Well, not exactly celebrating but celebrating....let me explain.
My son Alex is studying in Italy this semester and treating us to his wonderful Blog about his experience (www.bondaq.blogspot.com) a very worthwhile read if you want to see how this Jewish kid from Baltimore describes his experience in Viterbo Italy which is just under an hour Northwest of Rome (and about 60 miles from the earthquake last week that he slept through but that's another story).
His missed his weekly webchat today because he other plans. After spending Passover Seder's last week with one of the well know Rabbi's of one of the largest synagogues in Rome, he decided to head to
St. Peters Square.
We got his email in the wee hours this morning explaining to us (his Jewish Parents) how excited he was to be attending Easter Mass at St. Peters Basilica in front of the Pope. He has no idea how excited WE were and how proud we are of him. He always seems to manage to make the most of his experiences and finds a way to be in just the right places to enjoy the opportunities of the moments presented to him.
There is a lot to learn about that.
When your kids do things like this on their own, you do feel good about having done your job as a parent. My wife and I are Blessed to have good kids. My oldest son Mark took it upon himself to be in Washington DC among the thousands of people who turned out to walk past President Reagan's casket and show his respect. Far from a political junkie, Mark showed more about who he was as a 20 year old to take it upon himself to be there and be in that moment.
My 15 year old daughter Frankie is the same way, in her own way. She knows to be there in those moments in life that truly count and are an opportunity to be counted.
Truly a time for Celebration
I grew up a Roman Catholic and converted to Judaism a few years ago at the time of my daughter's Bat Mitzvah. We did it in Israel as a family. I was a wonderful and truly spiritual experience. The support of my family and friends was overwhelming at times.
During this time of challenge and such great uncertaintly, it is helpful to be reminded of the story of Passover and of Easter. As surely as we can join together as a family, supporting eachother unconditionally, we know that there is goodness all around us that will guide us through these challenging times and help us overcome whatever we must. A new season is upon us.
My children remind me of who I am and what I have been able to accomplish by being the kind of people they are, by being the kind of people I would want them to be and most importantly by being the kind of people I want to be...kind, thoughtful, smart and unafraid of life's challenges. Unafraid to be there for those special moments life offers because of their deep faith in G_d and who they are.
The Best Thing About Gefilte Fish...is that my Mother-in-law can't over cook it!
Whether you take it in a small patty or in those little fish balls in a jar, I will tell all the Gentiles out there (Gentile is polite for goyim), I will tell you that it is definitely an ‘acquired' taste.
When acquiring a taste you add a little spice (whether red horse radish or white) and some unleavened bread (tasteless matzos) and bingo...you are off and running and rest assured that will one day you will consume this and sit back, take a sip of some wine, look around the dinner table and feel that life is good!
It is good because you would have been sharing this culinary delight as part of a family ritual that dates back centuries. As the Jewish community (of which I proudly count myself and my family among them), celebrates the Passover Holiday enjoying Seder (family dinner), one can only feel a sense of appreciation.
Like Gefilte Fish (which does not resemble a fish at all), we should not be so quick to judge others and we should be ever so grateful for our family and the people who love us. I take comfort in being judged by God one day and by being loved and not judged by those who know and love me. I judge not Gefilte Fish (or my mother-in-laws double cooked brisket) as I learned to not only acquire a taste for it, but I love it and look forward to it.
As I work to help people make good decisions about buying and selling real estate, I take heart in knowing that it is very important to me and to them. So as you consider judging yourself or others during these challenging times we face, be mindful of what is important. We must not only persevere, we must also trust that those who know us and love us don't judge us. Supporting people you care about makes all the difference and I am grateful to have the support of so many. After having acquired a taste for Gefilte Fish, I learned that trying new things and trusting myself can make a difference. And I want to make a difference for others.
President's Message Greater Baltimore Board of REALTORS November 2008 (first in the series)
As this year comes to an end and we look forward to 2009, there is no doubt we are facing some challenging times for many of our members. I urge each and every one of you to consider getting back to the basics, getting involved in your business and looking at what GBBR can do to help you.
Your leadership team has been involved in NAR conferences, and with our industry and community leaders to find ways to help us all provide more service and opportunity for our clients. Take advantage of these efforts by browsing our Education calendar, supporting Networking Events to share ideas, and reading the GBBR e-Edition and GaBBeR Reports sent to you with information on technology, legislative efforts, financing tools and a whole lot more.
These are times when we all need to get back to mastering the basics and learn to be more professional and more informed than ever before. We will work as an association to keep you informed of the many changes on the horizon as we meet with policy makers to bring more financing tools, closing cost assistance options and help identify Short Sales processes that will help us all.
You can expect a monthly message from me on the third Thursday of each month. I hope you find it useful. Feel free to contact me by email with any questions or issues you may have or would like to have GBBR address.
Best Wishes, Vito Simone PS - look for the rest of the series!
These Words, these 'Affirmations' have been part of my life for so many years that I can't even remember where they came from (as I doubt I made them all up). I am sharing them at a time when I am grasping for something to hold onto, something to give me the strength to work through the challenges of today.
They have helped me before and they will help me again if I can help someone else first.
WORDS TO LIVE BY...
1) Live and Work like your mother is watching
2) Everything happens for a Reason and a Purpose and it Serves us
3) You don't have to know everything to be able to use everything
4) People are our greatest resource
5) There is no such thing as failure...There are only Results
6) There is no Abiding Success without Commitment
7) Work is Play
8) Love your competitors, they are the only ones who make you as good as you are
When people let you down, find a way to lift someone up!
My daughter was 15 years and 9 months old this past Wednesday and you know what that means...Driving Permit time. After a rough week last week, I was excited to clear my schedule so I could take her to the MVA but she stopped me.
She told me that she had a "busy week" at school and could not take time away. Of course you melt when your daught does this, especially when you know she means it. We therefore made plans to go Thursday, or Friday, or wait until Monday. We decided to go today - Thursday at 8am.
I of course had a busy day myself, but I was too excited to seize this moment with my daughter that I made room. We drove out to Westminister (about 20 minutes or so), got their very early and there was already a line out the door. When we finally got our turn, she discovered that she did not have everything she needed and we had to go home to get it.
She did not even ask if we could go get it and come back because she knew I made a hole in my schedule for her. On our way back home I cleared the way for me to take her back to MVA. This is driving after all and I know my daughter is ready and wants to drive.
When she realized I was taking her home and back to get the driving permit, I could tell she was excited and appreciative.
I learned how fortunate and blessed I am to have such a child, but more than that, we worked together to make something special out of this moment. We really were more interested in the other person than our own self or our own plans.
So I offer this: If we ALL try to consider ways we can help someone else, and there are so many who need help, we will be surprised at how we help ourselves. More importantly, if we adults can set an example for others to follow, perhaps more people would be willing to consider the 'other person'.
Make someone's day...try it and see what you learn from doing it!
No Budget signed yet...thank goodness someone is starting to pay attention! Our policy makers are spending money like crazy and trying to convince us they need to for our own good. Next they will be convincing us that we will ALL have to pay higher taxes, higher interest rates and higher prices for EVERYTHING just to come close to paying all this waste back!
Help everyone who wants to keep their house
Help everyone who wants to sell their house
Help everyone who wants to buy a house
It really all starts with housing!
Let's make things a little simple - we all can agree we need the following:
We need people to feel more confident in their own present reality and their own family's future;
We need people to buy houses again;
We need people to buy cars again (preferably American made);
We need small businesses to invest in their businesses again;
We need a whole lot more, but none of which can happen without these things happening FIRST because the above items provide jobs to people and encourage all the other spending people do!
What can WE ask the government to do? What are we waiting for? We have given George Bush, Barack Obama and our other elected and appointed officials enough time to make suggestions and spend ridiculous amounts of money (without any real public debate or discussion) and without effect!
Their results:
NO change in the behavior of the banks they are giving Billions of dollars to;
NO salvation for auto manufacturers
NO solvency for AIG even after 180 Billion dollars
NO reduction in foreclosures
NO confidence in Wall Street
What WE should ask for:
Help people NOT corporations
Let's not get hung up feeling bad about helping some people who don't deserve it and ignore so many who need it.
When we help the people who need help, EVERYONE ELSE benefits from stabilizing the housing market and jobs.
The behavior of Corporate Executives and Government Officials is unconscionable - letting so many ‘off the hook' while hanging others out to dry.
Let's ask how far 1 Trillion dollars would go to help people keep their homes
Reducing the number of houses for sale stabilizes prices and property values for EVERYONE
Help people who want to sell and responsibly "downsize" by sharing the ‘loss' with the sellers, lenders and mortgage insurers (instead of just giving money to banks hoping they do something to help the situation).
Provide a Tax Credit at the settlement to ANY buyer of a principal residence (instead of adding another tax credit for the IRS to process on an income tax return after-the-fact).
Provide a voucher for people to use for Financial Literacy workshops so they can better understand mortgage dynamics, credit management and the effects of "compounding" interest. Let providers charge a fee for this workshop and compete for the consumer vouchers in order to get paid...let the strong survive.
Help people buy cars (instead of bailing out car manufacturers) •· Tax credits for buying a car (how many tax credits can you give out with 30 Billion dollars?) •· We gave incentives for people to buy SUV's and they did. Let us now give incentives for people to buy other cars - energy efficient cars, American cars, motor cycles, station wagons or whatever else we WANT people to buy.
Give people incentives to start, maintain or expand a small business •· If you can't find a job, maybe you can start a business •· Small businesses currently employ the most people in this country •· Offer tax credits for small businesses to hire people •· Offer tax credits for starting a small business
Behavior Modification works - let's try it! We let our market incentives get a bit out of hand and corporations and institutions took advantage of people. Now we can focus our behavior modification on consumers because we can predict the response better and because people need the attention. Corporations tend to work the system or work around the system anyway. Corporations will respond to how people vote with their dollars (and with their tax credits) to provide the best product or service to attract the most people. CAPITALISM STILL WORKS.
People will start to buy houses again when they believe the market is more stable, predictable and secure for the future. Giving a tax credit at settlement, a tax credit at the point of purchase of a car - will stimulate people to buy again IF we address their lack of confidence first.
We must offer incentives directly to people in exchange for the ‘behavior' that helps improve confidence and the performance of our economy. It also allows for the Trickle Up approach and gets us away from the Trickle Down theory of giving money to the corporate giants and letting it all trickle down to people.
Do you ever find yourself screaming while watching the news or listening to talk radio or reading the headlines? By Vito Simone
If you're anything like me, you just scratch your head and wonder where they get this stuff from. I wonder what questions they are answering when the answers seem so far from the questions people are asking.
We NEED people to buy homes - the ultimate buy American product. When it comes to cars - we convinced people to buy SUV's because we made it easy and cheap for people to do so. Let's do the same with a more energy efficient car - result is more car sales!
Keep it simple and to the point: We need people to buy homes and cars again. In order to help people buy, you have to help sellers to sell. Why are we so convinced we should shoot ourselves in the foot and derail buyers because we think certain sellers ‘do not deserve' to be helped?
Why do we care if we end up helping lenders or sellers we don't want to help in order to protect the rest of us? In order to give the rest of us a chance to make the best purchase of real estate and lock in the lowest interest rates in generations?
The government and other institutions have us convinced that we cannot afford to have banks or other institutions fail. Whether you agree with that or not is not the point. Don't be distracted by this public discussion. We need to focus on helping the people who need help instead of looking for ways to get people to help the institutions by paying more and more taxes and doing with less and less, while convincing us that it is in our best interest to do so.
5 Steps that make a difference to people:
1. Help people who want to sell and get out from under a house they cannot afford - even if it means a Short Sale and having the lender forgive (write off) a portion of their loan.
2. Provide cash at time of closing for people who buy homes that do not exceed 30% of their gross monthly income and who get low fixed rate mortgages.
3. Government to offer "bailout" money to mortgage insurers, lenders and sellers in order to share the loss (instead of giving away billions to institutions).
4. Offer tax credits for people who buy energy efficient cars while preventing auto manufacturers from excessive profiteering.
5. Impose new Usury limits (lower interest rates) on credit card companies to remove the incentive for them to give credit cards to people who should not get them and to promote more responsible use of credit cards.
These steps will lower everyone's cost of living while keeping buyers in the market for houses and cars. We need the average person to be able to take advantage of opportunities to buy smart in a buyer's market...we need to stand up for each other during a time when our country's leadership is grasping at straws.
Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan Summary by Vito Simone
Helping People AVOID Foreclosure stabilizes local real estate markets
Part 1 Refinance existing conforming loans on properties that simply lost value.
People who now owe more than 80% of the current value have difficulty refinancing under existing lending guidelines. The government will help fund reduced interest rate refinancing for these people who currently make their payments but need help to lower their payments.
Part 2 At-Risk Homeowners who are struggling to make payments on time and are on the verge of default can get assistance BEFORE they default. Reducing monthly payments to 38 percent of monthly gross income and even as low as 31 percent of monthly gross income.
The lender would reduce payments to 38% of GMI and the government will share - dollar for dollar by matching the lender's contribution to lowering payments to 31% GMI. The lower rates will stay in place for 5 years and will NOT serve to reduce or write off any principal amounts.
Offer incentives to lenders Lenders and Servicers will receive $1,000 for each modification and another $1,000 per year to the lender/servicer as long as the borrower stays current (for up to 5 years).
Offer incentives to borrowers who stay current Principal reduction of $1,000 per year for up to 5 years
Reach Borrowers Early In addition, $500 will be paid to servicers and $1,500 to lenders if they modify At-Risk borrowers BEFORE they default.
Establish clear and consistent guidelines for Loan Modifications All government loan programs participate including: FHA, VA, FDIC, Treasury, Federal Reserve, Ginnie Mae, Dept of Agriculture, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
All these programs using the same qualifying guidelines to achieve the goal of more affordable lower monthly payments to avoid foreclosure.
Part 3 Support the restructure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and expand funding to allow these GSE's to bring liquidity to the markets. Increase funding to allow GSE's to support State Housing Finance Agencies serving homebuyers.
Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan What does it mean for you? A Commentary by Vito Simone
Stabilizing mortgage markets, reducing mortgage payments by lowering interest rates to current market rates, and extending terms to 40 years, allows people who WANT to stay in their homes an opportunity to stay in their homes for the long term. Certainly long enough to see the real estate markets and national economy rebound.
What does it take to make a difference in the real estate market? Creating conditions for a more "normal" real estate market to resume is critical to sustainable long term growth in property values and the accumulation of wealth.
WE SIMPLY HAVE TOO MUCH INVENTORY AND TOO FEW BUYERS! If we help people avoid foreclosure, we slow the increase in units of distressed property reaching the market. We also help people preserve their credit if we help make it easier for people to make their payments on time.
By reducing delinquencies and foreclosures, we reduce the number of sellers pressured into selling into "Short Sale" situations. This occurs when people cannot sell the property for enough money to cover the loan. In this case they ask the lender to allow the owners to sell at a price that is "short" the amount needed to pay in full.
Consider that reducing current inventory by reducing the number of Short Sales and reducing the number of foreclosures will bring supply and demand into a closer balance. Once there is a greater balance of supply of housing and demand for housing, prices will become more stable and start to increase based on market forces in a more predictable manner for consumers as well as lenders and mortgage insurers.
Once the market stabilizes, those people who were helped to stay in their homes and those people who were able to refinance at 2009 low interest rates, will have those low rates and will see their home values begin to increase again. That will serve to further stabilize or sustain more "normal" market conditions.
As this happens, building will start again and new housing starts will increase and that is the real job creation engine that we so enjoyed for a few years between 2002 and 2006. Just because ‘some' people may benefit who perhaps should not benefit at all, we should not turn our backs on the 90% or more of people who are watching their property values plummet because of the mistakes or the greed of the few people.
Remember, foreclosure rates historically run between 3-5%. Those rates have doubled and in some cases tripled. Even so, 90 percent of the people are NOT in foreclosure but are getting close because the value of their property leaves them with few options to get the help they need. That help is no longer available because the lending guidelines had to be changed to prevent the abuses. Many people who did NOT abuse anything at all have been adversely affected by these changes in lending guidelines, by plummeting property values and by the lack of buyers who qualify for these new lending guidelines.
The Stabilization Plan announced will prevent foreclosures, reduce sales inventory, stabilize property values and help people keep their homes with affordable payments.
During these historic times we are reminded (or should be reminded) of the vital role we all serve as members of our community, professionals in our industry and as citizens of our great country. We all have a vital role and contribute to a successful society. It has never been more evident than during these most challenging times that have affected so many in such profound ways...rich and poor, middle class, all races, all industries, so many communities in so many ways.
On the eve of this most historic and monumental transfer of power, we should be humbled and inspired to expect great things of our leaders, great answers to our questions and great solutions to our problems - but not without demanding greatness from ourselves first!
An airline pilot showed us how a calm and steady approach, with an unselfish commitment to protect the people who need us the most, can bring people together in prayer and in spirit to help someone in need.
Each of us has within us something to give. Let us share ideas, best practices and extend an open hand to help those among us who need it most and in the process, we can realize that we are all so interdependent. We need each other for the market to get back on track. None of us can make a difference alone but each of us working together makes ALL the difference.
As Barack Obama assumes his role in history and looks for ways to lead us through the changing landscape, let us reflect on how, in whatever small way we can, how we can make a difference, how we can help people and help each other make good decisions about building our communities, building our neighborhoods and our businesses.
As a leader in our organization, I look to so many all around me for guidance, support, ideas and mostly for the courage to find a way to help as many people as I can. Helping people buy and sell homes affects people in profound ways and will affect the spirit of our community. Helping you find a way to develop your business affects us all, especially our communities.
We spoke about the ‘stats' - the numbers in the Baltimore market area last week at our State of Real Estate event. There is no doubt that we have strong fundamentals in our market, but do we have the courage, do we have the vision and do we have the ‘heart' to lead so others will follow. I say that there are lions among us and 50 years of active practitioners in our association that prove to me that together we can overcome anything.
Let us look to each other for support and encouragement. Let us demonstrate our professionalism, creativity and commitment to the highest standards of practice everyday. And for our newly elected President, let us be part of history and not mere observers.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
;)
;)
