Housing’s Dead — Is It Time to Buy?

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BOSTON (The Street Ratings) — No one’s buying homes, never mind homebuilder stocks. Companies such as Pulte(PHM), DR Horton(DHI) and Lennar(LEN) may even be the most contrarian investment today.

The outlook for the housing market, as reported by the mass media, is not good. In case you’ve missed them, here are a few of the headlines from over the past several weeks:

“No recovery in sight for U.S. housing market”

“July real estate market fell short of expectation”

“Housing data shows sector is still weak”

To read the rest of the story, click here:

http://business-news.thestreet.com/berksmont-news/story/housings-dead-is-it-time-to-buy/11224534

Getting In And Out Of New York City Just Got More Expensive!

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Not to be outdone by the Delaware River Port Authority of Pennsylvania and New Jersey; the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is also raising bridge, tunnel and PATH fees.  Crossing the Hudson will cost you a lot more in September. People in New Jersey are getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop being sandwiched in the middle!

E-ZPass car tolls will rise from $8 to $9.50, cash tolls will rise from $8 to $12.  This is for peak-time.  By 2015, the E-ZPass car toll will be $12 and the cash toll will be $15.

Single-fare PATH train rates will increase .25 cents per year, over the next four years.

These increases are lower than initially proposed.  Both governors took credit for intervening on the side of the consumer.

The Port Authority has cut staffing to the lowest level in decades and made other improvements to cut costs.  However, both governors have called for an audit of the Port Authority citing fiscal mismanagement as the primary reason for the increases.  Overtime is out of control.

None of the nine appointed commissioners would speak with the press at the end of this morning’s hearing on the higher tolls.  One commissioner had his eyes closed during most of the meeting.  Always a nice touch, to show the public how deeply you care, when a commissioner sleeps through a public hearing.

Three State Universities Seeing Enrollment Decline

Three of Pennsylvania’s 14 state universities are projecting enrollment declines.

Mansfield is expecting 5 to 6 percent fewer students than last year.  Part of the decline is due to high paying jobs in the gas industry.  Mansfield is in the heart of the Marcellus Shale natural gas boom.

Clarion is expecting a decrease of about 5 percent.

Edinboro is projecting a few hundred less students this fall.

Indiana Univ. of PA is expecting an increase over last year’s record-setting enrollment.

Students can expect to pay about 9 percent more than last year to attend one of Pennsylvania’s 14 state universities.  An overall enrollment increase for the entire higher education system is expected, despite the three schools who are projecting lower enrollment.