Lowest Interest Rates in over 60 Years

Lowest Interest Rates in over 60 Years 

The average rate on a 30-year fixed loan was 4.22% last week and 4.12% this week, according to Freddie Mac, near the lowest level in more than 60 years.

According to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) 9,314 single-family homes were sold in July, 2011, 12.68% more than the same month of the prior year. In addition, the average sales price for Michigan homes was $113,402, 2.97% more than July, 2010, making the average selling price over $105,000 for three months in a row.

Help for "upside down" homeowners

Help for "upside down" homeowners

The federal government is looking at how it could help a greater number of homeowners who owe more than their house is worth, refinance at today's low rates.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has been reviewing a program launched two years ago to see if it can be expanded so more homeowners could qualify. The Home Affordable Refinance Program, or HARP, allows people whose homes are underwater/upside down by as much as 20%, to refinance their mortgages at lower interest rates. However, there are still a large number of people who currently do not qualify for the program.

The program currently only covers (the refinance of) mortgages created before June 2009 and owned or backed by government-controlled mortgage buyers Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Borrowers also must be current on their payments. As of July, 2011, more than 838,000 homeowners had refinanced through the program, but officials had hoped at least 4 million Americans would take advantage of the program.

The History of Labor Day

The History of Labor Day

Labor Day: How it Came About & What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Source: http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm