U.S. economy: Consumer confidence, house prices slide
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Brought to you by the CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
The Conference Board reported that its confidence index fell from 57.2 in May to 50.4 in June thanks to the housing downturn, higher unemployment and the rising cost of food and fuel. The last time the index was this low was in February 1992, when the economy was beginning to recover from the 1990-91 economic downturn.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index fell by 15.3 percent in April from the previous April, continuing March’s 14.4 percent year-over-year decline. However, eight of the 20 cities included in the index experienced month-over-month increases in prices. That shows cities “are beginning to sort themselves into the bad and not-so-bad,” said economics professor and index co-founder Karl Case. “It’s not like the whole market is collapsing.”
California cities included in the index continued to experience price declines: In Los Angeles, the index fell 2.2 percent from March to April and 32.1 percent year over year. San Diego was down 2.6 percent for the month and 22.4 percent compared with April 2007, and San Francisco declined 2.2 percent in April and was 22.1 percent below last April’s index.
To read the full story, please click here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aX6aDvhPpltY&refer=home
U.S. home slump harder to reverse than usual – Harvard
- Homebuyers remain on the sidelines as they face the highest mortgage rates in nine months and stricter lending criteria. The Federal Reserve?s efforts to keep interest rates low with the hope of stimulating buyer activity has largely fallen on deaf ears as potential homebuyers watch prices continue to slide in many areas of the nation courtesy of a large inventory of foreclosed properties for sale.
- Director Nicolas Retsinas observed that housing markets “historically recover only after the economy has entered a recession and a combination of falling mortgage interest rates and house prices have improved housing affordability. It will take longer to rebound given the unusually high levels of foreclosures and constrained credit markets. The slump in housing markets has not yet run its full course.”
- The report concludes: “…if the economy slips into a recession or job losses keep racking up, household growth and homeownership demand could fall even more.”
To read the full story, please click here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2347133320080623?sp=true
California unemployment hits 6.8%
- California’s unemployment rate trails four other states: Michigan, Rhode Island, Alaska and Mississippi. Some 1.26 million Californians were unemployed in May, up 115,000 from April and 300,000 higher than in May 2007. The state posted a net loss of 10,900 jobs in May, primarily in construction. However, there were net gains in jobs in education and health services, natural resources and mining, information, leisure, and hospitality.
- The state’s employment situation could worsen later this year under the weight of state and local government budget cuts and a threatened actor’s strike.
- Economists say an employment recovery may be as long as a year off. That’s when the construction sector is expected to benefit from billions of dollars in public infrastructure projects approved by California voters.
To read the full story, please click here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-caljobs21-2008jun21,0,5760427.story
Fannie, Freddie Fail to Relieve Housing by Shunning Jumbo Loans
- Jumbo loans of more than $417,000 accounted for about one-third of the mortgage market last year and represented a fifth of all mortgage applications in May, sources say. Since March, however, Fannie Mae has packaged only $24 million in jumbo loans into securities while Freddie Mac has packaged about $220 million. Meanwhile, the two companies invested more than $32.4 billion to buy their own securities, according to regulatory filings.
- The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of REALTORS® (NAR) had projected the two companies would buy $150 billion in jumbo loans this year. UBS AG now predicts that total may be less than $74 billion. Freddie Mac has said it would buy between $10 billion and $15 billion in jumbo loans this year.
- The two companies own or guarantee almost half of the $12 trillion in U.S. residential mortgage debt. They experienced record losses totaling $11.8 billion over the last three quarters as mortgage defaults climbed to 30-year highs.
To read the full story, please click here:http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a57eFJtEHSHI&refer=us
Actor? Where to start?
So, you decided to move to Hollywood to pursue acting. There are a lot of scamming managers and agents who will be promising you roles in exchange for fees. They will tell you that you need to take pictures with their photographer, take classes with them…
When I came to Los Angeles (with BA in acting from one of the biggest acting universities in the world) I believed everyone. After getting burnt several times and after thousands of $$$ I opened my own management company and helped several actors to launch their career. It also helped me to become SAG by getting a voice over job. But the most important thing that I have learnt was how this business runs.
My suggestion would be that you choose a photographer that is not photographer for models, but for actors. Get photos in few different costumes (i.e. casual, business, soccer mom, hip…). Before the shoot write down life stories for each character that you feel you could play. Be honest to yourself. These back stories will reflect in your eyes. And eyes are the most important thing when casting director browses through pictures.
When you have headshots done you need to create a resume. Don’t put extra work on your resume!!! If you haven’t done anything yet, you might want to buy BackStage West and send out submissions for student movies. Or even easier, you might want to subscribe to http://www.nowcasting.com/ where you can submit yourself to various union and non-union projects.
A great website to find yourself a commercial agent is http://www.lacasting.com/
When you sign with an agent or a manager (you can find always updated list on http://www.nowcasting.com/) you will need to sign up to http://www.actorsaccess.com/
And don’t waste your life by coming to Los Angeles thinking that you are going to work full time as an actor from a day one. You need to find yourself a “real” job before you even pursue acting. If you are starved, desperate, occupied with an idea to earn big bucks… that will reflect when you are auditioning. And nobody in the industry has time to deal with your frustrations, desperations and insufficient experiences.
I’d love to hear from people about their first steps in Hollywood, about running out of money, being scammed, about getting a job…
Break a leg everyone!
