October prices drop in year, may bottom in March

National home prices, including distressed sales, declined by -7.8 percent in October 2009 compared with October 2008, according to First American CoreLogic and its LoanPerformance Home Price Index (HPI).

Do we really need yet another bank branch?

TD Bank at 258 Broadway

TD Bank, which bills itself with a registered trademark as “America’s Most Convenient Bank,” has more than 1,000 locations from Maine to Florida.

Now it plans to open three more branches in Manhattan–at 1240 First Avenue, 919 Second Avenue and 122 Greenwich Avenue.

Don’t like this idea? Write by Jan. 20 to J. Greg Parvin, director of district licensing, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 340 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10173.

Based in Portland, Maine, the financial institution purchased Commerce Bank two years ago.  It claims to serve more than 6.5 million Customers in Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Virginia.

Perhaps the plan to open more branches is a sign of economic life in the Big Apple.  Perhaps it’s just hubris.  In any case, when is enough enough?  Now?

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Malcolm Carter
Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker
Senior Vice President
Charles Rutenberg Realty
127 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022

M: 347-886-0248
F: 347-438-3201

Malcolm@ServiceYouCanTrust.com
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If you text, you’re not alone and other trivia

The number of text messages sent on cell phones has more than doubled from 48 billion in 2007 to 110 billion in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2010.

The Statistical Abstract, aka “Uncle Sam’s Almanac,” contains more than 1,400 tables of social, political and economic facts that  collectively describe the state of our nation and the world.  So says a press release that I found last week and toy with below.

Included are 53 (!) new tables, covering topics such as worldwide space launch events this decade, the use of complementary and alternative medicine, the type of work flexibility provided to employees, employment status of veterans and road fatalities by country.

If you value your life, don’t even think of driving in Russia.  If you or someone you know attends school, remember that forewarned is forearmed.  And if you’re a U.S. citizen seeking to live abroad, I wouldn’t suggest Zimbabwe for any number of reasons.

But wait! There’s more: