Consumer spending did indeed rise 0.5% to approximately $52.4 billion in January, slightly more than economists had anticipated. Personal income had increased 0.1% to right at $11,400,000,000 billion.

The Institute for Supply Management reported that the monthly index of manufacturing activity was 56.5 in February after reaching 58.4 during January. Nevertheless, it was the seventh straight month of expansion. A reading above 50 generally signals expansion.

The Commerce Department reported that total construction spending fell 0.6% in January after falling 1.2% during the month of December. Economists had expected a decrease of 0.7%.

The monthly index of non-manufacturing activity rose to 53 in February from 50.5 in the month of January. A reading above 50 usually signals expansion. Economists had anticipated a reading of 51. The reading was the highest since October 2007.

The National Association of Realtors reported that its pending home sales index, a forward-looking indicator based on signed contracts, fell 7.6% in January after a revised 0.8% increase in December.
The Labor Department reported productivity rose at an annual rate of 6.9% for our fourth quarter. Labor costs fell at an annual rate of 5.9%.

Factory orders rose approximately 1.7% in January, slightly below the 1.8% increase economists had anticipated. It was the fifth straight gain and follows a 1% increase in December.

The unemployment rate held at approximately 9.7% during February. Employers cut approximately 36,000 jobs in February, far fewer than expected. The four-week average for continuing jobless claims fell 134,000 to 4.500,000 million jobless claims.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on wholesale trade on March 10, international trade on March 11 and retail sales on March 12

For more information regarding Tulsa or National news, articles and commentary on homes sales, farms and commercial property in the Tulsa Real Estate market please re-visit or subscribe to our RSS Feed on our Tulsa Real Estate Mall Blog.

In Oklahoma, the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge home outside Lawton is among these wilderness areas.

One of the coal fired power plants in Oklahoma (OG&E’s Sooner Power Plant), which there are four, is only about 200 miles south of the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, has been determined to be one of the major contributors to the haze in the state of Oklahoma.

The Environmental Protection Agency asked OG&E to submit a plan that would reduce emission. According to the costs that will be incurred by the plan, OG&E customers may see a rate hike to help pay for the plan.

Only a few months ago, both of Oklahoma’s largest electricity providers were discussing rate increase and one was talking about increasing rates that would be a record setter. Of course, this talk disappeared until the Environmental Protection Agency gave their two cents, now there will more than likely be a rate increase.

If you are wondering why the Environmental Protection Agency has anything at all to do with the price we pay for electricity we have to back a few years. Eleven years ago, the Environmental Protection Agency created the Regional Haze Rule as part of the federal Clean Air Act. The rule requires that every state have a State Implementation Plan to reduce the emissions in their state that is the cause of this haze.

The long term of the rule was to restore the visibility at the wilderness areas to natural conditions by 2064.

The Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, near Lawton is the only wilderness area falling under this rule. The Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge does have a huge problem with the haze in question as some days it can be difficult to view the beauty the refuge has to offer.

A resident of the area, Bill Cunningham explained, “There are days where the wind is down and perhaps a storm front has cleared the air out and you can see for a hundred miles from up here,”…”Not today.”

Steve Thompson the Executive Director of the Department of Environmental Quality stated, “Regional haze is an artifact of air emissions, particularly sulfur emissions.”

At a public hearing in December 2009, officials at OG&E presented a proposal. Paul Renfrow, OG&E’s Vice President for Public Affairs, stated, “The proposal will result in the single largest rate increase for our customers in the company’s 108-year history.”

Environmental officials in Oklahoma presented their SIP around two weeks ago. The Environmental Protection Agency will go offer this proposal and then reject or accept it no later than May 2011. If the proposal is rejected they will begin their own plan which will more than likely cause a record breaking rate increase.

For more information regarding Tulsa news, articles and commentary on homes sales, farms and commercial property in the Tulsa Real Estate market please re-visit or subscribe to our RSS Feed on our Tulsa Real Estate Mall Blog.

Jim Twombly, Director of Administration met with Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 93 representative during the morning hours and will more than likely be speaking again next week.

The police union along with Mayor Dewey Bartlett’s administration has exchanged proposals for the former officers to be rehired this fiscal year ending June 30 but still have not reached an agreement. At this time, the next fiscal year’s labor contracts are under negotiations.

Jim Twombly stated, “I guess I would characterize this meeting as boring,” and went on to say, “It was very much about the nuts and bolts.” “There was some discussion about bringing back the officers, but I would say the bulk of it had to deal with next year’s contract.”

Twobly stated he can “safely say that both sides are keeping the option on the table.”

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge spokesperson, Laurel Ledbetter stated, “We’re kind of at the point where we are asking, ‘What do we do now?’”

The administration in February offered the police union a seventeen month proposal. In the proposal was a 5.2% cut in wages but it would not affect the pensions and other concessions. At this time, the union has not voted on the proposal.

The Fraternal Order of Police offered a counter proposal. The details have not been released except the information explaining the proposal only extended through the end of this fiscal year.

In the beginning, 155 police offers were to be laid off. Due to some agreements in negotiations, only 124 officers were laid off. The agreement that allowed 31 officers to keep their jobs were the officers that lived outside city limits would no longer take vehicles home and other restrictions. Thirty-five of those officers that were laid off were rehired February 1 with federal grant money.

Tulsa is still without the police officers they need and some services will not be met with an officer coming to the aid of Tulsans such as an accident without injury or an accident without another crime involved.

For more information regarding Tulsa news, articles and commentary on homes sales, farms and commercial property in the Tulsa Real Estate market please re-visit or subscribe to our RSS Feed on our Tulsa Real Estate Mall Blog.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index rose a seasonally adjusted 0.3% in December. It was the seventh consecutive monthly gain and follows a 0.2% increase in November.

The consumer confidence index fell to 46 in February from an upwardly revised 56.5 in January. Economists had anticipated a reading of 55. The index was benchmarked at 100 in 1985, a year chosen because it was neither a peak nor a trough in consumer confidence.

The Commerce Department reported new home sales fell 11.2% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 309,000 units from a rate of 342,000 units in December. Economists had expected a pace of 354,000.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 22,000 to 496,000 in the week ending February 20. Continuing claims for the week ending February 13 rose by 6,000 to 4.617 million.

Orders for durable goods — items expected to last three or more years — rose 3% in January after a revised 1.9% increase in December. Excluding volatile transportation-related goods, orders posted a monthly decrease of 0.6%.

The Commerce Department just announced that gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services produced in the U.S. — increased at an annual rate of 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2009, rather than the 5.7% increase initially reported last month.

Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on construction spending on March 1, and factory orders and pending home sales on March 4.

For more information regarding Tulsa news, articles and commentary on homes sales, farms and commercial property in the Tulsa Real Estate market please re-visit or subscribe to our RSS Feed on our Tulsa Real Estate Mall Blog.

Housing Starts

Housing starts is nothing more than the start up purchases that buyers purchase to furnish their new home. This report is more than likely the most important report found on the housing sector as it causes a very large ripple effect in the economy when the items such as furniture and appliances are purchased. Eighty-five percent of the housing industry is seen in the construction of single-family homes. Multi-family properties make up the rest of the housing market, which is considered to be highly volatile.

Home Sales

Homes sales are ten percent of the housing market and are only put into the table after the contract on the new home is signed. New home sales are completely different than the way that existing homes sales are computed. Existing home sales are computed at the time of the closing, which reveals contracts that were signed a month or two before the report was created. When you look at the housing market, more than eighty percent is due to existing home sales. Within this category of home sales you must not forget homes sales that are pending which is known as the pending homes sales index. This indicator is one that relates to existing home sales and not new homes. A pending sale is one in which the buyer and seller have agreed and signed a contract but the deal has not been closed. Since it takes up to six weeks for a home sale to close, it is one of the leading indicators that are watched closely.

Housing Price Indices

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Index and the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index are the two housing price indices.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency Index is one that follows houses that are purchased with mortgages through Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae. This index leaves out many of the foreclosure sales as well as any properties that were purchased with non-conventional mortgage loans. These home loans symbolize a more stable pricing index as they did not see the rise and decline in prices that was seen in other markets over the last decade. On the other hand, the S&P/Case-Shiller report is centered on the larger metropolitan areas and does include distraught properties. The report also includes non-conventional loans, but prices of these homes are usually quite a bit more volatile.

For more information regarding Tulsa news, articles and commentary on homes sales, farms and commercial property in the Tulsa Real Estate market please re-visit or subscribe to our RSS Feed on our Tulsa Real Estate Mall Blog.

Interim Police Chief Chuck Jordan explained today that thirty-five officers were in the process of filling out employment paperwork after accepting the Police Departments offer. The offer included a fifteen day consideration window which was waived by the officers could have help up them returning to work and protecting the citizens of Tulsa.

Interim Police Chief Chuck Jordan stated, “We had to get everybody to agree, and everybody did agree that they wanted to come back as soon as possible” and went on to say, “The ones I’ve talked to, it was a pretty easy choice. They’ve been ready and waiting to come back since the day they were laid off.”

The Justice Assistance Grant, which was originally to be used for police related projects, will now be used for the officer’s salaries and benefits. At this time, the City Council has to pass a budget amendment, which is related to the grant, however, the Interim chief is confident that the process will go without a hitch.

If the amendment is approved, the officers will have to first report to the Training Center where they will pick up their new assignments and equipment.

Among the thirty-five officers is Jeanne MacKenzie who stated the officers were told to report to the center on Monday for outfitting. Prior to the layoffs MacKenzie patrolled the south side of Tulsa working the night shift and had been an officer for close to five years. She along with the other officers was laid off last month. She stated there are mixed emotions among the officers that are being rehired.

Most of the officers are happy to go back to work but are still concerned over the financial prospects of Tulsa, she explained. “We’re all excited to have our jobs back, but we’re still careful with what we’re doing,” MacKenzie said. “It’s tough to be upbeat and I think a lot of people are still unsure.”

The grant will only fund the positions for a short 17 months. Officials are in the process of looking for other sources of money to pay for the 35 jobs when the grant money runs out. Interim chief explained that layoffs are still possible for the future, however, if Tulsa’s sales-tax revenue stays level or picks up, there should be “no concerns at all” about losing the rehired officers.

Twenty-nine of the rehired officers will be returning to patrol with six entering investigations. The Traffic Enforcement Unit will be back in service.

At this time, there are still negotiations between the mayor’s office and the police union. If an agreement can be reached 89 of the 124 officers that were part of the group laid off last month would be able to be rehired. Interim chief Jordan would not comment on the negotiations. “That’s really a difficult process, where both sides have very valid concerns. That’s not something I would gamble on to say how it’s going to go,” Jordan said.

For more information regarding Tulsa news, articles and commentary on homes sales, farms and commercial property in the Tulsa Real Estate market please re-visit or subscribe to our RSS Feed on our Tulsa Real Estate Mall Blog.

The combined construction of new single-family homes and apartments in January rose 2.8% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000 units. However, applications for new building permits, seen as an indicator of future activity, fell 4.9% to 621,000 units.

Industrial production at the nation’s factories, mines and utilities increased 0.9% in January, following an upwardly revised 0.7% gain during the month of December. This was good news as it was the seventh consecutive monthly increase. The overall factory-operating rate rose to 72.6% of capacity in January from 71.9% in December.

The producer price index, which tracks wholesale price inflation, rose 1.4% in January, During December we the report was upwardly revised to a 0.4% increase in the month of December. Economists had expected a gain of 0.8%. The gains were largely due to higher energy costs.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits rose by 31,000 to 473,000 in the week ending February 13. Continuing claims for the week ending February 6 held steady at 4.538 million applicants. Experts believe snowstorms in early February may have cost the economy as many as 100,000 jobs.

The index of leading economic indicators — designed to forecast economic activity in the next three to six months — rose a smaller-than-expected 0.3% in January after a revised 1.2% gain in December. It was the 10th straight monthly increase and the longest series of gains since 2004.

Consumer prices rose 0.2% in January. Excluding energy and food, the so-called core index unexpectedly slipped 0.1%, the first monthly decline since December 1982.

The Federal Reserve Board raised the discount rate charged to banks by a quarter-point to 0.75%.
Upcoming on the economic calendar are reports on the housing price index.

For more information regarding Tulsa news, articles and commentary on homes sales, farms and commercial property in the Tulsa Real Estate market please re-visit or subscribe to our RSS Feed on our Tulsa Real Estate Mall Blog.

Today, there are many ways you can save energy without giving up comfort by way of using new household products created to actually save energy. This may be hard to imagine, but every American creates close to 40,000 pounds of CO2 every year. When that is broken down, it shows that Americans use right at a million dollars worth of energy each minute. By utilizing a few changes in your home, you can greatly reduce the amount of CO2 you produce as well as save money on your utility bills.

Start with your heating and cooling systems. You should set your thermostat at 68 degrees during the day and 55 degrees at night during the winter months, whereas in the summer the thermostat should be set at 78 degrees day and night.

Clean or replace the air filters is a good way to save energy. When the filters are dirty, the heating or cooling unit has to work harder to keep the house warm or cool.

Now on to home appliances. Refrigerators are electricity hogs and use close to 20 percent of the electricity used in homes across America. Keeping the thermostat at 37 degrees for the refrigerator and 3 degrees for the freezer is best. If your refrigerator has an energy saver switch, make sure it is turned on. All seals on your refrigerator and freezer should be clean and tight.

Instead of washing clothes in hot water use warm or cold water.

The dishwasher should be full and the energy saving setting should of course be used and let the dishes air dry. By not using the drying cycle of the dishwasher, you are saving on your electricity bill.

Your water heater thermostat should be set at 120 degrees instead of 140 degrees. Just this small change can save 600 pounds of CO2 each year if you have an electric water heater or if you have a gas heater 440 pounds.

When you are searching for new appliances look for the most energy efficient models with the Energy Star Label. This label ensures the product will save energy and prevent pollution.

Thank you for visiting our Tulsa Real Estate Blog. To keep current on the Tulsa market and local events please subscribe to our free RSS Feed.

Before the Obama administration begins to overhaul or change this law, they should look at the results that have occurred. In the state of Oklahoma, more students with handicaps were placed in the main stream of classes. Teachers due to the No Child Left Behind Law” had to pay more attention to the students that were slow to learn and the other students that could learn at an average or above average rate where ignored or left behind.

The idea that no child should be left behind is a wonderful sentiment, but the real truth is that if a student acted up in class they are taken out of the class and even suspended for wearing a hat due to this being a distraction to students trying to learn. Some handicap students should not be put in the main stream of students, as they can be a distraction to other students.

Schools throughout the nation are rated on how many of their students pass state reading and math tests. Are the results of these tests better or worse than previous years? Target pass rates are to rise each year with a standard of universal proficiency by the year 2014 for all groups. This deadline is a top question with the Obama administration with the possibility of eliminating a deadline all together. Maybe the test results should be compared to previous years and should not only include math and reading as students in the US are behind other nations in Science and technology as well.

The idea and concept of the “No Child Left Behind Law” is awesome. However, teachers, staff, and administration should have the knowledge and the ability to know which students should be in the main stream of students and which students should be placed in a more controlled classroom. You cannot expect every child to have the ability to become a rocket scientist. No child should be left behind, but not every child will be star pupils and make straight A’s.

No one has an exact number of families that are home schooling their children in the state of Oklahoma, but many have pulled their children from the public school system in the last few years. This trend in taking children out of public school to be taught at home should be an eye opener to the government. The answer to the “No Child Left Behind Law” is going to have to be overhauled if it is to work, but before this is done, teachers and parents should be heard as to their expectations.

Thank you for visiting our Tulsa Real Estate Blog. To keep current on the Tulsa market and local events please subscribe to our free RSS Feed.

Unexpectedly our retail sales rose 0.5% in January, following a revised 0.1% decrease in December. Economists had anticipated retail sales to rise 0.3% in the month of January. On a year-over-year basis, retail sales increased 4.7%.

Total business inventories unexpectedly fell 0.2% in December due to stronger than anticipated sales. Inventories had risen 0.4% in both November and October. The inventory-to-sales ratio went down or fell to 1.26 during December. That’s below the pre-recession average of 1.28.

The trade deficit grew from 10.4% to an amazing $40.18 billion in December from a $36.40 billion gap in November. Economists had expected the trade deficit to widen to $36 billion. Exports continued to increase to 3.3% to $142.70 billion, the eighth consecutive monthly gain. Imports are on the rise of 4.8% to $182.88 billion.

The Commerce Department said wholesalers cut their inventories by 0.8% in December following a 1.6% rise in November. Meanwhile, sales at the wholesale level rose 0.8% in December, marking the ninth straight monthly gain.

The Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index for February’s preliminary reading fell to 73.7 from January’s final reading of 74.4. Economists had forecast a higher February reading of 75. One year ago, January’s final reading was 56.3. During the economic expansion that ended in December 2007, the index averaged 88.9.

We have a lot of very important reports on our economic calendar that will be coming out this week among those reports will be on the housing market index on February 16, housing starts and industrial production on February 17, and the index of leading economic indicators on February 18.