Archive View (March 2008)

Competition is almost always a good thing. It usually brings out the best in a person or a business if they know they are battling for a job or a client. They know they can’t win by being complacent. But in the Democratic primary, the competition between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama may be hurting both candidates as well as their own party. Because the fight between the two of them is, at times, getting so dirty, voters are getting turned off. Their supporters are so firmly camped in their own candidate’s court that many of them wouldn’t switch loyalties to the other more...

Along with taxes and spring cleaning each year, should come a time of introspection into your assets.  Do you carry the right amount of insurance to sufficiently protect yourself and your possessions against unexpected perils?  I am talking about the third “must do” besides death and taxes...Insurance and how to make it part of your asset protection program.   I am surprised at how many people have no idea about what their insurance covers, what endorsements they are paying for, or what deductibles they have.  They spend thousands each year between health, accident, auto, home, liability and commercial insurance and much of their more...

Nearly everybody gossips at work. I guess it’s human nature, but people just like to talk about each other, and rarely does it do anything but add negativity to the workplace. Well, at least one employer in Chicago decided to do something about it by banning gossip at his firm. Each of the employees at Empower Public Relations not only agreed not to gossip, but they also agreed that when an employee says something negative behind a co-worker’s back, he or she will be required to repeat that gossip to the person’s face. The policy gives the employees a chance to diffuse the more...

Unless you live under a rock, by now you are aware that “lower and middle class” Americans will soon be receiving some free money in the mail after filing their 2007 returns.  The amount of the checks will vary depending on marital status, number of dependents and current income level.  (exact parameters can be found at http://www.house.gov/fossella/Constituent/stimulus.htm).  What I want to address today are some of the macro-economic effects associated with this type of “stimulus”. The purpose of this move proposed by the Bush administration and approved by Congress is to give consumers some spending money in hopes they will do what more...

A week or so ago, I wrote about the 7 common “delusions” that most new real estate investors have when investing in real estate. The first one was about how they want me to find them properties that are 30-40% below market value and then they will “buy and flip” them. Today’s topic will focus on the second most common one... Delusion #2 “Rates are low and I should be able to get a loan with no problems.” This may not necessarily be the case. Our lenders in today’s market are much more conservative than they were even just last week! They have “written down” tons of more...

Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with the press. Over the years, they’ve written some pretty great stories about me. And, over the years, there have been a lot of lies printed too. I’ve talked to some pretty incredible reporters and some who are just horrible and seem to make up whatever they want to write. If it’s that way about me, I know it’s that way about almost everything I read. So how do you know when to believe what you read in print or what you hear on the news? If you’re skeptical, you’re not alone. Right now, more than half more...

I recently wrote about what improvements can mean to your home in terms of return on investment. The National Association of Realtors publishes an annual report detailing a range of updates one can do to their home and what percentage of increase in value to the home might occur upon sale. What I want to identify are a couple of areas to key on when deciding on what do to improve your home’s worth and get maximum return on your real estate investments by maximizing market value. I can’t stress enough the importance of a good first impression. Just like with people, you only get more...

It wasn’t that long ago that parents pushed their kids out of the nest and watched them live their lives on their own. But today’s tough job market has changed everything. These days, nine out of ten parents give money to their grown kids for major expenses such as credit card balances, car insurance, and student loans. Plus, there’s been a huge increase in the number of adult children who move back in with their parents when the real world gets too tough. Have today’s parents raised a generation of spoiled young people who don’t know how to live within their means? Or more...

Is there a correlation? I say yes! As the price for a gallon of gas blows by the $3 mark and according to experts could “bee-line” towards $4, I would say that this is further bad news for suburbanites living more than 30 minutes from the business epicenters of major cities. People’s fears about the long commutes to work and the fuel costs associated with long drives twice per day, will one day soon change their minds about where they should live.  It’s my belief that they will start choosing to live much closer “in” to those cities to avoid some of the rising more...

As of the close of business on Friday last week, the price of gold had risen to a record high $1015 per ounce! A look at the chart of this commodities 5 year history and you might wish you bought some bullion bricks for yourself back then. Gold has more than tripled in value in the past 60 months and it may be all by accident.  It seems that since banks quit using gold to back up their monetary supply, the uses and demand for gold has greatly diminished. It’s not used all that much for jewelry either as other metals such as silver and more...

We wonder why there are so many education problems in our country. Well, maybe it’s because administrators spend way too much time with issues that have nothing to do with actual education. Recently, a school policy at Shepherd Junior High School in Mesa, Arizona, made national headlines...and not for good reasons. The school has banned hugs between students that last longer than two seconds. Students who are caught hugging for any longer than that are punished with detention. So many students - and even parents - were upset by the policy that they staged a public protest across the street from the school more...

We have in our country an interesting dynamic going on as it pertains to the real estate investing market. Due to the generically sluggish sales of both new and pre-owned homes, and an apparent historical glut of foreclosures we are looking at a tremendous buying opportunity in much of America. Add to that the normal cycle of “non-distressed” homes for sale by move-up or move-down sellers, and even the shrewdest of investors should be salivating. I have just mentioned about the supply of inventory being bountiful, now let’s talk about the demand for these properties. The percentage of people who can now qualify for a more...

With the Democratic presidential nomination far from decided, the candidates were jockeying a little bit recently, talking about a “dream ticket.” Hillary Clinton said she’d consider naming Barack Obama as her vice-president when she gets the nomination, but she’s nowhere near a shoo-in. For his part, Obama said he’s just focused on winning the nomination, although at least one member of his team said Clinton would make a good vice-president. (I know Hillary and I think she’d make a great president or vice-president.) It’s interesting to see what the candidates are doing. They’re playing the same kind of power games that you see more...

When deciding to sell a home in today’s market, investors and homeowners alike often ask me to tell them what they should do about updating their home and what will give them the most “return on investment”. According to the National Association of Realtors’ “Cost vs. Value” Report, the average returns for most updates/ remodels yields between 65%-95% nationwide. The trouble with using these figures is that in any given area of the country, there could be more or less demand for the type of updates needed. DO refer to the Cost vs. Value Report to see the average demand for particular types of more...

A recent speech by Fed. Chairman Ben Bernanke directed bankers to be proactive in their search for solutions to help consumers save their homes from foreclosure...even if it means a reduction of principal and taking a loss. While we all agree that something has to be done to slow the sharply increasing starts of foreclosures in America, asking banks to foot the entire bill doesn’t seem like a feasible solution in and of itself.  Reduction of “principal” for homeowners so they may sell their homes at a lower price than what they owe is precisely what will cause home prices to continue to more...

If you are running a business or even conducting a meeting, here’s the business plan for success. Have a lot of attractive people around. New research proves that people naturally work harder when they’re around a good-looking person. There’s an inherent desire to be near beautiful people and to please them. So when an attractive person asks for help, most people will jump at the opportunity. Apparently that’s why football teams with handsome quarterbacks tend to be so successful. And, in office environments, that’s why bosses are smart when they put a great-looking man or woman in charge of leading an important project. We more...

Daily I receive calls from prospective clients who are 1st time real estate home investors looking to capitalize on a slumping real estate market.   And, for the most part, they always have the same 7 delusions about how to go about making money in the real estate game. It’s like they all were lying awake watching the same infomercial at 2 o’clock in the morning on their couches. I will discuss these “delusions” separately over the coming weeks individually as each one deserves it’s own detailed response. The end result will be to show each reader what to look for and how to more...

It’s obviously a really tough time right now for homeowners who are trying to sell. The housing market is in a bad place, and all over the nation home values are showing incredible declines. But don’t tell that to homeowners. According to a recent survey, more than three out of four homeowners still believe their own home has not lost value in the past year. More than one-third believe their home has actually increased in value. Many industry analysts estimate that home values declined 5% on average last year, with many parts of the country showing much steeper drops. So are homeowners not paying more...

News has been coming in from around the country that documents - without a doubt - that American builders have built far more homes than they can possibly sell in the coming months. That’s good news for would-be real estate investors who want to buy houses at rock-bottom prices and wait for the market to turn around. The problem is, there is no “one-size-fits-all” strategy that can be used across the country. When you dig down past the national trends, you realize that the housing glut plays out quite differently in different parts of our country. In Oregon, at least one developer is offering more...

Many companies are cutting jobs, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of jobs out there. As more workers from the Baby Boomer generation retire, millions of jobs are becoming available in a variety of industries and managers are having trouble filling those positions. Many times, it’s because today’s young professionals are more focused on careers that require critical thinking and computer skills rather than jobs that require working with their hands. Often, it’s just a lack of qualified candidates. In any case, according to Manpower Inc.’s Talent Shortage Survey, some of the jobs most in need of qualified workers right now include more...