For Families with Children the fall colors bring apple picking, pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating.
But as a parent, this season brings my biggest fears. Child Predators. Lucky for us Monroe County is pretty proactive when it comes to protecting our children. Convicted sex offenders in Monroe County are required to attend a meeting and movie night during trick-or-treat hours on Halloween.
One dream that, happily, doesn't seem to be going away is the one we Americans have of owning our own home. In fact, in spite of all the negative news we hear about housing, the percentage of Americans who own their home is still the second highest on record, according to the Census Bureau. Even better, new research reveals that up to two million people are planning to jump into the housing market in the next two years.
The study from a business-to-business media company confirmed that Americans place a high value on homeownership across demographic groups, across the country, even where there have been larger declines in home values. Given today's prices and super low mortgage rates, 72% of homeowners and 59% of renters polled said that right now is a "good" or "very good" time to buy! Another study found that 80% of homeowners plan to buy another home and most view homeownership as one of the best long-term investments.
>> This Week’s Forecast
BUILDING NEW HOMES, SELLING EXISTING ONES, CHECKING UP ON INFLATION...
This week gets us back to a look at the housing market. September Housing Starts are expected to be up a tad, just shy of 600,000 new homes a year. But analysts are predicting a slight dip in Existing Home Sales for September, although that figure should still hover near 5 million per year.With the Fed's easy money policies, we have to keep an eye on inflation. For businesses, prices are forecast up slightly for the month, as measured by the Producer Price Index (PPI). The Fed's big focus is always on the Core Consumer Price Index (Core CPI). This excludes volatile food and energy prices and is projected to be up a little, but well within the Fed's target range.
>> The Week’s Economic Indicator Calendar
Weaker than expected economic data tends to send bond prices up and interest rates down, while positive data points to lower bond prices and rising loan rates.