The Beige Book's Primary Reader: The Federal Open Market Committe (FOMC) - 11:56 PM
The Federal Reserve (The Fed) will soon publish its latest "Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District" or "Beige Book". It will give a snapshot of the current economic conditions in each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts. The report is published two weeks prior to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) which meets eight times a year. The Beige Book is part of the information that the FOMC reviews, discusses and utilizes to decide monetary policy. The Federal Reserve controls the three tools of monetary policy:open market operations - the purchases and sales of U.S. Treasury and federal agency … (0 comments)
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California to eliminate conditional real estate salesperson license. - 05:18 AM
It may not be common knowledge, but historically, all you needed to do in order to take the real estate salespersons exam was complete 1 class. If you then passed the exam, you would be issued a "conditional" license by the state which allowed you to practice real estate so long as you completed two additional classes within 18 months of getting your license. (You can reveiw the new law here ). It is also a reality that most real estate agents (something over 80%), leave the business within 18 months. Some number of those are clearly licensees who did not … (29 comments)
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When is growth too much? - 05:34 AM
I love Morgan Hill. My entire family cannot wait to return once our sabbatical is over. When I moved to Morgan Hill, we could have choosen anywhere. In fact, Morgan Hill was not even on our list of communities to consider. It was a friend who suggested we take a look.
Once we did, we were sold. Morgan Hill was the place for us. While proximity to things work related was important, even more crucial for us was choosing a place where we wanted to raise our children. A place with good schools and a community that felt more family … (0 comments)
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Financial Woes in Morgan Hill - 05:39 AM
So far, the only solution offered by city hall for Morgan Hills dire financial situation has been "community conversations" that involve about 400 participants. So while the city fiddles, the big red financial numbers continue to stack up. As reported by the Morgan Hill Times, "The city's budget deficit is close to $1.5 million this year and could be as much as $2.4 million by 2010." So when the tough decisions need to be made about the fiscal policies of Morgan Hill, what does city hall do? Ask for feedback from the public... over.... and over.... and over... and over again. … (0 comments)
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Do we need insurance coverage? - 08:14 AM
My husband was a physician and had open heart surgery that changed our lives. Here is some interesting facts.
Chance of fire in your home 1 in 1200
Chance of Major Car Accident 1 in 240
Chance of bring Hospitalized 1 in 15
Chance of becoming Disabled 1 in 8
Chance of entering a nursing home after age 65 1 in 4
Yet most realtors don't have medical or disability insurance. Think about it. We should also be fighting for insurance laws that allow associations to buy insurance like comapanies do. The insurance companies are fighting this one real hard.
What will you do if you can't work or … (1 comments)
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Bus Bench Ads - DO they work? - 08:23 AM
Yes and No.
We do get calls from them. We do get some buyers and sellers. But most of all we get branding. People all over say they know me and they have seen my ads all over. They think I have lots of benches and I do have a few but they pass the few so often they think that the benches are all over the place.
So for me I would say that bus benches have paid off. Just like all advertising you need to monitor it and watch your budget. I have seen some people take a lot … (3 comments)
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Stealing other peoples blogs - 08:39 AM
I have read three blogs here about people stealing from other people and posting it here on active rain. I think that we all have enough life experience to share a few thoughts a day. I know that every day I get emails and mail with information that is worth sharing. Like the stats from an insurance salesman that made me think to blog on insurance here today.
I think we should keep it new, fresh, our own ideas and positive, I have seen some negative coments in others blogs and even in the coments left here. If you don't agree with something that is fine … (3 comments)
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Single and Relocating? Austin is Rated One Of the Best Cities For You! - 09:08 PM
Single professionals relocating to Central Texas are in luck. According to relocation industry groups, Austin is among the best cities for relocating singles.
For a third year, the two industry groups have paired to identify the cities with the most to offer relocating singles.
The groups used statistical profiles of the largest 100 U.S. metro areas, focusing on criteria most relevant to singles, to define the rankings of cities with the highest probability of a smooth transition and a successful relocation.
In addition to Austin, other top cities for relocating singles include Nashville, Atlanta, New York and Houston.
Relocation experts take glamorous … (0 comments)
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Hello Metro! A Great Site for Relocation Clients - 09:22 PM
Every once in a while I stumble across something that makes my life so much easier! Today I found "Hello Austin". This is an online site that has all of the info you could possibly want to know about Austin, Texas. (Restaurants, weather, music, art, where to shop etc.) This is the absolute best thing for clients who are relocating.
They even put together this great little pdf with a enormous amount of info that I can email to clients. http://www.helloaustin.com/PDF_Files/AustinTX_Brochure.PDF
Then, after tooling around on the site I realized that they do 550 different cities and 7 continents. Go to www.HelloMetro.com … (2 comments)
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Time Management Part Two - 10:19 PM
The second tip for effective time managment is goal setting. Goals give your life direction. This helps you decide exactly what you want to get done in a day. These goals have to be specific , realtistic and achievable. For example you can tell yourself today i will pass out at least 10 of my business cards during lunchtime. Dont be unrealistic and say that you are going to pass out 100 cards on your lunch break. After all, when are you to find the time to eat ? if you are passing out all of these cards. Your top daily goals … (0 comments)
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HELOC vs Home Equity Loan - 10:32 PM
Customers are bombarded every day by the media when it comes to secondary financing options. Sometimes a client will have an excellent fixed rate on their first that cant be topped by todays current rates so it would be of no benefit to refinance it, especially if their prepayment term has not expired. The alternative is to offer a customer secondary financing either a HELOC or a Home Equity Loan. It is very important that the difference of these two. In a home equity loan the borrower gets the entire loan balance at one time. It is a FIXED rate second … (0 comments)
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Bogus advertising - 10:47 PM
Brian Brady wrote a a great blog talking about lenders who use bogus advertising....
http://activerain.com/blogsview/There-is-no-such-thing-as-the-best-or-lowest-rate?13545
I see this in the los angeles area everyday and it makes us the mortgage professionals who practice responsible advertising look very bad. The key with borrowers is find them the best possible loan program that fits their needs. These needs could be save money per month or to make more money on their investment properties. What bothers me the most is that this advertising is being specifcally market toward the Latino community. Some ads i have seen promise a $1,500.00 payment utilizing 100 % financing to … (3 comments)
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European Ideas - 04:58 AM
Yesterday I was asked what luxury trends are coming into our Florida market because of the increasing number of international buyers. The implication was that our Tuscan architecture, our Bosch dishwashers, our increased use of stone and turrets were coming because that's what the Europeans wanted over here.
On the contrary, I think Europeans like the American things - huge closets, large refrigerators with crushed ice in the door (yes, I know they don't like ice as much as we do, but for entertaining here they find it useful), and huge expanses of glass in window walls. I've had clients who want … (1 comments)
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Storytelling - 05:28 AM
Seth Godin has written several books about marketing, including (for you, Angus) The Purple Cow. When you talk about getting outside the box, you're talking about Seth Godin.
What this book is all about is Storytelling. Advertisers no longer have captive audiences - in print, we just ignore them. On tv, we record them and fast forward, or even leave the room during commercials.
We have to entice people, draw them to be interested in what we're saying, and stories do that. They draw people in, entice them, encourage them to believe.
When we buy a new home, it is just the bricks … (15 comments)
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Multitasking - 05:38 AM
For years we've been hearing about multitasking, and for years we've been doing it. I wonder if this is causing part of our stress, as well as making us less effective. If you're typing on the computer and listening to your spouse - aren't you apt to miss a phrase? I don't mean to say that if you're ON HOLD, you shouldn't be doing something else, but I don't call that multitasking any more than reading a magazine while waiting for a doctor's appointment, because you're only concentrating or focusing on one thing. If you're driving and eating a Big Mac … (6 comments)
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Dance With The Boy That Brung Ya - 11:48 AM
As the member of our team that "manages the process from contract to closing" I've become increasingly frustrated with the financing process that involves, for the most part, mortgage brokers. Now, I don't want this to be construed as a slam on mortgage brokers. I've got some great friends with that title on their business cards, but there's a process that seems to be a catch 22 for sellers and listing agents that seems to be "unprotectable."
Here's the scenario - Buyer makes an offer on your listing. Buyer's Realtor® sends over the offer, signed property disclosures and pre-approval letter. If they don't … (2 comments)
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Blogs about blogging - 07:25 AM
I was looking at all the blogs I have in my feedreader. The number of blogs about blogging has really increased. Some of the people that started out with really good consumer related real estate content now feature content about blogging and little else. As someone who has had blogs for almost 2 years I am noticing that when bloggers start blogging about blogging the content is similar to what I saw last year. They all kind of go through the same cycle. New bloggers don't notice because they did not read it last year. It is difficult not to write … (8 comments)
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Best blogging resources - 08:17 PM
Active Rain members love to blog! I am going to share my favorite blogging and technical resources. I don't have time to read everything I see about blogging or about technology so I went through my RSS feedreader and sorted through the 100 links or so and picked out the best. This is my must read list:
CopyBlogger
ProBlogger Blog Tips
Blog write for CEO's
The Future of Real Estate Marketing
For technology blogs: TechCrunch, Engadget, Search Engine Watch Blog, Techdirt
There are many sources of information about blogging and about technology, it was hard to pick just eight as my must reads, and it took … (3 comments)
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GA/FL Agents And Investors: Web Seminar with SuperStar Greg Broomfield, CMS - 12:00 PM
Webinars
NEXT FREE WEB SEMINAR/TELECONFERENCE: Wednesday October 11th 8:30PM EST
Click here or email REIBROKER@GMAIL.COM with the subject line GREG to register
Managing Debt, Credit and Wealth With Your Home Mortgage Building Wealth with Other People's Money Interest Only and Payment Option ARM Loans Has the Bubble Popped? Buy, Sell or Refinance and When? What is an Option ARM?
Host: Ken Cook Guest: Greg Broomfield, Team Leader, Novation Mortgage
Click here to reserve your space - and get your login information.
This 30 minute conference call is limited to the first 20 callers from GEORGIA and FLORIDA ONLY
Greg Broomfield … (0 comments)
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It Finally Happened - Right There In My Office - 06:31 PM
If you've read many of my blog postings here an on the other blogs where I post frequently you'll know I am highly concerned with the LETTER and the INTENT of the law. It is very important to me to protect my clients, my associates, my employees, my investors, and my a$$. We have an online "university" started to keep us sharp (it will be open to the public soon) and most of the first few courses are on some type of industry law or fraud detection and prevention.
I was nearly decapitated in an email from a Texas (Corpus Christie) real … (2 comments)
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