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I say this without in disrespect for anyone, especially those afflected with any type of disability.
Over the last few years I have become well aware of the needs of those with a disability. I look at the location of parking spaces, whether or not there is access on sidewalks, walkways, doorways and even elevators for anyone who is disabled. I become more aware of the problems that thousands face each day when I had surgery last year and had to use a wheelchair for a month.
I was shocked to see the struggle that wheelchair bound men and women go through just shopping. Items were to high to reach, or you had to bend over freezer walls, hard to open doors and more. Just getting into many of the stores was a chore in itself. Handicap parking was located in the front of most places, but many of them had you parking far off to the side of the building or down in the parking areas where you were put in traffics way. Getting into many businesses was a chore because they had no access to sidewalks and no handicap parking at all. In several stores I could not get the wheelchair through the isles because of items in the way, or too much stuff in the isles.
Many businesses forget about those who are handicap or disabled when they sit their business up. Can they get to your business from the sidewalk, through your front door, into your offices, and into the bathrooms if they have public access?
Now the reason I bring this whole matter up is this, my husband is in a wheelchair. Hes very computer smart, wants to work, yet everytime hes tried to talk to someone about a job they use one excuss after another to put him off. He finshed real estate school and wants to go and get his license, but was told by several brokers as well as agents to try another field as they could see no way for him to work in real estate. We have talked about working as a team, I do the leg work and he does the paperwork. Don't most teams do that in real estate anyway? Here is a man that wants to work and pay his way through life, and yet he has had road block after road block put in front of him.
We recently went to a business in a town close to us, and they not only did not have handicap parking, they had no access to their sidewalk, no wheelchair access to their front door, and we had to push him in through a delivery entrance only to have to meet with the person in the hall because they had all step downs to each office. This was an attorneys office! We have since found one to handle our affairs that is Disability Firendly!
I don't take things for granted anymore since my husband and I were married 4 years ago. I notice everywhere we go whether or not a business or home is accomidating to those with disbilities. It still surprises me that many still are not!
Are you and your company Disability Friendly? Do you have access for them to enter and access what you have to sell, service or provide?
Heres a test, try this for the next few days: Where ever you go see if you can notice the access possibilites for those who are handicap and disabled. Put yourself in their place. Then look and see if your business is capable of granted access to all your customers!
Via RealEstateLoans.com Mortgage News (National Mortgage Professionals):
Article courtesy: http://trishsublette.realestateloans.com/ and http://www.realestateloans.com
My Gosh! My head is in a whirlwind! First came the Economic Stimulus Plan for 2009; and right behind it came the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. Is help on its way? I think so. The news for homeowners and soon-to-be homeowners is promising. So, get your documents ready because now is the time to either refinance or purchase a home.
Here is what the Economic Stimulus Plan has to offer for the soon to be homeowner:
The $787 Billion stimulus bill is made up of tax cuts and spending programs aimed at, just as the name of the name of the plan implies, stimulating the US economy. One of the major benefits of the plan is a tax credit for new homebuyers. According to the plan, first-time homebuyers who purchase homes from the start of the year until the end of November 2009 may be eligible for a tax credit of $8,000 or 10% of the value of the home, whichever is lower. Therefore, if the home you purchase is valued at least $80,000 you will eligible for the $8,000 tax credit. If the home is valued less than $80,000, the tax credit will be 10% of the value of the home.
The $8,000 tax credit is a true tax credit. It's a dollar-for-dollar tax reduction, rather than a reduction in a tax liability. In other words, the $8,000 is not subtracted from your income before taxes are applied. Instead, the tax credit is deducted from taxes due. So, if you were to owe $8,000 in income taxes and would qualify for the $8,000 tax credit, you would owe nothing.
Even more amazing, the tax credit is refundable, which means you can receive a check for the credit even if you have little income tax liability. For example, if you owe $4,000 in income tax, the $8,000 tax credit will be applied to the amount owed... and you will receive a check for the remaining $4,000!
The tax credit starts phasing out for couples with incomes above $150,000 and single filers with incomes above $75,000.
The tax credit is applicable to any home that will be used as a principle residence. Qualifying "homes" include single-family detached homes, as well as attached homes such as townhouses and condominiums. In addition, manufactured homes and houseboats used for principle residence also qualify. The only catch is that buyers will have to repay the credit if they sell their homes within three years.
The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan is twofold:
This plan includes two initiatives to help struggling homeowners. One is a refinancing program for homeowners with less than 20% equity in their homes, or who owe more than their home is worth. The second program attempts to lower monthly payments for homeowners at risk of losing their home. Many of the plan's details are still being worked out and will not be announced until March 4. Here is an overview of the plan's main components.
Refinancing Initiative
For those whose homes are in an “upside down” position, meaning the mortgage balance is more than the current property value, refinancing the mortgage may be possible. This initiative is open to homeowners who have conforming loans which are guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who owe up to 5% more than their home is worth.
According to the plan, "responsible" homeowners, those that have been making their payments, but are struggling to do so, can refinance their mortgage into a 30- or 15-year, fixed-rate loan based on current market rates. The refinanced loan, however, cannot include prepayment penalties or balloon payments. For many families, this low-cost refinancing may help reduce their mortgage payments by up to thousands of dollars per year.
As with the rest of the plan, details about this initiative will be released at a future date--including what, if any, credit score requirements will be included.
Stability Initiative
The stability initiative aims at providing help to individual families, as well as entire neighborhoods, by helping reduce foreclosures and stabilize home prices. Remember that a foreclosure in the neighborhood affects everyone – prices go down, property values are reduced.
This plan is intended to help homeowners who are struggling to afford their mortgage payments, but cannot sell their homes because prices have fallen significantly. The goal of this initiative is simple: "reduce the amount homeowners owe per month to affordable levels." To accomplish this, lenders are encouraged to lower homeowners' payments to 31% of their income by lowering their interest rate to as low as 2% or by extending the terms of the loan. In addition, lenders can also lower the principal owed by the borrower, with the Treasury Department sharing in the costs.
An important part is that homeowners who are current on their mortgages but are struggling can still apply for this program. As such, this is one of the few programs designed to help homeowners who may face delinquency soon, but are current at the moment.
This initiative also includes a number of additional elements and incentives, including an extra incentive for borrowers to keep paying on time. The initiative will provide a monthly balance reduction payment that goes straight towards reducing the principal balance of the mortgage loan. As long as a borrower stays current on his or her loan, he or she can get up to $1,000 each year for five years.
It is important to note that both the refinance initiative and the stabilization initiative are for owner occupancy residences only. Neither plan is for investment property. My Comments
In a nutshell, we should all have hope of a recovery. This recession has been hard on all Americans. I truly believe that the first step out of this recession is the stabilization of the housing market. We would be silly not to take advantage of these soon to be available programs. March 4th is just a few days away, so pay close attention to news broadcasts and to my blog. I will keep you posted as to what steps to take. In the meantime, gather your documents together – 30 days of paystubs, the last 2 years of W-2’s, and 2 months of bank statements (all pages). If self-employed, you will need the last 2 years of tax returns (all pages).
Granted, these plans will not help everyone. But, for the majority, those who did not buy more than they could afford, they are a lifeline. Grab onto and do your part to get this economy moving again.
I just had to reblog this, its funny! Via Randi Brammer (Whispering Pines Realty):
I have always been in awe of people who can think on their feet, so when I heard this, I just had to share.
A man takes his family on a trip. He boards the plane with his wife and 6 kids. When everyone is settled in, a lady leaned over to him and asked..."Are all the kids YOURS?"
He looked at the lady, and said, "Oh NO, I work for a Condom company, and these are the complaints!"
How many times have you looked up a listing on MLS or any website for that matter and found only one photo of a home or business? How about in magazines and flyers? How many of the pictures that are posted are of only the front of the listing and no others?
I can say I have seen many and most of the ones are dead center pictures with no care in what is actually in and around the home yet what lies behind that front door. I often wonder if they are ashamed to show what the interior and the whole exterior looks like. Are they hiding something by not showing the listing is what some have asked me. Of course then there is my all time favorite of no pictures at all. Hello, am I suppost to blinders on my customers when I take them there so they cannot see it as well in person?
Luckily for me I am married to a photographer and he has taught me a few tips when taking any type of photo and I am happy to pass those tips onto anyone who wishes to use them.
Listing Photography Lesson
Take more than one or two photos when covering your listings. Your listing is your advertisement tool for the world to see. Think of the home or business like it was a model and shoot numerous pictures.
Front of the House
Sometimes taking more shots of the front of the home is a must because the back of the home or sides may not be so eye appealing. However, if your seller is truely wanting to sell that home, yard clean up and curb appeal should be a priority before photos are takent. When taking the shots of the front and back as well as the sides, a few taken at angles will work just as nice as those straight on shots. Show the home off!
(Have sellers remove automobiles out of the driveway when taking the photos, as well as childrens toys, lawnmowers, etc.) To add a little color use plants and greenary in flower beds or planters and pots to add a little zing to the homes curb appeal) Agents don't forget to leave your car out of the photo as well!
How many times have you looked up a listing on MLS or any website for that matter and found only one photo of a home or business? How about in magazines and flyers? How many of the pictures that are posted are of only the front of the listing and no others?
I can say I have seen many and most of the ones are dead center pictures with no care in what is actually in and around the home yet what lies behind that front door. I often wonder if they are ashamed to show what the interior and the whole exterior looks like. Are they hiding something by not showing the listing is what some have asked me. Of course then there is my all time favorite of no pictures at all. Hello, am I suppost to blinders on my customers when I take them there so they cannot see it as well in person?
Luckily for me I am married to a photographer and he has taught me a few tips when taking any type of photo and I am happy to pass those tips onto anyone who wishes to use them.
Listing Photography Lesson
Take more than one or two photos when covering your listings. Your listing is your advertisement tool for the world to see. Think of the home or business like it was a model and shoot numerous pictures.
Front of the House
Sometimes taking more shots of the front of the home is a must because the back of the home or sides may not be so eye appealing. However, if your seller is truely wanting to sell that home, yard clean up and curb appeal should be a priority before photos are takent. When taking the shots of the front and back as well as the sides, a few taken at angles will work just as nice as those straight on shots. Show the home off!
(Please remove automobiles out of the driveway when taking the photos, as well as lawnmowers, trash cans, and childrens toys)
Inside the Home
Here again the sellers are trying to sell their house, not their home, so staging is a priorty here again before doing your photo shoot! Clean off counters, desks, make beds, put away toys, and remove anything the sellers don't want sold! Yes, if the chandler is leaving with the seller go ahead and replace it before the pictures are done.
Yes I realize that there are many home owners who do not want the inside of the homes photographed, but you do need to explain that people need to see what they are selling and it will help with the sale of the home.
Take your pictures from different angles in each room and take them with the lights on! Show off those important features especially in kitchens, baths and bedrooms. Try to include doorways to other rooms in the photos as they will make the home look roomy. Bathrooms and Bedrooms should always be shot from angles to show the room at its best.
The important step in doing any listing photography is just making sure your sellers realize they are selling a house and not their home. They are going to move anyway, so declutter before hand and this will save both them and you as the agent time. A well staged home inside and out will make lovely photos and help the sell of the home much faster.
Also remember it is harder to sell an empty home too. So light staging can go along way here as well.
Digital cameras come in handy now days, but so do the ones that do videos as well. This can help when you want to sit up a virtual tour.
Make sure you take enough photos that will give you plenty to work with. For a listing at least 10 photos should be a good start.
Happy Shooting!
Via Dinah Lee Griffey Bringing the Northwest Home (Windermere Peninsula Properties):
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REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public next month.
REMINDER.... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.
.... YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS
To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.
HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.. It takes about 20 seconds.
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I hope you find this information helpful. I will be doing this immediately!
A Must Read blog! Via Gene Wunderlich - Selling Southwest California Homes / Temecula & Murrieta (Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage):
And the beat goes on -
or maybe I should say the beatings continue. Always good to see
miscreants get their come-uppance. Unfortunately for more than a
thousand people the come-uppance comes up too late to save their
'investment' and, in some cases, their retirement.
It's precisely this
variability that makes this type of fraud so difficult to prevent.
Although the two articles I posted earlier also involved Ponzi schemes
and affinity fraud, the crimes are as different as night & day.
In one, people with Hispanic
surnames convinced other people with Hispanic surnames they could get
them into homes they couldn't afford - sometimes multiple
homes at once - and made money off them. In the second case, African
Americans took gross advantage of other African Americans by promising
returns of up to 50% a month for investing in a scheme to
help others avoid default.
In this case we have
rich white dudes taking advantage of other (formerly) rich folks in a
scheme that is pretty sophisticated. Of course if it's going to be
based out of Irvine and the perps live in Coto de Caza you know it's
going to be an upscale scam. No use wasting that opportunity just to
scam a few million when your are surrounded by 'fat mooches'. This
caliber investor would be less likely to be suckered in by a two-bit
scam so you tailor the scam to the client and -viola - $52 million to
spend on vacations, Beemers, airplanes, etc. Hey, if you're going to go
- go large eh?
Hopefully they'll be
going large for the next decade in the Greybars Hotel & Spa
with a close companion named Bubba.
News Release
January 23, 2009
For Immediate
Release
Contact:
Christine Gasparac [Press Secretary] 916-324-5500
Attorney General Brown Files Criminal
Charges in $52 Million Ponzi Scheme
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 23, 2009
Contact: Christine Gasparac or Scott Gerber (916) 324-5500 or Special
Agent Supervisor Randall Hew (323) 855-4743
Attorney General Brown Files Criminal Charges in $52 Million Ponzi
Scheme
ORANGE COUNTY – Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr.
yesterday filed 89 criminal charges against 6 men who
“callously conned” more than a thousand people,
including retired senior citizens, out of $52 million through sham real
estate projects, using the investors’ money to buy planes,
expensive cars and lavish vacations.
“These six men callously conned hundreds of people into
investing $52 million into a company that they treated as their
personal bank account,” Attorney General Brown said.
“They fraudulently took investors’ money and spent
it on an array of luxury items, relying on a Ponzi scheme to keep
investors at bay.”
From 2001 to February 2006, Irvine-based Carolina Development Company
peddled $52 million worth of stock to more than a thousand investors.
The company claimed the proceeds would be used to buy and develop
luxury resorts and upscale communities adjacent to golf courses
designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Greg Norman. Investors
bought anywhere from $15,000 to $1 million in stock, including senior
citizens who invested their retirement funds. The company bought some
land, but did nothing to develop it, despite its claim that 85% of the
$52 million invested would be used for land acquisition and
development.
To persuade investors to buy shares of Carolina Development Company,
the defendants claimed that Arnold Palmer had partnered with them. The
defendants promised that investors would reap huge dividends and
assured those who invested a minimum of $100,000 that their investment
would be secured by deeds to specific parcels of land. None of these
claims were true.
The defendants diverted more than $24 million for extravagant bonuses,
personal medical bills, airplanes, fancy meals, BMWs, concert tickets
and luxury vacations. To keep investors at bay, the defendants engaged
in a Ponzi scheme, paying some investors “returns”
on their investment using money from the new investors.
Department of Justice agents served arrest warrants against the
following six defendants, who were charged with grand theft and
securities fraud in Orange County Superior Court:
Lambert Vander Tuig, 50, of Santa Margarita, currently held in the
Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Jonathan Carman, 45, of Laguna Hills, currently held in the Orange
County Sheriff’s Department.
Mark Sostak, 50, of Ladera Ranch, currently held in the Orange County
Sheriff’s Department. Bail is set at $4.5 million.
Scott Yard, 47, of Costa Mesa, remains at large.
Soren Svendsen, 43, of Coto De Caza, is currently being held in the
Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Bail is set at $2.2
million.
Robert Waldman, 48, is scheduled to turn himself in to authorities.
On Wednesday, representatives of the Attorney General’s
Office obtained arrest warrants from Orange County Superior Court Judge
Selim Franklin.
These criminal charges were preceded by civil actions brought by the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC in 2007 won a
$29.2 million judgment against Lambert Vander Tuig, the president of
the company, and a $2.1 million judgment against Jonathan Carman, vice
president of the company.
If convicted, defendants Vander Tuig and Carman could receive sentences
in excess of 10 years in state prison. The remaining defendants would
be subject to lesser prison sentences.
The criminal complaint and affidavit are attached.
# # #
This is a great post that just cried out to be reblogged! Via Chris Pollinger (Mastery Coaching):
 You are tolerating more than you think. We put up with, accept, take on, and are dragged down by people's behavior, situations, unmet needs, crossed boundaries, unfinished business, frustrations, problems, and even our own behavior.
So what are you tolerating? Take a couple of minutes to write down stuff you that you are putting up with. Not the stuff you can't change or have no control over, but things like that 5 lbs that hangs around because it really doesn't bug you enough to motivate you to go to the gym. Or that pile of papers that has sat on the corner of your desk for the last 3 weeks.
As you think of more items, add them to your list. Do you have to do anything about them? No, not really. Just becoming aware of and articulating them will bring them to the forefront of your mind and you'll naturally start handling, eliminating, fixing, growing through, and resolving these them.
Carpe diem,
You can also click on one of the following links to have the mastery coaching blog with helpful life and business tidbits geared to real estate's elite delivered to your computer,
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I had already had a class on doing this same thing, and as you can see it actually has benefits, advertisement that only costs a little money and time, and exercise. Wow, I love it!! Via Richard Bowman (RE/MAX Realty Advantage):
Hey someone send me some pics of myself standing on the corner. I thought I would share them here.
 
As you raise your glass tonight to toast out the old year and ring in 2009, take a moment to remember those who have lost so much this past year, take a moment to be thankful for those things you have gained this year, and for what you still have when that old clock strikes 12.
I have heard many people lately talk about all they don't have, and yet, wonder if they realize what they still do have;
1. A country where we are still free to come and go as we please, within reason.
2. If your able to get up and make it through the day, your still living.(many have lost their lives this year from wars, natural disasters, accidents and more)
3. Be thankful you still have a job (thousands do not)
4. Do you still have a roof over your head? (thousands do not)
5. Do you have food on the table?(many are doing without)
6. Do you have clothes and shoe?(many do not)
7. Do you have a family, loved one, or children to go home to?(many do not)
I could go on and on, but my point is even I had to wake up to realize I still have whats important, and so do you! It's where you remember to place the most important on your list with the least important.
So for 2009 make a list tonight starting with what you do have thats important and go down. You may be surprised to find you have more than you could have ever imagined. For those who think money is the most important thing, well it is important but not the most important.
Tonight,today, go outside, sit under the blue sky, breath and take 5 minutes to think about what matters to you, write it down and tonight toast to 2009 with a new and renewed life to come.
May everyone have a Happy and Safe New Years Eve and may 2009 be your best year yet!!
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Cathy Worrilow
Mulberry,
TN
More about me…
Farm & Home Real Estate & Auction
Office Phone: (931) 438-5555
Cell Phone: (931) 374-5050
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