Week Ending July 5, 2009: All Michael, All The Time

Michael Jackson has three of the five best-selling albums in the U.S. for the second week in a row. Number Ones sold 339,000 copies this week and would have held at #1 on The Billboard 200 if catalog albums were eligible to compete on that chart. (The 2003 compilation sold a little more than twice as many copies this week as NOW 31, the album that holds the #1 spot.) Thriller sold 187,000 copies and would have jumped from #3 to #2 if catalog albums were invited to the party. The Essential Michael Jackson sold 125,000 copies and would have dropped from #2 to #5. (Billboard excludes catalog albums from the big chart on the theory that new albums need the spotlight the chart provides more than past hits do.)

Jackson's catalog of solo albums sold 800,000 copies this week, up from 422,000 copies last week. (This was the first full week following Jackson's death on June 25. Last week's total reflected just four days of sales.) Billboard reports that 82% of the Jackson albums sold this week were CDs (vs. digital downloads). Last week, 43% of the Jackson albums sold were CDs. I think this shows that on a special album, people want the CD as a keepsake. (What a retro concept!)

Jackson's total song download sales this week, including hits with his brothers, stand at 2.2 million downloads, down just a little from 2.6 million last week. A total of 47 songs that feature Jackson are listed on the Hot Digital Songs chart. (This is down just a bit from last week's eye-popping total of 50.)

Number Ones racked up the biggest weekly sales total in Nielsen/SoundScan history for a catalog album (excluding Christmas albums). Jackson also held the old record, which he set in February 2008, when Thriller 25 sold 166,000 copies in its first week. Number Ones also posted the biggest one-week sales tally for an album by a deceased performer since the Notorious B.I.G.'s Duets: The Final Chapter debuted in December 2005 with first-week sales of 438,000.

Number Ones has sold 564,000 copies so far this year, which puts it at #18 on Nielsen/SoundScan's running list of the best-selling albums of 2009. If it keeps going like this, it could topple Taylor Swift's Fearless as the #1 album for the year-to-date. (Fearless has sold 1,352,000 copies since Jan. 1.) This will (in all likelihood) be only the third time in Nielsen/SoundScan history that an album by a deceased performer has ranked among the year's top 10. 2Pac's All Eyez On Me was the #6 album of 1996 (he died on Sept. 13 of that year). The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death was the #6 album of 1997 (he died on March 9 of that year).

Number Ones holds at #1 on the Catalog Albums chart. (Catalog albums are albums that are more than 18 months old, have fallen below #100 on The Billboard 200 and don't have a current radio single.) Jackson owns the entire top 10 this week, counting a Jackson 5 album. The Essential Michael Jackson holds at #1 on the Digital Albums chart. The collection sold 53,000 digital copies this week.

This is the third time that Thriller has posted sales of 100,000 or more units in a week in the Nielsen/SoundScan era (which dates to 1991). As noted above, the album sold 166,000 copies when a 25th anniversary edition was released in February 2008. It sold 101,000 last week, in the aftermath of Jackson's death. Thriller is the only the second catalog album (again, excluding Christmas albums) to top the 100,000 sales mark more than once since 1992. It follows the Grease soundtrack, a 1978 blockbuster that came back strong in the mid-1990s. The John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John tune-fest topped the 100,000 sales mark twice in December 1996 and again in April 1998, when the movie was re-released theatrically.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/chart_watch/35974/week-ending-july-5-2009-all-michael-all-the-time/
By Paul Grein

French tourists seen as world's worst: survey

PARIS (Reuters Life!) – French tourists are the worst in the world, coming across as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant, according to a survey of 4,500 hotel owners across the world.

They finish in last place in the survey carried out for internet travel agency Expedia by polling company TNS Infratest, which said French holidaymakers don't speak local languages and are seen as impolite.

"It's mainly the fact that they speak little or no English when they're abroad, and they don't speak much of the local language," Expedia Marketing Director Timothee de Roux told radio station France Info.

"The French don't go abroad very much. We're lucky enough to have a country which is magnificent in terms of its landscape and culture," he said, adding that 90 per cent of French people did their traveling at home.

"So when they're on holiday they can be a bit stressed, they're not used to things, and this can lead them to be demanding in a way which could be seen as a certain arrogance."

French tourists are also accused of generally spending less than other nationalities when abroad.

De Roux said the French, not accustomed to leaving large tips at home where a service charge is automatically levied on restaurant bills, can seem "tight-fisted" compared with other nationalities.

The Japanese ranked top of the Best Tourist survey, with the British and the Germans judged the best of the Europeans.

But French tourists received some consolation for their poor performance, finishing third after the Italians and British for dress sense while on holiday.

(Reporting by Joseph Tandy; editing by James Mackenzie)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090709/lf_nm_life/us_france_tourists

The Loan Modification Debacle

In an article written by Ms. Podmolik that appeared in the Business section of the Chicago Tribune, I guarantee you the only real point in this story was missed by 98% of those who read it. In following the attempts of a couple individuals who have been trying in vain to have their loans modified, it's easy to see that banks are frustrating matters by their lack of motivation in pursuing a loan modification that would allow the borrowers to stay in their homes. Like all loan modification attempts, it seems like the banks just don't know how to get out of their own way as honest homeowners attempt to keep their homes.

The problem here is a simple one. First, banks are awash in procedural folly, a check and balance system that is way over cautious, and doomed to self regulate to a degree that they’ve begun to operate more like inefficient governmental agencies than private sector corporations. While I hate the way banks are doing business, I do not blame them for their lack of efficiency or motivation in dealing with loan modifications, because there's a very hard truth that most of us just don't understand... Your bank doesn't want to modify your loan.

Your bank is like your brother. You're 8 and he's 10. He calls you a name, so you punch him, your mom, always looking for reasons to blame you for the strife, tells you to apologize to your brother. You know it was his fault for starting the trouble, but you apologize, with an under the breath "sorry" while you storm into your room for an afternoon of playing with the 1986 style Transformers. You're the bank. The bank feels slighted in this process, but has been told by a tweed-jacket-with-leather-elblow-patches-wearing Obama that they should be granting these modifications, so the bank gives a have hearted attempt at the loan modification that it's being forced into by the socialist Federalies.

Whether or not your bank has a nice little section on their website regarding the "Hope for Homeowners Act", or some warm hearted story about how they're helping millions of homeowners avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes, be sure you know this. The bank doesn't want to modify your loan, not in the least bit.

Think about it from the bank's point of view. They agree to eat some past due payments, rework your loan to lower your rate, and then send you on your way. They spend real money doing this modification, both in legal fees and in lost time by their employees. Banks are over burdened, slow moving creatures that have a hard enough time just walking in a straight line, and now you want them to do a front flip and stick the landing?

The bank doesn't want to modify your loan because they know the odds are that it just isn't going to help, and for that claim, they have statistics on their side. According to a study by Barclay's, "current loans receiving rate modifications will experience a 62% redefault rate; while delinquent loans receiving rate modifications will experience an 83% redefault rate." If you're in trouble with your loan, the bank knows that if they don't modify your loan, you default. But they also know that if they do spend time and money modifying the loan, you'll also default. The result is the same to them, but one option requires more energy on their behalf and increased the amount of money they're going to lose off of the troubled homeowner.

You see now why the banks don't want to waste time and money modifying a loan that is statistically doomed even after the modification? In spite of these realities, Obama and friends continue to think this is the answer to our housing crisis. It's no wonder a bunch of academics from Harvard who boast a combined real estate resume roughly the size of the fingernail on my pinky can't figure out how to fix this mess.

The free market is moving towards a resolution, but every bit of Obama intervention, outside of the Mortgage Backed Securities purchases that are keeping mortgage rates artificially low, is only getting in the way of recovery. Let the banks ignore modification attempts, and although it's cruel, it will indeed speed up our housing recovery. Why Obama doesn't understand that is beyond me, and is further proof that the principles guiding this administration are feel good principles that prove an easy sell to a simple minded public, but have little statistical proof to back them up. I believe that's called hot air, but in this case, it's really, really expensive hot air.

Published: July 9, 2009

by David Curry
http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20090709_loanmod.htm

Thoughts on Social Media, Investing from Real Estate Investment Club Bloggers

Thoughts on Social Media, Investing from Real Estate Investment Club Bloggers

by Peter L. Mosca

[Note:To follow is an excerpt of an interview with several bloggers from Real Estate Investment Club.com: Scott Carson, a full time real estate investor and real estate investment coach, Halle Eavelyn, a specialist in private banking and investing for real estate, loan modifications, short sales, rehabbing homes, pre-construction real estate, and lease options; and Jack Sternberg, 30 years plus of experience and a track record of thousands of successful real estate transactions. To listen to the show archive or download an MP3, go to www.IncomePropertyInvestmentTalk.com/060309.]

Mosca: How are you using social media, blogging to drive business for you?

Eavelyn: I wanted to mention a couple of tools that I have discovered since the last time I was on your show that have really spiked my followers on Twitter. I am using a program called TopFollowed.com where they do reciprocal following. That has actually doubled my Twitter followers in three weeks. I’ve been very impressed with them. It’s going very quickly. There’s another one called Mr. Tweek.com where it gets people to recommend you and once you have enough recommendations and I think it’s three, you start getting recommended more and more and you can recommend other people as well. So, it’s designed to drill down to value being added to people’s network not just random following. I find that both of these things are pretty good. This morning I was able to send a note out to 3000 people between Facebook and Twitter saying I'm going to be on the show.

Carson: Utilize key words. It’s writing a little bit differently. It takes more time but utilizing keywords does drive more traffic. I was working with a commercial mortgage broker yesterday outside of Charlotte. She never blogged, didn’t have a Twitter or a Facebook account. We started a Web site, started blogging and are using some keywords. We filmed a video, posted it and within 24 hours of us posting her blog, it is now the number one Google searched free listing when you search her keywords on Google. She has traffic, and has already gotten phone calls. It’s not that difficult, it just takes a little bit of time to familiarize yourself with the language and what you want to say to drive the business your doorstep.

Mosca: Do you have examples in and around social media driving business to folks who are using it correctly?

Carson: Utilizing blogs and videos to write or post property descriptions. I’ve had three of my clients in the last 30 days call me extremely excited because they’ve gotten hits right off of that for sales. They are getting full price offers and closing quickly. It is amazing to see my students having success selling properties quicker and creatively versus just posting a sign in the front yard.

Sternberg: Most of the questions I get are from investors trying to figure out how to enter the business, the right direction to take, the first step, how do get started, how not to get taken for a ride, is this a good deal, where is the money, how do I overcome down payment issues, etc. I enjoy helping people. That’s why I blog.

Mosca: For an investor to invest ‘well’ in real estate it’s important to look to the professionals who have specific expertise. Do you agree?

Sternberg: After 30 plus years in the business, I can tell you that when I sell a home, I generally list it with a REALTOR. REALTORS are indispensable in this market especially in this market.

Eavelyn: I have seen a lot of people who consider themselves seasoned investors going back to the basics and saying, “I’ve got to learn this whole new market, short sales, foreclosures, loan modifications” because they didn't see this market coming have lost their shirts and are sort of starting over from scratch again.

Mosca: Jan from Dayton Ohio, asks, “do you have any ideas or recommendations on how to acquire private capital to rehab a number of properties he has bought?”

Carson: Get out and talk to your database of clients. There is money out there in IRAs and CDs that people are scared to do stuff with. Just getting out and opening your mouth and telling people what you’re doing and sharing with them. Don’t be greedy.

Sternberg: I get approached constantly for money to put into deals and my criteria is very simple, especially in this market. It almost doesn’t matter how inexpensively you buy a piece of property or if you get it REO or you get it short sale. The key to today’s market is being able to sell it. My criteria as a private money investor to my borrowers is, “what is your disposition plan?” Do you have it sold? You’ve got to show me how to get out because I don’t want a half interest in a piece of property.

Eavelyn: I do want to make a point about soliciting though. Whether it’s looking for private money online or to be a private lender, you have to be careful. The SEC frowns on you going out to a mass market and saying you can make this much “x” return on your money. The important word is private. It should be at the most part an individual transaction between two people. You don’t want to be blasting Craigslist or sending out to your 2000, 5000 Twitter followers that you can make 10% because then you are soliciting.

Carson: You should never promise rate of return on an ad or anything like that or use the words guaranteed or secured at all. Asking for joint venture partners is okay, offering an above average rate of return is okay to say, but never mention a 10% or 12% interest rate. The SEC will shut you down quicker than you can take a look at it.

Mosca: What are each of you seeing for the remainder of 2009

Carson: Look at what your trends are doing so you know that you’re buying properly because it all comes back to an exit strategy. You should never buy property without an exit strategy in mind and if your markets continue to dwindle a little, you may want to hold off buying a few properties in that market or look at another stronger market. It’s a great opportunity if you are buying right but you've got to know your market and your exit strategy.

Sternberg: It’s not hard to understand why homes are under contract or spiking: rates are low, home prices are soft, and the tax credit to first-time homebuyers. The first-time homebuyer accounts for 70% of the market of home sales. Those things coupled together result in what we are seeing.

Mosca: What are your golden nuggets for today?

Eavelyn: Plan your exit strategy in life ahead of time. It is important to be thinking about what would happen to your business, your investments in case something happens to you. How would your business function or at least how would your money function if you weren’t there anymore?

Carson: Be flexible. When you look at it as an investor, have multiple exit strategies. There are basically five exit strategies. If you can sell conventionally great, sell conventionally but leave a little meat out there so it sells fast. If you can't sell conventionally, sell with owner financing, carry a paper. If you can't do that, see if you can do a lease option or rent to own. At worst case, you're wholesaling it out, making some quick cash or renting the property but it's critical to have multiple exit strategies and not just try to get rich and hit home runs. Singles and doubles win games as well.

Sternberg: Stay on track. Stay focused. Set your goals and go after them. The real estate business is a fabulous, great business. I've been in it for 30 plus years and often I look around and I often look around and don't see a lot of the people that I knew 30 years ago in the business. Where did they go? They don’t stick around. They make a bunch of money and they go off and do something else or they fail and leave. My advice is stick around because it's a great business and there's always something to learn.

Published: July 9, 2009

by Peter L. Mosca
http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20090709_socialmedia.htm

The Closer: May 28, 2009

• The Gotham Organization knows how to weather a storm. Not only is it building its own deluxe rental building, 200 West at 200 W. 72nd St., set to open around January, the four-generation company is finishing the construction of some giant New York City projects. Gotham Construction, the company’s building arm, is the general contractor on Silver Towers, the 1,200-plus-unit, two-tower rental project on 42nd St. from Larry Silverstein, and Truffles Tribeca, the successful high-design rental building with the city’s top residents-only lounge. Gotham’s 200 West is a 19-story tower with 196 apartments ranging from studios to three-bedrooms. Prices for the apartments have not yet been set. The silver, LEED-certified building’s rooftop garden will have a mist wall to cool off sunbathers, and a large stone fireplace. “The roof of this building has areas for people to do different things,” says Gotham Organizations’s president, David Picket, speaking about a bar area, sun deck area and lounge space. “The views of the city are great. You’re not so high up. The city is kind of right in front of you.”

• I.M. Pei came out last week to honor two of his projects in one party. The Young Patrons Circle of the American Friends of the Louvre, Elle magazine and Stillman Development Intl. honored Pei on the 20th anniversary of his Louvre Museum pyramid in Paris. The party was held at the Centurion, a project on 56th St. between Fifth and Sixth Aves. done by Pei Partnership Architects with I.M. Pei.
  The building was developed by Stillman with Antonio Development; reps report 60% of the project sold, with two-bedrooms starting at around $3.85 million. Attended by Maggie Rizer, Kipton Cronkite and Catherine Forbes, the event was held in the building, in developer Roy Stillman’s full-floor penthouse. Recording star Ayo performed. Pei, whose appearance was a surprise to the guests, came for an hour and took some pictures with adoring fans. Maybe that’s why they call them “starchitects.”

• Now the smoke has cleared from New York’s Design Week, held every May, the people from Bklyn Designs are back at it and looking forward to next year. Karen Auster, who produces the event, was hired by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce eight years back to assess what types of businesses make Brooklyn go. The answers included furniture making. For the 2009 show, the jury was very selective. “We want it to be a challenge to get into the show,” says Auster. “The idea is to showcase the best Brooklyn’s got when it comes to furniture design. That can’t be everyone. We raised our standards.” This year’s show had a heavy green emphasis, and the intimate feel of the DUMBO event meant easy access to the product makers. Next year’s show already has dates: May 7-9. Go to www.bklyndesigns.net for information on exhibiting or attending. The Web site also has a rundown on buying products from Brooklyn’s furniture industry. Carl Hum, the Chamber of Commerce’s president, was on hand to watch the borough’s internationally acclaimed design showcase.“The chamber is here for this kind of thing to happen,” says Hum, a native of Sunset Park. “People and business owners need to know we’re here to train them, support them and help them grow in bad times and good.”

• Some rental deals are under your nose. We hear an upper East Side resident found a one-bedroom in her own building a few flights up from her studio and she’s only paying $100 more per month. She even got the building owner to help her move. Her rent increased from $1,600 to $1,700, but she has more space.

http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2009/05/29/2009-05-29_the_closer.html

Property values see slight gain — but not enough to ease budget pain

Property values in Santa Clara County have actually managed to rise this year — bucking, if barely, worst-case scenarios that predicted one of the largest drops since the Great Depression — according to the final review of county tax rolls released Wednesday.

But few city, county and school officials, still reeling after some of their worst budget cuts in memory, said they were ready to cheer.

"When I get numbers like property tax revenues that are slightly better than expected, I don't jump up or down yet until I see how my other revenues shake out," said Leslie Crowell, budget director for Santa Clara County, which last month closed a whopping $273 million deficit.

In an annual rite, appraisers fan out across the valley to reassess residential and commercial properties that have changed hands in the past year. This year, though, tanking real estate values prompted the assessor's office to also look at thousands of other properties; lowered assessments granted homeowners some $17.4 billion in temporary property tax relief.

That reduction, coupled with a wave of homes selling for less than they were previously assessed, has added up to a devastating hit for cities, redevelopment agencies, schools and county agencies that rely on tax income to fund basic services.

Still, the slight uptick of 0.18 percent, or $525 million, in the county's overall roll was far better than the 2 percent decline the assessor's office

had predicted. It nonetheless marked the worst performance for county property values since 1978 — the year Proposition 13 took effect.

And it was a far cry from the $20 billion in growth recorded last year. In fact, County Assessor Larry Stone said only five other years have been worse: 1978, 1970 and three others in the midst of the Depression. All five of those years saw declines in the county's assessed value.

"It's a half-full, half-empty thing," Stone said of the county's $303.9 billion tax roll. "We're still doing pretty darn good compared to the rest of the state," where some counties are seeing double-digit declines in property tax assessments.

It's also a mixed bag for homeowners. While the reduced property values on a record 90,000 homes means tax breaks for thousands of residents, the reductions also amount to a decline in home equity. Officials estimate that for every dollar in tax relief, $99 in equity is lost.

The average reduction provided those homeowners this year was $170,000. In addition, about 600-plus commercial properties — nearly a hundred more than the year before — also received assessment relief, at a far steeper rate of $3.6 million per property.

In looking

(Click on image to enlarge.)

at the next several years, Stone said, the trend in the commercial market concerns him most. Besides being costly, downturns in commercial real estate tend to last longer.

"The future is pretty bleak," he said. "Have we hit bottom with the residential market? Maybe in some areas. But the big question mark is the commercial market, which I suspect hasn't hit a bottom."

Nearly as troubling, he added, is the wave of foreclosures that has ripped through recent home-building hot spots like Gilroy, Milpitas, Morgan Hill and central and East San Jose — areas that have all seen declines in property values.

Cities with a more established residential base, such as Mountain View, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto, have fared much better, Stone said. Mountain View actually saw a robust increase of 6.22 percent, which Stone said could be because of expansion by companies like Google.

But foreclosures, in which lending institutions repossess homes, often force sales at rates far below a home's assessed value. In some areas, Stone warned, foreclosure sales "are establishing the market" when it comes to sales of other, non-foreclosed homes.

One of those cities, Gilroy, has had make steep cuts in light of diminished tax revenue. Finance Director Christina Turner said the city's 9.48 percent drop in assessed values was better than the 11-plus percent plunge officials had expected — but not enough to prevent furloughs that start today.

Gilroy officials are still calculating how much more money they might have, but Turner said it probably would be stashed to make up for unexpected shortfalls in other revenue streams, like sales tax receipts.

"We see it as only prudent to view it cautiously," she said.

Crowell, the county's budget director, said she would be taking the same approach, especially with a possible state take-away of county funds looming later this summer. Same for San Jose, the county's largest city, which just closed an $84 million deficit and is already facing a $90 million chasm next year.

Still, "in this environment," city spokesman Tom Manheim said, "any additional revenue is a good thing, obviously."

By Denis C. Theriault

http://www.mercurynews.com/realestatenews/ci_12736399?nclick_check=1

Celebrity Business Bombs

When your name is J. Lo or Jay-Z, people pay attention. But star power isn't enough to ensure a thriving business, as plenty of wannabe celebrity entrepreneurs -- from the worlds of food to fashion -- have learned the hard way.

When it comes to making payroll and appeasing investors, famous people flop like the rest of us. "Celebrities are coming in with a leg up, but it doesn't make the back end any easier," says Allen Adamson, managing director of Landor, a Manhattan-based brand-consulting firm.

In Pictures: Eight Celebrity Business Bombs

Take Britney Spears. This tabloid darling made a comeback as a member of Forbes' Celebrity 100 list after releasing a fifth chart-topping album, but her foray into food wasn't exactly a tasty score. She shuttered NYLA -- a Southern-style eatery in New York's Dylan Hotel, named after Nyla's Burger Basket, a Spears favorite near her hometown of Kentwood, Louisiana -- in 2003 after just one year in business. Spears went through several chefs, and the original manager, Bobby Ochs, claimed the joint was $350,000 over budget on opening day. (Spears couldn't be reached for comment.)

Clearly, execution matters. But so does the link between the celebrities and the products they peddle. "Who a celebrity is as a person must make the consumer believe he or she is relevant to the business venture," says Adamson. "If [they're] not, people will think, 'That's nice to know, but I won't buy it.'"

Britney isn't the only star to stumble in the restaurant business. R&B singer Usher, singer/actress Jennifer Lopez, and former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick have all tried their hand at food and failed. Common as the restaurant route is for celebrities, "their brands don't stand for that," notes Adamson. "They are famous for other things."

Even if the celebrity's shtick and product do align (think Tiger Woods' endorsement of Nike's golf division, or actress Gwyneth Paltrow's modeling turn for Estee Lauder), success is still far from guaranteed.

Lauded by many as a fashion icon, Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice) hasn't always met success as a clothing designer. In 2006, along with soccer star husband David Beckham, she launched her denim line, dVb Jeans, inspired by vintage looks from the 1940s, '50s, and '70s. Prices were not quite vintage: Sunglasses and jeans retailed between $200 and $300 a pair. The line fell out of favor fast. LA-based boutique Kitson -- a celebrity shopping haven -- Henri Bendel, and eventually Saks all walked away. Her menswear line suffered a similar, even quicker fate.

Joining Beckham on the fashion scrap heap is Lauren Conrad, star of MTV's "Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County" and later "The Hills." Her eponymous collection -- launched in 2007 with financial backing from MTV and Tangerine Promotions -- included flirty, casual dresses, many priced north of $100. The masses yawned. Earlier this year, Conrad bagged plans for a spring/summer line, citing the current "economic climate."

The award for biggest entrepreneurial swing-and-miss might go to actress Kim Basinger. Smoldering in films such as "9 1/2 Weeks," "Batman," "L.A. Confidential," and "I Dreamed of Africa," Basinger bombed on a grand scale in 1990 when she sunk $20 million into buying the entire town of Braselton, Georgia.

Basinger's vision: to turn the small town of 500 residents, 50 miles northeast of Atlanta, into a tourist attraction, with a movie studio and a film festival. In one fell swoop, the blond bombshell became landlady of Braselton's bank, post office, supermarket, a number of retail stores, historic structures, more than two dozen homes, and an industrial park--nearly 1,800 acres in all.

Three years later Basinger filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after losing an $8.1 million lawsuit to Main Line Pictures for backing out of a verbal agreement to star in the film dud "Boxing Helena." As for Braselton, she ended up selling it -- for a mere $1 million.

Reporting by Miriam Marcus, Forbes.com
http://omg.yahoo.com/news/celebrity-business-bombs/24916?nc

Highest-Quality Cars Of 2009

Hyundai Elantra Sedan

Chrysler, Ford Motor and General Motors are showing marked improvement in the quality of their new vehicles--but you're still probably better off buying a Toyota.

According to the annual Initial Quality Study released today by market-research firm J.D. Power and Associates, cars made by Detroit's Big Three have improved in quality by an average of 10% over last year, putting them ahead of the 8%-improved industry average. Toyota, however, had the strongest showing in the industry this year, with the brand seeing, on average, 101 reported problems by consumers per 100 vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership--well below the industry average of 108 problems.

In all, Toyota earned 10 segment awards for specific models. Each segment's winners are the models with the fewest reported problems in their class.

David Sargent, the vice president of automotive research at J.D. Power and Associates, told reporters at a press event today that Detroit's improvement with its products is a good indicator for "long-term" success. "Consumers can expect the quality of new vehicles to continue to rise," he said.

Ford's Edge, F-150 and Mustang each won segment awards, as did the Chevrolet Trailblazer, Chrysler PT Cruiser, GMC Yukon and Mercury Sable.

Overall, Toyota's Lexus brand led the nameplate rankings for quality--the 12th year it has achieved such distinction in 20 years, and the first year since 2005. Porsche, Cadillac, Hyundai and Honda rounded out the top five.

Behind the Numbers

The J.D. Power Initial Quality study highlights the top vehicles in car and light-truck segments, measuring new-vehicle quality at 90 days of ownership. Information on problems experienced by consumers is gathered from more than 80,000 purchasers and lessees of 2009 model-year vehicles.

The study evaluates 228 problems distributed throughout eight categories: exterior, driving experience, features/controls/displays, audio/entertainment/navigation, seats, climate control, interior and engine/transmission. Each vehicle's performance is measured using a "problems per 100 vehicles" (PP100) system. A low PP100 score indicates better quality than a high PP100 score.

Overall, the industry average for initial quality has improved, moving from 118 problems per 100 vehicles in 2008 to 108 this year.

Standouts on the top-quality list include the Acura TL, Honda Pilot and Nissan Z, but several newly launched and redesigned models of 2009 also were surprise winners, since all-new models often lack the quality of the repeatedly updated cars that have been in the market for several years. The Hyundai Genesis, Kia Borrego, Toyota Venza and Volkswagon CC all bucked that trend, earning significantly better ratings than their segment averages.

By Hannah Elliott

http://autos.yahoo.com/articles/autos_content_landing_pages/1017/highest-quality-cars-of-2009/;_ylc=X3oDMTFibThlaTBuBF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLXRvZGF5BHNsawNoaWdoZXN0LXF1YWxpdHk-