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Mortgage rates finally found a bottom this week, following six consecutive weeks of declines, but remained near record lows as worries about the European debt crisis continue to make bonds that fund most mortgages look like a safe bet to investors.

Rates on the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 3.71 percent with an average 0.7 point for the week ending June 14, up from 3.67 percent last week but down from 4.5 percent a year ago, Freddie Mac said in releasing the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Last week’s rate for 30-year loans was an all-time low in Freddie Mac records dating to 1971.

For 15-year fixed-rate loans, rates averaged 2.98 percent with an average 0.7 point, up from 2.94 percent last week but down from 3.67 percent a year ago. Last week’s rate for 15-year loans was a low in records dating to 1991.

Rates on the five-year Treasury-indexed hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) averaged 2.8 percent with an average 0.6 point, down from 2.84 percent last week and 3.27 percent a year ago. Rates on five-year ARMs hit 2.78 percent during the week ending April 19, an all-time low in records dating to 2005.

For one-year Treasury-indexed ARMs, rates averaged 2.78 percent with an average 0.5 point, down from 2.79 percent last week and 2.97 percent a year ago. Rates on one-year ARMs hit an all-time low in records dating to 1984 of 2.72 percent during the week ending March 1.

A separate survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association showed demand for purchase loans for the week ending June 8 was up a seasonally adjusted 13 percent from the week before, and up 4 percent from a year ago.

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Although requests to refinance accounted for eight out of 10 mortgage applications, demand for purchase loans was at the highest level in more than six months, the MBA said.

Mortgage rates are near historic lows in part because global investors see mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae as a safe haven from turmoil in financial markets.

Fears that heavily indebted countries like Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain will default on those debts, disrupting eurozone trade and plunging the global economy into another recession, continue unabated this week.

Moody’s Investor Service downgraded Spain’s sovereign credit rating Wednesday, and Greek banks have seen a run on deposits as customers prepare for the possibility that parties opposed to austerity measures will prevail in elections scheduled for Sunday, Reuters reports.

The impact a eurozone meltdown would have on the U.S. economy is unclear. The 17-nation eurozone was America’s largest trading partner in 2011, Yahoo Finance economics editor Daniel Gross notes. But Canada, Mexico and Latin America, Asia and Africa have become increasingly important trading partners in recent years.

Trade isn’t the only issue at stake, Gross said, “There are several other channels of contagion.”

Central banks around the globe are making plans to protect their currencies and economies from the impacts of an exodus of capital from eurozone countries, Reuters reports. Demand for U.S. dollars strengthens the currency’s value, which can hurt exports by making U.S.-made goods more expensive to foreign buyers.

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Paralleling a decline in for-sale inventory, shadow inventory looming over the U.S. housing market hit its lowest level in nearly three years in April, according to a report from real estate data aggregator CoreLogic.

Shadow inventory was down 14.8 percent year over year in April to 1.5 million units. That’s a four-month supply, down from six months in April 2011 and about the same level as in October 2008.

   

Meanwhile, unsold inventory of nondistressed active listings fell to 6.5 months in April — a more than five-year low.

“Since peaking at 2.1 million units in January 2010, the shadow inventory has fallen by 28 percent. The decline in the shadow inventory is a positive development because it removes some of the downward pressure on house prices,” said Mark Fleming, CoreLogic’s chief economist, in a statement.

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“This is one of the reasons why some markets that were formerly identified as deeply distressed, like Arizona, California and Nevada, are now experiencing price increases.” 

CoreLogic defines shadow inventory as properties seriously delinquent by 90 days or more, in the foreclosure process, and those that have finished the foreclosure process and become REO (real estate owned) but have not yet been listed for sale. 

The dollar volume of shadow inventory fell about 9 percent in April, to $246 billion — a three-year low. Of the 1.5 million units comprising the nation’s shadow inventory, 720,000 are seriously delinquent, 410,000 are in some stage of foreclosure, and 390,000 are unlisted REOs, CoreLogic said.

 

Serious delinquencies fell most in Arizona (-37 percent), California (-28 percent), Nevada (-27.4 percent), Michigan (-23.7 percent) and Minnesota (-18.1 percent), CoreLogic said.

Google calls it the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).

It’s when a consumer is done researching and ready to take action.

Would someone hire you right now based on only one Google search of your name?

BrandYourself can help you control what is seen, and in what order, when the ZMOT happens to you.

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Here is why this matters so much, especially in an industry like real estate with well-documented consumer trust issues:

Let’s say you are an agent who is active on Yelp. You maintain a great online presence and reputation there with flattering reviews galore.

When I Google you, Yelp is result No. 5.

On LinkedIn, you have a half-baked profile with no recommendations.

When I Google you, LinkedIn is result No. 1.

Not good.

What should you do when you see your Twitter account at the top of Google and you don’t even use it?

Do you know how to fix any of this on your own? Didn’t think so.

In a ZMOT world, these are huge problems that need to be addressed immediately.

BrandYourself isn’t the normal snake-oil-salesman stuff either. It’s free to optimize three links, easy to set up, and the company is getting major buzz.

As soon as you start your BrandYourself account they grade your current Google Page 1 results for your name. You then have the opportunity to mark the results positive, negative or not me. You can also submit three links that you wish were at the top of Google when someone searches for you.

BrandYourself provides a step-by-step guide that will show you where your name needs to appear more or less often across the most popular social media networks. They call it “boosting” a link.

Think of BrandYourself as legitimate SEO for dummies, training wheels included at every turn.

Additional features include:

Easy-to-understand analytics that monitor results for your name in a simple dashboard.

Email alerts when there is movement for your name in Google.

BrandYourself can even tell you where someone who Googled you works!

There is a more advanced, paid option with BrandYourself available. You can optimize and track more than three links by paying $79.99 per year. You also receive more real-time alerts and additional analytics by paying.

Teddy Roosevelt would probably say it’s worth a look.

BrandYourself has gotten much deserved press, including features in Mashable, Fast Company, The Huffington Post and CNET. They also recently closed a round of funding of more than $1 million.

I doubt the sleazy guys who call you and promise front-page Google placement can say the same.

You can get started with a free BrandYourself account here.

Use your Facebook Timeline as a fun place to raise brand awareness and make your fans laugh. Learn how Old Spice did it, and see that you need only your creativity and a good designer to edit images.

For fans it is not enough anymore to ‘like’ your brand’s page, they want to interact and discuss, and they want to have fun, while they are checking you out. Moreover, you really need to keep them excited with good content since only 16% of your fans see your posts. Remember – the activity of your fans can be measured, and if they have fun, they will spread the word about you and your coolness. If you thought Timeline would be your enemy during your triumphant march around the world when you gather your fans, just believe us – it can help you so many ways you could never imagine.

Be creative – now you can release your imagination!

Let’s see a great example: Old Spice was always known about their pretty cool campaigns, and their newest one is also a great idea! It was quite simple – they just spiced up a bit their Timeline on Facebook, and managed to create a huge buzz. They found out that the cool feature on Timelines called Milestones can be a great help in this. They just added some important events, stories and images to the notable dates on their Timeline as milestones. The result – thousands of shared and liked posts and images, a lot of buzz!

 

The details of Old Spice’s foundation:

Captain William Lightfoot Schultz invents Old Spice on a ship with his shipmate Rogue Stallion—a one-eyed Australian ninja leopard—when they accidentally mix space rocks, tank weaponry, a race-car spoiler, cool sunglasses and a vampire fang.

Corporate communication is always an important thing – even if you are only a small company with only 5 colleagues! With some creativity you can let your fans into your company life a little bit – they will feel closer to you, start liking, commenting and sharing!

 

Old Spice has great confidence!

And what could be even more tempting for your fans? Winning something after they answer a question about your brand’s history!

Your turn: how would you spice up your Facebook Timeline? Do you think it worth the effort?

Today many changes are taking place in content marketing. Information is power, and according to the latest research, the companies that use this wisdom to run their business, are flourishing. Others – not so much…

The way content is created today is changing rapidly with a variety of mediums coming together to form a new model for data-driven businesses that are destined for success. Online marketing is also experiencing huge shifts in relevance with content and data coming to the forefront of industry forces.

The ‘single view of the customer’ is an old model and judging by everything we know about successful b2b marketing it isn’t working. The new model is that of a data driven business, with the 5 main principles below:

1. Make data available
   According to recent research, organisations which use data are doing really well but still there are many businesses that cannot take advantage of necessary data because it’s simply inaccessible. Only 17 % of b2b marketers interviewed had access to valuable data that allowed them to be intelligence-driven in their business decisions. Understanding customers and markets is only possible by creating infrastructure to make data as available as possible – with minimum effort.
2. Keep data up-to-date
   Huge losses are incurred by companies that fail to keep their customer data accurate. This can be a turn off for many customers and can end a potentially fruitful business relationship. As customers’ details change so should the marketing approaches and business decisions. Always being in touch with the current situation may help b2b marketers stay ahead of the game.
3. Keep data systems scalable and flexible
   Because the business world is changing with a speed unknown before, data systems should be planned to be scalable from the outset. That way data can grow and stay relevant together with the growth of the business and its expansion to new markets and locations.
4. Use a fully integrated data approach
   According to a recent industry white paper the biggest problems arise when businesses adopt a ‘fragmented’ or ‘linked’ approach to data where few or no connections are made between different departments and the use of data is not integrated throughout the whole company. The fully integrated approach involves having full access to data in real time from any department by any employee, allowing marketers to make timely, multidimensional and relevant business decisions.
5. Keep it high tech
   Knowing what new technologies are out there to automate these complex processes and making sure they are updated as soon as cutting edge products appear is the best way to cut time, human and financial resources as well as stay ahead of competition.

To have a truly data driven business it is necessary to be able to extract the right data, keep it fully integrated, stay connected and use the intelligence gained to prepare one-to-one multi-channel marketing campaigns that are relevant at the current moment. Businesses that are information-, insight- and intelligence-led have a chance to survive and thrive in the information age where content is becoming more important than anything else.