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Gold Coast B2B Staff — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:43:40 +0000

Dear B2Bers,

Please be advised that GoldCoastB2B.com will be offline this evening at approximately 9pm until tomorrow morning at approximately 10am. We will be performing security updates, user capabilities, and highly anticipated design upgrades. Please check back regularly for more updates on our scheduled downtime.

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NFL Week 12 Summary

Gold Coast B2B Staff — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:01:10 +0000

(AP) — The Indianapolis Colts spotted Houston an early 17-0 lead before a patented Peyton Manning fourth-quarter rally to stay one of the NFL’s two unbeaten teams after 12 weeks of the season.

Manning tossed three TDs and the Colts rallied for a 35-27 win, their 20th straight regular-season victory.

Indianapolis is 11-0, one win shy of the New England Patriots’ NFL-record 21-game run from 2006-08. The Colts can tie the record if they beat Tennessee at home next weekend.

The Colts are 15-1 lifetime against Houston, which fell to 5-6 and likely out of the playoff picture.

Manning threw two first-half interceptions, but had a pair of second-half TD passes, including a 4-yarder to Dallas Clark that gave the Colts a 21-20 lead with about nine minutes left. Clint Session stretched the lead to 28-20 when he returned an interception by Matt Schaub 26 yards for a touchdown seconds later. Schaub fumbled on Houston’s next possession and Chad Simpson’s touchdown run put the game out of reach.

The Colts are the first team to clinch a playoff berth, winning the AFC South title when Jacksonville lost to San Francisco.

The NFL’s other undefeated team is New Orleans, which hosts New England Monday night.

The surging San Diego Chargers turned four turnovers into touchdowns, including a 40-yard fumble return for a score by safety Paul Oliver, and posted their sixth straight win, 43-14 over Kansas City.

LaDainian Tomlinson scored two touchdowns and moved into 10th on the NFL’s all-time rushing list. Philip Rivers threw two touchdown passes to Antonio Gates as the Chargers improved to 8-3, good for a one-game lead over Denver in the AFC West.

Speaking of streaks, where will the Tennessee Titans’ run end? The Titans are the first team in NFL history to win five straight games after starting 0-6. Vince Young hit a leaping Kenny Britt for a 10-yard touchdown as time expired in the Titans’ 20-17 win over Arizona.

Young won his ninth straight start and improved to 23-11 in his career by driving the Titans 99 yards in the final 2:37. The Titans have not lost since Young replaced ineffective Kerry Collins as starting QB.

Alex Smith threw short touchdown passes to Frank Gore and San Francisco posted a 20-3 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars as the Niners played mistake-free football. Joe Nedney kicked field goals of 46 and 27 yards for 5-6 San Francisco, which snapped the Jaguars’ three-game winning streak and dropped Jacksonville to 6-5.

The Cincinnati Bengals finished a perfect 6-0 within the AFC North Division by running for 210 yards in their not-pretty-but-effective 16-7 win over hapless Cleveland. Newly acquired Larry Johnson, who was just cut by Kansas City, led the ground assault with 107 yards as Cincy improved to 8-3 overall. The 1-10 Browns reached double-digit losses for the eighth time in their 11 years as an expansion team.

The Atlanta Falcons squeaked by 1-0 Tampa Bay 20-17 on Chris Redman’s 7-yard TD pass to Roddy White with 23 seconds left. But it was a costly win after the 6-5 Falcons lost offensive stars Matt Ryan and Michael Turner to injuries. Ryan injured his right big toe on Atlanta’s first series. Turner left in the third quarter when he apparently reinjured his right ankle, a problem that kept him out of the previous game.

In another squeaker, the Philadelphia Eagles improved to 7-4 by edging the Washington Redskins on David Akers’ 32-yard field goal with 1:48 left. Akers kicked four field goals for the Eagles, who also rallied for a fourth-quarter comeback in a four-point victory last weekend at Chicago. The 3-8 Redskins continue to fade at the finish. They fell short at the end for the second straight week after losing at Dallas last weekend.

The New York Jets picked off four Jake Delhomme passes and beat Carolina 17-6 for their first home victory since Week 3. Darrelle Revis picked off one of those passes and returned it 67 yards for a touchdown for the Jets’ first defensive score of the season. Thomas Jones added a 3-yard TD run for the 5-6 Jets. Carolina fell to 4-7 with its second straight loss.

Rian Lindell’s career-long 56-yard field goal with 3:35 left and a long touchdown catch by Terrell Owens in the final minutes propelled the Buffalo Bills to a 31-14 win over the Miami Dolphins. That’s the first win was the first for interim coach Perry Fewell, who replaced the fired Dick Jauron two games ago. That ends a three-game losing streak for the 4-7 Bills.

Justin Forsett set career highs with 130 yards and two touchdowns and the go-ahead score came on the Seattle Seahawks’ third defensive touchdown of the season in a 27-17 victory over St. Louis. The Rams have lost 11 straight home games and are 1-10 overall. Seattle won its first road game and is 4-7 overall.

The announced attendance of 47,475 was the Rams’ worst in 15 seasons in St. Louis.

The Baltimore Ravens took advantage of Pittsburgh third-string quarterback Dennis Dixon’s interception in overtime to set up Billy Cundiff’s 29-yard field goal to beat the Steelers 20-17. Both teams are 6-5 in a battle for the AFC wild card. Baltimore defensive end Paul Kruger made the key interception in OT.

2009 American Music Awards Recap

Gold Coast B2B Staff — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:26:11 +0000

If you missed Sunday’s 2009 American Music Awards,
these five moments will bring you up to speed on the night’s highlights.

Adam Lambert shocks fans. “American Idol” runner-up Adam Lambert gave the final performance of the night, and earned a prominent place in Monday morning water-cooler conversation everywhere. Blame it on his sex-infused rendition of “For Your Entertainment,” which included leashes, crotch nestling, humping and an on-stage makeouot session. Some call it artistry, others say Lambert let an obsession with shock value supersede real talent.

Jennifer Lopez falls on stage. After tons of advance hype, J-Lo’s performance of “Louboutins” fell flat — and so did the singer. She took a tumble mid-song. In her defense, the song wasn’t completely awful, but its advance hype gave viewers high expectations. Most of us were a little underwhelmed.

Lady Gaga delivers. The singer offered another awesomely divisive performance, singing “Bad Romance” and “Speechless.” For the second song, she sat at a fiery piano after breaking a giant mirror. In true Gaga fashion, a mask was involved. Pants weren’t.

Whitney Houston comes back. Chances are, most at-home viewers mumbled an astounded “she actually looks and sounds good” during Whitney Houston’s performance of “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.” Houston, who won an international artist of the year award, looked happy and healthy for the first time in a long time.

Taylor Swift dominates. Oh yeah, they gave out awards Sunday night, too. Taylor Swift won artist of the year, beating Michael Jackson for the title. Swift won in five of the six categories in which she was nominated at this year’s AMAs. Jackson posthumously won four AMAs this year. He now has a total of 23 AMAs, a record.

Existing-home sales surge 10.1% in October

Mr Smart — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:49:01 +0000

Home sales far exceeded expectations last month, surging to the highest level in 2 1/2 years as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of an expiring tax credit.

The National Association of Realtors said Monday that home resales rose 10.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million in October, from a downwardly revised pace of 5.54 million in September.

The tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time owners was originally set to run out on Nov. 30, but Congress renewed it earlier this month and broadened its reach. People who have owned their current homes for at least five years can now claim a tax credit of up to $6,500 for a home purchase. To qualify, buyers must sign a purchase agreement by April 30.

The Realtors report on October home sales reflect offers made before buyers knew the tax credit would be extended. “There was a lot of rush and hurry to complete sales” before the deadline, said Lawrence Yun, the trade group’s chief economist.

But sales are likely to drop over the winter as buyers hibernate for a few months without the looming tax credit deadline.

The new deadline means that “we’re going to see some good activity coming out of the spring,” said Pat Lashinsky, chief executive of online real estate brokerage ZipRealty Inc.

Sales, which were nearly 24 percent above last year’s level, had been expected to rise to an annual pace of 5.65 million, according to economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

The median sales price was $173,100, down 7.1 percent from a year earlier and off 1.6 percent from September.

In addition to lower prices, mortgage rates have been hovering around 5 percent since the spring, largely because of government intervention. That has helped restore housing affordability in large swaths of the country.

The inventory of unsold homes on the market fell about 4 percent to 3.6 million. That’s a 7 month supply at the current sales pace, and close to a healthy stock of about six months.

Nationwide sales are up nearly 37 percent from their bottom in January, but are still off about 16 percent from the peak in autumn 2005.

Over the summer, the housing market started to rebound from the worst downturn in decades, aided by aggressive federal intervention to lower mortgage rates and bring more buyers into the market.

But experts forecast that prices will fall again. Most say they will hit a new low next spring, perhaps falling another 5 to 10 percent, as more foreclosures get pushed onto the market.

A record-high 14 percent of homeowners with a mortgage were either behind on payments or in foreclosure at the end of September, the Mortgage Bankers Association said last week. The worst damage is still concentrated in the states hardest hit from the start: Florida, Nevada, California and Arizona. Together, they accounted for 43 percent of new foreclosures.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

NJ Real Estate Update

Mr Smart — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:05:19 +0000

From the Star Ledger:

Economic Indicators point to an uneven housing recovery

As the New Jersey real estate market tries to get its footing back, more evidence was released this week showing the terrain is uneven.

New home building in the Northeast hit the skids last month, but at the same time fewer New Jersey homeowners received foreclosure notices, according to the latest state and federal statistics.

Construction of new homes in the region fell 18.8 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 56,000 from 69,000 in September — the biggest percentage drop in the country, according to the Commerce Department. That included a nearly 10 percent decline in single-family homes.

Meanwhile, for the first time this year, the number of residential foreclosure filings was actually lower than the same period in 2008, according to the state judiciary.

Lenders started 4,991 foreclosure proceedings against New Jersey homeowners in October, down from 5,262 during the same month last year.

The state is retreating from a foreclosure filings high in June, when 6,138 foreclosure notices were recorded.
…
More than 2,600 New Jerseyans have received counseling through the state’s Foreclosure Mediation Program, Gov. Jon Corzine said earlier this fall. About 1,450 cases have been completed, and roughly half of the homeowners were able to stay in their homes.
…
In New Jersey, foreclosure filings from September to October in Cumberland and Warren counties increased by the widest margins — 8.75 percent and 11.29 percent, respectively, while filings in Hunterdon and Passaic counties decreased the most — 32.1 percent and 27.5 percent, respectively.
…
Unemployment is the main reason homeowners are falling behind, said Joseph Seneca, a professor of economics at Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. While the economy is likely out of recession, the state’s unemployment rate is now only starting to retreat from a record 26-year-high of 9.8 percent. The state’s jobless rate for October was 9.7 percent.

“Looking forward, it’s hard to pull the trigger on any big purchases, such as homes,” Seneca said of the housing climate in the state.

Hundreds of thousands of New York Yankee fans cheered their baseball team on Friday at a parade through Lower Manhattan to celebrate its 27th World Series victory.

Ticker-tape and toilet paper, the traditional way to bestow honor in New York, was thrown from office windows as the players paraded on floats along Broadway’s Canyon of Heroes to City Hall, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave them the keys to the city and rapper Jay-Z sang his hit “Empire State of Mind.”

After a championship draught that seemed like an eternity for some fans — the Yankees last won a World Series title in 2000 — the team topped the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday to win the best-of-seven series four games to two.

“We really forgot how great it feels,” Yankees captain and shortstop Derek Jeter, who was on the 2000 club, told the crowd. “This year it’s for the fans.”

The World Series victory was an apt way for the Yanks, long known as the Bronx Bombers for their slugging, to christen their new $1.5 billion stadium in the New York borough of the Bronx.

The win gave fans a respite as the U.S. economy struggles to shake off the its worst recession in decades and unemployment reached a 26-1/2 year high in October of 10.2 percent.

“We get to come here and enjoy this and not worry about (the economy) for a little bit of time,” said Donna Grofsick, 44, from Hawthorne, New Jersey, holding a sign that read “Marry Me Derek, it’s OK with my husband.”

Some fans waited more than eight hours to catch a glimpse of their favorite players such as Alex Rodriguez and Series Most Valuable Player Hideki Matsui. Many were dressed head to toe in Yankees merchandise to signal their support.

“We got here at 2 in the morning,” said unemployed student Kevin Cecchini, 23, of Hillsborough, New Jersey. “It’s a great day, everyone has a smile on their faces. People are forgetting about their problems and enjoying the day.”

Jeannine Ready, 53, of Nanaimo arrived in New York on Thursday after a cruise, where she followed the Series on board ship. “This is big,” she said. “My husband has been a fan since he was five years old and he’s now 65.”

New York was also celebrating an economic windfall. A spokesman for Comptroller Bill Thompson estimated the three Series games played in the Bronx were worth an estimated $60 million to the city.

Most of that value, he said, came from about 9,000 out-of-town visitors who attended the games.

Bloomberg said that presenting the keys to New York to the Yankees was an honor. “It is our way of saying to some very special people no matter where you go in life this city will always welcome you back with open arms,” he said.