It's that time again for the annual Duneland YMCA Womanless Beauty Pageant! You heard that right, the Womanless Beauty Pageant! Although there will be plenty of laughs to go around, this is a serious fundraiser to raise the necessary funds to support the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign.

With a population a little more than 10,000 people, this event is one of the biggest fundraisers for our community YMCA. It also happens to be one of the most theatrical fundraisers that includes local business men competing in evening gowns and swim wear for the titles of Miss-ter Congeniality and Miss-ter YMCA.

Every year this event seems to grow bigger and more lavish. Besides the competition, there is a silent auction that is part of the gala to raise funds. The unique part of the auction is that the men who participate in the contest are responsible for gathering the charity auction items.

Last year, the event raised nearly $27,000 for the YMCA. It truly is amazing what can be achieved when humility is left at the door. Come join us on Saturday, November 6th, for the Duneland Family YMCA Womanless Beauty Pageant...You Won't Regret It!

The week ahead has several economic reports that could provide direction for mortgage rates for several weeks to come. In addition to the monthly economic reports scheduled to be released this week, the Federal Open Market Committee will also be meeting.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) will post their manufacturing index on late Monday morning. This index is important as it provides a gauge on manufacturing strength.

The second report of the week will come on Tuesday when September Factory Orders will be released. The outcome of the news is not as significant as the ISM Index.

Although the FOMC will begin their meeting on Tuesday, it will not adjourn until Wednesday afternoon at 2:15 PM, EST. The key will be the exact verbiage of their statement. So keep your eyes and ears open on Wednesday afternoon.

The fourth report of the week will come on Thursday, with the reading of 3rd Quarter Productivity. This report is the least significant for the week and will have moderate impact on the markets.

The final and most impacting report for the entire month will come on Friday as many expect the Employment Report to show a rise in unemployment to 9.9% with a loss of of roughly 175,000 jobs.

Home loan shoppers and retirement funds will continue their battle for investment dollars from abroad and here in the US. As-is the par for the course, good economic news will favor the stock market and take money away from mortgage bonds which will result in higher mortgage rates. Conversely, bad economic news will drive investors into the safety of bonds which will help home buyers with lower mortgage rates.

Want to see what other economic reports might impact home buyers in the coming week? Stop by and check out the Financial Market Update Provided to You Exclusively by The Barath Group.

This Is The Week Ahead for November 1st.

As I am writing this post, I have my HP Mini 2140 charging up and downloading any updates that it may need in preparation for Real Estate BarCamp Indianapolis tomorrow. I also have my iPhone plugged into iTunes to see if there are any apps that I might need updated and/or downloaded in preparation to endure this day long event.

I have had many individuals ask why I would subject myself to waking up at 4 AM, CST to make the 2-1/2 hour drive from my home in Chesterton Indiana all the way to Fishers Indiana where the event is to take place. That's a good question.

First of all, what is Real Estate BarCamp (aka. REBarCamp)? According to Andy Kaufman, the founder, RE BarCamp is...

"an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos, and interaction from attendees."

Nobody is paid to speak and all of the events are coordinated by volunteers and paid by sponsors. Consequently, people gravitate for the purposes of sharing what really works and not just the theory of what should work. I was fortunate to witness one of the larger RE BarCamp events when it was hosted in Chicago by the National Association of Realtors.

This leads me to my second and primary purpose of attending this event. Since the original concept of this event evolved from a technology gathering, most of what is discussed is the proper methods to integrate technology into the human experience of real estate.

In other words, how can we enhance the law of attraction through all things digital. Want to know more? Come join us on Monday, November 2nd, from 9 AM - 5 PM, EST. Can't make the event in person, follow the ongoing conversation on twitter.com with the search hash tag of #rebcindy.

Are You Ready for Real Estate BarCamp Indianapolis?

It's that time of the year again; time to set our clocks back an hour, return to standard time, and "gain" an extra hour. That means this Sunday, November 1 at 2:00 am, Daylight Saving Time officially ends until its return on the second Sunday in March, 2010.

Since 2007, Daylight Saving Time has actually been four weeks longer, thanks to the passage of the Energy Policy Act in 2005. The Act extended Daylight Saving Time by four weeks in an attempt to save 10,000 barrels of oil each day through reduced use of power by businesses during daylight hours. Unfortunately, the Department of Energy (DOE) says that it's difficult to determine actual energy savings, if any, as a result of Daylight Saving Time. But, there are definitely some easy steps you can take to save significantly on your household energy bills.

Did you know that water heating can account for 14%-25% of the energy consumed in your home, especially in the coming months? According to the DOE, it's true. With this in mind, we thought we'd share with you a few of the DOE's energy-efficient water heating strategies to help you save throughout the holiday season.

• Wash only full loads of dishes and clothes.
• Lower the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120° F.
• Repair leaky faucets promptly; a leaky faucet wastes gallons of water in a short period of time.
• Install aerating, low-flow faucets and showerheads. Select a shower head with a flow rate of less than 2.5 gpm (gallons per minute) for maximum water efficiency.
• Consider natural-gas on-demand or tankless water heaters. Researchers have found savings can be up to 30% compared with a standard natural-gas storage tank water heater.
• Consider installing a drain water waste heat recovery system. A recent DOE study showed energy savings of 25% to about 30% for water heating using such a system.
• Install heat traps on the hot and cold pipes at the water heater to prevent heat loss. Some new water heaters have built-in heat traps.
• Insulate the first 6 feet of the hot and cold water pipes connected to the water heater.

Have a safe and happy Halloween - and enjoy your "extra hour" of standard time. And don't hesitate to give us a call if you'd like to invest that extra hour reviewing your mortgage options. A lot has changed in the industry recently, and You May Be Able to Save Even More Time and Money.

With the election of Barack Obama into the presidential office last fall, the message was clear that the "Time is Now!" For many citizens this was a historic moment that reached a pinnacle during the inauguration.

At last, a man of color had earned the highest elected office in the United States. And so the winds of change have been firmly set into motion.

This historic event also stirred the pot of racists and bigots who had been lurking in the shadow of our communities. Slowly, these individuals have been lashing out against integration and diversity at the outer edges of society.

For all the progress that has been made, people within communities were starting to create bold lines in the sand that were based on race and not just on politics.

It is an honor to say that my good friend, Christine Hisick, wanted to do something about this negativity that was beginning to plague our local communities. Her vision has come to life with an initiative called Hands Around the Square. This is a candle light vigil with a mission...

"To create a visible collaboration of those in our city who support unity in diversity. To bring together the greater collective of those in our city who support these values in the same place, at the same time. To bring this greater collective into prayer and/or meditation for the healing of our city from hate, discrimination, exclusion and the like-to pray and/or meditate for the peace, harmony, and unity in diversity that we desire in Valparaiso, IN. To join hands to take our stand for these values."

For those near Valparaiso Indiana on Monday, November 2nd, come join us in this community vigil. For those who are else where, consider creating your own vigil for unity.

United We Stand, Divided We FAIL!

Did you hear the big news today?

White House: 650,000 jobs created or saved under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan.

As is in my nature I wanted to know a little bit more about how this number was figured and how is that possible with such high unemployment. So I clicked over to RECOVERY.gov which happens to be the US government's official website that reports all data related to the Recovery Act.

It should be noted that on the home page as of October 30th that 640,239 jobs have been created/saved as reported by companies that received money from the Recovery Act.

It did take me a little while to digest the information and where to find the actual numbers that were driving the headline numbers. For those who want to see how many jobs were created or saved in your state, you are in for a surprise. I know that I was when I saw them for my home state of Indiana.

According to the government website, Indiana ranked 11th in the most jobs created with a total number of 18,876. In order to create/save this number of jobs it also required $848,420,000.

This means it would have cost $44,947.02 to create/save a job within Indiana.

If these numbers were accurate, it seems like a reasonable number. There is the catch. The numbers have to be accurate.

When I checked my state unemployment numbers, they told a complete contrarian story. Here are the real employment numbers from the state of Indiana: 271,000 jobs lost from January 1, 2009 through September 30, 2009. Every sector in the state of Indiana with the exception of government, which includes public schools and hospitals, lost jobs. And the government jobs created were only 2,400 for the first 9 months of 2009.

I have to believe the numbers that came from the Indiana state employment office because it correlates to the  nature of the home loan inquiries to my mortgage planning office in Northwest Indiana this year. As I scratch my head in disbelief, What Is Obama Trying To Pull Over Our Eyes This Time?

I was playing with my son this evening and was kindly reminded about the simple joys in life. He didn't do anything extraordinary or say something ridiculously funny. He just looked at me and I could see the love in his eyse and happiness in his smile.

As I was absorbing in this magical moment, a commercial came on television. It was an advertisement by Fisher-Price and their ongoing campaign of Play Laugh Grow.

It got me thinking about the mind set of real estate professionals that I have been in contact with over the past year throughout Northwest Indiana and the greater Chicago land market. Unless you have been living in an underground bunker with no access to any media, everyone is aware of the financial and housing collapse that has demoralized so many.

Let me state that this is not just about Realtors. Even I as a Certified Mortgage Planner in a small town of 10,000 people in Chesterton Indiana have slipped mentally and succumbed to the reality of the market.

Many times it is not of my own doing but things that are really out of my control. The biggest of these things has been government intervention on a weekends whim. Needless to say, grasping for a glimmer of hope and a ray of light has been difficult for many as our lives have been impacted like so many of our clients.

The real estate industry as a whole has become frustrating, disheartening, exhausting, anxiety driven and created many skeptical practitioners. Here is where the commercial brought it home for me.

Life is too short. So get out there and remember the joys we had when the market was on fire. Remember why we love this business so much. Simply Remember to Play Laugh Grow!

Last week, I attended what has grown into one of the biggest business-to-business networking events in Porter County, Indiana. This event has become an annual event and is known as Chamber Network Night.

Through the efforts of the Porter County Chamber Coalition, over 150 businesses were represented at this event. The businesses ranged from your not-for-profit organizations to large regional corporations.

On the surface, why would anyone in real estate want to attend a B2B networking event?

Because of the track record and success of this annual network event, many of the businesses are represented by the owners and/or senior management. These are the very people that most real estate professionals never have a chance to speak with during the course of the week. Yet here they are awaiting to be engaged in friendly conversation.

Even if you were not interested in speaking with the key decision makers who had booths, over 1,000 individuals trekked through the event. These attendees were also other business owners in the community, as well as end consumers.

How often do you get a chance to be in front of 1,000 people asking what you do in one afternoon?

In an age of technology and social media branding, there comes a time that people actually have to see you within the community. How many of these Missed Opportunities Are In Your Own Back Yard?

While reading some morning articles of interest, I stumbled upon an article by Kelle Sparta of Sparta Success Systems with the headline Play The "Everything I Remember About This Client" Game.

In the article, Kelle alludes to the fact that clients at the end of a transaction simply become a mailing list. She offers a 6 step process to redefine clients and suggests that we market to their emotions based on what we have surmised through this exercise.

As a Certified Mortgage Planner, I have always understood the concept of diving deep into an individuals finances and their financial plan relative to home ownership. The process of mortgage planning can and often does spark emotions.

This article stirred an emotion with me and I asked myself if I have been marketing to my clients emotions. More importantly, have I been emphasizing the educational approach to stringently.

It has been my perspective that a vast majority of real estate bloggers want to impart what they know. Essentially, we have become encyclopedias of our own local markets. Is the educational approach a necessary evil and is it even effective?

I want to say that educational marketing is very important; on the other hand, I also know that real estate, the home buying process and finances in general are very emotional and touchy subject for the masses. When it comes to Educational vs Emotional Marketing What Do You Choose?

Did your hear that President Obama declared earlier this afternoon that H1N1 flu (aka swine flu) outbreak a national emergency?

According to the press release, there have been a 1000 deaths associated with swine flu. Of the 1000 deaths nearly 10 percent have been children. It is sad to hear about the lives lost to this new form of influenza, but is it really a national emergency. More importantly, should this be the concern of Obama.

The last time I checked, both the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization are closely monitoring the situation. If one wanted to view an interactive map of the reported cases worldwide, one could view that at the New England Journal of Medicine H1N1 ("Swine Flu") HealthMap.

1,000 deaths seems like a large number. In reality, it is insignificant. According to the Centers of Disease Control there are an estimated 36,000 deaths attributable to seasonal influenza every year.

In other words, less than 3% of seasonal influenza deaths will be associated with H1N1.

Besides, doesn't Obama have bigger issues on his plate such as unemployment and a stagnant economy. It definitely made me scratch my head in confusion this afternoon on the announcement by the media that Obama declared Swine Flu a National Emergency - Are You Kidding Mr President?