March 2016

THE VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
8 www.TheValleyBusinessJournal.com
March 2016
Invest an Hour of Your Life to Save the Rest
American Heart Association urges
women to schedule a Well-Woman Visit.
The American Heart Association is
calling on all women to invest an hour of
their life to save the rest by scheduling a
Well-Woman Visit with their health care
provider.
A Well-Woman Visit is a prevention
check-up to review a woman’s overall
health so her doctor can measure blood
pressure, check cholesterol and look for
signs of heart disease, stroke and other
illnesses. It can be scheduled with a primary
care physician, nurse-practitioner or
an Obstetrician Gynecologist (OB-GYN).
A Well-Woman Visit requires no
additional cost for most women because
of the Affordable Care Act. Check your
insurance plan for preventive services coverage
before scheduling a visit. “Getting
to heart disease before it gets to you is one
of the best weapons to fight the nation’s
leading health threats,” said Nicole Or,
executive director of the American Heart
Association in the Inland Empire. “An
annual preventive checkup is a must for
all women. It helps catch health problems
early and minimize damage to the body.”
Cardiovascular disease is America’s
leading killer, but it poses an even greater
threat to women, killing more women than
men every year. Heart disease, stroke and
other cardiovascular diseases cause 1 in 3
deaths among women each year – more
than all cancers combined.
An estimated 44 million women in the
U.S. are affected by cardiovascular diseases.
Ninety percent of women have one or
more risk factors for heart disease or stroke.
The good news is 80 percent of cardiac
events may be prevented with education
and lifestyle changes. In addition to
scheduling a Well-Woman Visit, the AHA
also recommends Life’s Simple 7 as an
approach to improving one’s heart and
brain health.
1. Get active: Aim for at least 30 minutes
of moderate physical activity each day,
five times a week.
2. Eat better: A heart-healthy diet is low
in saturated and trans fat, cholesterol,
sodium and added sugars, and high in
whole grain fiber, lean protein and a
variety fruits and vegetables.
3. Maintain a healthy weight: Bringing
your body mass index (BMI) below 25
benefits your heart.
4. Stop smoking: Breaking the nicotine
addiction is very important if you want
to live a long and healthy life.
5. Manage blood pressure: Keep blood
pressure levels to less than 120/80. Uncontrolled
high blood pressure can hurt
or kill you.
6. Control cholesterol: A cholesterol reading
of 200 mg/dL or higher requires action.
High cholesterol can cause blocked
arteries, which may lead to a heart attack.
7. Reduce blood sugar: Blood sugar levels
above 100 indicate that you may have
diabetes or pre-diabetes, which increases
heart attack risk.
It is equally important to learn the
warning signs of a heart attack. Chest pain
and radiating discomfort in the left arm are
common symptoms for both men and women.
Women, however, may experience other
warning signs, including shortness of breath,
back or jaw pain and nausea. Call 9-1-1
immediately at the first sign of symptoms.
Learn more at www.goredforwomen.
org. To get involved locally, visit www.
iegoredluncheon.org.
Looking Up, or Look Out??
Linguistic master Yogi Berra once
opined, “It’s hard to make predictions,
especially about the future.” That’s
proving to be especially true these
days. In my last newsletter, the Fed
had just raised their interest rate for the
first time in seven years in what was
widely expected to be the first of many
such increases because ‘things were
looking up.’
A scant 30 days later smart money
says the Fed is done for awhile, maybe
quite awhile, as current headlines
trumpet “Big Firms Hit Brake as Profit
Slumps,” “China Bleeds More Cash,”
and “How to Survive the New Economic
Normal.”
The stock market responded handing
the DOW its worst 10 day start to
a year since 1897 in what one senior
trader called “gut wrenching drama.”
Citing fears of further collapse in oil
prices and ongoing weakness in the
Chinese economy, some analysts are
warning of the ‘biggest stock market
crash in a generation.’ Look out!
But before the Bears run amok – the
January unemployment rate dropped
under 5% for the first time in years and
forecaster expect that to drop to the
4.7% rate by year-end. That’s good.
Last year’s forecasters of GDP reaching
the 3% milestone were disappointed
when it averaged just 2.1% and have
tempered their 2016 forecast to 2.5%.
Not great, but better. Housing prices are
expected to rise 4.5% - 5.5% in 2016,
slightly slower than 2015’s pace, while
new home construction is expected to
reach 1.27 million, its highest rate since
the 2007 route. Things are looking up!
And Alt-A loans, euphemistically
referred to as ‘liar loans’ a decade ago,
are staging a comeback.
That means anxious buyers are out
there but just not that many (yet).
Things are looking up - maybe.
These mortgages, typically extended
to people that can’t fully document
their income, can be a real boon to many
otherwise well-qualified but self-employed
buyers. However, together with
sub-prime loans, they helped fuel the
avalanche of defaults leading up to
the economic crash and thus fell out
of favor. Investors looking for higher
rates of return than current interest rates
are lobbying for these new low-doc
mortgages promising to do a better job
qualifying and policing than before.
Look out - maybe.
January was one heckuva month.
I, for one, was right on the money
when I forecast that January housing
numbers would suck. They did. I’d like
to claim that I’m just that prescient but
you all now that’s not true. It was a pretty
safe call because every January for
the last 5 years has sucked, often being
the lowest sales month of the year.
With December pending sales way
down, it was a sure bet that January
closings would follow suit. That’s too
bad because January’s pending sales
aren’t all that hot either, up only 5%
from December, so February numbers
won’t be anything to brag about even
with an extra day in the calendar. We’ll
have to bide our time until March to see
how demand is going to trend this year.
Both sales and median prices were
down in January – sales off 25% from
December and prices down 1%. Even
with that drop, they were good enough
to keep us ahead of 2015, with sales up
10% from last January and prices holding
a 7% edge. Analysts believe prices
will continue to increase this year but at
a slower pace than last year which we’re
seeing borne out in our local market,
With sales down and people starting
to list their homes after the holidays,
inventory ticked up 6%, but still 17%
below where we were last January.
Inventory is holding in that 3 month
range for most cities – new normal. On
average, cities managed to absorb nearly
85% of new listings to the market in
January and homes sold a little faster
bringing days-on-market back down to
an average of 55 days.
That means anxious buyers are
out there but just not that many (yet).
Things are looking up - maybe.
Gene Wunderlich is Vice-President
of Government Affairs for the Southwest
Riverside County Association of
Realtors and Legislative Director for
The Southwest California Legislative
Council. A local advocate on housing
and business issues, you can contact
Gene at GAD@srcar.org or follow him
on Twitter @SWCalAdvocacy.
connect: GAD@srcar.org