Rate on 30-year mortgage ticks up to 4 percent

WASHINGTON (AP) — The average rate on the 30-year mortgage stayed hovered above the record low for a third straight week. But cheap mortgage rates have done little to boost home sales or refinancing.Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan ticked up to 4 percent from 3.99 percent. Six weeks ago, it dropped to a record low of 3.94 percent, according to the National Bureau of Economic...

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Rate on 30-year mortgage ticks up to 4 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The average rate on the 30-year mortgage stayed hovered above the record low for a third straight week. But cheap mortgage rates have done little to boost home sales or refinancing.Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan ticked up to 4 percent from 3.99 percent. Six weeks ago, it dropped to a record low of 3.94 percent, according to the National Bureau of Economic...

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Celebrity, Inc.

What can four drunk airplane passengers, first time parents, and a delightful new book called Celebrity, Inc. do for your wallet?Plenty.Let me start with the drunks and new parents. Monday night I boarded a very delayed flight from Houston to Los Angeles. Behind me were four 20/30-somethings boisterously swigging from "coffee" cups. (Our gate was across from a Cantina and you could practically smell...

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The Benefits Of Buying A Home With Cash

When a 62-year-old financial advisor bought a two-bedroom Manhattan  co-op recently, he showed up at the closing with a check for the full $970,000 purchase price. No mortgage? “The money I had in cash was sitting getting 0% interest,’’ explains the man, who asked not to be named. “It made absolutely no sense to borrow.”There were other benefits as well to buying for cash, he says. He figures...

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How to Buy a Home Without 20% Down

With housing prices and mortgage rates still near historic lows, now could be a great time to become a homeowner. I recently talked to a caller on our Financial Helpline who had a great credit score and could afford the mortgage payment for the home value she wanted since it would be about the same as her current rent. (In many parts of the country, it's actually cheaper to buy than to rent right...

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Pension Red Alert: 70% Of Pensions Are Never Audited

Chances are that your pension or 401k plan has never been audited. No one's checking annually to see if the money's really there. Worried yet? It should freak you out, in my opinion. According to regulators, seventy percent of the nation's pensions have never been audited.Lest you think I'm an alarmist, the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Labor earlier this year in his Semiannual Report...

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Report: Calif. stem cell agency needs overhaul

LOS ANGELES (AP) — California has transformed into a major player in stem cell research, but the taxpayer-funded institute responsible has "significant deficiencies" in how research dollars are distributed, experts said Thursday.A report by the Institute of Medicine found too many members on the board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine represented schools that won funding and recommended...

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Middle East beginning to embrace solar energy

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Covering nearly 300 football fields in a remote patch of desert, the Shams 1 solar project carries off plenty of symbolic significance for the United Arab Emirates. It will be the first, large-scale solar project in the oil-rich country when it is completed at the end of the year, and the largest of its kind in the Middle East. At full capacity, the 100-megawatt,...

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To the moon? Firm hopes to sell $1.5 billion trips

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attention wealthy nations and billionaires: A team of former NASA  executives will fly you to the moon in an out-of-this-world commercial venture combining the wizardry of Apollo and the marketing of Apple.For a mere $1.5 billion, the business is offering countries the chance to send two people to the moon and back, either for research or national prestige. And if you are an...

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UN conference adopts extension of Kyoto accord

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Seeking to control global warming, nearly 200 countries agreed Saturday to extend the Kyoto Protocol, a treaty that limits the greenhouse gas output of some rich countries, but will only cover about 15 percent of global emissions.The extension was adopted by a U.N. climate conference after hard-fought sessions and despite objections from Russia. The package of decisions also included...

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