cashflow coach: RSS Dashboard - 02/20/08 09:21 PM
I'm hoping that I'm not the last one to know this and that this post will be valuable to a lot of my readers.
Most of you know what an RSS feed is and how important it is in getting people to subscribe to your blog. Have you ever wished there was an easy way to aggregate all of the different feeds that you subscribe to versus checking your email inbox throughout the day?
I know I did and the answer I found was................NETVIBES.
If you're not familiar with Netvibes, it is one of the coolest web aggregators I have ever found (which is not saying … (3 comments)
|
cashflow coach: Median Home Prices Decline - The Positive Perspective - 02/15/08 10:18 AM
"WORST IN NATION: AREA HOME SALE PRICES PLUMMET IN 4TH QUARTER" (from the Lansing State Journal, 2/15/08)
This was on the front page of our local paper. Why do the news makers report the most outrageous stats? It's probably because "Shock and Awe" sells papers.
A more accurate line would be:
"Lansing, like almost every other city in the nation, sees declines in real estate values and reduction in numbers of sales in the 4th quarter. On the whole, Lansing is not down all that much when you really analyze what's really happening."
My headline is more accurate, I doubt if anyone at the Journal … (2 comments)
|
cashflow coach: FHA vs. Conventional Loans - 02/14/08 12:41 PM
The FHA has been in the news a lot lately. More recently because of the pending conforming loan limit changes. Just a word on that, especially those of you in Michigan - don't expect much if any change in our conforming loan limits.
The calculation is based on 1.25% of the median home values. Which means for Michigan homeowners our calculation will be based on a average value of $141,000 x 1.25% = $176,250. This is well under the current conforming limit of $417,000 and on top of that, we are not considered a high cost living area. So if you … (1 comments)
|
cashflow coach: Tax Time Help - 02/08/08 10:59 AM
2007 Taxes
For those of you who like to get their taxes done right away, make sure you're aware of some delays the IRS is having due to some late changes in the tax code. For the rest of us that wait til the last minute to file or choose to file an extension, we won't have to worry about some of the delays. For a really good article on the changes, read this Marketwatch article by Andrea Coombes...
Here is a summary of some of the main changes to the Tax Laws in 2007:
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT):
Congress passed a "patch" to keep … (3 comments)
|
cashflow coach: Foreclosure: What To Do If You are Facing It - 02/05/08 10:20 AM
There is a lot of misinformation and frustration in the foreclosure process. I hope the following information and links will help you better understand what is happening to you and how you can better communicate to your lender.
"Foreclosure is a legal process by which a bank, mortgage company or other creditor takes a homeowner's property in order to satisfy a debt. The foreclosure is the result of non-payment of the mortgage (including second mortgages and home equity loans); however, people also lose their homes due to unpaid property taxes. As a result of the foreclosure (at the end of the redemption period), … (4 comments)
|
cashflow coach: Lansing (Re) Development - Positive Changes - 01/31/08 08:39 PM
Have you been to downtown Lansing recently?
In the midst of growing foreclosures & higher unemployment around the state, Lansing is in the middle of major changes to it's skyline. Last night, Mayor Virg Benero outlined some new tax incentives to homeowners and investors for home improvements. (read the text of his State of the City here)
This proposal will offer a 50% break on the increased taxes resulting from qualified improvements to your primary residence or improvements to an old, abandoned house to an owner-occupied home. More details will follow when the plan is worked out by the mayor.
But, even more exciting is … (1 comments)
|
cashflow coach: The Federal Reserve Cuts Rates .50% And leaves the door open for more cuts if necessary - 01/30/08 03:03 PM
… (1 comments)
|
cashflow coach: FED Rate Cuts: How Low Can They Go? part II - 01/23/08 08:41 AM
After yesterday's emergency .75% rate cut by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), I have received numerous calls and questions as to how low will the FED go and how low will Fixed Rates go? If you read my previous post on the FED Rate Cuts, you know that the two rates don't always move in the same direction, in fact they more often than not, move in opposite directions.
The FED has tried to be as transparent as possible, especially under the leadership of Ben Bernanke. The goal of transparency is to limit "surprises" in what the FED does and says. In … (2 comments)
|
cashflow coach: FED Rate Cuts: How Low Can They Go? - 01/15/08 01:42 PM
Will Fed Rate Cuts Equal Lower 30 yr. Fixed Rates?
The Federal Reserve will be meeting on Jan. 29th & 30th to discuss the state of our economy. Will they cut rates and if yes by how much? Will the rate cuts lead to decreasing or increasing mortgage rates?
There's a lot of confusion about the Fed Funds Rate (FFR) and the typical 30 yr. fixed rate. Do these rates move in the same direction or are they inversely related?
First, let me provide a simplistic definition. The Fed Funds Rate is the rate the Federal Reserve charges other banks for overnight deposits. It … (2 comments)
|
cashflow coach: Forgiven Mortgage No Longer Taxable - 01/08/08 03:32 PM
The President signed into law a new measure that would eliminate the tax burden on forgiven mortgage debt (read more). With the rise in short sales and foreclosures across the country, many homeowners were responsible to pay tax on any and all of the mortgage balance that wasn't paid or forgiven. A lot of the time, the homeowner didn't know about this until tax time.
For those of you not familiar with this, let me explain.
If your loan balance is $175,000 and you either negotiate a short sale or end up in foreclosure, the difference between what you owe and what the … (8 comments)
|
cashflow coach: The Key to Rising Home Prices - 01/08/08 03:30 PM
Higher Demand or Lower Supplies = Increased Prices
It's a basic economic principle that when supply increases, prices come down.
And, when supply decreases, demand can rise and prices will rise with demand. (a good resource is Basic Economics, by Thomas Sowell)
As Banks take over more and more properties in Mid-Michigan they will seek to sell them as fast as they can at what ever price they can get. This increased supply with low demand has slowed our current housing market. It will continue to slow down, until we see one of two things happen: Either demand rises (job creation - an … (2 comments)
|
cashflow coach: PMI Tax Deductibility Extended to 2010 - 12/21/07 10:21 AM
Earlier this year, congress passed H.R. 6111, the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 to allow homeowners who purchased or refinanced a home in 2007 to deduct the private mortgage insurance (PMI) premiums that they pay in their loan payments. PMI is required when a borrower puts less than 20% down on a home or has a loan amount greater than 80% of the home value.
Initially this provision would only apply to homes purchased or refinanced in 2007 and was set to expire on 12/31/2007. Congress passed new legislation that will extend this deduction to loans closed in 2007 through … (3 comments)
|
cashflow coach: The FEDs Cut Rates Again - 12/11/07 04:00 PM
… (3 comments)
|
cashflow coach: Michigan: Guilt by Association - 12/07/07 12:31 PM
As a mortgage broker in the Lansing area for 14 years, I've seen the real estate industry go through various cycles along with the mortgage industry. Yes, I understand that the housing market across the country as a whole does not look very positive but we need to be careful to not generalize the negative aspects of this downturn to every state and county.
A prime example of this is here in the Great Lakes State of Michigan. Lately it seems like we're getting more press than Britney & Paris combined. An issue I'm dealing with on a regular basis is trying to … (3 comments)
|
cashflow coach: Using Technology to Accelerate Your Business - 11/30/07 02:49 PM
Technology can cause giddyness in some people, like an 8 year old waiting to open presents on Christmas morning or it can cause paralysis of analysis because you don't know where to start. It can be a tool that helps you maintain some efficiency throughout your day or it can be a time waster. In any case, it's important to remember that technology in and of itself is not good or bad, in fact it's amoral. It is a tool. How we use it determines if it's good technology or not.
One of my favorite business books is Good to Great by Jim Collins. … (3 comments)
|
cashflow coach: What is a Builder Trade? - 11/29/07 08:25 PM
Stop me if you've heard this one before, the foreclosures continue to rise, home sale prices are declining, home inventories are rising, shall I go on? I know all of this negativity can depress even the most optimistic person if you let it. I would like to suggest a way to take advantage of all of these negatives and profit from it.
I recently did a talk for our local Home Builders Association, GLHBA. The topic was how to be creative in this current market. I talked about Builder trades and how they worked and why a builder should really look at this more … (1 comments)
|
cashflow coach: Michigan: Top 5 in Foreclosures & One of the Best Real Estate Opportunities - 11/20/07 08:49 PM
If you spend any time listening to the various news outlets, it is very easy to become less than positive about Michigan; the slowing economy, declining home values, rising unemployment, etc. I want to share with you in Paul Harvey's famous words, "the rest of the story."
One of the keys to having perspective today is by looking back in history. Probably the closest similarity to what we are going through is the Houston, Texas market in the mid to late 1980's, click here to read more. The similarities between Texas & Michigan are strikingly familiar.
1. Texas' primary industry then was its Oil … (1 comments)
|
cashflow coach: Home Mortgage Accelerator Programs - Do They Work? - 10/31/07 03:23 PM
I've been getting a lot of inquiries into these Mortgage Accelerator programs where you open up a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) and use this as your day to day checking account. Your payroll deposits becomes your mortgage payment and then you pay all of your monthly expenses as you incur them from the same HELOC. Some programs would have you payoff your current first mortgage so that your HELOC is the only mortgage against your home. There are other programs that allow you to keep your first mortgage intact and then add a HELOC. The concept is similar to a bi-weekly … (3 comments)
|
;)
;)
