I stumbled on this Seeking Alpha post that speaks my language, calling for us to beware of expert predictions.

It’s worth a read. It helps puts things into perspective. The problem is that people are manipulated into thinking whatever it takes to spend money. the real question anyone should ask themselves is: “What do I really want?”. Sounds familiar? that’s coaching.

Yum, Yum! This is good news, all punds intended…

Long Beach will participates in Restaurant Week as part of dineLA’s Restaurant Week. The Long Beach Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Downtown Long Beach Associates and the City of Long Beach have invited some of Long Beach’s finest restaurants to offer prix fixe meals. Through February 1 and from February 3-8, restaurants will provide diners the opportunity to experience their cuisine, décor and service at preset prices. For more information, visit www.visitlongbeach.com.

Now that’s good news…

The Budget Oversight Committee will look to limit the salary increases it allows.

It looks like the city of Long Beach is serious about this issue that has aroused a lot of concern. The Budget Oversight Committee is expected to review tomorrow (January 29) an amendment to the salary ordinance, which will require the city manager to notify the city council of salary increases greater than “cost of living,” or the Consumer Price Index. Under the current ordinance, the city manager can raise annual salaries by up to seven percent. The meeting will begin at 4 p.m. at Long Beach City Council Chambers, 333 W. Ocean Blvd.

Source, The Long Beach Business Journal

“The package agreed upon by Congress would temporarily allow Fannie and Freddie to buy or guarantee mortgages as high as $729,750 in cities with high housing prices, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.” according to the Wall Street Journal.

This could change the playing field a little for first time buyers, if the rates remain affordable. The $729,750 limit would expire Dec. 31, but permanent for loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration. The current FHA is limited to $367,000.

One easy prediction about this year is that it will be an interesting one.

Source Calculated Risk.

It’s funny how I mentioned there were little news in the real estate market. That was until the Feds reacted to lower rates.

In this post from Calculated Risk, quotes Mathew Padilla saying: “We are nearing historic lows on these rates”. Will the fact that some lenders offering low rates of 5% for a 30-year fixed mortgage with a one-point fee on a conforming loan, which is up to $417,000 kick start the economy? It’s hard to tell yet.

With Californian foreclosures on the rise, the measures taken haven’t fully contained the problem. And judging from the increased level of spam from lenders I am getting, we are not out of the woods just yet.

Well, at last 2007 is over with the latest numbers for that last month.

Traditionally, that month is slow. We also know that one month isn’t accurate enough to draw a trend. You have to look at the whole year and match the numbers with the previous one.

Calculated Risk posted these two posts here, and here on the December numbers.

The first post talks about the expected slip: “Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – slipped 2.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate1 of 4.89 million units in December from a pace of 5.00 million in November, and are 22.0 percent below the 6.27 million-unit level in December 2006.” We can now see how the credit crunch has impacted the market.

The second post hints at numbers pointing to higher surplus as prices decline, an obvious result. The extrapolation would suggest sales will slow a little more.