The students of course had all kinds of questions if only asked of their classmates, was one of them being suspended, was someone going to be fired, and so of and so forth.

Ethan Mueller, sophomore trombone and baritone player, stated, “I thought we were in trouble for something,” and went on to say,” but I didn’t know what we had done wrong.”

As they all stepped into the auditorium, there were television cameras and newspaper photographers all over the place. At this time, Mueller explained, “I knew something big was happening, I had no idea what it was.”

All the students found a seat and sat quietly wondering what was next. The administrator told the students, “It’s OK to talk,” so the whispering started again. All the buzz what was happening?

A short video was played to start the meeting of highlights from recent performances of the marching band. McCready then stepped up to the podium.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why we’re here,” McCready said. “And we’re going to get to that right away.”

Then all was quiet again which made the anticipation mount.

“I was nervous,” stated Stephan Scrivener, a sophomore trombone player. “What was going on?”

Another man walked up to the podium dresses in a pinstriped jacket with his name not given.

“My job,” the mysterious man stated, “is to look across the country and identify, and then recognize, music programs that are doing it right.”

Paused.

“I flew in from the East Coast,” he explained. “From a very big city on the East Coast.”

Paused.

“Would you like to know what my announcement is?” he asked.

All the students exclaimed “Yes” when the gentleman said they were not loud enough.

“For the first time in this school’s history,” the man stated, “you are going to perform … ”

He paused again to take a breath.

“… in New York City … ”

Another pause with students beginning to clap.

“… for the 2013 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.”

Now the entire room was cheering with some jumping up from their seats. “I’ve had my eye on you guys for quite a while,” said the mystery man at the podium, Wesley Whatley, the parade’s creative director. “What you do on the marching field is extraordinary.”

The Macy’s Day parade will Union High marching band an audience like no other in the country with 3.5 million watching along the parade route and 50 million from the comfort of their home on television.

A few of the Union High school officials along with McCready knew about the invitation for around 30 days.

“I’m glad I don’t have to keep the secret anymore,” the band director explained to the students.

“I know some of you won’t be with us in the streets of New York,” he stated. “But you’ll definitely be with us metaphorically.”

The excitement diminished especially once the realization set in that before the band would be performing in New York City the juniors and seniors would have graduated and new marching band members from the freshman and sophomore class would be able to enjoy the trip. At this point, a few cried.

“I’m sorry you don’t get to go,” sophomore saxophone player Emily Tumilty told  junior drum major Cecily Yoakam as she hugged her.

“That’s OK,” Yoakam said. “You guys are like my babies, and now I get to watch my babies march off to New York.” “I’m going to be proud of you.”

If you want your child going to a close-knit school with this type of commitment and caring staff, then contact a realtor today to find the perfect home in this community your family will love.

In Texas and Oklahoma, a few cities were not hit hard and are still going strong in the housing market arena. The cities in Texas include Dallas, Midland, and Corpus Christi. In Oklahoma, the cities include Oklahoma City, and Tulsa. Along with Texas and Oklahoma, Billings Montana is among the top.

All six of these cities missed out on the housing boom as well as the bubble bursting. What else is great in these market is the strong increase in new oil production. Other exciting news for these cities is that they are found on the top ten list of March markets by HomeValueForecast.com that measures the nine leading indicators. The price increase in gasoline is the main reason that long established oil towns like Midland are noticing low unemployment rates and higher property values.  In addition, with towns that is now just beginning to turn into oil towns like Billings where new techniques are being created as the shale oil formations used in the Bakkin Field making North Dakota accessible.

Dr. Michael Sklarz, co-author of HomeValueForecast.com stated, “The top ranked metros in the current month show a strong connection to such states as Texas and Oklahoma which directly benefit from the resurgence in U.S. oil exploration industries.”   The first indicator that helps decide how markets rank via HomeValueForecast.com is quarter sales. Sklarz explained, “One of the most powerful and, yet, simplest leading indicator of the future direction of home price is sales activity. Our previous research has found that the leads can be anywhere from 6 to 18 months. The actual series which we use in our home price forecasting models is the Turnover Rate, which is the number of sales divided by the total housing stock.”

This means that it would be wise to invest in housing in the oil belt regions due to production of oil is now at breaking records status, which means home sales, will be coming up quickly.

In southern Texas, the Eagle Ford Shale oil field is spread across 400 miles. This company produces natural gas and oil. Analysts have suggested this company alone could be creating energy as well as providing jobs for many years to come. Energy companies are flocking to the area, which could help produce up to 12 billion barrels of oil, which is enough natural gas to give every American family enough energy to last around five years.

Eagle Ford is not the only company driving the industry. In Texas in February of 2012, the total number of wells drilled was up 85% over the same period a year ago and this is more than likely just the beginning. Texas at this time has 28 of the top producing oil fields in the US and has reserves of 4.555 billion barrels. The new technology of horizontal drilling and fracking methods used to shale oilfields like Eagle Ford, Texas is close to a second oil boom. This time the boom will be due to Texas’s large amount of shale oil fields.

Around ¼ of jobs in Oklahoma are indirectly or directly related to gas and oil production. In Oklahoma, business leaders are expecting the energy sector to keep raising during the year since oil production on average was 204 thousand barrels a day during 2011, which topped 200 thousand bbl/d, which is the first time this figure has been seen since 1998. Continental Resources, Sandridge, and Chesapeake will more than likely expand their operations along with their workforce during this year.

Montana is also benefiting from the Bakken Oil Formation with over 20 billion barrels of oil found on the border with North Dakota and Canadian oil sands. Companies in Billings saw a 5.6% unemployment rate and are manufacturing equipment that is being shipped to Canada. Canada is also noting a limited workforce.

There were only four non-energy markets making it on the top ten list by HomeValueForecast.com’s  which are Clarksville, Tennessee; Provo and Salt Lake City, Utah; and Destin, Florida.

Along with the increase of 10.4% in the Tulsa Index Russell 2000, increased 12.4% and Standard & Poor rose 12.6%.

The United States stock market also saw a good quarter which is the best seen since 1998 as explained by the CEO of Longbow Asset Management Co, Jake Dollarhide, who keeps track of the Tulsa Index.

Dollarhide stated, “I think everybody was surprised, including me, that the market heated up so quickly given that there are still a lot of doubts, worries and fear that the other shoe will drop in Europe.”

As the United States, economy showed improvement and Europe has debt issues possibly on the horizon the equity markets leaped.   The Tulsa Index includes companies that have headquarters or other types of operations in the Tulsa World readership location. The Russell 2000 is an index of smaller companies while the Standard & Poor is a combination of the largest companies in the United States. From the 67 companies in the Tulsa Index, 47 showed positive returns in the 1st quarter.

Dollarhide explained that 14 of the companies with negative returns in the energy sector and showed mixed to weak results, which put the local Tulsa Index being lower than the two larger national stock indexes.

The financial sector, which is large banks and insurance companies, showed remarkable rebirth in the 1st quarter and was the main reason the Standard and Poor 500 performed better than the other indexes as reported by Dollarhide.

Bank of America was the top performer in the Tulsa Index as shares increased 72.4%. The next top performers were Whirlpool Corp with an increase of 63%, Southwest Bancrop Inc rose 54.7%, Terra Nitrogen Co. LP rose 52.6%, and Level 3 Communications Inc. rose 51.4%.

Bank of America has been seen in the large cap holdings, which has had many investors frustrated since its stock price has fluctuated from under $5 last year and up to $50 a share a few years back.

There was fear, Countrywide, owned by Bank of America might go in bankruptcy or that it may be forced to sell another company Merrill Lynch that is Bank of America’s most likely valuable asset, he reported. Both of those fears have gone by the wayside when Bank of America passed the stress test given by the government, but the bank looks to be on the road to recovery.

The lowest performers was Alliance Resource Partners LP with price of shares that decreased 19.5%.Other performers found at the bottom of the Tulsa Index were Parker Drilling Co. decreased 16.7%, Alliance Holdings GP LP decreased 15.2%, Baker Hughes decreased 13.5% and Willbros Group decreased 11.7%.   Even though Alliance Resource Partners were at the bottom the holding is attractive, Dollarhide stated due to the natural gas prices, but natural gas and coal both had a bad quarter.

“Coal looks more attractive when natural gas prices are higher, but natural gas is low and seemingly going lower, which makes coal seem less attractive,” Collarhide said.

2011 ended with 10,133 existing homes being sold which was a 1.43% increase over the homes sold in 2010 of 9,464, as reported by the Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors.   The information on home sales for 2011 came in at the third lowest dating back to 2000, with last year being the worst with only 9,464 and 2000 coming in as the 2nd worst year with only 9,728 homes sold.

Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors president, Rodger Erker, stated that the strong December sales helped. The housing market in the area is still rebounding after the peak in 2006 with 13,741 homes sold.

“Most people’s predictions were flat, though toward the end of the year we started to see a little bit of increase of traffic,” Erker stated.

The total seen for 2011 was comparable to the last ten years averages with totals from those years ranging from 9,728 in 2000 to 11,698 in 2003 not counting high points in 2005 and 2006 which reached totals around 13,000.   On a sour note, the median home prices dropped in 2011. The median year-end of $129,000 was $900, or 0.69 percent, shy of 2010 figures, and only $100 over 2008′s median.   Accent Realtors, Paul Wheeler stated that he thinks an elevated number of sold homes at foreclosures is causing the downside in the median.

The low numbers were there even with the very lowest interest rates, a good local economy, and aggressive prices. All of these factors are positive but were due to worries over the national economy were out-trumped, Erker stated. “It was fear,” he stated. “People didn’t want to part with their funds and were worrying about their jobs.”   Wheeler stated he believes that a few potential buyers were not able to get into the market, as they could not obtain home loans. “The lending requirements are still fairly tough,” he stated.

However, 2011 was still flat. Around 789 homes were sold in December, which is up 13% from the number sold in December 2010 of 698 and is almost equal to the homes sold in December of 2007 through 2009 of 800 sales.

Wheeler stated the numbers might seem low due to the effects of the homebuyer tax credits that expired during the year.

“In 2010 we had a tax credit, so that pulled buyers out of the market earlier,” he explained.   Erker explained that even when comparing to last year, he has seen buyers that are more interested in the last couple of months when compared to prior months.

“Everyone’s optimistic now we’ll have a better year,” he stated. “We think that buyers have gotten tired of waiting.”

The least expensive as well as the most expensive homes sold at decent levels, however, homes in the $250,000-to-$600,000 range fell behind last year, Erker stated. “There was a real dormancy in the middle,” he explained. “They hadn’t been moving so fast.”   In the last few months, these homes are beginning to sell better.

There is a fear of the local market that is keeping buyers from jumping but a few homebuyers are becoming brave. “I’m feeling some momentum from the buyer’s side,” he said. “Buyers are very active right now.”

The state of Oklahoma will receive $18.6 million in damages, which will resolve claims of unlawful and unfair lending practices.

The rest of the nation joined the settlement for a $25 billion deal with the same lender, which are Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Ally Financial, and Bank of America.

State and federal officials announce the settlement agreement, which is the biggest settlement that involves just one industry since a multi-state tobacco deal in 1998.

The amount that Oklahoma was to receive in the agreement was determined by the executive committee comprised of multi-state executives.

Pruitt stated, “We had concerns that what started as an effort to correct specific practices harmful to consumers, morphed into an attempt by President Obama to establish an overarching regulatory scheme, which Congress had previously rejected, to fundamentally restructure the mortgage industry in the United States.”

Pruitt expressed his concerns over the agreement in 2010 as the agreement overreached the authority of attorney generals on the state level as well as the terms brought up other questions of fairness and justice by giving homeowners rewards that had stopped paying on their mortgages instead of rewards to those that were still struggling to keep up with their mortgage payments, even if they were underwater.   Pruitt also stated his concerns that the structure of the agreement might encourage other homeowners to default on their mortgage so they can benefit from the settlement agreement. His choice to create a state plan was a legal decision instead of a political one.

The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Public Protection Unit will process the relief applications.

== Under this agreement, the lending companies will reduce mortgage loans for close to 1 million households. In addition, they will process checks of $2,000 to about 750,000 Americans who were foreclosed upon improperly. The lending companies will be given three years to complete the terms of the agreement.

Joseph A. Smith Jr., North Carolina’s banking commissioner, will be the overseer of the condition of the settlement across the states. Lending companies that violate the agreement can face up to $1 million in penalties per violation as well as up to $5 million for any violators.

This agreement ends the chapter that all started from the financial crisis at which time the value of homes sank and millions of Americans were sent toward foreclosure. Several lending companies foreclosed without verifying any document, while a few employees signed papers that were not read or even used fake signatures to speed up the foreclosure process, which is known as robo-signing.

Under this settlement agreement, all 49 states in the agreement will not pursue civil charges that are related to these types of abuses. Homeowners will still be able to file charges against lending companies in civil courts on their own along with state and federal authorities being able to pursue criminal charges.

Shaun Donovan, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary, stated, “There were many small wrongs that were done here,” and went on to say, “This does not resolve everything. We will be aggressive about going after claims elsewhere.”

Bank of America will be paying out the most to borrowers as per the agreement, which is close to $8.6 billion. Wells Fargo will pay out around $4.3 billion, JPMorgan Chase will pay close to $4.2 billion, Citigroup will pay around $1.8 billion and Ally Financial will pay $200 million. These figures do not include the $5.5 billion in federal and state payments.   The agreement also ends an investigation that is separate into Bank of America and Countrywide for the inflating appraisals of loans from 2003 through 2009. In 2008, Bank of America gained Countrywide.

In a statement by JPMorgan Chase, “The settlement includes far reaching relief that will help many of our customers and complement our already extensive efforts to improve our borrower assistance efforts and servicing processes.”

After 16 months of negotiations, the lending companies and the US state attorney generals finally came to an agreement in the middle of last week, with New York and California coming in on the deal late in the day. New York has around 118,000 homeowners underwater, while California has over 2 million.

This agreement along with the reduction of loans and the payments, it also promises to reshape the mortgage lending guidelines. This will make it easier for homeowners that are at risk of foreclosure to make mortgage payments and keep their homes.

The majority of homeowners that did lose their homes due to foreclosure will more than likely not receive their homes back or benefit financially.

The agreement mainly applies to privately held mortgages that were issued during 2008 through 2011. Banks own close to half of all the United State mortgages, which is around 30 million loans. The loans owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not included in the agreement.

Some critics of the agreement believe it just does not go far enough. They have asked for a thorough investigation of possible illegal foreclosure practices prior to chiseling the agreement in granite.

Under the agreement

Close to $1.5 billion for direct payouts, which breaks down to $2,000 checks for around 750,000 Americans that were unfairly or improperly foreclosed upon with another $3.5 billion going directly to states.   $10 billion to be used for reducing mortgage amounts

Up to $7 billion for other state homeowner programs

$3 billion for refinancing loans for homeowners who are still current on their mortgage loans but are underwater

On the other hand, even those that have a bleak outlook are expecting home sales to grow this year in select areas around the United States. In 2011, over 1/3 of the homes sold were to first time buyers which is a good indicator.

Price

During the boom, home sellers could sit back and wait for the best offer, today; if you do not price your home correctly, it can sit for a very long time. On average in 2011, homes sat on the market four months or longer and most homeowners received fewer than 90% of the asking price as reported by the National Association of Realtors.

In order to ensure you choose the right price, ask your realtor to do a comparison of the homes in your area including foreclosures and short sales. Remember, this information will not give you information on homes in the area that did not sell.

Impression

Use curb appeal as well as fix any cosmetic repairs. A new coat of paint if needed, caulking, clean up oil spills in the driveway, fix the fence, clean your windows, clean up the yard and plant flowers. The first glance of your home should be inviting and comforting.

Flexibility

Be prepared to give a little. Giving a little does not mean do a complete remodel so you lose money, but you should be ready to negotiate such things as pay property taxes, appliances, closing costs, or possible seller finance. All home sellers should at least look at all offers on the table instead of ignoring the ones that want a bit more. This could be your answer to a quick sell.

Use social networks

Today, to get to the home owners, you must learn to use social networks and be able to text. The realtor you choose should know how to use Facebook to present your home as well as stay up to date on the latest technologies that will keep your home in front of buyers such as apps for cell phones.

Scams

There are scam artists out there. Always listen to your realtor and pay attention to deals that sound to good to be true. If someone asks for an upfront fee to purchase your home, you had better run fast.

The top 10 cities that are ready for recovery in the real estate sector are listed below.

Tulsa, Oklahoma is in 1st place. Tulsa is booming in different sectors, which puts the economy in the perfect place for the real estate. The sector doing well include energy, aerospace, government, and healthcare. Employment opportunities as well as growth in the economy will help the real estate market.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is in 2nd place. Today the booming businesses are in sectors such as higher education, technology, and medicine. The unemployment rate is quite a bit below the national average.

Long Island, New York comes in 3rd with water all around and more land for New York City to expand and provide great opportunities for new developments.

District of Columbia is fourth on the list. The federal government is not cutting jobs, thus this area still has a strong economy. The demand for office space in the area has increased during Obama’s administration.

In 5th place is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The government sector here in the city has helped with lower than average unemployment levels, along with education and healthcare employment options helping the economy.

Birmingham, Alabama is in 6th place. Regions Financial is receiving money from the government; therefore, the city’s economy is still doing okay. Other employment sectors helping the economy are higher education, medicine, biotech, insurance, and publishing.

In 7th place is Louisville, Kentucky. In Louisville, the manufacturing industry is not doing as great as it could be; however, UPS expanded a shipping hub in the city, which has increased employment opportunities. Job fairs are seeing fewer attendants and sales are picking up – all good signs.

Portland, Oregon is in 8th position and may seem to have a high unemployment level but this is mainly due to those moving here from more depressed areas of the country. The economy is growing due to eco-friendly businesses that are calling Portland home.

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina has a growing population and one of the lowest unemployment rate in the state. Jobs in the area that help the economy include technology, higher education, and higher education.

In 10th place you will find Fairfield County, Connecticut. This just happens to be one of the wealthiest counties in the US and is showing signs of recovery in many sectors.

This figure is a bit higher than the 11% seen in 2010, however, author of the report Jamie Hill issued by CB Richard Ellis stated the vacancy is the highest the company has seen from the beginning of issuing this report.

The economy is one of the factors; however, one event was at the root of around 1.2 million square feet of industrial space being available.

Hill stated, “When the Zeledyne glass plant closed, the market had to take in 1.4 million square feet.” In southeast Tulsa, generally, facilities that are created for manufacturing do not sit empty long and finding vacancies is often difficult.   “We’re finding that in many spaces, there are multiple tenants looking at the same space,” Hill stated.   He does expect more manufacturing buildings to be under construction with at this time a 42,000 square foot building in progress at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa.

The most common buildings to be vacant are bulk warehouses mainly the large and older ones. The reason is that most companies are looking for less support columns and deeper loading spaces.

In the Tulsa area, the aerospace and energy industries have kept the buildings full as well as the market stable. Even though the figure of vacancies is the highest seen in more than ten years, this figure out performed the national average of 16% as reported in a study by CBRE Econometric Advisors.   The stability made rental rates stay flat only increasing a bit over the last year to $4.78 per square foot.

Home sales for 2011 ended in the positive with a few more homes sold in 2011 than what was seen in 2010 in the Tulsa area.

It was reported by the Greater Tulsa Association of Realtors that during 2011, 10,133 homes were sold which is up 1.4% from the homes that were sold in 2010 being 9,990. Even with that said it was quite a distance from the 14,117 homes that changed hands in 2007.

December home sales were a huge part of the rise in figures since 789 homes sold which put the figure 13% above the number seen in December of 2010 while being 6.2% above the number of homes that sold in the month of November 2011.

December sales were very close to the record sold in December of 2009 at 809. On the hand, 2007 was still a better year with 849 homes sold in the same month.

Sale prices of homes were not as good. The average price for a single family home was down 0.88% from 2010 at $149,438. The median was down 1.62% at $124,150.   Homes with sales contracts not closed yet known as pending sales showed a positive note for January with 710 pending sales listed making it 13.6% higher than that the figures for December of 2010 and the highest figures seen in the last five years.

The inventory of homes on the market decreased 11.86% to a supply of 10.3 months as long as no other homes are put on the market.

Listed homes are on staying on the market at bit longer being bumped up one more day from 64 days to 65 days in the month of December.

Last week, Freddie Mac stated the average rate on a 30 year fixed mortgage declined to 3.89%, which is a bit below the prior record of 3.91% seen only three weeks ago.

Mortgage rate records were started in the 1950’s.

Not only did the rate decline for a 30 year fixed mortgage but also for a 15 year fixed mortgage to 3.16% which is down from the percentage seen three weeks ago of 3.21%.

The reason the rates are lower is they track the yield on the 10 year Treasury not that fell under 2%. They may fall even farther in 2012 if the Fed starts up bond purchases as a few economists believe.

Average fixed mortgage rates were still around 4% at the end of last year. However, most Americans do not have the ability to take advantage of the historic low rates or they would have done so before this time.

The main reasons Americans are not taking advantage of the low interest rates are low wages and high unemployment. Most do not want to put their money into a home that may lose value over time instead of building equity.

Mortgage applications are down on a seasonally adjusted basis this last month as reported by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Freddie Mac’s chief economist, Frank Nothaft, stated that until companies start hiring and unemployment drops considerably, the lower mortgage rates will remain low key.   Occupied homes are selling a bit better than figures seen in 2010. New home sales in 2011 will probably go down in history as the worst year on the books dating back a century.

Homebuilders have hopes that these low interest rates will help stir sales in the coming year. The National Association of Home Builders sentiment rose in the month of December due to the low interest rates to the highest level seen in over a year. However, these interest rates have not helped the housing industry.

The average fee dropped from 0.8 to 0.7 for a 30-year loan while a 15 year fixed mortgage stayed the same at 0.8.