Low interest rates. It's not supposed to be like this.

Haven't we all been told that interest rates would rise this year? And didn't interest rates tease us a little bit by rising in the late winter?  But now they're down again.  Buyer clients of mine got an FHA loan for 4.75% with no points on Monday.  And jumbo conforming loans -- up to $729k -- can be had at 4.85%.  And jumbo-jumbos at 5.5% (with 25% down).  Thanks, for once, banks.  You're just full of surprises, and this one is delightful for a change.

Martin Feldstein says raise taxes, but not rates

While figuring out tax incidence-who actually bears the burden of the tax--is difficult, my guess is that his proposal, which would limit all deductions to two percent of adjusted gross income, would raise revenue, simplify the code, reduce deadweight losses (i.e., economic inefficiency), and produce a more progressive tax code.  It is the last of these that I am not sure about, but if we also raised the top rates to their Clinton-era levels, then one gets a more progressive code too.  I have seen no evidence that raising the top marginal rate from 35 to 39 percent would produce substantial deadweight loss.

I think such a proposal would need to be phased in--it would be a shock to lots of different markets, but I like the thinking behind it.  

New Digs for Facebook Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg

BUYER: Mark Zuckerberg
LOCATION: Palo Alto, CA
PRICE: $7,000,000
SIZE: 5,617 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 5 full and 2 half bathrooms

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Every celebrity real estate watcher and social media maven knows that baby-faced Facebook bajillionaire Mark Zuckerberg lives modestly, certainly far beneath his financial means.

For years Mister Zuckerberg shacked up in a very ordinary if somewhat pricey rental house in the College Terrace neighborhood in Palo Alto, CA. Soon after Mister Zuckerberg gave Oprah Winfrey a tour of the barely furnished house in the fall of 2010, he and his long-term lady-friend Priscilla Chan moved and the house was posted for lease on Craigslist with an asking price of $7,850 per month.

The whip-smart internet tycoon decamped for a new rental house just seven blocks away. Turns out, the 3,800 square foot fully renovated residence–where he reportedly had a serious security system installed complete with scads of cameras–was little more than a way-station and crash pad.

New reports out of Silicon Valley reveal that Mister Zuckerberg has finally used some of his many billions to buy a multi-million dollar property in Palo Alto. With the information we had at hand Your Mama did a little unscientific research and feel quite confident we've identified Mister Zuckerberg's new residence, an an historic house in Palo Alto's Crescent Park neighborhood, just a 10 minute drive from Facebook's new campus in Menlo Park.

Public records show the charming in question sold in mid-March for $7,000,000 and listing information Your Mama managed to squeeze and tease out of the interweb shows the residence has 5 bedrooms, 5 full and 2 half bathrooms in 5,617 square feet.

The turn-of-the-century residence, set well back from the street behind walls and privacy hedges, was originally built in 1903 and remodeled and expanded over the years. The previous owners–who reportedly still occupy the home as of yesterday–gave the property a complete and expensive overhaul a few years ago that included the addition of an entertainment pavilion with outdoor fireplace and built-in barbecue and a lap-lane salt water swimming pool and spa.

A wide rocking chair porch leads to and impress-the-guests entrance hall and reception area, a formal living with fireplace, banquet hall sized dining room, wood-paneled family room with built-in cabinetry and a large center-island kitchen that opens into a glassed-in sun porch. The master bedroom includes a bathroom with twin Carrera marble topped vanities, separate soaking tub and shower and heated floors for tootsie warming on those chilly and damp NorCal mornings.

Given Mister Zuckerberg's recent run in with an unhinged person who turned up on his door step and left ridiculous notes for him that said stupid things like: "I am ready to die for you, please, Mark, please," we imagine Mister Zuckerberg will install a state of the art security system that will not only film you but zap you with a laser beam iffin you so much as look a the house when you drive by.

listing photo: Alain Pinel Realtors

Ever Wonder...

...what The Promised Land looks like?

Oprah Winfrey recently toured nice, gay decorator Nate Berkus around her sprawling and meticulously maintained estate, which she calls The Promised Land, in Montecito, CA.

How-evuh, hunnies, La Oprah did not allow the cameras into the estate's main mansion but rather just poked around the grounds and did an interview in the damn tea house. Those Oprah people hyped that shit up like they were going to let folks peep into Miz Winfrey's private lair and then they didn't even show the house? Pleeze. Y'all should of promoted that as a silly garden tour and nuthin' but a garden tour, okay?

That said and even though Your Mama can't bear the scent of roses, Miz Winfrey's roses sure of purdy and the view towards the Pacific Ocean is utterly magnificent.