You list a modest home on a public street (no gate).

You get 20 calls to schedule a showing.

Do you know how many didn't call?

You put an info tube on the listing sign and the flyers FLY out of the tube.

Do you know who stopped, got out of their car and grabbed one?

Is their a way to find out who looks, who has call reluctance, who got the flyer?

 YES - and its free to you - the listing agent.

I will set up a toll free pre-recorded information message that includes the price of the property. 

The caller does not have to talk to a person.

The best thing about this service is that you receive the callers contact details even if they don't leave a message, even if they number is unlisted or blocked.

Call or email me for more info - (210) 391 9974 or mail@brandijonewman.com. 

Send out Cards! It is so simple and streamlined that anyone can do it!

The system is set up to remind of important dates and items about your contact list. 

The best part is that the company is faith based and is built around bringing people the best in life.

Watch my blog for more info and a chance to send up to 3 cards to your clients and prospects for FREE!

In the meantime, if you want to take advantage of the 3 cards for free, email me mail@brandijonewman.com or call me (210) 391 9974 or (888) 535 5552.

Post back soon. 

How many times have you heard that?  It’s a standard contract.  Unfortunately many people do sign and are surprised when that “Standard contract” comes back to haunt them later on down the line.  That’s because they really don’t know what is in that contract.  It doesn’t matter if you know or understand because when you put your name on the dotted line you are basically saying that you know and understand what is in that contract, so you are bound by it.

Someone else’s lawyer has written up an agreement and you signed it.

There’s a common misconception that there are no lawyers involved if you don’t see them.  False!  You may not see a lawyer but what you sign is the work of a lawyer.  Lawyers are behind the scenes drawing up business contracts which is what the business puts in front of you.  Yes when you go to get cell phone service you sign the phone company’s standard service agreement.  This document was deliberated on and drawn up by the phone company’s lawyer, of course they are going to say it’s “standard”

Most people just sign, but you do have the right to have your own lawyer review it before you sign.  Why would you want to do that?  Well beyond the fact that you can be just as snotty as the rich folks, having it reviewed by your lawyer will protect your rights.  Fly by night car dealerships often prayed on the military.  Young men and women would go into the dealerships and buy a used car only to find themselves facing a balloon payment they did not know about.

Many people in America right now are facing foreclosure on their homes.  They signed adjustable rate mortgages (ARM’s) without realizing that they were at risk of rising monthly mortgage payments.

So how do mortgage companies phone companies and others manage to pull the wool over people’s eyes?  They don’t.  The clauses and conditions are spelled out in black and white, it’s called “fine print”.  Most people have never picked up a book of law much less read one.  We don’t know what to look for we give it a quick once over but still don’t understand what we are looking at.  Attorneys do.

I’ve used the document review benefit several times under my legal membership.  It doesn’t cost me anything more so I will fax a document to my law firm in a heartbeat.  I’ve been surprised at what I have been told after the attorneys have reviewed them.  Some of the most nitpicky little things they have found make a major difference in the meaning of the document.
It never crossed my mind that something as simple as a sentence being bold can make a difference.  An extra line space between paragraphs can leave room for something else to be inserted after you sign.  My favorite little nitpick the omission of a comma. 

All of those little things the attorneys picked up on, the document looked fine to me but to them it left room for altering, not having the first sentence of a paragraph in bold combined two different paragraphs into one and the omission of a simple comma would have placed major liability on me.  Before I got this membership I would have just signed the contract without knowing what I was signing.  Now honestly about the only thing I won’t have them review is a birthday card!

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of working women in the U.S. increased from 30 million in 1970 to more than 65 million today. But what part of women’s economic value is protected against losses their families might suffer upon a death? The answers appear to be that only a small part of women’s overall economic value—as workers, wives and mothers— is protected.

Calculating Your Value

In calculating an adequate amount of life insurance, many people use a “multiple of earnings” method. For example, a woman earning $40,000 per year might calculate that she needs coverage equal to eight times her salary, $320,000. While this method is simple, it has shortcomings if multiples are too low. For example, it doesn’t measure non-wage value, and it also ignores potential wage increases.

A better way to determine coverage amounts is called “Human Life Value.” This is the same method that courts typically use to award judgments in wrongful death lawsuits. While Human Life Value can be more complex to calculate than “multiple of earnings,” it is considered a more accurate estimate of your real value.

Human Life Value: An Example

Human Life Value is defined as the present value of all future income that you could expect to earn for your family’s benefit, plus other value you expect to contribute, less taxes and personal consumption through your planned retirement date. The example below illustrates.

“April” is age 35 and plans to retire at age 55. She currently earns a salary of $50,000, of which 20% goes for her own personal living expenses and the other 80% for her family. Also, she provides an additional $15,000 per year of non-wage value to her family. (Think of this as the cost to hire a skilled domestic worker to perform her duties.) April’s total value to her family at age 35 is calculated as follows:

80% of her $50,000 salary	$40,000
Non-wage value	$15,000
Her total value at age 35	$55,000

The next step is to increase this $55,000 for inflation over the next 20 years, until she plans to retire. At a 3% rate of annual growth, her value would increase to $99,336 by age 55. The final step is to apply a “discount rate” to each year’s projected total value, accounting for the time value of money. For example, at a discount rate of 4%, the total present value of April’s projected value through age 55 is just over $1 million. That is the amount of life insurance protection her family needs to adequately insure against her death.

You can double-check the Human Life Value calculation by applying a simple underwriting guideline, such as those life insurance companies frequently use to suggest proper amounts of coverage. Here is a common guideline:

Age	Multiple of Salary
25	25
35	20
45	15
55	10

Based on the example above, April’s salary of $50,000 would require coverage of $1,000,000 (20 times her salary). This supports results obtained in the Human Life Value Calculation.

Regardless of the calculation method used, it is prudent to have your life insurance coverage professionally reviewed and evaluated. This will help to determine your Human Life Value and assess whether additional coverage is needed to replace your real value.

Data to keep stocks on edge with recession looming
Retail sales likely to highlight consumer woes; commodities resume surge

By Nick Godt, MarketWatch

Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Feb 9, 2008

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Investors will closely monitor data next week, given concerns that a recession might already be at hand, while a renewed surge in commodities prices is raising concerns about the Federal Reserve’s ability to continue cutting interest rates to boost the economy.

“Anything that points to an economy that is [decelerating] is going to get a reaction,” said Owen Fitzpatrick, head of the U.S. equity group at Deutsche Bank.

Of particular interest for investors will be January retail-sales data, to be released on Wednesday.

Stocks plunged on Tuesday, with the Dow industrials tumbling to their biggest drop in nearly a year, after news that the service sector, which constitutes 70% of the U.S. economy, contracted in January and signaled that a recession may be taking hold.

 

While traders sought bargains after Tuesday’s tumble, notably in technology shares, the major stocks indexes all finished with weekly losses of more than 4%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) stood at 12,182, down 64 points, at the end of the session Friday. Gainers on the day included McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) and Coca Cola Co. (KO)

Helped by news that Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) would buy back some $1 billion worth of stock helped boost the Dow’s tech components — Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) , Intel Corp. (INTC) , International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)

It also kept the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) afloat. It rose 11 points to end at 2,304 on Friday, but still ended the week down 4.5%. The Nasdaq briefly entered bear-market territory Wednesday, having fallen more than 20% from its high in October 2007.

The Dow’s financial stocks — AIG Corp. (AIG) , American Express Co. (AXP) , Citigroup Inc. (C) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) — remained weighed down by concerns about bad home loans and led the blue-chip index lower.

As for the broad S&P 500 Index ($SPX) , which is heavily impacted by battered financial stocks, it fell 5.6 points to 1,331 on Friday for a weekly loss of 4.6%.

Post-Fed rally fizzles

After sliding for three months as bad U.S. home loans led to a global financial crisis, the market had shown signs of recovery as the Fed aggressively brought down interest rates to 3% in less than two weeks.

 

“We had the November, December and January sell-off before the Fed, with its Superman costume on, came flying into town,” said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak.

“But the recession case continues to build and upside gains tougher and tougher to come by,” he added. “What we had was a bear-market rally, and this week’s pullback shows that. We’re now in no man’s land.”

While a number of Fed officials spoke about the economy and the credit crisis throughout the week, the market showed little reaction, preferring to keep its attention on hard economic data.

Commodities surge

Commodities such as oil, metals, sugar and wheat surged Friday for a variety of factors, including weather conditions in China, talk of cutbacks among oil producers and overall dwindling supplies. See full story.

“The surge in commodities prices serves as a reminder of the persistence of inflation, which has not abated much despite the deep economic slowdown in the United States,” said Tony Crescenzi, fixed-income strategist at Miller Tabak.

The surge in commodities highlights “the difficulties the Fed would have in cutting rates” down to 1% as it did from 2001 to 2003 after the bursting of the tech bubble, according to Crescenzi.

Interest rates tend to affect the economy with a lag, meaning that much-lower interest rates probably won’t start providing a boost to the economy until later this year. But by then, some investors fear that a resurgence of financial liquidity and still-high commodities prices will stoke inflation, making things harder for consumers.

Economic data

Next week, investors will turn to January retail sales on Wednesday for the latest snapshot on U.S. consumers.

With news that employment had fallen in January, fueling fears of recession, the market also will pay particular attention to weekly jobless claims on Thursday. Friday will bring a New York manufacturing survey for February, industrial-production data and import prices for January, which might provide clues on inflation.

“If the U.S. economy drags down other economies, then commodities prices would come down,” said Paul Nolte, director of investments at Hinsdale Associates. “Commodities remain more of an international story, with foreign economies such as China growing at a rate that is faster than in the United States.”

Downbeat earnings

While earnings will likely again taking a backseat to economic and credit woes, another 44 companies from the S&P 500 will be reporting quarterly results. Those include Dow component General Motors Corp. (GM) on Tuesday and Coca Cola on Wednesday.

With 364 of the S&P 500 companies having already reported results, “earnings” in the past quarter are expected to have dropped 20.2% from the previous year, mostly due to the heavy impact of bad results by financial firms, according to Thomson Financial.

Excluding the financial sector, earnings are expected to have risen 11.7%.

Other weak sector earnings include materials, which are expected to be down 17%, hit by poor results at the likes of Alcoa Inc. (AA) and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) Earnings at consumer-discretionary firms, weighed down by home builders, are expected to have fallen 15%.

Stronger sectors include technology, where earnings are expected to have risen 26%, led by software firms such as Oracle Corp. (ORCL) and Microsoft, as well as hardware firms such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Apple Inc. (AAPL)

But dark clouds may be gathering for earnings going forward. According to Thomson, first-quarter earnings estimates have continued to come down. The estimate for overall earnings growth for the current quarter now stands at 0.9%, compared with 2.2% at the start of the quarter.

“Financials are again the biggest culprits, but the trend is visible across the board for all of the S&P’s 10 sectors,” said John Butters, analyst at Thomson Financial.

If you found a hidden treasure, what would you do? Would you pay off credit cards, your vehicle(s), or maybe invest in something? You just might have a hidden treasure in your home at this very moment.

It is simple; first you need a desire to save money. Second, you need a no-cost analysis from an experienced mortgage professional. Third, you need the wisdom a professional financial planner.

Often equity can be used to restructure debt. It can be used to pay off high interest debts like credit cards. Equity can also be used to pay off high payment loans like vehicles. Additionally, you may use your equity to pay taxes, college tuition, or legal obligations.

In most instances, the client not only retires debt, but potentially adds $500-$600 per month in cash flow. It varies with each situation. One thing is for sure, applying good debt after bad is smart thinking.

In Texas, greater than 20% equity in your home is required to consider restructuring. If you know you have that equity, there is tax-advantaged, low interest money waiting for you.

Maybe you have some financial goals you would like to meet. Make a resolution to follow the three steps above and start 2008 with a victory in your finances.

Mike Ford, River Mortgage, San Antonio TX

The sensationalized credit crunch is a problem for markets that are not necessarily having housing and building issues. The consumers in our Dallas market are not sure if the market accepts their good credit. The Federal Reserve trying to fix things with lowering interest rates will eventually level market fluctuation's out.

If you have had a house on the market outside your usual time frame, one thing that could help is a buy-down interest rate program from the SELLER... That's right, the seller gives either cash or equity to the deal to help entice the buyer.

In the real estate industry, there is usually not any form of residual income (unless you have a rental inventory, but you still need to do work to earn this income). Recently, one of my colleagues saw the benefits of being licensed in other areas of financial services. In Texas, a Group 1 life and health insurance license will allow any one who holds the license to receive compensation for referring business. In my referral circle, the mortgage broker and Realtor are licensed and receive 33% of the first year annualized premium of any life, disability, or health insurance written on their clients. Also, my referral circle receives residual income of 5% to 10% for the life of the policy.

Of course there needs to be studying and tests to be taken but that is a very small task compared to what the benefits are. We all have clients that trust us to refer the right people to help them with their needs. The next time you are asked for a referral for insurance, think about the possibilities of receiving more than a thank you card.

If you would like more information about how to be properly licensed and received compensation for expanding your business, call me 210-391-9974, 888-535-5552 or email me mail@brandijonewman.com.

When I was playing golf for a living, my intent on every shot or putt was to minimize my misses with the golf ball. I took 'dead aim' at the hole (borrowing a term from Mr. Penick). My shots were closer to my target when I aimed at a smaller target than just aiming at the green or fairway. I would pick out the smallest thing possible to hit. A leaf on a tree 325 yards away, a speck of sand on the green --- this helped me get my ball in the hole faster, quicker and easier. Thus, winning more often and being the best that I could be.

Aiming for a small market is what Tristan Publishing was founded on.  My tag line for Tristan Publishing is "Carrying your message to your market." Think about this for a bit. "Carrying your message to your market" --- the people who you want to do business with. The people that you believe will buy or use your products or services. I am not marketing to the masses. I am marketing to the smallest, most accessable market for you.

Lantana, Texas is the market of choice for Personal Finance Times. A small, networked community that needs our information to better their lives. Lantana is home to just over 5,300 people. They make at least $125,000 a year as a household and they have school age children. Most importantly the resident of Lantana are community oriented with ladies groups, golf club outings, family groups and neighborhood parties. People living in Lantana will more often know of Personal Finance Times than any other publication because it is published for them by their neighbors.

Become one of the EXCLUSIVE EXPERTS in Personal Finance Times. Email or call me 888-535-5552 ext. 303 to discuss how you can profit more often and easier.