NEW YORK — Stocks slid the most since October on Monday, wiping out more than half of last week’s rally, on growing concern the global economic slump is deepening and consumers access to credit is shrinking.
General Electric Co. and Caterpillar Inc. lost more than 9.7 percent following a report that manufacturing contracted at the fastest pace in 26 years. American Express Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. fell more than 15 percent on Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney’s prediction that credit card companies will cut available lending by 45 percent, or more than $2 trillion.
"The economic news is going to continue to get worse before it gets better," Leo Grohowski, the New York-based chief investment officer for the wealth management unit of Bank of New York Mellon Corp., which oversees $158 billion, told Bloomberg Radio. "The biggest single challenge in terms of the economy is the state of housing, and it still remains precarious."
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index sank 8.9 percent to 816.21, with financial stocks in the index tumbling a record 17 percent as a group. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 679.95 points, or 7.7 percent, to 8,149.09 with all 30 companies declining. The Nasdaq composite index declined 9 percent to 1,398.07.
The U.S. economy entered a recession last December, the panel at the National Bureau of Economic Research that dates American business cycles said Monday.
The S&P 500 has tumbled 44 percent this year as credit losses and writedowns at the world’s largest financial firms approach $1 trillion and analysts forecast the slump will be one of the worst in the post-World War II era.
GE, the world’s biggest maker of power-generation equipment, slid $1.67 to $15.50. Caterpillar, the largest maker of bulldozers, retreated $4.41 to $36.58.
The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index dropped more than forecast to 36.2, the lowest since 1982. A reading of 50 is the line between expansion and contraction.
"The bad news is still very clearly front and center," Jeffrey Palma, head of global equity strategy at UBS Securities LLC, told Bloomberg Television. "Anyone who is looking for good news on the economy is going to have to wait a while longer free credit report."
American Express slid $3.67 to $19.64. JPMorgan lost $5.54 to $26.12.
"Card companies will reduce lending by more than $2 trillion over the next 18 months in a dangerous and unprecedented move for U.S. consumer spending," Oppenheimer’s Whitney said.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley plunged 17 percent and 23 percent respectively after Credit Suisse Group AG said the slowdown in investment banking and trading will force the New York firms to report fourth-quarter losses and weaker results for 2009.
Energy producers in the S&P 500 slid 10 percent as oil tumbled more than $5 a barrel and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said slowing global growth means demand will be much lower than expected a month ago. Crude oil for January delivery declined 9.5 percent to $49.28 a barrel in New York, the lowest closing level in more than three years. OPEC deferred a decision to reduce output until its next meeting, Dec. 17.
Hess Corp., the fifth-biggest U.S. oil company, dropped 19 percent to $43.71. Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the nation’s second-largest independent oil producer, lost 8.4 percent to $37.60. Merrill Lynch cut its recommendation on 11 energy stocks, including Schlumberger Ltd., whose shares lost 17 percent to $42.08.
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., the world’s largest publicly traded producer of copper, retreated 13 percent to $20.91. U.S. Steel Corp., the biggest U.S.-based steelmaker by 2007 sales, dropped 16 percent to $25.64.
Limited Brands Inc. had the biggest drop in at least 26 years, tumbling 19 percent to $7.57. Citigroup Inc. analysts cut the owner of the Victoria’s Secret lingerie chain to hold from buy, citing a 31 percent rise in the stock from Nov. 20 to Nov. 28.
S&P 500 retailers slumped 9.3 percent, the most since 1998.
Mentor Corp. soared 89 percent to $30.58. Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest health care company, will acquire the breast implant maker for $1.07 billion in cash. J&J slipped 5.6 percent to $55.33.
Third-quarter net profit at BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) more than halved due to higher provisions tied to the financial crisis, France’s biggest bank by market capitalization said on Wednesday.
The bad debt charge rose to 1.992 billion euros ($2.56 billion) during the quarter, higher than many analysts had estimated and four times as big as a year ago.
BNP said this reflected higher provisions in areas such as investment banking and its overseas businesses.
Net profit fell to 901 million euros, down 55.6 percent on a year ago. Analysts had on average forecast a net profit of 1.27 billion euros according to a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.
“The cost of risk was the main issue and was worse than expected,” said West LB analyst Christoph Bossmann, who kept an “add” rating on BNP Paribas shares.
Chief Executive Baudouin Prot said the bank was well placed to handle the tough market environment.
“The group’s ability to withstand the crisis, the attractiveness of its franchises and its sound financial standing enable it, in an environment that will remain difficult going forward, to grow its business units in order to continue servicing the real economy,” he said in a statement.
In total the crisis had a negative impact of 507 million euros on the third-quarter figures.
This included a hit of 289 million euros at its investment banking arm and an 87 million euro impairment charge at its American unit BancWest due to problems at U no fax pay day loans.S. lenders Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
TURMOIL TRIGGERED WRITEDOWNS
The market turmoil, which began as U.S. homeowners defaulted on mortgages, has hurt banks across the globe. Many governments, including France, have intervened with taxpayers’ money to shore up financial companies.
Smaller French rival Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has already reported an 84 percent fall in its third-quarter net profit, while Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a third-quarter loss.
In France President Nicolas Sarkozy has earmarked 360 billion euros for the country’s finance sector as part of an international effort to help banks survive the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression almost 80 years ago.
France has also agreed to lend 10.5 billion euros to the country’s top banks to encourage them to lend to businesses.
France has agreed to subscribe to subordinated debt issued by Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for 3 billion euros, BNP Paribas for 2.55 billion, SocGen for 1.7 billion euros, and for 1.2 billion by Credit Mutuel.
Illinois state regulators Friday shut down a bank owned by a group of Alton-area businesspeople less than three months after it was warned to change its ways over "unsafe and unsound" practices.
Meridian Bank, which was based in Eldred and had a branch in Alton, will go into receivership with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. All deposits have been transferred to National Bank, of Hillsboro, Ill., and Meridian’s five branches will re-open as National Bank branches today or Tuesday.
"The depositors of Meridian should look at this simply as the merger of two banks," said FDIC spokesman David Barr. "For them it will be business as usual, just with a new bank."
The FDIC brokered the takeover by National, which assumed all $36.9 million in Meridian’s deposits and bought about $7.55 million of Meridian’s assets, including buildings. Another roughly $31.6 million in assets, which likely includes loans and securities, will be absorbed by the FDIC, which will continue to collect payments on the loans and eventually sell them off, Barr said.
In July, Meridian reached an agreement with Illinois regulators in which it promised to stop "engaging in hazardous lending and lax collection practices." It also agreed to take steps to improve its balance sheet and oversight and install new management. It’s unclear how many steps in the 24-page agreement were reached before deadlines that set for mid-September and mid-October.
Barr said the decision to shutter Meridian was made by Illinois regulators. The state Division of Financial and Professional Regulation issued no public statement and a spokeswoman did not return messages Friday night.
In 2004, Meridian — then known as First Bank of Eldred — was bought by several Alton-area businesspeople, among them developer Clay Winfield and physician Dr. Timothy Kaiser. Winfield and Kaiser sit on the board of YTB International, a controversial online travel company based in Wood River. In 2006 the bank made a $2.5 million interest-only loan to YTB to expand its headquarters, a project being performed by a construction company owned by Winfield. In July, after the state stepped in, that loan was changed to more traditional terms.
In all, Meridian had $27.3 million in loans outstanding as of June 30. It’s unclear how many of them the state was concerned about, or which ones. Attempts to reach Winfield were unsuccessful and messages left at Meridian Friday evening were not returned.
Meridian had been expanding since its takeover by the Alton investors. In 2006, it bought branches in Carlyle and Altamont, Ill, for $23 million. And last year, it bought the deposits of National Bank’s branch in Carlyle.
Now those deposits are going back to National Bank. And Meridian is no more.
Regulators also shuttered Main Street Bank, based in Northville, Mich., on Friday. So far, 15 banks have failed in 2008.
More information for depositors is available at www.fdic.gov, or by calling 1-877-894-4713.
tlogan@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8291
Coca-Cola Co, the world’s largest soft drinks maker, offered to buy juice maker China Huiyuan for a hefty premium, marking the biggest takeover in China by a foreign company.
The all-cash deal of $2.5 billion, which still requires regulatory approval, values Huiyuan at nearly three times its closing price on Friday.
Coca-Cola, which has offset flat sales at home by expanding globally, dominates a growing Chinese diluted-juice market and now hopes to make inroads into an untapped pure-juice sector.
Major acquisitions have slowed to a trickle in past years in a fragmented Chinese consumer industry as companies grapple with fierce competition and a slide in margins. Local brand names are also known to resist foreign control, analysts said.
Huiyuan, more than one-fifth-owned by France’s Danone, controls 10.3 percent of a Chinese fruit-vegetable juice market that grew 15 percent last year to $2 billion freecreditreport. It’s followed closely by Coca-Cola with a 9.7 percent market share.
China is already Coca-Cola’s fourth-largest market and a crucial battleground with rival PepsiCo — it has twice Pepsi’s soft-drinks market share with 15.5 percent.
Coca-Cola is paying a high premium for a company it hopes will strengthen its grip on the domestic juice market, and it may have plans to sell Huiyuan’s drinks abroad, analysts say.
“The move is a big surprise to the market and the offer is super-generous,” said Lawrence Chor, analyst at Tai Fook Securities. “It’s very possible Coca-Cola will leverage the Huiyuan brand, acquire other Chinese juice makers, then boost their output for export.”
Just as John F. Kennedy set his sights on the moon, Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace.
The Nobel Prize-winning former vice-president said fellow Democrat Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain are "way ahead" of most politicians in the fight against global climate change.
Rising fuel costs, climate change and the national security threats posed by U.S. dependence on foreign oil are conspiring to create "a new political environment" that Gore said will sustain bold and expensive steps to wean the nation off fossil fuels.
"I have never seen an opportunity for the country like the one that’s emerging now," Gore told The Associated Press in an interview previewing a speech on global warming he planned to give Thursday in Washington.
Gore said he fully understands the magnitude of the challenge.
An investment that pays for itself: The Alliance for Climate Protection, a bipartisan group he leads, estimates the cost of transforming the U.S. to clean electricity sources at $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion over 30 years in public and private money. He also says it would cost about as much to build greenhouse gas-polluting coal plants to satisfy current demand.
"This is an investment that will pay itself back many times over," Gore said. "It’s an expensive investment but not compared to the rising cost of continuing to invest in fossil fuels."
Called an alarmist by some conservatives, Gore has made global warming his signature issue. He portrayed Thursday’s speech as the latest and most important phase in his effort to build public opinion in favor of alternative fuels.
Political action: Gore knows politicians fear action unless voters are willing to sacrifice - and demand new fuels.
"I hope to contribute to a new political environment in this country that will allow the next president to do what I think the next president is going to think is the right thing to do," Gore said. "But the people have to play a part." He compared his challenge to Kennedy’s pledge in May 1961 to land a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
Gore narrowly lost the electoral college in 2000 to Texas Governor George W cash advance. Bush after a campaign in which his prescient views on climate change took a back seat to other issues. In the 2008 presidential race, both the Republican and Democrat candidates support action to curb the gases blamed for global warming.
While dismissing a suggestion that he pulled his punches eight years ago, Gore said his goal now is to "enlarge the political space" within which politicians can "deal with the climate challenge."
To meet his 10-year goal, Gore said nuclear energy output would continue at current levels while the U.S. dramatically increases its use of solar, wind and geothermal energy. Huge investments must also be made in technologies that reduce energy waste and link existing power grids, he said.
Power shift: Gore’s proposal would represent a significant shift in how the United States gets its power. In 2005, the country produced nearly 3.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, with coal providing slightly more than half of that energy, according to government statistics. Nuclear power accounted for 21%, natural gas 15% and renewable sources, including wind and solar, about 8.6%.
Under current policies, coal’s share of electricity generation is only expected to grow by 2030, according to Energy Department forecasts, while renewable energy would still only provide 11% of the nation’s power.
Without action, the cost of oil will continue to rise as rapidly-developing nations like China and India increase demand, Gore said. Sustained addiction to oil will also place the United States at the mercy of oil-producing governments, he said, and the globe would suffer irreparable harm.
Government experts recently predicted that, at the current rate and without an international treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, world energy demand will grow 50% over the next two decades. The Energy Information Administration also said in its long-range forecast to 2030 that the world is not yet close to abandoning fossil fuels, despite their role in global warming.
While electricity production is only part of the nation’s energy and climate change problem, Gore said, "If we meet this challenge we will solve the rest of it."
If relief was the first emotion the would-be buyers of BCE Inc (BCE.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (BCE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) felt after Friday’s court decision allowing the $34.1 billion deal to proceed, anxiety may have been the second.
That’s because questions remain about whether the deal will now go through and, if so, at what price.
Pinning down final financial terms for the deal — with a June 30 deadline looming and credit markets tight — could still create trouble for the world’s biggest leveraged buyout.
The deal may be renegotiated at a lower price or may even fall through if the banks that committed to financing the debt portion and the private equity buyers of BCE, Canada’s largest telecommunications company, are unable to reach an agreement.
“In this credit market, that’s a hell of a lot of financing that has to happen and (whether the deal will get done) is a big question mark,” said Marshall Sonenshine, chairman of New York-based investment bank Sonenshine Partners payday loans lenders.
“Nobody should be cavalier in this market about predicting the completion of a $34 billion deal,” he said.
The once-frothy leveraged buyout market was knocked out cold by last summer’s subprime mortgage contagion, which eventually killed investor appetite for the high-yield loans and bonds used to finance such deals.
Wall Street banks were thus stuck with billions of dollars in leveraged loans and forced to write down the value of loans in a number of leveraged buyouts, leading to tension between them, the private equity buyers and target companies.
Angry about the price of gas? Just imagine paying for gas you don’t get.
Some alert consumers have noticed it over the years: A pump that seems to hesitate a second when the lever is squeezed. Anywhere from 2 to 6 cents tick off before the rush of gasoline starts. That’s what happens with a common, hard to diagnose and mostly ignored problem with the "check valve," which is supposed to make sure gas flows at the same time the price meter starts.
But even if your gas pump works, it can still be off as much as $5 for every fill up. Tests by local regulators allow a pump to charge as much as 6 cents more than the gas delivered in a five-gallon test.
Don’t blame the gas guys. Even consumer advocates say retailers may be losing as often as consumers and no one appears able to rig the meters. But the small "check valve" at the end of the multibillion dollar industry just wears out, and often goes unnoticed for months.
Regulators’ records show short staffing, particularly for financially struggling counties that try to inspect pumps every six months, but too often don’t even meet the one-year requirement in states like New York.
Federal standards require all gas pumps to start pumping gas as soon as the price meter starts, said Ken Butcher of the National Institute of Standards of Technology, part of the U.S. Commerce Department.
Bob Wolfram knew something was wrong when the pump he used in Davenport, Iowa, showed he put two more gallons of gas into his tank than the tank holds.
"I was low, but it wasn’t negative," said Wolfram, a 54-year-old engineer.
He reported it to a consumer Web site then took it to the government regulators, who acted promptly. But even then, the test showed the pump was only off a quart.
"I just kind of said, `What will they do next?"’ Wolfram said.
Correcting the problem depends on alert, well-informed consumers like Wolfram. It also depends on honest retailers who choose to pass along reports to regulators who must confirm the problem before an authorized repair company is called to fix it.
"There’s one Mobil owner, he tells clerks that if there’s a discrepancy within $5 to reimburse the customer," said C. Todd Godlewski, director of the Schenectady County Bureau of Weights and Measures in upstate New York, the agency that inspects pumps.
"Yes, it can be that much," he said.
A bad valve can also work against retailers, freezing the price gauge for an instant after gas starts. No one’s sure who gets gored more, or how deeply.
"Even one penny on the amount of petroleum pumped annually or weekly at a station would be several thousand gallons of fuel, and add that up," Godlewski said. "If you have a meter that is costing a customer, it adds up quite a bit."
The problem compounds the aggravation of record high gas prices. On Tuesday, the national average hit a record $3.51 per gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service free instant credit score estimator. That’s nearly 66 cents higher than last year, and rising.
"We’ll hear complaints about this quite regularly, usually several each week," said Jason Toews, co-founder of the independent nationwide Web site GasBuddy.com that tracks prices and complaints.
"It’s mostly about the principle of it," he said. He said the problem usually only costs a consumer pennies per fill-up, but that’s more than enough these days.
Toews discounts the conspiracy theories that blame the problem on retailers or the oil industry. Most retailers, he said, wouldn’t know how to alter the pumps to their benefit.
A New York Comptroller’s Office audit in 2000 found "many municipalities" statewide failed to inspect their pumps once a year as required (the best practice is two inspections every year) and that meters were corrected during testing, which could mask overcharging. Four years later, a follow-up audit found only partial resolution, partly because of too little staffing.
Bob Renkes of the Petroleum Equipment Institute based in Tulsa, Okla., has heard about complaints, "mostly when gas prices are high." He said meters "get looser over time," which could make them malfunction and start to count pennies before fuel starts pumping.
"I think our industry would love to replace anything that wears down," Renkes said. But the check valves aren’t a high priority when the industry is dealing with issues such as preventing identity theft when swipe cards are used, static electricity discharges and the 5% of retailers whose old mechanical equipment can’t register a price of $4 a gallon.
State and local regulators doubt any but the most ambitious consumers would contact them in case of a problem, even though the phone numbers are on inspection stickers. More likely, consumers fume and wonder if they were cheated, or report it to the manager of the gas station or convenience store.
"That’s what’s tough about this," said Jessica Chittenden, spokeswoman for New York’s weights and measures office that oversees local inspectors. "The two cents or whatever would go to the retailer."
Even when a report is made, and a local inspector is dispatched, the problem might not be fixed.
Chittenden said a faulty valve would likely work sporadically: "It’s very difficult to find it unless you are there every day several times a day."
Godlewski, the upstate New York inspector, said he’s found pumps off by as much as three times the 6-cent threshold. Because of it, his county this year is tracking pump problems and hopes to quantify it for the first time.
"You ask yourself," he said, "`If nobody said anything … and it’s run like that for six months, how many were taken?"’
Washington Mutual told employees Monday that it will exit the wholesale lending business and close home-loan centers nationwide.
Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings-and-loan association, is taking those steps to focus on delivering home-lending products to customers through banking stores and online, a WaMu spokesperson said.
Sara Gaugl, WaMu spokesperson, told CNN that the bank will no longer work with third party brokers. She said WaMu also will close its remaining stand-alone Home Loan Centers.
Gaugl said the company has not posted specific information about how many stores and employees will be affected.
The bank is close to a deal with private-equity firm TPG and other investors to receive a $5 billion investment, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The infusion would help WaMu meet its pressing capital requirements as the bank faces steep losses stemming from the housing crisis payday loan.
WaMu (WM, Fortune 500) shares rose nearly 30% in active trade in Monday’s session.
<subhead-metro3/>Illinois still can lead
the world in clean coal
Your article on the Taylorville Energy Center ("As FutureGen fizzles, a different clean coal plant awaits," Feb. 10) points to a critical fact: Despite the loss of FutureGen, Illinois still has a chance to be a global leader on clean coal.
Using cutting-edge technology that gasifies coal to remove pollutants, the privately financed Taylorville project would be the cleanest coal plant in the world, dramatically reducing the exposure to harmful environmental triggers of asthma and lung cancer.
At the same time, this $2.5 billion facility would create thousands of jobs, provide Illinois with a needed source of power, and reduce consumers’ energy costs by an estimated $190 million a year.
Indeed, the Taylorville plant could spur a renaissance for the state’s coal industry. Illinois is home to the second-largest coal reserves in the nation, but with FutureGen off the table and the state having recently suffered the shutdown of the Crown II and Monterey mines, the Illinois coal industry needs a shot in the arm that only Taylorville can provide.
As your article points out, legislation that would have allowed the project to proceed got bogged down last year in Springfield and no final action was taken.
Unlike FutureGen, however, the Taylorville plant is 100 percent within our state’s control. We urge the Illinois General Assembly to act quickly to secure our state’s energy future while doing right by consumers, the economy, and the environment.
This letter was submitted by Phil Gonet, president of the Illinois Coal Association; David Kolata, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board; Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO; and Angela Tin, director of environmental programs, American Lung Association of Illinois.
<subhead-metro3/>Job-transition story
was overly optimistic
This is in response to the article about the loss of manufacturing jobs in St. Louis ("Recession resilient: Why we may be able to bounce back faster this time," Feb. 24).
Obviously, this article was trying to put a positive spin on a negative situation. However, I thought that the article lacked much in the way of journalistic credibility by taking the easy way out. Instead of the underlying theme of, "Things aren’t so bad, right?" the article should have called a spade a spade by taking outsourcing businesses to task.
These corporations are systematically dismantling the foundation of modern American society. The manufacturing base (bolstered by strong union membership) brought decent incomes, benefits, job security and respectable pensions to an entire class of people for many years.
Instead of looking at it, like the ex-Chrysler worker does — that unions "priced ourselves out of business" — we should be pointing the finger in a different direction.
Corporations aren’t holding up their end of the bargain. Why should well-paid American workers be forced to "compete" with workers that make a fraction of the wages and the protections that our workers get?
There no longer are any truly "American companies" — but unfortunately, the American worker does not have legal protection or agility that corporations do to enforce their will paydayloan.
Instead of being ruled by law, morality, or even national sovereignty, today’s corporations make the robber barons of yesteryear look like amateurs by making the globe their personal chess game.
Additionally insulting is the way that their abhorrent behavior is justified by merely saying the words "free market" or "free trade" while hiding behind puppet groups like the WTO and the IMF and World Bank.
Worse still, these companies are given financial incentives to outsource, union bust and pay slave wages to those in developing countries while controlling their resources.
What good is a system that rewards corporations for devastating communities with plant closures and layoffs, lowering overall wages and tarnishing the quality of life for millions of Americans — nay, millions worldwide — let alone the damage we are doing to our environment?
The real question isn’t, "What is wrong with the American worker?" The real question is, "What is wrong with the system, and what can we do to change it?"
Tim Morin | Chicago
The writer works for a manufacturing company in Chicago.
<subhead-metro3/>Free trade agreements
need our attention
The article "Andean pact in limbo — again" (Feb. 19) highlights a classic Catch-22: Producers and traders are in a bind.
While the Andean Trade Preferences Program has many advocates, and the argument about long-range legislation makes sense, the whole package of Free Trade Agreements, or FTAs, needs our attention.
Mexican Catholic bishops issued a statement in January indicating the costs of NAFTA to rural communities: Loss of land, low prices for agricultural products due to subsidized U.S. and Canadian products and the breakup of family and culture. CAFTA is doing the same thing to Central America. We see the results here with mass migrations of workers seeking employment in the United States, having no alternatives at home.
Now the focus is on the Andean countries. As long as the trade agreements favor the U.S. to the detriment of the partner country, what could be a good thing turns into a nightmare.
One must focus especially the ongoing abuses in Colombia, where 3.8 million displaced people are forced from their homes: a disproportionate number are Afro-Colombian and indigenous people; families of union organizers, rather than labor leaders themselves, murdered so as not to count in the closely watched assassination statistics; purportedly demobilized paramilitaries resurfacing with new names and intimidating those in the act of defending human rights; and increased extrajudicial executions of civilians by members of the Colombian armed forces.
Congress needs to look at the big picture and create just trade policies. The current FTAs are destructive and inhumane.
Marilyn Lorenz | St. Louis
I’m trying to decide whether to sell my condo now and move into an apartment or try to hold out until the market is better. I want to sell because the condo is costing too much and my brother, who used to do repairs, passed away. In three years, when I retire at 66, I will move into an independent, senior apartment.
As long as you will not go into financial distress, hang on as long as you can. You probably will find that your cost of living in the condo will not differ much from what you will spend in a comparable apartment. Continuing to own also gives you benefits like tax deductibility.
Keep in mind that while you remain in your condo, your association fee takes care of most of the exterior and common elements pay day loans. The only luxury an apartment would afford you would be the service calls you can make for an interior repair.
If you feel the need to explore selling, I would suggest consulting with a seasoned Realtor for a competitive market analysis of your property. This will allow you to make an educated choice.
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