Cleveland Ranked Among the Smartest and Safest U.S. Cities

The Daily Beast determined their list of the smartest US cities by looking at a variety of factors, such as nonfiction book sales, the ratio of higher education institutions, and political engagement. Cleveland was given a score of 97 and ranked 31st (tied with West Palm Beach) out of 56 cities that were ranked. The Daily Beast listed Case Western Reserve University as one of the Cleveland's strong points.

The study by Forbes Magazine determined that Cleveland is the 10th safest city in the US. To determine the list, Forbes looked at the country's 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas across four categories of danger: violent crime rates from the FBI's 2008 uniform crime report, 2008 workplace death rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008 traffic death rates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and natural disaster risk, using rankings from green living site SustainLane. Cleveland was ranked behind cities such as Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee, Portland, Boston and only a few others.

I will stay if ... Cleveland Edition!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“I Will Stay If...” CLEVELAND Edition

A local event connected with GLUE’s “I Will Stay If…” campaign.

On Wednesday, November 18th, 2009, GLUE (Great Lakes Urban Exchange) invites you to join community members and leaders in a conversation about what makes a city sustainable, the continuing issues and challenges facing our city, and the new developments that are putting Cleveland on the map. What will make YOU stay? What IS making you stay? We want to know!

We invite all Clevelanders to join us for an evening of networking and idea-sharing. Co-sponsored by http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;Cleveland365.com, this unique and high energy event will feature dynamic speakers and an interesting forum for young professionals and community members to talk about new and exciting happenings in Cleveland. Participants in the program include Matt Zone, Ward 17 Councilman and driving force behind the new Gordon Square Arts District; Randell McShepard, VP of Public Affairs at RPM International, Inc., co-founder and chairman of PolicyBridge; and Lillian A. Kuri, Program Director for Architecture, Urban Design and Sustainable Development for the Cleveland Foundation and key player in the Greater University Circle initiative.

The Great Lakes Urban Exchange (GLUE) was founded by a Pittsburgher and a Detroiter to catalyze conversations across Rust Belt communities about (among other things) the loss of population and sustainable economic activity. After two years of hosting multi-state conferences, building networks online, and creating opportunities for urbanists across the region to connect with a variety of policy and organizing experts, GLUE launched its “I Will Stay If…” (IWSI) campaign in Detroit earlier this summer. Pittsburgh’s event “Why Pittsburgh?” was held in September. (http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;rustwire.com/2009/09/14/i-will-stay-if-comes-to-pittsburgh/) Cleveland is the third GLUE city to host an event and plans for similar parties in Buffalo and Milwaukee are in the works.

IWSI parties aim to bring together a diverse crowd of people in a GLUE city to participate in this vital conversation. In Cleveland, we want to know not only what will make you stay, but what is working for you already. Why are you here? How can we attract others like you? We are documenting the answers you give through a photographic exhibit that will travel our region. Eventually, GLUE will use the photographs as a non-traditional data set to share with policymakers. In the meantime, this event is an opportunity to celebrate everything that makes our city special, and the reasons we live here.

Cleveland’s own IWSI party, “I Will Stay If…” Cleveland Edition will take place at Speakeasy (1948 W. 25th Street-under the Bier Markt, 44113, http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;speakeasy216.com) on Wednesday November 18 from 5:30 – 8:30 PM. Please join us and participate in the IWSI documentary project with acclaimed local photographers Bryon Miller and Suzanne Cofer. Food and drink specials are available to event participants. $5 suggested donations are welcome at the door. For more information about GLUE, please visit http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;gluespace.org. To learn more about what’s behind IWSI, please visit http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;iwillstayif.org. For donor, organization and event information please visit our website http://www.facebook.com/l/b40d4;iwsicleveland.blogspot.com or contact iwsicleveland@gmail.com.

Rates on 30-Year Loans Remain Below 5%

Rates on 30-year loans remain below 5%

By Associated Press business staff

WASHINGTON -- Rates this week for 30-year home loans stayed below 5 percent for the second week in a row.

The average rate fell to 4.91 percent from 4.98 percent a week earlier, mortgage company Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Rates hit a record low of 4.78 percent in the spring, but are still attractive for people looking to buy a home or refinance.

The Federal Reserve has pumped $1.25 trillion into mortgage-backed securities to try to lower rates on mortgages and loosen credit. Rates on 30-year mortgages traditionally track yields on long-term government debt.

Last week, Congress passed a bill extending and expanding a key federal tax credit that has helped to boost sales.

Buyers who have owned their current homes at least five years would be eligible for tax credits of up to $6,500. First-time homebuyers -- or anyone who hasn't owned a home in the last three years -- would still get up to $8,000. To qualify, buyers have to sign a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30.

However, lenders remain cautious and credit standards are tough, so the best rates are available only to borrowers with solid credit and a 20 percent down payment.

Recent data show a housing market on the mend. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that third-quarter home sales outpaced the previous three months and the year-ago figures, and price declines are moderating. The same day, homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. said contracts for new homes rose 42 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter.

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, frequently in line with long-term Treasury bonds.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 4.36 percent from 4.40 percent recorded last week, according to Freddie Mac.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 4.29 percent, down from last week's 4.35 percent. Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages declined to 4.46 percent from 4.47 percent.

The rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for loans in Freddie Mac's survey averaged 0.7 point for 30-year loans. The fee averaged 0.6 point for 15-year, five-year and one-year loans.

Obama Signs Homebuyers, Jobless Assistance Bill

Obama signs homebuyer, jobless bill assistance

By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama signed a $24 billion economic stimulus bill into law Friday, giving tax incentives to prospective homebuyers and additional jobless benefits to those idled by the business slump.

The bill-signing came a day after the House, displaying rare bipartisan agreement over the troubling employment picture nationally, voted 403-12 to pass the measure. The Senate had approved it unanimously on Wednesday.

The White House said the law, which also includes tax cuts for struggling businesses, builds on provisions in the $787 billion stimulus package enacted last February to avert an economic meltdown.

"The need for such a measure was made clear by the jobs report that we received this morning," Obama said, citing Friday's government report the jobless rate hit 10.2 percent last month, the highest since 1983.

He called it a "sobering number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead" and vowed that "I will not rest until all Americans who want work can find work."

For their part, lawmakers stressed that the fourth unemployment benefit extension in the past 18 months was necessary because initial signs of economic recovery have not been reflected in the job market.

"The truth is that long-term unemployment remains at its highest rate since we began measuring it in 1948," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. About a third of the 15 million people out of work have gone at least six months without a job.

The law provides another 14 weeks of benefits to all out-of-work people who have exhausted their benefits or will do so by the end of the year, estimated at nearly 2 million. Those in states where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or above get an additional six weeks.

The Labor Department reported Friday that that employers shed another 190,000 jobs in October. Obama said job creation traditionally lags behind economic growth, but he acknowledged that is small comfort to those seeking work.

"So although it will take time and it will take patience, I am confident that our economy will recover," Obama said. "I'm confident that we're moving in the right direction. And I promise that I won't rest until America prospers once again."

Later, presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs sought to put the unemployment numbers in context.

"You've heard me say for months that we believe that 10 percent was going to come," Gibbs said. He said the White House is heartened by the decrease in unemployment claims and the fact that, overall, the economy is growing again.

"But I believe - I think most would tell you - that the (unemployment) rate is more likely than not to get a little worse before it gets better," Gibbs said.

The extra 20 weeks could push the maximum a person in a high unemployment state could receive to 99 weeks, the most in history. Unemployment checks generally are for about $300 a week.

The tax credits, added by the Senate, center on extending the popular $8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers that was included in the stimulus package. The credit, which was to expire at the end of this month, will be available through next June as long as the buyer signs a binding contract by the end of April.

The program is expanded to include a $6,500 credit for existing homeowners who buy a new place after living in their current residence for at least five years.

The cost of the unemployment benefit extension, about $2.4 billion, is offset by extending a federal unemployment tax that employers must pay.

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The bill is H.R. 3548.

IRS Flooded With Tax Credit Requests, Slowing Process; Fraud Investigations Underway

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer
cleveland.com/realestatenews

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Some home buyers who have requested a much-touted federal income tax credit are having to wait months to receive a refund check from the IRS.

A flood of amended tax returns and concerns about fraud have slowed the process for claiming the credit, which is aimed at first-time buyers.

As Congress works out the details of prolonging and expanding the credit offer, set to expire at the end of November, legislators are grappling with ways to make the program more efficient and less open to manipulation.

More than 1.4 million taxpayers have claimed upwards of $10 billion since 2008, when the government began offering a $7,500 credit -- a loan, really -- to people who had not owned a home in at least three years. Buyers would repay the money over 15 years. This year, Congress sweetened the package, turning the loan into an $8,000 tax credit that did not need to be repaid. To keep the cash, buyers just needed to stay in the home for three years.

The result: A boost for the moribund housing market. But along with that came a rash of fraud and innocent mistakes as people who were not qualified for the credit requested -- and received -- free government cash.

BY THE NUMBERS

A federal income tax credit has been available to first-time home buyers since 2008. It is set to expire Nov. 30.

Number of U.S. taxpayers claiming the credit:

1,426,554

Dollar amount:

$9.998 billion

Number of Ohioans claiming the credit:

48,776

Dollar amount:

$326.5 million

National rank: 33rd in terms of dollars per capita

SOURCE: Government Accountability Office (data through Aug. 22)

The Internal Revenue Service already has identified more than 160 possible fraud schemes, Linda Stiff, the agency's deputy commissioner for services and enforcement, told a U.S. House subcommittee last week. The IRS also is reviewing more than 100,000federal income tax returns that involve claims for the credit.

Recent government reports pointed out thousands of questionable claims, representing hundreds of millions of dollars. Some of the claims were filed by IRS employees. Others involved taxpayers as young as 4 years old.

As the IRS has added more fraud checks to its system, taxpayers are waiting longer for their money.

"We were getting the refunds in six weeks, and now it's taking about 20 weeks," said Marilyn Meredith, an enrolled agent who prepares tax returns in Port Huron, Mich. "The last two months is when it has really increased a lot."

Most people who buy houses this year are expected to request the credit on their 2009federal income tax return, filed in 2010. The IRS will apply the credit to whatever taxes a buyer owes and send the buyer a check for the difference. But buyers who want cash sooner have been amending their 2008 tax returns.

Those amended tax returns are filed on paper and processed manually. They go into a pool with other amended returns. The IRS receives 5 million to 7 million such returns each year, a spokesman said. Some buyers who asked for the credit in the spring are just hearing back from the IRS. And taxpayers who call to check on their refunds are being told to wait another few weeks, due to a backlog of returns and safeguards for fraud.

Filing for the credit requires no documentation of a home purchase. The form taxpayers fill out does not verify that they have not owned a home during the past three years -- a prerequisite for the credit. It asks only for the address of the home, the date of the purchase and the amount of the anticipated tax credit.

Rich Rhodes, an enrolled agent in Hinckley, tried to expedite a client's credit request by sending the IRS a settlement statement -- proof that his client bought the home. Meredith also has been attaching these statements to tax returns and writing on the forms that her clients have not owned a home in three years.

Some taxpayers are confused and probably are making mistakes on their returns, tax professionals said. People think they can request the credit before they buy a house -- not true. Others believe they can buy a home from a family member -- also prohibited.

In other cases, people are trying to fool the government. Jeffrey Schneider, an enrolled agent in south Florida, dumped two clients after they asked him to wrongly claim the credit on their tax returns. He wasn't surprised by the attempts to game a system that offers free money and requires little documentation.

"From what I've been reading, the IRS has egg on their face, all over them, because they put this nice credit out there and they get bombarded with fraud," he said.

Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, has introduced legislation to clear up some of those problems. His bill would require taxpayers filing for the credit to be older than 18 and to provide proof of their purchase. The legislation also aims to make it easier for the IRS to run the program and to check for fraud.

A local IRS spokesman would not comment on the fraud issues. During her testimony to legislators, the IRS's Stiff said the agency will keep pursuing people who wrongly request the credit. But, she said, "We cannot let fraudulent activity undermine a program that has benefited so many."

Buy This Renovated Home and Walk to the Brand New Capitol Theatre! (OK, Subtlety Is Not Our Strong Suit)

Last week, we wrote about the foreclosure rehab initiative that was spearheaded by four individuals at PURE and Civic Builders. We renovated, marketed and sold two of the three rehabbed homes in a down market. We're proud that we've added two new homeowners to the city of Cleveland, and renovated two houses that were previously in a sad, neglected state.

But we're not finished yet. We still have one house to go, located at 7212 West Clinton Avenue on one of the best streets in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood (and indeed, in the entire city). This street is walkable, full of homeowners and great neighbors, loaded with classic architecture and rehabbed homes, and steps away from the west side's newest arts movie theatre, the Capitol Theatre.

Inside, we've transformed the classic West Clinton colonial floor plan into a modern house, while retaining its historic features. The house has refinished top-nailed wood floors, a completely new, energy efficient mechanical system, a spacious floor plan, four bedrooms and two and a half baths. The master bedroom suite features a walk-in closet and a large, adjacent bathroom with a jetted tub and a beautiful walk-in shower. The fourth floor bonus room/media room/extra bedroom offers skylights with views of Lake Erie.

Please help us spread the word about this wonderful, rehabbed home. We'd like to sell it and add one more new homeowner to the city of Cleveland!