| Analysis: US mortgage refinancing offers hope of stability
Amid the steady drumbeat of bad news for the US housing market, there are hopes that a recent dramatic fall in mortgage rates could help struggling homeowners refinance into cheaper loans, offering the prospect of much needed stability. But contrary to earlier periods when low mortgage rates prompted waves of refinancing activity, analysts say the silver lining could be tarnished by today's stricter lending standards, virtually closed securitisation markets and still high rates for non-conventional mortgages. All this while the dark cloud of falling house prices casts a shadow over new buyers. “Financing costs may have come down for some, but it would take an extreme optimist to see any break in the price slide," says Alan Ruskin, strategist at RBS Greenwich Capital.
'Disabled US satellite not a threat to Earth'
WASHINGTON: A disabled US spy satellite is likely to break into small pieces when it falls to Earth within weeks, posing little danger to humans, US government officials and space experts said on Monday.
Most, if any, debris that survives the intense heat of re-entry would likely fall into the oceans, which cover more than 70% of the Earth, White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. But he said the US government was monitoring the satellite's descent from orbit and examining different options to "mitigate any damage".
The US military could potentially use a missile to destroy the minivan-sized satellite in space, but one senior US defense official said that was unlikely for several reasons, including concern about creating space debris as China did when it shot down one of its satellites last year.
Foreclosures hitting Dane County hard
Mortgage foreclosures in Dane County leapt nearly 80 percent in 2007, matching the national increase as the local housing boom went bust and risky loans went sour. In 2007, there were 513 foreclosure sales scheduled with the Dane County Sheriff, compared to 286 in 2006, a 79.3 increase. That compares to a 79 percent nationwide increase, from 717,522 homes in 2006 to some 1.3 million in 2007, RealtyTrac, a California-based realty tracking company, reported Tuesday. Not all foreclosure lawsuits brought by lenders end in actual seizure of the property from borrowers, who sometimes manage to refinance debt or find a buyer before the property is sold out from under them. But neither are those who avoid foreclosure necessarily on sound financial footing. An 87 percent leap of foreclosure actions filed in Dane County Circuit Court over two years, from 478 in 2005 to 894 in 2007, points to an even larger portion of the community whose housing, and housing investments, are in jeopardy.
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