missionhillsprucal posterous

<blockquote class='posterous_long_quote'><div class="mceTemp" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;"> <dl class="wp-caption alignleft" style=""> <dt class="wp-caption-dt"></dt> <dd class="wp-caption-dd" style="TEXT-ALIGN: left;">Click for metro-level data.</dd></dl></div> <p>Median list prices rose by 0.7% in April from March to their highest level in nearly one year, even as the number of homes listed for sale stood at levels down nearly 19% from a year ago, according to a report released Wednesday.</p> <p>Compared with a year ago, median asking prices were up in 72 markets, flat in 14 markets, and down in 60 markets. But compared with the prior month, they were down in just five of those markets, according to Realtor.com.</p> <p>Asking prices were up by 25% from one year ago in Phoenix, by 15% in Miami, and by 10% in Washington, D.C. Prices were down by 8% in Chicago and Philadelphia. Compared with March, sellers’ prices were up by 7.9% in Minneapolis, by 4.7% in Detroit, and by 4.6% in San Francisco.</p> <p>Inventories of homes for sale rose by 2% from March but were down from one year ago in all but six of the 146 markets. Inventory fell by 53% in Oakland, by 47% in Phoenix, and by 39% in Atlanta.</p> <p>Meanwhile, median age of inventory listed for sale in April stood at 84 days, down by 11.6% from one year ago, meaning that homes listed for sale are staying on the market for less time. In Oakland, homes were listed for just 20 days, down by 55% from one year ago, while the median age of inventory in Denver stood at just 32 days.</p> <p>The Realtor.com figures include sale listings from more than 900 multiple-listing services across the country. They don’t cover all homes for sale, including those that are “for sale by owner” and newly constructed homes that aren’t always listed by the services.</p></blockquote>

<blockquote class='posterous_long_quote'><div class="mod-latarticlesarticletext mod-articletext" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 280px;"> <p>Foreclosure activity in the U.S. fell last month to its lowest level since the start of the credit crisis in 2007, driven largely by drops in states such as California, where the process occurs outside of the courtroom.</p> <p>Foreclosure filings – default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions – were logged on 18,780 homes, according to RealtyTrac.&nbsp;That was a drop of 5% from the prior month and a 14% decline from April 2011. One in every 698 U.S. housing units had a foreclosure filing during the month.</p></div></blockquote>

<blockquote class='posterous_long_quote'><div style=""> <div class="pic_caption"> <p>The 20120 Ducati Diavel </p><strong>Image Gallery (35 images)</strong> </div> <p /></div> <div class="article_body"> <p> </p><div class="g_unit"> <div class="ad"></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li>View all
</li></ul> <p> </p><p></p> <p>So here's what we understand a cruiser to be: a big, heavy, comfortable machine, with a gigantic twin-cylinder engine, preferably 1600cc or larger. Raked out forks to deliver stability at the expense of quick turning. Classic shapes to evoke the bad-boy, post Vietnam, Harley-riding outlaw gangs of the 70s, and low-set forward footrests that drag on the ground in the corners. Chrome everywhere, massive open exhausts, and lazy-torquey engines that emphasise foot-pounds over horsepower. Seats that look like saddles, and tanks that look like teardrops. Ornamental front brakes and strong rear ones.</p> <p>The cruiser market is massive and growing as baby boomers age and look towards iconic shapes and relaxed rides. Ducati clearly wanted in, as part of its efforts to diversify away from its sports-only image in recent years. And here's what it came up with: the Diavel.</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 353px;"></div> <p></p> <p>The Diavel Carbon, our test bike, looks like no cruiser you've ever seen. Its design is muscular and front-heavy, futuristic and foreboding - a far cry from a classic shape. Carbon fibre drips off its tank, front fender and rear seat cover, giving way to brushed metal and black paint finishes throughout. In place of the classic analogue cruiser gauges there's a twin digital dash, half LCD and half TFT screen.</p> <p>And the differences between the Diavel and the rest of the cruiser class only get wider from there. Lazy engine? I don't think so. It's the high-revving superbike engine from the 1198 sportsbike. In a class where 100 horsepower is an impressive figure, the Diavel makes more than 160. Old-school tech never had a chance on this bike - it sports every one of Ducati's electronic engine management goodies, from fly-by-wire, to traction control, switchable engine maps and a lovely digital menu of options.</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 353px;"></div> <p></p> <p>Even the brakes fly in the face of cruiser conventions; they're race-caliber Brembo monoblocs with ABS, and they combine with the Diavel's relatively high weight and long wheelbase to make this the fastest stopping Ducati ever built.</p> <p>The riding experience has been described as very confronting for cruiser traditionalists, and that's no big surprise. Our Ducati contact told us that Diavel test rides either sell the bike immediately, or bring people back white-faced and swearing never to touch the brand again.</p> <p>As primarily a sportsbike guy, I wasn't overly surprised by the acceleration - but it's certainly very fast, and with the front end so heavy, it tends to be the gigantic 240-section rear tyre that breaks traction before the front wheel leaves the ground - assuming you've switched the traction control off.</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 353px;"></div> <p></p> <p>On the gas, you're very glad of the stock seat design, which wedges you up against the tank and gives your butt a backstop as the bike fires forward like a bat out of hell. But on the highway, it's downright diabolical. To get any relief for your poor sweaty bum you've got to stand up or sit on the pillion seat.</p> <p>The Diavel out-handles any cruiser I've ever ridden by a large margin - ground clearance is quite decent and if you throw your body off the side you can get a decent lean angle going. On the other hand, that massive rear tire tends to talk to you a fair bit mid-corner, pushing back against you so you need to keep continual pressure on the inside bar to get around the corners. The further you lean, the more it pushes back, like a bad pillion.</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 353px;"></div> <p></p> <p>While the Diavel is fun in the twisties, it's not a quick bike compared to a sporty or naked. And it's not a relaxing cruiser either - the engine demands revs and throttle at all times, so it's important to keep your focus, or else you'll run it into a corner too fast to get its bulk around.</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 440px;"></div> <p></p> <p>So you're left with an odd machine full of contradictions. Treat it as a performance bike and you're disappointed - it goes and stops like a champion thoroughbred but slows you down in the turns. Treat it as a cruiser and it demolishes its class in handling, technology and pure nasty power output, but it's hugely uncomfortable on the freeway without the optional touring seat, and it demands that you ride it like a psychopath rather than a cool, laid-back cruiser guy.</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 353px;"></div> <p></p> <p>It doesn't belong in either class. The Diavel is like nothing I've ever ridden, alone in a class of its own. Lighter and quicker than a VMAX, racier but slower turning than an MT-01.</p> <p>And that makes it a significant bike - one that should definitely be on the test ride list for any prospective cruiser buyer, if you think you can handle it.</p> <p>Oh, and shooting a bike review makes for great still photography opportunities - check out our Diavel photo gallery to see the results.</p></div></blockquote>

<blockquote class='posterous_long_quote'><div class="entry-thumb entry-thumb-article-medium"><img title="Houses" class="attachment-article-medium wp-post-image" src="http://timecheapskate.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/houses1.jpg?w=360&amp;h=240&amp;crop=1" height="240" alt="George Peters / Getty Images" width="360" /> <div class="entry-thumb-meta"> <div class="entry-thumb-credit">George Peters / Getty Images</div></div></div> <p>Well, it’s only taken half a decade, but the moribund real estate market is finally starting to show signs of life. If you were thinking about making a move on a piece of property, right now is possibly the best time. You can still take advantage of low prices in most places around the country, and mortgage rates are at once-in-a-lifetime record lows: 30- and 15-year fixed mortgages are around 4% and 3%, respectively.&nbsp;<span></span></p> <p>Although prices are still near 2003 levels, the signs of an impending resurgence are everywhere you look. The number of people signing contracts to buy houses rose by around 4% in March, according to the National Association of Realtors, and is the highest it’s been in nearly two years.</p> <p>Many would-be homebuyers are surprised to find that one fixture of the bubble era is back: the bidding war. According to a recent survey of 28 housing markets conducted by the Wall Street Journal, there are fewer houses for sale in every single one of those places than there were last quarter. This relatively tight inventory in markets as varied as Sacramento, Phoenix and Washington, D.C., dictate that the law of supply and demand is going to kick in. Even in places like Long Island, N.Y., where there’s still a depressing 16-month buildup of housing supply (realtors consider six months’ worth to be a healthy number), the number of available homes is falling.</p> <div> <div> <div> <div> <div> <p>(<strong>MORE: </strong>Housing Math: Buying Is Now Cheaper Than Renting 98% of the Time)</p></div></div></div></div></div> <p>Buyers are no longer shying away from “distressed” properties; that is, short sales and foreclosures. The foreclosure specialists at RealtyTrac.com say there are even bidding wars on foreclosures, because investors know these rock-bottom prices aren’t going to last forever.</p> <p>An&nbsp;increase in short sales is actually a good sign: Short sales do less damage to their surrounding neighborhoods than foreclosures do, both because foreclosures drive values down further and often fall victim to neglect or vandalism. Short sales are also better for banks because they get distressed properties off their books faster and don’t have to pay as much in legal and administrative costs. In a recent blog post, RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist writes,&nbsp;”Banks have recently been given additional reasons to opt for short sales rather than foreclosure over the past 18 months,” and he forecasts what he describes as a “surge” in short sales this year. By some measures, it’s already begun: Short sales first eclipsed foreclosure sales in November, according to Bloomberg, and RealtyTrac data shows short sales climbed by a third from the beginning of this year as compared with the same period last year.</p> <p>(<strong>MORE:</strong> Market for Investment and Vacation Homes Has Been Booming)</p> <p>Part of what’s driving this movement is more buyers are snapping up properties as rental investments or as vacation homes for themselves. Vacation-home sales grew by 7% last year, as the rising cost of travel drove people to look at “getaways” closer to their primary residences. Trulia chief economist Jed Kolko tells the Wall Street Journal, “People choose second homes that are a shorter drive rather than a plane flight away.”</p> <p>Purchases of investment properties soared by 65% last year, with many buyers scooping up cheap foreclosures and renting them out. Data from real estate number-crunchers CoreLogic shows that the conversion of foreclosures to rentals will be more than a $100 billion business this year and for the next few years.</p> <p>People are starting to figure out the huge potential in this market: More than a quarter of all the houses sold last year were investment properties. Fortunately for such buyers, there’s also an unprecedented degree of demand for rental housing: Homeownership hit a 15-year low in the first quarter of this year, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and rent rates, which climbed an average of 5% last year, are historically high compared with the cost of homeownership.</p> <p>In some places, such as college towns, a buyer-investor often can make an even greater return on the purchase price of a house. In two-thirds of the places surveyed in&nbsp;Coldwell Banker’s College Home Listing Report, you can buy a three-bedroom house for under $200,000. SmartMoney.com points out if the kid renting the house is your offspring, you also can net significant tax savings by purchasing a home and then renting it back to them, thanks to more lenient rules about renting to a family member versus a stranger. (Gift tax laws let you give your son or daughter up to $13,000 a year toward offsetting the cost of those monthly bills, although tax experts recommend that you avoid commingling your accounts and keep a paper trail of canceled checks or rent receipts.)</p> <p>A new survey from home builder PulteGroup finds that 60% of people renting today would prefer to own their own homes, the Wall Street Journal says. This is good news if you don’t plan on being a landlord forever. When mortgage lending standards loosen, there will be pent-up demand from all those renters looking for a place to call their own. The desire to own a home is particularly strong among the so-called “echo boomers,” adults under 35 years old. This demographic made up 31% of home purchases last year, the National Association of Realtors says, but that’s still a relatively small slice of the roughly 62 million echo boomers in the United States.</p> <p>Of course, these young adults are also the same ones who have been clobbered by sky-high student loan debt and above-average joblessness, which is keeping some of them on the sidelines of the housing market. Economists say as they mature and attain more financial stability, more will make the transition from renters to homeowners. The desire for homeownership is there; an Urban Land Institute survey conducted in 2010 found that two thirds of 18- to 32-year olds expect to own their own homes by 2015. Even among the remaining one third, 70% say they’ll own a home at some point in the future.</p> <p>For Americans who either have cash to buy or a credit score good enough to obtain a mortgage, there’s still time to get a killer deal on real estate, but that window may be closing. If your finances can support it, now appears to be a great time to buy.</p></blockquote>

<blockquote class='posterous_long_quote'><p class="indent">May 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. home prices jumped 1.8 percent in March, the biggest monthly increase in at least two decades, as the housing recovery builds momentum, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said today.</p> <p class="indent">The rise from February exceeded all analysts’ estimates, which ranged from a decline of 0.2 percent to a gain of 0.7 percent. Compared with a year earlier, prices surged 2.7 percent, the FHFA said in a statement.</p> <p class="indent">Record-low mortgage rates, job gains and a dwindling inventory of properties available for sale have combined to strengthen demand for homes. Purchases of previously owned U.S. houses climbed 3.4 percent in April to a 4.62 million annual rate, the first increase in three months, the National Association of Realtors said yesterday.</p> <p class="indent">“Increased affordability and a somewhat smaller inventory of homes for sale are positively impacting house prices,” Andrew Leventis, principal economist with the FHFA in Washington, said in the statement.</p> <p class="indent">The FHFA report measures changes in real estate values using purchases of properties with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. It doesn’t provide a specific price for homes. The monthly increase was the largest in records going back to 1991, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The average estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 0.3 percent monthly gain.</p> <p class="center">Regional Gains</p> <p class="indent">Prices increased in every region, led by the area that includes Texas and Louisiana, with a 4 percent advance from a year earlier. Prices rose 3.9 percent in the region that includes Kentucky and Mississippi, and 3.6 percent in the area with Montana and Nevada.</p> <p class="indent">For the first quarter, prices rose 0.5 percent from a year earlier, the first annual increase since 2007.</p> <p class="indent">Demand for new U.S. homes increased 3.3 percent in April to a 343,000 annual rate from a revised 332,000 in March, the Commerce Department reported today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of economists was 335,000.</p> <p class="indent">As measured by the National Association of Realtors, the median home price was $164,800 in March. In April, it climbed to $177,400, the trade group said yesterday.</p> <p class="indent">“Prices are hitting a bottom,” Patrick Newport, an economist for IHS Global Insight in Lexington, Massachusetts, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “It’s good news because it means that consumer wealth that comes from a home is no longer dropping.”</p></blockquote>

<blockquote class='posterous_long_quote'><div style=""> <div class="pic_caption"> <p>100YSS will attempt to develop the capabilities needed for human interstellar flight in the next century to take us to other stars ( Image: Shutterstock)</p><strong>Image Gallery (2 images)</strong> </div> <p /></div> <div class="article_body"> <p> </p><div class="g_unit"> <A href="http://www.gizmag.com/voyager-1-spacecraft-edge-of-solar-system/17285/" target=_blank> Voyager 1, which is now in the outermost layer of the heliosphere that forms the boundary between the Solar System and interstellar space, is set to be the first man-made object to leave the Solar System. It has taken the car-sized probe over 35 years to reach its current point, but at its current speed of about 3.6 AU (334,640,905 miles) per year it would take over 75,000 years to reach our nearest star, Proxima Centauri. Despite the mind-boggling distances involved, DARPA has just awarded funding to form an organization whose aim is to make human interstellar travel a reality within the next century.</p> <p>DARPA awarded US$500,000 in seed funding to the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence to form 100 Year Starship (100YSS), an independent, non-governmental initiative that will call on experts from a variety of fields (artists and entertainers will get a say alongside scientists, engineers and others) to develop the capabilities for human interstellar flight “as soon as possible, and definitely within the next 100 years.”</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 423px;"></div> <p></p> <p>“Yes, it can be done. Our current technology arc is sufficient,” said Dr. Mae Jamison, a former NASA astronaut, creator of the winning 100YSS proposal and leader of the new organization. “100 Year Starship is about building the tools we need to travel to another star system in the next 100 years.”</p> <p>The first year of the ambitious project will involve searching for investors, establishing membership opportunities, encouraging public participation in research projects, and developing the visions for interstellar exploration.</p> <p>A public symposium will also be held in Houston, Texas, from September 13 to 16, 2012, in what will be an annual event “open to scientific papers, engineering challenges, philosophical and socio-cultural considerations, economic incentives, application of space technologies to improve life on Earth, imaginative exploration of the stumbling blocks and opportunities to the stars, and broad public involvement.”</p> <p>The 100YSS initiative will also see the establishment of a scientific research institute called “The Way” that will focus on speculative, long-term science and technology.</p> <p>“We’re embarking on a journey across time and space,” says Dr. Jemison. “If my language is dramatic, it is because the project is monumental. This is global aspiration. And each step of the way, its progress will benefit life on Earth. Our team is both invigorated and sobered by the confidence DARPA has in us to start an independent, private initiative to help make interstellar travel a reality.”</p></div></blockquote>

<blockquote class='posterous_long_quote'><div style=""> <div class="pic_caption"> <p>Tesla has announced the first of its Model S sedans will be delivered to customers from June 22</p><strong>Image Gallery (8 images)</strong> </div> <p /></div> <div class="article_body"> <p> </p><div> <p>Tesla Motors has announced it will begin deliveries of its long-awaited Model S sedan next month. The first customers to slap down a reservation for the battery electric vehicle will be put behind the wheel from June 22, a month ahead of schedule. And despite being just a month away from launch, the company also revealed a number of new features that will allow drivers to personalize the feel of their ride by using the car’s 17-inch touchscreen to adjust steering, suspension and regenerative braking settings.</p> <ul> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li></li> <li>View all
</li></ul> <p> </p><p>Through the touchscreen interface, drivers can lower the suspension to reduce drag, or raise it to clear speed bumps or when carrying a heavy load. The steering wheel turning resistance can also be adjusted, ranging from Comfort, Standard, and Sport, depending on whether you like a light touch or a bit of a workout.</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 528px;"></div> <p></p> <p>Additionally, in response to feedback, Tesla has made the car’s regenerative braking (which Tesla calls simply “Regen”) driver adjustable. Maximizing the Regen will apply more resistance when the foot is taken off the accelerator to increase the amount of energy being fed back to the battery and increase the car’s range. But for those that prefer the feel of less Regen and aren’t suffering any range anxiety, the Regen level can be reduced.</p> <p>As the Model S nears launch, Tesla has also released a graph showing the predicted range of the 85 kWh Model S (in ideal conditions) against constant speed, as calculated by a computer model.</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 528px;"></div> <p></p> <p>It reveals that a constant speed of around 20 mph (32 km/h) is expected to provide a range of just over 450 miles (724 km). That’s obviously not very practical in the real world and Tesla says it hasn’t achieved such a result in real world testing – but it is planning a prize for the first customer to go over 400 miles (644 km) on a single charge.</p> <p>At the more practical constant highway driving speed of 50-70 mph (80-113 km/h), the Model S should achieve a range of 250-350 miles (402-563 km) – an improvement over the 55 kWh Tesla Roadster and aided by the sedan’s drag coefficient (Cd) of approximately 0.24.</p> <p>Under the older 2-cycle EPA test procedure that blends 55 percent city cycle driving and 45 percent highway cycle driving, the Model S delivers a range of 320 miles (515 km). The new “5-cycle test” that includes a cold driving cycle that requires heater use, a hot weather cycle with air conditioning use, and a high speed cycle that takes the car up to speeds of 80 mph (129 km/h) with rapid accelerations, returned a range of 265 miles (426 km).</p> <p></p> <div class="article_img" style="HEIGHT: 353px;"></div> <p></p> <p>The first reservation holders will be able to put these figures to the test in just a month’s time when the first Model S sedans start making their way into customer garages. Orders for the Model S currently exceed 10,000, with the company expecting to fill 5,000 of these orders by the end of the year, so there’s sure to be plenty of real-world performance data before too long.</p> <p>The announcement marks a banner week for Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk, whose SpaceX company this week successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft into orbit headed for a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) atop its Falcon 9 launch rocket. This marks the first time a private company has sent a spacecraft to the ISS.</p> <p>Source: Tesla</p></div></blockquote>