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Americans are getting heavier. That's a fact. Companies that deal with that will benefit. Which companies? Good question.

Life Time Fitness (LTM, $53), is a "Lexus experience for Toyota price. This is a health-club chain, where members for about $60/month enjoy amenities usually reserved for facilities that charge a lot more: wood panel rocker rooms, yoga, Pilates, pools, care, and day-care centers, and more. They currently operate in Minnesota and Texas, but are expanding to Georgia, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City areas.

Reference
Kiplinger's, March 2007 issue

Related
Nautilus (NLS), Bowlex maker

Excellent article on state of the housing... and things to come.

The worst is yet to come for the U.S. housing market.

The jump in 30-year mortgage rates by more than a half a percentage point to 6.74 percent in the past five weeks is putting a crimp on borrowers with the best credit just as a crackdown in subprime lending standards limits the pool of qualified buyers. The national median home price is poised for its first annual decline since the Great Depression, and the supply of unsold homes is at a record 4.2 million, according to the National Association of Realtors.

“When all these people see their mortgage payment and it’s up 40 or 50 percent, they’re going to say, `We can’t stay in this house,”’ Pimco’s Kiesel said. “And there are millions of people in this situation.”

Some owners are selling their homes at “fire sale” prices to avoid foreclosure after seeing their adjustable mortgage rates spike, said Lawrence White, an economics professor at the Stern School of Business.

“Prices will continue to soften for as long as we have distressed sellers,” White said. Some regions of the U.S. could see price declines of 10 percent in the next six to 12 months, he said. The slump probably won’t cause a recession, he said.

Reference
Rate Rise Pushes Housing, Economy to `Blood Bath' - Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy (PBW)
It looks to me like an interesting ETF. I see a lot of activity in the clean energy area, a lot of talk. It looks to me that clean energy is the future and things are starting to happen there.

"PBW holds 40 companies specializing in the production of clean energy, such as wind and solar power, and hydrogen fuel cells." - Kiplinger's

More bad news for housing...

The average for the benchmark 30-year fixed-rate home mortgage rose sharply in the week ended yesterday, to 6.74% from 6.53% last week, according to Freddie Mac.

The mortgage agency said its weekly survey showed the 15-year loan also spiked, to 6.43% from 6.22%.

The one-year Treasury-indexed adjustable-rate mortgage increased to 5.75% from 5.65%, while the five-year hybrid ARM averaged 6.37%, up from 6.24% last week.

Reference
Mortgage Rates Jump the Most In Over 3 Years - WSJ.com

U.S. foreclosure filings have spiked 90% in the last year and have risen 19% between April and May alone.

That's some bad news in the housing market. But that's not all...

To put this in perspective, when did we have the most activity in the Adjustable Mortgage lending? In 2005 and 2006. Thus, the worse will be in 2007 and 2008, and maybe 2009, when these mortgages adjust. In my opinion, we have not see everything yet and things might, and probably will, get worse.

RealtyTrac does provide a free 7-day pass to get a service to see the foreclosed houses in your area. I tried a similar service from some other firm before, but was not totally satisfied. I might try RealtyTrac, as they're the biggest tracker. I would like to get tips/more info on how to navigate and take advantage of foreclosures. Share it if you know anything.

Reference
Mortgage foreclosures climb steeply - InvestmentNews

Contrary to the popular belief, house prices do come down. Check out this historical chart (from '88 to '06), from NY Times.