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To: Les H who wrote (193224)	3/25/2009 12:58:43 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 306849

Two brothers die along with car dealership Pennsylvania auto business collapses from recession and two owners are among casualties. Ramit Plushnick-Mast / Associated Press LIGONIER, Pa . -- Third-generation car dealers Gregory and Randolph Graham watched helplessly over the past year as their business collapsed under the weight of the recession. Now the Graham brothers are gone. Gregory, 61, went out to the dealership lot in the middle of the night last month, set fire to some of his vehicles and died of a heart attack next to the burning wreckage. Then, over the weekend, Randolph, 51, was found dead, slumped over the wheel of his car in what may have been a suicide. In this western Pennsylvania town of 1,700, residents say the Grahams were victims of the economy, crushed by tight credit, plunging sales and more than $1 million in state and federal tax liens against the business. "To feel like they were so backed into a corner that that was the only way out is just horrible," said Rachel Roehrig, who went to school with the brothers and is now director of the area Chamber of Commerce. The brothers' tragic end was a slow progression of painful events, some known only to acquaintances, others to passers-by observant enough to notice that the number of Pontiacs, Buicks and Jeeps on the lot at Graham Colonial Motors was dwindling -- a sign that the brothers didn't have the money to replenish their inventory. The Graham family has declined to comment. The dealership was founded in the 1960s in downtown Ligonier by Albert Graham, Gregory and Randolph's grandfather. In the 1980s, the brothers moved the dealership to a spot just outside downtown, where the now-abandoned building stands, about 55 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. The Graham family was a pillar of the community, supplying cars for the annual parade held in celebration of Fort Ligonier, the French and Indian War-era military compound for which the town was named. Gregory was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Randolph was once a deacon at his Presbyterian church. Both were married for more than 20 years, and they had five children between them. Often, the Graham brothers would eat lunch with their employees. Sometimes, their sister, Christy Lopushansky, who was also the dealership secretary, would bring brownies. "It was just like a little family," 52-year-old Dennis Rummel, a former mechanic in the service department, said while sitting at the bar at Ligonier's VFW post. In February 2007, Graham Colonial Motors was hit with the first in a series of tax liens. It was around that time that Rummel was laid off. Several more rounds of layoffs followed as the dealership's troubles deepened. detnews.com

To: Les H who wrote (193224)	3/25/2009 1:02:21 PM
From: Jim McMannis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

You mean they still let you take cash out of your home? blogs.tampabay.com Lest you think the government is the housing savior we've been waiting for, take a gander at this. The Federal Housing Administration has let people do cash-out mortgage refinancing when they have had as little as 5 percent equity in their homes. In one of those better-late-than-never moves, the FHA will now require 15 percent equity for cash-out refinancing. The FHA is a slow learner. Where was the agency when home prices dipped 35 percent the past 3 years? How many of the cash-out deals they approved since 2006 are now upside-down foreclosure cases? Anyway, here's the announcement: According to a letter that went out to lenders this week, The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) plans to make it tougher for borrowers to secure a cash-out refinance mortgage. Until now, the FHA has approved cash-out refinances for homeowners who have at least 5% equity in their properties and a record of on-time payments for at least one year. However, beginning April 1, this type of refinancing will be restricted to borrowers with at least 15% equity in their homes. “FHA is the predominant source of mortgage financing available to home-owners and home-buyers today.” said Jeannie O’Grady, State Director with the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers and Mortgage Broker with Creative Mortgage Lenders in St. Petersburg. Even though the mortgage markets are under a constant change, home buyers can still purchase a home with little to no money down. The loan just has to “make sense”, and of course the borrowers must qualify. Even though FHA has no minimum credit score requirement, lenders typically want to see a minimum credit score of 620 in order to qualify for home financing.