Wall Street Journal - Stefanos Chen - Stone on Stone in California - Situated on 8.75 acres of craggy mountain terrain, this roughly 4,000-square-foot home in Ramona, Calif., was built on -- and built with -- solid rock.

Calcualted Risk - From CoreLogic: CoreLogic® Reports 69,000 Completed Foreclosures Nationally in March

CoreLogic ... today released its National Foreclosure Report for March, which provides monthly data on completed foreclosures, foreclosure inventory and 90+ day delinquency rates. There were 69,000 completed foreclosures in March 2012 compared to 85,000 in March 2011 and 66,000 in February 2012. Through the first quarter of 2012, there were 198,000 completed foreclosures compared to 232,000 through the first quarter of 2011. Since the start of the financial crisis in September 2008, there have been approximately 3.5 million completed foreclosures.

The Federal Reserve Board’s April survey of senior loan officers showed standards on prime residential mortgage loans and home equity lines of credit in the month were roughly unchanged. It also indicated a moderate strengthening in demand for prime residential mortgage loans, the board said.

CNBC - Diana Olick - Big jumps in foreclosure activity in cities like Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, New York and Raleigh pushed the national numbers higher in the first three months of this year, according to a new report from RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure sales and data company.

A majority of U.S. housing markets posted a quarterly increase in foreclosure activity, although the numbers are still down from a year ago.

Note the peak in manufacturing jobs in June 1977, which represented 22 percent of all nonfarm payrolls, to less than 9 percent of total employment today. It’s too earlier to claim victory with the current recovery in the manufacturing sector, but it is the the first positive slope since mid-1990′s.

There are many reasons for the secular decline, including: 1) the strengthening of the dollar during the 1980′s; 2) globalization; 3) entry of China and India into the global labor force; 4) the internet; 4) productivity; 5) technological innovation; 6) demographics and worker preferences; and 7) all of the above.

HousingWire - Kerri Panchuk - Apartment rental rates in the greater Denver area shot up to a 10-year high in the first quarter as the region faced growing demand for a limited supply of rentals.

Monthly rents in the area soared 4.5% between the first quarter of 2011 and the most recent 1Q period, according to research from the Apartment Association of Metro Denver and the Colorado Division of Housing.

The organizations claim the 4.5% year-over-year rental rate hike is the highest percentage increase in any quarter since 2001.

After the war, there was a sharp and short depression in 1920 from which the cities quickly recovered, but rural America did not. That year, the census recordeed more people living in cities than in the country. Returning soldiers looked for work in the cities rather than return home. And all those people needed somewhere to live.

Calculated Risk - PMI was at 54.8% in April, up from 53.4% in March. The employment index was at 57.3%, up from 56.1%, and new orders index was at 58.2%, up from 54.5%.

But the comments, from San Francisco Fed President John Williams and Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher, do not mean they believe the central bank should quickly move to raise rates, which it has kept near zero for more than three years.

“Phoenix was one of the hardest-hit housing markets during the bust, with home values declining 57% from 2006 through mid-2011,” said Adam Artunian, senior research analyst with the company. “But since the middle of 2011, the housing conditions in Phoenix have markedly improved and prices have begun to rise.”

The Motley Fool - Dan Caplinger - If you're reading this article, you already have a huge leg up on millions of Americans. Even if you take your knowledge of investments and personal finance for granted, a lack of financial savvy threatens to hold millions of people back for the rest of their lives. And the children in your life could end up among them -- unless you start sharing your money knowledge with them. As this year's Financial Literacy Month comes to a close, it's important to look at how you can make a difference in making today's youths more fit to face the financial problems that abound right now.

While 45 percent of American voters approve of the president’s performance, a 51-percent majority disapproves, according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday. That’s a bit of an improvement from two weeks ago when 42 percent approved and 51 percent disapproved (April 9-11).