John Stearns, a broker at American Fidelity Mortgage in Mequon,Ralph Lauren, Wisc. is chasing borrowers himself. But he’s finding out that many of them have already missed mortgage payments, have shaky credit or lost their jobs. So they don’t qualify for a new loan. Others simply don’t have enough equity in their homes.
And it’s not just 30-year fixed loans. The rate on the 15-year fixed loan, a popular choice for refinancing, dropped to 4.03 percent from 4.06 percent last week. That was the lowest on records dating back to 1991.
To be sure, the number of borrowers filling out applications each week is still about 40 percent lower than at the start of 2009. Rates were around 5 percent then.
And ultra-low rates have not convinced many people to buy homes. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that June sales of previously owned homes fell 5.1 percent from the previous month.
NEW YORK – The lowest mortgage rates in decades are just too good for some people to pass up.
About a quarter of refinancing activity is coming from homeowners seeking 15-year loans, said Jay Brinkmann, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s top economist. Many homeowers have made the calculation that paying off mortgage debt early is a wiser financial move than investing in savings accounts with minuscule interest rates or risking their money on the volatile stock market.
The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the total loan amount. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac’s survey averaged 0.7 a point for 30-year, 15-year and 1-year loans. The average fee for 5-year loans was 0.6 of a point.
___
AP Real Estate Writer Alan Zibel contributed to this report from Washington.
“A lot of people don’t qualify and they know they don’t qualify,” Stearns said.
Refinancing a home loan often requires the homeowner to pay thousands of dollars in closing costs. Many people either don’t have the money, or they can’t qualify for a loan. And rates have been low for such a long time that many people may have already refinanced. It is not in their interest to do so again to save a little bit more on monthly payments.
Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 3.79 percent, down from 3.85 percent a week earlier. Rates on one-year adjustable-rate mortgages fell to an average of 3.70 percent from 3.74 percent.
Still, the last time home loan rates were lower was during the 1950s, when most mortgages lasted just 20 or 25 years.
“We’re not getting the phone calls. We’re going after them,” said Mike Anderson, government affairs chairman for the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.
To calculate the national average,Hollister, Freddie Mac collects mortgage rates on Monday through Wednesday of each week from lenders around the country. Rates often fluctuate significantly, even within a given day.
Brokers are getting more business, but they have to work for it.
Rates on home loans have been falling since the spring. Investors worried about the European debt crisis have shifted money into the safety of Treasury bonds. That has forced those yields down and mortgage rates tend to track yields on Treasury debt.
Brokers are reporting rising interest in home refinancings as rates on a 30-year fixed loans have hit record lows in four of the past five weeks. This week the average rate fell to 4.56 percent, the lowest since mortgage company Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971.
Weekly applications to refinance home loans have nearly doubled in July from April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
“If they can get a $100 difference in their monthly payment, they are going for it. I had one guy who was very excited to save $33 a month after refinancing into a 15-year loan,” said Pava Leyrer, president of Heritage National Mortgage in Michigan.
And did I mention that its sized from an extra-small all the way up to 3X?! And the other good news? This style is so chic and timeless, you can wear it over and over again, and it will never go out of style.
I love this style of faux-fox from QVC. The vest is priced well at $79.80, and the greatest thing is that this silhouette is also available in red faux-fox and in chinchilla. Wear it with a pair of jeans, a nice knit and a slouchy hobo bag.
I have never seen a trend take off like this. Leave it to Rachel Zoe — who lives in sunny California, I might add — to find something that has captured everyone’s attention: the fur vest.
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Strapless floral print romper with four pockets and elastic stretch smocking at the neckline and waistline. Finished with a hidden zipper closure at the side. Length of Small romper: 24 inches, Inseam: 2.5 inches, Waist: 22 inches. 100% Rayon. Hand wash cold, hang dry. Imported. $29.40
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By Sasha Charnin Morrison for UsMagazine.com. To read more of the Recessionista blog, click here
Call this silhouette the hottest thing since leggings. The floral romper is on fire. From Audrina Patridge to Jessica Simpson, all the girls in Hollywood are mad for these light and delicate florals splashed onto a cute summer weight romper.
I like the color and the pockets on this Go Jane version. I also like how it works alone or with a lighweight cardigan or denim jacket. You can wear it jazzed up for evening with a high heel and some jewelry or during the day. It’s the perfect little uniform for hot summer days.
Buyer beware: not everyone can wear this shape. Make sure you get your proper size and that it doesn’t gather or stretch too tight across the back, the waist. I wish I had long legs,Christian Audigier, a flat belly and a smaller derriere but the reality is,NFL Jerseys, I don’t. However, what I would opt for in this shape though would be a solid in gauze or cotton.
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The cast of Jersey Shore is very close to signing on the dotted line for an enormous pay raise for the show’s third season, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
And everyone is expected to return for the show’s third go-round, a source tells UsMagazine.com:
Ka-ching!
PHOTOS: Jersey style hits Hollywood!
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The stars were expected to accept their amended offers by the end of the day Monday; they made $5,Nike,000 per episode during season one, and $10,000 for season two.
Season 2 of the show debuts July 29.
PHOTOS: Stars try out Snooki’s famous pouf!
Season-two production on MTV’s reality hit — scheduled to resume in Seaside Heights, NJ Monday — was stalled by contract negotiations. Snooki, the Situation and their housemates had asked for $30,000 an episode (a 200%) raise — and MTV countered “with a number that’s close to that figure,” The Hollywood Reporter writes.
VIDEO: Snooki wonders “what the hell happened” to her bod
But some stars may rake in more than others with the new deal. “Snooki and Situation would make the most,” the source tells Us.
“The entire cast will be returning to Seaside Heights for season 3. There were rumors that some cast wouldn’t return and that was the case at one point, but creators changed their minds.”
“Then second tier would be Vinny, Pauly D and Jwoww. The third tier would be Ronnie and Sammie.”
Shapiro told The Associated Press on Friday he had agreed to represent Lohan only if she does her jail time and complies with the terms of her probation.
The lapse prompted a series of crackdowns by the judge, including doubling Lohan’s bail to $200,000 when the monitor registered a .03 blood alcohol level after the star attended the MTV Movie Awards and afterparties.
Lohan denied she had been drinking that night.
___
Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this story.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects second reference to attorney Holley. This story is part of AP’s general news and entertainment services.)
Lohan has been required to wear an ankle alcohol monitor since late May, when she missed a court hearing. She claimed her passport was stolen while she attended the Cannes Film Festival in France.
The 24-year-old actress was sentenced to 90 days in jail earlier this month after a judge determined she violated her probation by missing seven weekly alcohol education classes since December.
Still, she has struggled with the terms of her sentence. In October, a judge extended her probation for another year and a prosecutor warned the actress she was facing jail time if she violated her probation.
Lohan has spent 84 minutes in jail and performed mandatory service at the county morgue.
He said he would help the actress get treatment to accomplish long-term recovery and sobriety.
“Ms. Lohan is suffering from a disease that I am all too familiar with,” said Shapiro, whose son Brent died in 2005. “Hopefully I can be of assistance.”
Shapiro, a key figure on O.J. Simpson’s legal “dream team” in 1995, confirmed Lohan was staying at Pickford Lofts,Juicy Couture shoes, a treatment center Shapiro founded after his son died of a drug overdose.
Lohan is scheduled to begin serving a 90-day sentence on Tuesday.
In representing Lohan,NFL Jerseys, Shapiro is replacing attorney Shawn Chapman Holley, another veteran of the Simpson trial in which the former football star was acquitted of the murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Holley resigned after saying Lohan’s sentence was harsh and unfair.
The plea came after a pair of high-profile arrests earlier that year.
Lohan pleaded guilty in August 2007 to two misdemeanor counts of being under the influence of cocaine; no contest to two counts of driving with a blood-alcohol level above 0.08 percent; and one count of reckless driving. She was sentenced to three years probation.
LOS ANGELES – Lindsay Lohan has moved to a substance abuse facility and signed legal papers hiring celebrity lawyer Robert Shapiro to represent her as she prepares to head to jail for violating probation in a 2007 drug case.
Shapiro filed papers in court signed by Lohan substituting him as her counsel.
The judge also ordered Lohan to spend three months in rehab after serving her sentence and continue to undergo random drug testing until her probation expires.
Shapiro has represented numerous celebrity clients.
Recent unconfirmed web reports claim the pair filed dueling restraining orders against one another. Not so, Grigorieva claims. “There is no restraining order against me, but my lawyers went to court and a judge granted a restraining order against him.”
Gibson’s rep has declined to comment on the ex-girlfriend’s claims.
PHOTOS: Hollywood’s most expensive divorces
The singer adds angrily: “There are so many lies being said about me. I was trying to keep things dignified wholesale and be respectful to the father of my daughter.brand clothing,Wholesale Y3, but what he is doing is cruelty.wholesale clothing.”
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Things are getting ugly between former couple Mel Gibson and Oksana Grigorieva.
Russian musician Grigorieva claims that the actor has stiffed her on child support for their daughter Lucia, nearly 8 months.
The Russian star also clarifies the nature of their split. ‘He didn’t dump me, I left him. I rescued my children wholesale and myself.”
PHOTOS: Hollywood’s ugliest splits
Grigorieva declined to go into further detail about their current battle, noting, “The truth will come out eventually. There are custody issues. What is happening to me is not fair.”
Gibson, 54, and Grigorieva, 40, split after a year of dating in April — just a year after he divorced Robyn, his wife of 28 years and mother to seven of his kids. Robyn’s settlement — Gibson was worth an estimated $900 million — was reportedly one of the most expensive in Hollywood history.
“He is not paying me a penny. Nothing,” Grigorieva tells British paper The Mail on Sunday. “I am having to live on credit cards and borrowed money. It is not a good situation.”
PHOTOS: Women who’ve been cheated on
One of the dominant color stories in fashion at the moment is one that’s more familiar from the makeup case than the closet—the warm, blush pink tones we’ve been in the mood for lately. Our senior market editor, Marina Larroude, picked the best of the women’s offerings in soft, cosmetic shades,Wholesale John Galliano Jeans, but I couldn’t help noticing, when the latest footwear collection by Duckie Brown’s Steven Cox and Daniel Silver for Florsheim came across my desk, that the duo’s feeling the look for guys, too. The classics-with-a-twist they’re offering this season are shot through with a color they’re calling chalk pink. It shows up as a suede buck and a wingtip brogue (pictured), as well as an accent color on tri-tone cap-toes wholesale and saddle shoes. A lot of guys fear pink (except the most hardened of the preppy WASPs.brand clothing, who can appreciate a good baby-pink polo), but, I think, as a sparingly used accent,Wholesale Prada Jeans, it looks fresh.wholesale clothing. It pairs beautifully with grays, navy, wholesale and light browns, but—unless you’re channeling Boy George in his eighties heyday—I’d steer clear of black.
There were proud parents aplenty at last night’s 2010 Pratt Institute Fashion Show. The evening’s honoree, Catherine Malandrino, gave a heartfelt speech thanking the fashion folk in her adopted New York City, then humbly handed off the baton, telling the young designers backstage that it was their turn to move fashion forward. One suspects they will—the many graduate sportswear collections that strutted down the runway featured everything from a natty take on English home counties gear (Abby Powell) to a camp take on rockabilly (Julie Ann) to Margiela-by-way-of-Beyoncé conceptual curve-skimming clothes (from the design trio twentyten). Then there was Michael Jackson, who arrived courtesy of costumer Rayneese V. Primrose’s award-winning “Thriller: Death to the Homecoming Queen” designs. Along with her Michael manque, who moonwalked down the catwalk in red leather and studs, Primrose had got up a model in a gigantic gothic gown as detailed in its frothy construction as much of what shows up at the couture (pictured above).wholesale clothing. (Style.com humbly submits that if Primrose does not immediately find employment in Hollywood or on Broadway.brand clothing, she should move to Paris wholesale and apprentice with John Galliano.) Even Primrose’s gown wasn’t as gigantic,Wholesale Juicy Couture t-shirts, however, as the showstopping number created by Eveningwear award winner Timothy Kuzmeski,Wholesale Dsquared clothing, which required two attendants to help move it down the runway. Kuzmeski had another showstopper up his sleeve, too—when all the designers came onstage for their bows, he turned up in a T-shirt hwholesale and-embellished with a sentiment that nicely summed up the evening. It said: “Thanks Mom + Dad!hdmi hdmi cable hdmi cable”
Just last Tuesday,Wholesale Coach jewelry Jeans, she Twittered that her idols are “Marilyn Monroe (RIP) wholesale and Angelina Jolie.”
“I know 24 is a young age to retire but you heard it here first I’ve #retired,” she added.
PHOTOS: Find out what your favorite ’90s stars are up to now!
You won’t be seeing Amanda Bynes on the big screen anymore.
PHOTOS: Amanda — wholesale and other stars — hit up fashion week!
Bynes rose to fame on Nickelodeon’s All That and her own comedy series, The Amanda Show. She starred on her own sitcom,Wholesale Ed hardy belts, What I Like About You, from 2002 to 2006. She’s also appeared in feature films such as She’s the Man and What a Girl Wants.
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PHOTOS: Do you like Amanda in this pink dress?
“Being an actress isn’t as fun as it may seem,” she wrote. “If I don’t love something anymore, I stop doing it. I don’t love acting anymore, so I’ve stopped doing it.”
Bynes — whose latest film, Easy A.brand clothing, hits theaters this fall — added, “I’ve never written the movies & tv shows I’ve been a part of. I’ve only acted like the characters the producers or directors wanted me to play.”
The actress announced Saturday on Twitter that she was retiring from acting at age 24.wholesale clothing.
Many of the looks, in rich reds, purples and chocolate browns, were entirely covered in sequins that glinted wildly under the flashes of hundreds of cameras.
But a gigantic golden lion sculpture?
Cross-town rival Givenchy went in the completely opposite direction, opting against a runway show and presenting designer Riccardo Tisci’s Mexican Day of the Dead-inspired collection of featherlight tulle, lace and silk in a museum-like setting.
PARIS – A several-story-tall golden lion — a modest homage to Chanel founder Coco, a Leo — presided over the luxury giant’s over-the-top fall-winter 2011 haute couture display Tuesday,Giorgio Armani, where models in sequin-covered sheath dresses and cropped jackets emerged from inside a giant pearl to trace figure eights between the towering feline’s oversized paws.
Why did Givenchy abandon the catwalk? According to the rumor mill, it was either a money saving measure or aimed at preventing the label’s ultra-wealthy clients from being targeted by kidnappers.
But the real answer, top staffers insisted, was much simpler: It was to allow potential clients and the media to appreciate the astounding intricacy of the hand-sewn, hand-embroidered pieces, some of which had taken nearly 1,000 hours to construct.
It’s true the collection’s 10 looks are impressively elaborate. Loosely inspired by Mexico’s el Dia de los Muertos celebrations, they’re feather-light confections of Chantilly lace and tulle, wispy ostrich feathers and duchess silks, given a hard edge by zippers, blinding gold crystals, alabaster beads and little chains that wind through the fabric.
A translucent bodysuit in buff tulle was embellished with cutout lace appliques mapping out the bones of the human body — the most expensive Halloween skeleton costume of all time.
A jacket in bone white leather was covered in beaded corazones sagrados, the bloody heart icons from Mexico’s Roman Catholic iconography.
An evening gown with a built-in corset glinted with golden crystals. It took 30 people working together two weeks to complete — the kind of embroidery work that demands much closer inspection than is possible as the looks go whizzing by in a runway show.
Following Tuesday’s media presentation, clients will get to give the collection a close inspection during one-on-one appointments with the label’s couture coordinator Wednesday. Get out your magnifying glasses, folks.
The looks were presented on mannequins dangling from a metal structure, like at an art exhibition — which was appropriate enough. A good, close look was all it took to confirm that outfits, born of the creative genius of designer Tisci and the skill of his seamstresses and embroiderers, were wearable art.
STEPHANE ROLLAND
It was a pared-down collection for Rolland, who last season delivered dresses that bristled with mosaics of plexiglass spikes, like a dinosaur’s armor. Where that collection was all hard lines and edges, Tuesday’s was about fluidity and liquidity.
Floor-length capes that were built into the long-sleeve sheath dresses fluttered like gently running water as the models walked. The train on a slate-colored evening gown jiggled like liquid mercury.
A short navy dress covered at the hemline and the cuffs by glinting black oblong shapes — made from rhinestone-studded plastic — looked like the deep blue sea washing up on a volcanic beach.
Rolland, who is among the most artistic of Paris couturiers,Levis, said he looked for inspiration to the rounded, hermetic creations of Indian-born sculptor Anish Kapoor, as well as to memories of a youth spent on France’s Cote d’Azur.
“As a kid, I collected everything, and I used to come back from trips to the beach with my pockets full of these round stones, whose smoothness I really liked,” he told The AP in a preview in his atelier.
Asked if a recent trip to the sea had brought back the childhood memories, Rolland responded. “It’s in me, so deep inside me that I don’t need anything to jog my memory.”
JULIEN FOURNIE
Night of the living dead has rarely looked as good.
With transfixed upward gazes and their smudged palms held forward like sleepwalkers, the models minced around the catwalk in long, lean gowns in translucent fabric, with strategically placed opaque paneling and covered in dark ink smudges. Scarlet Swarovski crystals glinted like fresh bloodstains dripping down the shoulders of one dress, while terrible scenes of Medieval torture — showing little figures on the stake — enlivened its hemline.
“It’s about violence against women and the strength it takes to overcome that and turn it into something beautiful,” Fournie told The AP.
The young Frenchman, who’s showing on the sidelines of the haute couture displays, was on-trend with his second-skin beige pants and a molded jacket covered in anatomical sketches that recalled Givenchy’s skeleton jumpsuits and his palette was steeped in the same somber shades of navy blue and black as Stephane Rolland’s.
ARMANI PRIVE
The man who’s built an empire on his impeccable taste turned out yet more refined elegance.
An army of blondes in identical honey-colored wigs minced their way down the catwalk in pencil skirts and second-skin evening gowns so slim they constricted the models’ gait. Plain-front trousers in caramel, taupe and gray were paired with swingy daycoats in matching hues and artfully folded paneling embellished lean bustier dresses.
Though less blingy than in seasons past, when it seemed that every conceivable surface was smothered in Swarovski crystals, the collection had just the right dose of sparkle. Rhinestones dressed up the collar of a cropped blazer — its shoulders standing at attention in the hallmark Armani salute — and a black A-line dress shot through with silver Lurex gleamed blindingly under the spotlights.
Still, the downside of a collection that stayed so close to the label’s hallmark style was that it was absolutely lacking in surprise: There was not a single look that could have raised eyebrows — even if there had been a non-Botoxed eyebrow still capable of being raised in attendance. (It appeared there was not.)
Surprises emerged with almost each look at French designer Julien Fournie’s living dead display, where one model, her face a smudge of white and charcoal paint, wore a halter-dress with built -in breasts in flesh colored leather with button nipples.
The French luxury supernova is known for its monumental sets, which recently included a giant bottle of its best-selling No. 5 perfume or a life-size barn with real — and really smelly — hay.
Another pitch-perfect collection — of plain-front pant suits in a neutral palette — graced the Armani Prive catwalk. The only flaw, really, was that there was none and that everything was tasteful and nothing was surprising.
Haute couture wraps up with a bang on Wednesday, with shows by Valentino and France’s former enfant terrible, Jean Paul Gaultier, whose theatrical high jinx is the stuff of fashion legend.
Extraordinary craftsmanship — the pillar of the wildly expensive, made-to-measure couture collections — was also on magnificent display at Stephane Rolland’s sea soaked collection. In deep blues and studded with rhinestone-encrusted stone shaped appliques, Rolland’s liquid silk dresses were technical and design marvels.
CHANEL
Uber-designer Karl Lagerfeld explained it was an homage to the house’s late founder, who was born in August under the sign of Leo. The beast, the creation of set designers from the Paris opera, snarled overhead as the models emerged in A-line dresses and sheaths fitted with cropped square-shaped jackets with half sleeves.
The show concluded with Lagerfeld’s favorite male model of the moment, Baptiste Giabiconi, escorting the bride — who traditionally closes couture shows — wearing a stuffed lion-head mask with his impeccable tuxedo.
“Those shapes make you look thin,” Lagerfeld told The AP in a post-show interview. “Plus they don’t pinch so they’re comfortable.”
GIVENCHY
Givenchy’s decision touched off rampant rumors, with fashion insiders speculating that the choice of a presentation was a cost-cutting measure or aimed at protecting potential clients from unwanted publicity. The house insisted it was mainly in order to allow the collection’s meticulously workmanship to shine.
“I tried to take a picture with my i-Phone but for this I definitely needed a Leica,” model Milla Jovovich, one of a bevy of A-list beauties gracing the front row, told The Associated Press. Other celebrity guests included “Gossip Girl” Leighton Meester and Jessica Alba.
That was spectacular, even by Chanel’s standards.
