president, said in a news release of the results. “In fact, in the first quarter of this year, sales and traffic for our Centex homes, which cater to the value-conscious and first-time buyer, saw a significant improvement over last year—yet another sign of an improving housing market.”

But the survey, which PulteGroup conducted with Russell Research, also identified deterrents to buying that these want-to-be owners say they face. The first is an age-old problem that pre-dates the housing recession. Just over half, 54%, said they don’t have enough money for the down payment.

A few other perceived barriers to buying a home also showed up in the survey. Just over a fourth thinks that renting is cheaper than buying, and just under a fourth are still worrying about their jobs.

The research company conducted online surveys for two groups, one that focused on current renters only and another completely random sample of people that included both renters and homeowners.

The results were similar in the two groups. In the random survey group, 65% of the renters said they plan to buy a home in the future and, of that 65%, 61% plan to buy in the next two years.

Teresa Burney is a senior editor for Builder magazine.

To learn more about this article go to http://www.builderonline.com/customer-segments/renters-more-optimistic-about-buying.aspx

By Les Christie

Buying a home may never get any cheaper than this. Several housing experts are predicting that this year will be the last chance for bargain hunters to cash in on the best deals of the weak housing market.

With home prices down 34% nationally since 2006 and mortgage rates at historic lows, homes have never been more affordable — but it won’t stay this way for much longer.

Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services, said he expects home prices to flatten out by the third quarter and start climbing by next year.

A number of factors will help bolster the housing market, he said, including a decline in the number of foreclosures and continued job growth. In addition, homebuyers will have better access to mortgages as they get their finances in order and improve their credit scores.

“This is a strong indicator that we will start seeing home price indexes, like the S&P/Case-Shiller, start to report home price increases this summer,” he said.

Prospective homebuyers who’ve been sitting on the fence shouldn’t worry if they aren’t quite ready to make the leap. Analysts are predicting that the initial price gains will be modest, at least, in most markets.

Read more at CNNMoney. http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/05/03/buying-a-home-wont-get-much-cheaper

Year-over-year, the number of completed foreclosures decreased about 19 percent to 69,000 in March 2012 compared to 85,000 in March 2011, according to CoreLogic’s National Foreclosure Report for March. Month-over-month, with the number of completed foreclosures in February 2012 at 66,000, foreclosures increased about 4.5 percent in March 2012.

On a quarterly basis, foreclosures decreased to 198,000 in the first quarter of 2012 compared to 232,000 through the same quarter a year ago.

Overall, since the start of the financial crisis in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.5 million completed foreclosures.

In addition to the yearly and quarterly decreases in completed foreclosures, the number of loans in the foreclosure inventory decreased by nearly 6 percent, or 100,000, in March 2012 compared to the year before.

“Since the foreclosure inventory is also coming down, this suggests that loan modifications, short sales, deeds-in-lieu are increasingly being used as an alternative to foreclosures to clear distressed assets in our communities. This is what was envisioned with the recent National Foreclosure Settlement, and can often be a better outcome for both borrowers and investors,” said Anand Nallathambi, CEO of CoreLogic.

Out of all homes with a mortgage, approximately 1.4 million homes, or 3.4 percent were in the national foreclosure inventory as of March 2012 compared to 1.5 million, or 3.5 percent, the same month a year ago, and 1.4 million, or 3.4 percent, in the prior month of February.

Delinquencies are also down, with the share of borrowers nationally that were more than 90 days late on their mortgage payment, including homes in foreclosure and real estate owned (REO) assets, dropping to 7 percent in March 2012 from 7.5 percent a year ago, and remained unchanged compared to the prior month.

“The overall delinquency level was unchanged in March, remaining at its lowest point since July 2009,” said Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist.

The distressed clearing ratio for March was up at 0.81 compared to 0.76 in February 2012. A higher ratio indicates a faster pace of REO sales relative to the pace of completed foreclosures.

As for individual states, strides were more notably made with non-judicial states.

“Non-judicial foreclosure markets like Nevada, Arizona, and California are experiencing significant improvements in their shares of delinquent borrowers. Some judicial foreclosure states are also improving, like Florida, but not to the extent of non-judicial markets,” said Fleming.

Year-over-year, the percentage of 90-plus delinquencies in Nevada decreased 3.7, while in Arizona the drop was 3.2 percent and in California 2.2 percent. Judicial state Florida saw a 1 percent decrease in its percentage of delinquent borrowers.

Highest % of Foreclosure Inventory

Florida (12.1 percent)
New Jersey (6.6 percent)
Illinois (5.4 percent)
Nevada (4.9 percent)
New York (4.9 percent)

Lowest % of Foreclosure Inventory

Wyoming (0.7 percent)
Alaska (0.8 percent)
North Dakota (0.8 percent)
Nebraska (1.1 percent)
South Dakota (1.4 percent)

Five States with the Most Foreclosures
(Over 12 months ending in March 2012)

California (150,000)
Florida (92,000)
Michigan (62,000)
Arizona (58,000)
Texas (57,000)

The five states account for 49.1 percent of all completed foreclosures nationally.

CoreLogic is a provider of consumer, financial and property information, analytics, and services to businesses and the government.

To learn more about this article go to http://www.dsnews.com/articles/foreclosures-down-to-69000-in-march-inventory-also-indicating-alternatives-being-used-2012-05-01?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

MERIDA, Mexico, Oct. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — “The demand for rentals in Merida, Mexico has never been stronger!” remarks LeAnn Roberts, Property Management Specialist with Mexico International Real Estate.

“A smart way to realize the dream of moving to Merida is to invest now and use the property as an income-producing rental until you are ready to make the full-time move,” suggests Mrs. Roberts.

LeAnn has witnessed an explosion of demand for nice rental homes in Merida’s charming Centro Historic District. “Currently, we just don’t have enough inventory of long-term rentals to meet the demand. There are many Europeans, Canadians and Americans looking for long-term rentals to occupy while they either shop for a home of their own or because they are waiting for the markets to improve in the USA, so they can sell their homes and then invest in Merida. Many of our current clients just bit the bullet on their homes in the North, took the loss and are here in Merida to start fresh.”

“This is a classic case of opportunity meets necessity. Many young income earners from the USA, Canada and Europe understand the advantages of investing in Merida now,” says Roberts. “Buying something now and utilizing it as an income property is a good strategy for entering this marketplace.”

While Acapulco, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Cozumel, San Miguel, Guadalajara, Baja and other popular Mexican resorts and cities have attracted expats for years, Merida has remained mostly unknown to the global expat community. Merida blipped onto the radar screen in just the last decade. International Living discovered Merida in the 90’s and started a surge of expat interest.

http://internationalliving.com/2010/04/09-yucatan-retirement-paradise/

The International Herald and New York Times have written extensively about the joys of Merida, including articles by dining and wine writer Mark Bittman, travel writer Kate Murray and travel writer Alice DuBois.

http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=merida+yucatan+mexico&more=date_all

Merida has graced the pages of Travel+Leisure, Fortune and Kiplinger magazines.

http://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/places-to-retire-abroad/2.html

Conde Nast Traveler 2011 Readers’ Choice Awards awarded Merida one of the top 3 cities to live in Mexico.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Conde-Nast-Traveler-Announces-prnews-3419698550.html?x=0&.v=1

HGTV’s International Home hunters has featured Merida several times:

http://mexintl.com/blog/beaches/merida-real-estate-market-shines-on-hgtvs-house-hunters-international.html

http://www.hgtv.com/house-hunters-international/hacienda-style-in-historic-merida/index.html

But isn’t Mexico dangerous?

According to study after study, statistical information, personal experiences and numerous articles, Merida is much, much safer than nearly any comparable US city. In fact, USA Today recently reported that the violent crime rate for the State of Yucatan in 2010 was less than Montana’s!

http://mexintl.com/blog/beaches/mexicos-violence-not-widespread.html

Location, Location, Location

Merida finds itself in a splendid geographical location – tropical and just about 25 miles from the Gulf of Mexico’s Turquoise Coast. Yes, it does get hot but it usually always cools off nicely in the evenings thanks to the breeze from the trade winds streaming off the Gulf. The winters are fabulous and the evenings from November – February can be chilly.

Mexico International’s YouTube page has numerous videos of Merida’s splendid homes, parks, neighborhoods, hospitals, dentist, doctors, restaurants and more. Senior Agent Arturo Novelo just released a great new video:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=MexicoInternational – p/u/62/46pVhh-9Vg4

For more information on life in Merida, please click on:

http://mexintl.com/

http://yucatantoday.com/

http://www.yucatanliving.com/

Contact:

Mitchell Jay Keenan, CRS
Broker/Director of Mexico International Real Estate
USA Toll-Free: 866 888 3025
Mexico: +52 999 920 6856
Email: miguelsmexico@gmail.com
Website: http://www.mexintl.com

Robert Reid
Lonely Planet author

Every week or so I get asked, ‘Is it safe to go to Mexico?’ I had always said, if you’re thoughtful about where you go, yes. But after my most recent trip there, I’m changing my answer… to a question:

Do you think it’s safe to go to Texas?

To be clear, violence in Mexico is no joke. There have been over 47,000 drug-related murders alone in the past five years. Its murder rate – 18 per 100,000 according to this United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime report – is more than three times the US rate of 4.8 per 100,000. Though Mexican tourism is starting to bounce back, Americans appear more reluctant to return than Canadians and Brits (5.7 million Americans visited in 2011, down 3% from 2010 – and, according to Expedia, more than four of five bookings were adults going without children). Many who don’t go cite violence as the reason.

What you don’t get from most reports in the US is statistical evidence that Americans are less likely to face violence on average in Mexico than at home, particularly when you zero in on Mexico’s most popular travel destinations. For example, the gateway to Disney World, Orlando, saw 7.5 murders per 100,000 residents in 2010 per the FBI; this is higher than Cancun or Puerto Vallarta, with rates of 1.83 and 5.9 respectively, per a Stanford University report (see data visualization here, summarized on this chart, page 21). Yet in March, the Texas Department of Public Safety advised against ‘spring break’ travel anywhere in Mexico, a country the size of the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy combined. Never mind that popular destinations like the Bahamas, Belize and Jamaica have far higher homicide rates (36, 42 and 52 per 100,000). Why the singular focus?

Before you nix Mexico altogether, consider these five things:

1. Mexico may be more dangerous than the US overall, but not for Americans.

According to FBI crime statistics, 4.8 Americans per 100,000 were murdered in the US in 2010. The US State Department reports that 120 Americans of the 5.7 million who visited Mexico last year were murdered, which is a rate of 2.1 of 100,000 visitors. Regardless of whether they were or weren’t connected to drug trafficking, which is often not clear, it’s less than half the US national rate.

2. Texans are twice as safe in Mexico, and three times safer than in Houston.

Looking at the numbers, it might be wise for Texans to ignore their Public Safety department’s advice against Mexico travel. Five per 100,000 Texans were homicide victims in 2010, per the FBI. Houston was worse, with 143 murders, or a rate of 6.8 – over three times the rate for Americans in Mexico.

3. And it’s not just Texas.

It’s interesting comparing each of the countries’ most dangerous cities. New Orleans, host city of next year’s Super Bowl, broke its own tourism record last year with 8 million visitors. Yet the Big Easy has ten times the US homicide rate, close to triple Mexico’s national rate.

Few go to Ciudad Juarez, a border town of 1.3 million that saw 8 to 11 murders a day in 2010 (accounts differ – CNN went with 8). It’s unlikely to ever be a tourism hostpot, but things have been quietly improving there. By 2011, CNN reported, the homicide rate dropped by 45%, and the first six weeks of this year saw an additional 57% drop, per this BBC story.

If that trend in Juarez continues all year, and it might not, the number of homicides would have dropped from over 3000 in 2010 to 710 in 2012. Meanwhile New Orleans’ homicide rate is increasing, up to 199 murders last year, equivalent to 736 in a city with the population of Juarez.

4. By the way, most of Mexico is not on the State Department’s travel warning.

The best of Mexico, in terms of travel, isn’t on the warning. The US warns against ‘non-essential travel’ to just four of Mexico’s 31 states (all in the north: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango and Tamaulipas). The warning goes on to recommend against travel to select parts of other states, but not including many popular destinations such as Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, the Riviera Nayarit, Cancun, Cozumel and Tulum.

Meanwhile, 13 states are fully free from the State Department’s warning, including Baja California Sur, Yucatan, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guanajuato and others.

5. Malia Obama ignored the Texas advice.

Of all people, President Obama and first lady said ‘OK’ to their 13-year-old daughter’s spring break destination this year: Oaxaca. Then Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum made snide remarks over that, perhaps overlooking that Oaxaca state has a smaller body count from the drug war than his home state’s murder rate (Oaxaca’s 4.39 per 100,000 to Pennsylvania’s 5.2).

Oaxaca state, not on the US travel warning, is famed for its colonial city, Zapotec ruins and emerging beach destinations like Huatulco. Lonely Planet author Greg Benchwick even tried grasshoppers with the local mezcal (Malia apparently stuck with vanilla shakes.)

So, can you go to Mexico?

Yes. As the US State Department says, ‘millions of US citizens safely visit Mexico each year.’ Last year, when I took on the subject for CNN, one commenter suggested Lonely Planet was being paid to promote travel there. No we weren’t. We took on the subject simply because – as travelers so often know – there is another story beyond the perception back home, be it Vietnam welcoming Americans in the ’90s or Colombia’s dramatic safety improvements in the ’00s. And, equally as importantly, Mexico makes for some of the world’s greatest travel experiences – it’s honestly why I’m in this line of work.

So yes, you can go to Mexico, just as you can go to Texas, or New Orleans, or Orlando, or the Bahamas. It’s simply up to you to decide whether you want to.

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/blog/2012/04/30/are-americans-safer-in-mexico-than-at-home/#ixzz1tpWvOYlP

By TIM McKEOUGH
Published: April 18, 2012

Q. What’s the best way to declutter my home before I show it to potential buyers? Can I leave packed boxes in a corner or do I need to move things into storage?

A. Even if your house hasn’t been featured on “Hoarders,” making an effort to clear out clutter and to ensure that your home is as neat and tidy as possible before opening your door to buyers is common advice in real estate circles. And for good reason, said Jeffrey Stockwell, a senior vice president with Stribling & Associates in Manhattan.

“It’s vital, because most real estate is aspirational, and buyers want to see themselves someplace better and more beautiful,” he said. “They want the feeling that if they move in there, it will be organized, clean and attractive. If they walk into a cluttered, messy space, there’s none of that feeling that life will be better.”

Even if your home is in good condition, Mr. Stockwell said, “if it’s cluttered, people will think it needs a renovation, and that lowers the value.”

But cleaning up isn’t always easy. “You’re parting with things that have emotional value, and that’s very difficult for people,” he said. “They understand the need to do it. It doesn’t cost much, if anything, and yet it’s really hard to get clients to do it.”

Packing personal belongings into boxes that remain in the apartment isn’t much of a solution. “If I go into an apartment and see a lot of boxes, even if they’re attractive boxes,” he said, “I immediately think there’s not enough storage space.”

Jeffrey Phillip, a professional organizer in New York, agreed that the boxes need to go.

“In Manhattan, you’re working with a very limited amount of space, and any space is prime real estate,” Mr. Phillip said. “Even if you shove boxes into a closet thinking you’ll make the living space look good, you’re detracting from the storage space, which is another valuable asset.”

You could move those things into a storage unit, he said, but “better yet, take that time to get organized.”

Gearing up for a move is a “perfect time to really edit yourself down,” he said. There are a number of advantages to doing so: “You’re going to spend less money for someone to move you, and you’re also going to spend less money on storage.”

Just “don’t expect to do it all in one weekend,” Mr. Phillip said. Give yourself a few weeks — or even months — to complete the task.

“It’s all about doing small projects, one at a time,” he said, rather than trying to tackle the entire home in one shot, which could be overwhelming.

Some areas where you can get quick results include wardrobes, kitchen pantries and drawers, and collections of CDs and DVDs. For the latter, even adding the discs to a binder and doing away with the cases can clear a substantial amount of shelving.

As Mr. Stockwell put it: “The rule of thumb is, be ruthless.” If you’re unsure about something, he added, “Get rid of it.”

International House Hunters
Episode HHINT-3704H

San Francisco based couple Betty and Karen are cooking up a business plan down in Mexico and all their friends are invited to the party. The Yucatan Peninsula is a hot locale for adventurous restauranteurs, but when home financing isn’t an option can these expat foodies find a colonial home to die for with enough cash left over to fund Betty’s venture in southern cuisine? Find out, with professional real estate agent Arturo Novelo, when Betty and Karen follow their dreams to Merida, Mexico.