Friday, 28 May 2010
After foreclosure: How long until you can buy again?
Some homeowners, no doubt, believe that the credit score hit is worth getting out from a deeply underwater mortgage. They may owe, say, $500,000 when their house value is only valued at $350,000. And, they figure, there's no way it will ever be worth what they owe so it's better to get out from underneath the burden.
After default, they reason, they can raise their FICO scores by paying all their bills on time and eventually finance another home purchase.
Don't count on it.
While homeowners who default due to economic hardship, such as a job loss or divorce, normally must wait two to five years before buying a home again, walkaways may face double that time.
"It could be well over seven or eight years before [walkaways] are able to obtain a mortgage to buy a home again," said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association.
"Credit scores are only one component of a complete credit decision," Brinkmann said. "[In these cases] credit scores are not a good indicator of their willingness to continue to pay their mortgage."
But future underwriters will scrutinize their records very closely, and if they find no precipitating factors leading to the defaults -- no job loss, no health issues --the repaired credit score won't overshadow the black mark of a walkaway.
"If you made a strategic decision to default on paying your mortgage, it will work against you," said Bill Merrell of the National Association of Review Appraisers and Mortgage Underwriters.
Merrell, who teaches underwriting, said banks are looking at several factors in determining whether to grant mortgages: the amount of money borrowers have in the bank; employment histories; payment history.
However, banks may be far more lenient if the default resulted from factors somewhat beyond the borrower's control, such as from local economic problems. "They'll give you more consideration if it's job related," he said. But, he added, banks look at strategic defaults "very negatively."
That said, it's not impossible to get a loan. Banks still want to make interest payments, so they might be willing to gamble with a walkaway.
"It might be a little more difficult for them to borrow, but [banks'] drive for market share -- to profit from making loans -- will trump that caution," said Keith Gumbinger, of the mortgage information publisher HSH Associates. "I don't think we'll see a full denial."
It's hard to foresee the state of mortgage lending six or seven months from now, let alone seven or eight years into the future. So lenders may look at applications from one-time strategic defaulters and say, "Yes, they walked away but it's a whole different market now," according to Gumbinger.
Even so, lenders may require more from borrowers who walked away than those who didn't.
"To the extent they could get a mortgage," said Brinkmann, "they can count on needing a heavy down payment."
The lenders may ask for 30% down or more. That would provide enough collateral cushion that the bank could get all or most of its money back in a foreclosure.
Strategic defaulters might also be charged higher interest rates, even above the levels other borrowers with similar credit scores would receive.
By Les Christie, staff writerMay 28, 2010: 3:54 AM ET
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Nokia and Intel birth mobile Linux baby
Fast march on Android
Intel and Nokia have released the first code from their joint mobile Linux project, MeeGo, an effort to challenge Google's Android.
Three months after the project was announced, the two companies have delivered MeeGo 1.0. Intel said it provides a stable core foundation for application development and a "rich user experience" on netbooks. MeeGo for touch-based handsets, tablets, and in-car systems is due to appear in June. MeeGo 1.1, which will combine code for netbooks and touch-based devices, is scheduled for October.
Announced in February, MeeGo combined the companies' respective Moblin and Maemo Linux mobile projects. They've transferred stewardship to the Linux Foundation so MeeGo doesn't die a death in some corporate backroom. And they're talking tough on patents in Linux - Microsoft's favorite bogeyman - saying they'll go toe-to-toe against Microsoft or anyone else over patents by defending MeeGo with their own, huge portfolios.
MeeGo 1.0 is based on the 2.6.33 Linux kernel, features the next-generation BTRFS file system, Nokia's Qt 4.6 SDK, and what Intel called "various other operating system tools."
Intel called out a "fast and rich" internet experience using Google Chrome but also highlighted support for the open-source Google Chromium, while saying the planned MeeGo Handset edition will use Mozilla Foundation's Fennec browser.
You can read more here. ®
By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco • Get more from this author
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Three months after the project was announced, the two companies have delivered MeeGo 1.0. Intel said it provides a stable core foundation for application development and a "rich user experience" on netbooks. MeeGo for touch-based handsets, tablets, and in-car systems is due to appear in June. MeeGo 1.1, which will combine code for netbooks and touch-based devices, is scheduled for October.
Such is the desire to beat Google's Android, which is now moving from smartphones onto other mobile computing devices.
Mobile Linux efforts come and go, but Intel and Nokia are determined to make sure that MeeGo sticks around. MeeGo aims to be mutually rewarding, to create a viable mobile Linux for Intel's new Atom processor that attracts developers, while giving Nokia an open-source option for smart devices that these same devs are actually interested in.Announced in February, MeeGo combined the companies' respective Moblin and Maemo Linux mobile projects. They've transferred stewardship to the Linux Foundation so MeeGo doesn't die a death in some corporate backroom. And they're talking tough on patents in Linux - Microsoft's favorite bogeyman - saying they'll go toe-to-toe against Microsoft or anyone else over patents by defending MeeGo with their own, huge portfolios.
MeeGo 1.0 is based on the 2.6.33 Linux kernel, features the next-generation BTRFS file system, Nokia's Qt 4.6 SDK, and what Intel called "various other operating system tools."
Intel called out a "fast and rich" internet experience using Google Chrome but also highlighted support for the open-source Google Chromium, while saying the planned MeeGo Handset edition will use Mozilla Foundation's Fennec browser.
You can read more here. ®
By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco • Get more from this author
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eBay enlists China and US post services
US auction site eBay announced a partnership on Friday with China Post and the US Postal Service in a new bid to re-establish itself in China, where the market is dominated by homegrown rival Taobao.com.
Under the plan, eBay hopes to woo Chinese merchants by developing shipping programs that make it easier for them to sell to US consumers, eBay officials said at a signing ceremony in Shanghai.
"The collaboration will make the most of the advantages of the three while helping expand profits," Jeff Liao, eBay's Greater China chief executive and head of Asia-Pacific cross-border trade, told reporters.
The partnership centres on an express delivery service to the US that will be run by China Postal Express and Logistics Corporation, part of China Post, and which will include online tracking systems, eBay said.
Liao said China's e-commerce market was growing very fast and was worth more than four trillion yuan ($A689.98 billion) last year.
He did not, however, say what eBay's share of that market was, saying only that its Chinese transaction volumes grew "between 50 and 100 per cent in 2009 and so far this year" and provided no specific figures.
The US auction site largely withdrew from China years ago after being overtaken by Taobao, part of China's largest e-commerce firm, the Alibaba Group, which also operates business-to-business marketplace Alibaba.com.
The American firm shut down its Chinese consumer website in late 2006 and folded its China operations into Eachnet, a joint venture run by Hong Kong's Tom Online Group, after Taobao won the lion's share of the Chinese market.
Unlike eBay, Taobao charges no commission to list items for sale and the site's revenue comes from advertising.
Starting as a consumer-to-consumer auction website, Taobao has grown into an online retailer that also features a growing number online shops run by big brands such as US computer maker Dell.
However, eBay is fighting to make a comeback in China, a market with more than 400 million web users, by refocusing on export-oriented Chinese merchants who are keen to reach overseas buyers through international websites.
The firm's current Chinese operations include eBay.cn, a Chinese platform targeting Chinese merchants - mostly small and medium-sized enterprises - by offering online training courses on international trade and listing tips.
It also runs Beibao.com, a Chinese version of payment site Paypal.
© 2010 AFP
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Under the plan, eBay hopes to woo Chinese merchants by developing shipping programs that make it easier for them to sell to US consumers, eBay officials said at a signing ceremony in Shanghai.
"The collaboration will make the most of the advantages of the three while helping expand profits," Jeff Liao, eBay's Greater China chief executive and head of Asia-Pacific cross-border trade, told reporters.
The partnership centres on an express delivery service to the US that will be run by China Postal Express and Logistics Corporation, part of China Post, and which will include online tracking systems, eBay said.
Liao said China's e-commerce market was growing very fast and was worth more than four trillion yuan ($A689.98 billion) last year.
He did not, however, say what eBay's share of that market was, saying only that its Chinese transaction volumes grew "between 50 and 100 per cent in 2009 and so far this year" and provided no specific figures.
The US auction site largely withdrew from China years ago after being overtaken by Taobao, part of China's largest e-commerce firm, the Alibaba Group, which also operates business-to-business marketplace Alibaba.com.
The American firm shut down its Chinese consumer website in late 2006 and folded its China operations into Eachnet, a joint venture run by Hong Kong's Tom Online Group, after Taobao won the lion's share of the Chinese market.
Unlike eBay, Taobao charges no commission to list items for sale and the site's revenue comes from advertising.
Starting as a consumer-to-consumer auction website, Taobao has grown into an online retailer that also features a growing number online shops run by big brands such as US computer maker Dell.
However, eBay is fighting to make a comeback in China, a market with more than 400 million web users, by refocusing on export-oriented Chinese merchants who are keen to reach overseas buyers through international websites.
The firm's current Chinese operations include eBay.cn, a Chinese platform targeting Chinese merchants - mostly small and medium-sized enterprises - by offering online training courses on international trade and listing tips.
It also runs Beibao.com, a Chinese version of payment site Paypal.
© 2010 AFP
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Brush Your Teeth or Get Heart Disease
People who have poor oral hygiene have an increased risk of heart disease compared to those who brush their teeth twice a day, finds research published today on the web site of the medical journal BMJ.
In the last twenty years there has been increased interest in links between heart problems and gum disease. While it has been established that inflammation in the body (including mouth and gums) plays an important role in the build up of clogged arteries, this is the first study to investigate whether the number of times individuals brush their teeth has any bearing on the risk of developing heart disease, says the research.
The authors, led by Professor Richard Watt from University College London, analysed data from over 11,000 adults who took part in the Scottish Healthy Survey.
The research team analysed data about lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, physical activity and oral health routines. Individuals were asked how often they visited the dentist (at least once every six months, every one to two years, or rarely/never) and how often they brushed their teeth (twice a day, once a day or less than once a day).
On a separate visit nurses collected information on medical history and family history of heart disease, blood pressure and blood samples from consenting adults. The samples enabled the researchers to determine levels of inflammation that were present in the body. The data gathered from the interviews were linked to hospital admissions and deaths in Scotland until December 2007.
The results demonstrate that oral health behaviours were generally good with six out of ten (62%) of participants saying they visit the dentist every six months and seven out ten (71%) reporting that they brush their teeth twice a day.
Once the data were adjusted for established cardio risk factors such as social class, obesity, smoking and family history of heart disease, the researchers found that participants who reported less frequent toothbrushing had a 70% extra risk of heart disease compared to individuals who brushed their teeth twice a day, although the overall risk remained quite low. Particpants who had poor oral hygiene also tested positive for inflammatory markers such as the C-reactive protein and fibrinogen.
"Our results confirmed and further strengthened the suggested association between oral hygiene and the risk of cardiovascular disease - furthermore inflammatory markers were significantly associated with a very simple measure of poor oral health behaviour," Watt said. "Future experimental studies will be needed to confirm whether the observed association between oral health behaviour and cardio vascular disease is in fact causal or merely a risk marker".
Submitted by LiveScience Staff
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Mental Illness Tied to Immune Defect
Bone marrow transplants cure mutant mice who pull out their hair compulsively. The study provides the first cause-and-effect link between immune system cells and mental illness, and points toward eventual new psychiatric treatments.
"We're showing there is a direct relationship between a psychiatric disorder and the immune system, specifically cells named microglia that are derived from bone marrow" and are found in the brain, said Mario Capecchi, professor of human genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine. "There's been an inference. But nobody has previously made a direct connection between the two."
The findings – published in the Friday, May 28 issue of the journal Cell – should inspire researchers "to think about potential new immune-based therapies for psychiatric disorders," Capecchi said.
Capecchi and colleagues showed that pathological grooming and hair-pulling in mice – a disorder similar to trichotillomania (trick-o-til-o-MAY-nee-ah) in humans – is caused by a mutant Hoxb8 gene that results in defective microglia, which are immune system cells that originate in bone marrow and migrate from blood to the brain. Microglia defend the brain and spinal cord, attacking and engulfing infectious agents.
Mice with pathological grooming appear to groom normally, but do so too often and for too long, leading to hair removal and self-inflicted skin wounds. The disease of pulling out head or body hair is common in humans; studies in seven international communities found trichotillomania affecting 1.9 to 2.5 of every 100 people.
In the key experiment, geneticist Shau-Kwaun Chen, Capecchi and colleagues transplanted bone marrow from normal mice into 10 mice that had a mutant Hoxb8 gene and compulsively pulled out their own chest, stomach and side fur. As the transplant took hold during ensuing months, grooming behavior became normal, four mice recovered completely and the other six showed extensive hair growth and healing of wounds.
"A lot of people are going to find it amazing," says Capecchi. "That's the surprise: bone marrow can correct a behavioral defect."
Nevertheless, "I'm not proposing we should do bone marrow transplants for any psychiatric disorder" in humans, he says. Bone marrow transplants are expensive, and the risks and complications are so severe they generally are used only to treat life-threatening illnesses, including certain cancers and disabling autoimmune diseases such as lupus.
Capecchi says that mice with the mutant gene that causes pathological grooming now can be used to study the surprising connections between the immune system's microglia cells and mental illness – and ultimately to produce new treatments.
"We think it's a very good model for obsessive-compulsive disorder," he says.
The researchers also transplanted bone marrow into normal mice from Hoxb8 mutant, hair-pulling mice. The normal mice started pulling out their hair compulsively. Normal mice transplanted with normal bone marrow kept grooming normally, while mutant mice implanted with mutant bone marrow exhibited severe grooming and self-mutilation. Half died, probably due to difficulty re-establishing mutant bone marrow.
Capecchi and colleagues also proved that reduced sensitivity to pain among mutant Hoxb8 mice is not the cause of the animals' compulsive grooming and hair removal, as some researchers had believed.
Mutant Microglia from Marrow Link Immunity and Mental Disorder
Capecchi says previous studies have linked the immune system and psychiatric disorders, but not in a cause-and-effect manner.
"If you look at people who are depressed, often you find their immune system isn't working normally," Capecchi says. And studies have shown that genes that confer a higher rate of depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and autism also "have something to do with the immune system," he adds.
The new findings "provide direct evidence for an association between neuropsychiatric diseases and dysfunction of the immune system or of the blood-forming system," says Capecchi.
Hox genes orchestrate embryo development. Hoxb8 is responsible for maintaining "myeloid progenitor cells," including those that give rise to monocytes, which are white blood cells that move from the circulatory system to the brain and become microglia.
It was surprising that the new study identified mutant microglia cells that originate in bone marrow as the cause of compulsive hair-pulling in mice. Researchers expected to find the mutant Hoxb8 in brain nerve cells that control grooming.
It is the first study to suggest "there is a connection between microglia and behavior – and a direct connection," Capecchi says.
Capecchi says nerve cells or neurons represent only about 10 percent of the brain, and the rest is made of various glial cells, including microglia. There are two kinds of microglia in the brain. Sixty percent are "resident" microglia that form in an embryo's brain even before the blood circulation system develops. The second kind of microglia in the brain – 40 percent of the total – originates in bone marrow, and then moves to the brain, circumventing the blood-brain barrier.
The geneticists believed the mutant microglia originated in bone marrow because they did not find them among the resident microglia present in the mouse brain at birth, but instead saw microglia with mutant Hoxb8 first migrate into the mouse brain two days after birth. To identify the cells in the brain with active mutant Hoxb8 genes, the researchers used a method that attached a fluorescent yellow-green label to such cells.
Pathological Grooming is Different than Scratching an Itchy Rump
Capecchi first reported in 2002 that mice with mutant Hoxb8 genes displayed compulsive grooming and pulling out the hair on their chest, stomach and sides. Over the years, some researchers attributed this to reduced pain sensitivity also observed in mutant Hoxb8 mice, apparently due to nerve damage in the spinal cord. The idea was that reduced sensitivity to pain would make mice scratch more in response to an itch. In the new study, the Utah geneticists concluded that compulsive grooming and reduced sensitivity to pain were due to separate malfunctions of the Hoxb8 gene; the bone marrow transplants that cured hair-pulling did not restore the loss of pain sensitivity.
Also, mutating Hoxb8 genes in microglia from bone marrow made the mice groom pathologically but didn't make them insensitive to pain. Mutating Hoxb8 in the spinal cord resulted in reduced sensitivity to pain, but not compulsive grooming.
Finally, in earlier studies of mice insensitive to pain due to mutant Hoxb8, the mice used paws to scratch too much and cause hair loss and wounds on their rumps, near the tail. But mice in the Utah study used their teeth to remove hair on their chest, stomach and sides. They followed a normal head-to-rear grooming pattern, but did it excessively.
To be Determined: How Mutant Microglia Cause Hair-Pulling
How do mutant immune cells from bone marrow cause pathological grooming?
All we know now is that there are 15 percent fewer microglia in the brain when Hoxb8 is mutant, Capecchi says. "In the next wave of experiments, we can ask how microglia affect behavior. We anticipate it has to affect neural circuitry in some way."
He speculates ways mutant microglia might trigger pathological grooming: The microglia could make cytokines that activate or inhibit nerve activity, and thus influence behavior. Because microglia have long extensions that "feel" the synapses that connect nerve cells, they might be involved in controlling nerve-signal transmissions, he says.
For now, "we have no idea which will be right," Capecchi says.
In Capecchi's 2002 study of mice with compulsive grooming, the researchers recorded the number and duration of each mouse's grooming sessions using a video recorder, which was very labor intensive to analyze. So in the new study, the mouse cages were placed on sensitive vibration-detecting platforms capable of distinguishing mouse vibration from different activities such as eating, drinking, grooming, climbing, sitting still, walking and scratching. They tested the method's accuracy by using a video camera to double check what the mice were doing at times.
The result: Mice with the mutant Hoxb8 gene spent about twice as much time grooming as their normal littermates.
The new study was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the National Institutes of Health. Capecchi is senior author. The first author is Chen, who recently completed a Ph.D. in human genetics. They conducted the study with human genetics postdoctoral fellows Petr Tvrdik, Erik Peden and Sen Wu; Gerald Spangrude, an internal medicine professor; and Scott Cho, a graduate student in Spangrude's lab.
Capecchi shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for developing "gene targeting" in mice, a method of knocking genes out of action to see what goes wrong and thus learn each gene's normal function.
Submitted by LiveScience Staff
posted: 27 May 2010 10:31 pm ET
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China boosts euro, makes stocks flying
The euro staged a broad rally and US stocks jumped 3 percent Thursday, after China said Europe remains a key investment market for its foreign-exchange reserves.
The People's Bank of China said a Financial Times report that Beijing was concerned about its euro-zone bond holdings was groundless.
The FT report had driven the euro to a near four-year low on Wednesday and cut short a rally in US stocks.
Stocks in Europe and emerging markets also jumped and crude oil prices jumped 4 percent as the perceived risk that China might change the composition of its foreign exchange reserves was reduced.
"Reports from the front suggested that investors might become frightened that China could do something drastic," said Douglas Peta, an independent market strategist in New York. "Getting some assurance that Chinese sale of European debts isn't imminent is making everyone feel better."
At the close of trade, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 284.54 points, or 2.85 percent, to 10,258.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 35.11 points, or 3.29 percent, to 1,103.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 81.80 points, or 3.73 percent, at 2,277.68.
Equity markets shrugged off a report showing the US economy grew at a slower pace than previously estimated in the first quarter as business investment slackened.
The euro gained 1.67 percent at $1.237 while the dollar fell against a basket of major trading-partner currencies.
On Wednesday the euro collapsed 1.5 percent against the dollar after the Financial Times reported China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) was meeting foreign bankers because of concerns about its exposure to debt troubles in Europe.
SAFE, the arm of the central bank, manages China's $2.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves -- the world's largest stockpile.
Crude oil prices posted their biggest two-day gain since mid-August, as a forecast for an intense Atlantic hurricane season fueled fears of disruptions in US supplies and spurred speculative buying. Oil had also risen more than 4 percent on Wednesday.
People's Daily Online / Agencies
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The People's Bank of China said a Financial Times report that Beijing was concerned about its euro-zone bond holdings was groundless.
The FT report had driven the euro to a near four-year low on Wednesday and cut short a rally in US stocks.
Stocks in Europe and emerging markets also jumped and crude oil prices jumped 4 percent as the perceived risk that China might change the composition of its foreign exchange reserves was reduced.
"Reports from the front suggested that investors might become frightened that China could do something drastic," said Douglas Peta, an independent market strategist in New York. "Getting some assurance that Chinese sale of European debts isn't imminent is making everyone feel better."
At the close of trade, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 284.54 points, or 2.85 percent, to 10,258.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 35.11 points, or 3.29 percent, to 1,103.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 81.80 points, or 3.73 percent, at 2,277.68.
Equity markets shrugged off a report showing the US economy grew at a slower pace than previously estimated in the first quarter as business investment slackened.
The euro gained 1.67 percent at $1.237 while the dollar fell against a basket of major trading-partner currencies.
On Wednesday the euro collapsed 1.5 percent against the dollar after the Financial Times reported China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) was meeting foreign bankers because of concerns about its exposure to debt troubles in Europe.
SAFE, the arm of the central bank, manages China's $2.4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves -- the world's largest stockpile.
Crude oil prices posted their biggest two-day gain since mid-August, as a forecast for an intense Atlantic hurricane season fueled fears of disruptions in US supplies and spurred speculative buying. Oil had also risen more than 4 percent on Wednesday.
People's Daily Online / Agencies
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