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Archive for June 11th, 2009

Refinance, if You Can

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

What’s the outlook for rates?

Expect the 30-year fixed rate to hover near 5% for the balance of this year or, if the economy improves a tad, to creep up to 5.25%, says Keith Gumbinger, of financial publisher HSH Associates. HSH’s survey of lenders pegged the national average 30-year fixed rate at 5.01% in late April. The average 15-year fixed rate was 4.6% and the average 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage (which has a rate that’s fixed for five years, then changes every year after) was 4.98%.

Given that the spread is so narrow between a 30-year fixed-rate loan and a 5/1 ARM, and that rates are at historically low levels, it makes no sense to take out an ARM now.

Rates will rise when inflation heats up, but that’s not an immediate risk. Kiplinger’s forecasts that the rate of inflation will stay steady for at least the next couple of months.

Who qualifies for the best rates?

You’ll generally get the lowest rate on loans backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac — together they back about two-thirds of all mortgage loans — if you’re taking out a conforming loan, and if you have a credit score of at least 720 and equity of 20% or more. Other factors that will help: if the property you’re refinancing is the single-family home you live in, if you don’t take out some of your equity in cash when you refinance, and if you don’t take out a home-equity loan or line of credit. Of course, you can reduce your rate by paying points at closing. A discount point is equivalent to 1% of your loan amount. Paying one point usually lowers your interest rate by 0.25 percentage point.

What documents will I need?

To get the most accurate estimate of the rate for which you’ll qualify, provide a prospective lender with your FICO score ($8 with the Equifax report when you order free credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com) and an estimate of your home’s market value. You can get this from a real estate agent or from sources such as Zillow.com and Trulia.com, which will show you recent comparable sales in your area.

When you apply to refinance your mortgage, you must provide pay stubs from a recent month, two months of bank and other financial statements, two years of W-2s and, if you’re self-employed, two years of tax returns showing self-sustaining income. The requirement for all these documents contrasts with the “no-doc” or “liar” loans available during the real estate boom that allowed borrowers merely to state their income without providing proof.

You can take additional measures to speed up the process. Phoenix mortgage broker Tracy Tolleson urges his clients to fill out an application and pay for an appraisal (about $350) ahead of time. That can be particularly helpful if you’re delaying your application in order to lock in a lower rate. There is a brief lag in applications to lenders between the time rates drop and the point that lenders become swamped with new customers. With all your paperwork in order, you can beat the rush.

If you have a home-equity loan or line of credit, your current lender will have to document its willingness to “resubordinate” to your new first mortgage — that is, stand behind the first lender for compensation if you default.

Where should I apply?

Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, recommends calling at least several lenders, including credit unions in addition to the local branch offices of national, regional and local banks. Cecala says some banks’ divisions that typically serve only a bank’s more affluent customers (say, with $100,000 or more in deposits) now offer good deals to non-depositors.

Also, check with mortgage brokers. They may prove especially helpful if your needs or qualifications aren’t straightforward, says Cecala. If your application is declined, good brokers, who represent multiple lenders, will appeal the decision or take the application to another lender that may approve it.

Should I lock in the offered rate?

Locking in a rate is a good idea for a couple of reasons. First, if the mortgage pushes the limits of what you can afford, you want ensure that rising rates won’t torpedo the deal. Second, the risk that rates will change before the deal closes is higher these days because loans are taking so long to process. Because mergers and layoffs have decimated many lenders’ staffs, refis are taking an average of 60 days to close. Locking in a rate will cost you, of course — lenders usually add a quarter of a percentage point to your interest rate for every 30 days you lock in a rate, up to 90 days. Be sure to get it in writing.

Of course, rates may decline further. To take advantage of that, ask about a “float down” option. For example, if rates drop a minimum of 0.25%, you can capture the lower rate before you close on the loan. Lenders will usually charge you a $200 to $300 nonrefundable fee for the option, but it can save you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan if rates go down.

How much equity must I have?

Fannie and Freddie require just 5% equity in your home (more for a second home, investment property or a mortgage with secondary financing). However, you must get private mortgage insurance (PMI protects the lender if you default) if you have less than 20% equity.

In markets where home prices are declining, the mortgage insurers won’t cover conventional loans with less than 10% equity or jumbo loans with less than 15%. But PMI can be expensive — the less equity you have, the more costly it is — and the added cost could disqualify you from refinancing.

During the boom years, homeowners avoided PMI by taking piggyback mortgages — for example, a first mortgage for 80% of the home’s price and a second mortgage for the balance. That tactic has almost disappeared.

The PMI problem is one reason the Federal Housing Administration, long a haven for the credit challenged, is doing land-office business these days. In late April , the average 30-year fixed rate on an FHA loan was 5.02%.

With FHA, you can refinance with only 2.25% equity. FHA provides its own mortgage insurance, for which you’ll pay both an upfront and a monthly premium. FHA itself doesn’t impose a credit-score threshold, but some FHA-approved lenders require a minimum credit score, from about 580 to 620.

You should know that Fannie and Freddie generally set the limit for mortgage-loan payments at 36% of your monthly pretax income, unless you can prove you can handle more.

I’m underwater on my mortgage and my payment is killing me. What can I do?

Small consolation, but you have a lot of company: One in five homeowners now owes more than their home is worth, according to First American Core Logic. The goal here isn’t necessarily to lock in the lowest interest rate, but simply to qualify to refinance with a mortgage you can afford. You may have two options, presuming that you have a job and meet other qualifications.

The first is the Home Affordable program. Announced in March by the Obama administration, this helps homeowners who owe more than their home is worth and need a more affordable payment. The Home Affordable refi will feature a market rate of interest that’s fixed for at least five years.

It’s no panacea. You’ll qualify only if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns your current loan (to find out more, visit www.makinghomeaffordable.gov). The loan amount can’t exceed your home’s value by more than 5%. That limit disqualifies plenty of homeowners in distressed markets in California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida, where home values have plummeted. The program ends in June 2010.

The second is the Hope for Homeowners program. This may help if you’re at risk of default or already in foreclosure or bankruptcy. So far, these FHA-insured loans have had relatively few takers (recently only 51 of the loans had closed). That’s because the cost is high for both lenders and borrowers — although hopefully less onerous to both than the cost of foreclosure.

The Obama administration has proposed fixes to the program to make it more effective, including easing eligibility requirements for borrowers and reducing their costs. For more information about eligibility and where to apply, visit www.hud.gov/hopeforhomeowners.

What about jumbo loans?

As long as you can jump the hurdles to qualify and the loan you need falls within the limit for your metro area, conforming jumbos are readily available. In late April, the average 30-year fixed rate on a conforming jumbo was 6.36%, and the average 5/1 adjustable rate was 4.98%. The loan limit for conforming jumbos backed by Fannie, Freddie and the Federal Housing Administration is 125% of the median home price in your metro area — up to a maximum of $729,750 in high-cost areas.

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A Battle Plan for Refinancing Your Mortgage

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

With mortgage rates holding below 5%, there has rarely been a better time to refinance your home. But with a one-two punch of tighter credit and falling prices roiling homeowners, the process has never been more difficult.

In the Sacramento, Calif., area, Michael McGee of Winchester McGee Financial estimates that one in four of his customers can’t get a loan approved. In Plano, Texas, Rodney Anderson, a mortgage lender, says the rate sheet of mortgage programs he can offer customers has shrunk to two pages from 42 during the housing boom.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t investigate your options. Lowering your mortgage payment — or at least locking in a long-term low rate — can free up cash for other needs, such as repaying other debt or replenishing your retirement accounts, while reducing your financial stress.

In addition, if you’re older than 40, shortening your mortgage term now could help leave you mortgage-free in retirement, reducing the income you’ll need to generate from your battered 401(k).

But before you jump in, you should know that most single-family home loans today need to fall within Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac limits — up to $417,000 in most places, and up to $729,750 in certain high-cost cities such as San Francisco and New York. “Jumbo” mortgages, or those larger than those limits, are still very hard to find.

Then you’ll need two crucial and tough-to-acquire bits of information: your credit score and your home’s current value. Those will determine whether you can refinance at all and how close you can get to the lowest rates available. Even then, you may find the process unusually long and unpleasant; some banks are taking up to 90 days to complete a refinancing.

If you got your current mortgage in the past few years, when less documentation was needed, you may be surprised by the financial colonoscopy that awaits you. You will need pay stubs, bank statements, brokerage statements and maybe tax returns to convince the lender that you can and will repay the loan. If you’re self-employed, you may be asked for a profit-and-loss statement for this year; if you rely on bonus income, expect the lender to assume this year’s bonus will be a lot less than last year’s.

Here’s what you need to know before you start the application process:

What’s your equity? Having some equity in your house is key to getting a new loan. If your current mortgage is less than 80% of the value of your home or less than 75% of your condominium or co-op, you should have refinancing options.

If your mortgage is between 80% and 105% of your home value, you’re current on your payments and your loan was bought by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you may be able to refinance under a two-month-old government program called “Making Home Affordable.” Some kinks are still being worked out, and Fannie and Freddie have different requirements, so go to the program’s Web site or contact your mortgage servicer to see if you qualify.

Sometimes under this program, Fannie and Freddie will waive appraisals and other underwriting steps. And if you’re refinancing a Veterans Administration or Federal Housing Administration loan, a new appraisal isn’t needed.

Securing an appraisal. The trickier question: With home values sinking in some parts of the country, what’s your home worth? Appraisers may use foreclosure sales or other distressed sales in your area to assess your home’s value, not just conventional sales. And since the appraisal is for the benefit of the lender, not the consumer, you have little, if any, say in the process.

On May 1, a new Home Valuation Code of Conduct took effect, which is intended to keep mortgage brokers and others from influencing appraisal values. As a result, only lenders, not mortgage salesmen, may hire and pay appraisers, often using middlemen known as appraisal management companies.

The process is too new to know what the impact will be, but some mortgage lenders and brokers fret that national appraisal management companies may not know much about their areas. “We’re getting calls from Indiana about a co-op on 17th Street,” says Melissa Cohn, president of Manhattan Mortgage Co. in New York, one of the nation’s largest mortgage originators.

If you’re worried about what your home will be valued at, see if a friendly real-estate agent will provide you with recent similar sales in your neighborhood. Otherwise, you may have to fork over an appraisal fee — $350 to $500, depending on where you live — to find out if you have enough equity, even if you don’t qualify for the loan.

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Failed Banks Dot Georgia’s Vista

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

The U.S. government’s decision to let 10 big financial companies repay their taxpayer-funded investments is a break in the clouds for the banking system. In Georgia, though, the storm is raging unabated.

The state is home to just 4% of all U.S. banks, but 20% of the nation’s bank failures since August. More banks have collapsed in Georgia than in any other U.S. state, even foreclosure-racked California and Florida. Six Georgia banks have been seized by regulators this year, burned by too much expansion in the past decade and bad real-estate bets.

Given the high level of delinquent loans haunting the remaining Georgia-based banks, more failures are expected. About 30 banks in the state are at risk of failing, according to bankers and lawmakers.

“Georgia is basically the Chernobyl of banking right now; it’s radioactive down there,” said Camden Fine, head of the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group.

Even after the recession ends, the problems dragging down Georgia banks could resurface in the next downturn, because the regulatory revamp being drawn up by the Obama administration likely won’t tackle one cause of the problem: the division of power between state and federal regulators.

Georgia had 334 banks at the end of 2008, not counting branches of banks based elsewhere, such as Wells Fargo & Co., of San Francisco. Since 2000, 112 banks and thrifts were started in Georgia, the third-highest total in the U.S., after California and Florida.

Rob Braswell, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, the top regulator of banks that have Georgia charters rather than federal ones, said that if most people with banking experience applied for permission to open a new bank, “it was hard to say no when they had such an abundance of capital.” Mr. Braswell has 62 examiners to monitor more than 150 state-chartered banks.

During a recent meeting with Georgia bankers, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair asked Christopher Maddox, head of Peoples Bank in Winder, Ga., why Georgia had so many banks. “Ma’am, may I respectfully submit that the FDIC approved every one of the applications,” he recalls replying.

Georgia’s predicament also is the result of a rapid expansion of the banking industry. Many of the new banks were small, and as they jostled for slivers of the market, they often made risky loans in speculative markets such as commercial real estate.

That was exacerbated by Atlanta’s housing expansion and a decentralized government structure of 159 counties, where tradition holds that “every county has its own bank,” said Christopher Marinac, managing principal at FIG Partners, a bank-research firm in Atlanta.

The troubles are straining the bonds that connect some Georgia banks to their hometowns. Mickey Thompson, mayor of Douglasville, a city of about 30,000 residents located 20 miles west of downtown Atlanta, pulled $9.4 million of city money out of Douglas County Bank several months ago because of concern about the bank’s solvency.

“It was a very tough decision, because I have known the owners of the bank the 35-plus years I’ve lived in Douglasville,” Mr. Thompson said. “You see these people. You go to church with them. They are pillars of the community.”

Douglas County Bank Chief Executive Billy Mayhew said it is “unconscionable” that Douglasville withdrew its money before speaking with him. The closely held bank is operating under a cease-and-desist order but will “absolutely not” fail, Mr. Mayhew said.

The struggles of Georgia banks have inflamed fights between regulators, politicians and local bankers about who is most to blame and what to do next. Some bankers in the state complain that regulators are making their problems worse, forcing banks to take big write-downs on loan values, a common response when bad assets start piling up.

Regulators respond that they are just trying to apply one of the big lessons from the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s: If the government hesitates to deliver tough medicine to overextended lenders, things could get worse.

Still, the FDIC and other regulators are being more assertive, sending real-estate specialists into Georgia, California and Florida to scrutinize troubled loans. In Georgia, the FDIC has installed two new officials in its Atlanta office. To handle a wave of expected failures in the Eastern U.S., the FDIC recently opened a temporary office in Jacksonville, Fla., with 500 employees.

In March, Georgia’s two U.S. senators recently summoned banking regulators to a private meeting and conveyed the fury that bankers back home felt toward the FDIC. “What I’m hearing from banks is that the FDIC is squeezing them so tight they can’t breathe,” said Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson, according to people at the meeting.

In Alpharetta, an Atlanta suburb that was home to three banks that failed since September 2007, longtime banker D.R. Grimes recently tried to start a new bank. He said he raised $20.5 million, but his attorney was told by the FDIC’s Georgia office that it didn’t have the authority to grant any new charters. He sent the money back to investors.

“It is very frustrating to follow the rules and do everything you are supposed to do and just be ignored,” Mr. Grimes said. State and federal regulators said they don’t have a moratorium on new banks in Georgia but are giving applications close scrutiny.

Some bankers also have complained that they aren’t getting enough access to the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which the federal government has used to pump $199 billion into more than 600 U.S. banks. At the March meeting, lawmakers stopped short of demanding that Georgia banks get more money, but some regulators perceived that to be the point of the meeting.

“I represent all of the banks,” Sen. Isakson said. “To call the Treasury and say, ‘Hey, you need to let this bank have some money,’ that’s not my job. My job is to represent what’s happening in banking in our state to try to get the answers to our questions.”

A Treasury spokesman said many of the banks complaining about not getting TARP funds are troubled, and their “applications aren’t passed to us by the regulators,” who make the first call on whether a bank should get funds.

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Defining Pau Gasol’s martyrdom

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

It might be time to re-consider how much we howl about Pau Gasol(notes)

Coming off the heels of a Game 3 that seemed all-too-typical amongst Laker losses, the usual bleating (with yours truly tending to yell loudest, above all) about the lack of Pau in the post appeared to re-emerge. The Lakers lost by four, and Gasol only got 11 shots. He made nine of them, made just as many free throws as Kobe in four fewer attempts, while making nine of those 11 field goals overall.

He’s often unguardable in the post by Rashard Lewis(notes). He can even face up Lewis down low, and score. If doubled, he can find the open man better than just about any big man in the NBA. The Laker offense needs to go from the inside-out. Same attributes. Same stuff I was banging my head about, after dozens of games, during the regular season, and over the first three rounds of this postseason.

Why has my tone changed, after a loss that seemed a mirror image? Why am I defending a night where Kobe Bryant(notes) took 25 shots and Gasol managed only 11 attempts? Well, I can’t completely defend that night. Nobody can.

Bryant needed to find Gasol more often. Gasol scored an almost uncontested dunk on the first play of Tuesday’s Game 3 and was just as unstoppable in the fourth quarter, and the space between, so it wasn’t as if the Lakers had hot and cold streaks in order to pick and choose as to when they’d find Gasol. He was ready to rock all game long.

But there’s a lot more to this offense that obvious scores off of assists (like Gasol hitting a cutter), isolation moves and scores (Gasol takes two dribbles and knocks in the lefty hook, he’s awesome), or hockey assists (Fisher got that wide-open corner three because Gasol found Ariza, the Magic collapsed, and the next pass found Fisher; it all starts with Pau, he’s awesome).

The Magic bump cutters. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes they don’t, but as a function of having two smallish forwards instead of one small and one power forward, it means they have to protect the low post before someone even sets up on it, and it also means they have defenders who are fleet of foot enough (again, no lumbering power forwards) to knock and overplay a guy as he’s flashing from the weak side.

So, while all of that’s going on, the Lakers can call for a different screen on the strong side and score, or quickly reverse the ball starting with a pass to the top of the key, and run a guard-around screen. All while Orlando’s eyes are focused on the orthodox move of swinging that awesome 7-footer from the weak side baseline to the low post on the strong side.

On top of that, you have the big plays that Gasol is part of where he makes the initial strong pass that eventually leads to the score; without even giving him the benefit of an assist or a hockey assist. Pau mentioned this at media availability on Wednesday.

“For the most part when you get the big men in the offense first you become a passer because there’s a lot of cutting, a lot of cutting from the wings, a lot of cutting from the weak side, so there’s always something going on unless we decide that we’re going to be in isolation for the guy on the post.”

If this seems like an excuse for not finding him enough in the fourth quarter, well, it is. But first I want to get into something that drove me batty. Namely, Los Angeles’ run through the Western Conference. Pau wants to talk about his touches. Go ahead, brah:

“It kind of came up every series to be honest with you. It came up a little bit in the Utah series but we did well and we were winning, so it was cool. It came up in the Houston series, and when we had those big games, Games 5 and 7, we did go to the post more and it worked out and we won well. Then it happened in the Denver series. Again it worked out, it went well. Hopefully it will continue.

“It’s just got to be a part of our offense and emphasis, a conscious effort that this works, okay, let’s make it work a little more often, because it’s given us a good plus out there. I’m ready always to be there and compete and deliver, so that’s what I like to do.”

Those series’ saw Kobe shoot a ton, as well, often without offering an efficient result. And even as an impartial observer who could give a rip as to who emerged the winner, I was still absolutely losing it while watching because the Lakers ignored Pau so much. I want to see basketball at its best. The Lakers, while ignoring their offense and their 7-footer, weren’t giving to me. Anger results. Things are muttered. Behind the Box Scores are fashioned.

Something seems different in this series, though. Gasol needs the ball more, make no mistake. He needs touches, and he needs shots. The Laker offense is just (if not more) potent in his hands as it is in Kobe Bryant’s hands (shooting 46 percent from the floor, 35 percent from behind the arc) at this point. Idolize all you want, but with Kobe’s age and the way the Laker offense is set up, they’re on par.

That said, the Lakers scored about 121 points per 100 possessions on Tuesday, well over their regular season mark, and an even better mark than what we saw in the team’s Game 1 blowout win (about 115 per 100). Jordan Farmar’s(notes) hot hand and Lamar Odom’s(notes) decisive moves in the low post (adding to the overall score) shouldn’t excuse Gasol’s inexcusable two shot attempts (making both) in the fourth quarter, but it is safe to say that offense wasn’t the Lakers’ problem.

And unlike the head-banging times of April and May, when it seemed Kobe Bryant preferred Mike Brown’s pathetic 1-on-5 offense to Tex Winter’s triple-post, I don’t get the feeling that the Lakers are acting too stubbornly.

Kobe took one awful three-pointer in the fourth quarter of Game 3, his huge turnover turned the tide, and he missed a crucial free throw. Not great. But when you take away the two three-pointers he had to chuck desperately in the final minute, the man shot 2-3 in the fourth quarter with two assists.

That sounds to me like he made one dunderheaded move (the three-pointer) followed by two possessions that just didn’t go his way (the free throw split; the turnover), surrounded by a quarter that wasn’t much different from Pau’s (2-2, six points, one turnover, no assists). Gasol’s human, just as Kobe, and he has just as much chance at going 2-2 from the floor for six points had Kobe given the ball up to Gasol, as he had pulling a Kobe in those three possessions (bad shot, free throw split, turnover).

Gasol needs the ball. He needs the ability to match Kobe’s fourth quarter assist total, if not double it. But even with Kobe messing up a few times and nobody hitting a last-second three to jack up the score, the Lakers still scored 29 points in the fourth quarter against the NBA’s best defense, and whittled a nine-point deficit down to a two-point game at times.

And unlike the team’s turn in the Western Conference bracket, I don’t get the feeling that this is a team that’s unaware of Gasol’s abilities. It just seemed like the decision to go elsewhere just happened to go away from Gasol — happened to, I mean that — time and time again in a quarter that saw the Lakers shoot 11-19 from the field even with a flurry of desperation threes missing in the final minute.

And I expect things to change, in Game 4. Even if it means Gasol gets just as many shots, in the end. Even if it means he “only” finishes with one assist again. He’ll get the ball more, but understand that it won’t always result in the obvious, stat-padding, play.

Take us home, big man.

“[My play in the post] also gives us motion in our offense, and it gives us energy and flow. So it’s something that has worked for us, and I’m a good passer, I feel comfortable passing the ball, I’m a willing passer and I want to get my teammates shots and layâups. It’s fine with me, obviously. Like I said, I’m all about winning, I’m all about being effective and contributing, and that’s what I’m going to do.”

This ain’t no Houston, this ain’t no Denver. This ain’t no fooling around.

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Chameleon Alston comes through for Magic

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

His game has always been about invention, his career about reinvention. No one in basketball has found a way to adapt and adopt and survive like Rafer Alston(notes).

He was a Queens kid trying to make it in Harlem, a trick-dribbling sensation trying to turn heads at Rucker. His high school and college careers were spotty. He wound up an And1 Mixtape icon who beat the odds going in and out and back in the NBA, five different teams and always hanging on by a thread.

It is one thing and then the next; one mistake and another comeback. It hasn’t always been easy and it hasn’t always been pretty, but at the end of the day, Rafer Alston returns in a new form and surprises everyone. He’s one of the most unlikely starters in NBA Finals history.

“No. 1,” Alston said of everything, “is don’t take it personal.”

So Skip To My Lou goes 3-of-17 from the floor in the first two games of the series and doesn’t take it personal.

His coach, Stan Van Gundy, appears to have so little confidence in him that he jams Jameer Nelson(notes), fresh off four and a half months on the disabled list, into heavy minutes and Alston doesn’t take it personal.

In Game 2, Van Gundy decides he’d rather go down the stretch with no point guard than Alston and he doesn’t take it personal.
He just bides his time and takes Game 3 over – 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, four assists and, most importantly, real point-guard play so Hedo Turkoglu(notes) didn’t have to exhaust himself bringing it up the court.

Orlando Magic 108, Los Angeles Lakers 104, and the NBA Finals are on. The Lakers still lead 2-1, but they face a pressure game here Thursday thanks in no small part to the mixtape kid.

“Well, I was aggressive from start to finish,” Alston, 32, said after the game. “I was able to mix it up. That’s what I do best.”

What he does best is surprise everyone. He always has. Every time you think you have Alston pegged, he finds something else. He’s always been able to dribble himself out of trouble. Rucker Park has produced a million guys who could’ve and should’ve made the pros.

The Goat, The Destroyer, Helicopter and so on.

Alston is the one who could and did, the one who made the NBA Finals, the all-time Patron Saint of Hoops Dreamers.

So when Alston credited Van Gundy with delivering a “pep talk,” the coach just laughed. Alston never needs a pep talk, he’ll figure out his failures on his own. Instinctively Van Gundy understood this, but he’s a coach’s coach, the son of a coach, and when your starting point guard is blowing the Finals, a coach has to say something. They just do.

So he pulled Alston aside and dished this pearl of wisdom: “Play your game.”

“I’m a motivational genius,” Van Gundy laughed. “It took me two days to come up with that.”

It took Alston 36 minutes to offer the response, a game of slashing to the hole, living in the L.A. lane and knocking down floaters and jumpers. Nelson stayed on the bench, Alston stayed in the game and Orlando stayed in the series.

“Stan and I have a great relationship,” Alston said. “I understand he’s just trying to coach to win games. I’m trying to play and help him win games.”

Alston isn’t philosophical about anything. He may be the only one who always thought he’d be a star in the NBA Finals. He may be the only one who thought he’d come back from the lousy start to the series and be a factor.

He doesn’t question the route he took to get to the present, he just focuses on finding one that will take him to the future. In a sports world filled with guys consumed with intensity, especially after losses, his attitude can drive people crazy.

After this victory, Alston sat in front of a locker filled with And1 sneakers and tried to get teammate Marcin Gortat(notes) to teach him some Polish.

Gortat is a bald 7-footer from an old textile town in central Poland. These two couldn’t be less alike, an only-in-the-NBA pairing. Naturally, they are great friends. So Gortat complied, teaching him “how are you” in Polish.

The NBA public relations people were waiting to whisk Alston off for a waiting pack in the interview room, but this seemed important to him.

“See, I don’t want to talk to you,” Alston laughed to Gortat. “I want to talk to Polish women.”

This is what runs through Rafer Alston’s head minutes after the biggest game of his life.

Van Gundy searched for two games for a solution to the Lakers, trying everything – even J.J. Redick(notes) – and the answer was bouncing around Alston’s psyche the entire time. If Alston could get right, then so too could the Magic.

They just needed one more reinvention.

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No LeBron? No problem for NBA Finals

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

Kobe Bryant(notes) let out a long, tired sigh as he took a seat in the interview room on Wednesday.

He looked exhausted, although he wouldn’t admit it. He had no such hesitation in acknowledging his wariness of the Orlando Magic as they try to square the NBA Finals at two games apiece in Game 4.

“This team can stay hot for weeks,” Kobe said of the Magic. “It’s not something that is just a fluke.”

Three games into the Finals, two of them down to the wire, and the look on Bryant’s face and the tone of his voice said it all.
Who needs LeBron?

The season was supposed to come down to a predestined clash between Kobe and King James, the two best players in the league on the two best teams during the regular season. It was going to be a renewal of the practice duels of last summer’s USA Basketball team.

Two separate companies created advertising campaigns around the matchup; one even made puppets.

Then the Magic came along and ruined the plans and, now, thanks to Tuesday’s energy-inducing victory, they’ve turned this into every bit of a series worth watching. The strong TV ratings prove nearly 14 million fans got the message that the marketers didn’t.

Who needs LeBron?

“Obviously, we [were] disappointed going into the Cleveland series because everybody just overlooked [us] and said it was going to be Cleveland and L.A.,” Dwight Howard(notes) said. “We were very hurt by it.”

Give Orlando credit for leaving the respect whine out of these Finals. There’s been little talk about how being overlooked or not being the Chosen One’s team has served as motivation. And there wasn’t any on Wednesday. A potential title has always been motivation enough for the Magic.

“I think players, coaches to some degree, really get into the whole respect thing, if they’re given respect by people,” coach Stan Van Gundy said. “Our players, as I’ve told them, have earned the respect.

“I mean, you can’t do what we’ve done, you can’t be at this level … if you don’t have great character, resilience, not to mention talent. So, to me anyway, it’s not about proving those things now, it’s about trying to win a championship.”

Still, if it isn’t respect, then it’s at least pride. No team wants to hear how everyone wanted a different Finals matchup. No one wants to watch a puppet show that overlooks them. And no team, particularly after all of that, wants to go down 0-2 and risk delivering the boring, one-sided series like the critics predicted.

No one wants the Finals to be remembered for the lack of LeBron’s participation.

So here are the Magic, proving not just that they belong; they did that by LeBrooming the Cavs out of the Eastern Conference finals in six games. Here are the Magic proving they can deliver the kind of dramatic Finals these playoffs deserve.

The Magic lit it up from the floor in Game 2, hitting a record 75 percent of their shots in the first half. Their inside-outside game is so strong that Phil Jackson called it “extreme” and declared it “the most threatening” he’s seen. Meanwhile, in an effort to remain multidimensional, the Magic have run some of the most creative offensive sets in recent memory.

Their coach is a disheveled, workaday, quote machine. Their star center makes statements (and Shaq jealous) by wearing preppy sweaters and not having a tattoo. They have a former street ball legend as their starting point guard.

Even their losses are interesting, one cursed by a blown alley-oop that will be rebroadcast for years.

The Magic may not win this series, but they haven’t lacked for providing colorful story lines and inspired play. There’s no denying they’re wearing Bryant down and leaving him wondering what’s next.

Who needs LeBron?

“That’s just the way things are,” Howard said of the focus on James.

“All we have to do is go out and win games,” he continued. “We lost the first two games. We didn’t play as well as we needed to. But we decided as a team that we weren’t just going to give up. We deserve a chance to win the championship.”

The NBA didn’t get the megastar matchup it no doubt craved. Nike and VitaminWater were forced to scrap their big-money commercial campaigns. And fans that wanted to see the two best players square off will have to wait.

But a funny thing happened on the way to disaster – an intriguing series was born.

Everyone realized: Who needs LeBron?

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Op-Ed Contributor: Health reform possible without growing government

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

To be effective, health care reform must include insurance coverage for everyone, encourage prevention measures, and reform the inefficiencies in our system to ensure the future strength of our economy. CPR—Coverage, Prevention, Reform—is a plan I have proposed that sets up a system where every American will be required to purchase meaningful health insurance to ensure each family will be protected against bankruptcy if a family member becomes seriously ill or injured. No family should lose their home or life-savings because of illness or injury. For those who may not be able to afford this plan, you will have assistance getting coverage.

This proposal also aggressively focuses on the need for more robust preventive care and creates incentives for people and businesses to work toward better health sooner, rather than later when such measures may not work and crisis treatment is much more costly. By offering first-dollar coverage for early health screenings and immunizations, this program will create the foundation for healthy lifestyles and reduce the need for later treatments. Further, by rewarding employees for taking part in employer-sponsored programs, which often include programs to help people quit smoking, fitness club membership options, and affordable access to programs like Weight Watchers, CPR creates incentives that will motivate Americans to take control of and improve their personal health.

The third component of CPR entails much needed reform of the way we pay for health care in this country. As it stands now, health care constitutes 17% of the U.S. economy, an amount that totals more than $8,000 annually for every person in the U.S. We already have more than $38 trillion in promised Medicare benefits over the next 75 years that we don’t know how to pay for. The President himself has stated, “The biggest threat to our nation’s balance sheet is the skyrocketing cost of health care.” We don’t need more health care that spends more taxpayer dollars to grow government; we need better health care that offers Americans peace of mind and quality care at prices they can afford.

Reform starts with paying for quality, not quantity. According to a study at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, as much as $750 billion is spent each year on procedures or health-related services that don’t necessarily help patients get better. For example, when discharging patients, hospitals have an obligation to provide patients with a care plan to ensure they don’t end up readmitted. However, Medicare pays more to hospitals when a patient ends up back in the hospital. And physicians are paid more when they order more tests, procedures and office visits, whether you need them or not.

Ask yourself: Would you pay your dinner bill if the waiter spilled your first plate all over the floor, brought you a replacement plate, and then charged you double? We have the information and ability to change how we pay for health care; we just need to begin implementing the policies to do it, such as informing providers and the public of their performance compared to other providers in their locality and around the country. Payment incentives can also be instituted to improve care by encouraging physicians to coordinate care for patients, thereby eliminating unnecessary procedures and tests. Efforts such as these will improve quality and reduce costs.

We can respond appropriately to the health care crisis that faces millions of families by focusing on providing coverage for everyone, ensuring prevention becomes part of your health care plan, and reforming inefficiencies in the system at the same time we address the future economic security of this country.

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The Starting Point: Hate crimes, car crashes and quarantines

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

The Starting Point is a snapshot of the news stories that occurred overnight. Look for updates throughout the day on Yahoo! News and in the news box on Yahoo.com.

Top story overnight: The elderly man who allegedly opened fire inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. yesterday is still hospitalized in critical condition, The Associated Press reported. White supremacist and Holocaust denier James Wenneker von Brunn, 88, fatally wounded security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, with a .22-caliber rifle before being shot himself by other officers, authorities said. Sara Bloomfield, director of the museum, described Johns as “a great friend who greeted us every day with a wonderful smile.” To honor his dedication and service, the museum will remain closed today and fly all flags at half mast in his memory. What is the best way to stamp out hatred? Click here to share your thoughts.

In other news: Three of five U.S. contractors detained in Iraq were released on bond today, The AP reported. The men were held in custody during an investigation into the death of fellow American contractor Jim Kitterman. Kitterman, 60, was found dead in his car on May 22 in the Green Zone of Baghdad. He had been blindfolded, bound and stabbed.

A car fleeing a robbery scene in Philadelphia last night jumped the curb and crashed into a crowd of people, The AP reported. Three young children who were playing in front of their home were killed in the incident; another woman was also gravely injured. Click here to view video from the scene.

Finally, the quarantine placed on New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, his wife and a security guard was lifted yesterday. The trio was held at a hotel in Shanghai after a passenger on their flight to China exhibited flu-like symptoms.

Most-read stories overnight: A Minnesota court ordered Republican Norm Coleman to pay $94,783 to Democrat Al Franken. According to The AP, Minn. law required Coleman to cover some of Franken’s court costs for his appeal of the Senate election results because the race’s outcome didn’t change.

Readers were also interested in this AP story about a large accident on a foggy California highway. About 30 vehicles piled up in the chain reaction crash yesterday, closing the northbound lanes of I-15 for more than six hours and causing wreckage to scatter for a half-mile. Fifteen people were hurt, though none of the injuries were life-threatening.

Looking ahead: The World Health Organization is expected to declare that the swine flu virus has caused the first influenza pandemic in more than 40 years. President Barack Obama will pitch his health care agenda to voters in Green Bay, Wis. And the Senate will vote on a bill that would give the FDA broad powers to monitor and regulate the sale, manufacturing and marketing of tobacco products.

Yesterday’s poll: Do you think oil prices will hit the $100 a barrel mark by the end of the year? Sixty-eight percent of respondents said yes, 18 percent said no and 14 percent said maybe.

Today in history: In 1990, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law prohibiting desecration of the American flag.

Birthdays: Actor Shia LaBeouf, 23. Baseball player Jose Reyes, 26. Basketball player Diana Taurasi, 27. Actor Joshua Jackson, 31. Musician Dan Lavery (Tonic), 40. Actor Peter Dinklage, 40. Actor Hugh Laurie, 50. Football Hall of Famer Joe Montana, 53. Actor Peter Bergman, 56. Singer Donnie Van Zant (.38 Special), 57. Animal rights activist and PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk, 60. Musician Frank Beard (ZZ Top), 60. Actress Adrienne Barbeau, 64. Actor Gene Wilder, 76. Congressman Charges Rangel (D-N.Y.), 79.

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1 year after Iowa floods, many still wait for help

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

Jaylynn Banks and her family have moved four times since the Cedar River burst its banks last June and flooded a huge swath of Cedar Rapids, including their neighborhood.

Their home, like those of hundreds of others here, is too damaged to inhabit, so they pay rent along with their mortgage, all on an annual income of about $20,000 after taxes. With their living situation in constant flux, Banks said they’ve been living day-to-day, unable to plan for the future.

“A lot of families have future plans. We’re going to do this this summer. We’re going to do this next year. We cannot do that,” said Banks, who has pasted colorful signs, including one reading “Obama, please help us,” in and around her damaged home.

Since the June 13, 2008, flood, which was among the most destructive natural disasters in U.S. history, most Cedar Rapids residents have been able to renovate, rebuild or move on.

But a hole in the government’s disaster relief net has left many residents deep in debt and more than 1,000 households still waiting to learn what will happen to their damaged homes. For many, the emergency cash they received has dried up and long-term assistance has yet to kick in, leaving them holding mortgages for unusable homes.

“People are literally hanging on by their fingernails. They’re paying two mortgages in many situations on a ruined house or a house that no longer exists,” said Karla Goettel, founder of a local flood-relief organization.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees long-term community rebuilding, announced $3.7 billion in new disaster grants for 11 states Wednesday, including $516 million for Iowa. That money will help, but Iowa’s still far short of the $8 billion to $10 billion in aid state officials estimate is needed for recovery, including more than $5 billion for Cedar Rapids alone.

The flooding engulfed about 10 square miles of Cedar Rapids and swamped more than 5,000 residential properties in an area where an estimated 18,000 people lived or worked.

State officials estimate they need $150 million to buy out the 1,041 properties in three of the worst affected areas, each with its particular issues and eligibility for federal money.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency quickly stepped in to provide flood victims with emergency cash. Banks said the $11,000 the agency gave her family paid for clothing, food and shelter and got them through what was otherwise a miserable year.

But FEMA scaled back its assistance after the immediate crisis had passed and the long-term assistance has been slow to materialize.

“We are using funding streams that are not designed for disaster recovery,” said Lt. Gen. Ron Dardis, executive director of the state’s Rebuild Iowa Office. “When we have a disaster recovery and folks in affected areas need help and need assistance, it’s very difficult to make these funds work in a timely manner.”

Cedar Rapids city manager Jim Prosser said he was frustrated by the pace of rebuilding.

“You can see at times there’s people from different federal and state agencies sitting in a room just to tell you what you can’t do,” he said. “As opposed to saying, here’s the system and here’s how to essentially work your way through a recovery and reinvestment as quickly as you would like. We’ve been sitting on our hands waiting for federal money for buyouts for over six months now.”

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who visited Cedar Rapids on Wednesday to announce the new disaster relief grants, acknowledged that the gap between immediate and long-term assistance is a problem. But he said his agency would work this summer to streamline the process and speed it along.

“Congress for every single disaster has created a new law and a new allocation system that then takes us time to respond,” he said.

Of the three hardest-hit areas, the area closest to the river will be turned into a park and its 192 properties are eligible to be bought out by FEMA.

In the second area, which is a bit farther from the river, all 377 houses will likely be destroyed to make room for a levee. But the Army Corps of Engineers hasn’t decided on its placement, and may not until December 2010, leaving homeowners with as much as 18 more months of waiting.

“Right now there’s some things that don’t even involve HUD and housing, but where’s the Corps going to suggest that the next levee go or stuff like that,” said Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley said. “It’s just that you can’t say where you’re going to buy homes out until you decide how much of the city you’re going to protect from the next flood.”

Residents with homes in the third area, a working-class neighborhood with 664 homes, including the Banks’, will be allowed to remain, but many don’t have the resources to renovate or rebuild. Residents have been told to wait up to six more months before the city will know if it has enough money to buy them out.

“That’s just cruel to people,” Banks said. “Even though we have a nice rental property right now and we’re making it, we’re still in the flood every day because we still have that house. We cannot move out underneath that shadow until that buyout takes place.”

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New jobless claims drop to 601K; retail sales rise

Jun 11

Posted by sophie in Uncategorized

The number of newly laid-off Americans filing jobless claims fell more than expected last week and retail sales grew in May for the first time in three months, fresh evidence that the worst of the recession may have past.

The Labor Department said Thursday that initial claims for unemployment benefits fell last week by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 601,000. That’s below analysts’ estimates of 615,000.

Still, the number of people claiming benefits for more than a week rose by 59,000 to more than 6.8 million, the highest on records dating to 1967. The department also revised last week’s data on continuing claims, replacing what had been a drop of 15,000 with an increase of 6,000.

That means continuing claims have set records for 19 straight weeks. The data lag initial claims by a week.

Retail sales rose for the first time in three months in May, as a rebound in demand at auto dealerships and gas stations helped offset weakness at department stores. The Commerce Department said retail sales increased by 0.5 percent last month, in line with economists’ expectations. It was the largest increase since sales rose 1.7 percent in January following six straight declines.

Consumers may be spending a bit more and layoffs may be slowing, but companies are reluctant to hire amid the longest recession since World War II. That makes it harder for the unemployed to find work.

Jobless claims are a measure of the pace of layoffs and are seen as a timely, if volatile, indicator of the economy’s health.

The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, fell to 621,750, down from a high of about 658,000 in early April. Many economists see the decline as a sign that layoffs have peaked and the recession is bottoming out.

Still, the levels are far above what is customary in a healthy economy. Initial claims stood at 388,000 a year ago.

The department said last week that companies eliminated a net total of 345,000 jobs in May. While steep, that’s about half the monthly average of jobs lost in the first quarter.

Yet the unemployment rate jumped to 9.4 percent in May, a 25-year high, as hundreds of thousands of people entered the labor market and began looking for work but couldn’t find it, the department said.

As college graduates and other new entrants start searching for a dwindling number of jobs, economists expect the unemployment rate to rise even as layoffs subside.

Some economists project the rate could near 11 percent by the middle of next year. And many families are spending less and saving more as they deal with layoff fears and shrunken home equity and retirement accounts.

Troubles in the automotive sector could cause unexpected fluctuations in jobless claims. General Motors Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection June 1, joining Chrysler LLC, which filed April 30.

GM said it will close about a dozen plants as part of its restructuring. The closings, which will take place through the end of 2010, will cost up to 20,000 workers their jobs.

In addition, the company said Monday that it plans to cut a production shift at a plant in Wentzville, Mo., in August, resulting in up to 900 layoffs.

Among the states, Connecticut had the largest increase in claims of 816, followed by Louisiana, Tennessee, Arizona and Nebraska. The state data lag initial claims by a week.

Florida had the largest drop in claims of 6,655, which it attributed to fewer layoffs in the construction, service and manufacturing industries. The next largest decreases were in Illinois, Michigan, California, and Texas.

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