Still, the high prices and the restrictions have not slowed interest in buying sports teams, Major League Baseball in particular.
But Mr. Galdi noted that as the residential real estate market slows, interest in the Philadelphia neighborhoods appears to be diminishing as well, and prices, which reached the mid-$100,000's for attached houses last year, are coming down.
The first family that moved to Dothan in early 2009 had to leave town because of job scarcities during the recession, Mr. Goldsmith said, and the economic downturn slowed interest in the program to a trickle for years.
"The economy is slowing; interest rates are moving higher; there is less home-refinancing cash around; the stock market is moving backwards; the threat of terrorism is getting greater; political uncertainty is building -- it all adds up to a general nervousness".
And the improvements stem in part from the booming refinancing business, which will most likely slow once interest rates climb.
PAGE 4 BEYOND HIS GUIDE DOG When glaucoma took his eyesight at 14, T.V. Raman didn't allow it to slow his interest in math and technology.
Hampered by an uncompetitive export sector, its return to growth will most likely be long and slow as interest rates in Europe are poised to rise.
The consumer business has been robust for Bank of America and other banks the last three years, but Mr. Lewis acknowledges that growth will slow once interest rates rise and as consumers shift money away from banks.
This process will likely slow as interest rates rise, as they have recently.
Frank Newbold, manager of Sotheby's East Hampton office, says sales slow as interest rates rise: "It didn't cause us to lose any contracts, but people froze in their tracks".
