Have you received your government stimulus payment yet?

I haven't gotten mine yet, but I did get a letter saying I would be receiving it soon. Mine should be 2,200.00, not to bad!

I decided it will go toward our family vacation. Will it stimulate our economy since were going to Cancun?? I guess the air fare will count!

 I'm not sure these checks will stimulate the economy at all, but I bet a lot of people are happy to get them. I hope our government can afford this huge expense! I don't see how they can since we are trillions in debt and they are predicting that social security is one day going to be bankrupt. It boggles my mind just a little!!

Anyway, what are you going to do with yours?

In this post you will find the SECRET to losing weight and keeping it off!

Ok everyone I am writing this for two reasons! First because I have a feeling the "Title" will gain me lots of comments! Second because it's true and maybe someone will find it helpful!

I know I know your thinking what is it??? First of all no liquid calories!!! Moderation, and exercise excercise, thats it!

Three years ago I went on a medication which caused me to gain 20lbs in 1 year! I freaked out and decided to lose it the old fashioned way, yuck! diet and exercise.

So no liquid calories means don't waste your calories on soft drinks throughout the day instead switch to water or maybe tea with no sugar of course! maybe a little splenda is okay, and well a glass or two of red wine never hurts at the end of a hard day! LOL

No more white bleached flour instead limit your carbs some (moderation) and eat whole grain only and lots of fiber too is great. Eat low fat but not no fat, if you limit all of your fat you will find yourself starving even when your stomach is full, besides our skin and hair needs a little good fat like olive oil. Tons of fresh fruits and vegies, and oh yeah, count your calories find out what your ideal calorie intake is for losing at a reasonable rate not to fast or you will gain it all back because your body feels starved and then you overeat to compensate. And meat is fine just choose lower fat meats, moderation again.

Next hit the gym! Strength training is important for everyone! I always see women come in and only do cardio they think thats enough, well it is very healthy for you but strength training helps as you age with keeping your bones strong and it also helps keep you firm so don't skip it. Try to work out at least four or five times a week.

Vitamins are good too, but be careful and be selective because most of the ones you buy are made from chemicals and cannot be absorbed by the body I take a liquid organic supplement called Vemma.

This of course is only an opinion but it did work for me and I feel soooo much better. I know your thinking I already knew this! You probably did but everyone always asks me how I lost weight like I must have had some magic pill or something but really it's obvious how anyone loses weight but sometimes we just need to hear it again.

Jennifer

How much time does it take to close a transaction when the buyer has a USDA Gov Loan

I submitted an offer a month ago to my seller with the financing terms marked rural development, no big deal. I called the buyers agent and cleared a few things up and advised my seller to take the offer it was 2000.00 below asking price including all allowances, and a pre qualified buyer.

Well the loan wasn't exactly the usual RD it was actually a USDA government loan through our local dept of Agriculture. The buyers agent seemed pretty uneducated as to how it worked and I have never done one.

 Paper work was submitted to the local office, contracts, permits etc one month ago. I followed up periodically and when the appraisal was submitted last week I called the person in charge at the dept of Agriculture and asked her if the appraisal came out ok she assured me it did so I asked if we were on target to close the following week as stated in the contract. She laughed out loud and said noooo! It will be at least an additional 30 days?????

So on Monday of the following week I phoned her again and she said she had to order title work! I almost passed out, are you kidding me? order title work on Monday and we close Wednesday? You've had this on your desk for a month and your ordering title work today? No she said I don't know if I have time today, I'm swamped. Title work by the way has been done for two weeks but she has to order it on her forms from the title company which is practically across the street to submit for funding.

So she has funds approved and available, title work is done, appraisal done and she wants a 30 day extension on our real estate contract????

She assured me this process has actually been one of her smoothest and quickest cases. My question was this.... When I submitted the contract with a 30 day closing why did you not tell me or the other agent that there was no way we could close in that amount of time. She never once voiced this to anyone until 3 business days prior to closing and only because of my prodding! So to sum it up the buyers lease is up on his apt and he has to be out and he has no house to move into and he is livid that nobody told him this until the last minute as he should be!

Anyway, if you ever get an offer with an RD loan not through a bank make sure you find out up front a time frame! They don't think what we put on the contract is important I guess.

Adjusting from famine to feast! How do you do it?

I have been so busy the last few days I havent had a second to write a blog! But thats a good thing since I have had a very slow last few months.

Anyway, I noticed a cycle, with myself and I bet most people have their own cycle.

I had an awesome 2007! Worked non stop until about November then my business came to a stand still. At first I found myself depressed and not knowing what to do with all of my free time! I craved to work!

Then after a couple of months I began establishing a routine for myself that didn't include work at all. I finally stopped worrying about work and began enjoying all of the other activites I learned to fill my free time with.

Then guess what happened next? I'm flooded with work and don't want to give up my new routine! I'm sure this will pass and I will adjust back into the work mode!

I was just thinking about this today and thought it was kind of funny.

Have you ever really seen a dog smile?

I have always heard people talk about a dog smiling but I didn't believe it was true until I got a Yorkie!

I had to post this because dogs really can smile! My little dog wakes up in a happy mood and has a big toothy smile every morning. I never really was a "dog" person but I guess I have become one since I got my little dog Jill.

My daughter Jewels is 17and my son Joey is 14 and I guess I decided as the kids got older I wanted a small dog. It took some getting used to at first but her full of life personality and that big grin brings a lot of joy to our home.

Can we trust spell check on our computer??????

I blog regularly and I always run spell check before I post. It was brought to my attention today by a dear friend of mine that I have been spelling alot wrong, well I mean not alot of things but actaully the word "alot". I have been spelling it "allot"? which one is correct? I always thought it had one "l" but when I use the activerain spell check it tells me to spell it "allot". I have been retraining my brain to spell it wrong?! Help someone! which one is correct?

A fun 30 Hour post ed for brokers?? It's possible!

I just returned home from a five day 30 hour post education for brokers and I was pleasantly surprised!

In all honesty I was dreading class like the plague! But I had an awesome instructor, and I actually learned allot from his teaching.

The school I usually attend is taught by an instructor who teaches like someone who has never actually sold real estate but more like someone who has read about it!

My instructor for the 30 hours was Paul Bynum from Fayetteville, he was fascinating. The last two days were for brokers only and he broke us up in groups and had us design a real estate firm. We worked on this for two days and some of the ideas were incredible! I left thinking, wow why don't we have actual companies like the ones we designed in class! I learned allot and left energized instead of bored to tears!

So if you ever get a chance and your scheduling your continuing ed look up Mr. Bynum you will love him.

Cold calling again!

My friend who is an agent at Century 21 in another town called me one afternoon while on floor duty and told me she had ordered personalized post cards and was sending out 50 to random subdivisions in her town.

I asked her if that sort of thing worked and she told me this was her first time to try it. Two weeks later she called me on her way to a listing apt. A gentlemen called her up and said he would like to list his home with her and she asked how he heard about her and he said he received her post card in the mail!

Needles to say I promptly ordered 100 post cards!!! I hope it works for me, even if it's only 1 client it will be worth it.

Don't put off your continuing education!

For those of you who either are about to get your brokers license or have recently obtained, it don't put off your 30 hours post education!

I passed the exam and applied for my brokers license last June and I just last week decided it's time to do my 30 hours post ed. Well to my horror I called 12 schools to register and either they weren't offering it at all or it is to be held in July or August!!

Two of the 12 I got a message machine and finally one called back and said class would start early May, in Fayetteville and it is a five day schedule!!! Well it's either that or go inactive immidiatly starting in June! So reluctantly I signed up and booked a five night stay at a hotel near the school.

So now I'm going to be out of town for five whole days and everytime I leave town thats when clients seem to need me the most!!!

So let this be a lesson to anyone who procrastinates, don't do it! This trip will cost me a small fortune and I could lose business while away. I'm so mad at myself over putting it off!

Do we really need a home phone anymore?

I think it's pretty normal for most of us these days to have a cell phone and even multiple lines. I have five, and if you have kids or a business your probably do too! It gets pretty expensive so I would love to find a way to eliminate my land line.

In the past couple of years I have gotten to where I don't use my home phone at all. I keep it hooked up for DSL and Fax. I pay about 95.00 a month for that. It seems like a waste to keep it on for just these purposes. I know I could get cable for my internet service but is there anyway to fax besides a phone line?

If anyone knows any information about this that I don't  I would appreciate a post.

Thanks