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I read a wonderful and helpful article the other day and thought it may be helpful to some of you parents who have children who are starting to explore cyberspace.

Please click on the below link and find great ways to begin to speak to your children about the internet.

If you found the below article helpful, please go back to my blog and let me know so I can continue to bring you more information like this.

Thank you.

http://www.symantec.com/norton/familyresources/resources.jsp?title=ar_start_the_talk#2

President Bush finally realized,  he is still the president. Just maybe this very much needed bailout can help stabilize the market without the threat of huge job losses.

CNBC coverage of a press conference by President George W. Bush in which he announces a $17 billion bailout for the auto industry.

At last, are we really close to the bottom of the housing market? Read the below message from William Raveis Mortgage’s own Executive Mortgage Banker Mark Hawkins. You decide. I believe we are extremely close if we are not there. If rates go any lower, the threat of deflation is knocking on the nation’s doors.

James Martin

SPECIAL UPDATE

Best Rates In Years:

Currently the mortgage rate environment is in the midst of quite a rally. Over the last week rates have plummeted following the Fed’s announcement that it will buy debt and mortgage backed securities from mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This news has caused rates to drop over 1/2 percent in the last week

The rates available currently are on par with the best rates that have been available at the all time lows in the market earlier this decade. This opportunity only comes around on very limited occasions.

Historically the best rates during the year arrive during the winter months of November, December and January. This has occurred like clockwork each of the last 4-5 years and we are definitely finding ourselves smack dab in that midst of that trend again this year. In fact, the deals out there are sweeter right now than they have been the last few years. I have on a few occasions over the last several days been able to quote refinance rates at 5.25% on a 30 Year Fixed product – with no points! This is an amazing rate!

More Positive Headlines:

Government officials have been under enormous pressure to help stabilize home prices and prevent foreclosures. At the same time, they don’t want to appear to be using taxpayer money to bail out undeserving individuals and institutions. As Fed Chief Bernanke stated, the solution may involve a “full range of coordinated measures” aimed at different aspects of the problem.

The government has already put many programs in place, and others are under discussion. The Fed and the Treasury have used billions of dollars to provide financial institutions with capital to make loans. Yesterday, the Treasury announced that it is considering a plan which would offer below-market mortgage rates for some loans used to purchase homes. The program being discussed involves the Treasury investing in MBS guaranteed by Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac, which contain purchase money loans at a specified rate (4.5% was the initial proposal). The lower rates will not be available for refinancing loans. There has been no indication that these loans will have special underwriting or eligibility requirements.

Keep in mind, the timing and the final form of this latest program is not known. As we have seen recently, most notably with the $700 billion TARP rescue plan, government programs can change significantly before their implementation. The incentive to execute such a plan is compelling, however. Lower mortgage rates make homes more affordable. As more people purchase homes, prices will stabilize more quickly and new home construction will pick up, giving the overall economy a much needed boost.

Mark Hawkins

Executive Mortgage Banker

William Raveis Mortgage

By Pierre Paulden and Caroline Salas

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) — Realogy Corp., owner of the Century 21 and Coldwell Banker brands, received a letter from a law firm that said it represents lenders and bondholders opposing the terms of a $1.1 billion debt exchange.

The letter accuses the company of “bad faith attempts to circumvent the credit agreement and the indentures,” particularly the company’s senior toggle notes due in 2014, Realogy said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated Nov. 24. The bondholders “allegedly hold a majority” of these notes, the filing said, without naming the bondholders or the law firm that sent the letter.

Leon Black’s buyout firm Apollo Management LP, which bought Realogy for $6.6 billion in April 2007, is trying to reduce debt by almost $600 million and stave off default at the Parsippany, New Jersey-based real-estate broker by asking bondholders to swap the securities for new debt at a discount. Realogy reported $209 million of losses in the last three quarters amid the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression.

“Companies decide by themselves what’s the best terms they think they can get away with and push the envelope and try to ram it through before people can organize and respond,” said Evan Flaschen, a partner at law firm Bracewell & Giuliani LLP in Hartford, Connecticut.

Flaschen said he was approached to represent bondholders in the exchange offer for Realogy and Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and was unable to because of conflicts of interest.

Harrah’s Offer

Harrah’s, the Las Vegas-based casino company acquired by Apollo and TPG Inc. in January, is offering holders of unsecured notes maturing from 2010 to 2018 as much as $2.1 billion of 10 percent second-priority senior secured notes due 2015 and 2018, according to a Nov. 14 statement. Holders can swap their debt for the new bonds at a rate of as little as 40 cents on the dollar, according to a copy of the offering memorandum obtained by Bloomberg News.

“Realogy intends to proceed with its previously announced refinancing transaction,” said Mark Panus, a Realogy spokesman, in an e-mailed statement. He said the company, in consultation with its counsel Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, believes there is no merit to the claims and will defend against any interference with the completion of the debt exchange.

Steven Anreder, spokesman for Apollo, declined to immediately comment.

Realogy is giving its noteholders the option to swap their securities at a discount for as much as $500 million in principal amount of new second lien loans that will mature in 2014, according to a news release dated Nov. 14. The invitation to participate in the second lien term loan will terminate on Dec. 11, according to the release.

Fiduciary Duty

The letter asserts the exchange constitutes “breaches of fiduciary duty by the board of directors and management of the company, in view of the identity of certain beneficiaries of the invitations,” according to the filing.

Holders of Realogy’s $875 million of 12.375 percent senior subordinated notes due in 2015 can exchange their debt at a rate of as much as 36 cents on the dollar. Investors holding its $1.7 billion of 10.5 percent senior notes due in 2014 can exchange their securities for as much as 50 cents of new loans. Owners of Realogy’s so-called pay-in-kind toggle notes maturing in 2014 can swap their debt at a rate of 47 cents on the dollar.

The 11 percent toggle notes have fallen 11 cents to 15.5 cents on the dollar since Nov. 13, the day the exchange offer was announced, according to Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

To contact the reporters on this story: Pierre Paulden in New York at ppaulden@bloomberg.net; Caroline Salas in New York at csalas1@bloomberg.net