Archive View (July 2008)

Think about this... around the country, there are many areas that are experiencing a pricing downturn in home prices. Simultaneously, home loan requirements are on the rise making it more difficult for homebuyers to qualify. Add that to the millions of foreclosures causing families to be displaced looking for more affordable housing. Where are those families going? The answer is simple. They are moving into rental properties that are more in line with what they can now afford to pay.  This of course spells opportunity for the buy and hold for those interested in real estate investing looking for long term rental income. Are you hedged in enough positions more...

My last blog about real estate mentoring was aimed at challenging readers to reach out and mentor others. Part two is all about reaching up the ladder and seeking mentoring from others who can provide valuable information to help you grow both personally and professionally. Just like in religion, we seek mentoring from our pastors, preachers, rabbis etc. What I am suggesting is to find a real estate mentor of integrity, who has been there, done that, and get them to help you learn what to do and not to do in order to achieve your ultimate goals.   You don’t have to “re-invent the more...

H.R. 3221, the American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, soon to be passed and is supposed to help the US housing market survive the current cycle. One piece of this legislation that I am greatly concerned with is the FHA Modernization provision. More specifically, how it creates a larger barrier to home ownership and real estate investing for borrowers by increasing the required down payment from 3% to 3.5%, raising the interest rates for acceptable borrowers with less than perfect credit thru risked-based add-ons, and ELIMINATING seller-funded, down payment assistance programs.  Many of you don’t know that FHA just increased their more...

When married couples split up and one person makes more money than the other, often somebody ends up paying alimony...and it’s usually the man. But legally, under state laws, both women and men are entitled to financial support if there’s a large discrepancy in spousal income. In the past, not many men had the need...or the nerve...to ask their wives for alimony. However, recently there’s been a move toward gender equality. A lot more men are asking for alimony or, as some people call it, "manimony." But the numbers are far from equal. In marriages right now, one-third of the higher-earning spouses are more...

I tell my clients that there are 2 things that we can’t cost effectively change to make their property more desirable when trying to sell an investment property...location & floor plan. Everything else is fixable. If you bought a property in an undesirable location and are trying to sell you had better make everything else unique and perfect. Take some time and give it a quick home makeover. Find out about the demographic of the type of people most likely to buy in the area and then cater to them when staging the property. For instance, if it’s near a “trendy” area, make sure you get modern more...

How true are these old clichés? “The cream rises to the top” or “the cream of the crop” implies that the “cream” is the best part and as such, comes out somehow the winner or the chosen one. The same can be said metaphorically about talent in business.  Executive search firm Robert Half International, recently performed a study where they surveyed over 4000 finance and human resource managers in 20 different countries and the majority said they are having trouble finding skilled candidates to fill their high level accounting and finance positions. It also showed that when they do find one, the pressure is on more...

If you smoke, don’t even think about applying for a government job in Sarasota County. Blaming the cost of buying health insurance for smokers, officials in the Florida county recently announced that they will no longer hire employees who light up. Officials say it costs them $3,400 per year per smoker in lost productivity and medical expenses and they want to save taxpayers that money. Although this policy has some people crying “discrimination,” in Florida, the right not to hire employees who smoke was upheld nearly a decade ago by the state Supreme Court. So the county is utterly within its rights. In fact, more...

We all have special qualities and skills that are too valuable to be kept to ourselves. I feel compelled in my life to mentor others in those areas as a form of community service. I have been blessed with an incredible family, a level head on my shoulders and a wide variety of life experiences which have shaped the person that I have become. In the past, I have mentored disadvantaged kids and currently am serving on the Board of a sizable children’s shelter and counseling center in my local area. I am passionate about seeing to it that children, whose voice is often more...

It’s no secret that MLS is the most popular residential real estate database in the country. It’s proprietary and the only ones that have full access to add, edit, and manipulate the data are licensed real estate professionals. Here’s the secret...these days there are many other databases buyers can use to search and find homes without having to wait on their Realtor® to discover them. This spells opportunity for the smart independent real estate investor.  While using a skilled Realtor will most often net you more money than if you chose to go it alone, there is something to be said about “super-charging” your more...

Apparently, facial hair is serious business when it comes to the Houston police department. City officials have authorized spending as much as $150,000 to defend the city in a lawsuit challenging a policy that forbids beards and goatees. The City Council says they want to hire new police officers, but they don’t want new police officers who happen to have a lot of facial hair. Four police officers filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in November claiming the no-beards policy is discriminatory. The officers say the ban on beards and goatees is unfair for men who suffer skin conditions and can’t shave. The policy more...

Tired of a nation that just keeps getting less and less fit, lawmakers in Japan are beginning to fine companies that employ overweight workers. They hope to take a proactive approach to good health, preventing diseases such as diabetes and heart diseases. The country has established waist measurements set by the International Diabetes Federation in Belgium - 33.5 inches for men and 35.4 inches for women. (Personally, these guidelines seem odd to me because women tend to have smaller waists than men. But I digress.) If people exceed those guidelines and then don’t manage to lose their extra inches, their employers could more...

I know you are all relieved to know that Fed Reserve Chairman Bernanke is now going to set his sights on curbing inflation (sarcasm). However, in the unlikely event his efforts are not effective, here is an idea I think is worthy of noting. Have you ever heard of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”? I am talking about a way to be in a position to help you offset or even benefit from the inflation we are beginning to experience.  My solution is investing in real estate. It’s what the millionaires and billionaires are doing. They are taking full advantage of the soft real estate more...

For the first time ever, researchers have studied the importance of a good handshake. A huge study at the University of Iowa found that those people who start job interviews with a firm, strong handshake are always perceived in a more favorable light than those who shake hands like a limp fish. Good handshakers are seen as being more extroverted and, eventually, more hirable. And women with strong handshakes have an advantage over men because their grips are more memorable. I think that the only thing better than a good handshake is no handshake at all. I’ve long said that handshakes are a bad more...

I have to admit I wasn’t so sure the government’s economic stimulus plan was going to be the perfect solution to all our nation’s woes. I still don’t think it’s much more than a temporary Band-Aid, but at least it seems to be helping. The Commerce Department reports that the millions of economic stimulus payments sent out in the first wave gave a huge boost to household finances in May, boosting consumer spending by the largest amount in six months and sending after-tax incomes up by the largest amount in more than three decades. The Bush administration hopes that the $106.7 billion in more...

Today I am wanting to discuss the topic of too much real estate finance competition in the lending industry causing consumers to have paralysis of analysis. We are inundated with advertisers trying to get us to use their financing. Everyone from our insurance agent, realty agent, bank teller, home builder, accountant, lawyer, financial planner, tax preparer, accounting software company, newspaper and magazine subscription and web search engines are trying to sell us a mortgage. I apologize to any bartender or golf pro who I may have omitted from my list.  The fact remains that with so many of our current trusted advisors and vendors soliciting more...