Like with anything else, simple advice is never appropriate in all circumstances. It all depends upon your particular situation. Today's personal finances are much more complex. A house and mortgage are not just a component of a proper financial strategy. You need to examine all of the other factors of your finances such as your assets, liquidity, tax situation, credit, and your credit availability.

Your mortgage is not "just" the loan on your home; it is an important piece of your overall financial picture. A better way to look at your mortgage is to examine it in the context of your entire portfolio. A piece of real estate is an asset to your portfolio. The mortgage on that piece of real estate determines how much of that asset is leveraged versus how much is tied up with real cash.

Sure, you might have some equity or not at this point but your payments are the same, your tax deductions may be less and you still have x amount in savings and are struggling to put enough money away for retirement. Ask yourself, has much changed in your life since your property value had increased so dramatically over the previous years or you refinanced last time to pay off high interest credit cards and are they still gone?

How long would you be able to survive if you lost 100% of your "job" income right here, right now? 1 month? 2 months? 3 months if you're lucky? Unfortunately, home equity doesn't seem so great now, does it? Bet you wish you had some investments working for you, right or a nice cushion of liquid cash available to use as needed?

Right now is the best time to start planning. Ask your clients have they been meaning to buy real estate as part of their retirement plan or are they working with a good finanical team who is going to give them sound advice that works in the long run and not a quick fix?

Planning isn't always the most fun thing to do but if your clients just lost their income source or their mortgage payments are starting to adjust and they haven't done a plan, it may be too late to save their home and now they have to sell it or foreclose.

It is important to be a part of the solution and not simply bury our head and hope things work out, especially in today's economy. From my experience, most people want help but they simply need some encouragement to do so.

Wouldn't it feel great to know that YOU are the reason your client gets to have a fabulous retirement or the reason their children get to go to college??? Be the foundation of their finanical team, help them change their perspective and see a new light at the end of a long and often dark tunnel!!

As we enter the 2nd half of 2008 ALREADY!!!! I know can you believe how fast time is flying???

Take a moment to reflect and think about a couple of questions.

Are you in touch with the goals you set out to accomplish at the beginning of the year or period for that matter?

• Do you want to buy a property?
• Are your credit scores good enough?
• Do you have enough money for a down payment?
• Are you saving enough money to retire on happily?
• Do you want to increase your business returns and client satisfaction?

Has the negativity of the media gotten you down? Do you feel like you have already missed a chance in a lifetime?

Successful people buy stock in the themselves and keep their eye open for chances of opportunity no matter what the economy is doing. No matter what the ups and downs of the real estate market are.

Having an attitude of "I can make things happen independent of what the crowd is doing or independent of outside influences" is important to reaching your goals.

Focus on what you can control which is what is happening right now. There is so much that we can't and what would be the benefit of that? Change your obstacles into opportunities...its ALL Choice!

So now that you've thought about it for a minute or two, what is it that you've been putting off?

• Buying a home or investment property?
• Improving your credit scores?
• Finding out why a reverse mortgage is an expensive alternative?
• What it takes to buy a foreclosure property?
• What systems you need to implement to improve your business?

My advice is to get some guidance or coaching. Enroll someone to help keep you accountable. Think about it this way, would you rather put off going to the dentist only to find out that you have a mouth full of cavities and fuzzy yellow teeth? OUCH and YUK! Or would it be far less painful and easier to go twice a year for a simply cleaning?

When you make investments in yourself, you'll thrive. And just imagine the incredible impact you will have on your life and those lives that you touch. And truly the bottom line is do you want to avoid "Fuzzy-Yellow, Financial "Teeth"?

Here is a video version of this email if you choose to check it out. Turning Your Obstacles Into Opportunities

 

What is happening here in the local Southern California real estate market? Do you believe that prices are flattening out and we are "at the bottom" of the market or do you believe that we have a ways to go and we wont see prices flattening out until well into 2009?

Brief snippet from an article I read an last week:

"LATE PAYMENTS: One in 11 mortgaged houses was at least 30 days late or in foreclosure at the and of March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The delinquency and foreclosure rates are the highest in the 36-year history of the MBA's quarterly survey. In California, 1 in 19 mortgages are delinquent (5.26 percent) and 1 in 32 are in foreclosure (3.13 percent). Combined, 1 in 12 houses are delinquent or in foreclosure. That's better than the national combined rate, but the state numbers aren't seasonally adjusted. If they were, they would be higher. The national numbers are seasonally adjusted."

Most of us in this business have now seen the adjustable rate mortgage reset chart, below, that's been floating around now for about the last 8-9 months. What's interesting and changing is that at the beginning of this market decline, loans that were in default were hitting the REO market about 7 months after a homeowners first late payment. Now we are seeing banks hold off on issuing the notice of default for 5-6 months before issuing the NOD. We wont see these homes as REOs until mid 2009.

It's imperative that we get the information that we make these HUGE decisions on from a trusted source, advisor or mentor that is in the trenches every day, who practices what they preach and has a history of making the right decisions and who is not afraid to go against the crowd.

The person I'm speaking about for me is Bruce Norris of The Norris Group. The Norris Group provides the tools necessary for me to make the right decisions in the real estate market of today, not the real estate market of 3 years ago. One characteristic that I believe is key to a good mentor is that they believe in the power of giving through education. It is easy to see Bruce speak and share his knowledge for little to no cost. There is a ton of great information on their website as well. Bruce not only teaches very specific steps on the how to grow wealth in today's real estate market but even more importantly, gaining wealth; but not at the expense of others.

I guess that what I have learned is to truly become knowledgeable and make the Right Choices and Decisions about todays Southern Cal market takes effort. It's not for everyone, some just don't have the desire but If you are serious about buying/investing or helping your clients purchase homes you would be doing yourself a big dis-service if you did not tap into The Norris Group or another trusted mentor.

Over the last couple of days, I have been at a Mortgage Planning Summit in Las Vegas. I have been surrounded by several top mortgage planners in the country, peers and business coaches who have the insight and wisdom to help us through the tough times. And lets face it, it's a tough time in our industry right now!

I wanted to share with you a couple of insightful thoughts that I find meaningful and extremely valuable and I believe you will too.

Trust and Stress
Don Hutson, co-author of The One Minute Entrepreneur talked about the inverse relationship of trust and stress in business. When trust is high, stress is low and vice versa. When I think about this in perspective to my clients, I realize that when I trust in myself, my clients place higher trust in me, our relationship or transaction is smooth and there is very little stress. However inversely, when I do not trust that I am going to create new business, work with a particular client or earn enough money, my fear about not having enough money and my finances creates lack of trust in my own abilities and then projects out to my clients and referral partners and I manifest just that, lack of new business. Nobody wants to do business with someone who is not confident in their skills.

Choice, Focus and Vision
Jack Canfield, author of the chicken Soup series and The Secret gave me these thoughts to consider. I have a choice. I can focus on my reality OR I can focus on my dream. By focusing or visualizing only on what I want, I will change my reality. And the opposite is true, limiting beliefs, negative words and thoughts truly hold me back from being successful.

Self Talk
The most powerful force I have in my life are the words I use. What I tell myself and others, the language that I use is what my subconscious believes. If I am negative, tell myself "I can't" or "I'm bad at it", that's exactly what will I will get. Keith Cunningham, personal coach and regular speaker with Tony Robbins, T.Harv Becker and Robert Kiyosaki also spent time discussing how personal growth is always outside our comfort zone.

Ask yourself this question, "What can I do today to improve my situation?"

Ordinary things done consistently produce extraordinary results. "Aging wrinkles your skin. Quitting wrinkles your soul.", Keith Cunningham.

Surround Yourself with Eagles
And finally, Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager and Raving Fans. Successful leaders work for their team, they empower their team and uplift them. A true leader gets out of the way so that everyone else can be magnificent. I believe this is also true when working with clients. Guide and support my clients so they can achieve extraordinary results. There is not need to act as if I did it alone.

As I navigate my way through this changing time, I continue to remind myself of the incredible opportunities that surround me everyday to grow my business and revenue stream and more importantly to help and uplift my clients, peers and strategic partners to be successful in reaching their goals and dreams.

I truly believe that in giving, I receive. Have a super week!

Today I talk about what I have been seeing and hearing in the real estate market. There is a lot of fear about buying property because values are still dropping and yet when you look at the facts, homes are on sale, interest rates are still at historic lows and money is still available. BUT, it's next to impossible to time the bottom of the market AND money is getting harder to get every week and interest rates are expected to rise.

You have a choice. Risk is waiting until you think prices have hit rock bottom and hope that you can still get financing OR be stoked that homes are on sale today and financing is still relatively decent.

And that brings me to my Quote of the Week....
"When you realize that by changing your perspective, big things can be seen as little things, it becomes much harder to worry about anything at all." ~Tut - A note from the Universe

80% of all millionaires in this country made their money in real estate, and it wasn't simply because they owned investment property! Owning real estate as an investment is a great tool because you can leverage the asset to further your wealth. BUT of course you have to own it first before you can take advantage of appreciating and declining home values. Shouldn't you get to be one of the 80%? Absolutely!

Attention Homeowners and First Time
Buyers - Wednesday, June 11th

Home Values are Expected to Drop Another 10% to 30% before the Housing Slump is over! What's it going to take to make it Through AND Capitalize on the Opportunities that are upon us?

Money Matters in Marriage and Relationships - Tuesday, June 24th

Do You Want to Avoid or Resolve Conflict with Your Partner Regarding Money? Who Doesn't??? Learn to Recognize and Work with Your Different Money Temperaments

The Real Estate markets are down but this is good news for you. You’ve heard the adage: Buy low, sell high, right? Well the American dream just because more affordable….it’s on sale!

Now is a great time to seize the opportunity and invest. While many real estate markets across the country may suffer during 2008-2009, the value depression is creating a window of opportunity for those in a position to buy and be patient. With interest rates remaining at historical lows, now is the right time to buy a first home, investment property or even a vacation home.

Position Yourself for Opportunity—taking the time to carefully evaluate your financial position. Knowing how much you can put down and your maximum comfortable monthly payment and what you qualify for is key to a less stressful transaction and to moving swiftly and decisively when the appropriate match comes along.

1. Research your investment carefully to determine if the deal aligns with your investment objectives.
2. Be prepared to lose—be able to sustain a short-term loss before your investment begins to appreciate.
3. Be prepared to walk away—nothing compromises your position or clouds your judgment like becoming emotionally attached to a deal.
4. Be ready to strike—the checkbook—Americans have historically been voracious consumers but not big savers. The real key to real estate is how you finance it. Know what options you have available that best fit your financial goals.
5. Crunch the numbers—make sure that you look at your overall financial plan and debt strategy. You need to know and understand the total cost, after-tax dollar cost and employment cost of your money.
6. Hire a professional—make sure you work with Trusted Advisors who will be there support you during your transaction but also who will be there in the long-run.