40% Off Tickets to BLUE MAN GROUP - Las Vegas!

An international sensation featuring three bald and blue characters, Blue Man Group combines music, comedy and multimedia theatrics to create an explosive party atmosphere that infects people of all ages!
40% off Blue Man Group Las Vegas shows through Jan 4! Tickets as low as $62.50! Blue and Red Zone sections which regularly sell for $139.50 and $99.35 are now only $86.70 and $62.50.
Just choose the show you’d like to attend and the price. No password needed!
Hurry, this offer expires on Jan 4!

Don’t miss this wildly popular Vegas show: “an absolutely ecstatic experience” USA Today, 

“A perfect entertainment…so much fun it must be experienced to be believed” -Chicago Tribune
Get your tickets today!

"The 23 Most Costly Mistakes That Real Estate Investors Make and How To Avoid Them"

It has been said that experience is the best teacher though I’ve come to realize that if I don’t try to reinvent the wheel and learn from those who have been successful before me, doing the same things that I want to do, I become more successful much faster.
Aside from reading as many books and listening to as many tapes that I can on Real Estate investing, I also attend many conferences and boot camps.

My goal when I get to these conferences and boot camps is to seek out people that are more successful than myself and see what information that I can learn from them to increase my own success.
When talking to these individuals, there is one question that I always ask and am most interested to hear their response.

That question is: “What was the biggest mistake you made when you first started and, looking back, what could you have done to avoid it?”

This question usually invokes a queer smile as these now successful investors look back into their once unstable past and conjure up their biggest folly.

Often times they would not mention just one situation but two or three.
The biggest single quality that each of these investors possess is that when they were stuck by adversity they did not fold up their tent and decide that real estate investing was not for them.

They stuck it out and turned each one of their mistakes into a valuable lesson not to be repeated.

The Japanese have a saying “fall down 6 times, get up 7”. With almost every situation in life, weather it be business, family, relationships, and/or money, if you adopt this attitude you will become unstoppable.
The following 23 mistakes are the most common responses that I received when I asked successful investors to talk about their past.

Read them, study them and don’t forget them. Anybody can receive information, it is the wise man that prospers by it and puts it to use.
1) Waiting Too Long to Start Real Estate Investing
2) Not Having a Plan
3) Not Requiring Written Repair Bids – Every Time
4) Not Charging Tenants for Damage
5) Not Screening Tenants for Eviction Risks
6) Paying for Repair or Construction Before 100% Completion
7) Paying Full Price for Late Repair of Construction
Allowing Your Real Estate Business to Run Your Life
9) Over-Improving a Property Bought to Flip or Rent
10) Running Out of Cash
11) Forgetting About Asset Protection
12) Over-Analyzing Property
13) Becoming Friends with Tenants
14) Underinsuring Property and Risk
15) Ignoring Cash Flow
16) Punishing Bad Tenants Without Rewarding Good Ones
17) Permitting Tenants’ Problems to Spoil the Positives of Real Estate Investment
18) Letting Rent Collections Get Personal
19) Only Looking at Properties When There Is a Problem
20) Missing Out on Special Loan Programs
21) Inability to Sell a Rehab Property or to Rent a Rental Property
22) Not Thinking of Tenants as Potential Buyers
23) Renting to Relatives

For more information visit: http://www.freerealestatementoring.com/ From The Desk of Jeff Adams

Building Your Dream Home in Your Own Back Yard

Ed Del Grande: Ask Ed - It’s no secret to most of us that the real estate market has currently slowed down in many areas of the country. But, you may not realize how many homeowners are now in the process of remodeling or adding on to their present home to get what they want now, instead of buying and selling into an unstable market. Basically, it’s like the old saying “Stick with the devil you know.” With this in mind, I’d like to share an excerpt from my book Ed Del Grande’s House Call with you. This excerpt will help guide homeowners on my five basic points to consider when remodeling or adding on to your present home.

1. Don’t get caught with your pants down. You will need to develop a strategy for coping with and living around construction. For example: If you’re doing a major remodeling job on the only bathroom in your house, make other living arrangements “in advance” for the period when your bathroom will be shut down.

2. Understand the impact on your neighbors and neighborhood. Know where your contractors and subcontractors can park their vehicles. Also, address the noise and disruption level to your neighbors lifestyle, and work with them. Most job problems that I have seen, come from a trusted neighbor calling the local inspector with a complaint.

3. Know your budget limitations. When you do a project, you need to know the exact amount of cash you have on hand and the limit you can borrow from the bank. That’s the job budget — stick with it, no matter how tempting it might be to exceed it! (Going over budget now and thinking we can find a way to afford it later, is what got us all in this mess!)

4. Require licenses, permits and insurance from your contractor. Whatever the minimum requirements in your area for contractors, you need to see proof of that license, insurance and/or registration from your contractor, and make sure permits are taken out.

5. Be available to make decisions. Don’t lose sight of the fact that your contractor is working for you! Do some communication research and have a plan in place so the contractor can contact you quickly about major decisions for the project.

Remember, these are just five basic tips to help you get started, and I hope this “additional information” will help in the planning your new addition!

Ed Del Grande, the author of Ed Del Grande’s House Call, was born and raised in a family-owned plumbing business. With more than 25 years of experience in every aspect of construction, he holds current Master licenses in pipefitting, fire protection and plumbing. If you have a question for Ed, send him an e-mail at eddelgrande@hgtvpro.com.

Mortgage fraud: NEW and IMPROVED

Lenders have tightened standards, but scam artists have found new ways to beat the system.   NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — The housing bust has not ended mortgage fraud - hucksters are just finding new ways to make dishonest bucks.   The number of fraudulent loans issued during the second quarter this year increased 45%, compared with the same period in 2007, according to the Mortgage Asset Research Institute (MARI), a service of LexisNexis.

The group counts as fraud any misrepresentation intended to get a better deal on a mortgage or a home sale.   During the boom, that might have meant a buyer who inflated his income to qualify for a bigger loan. Some went so far as to get a fake appraisal, invent a fake buyer, and after securing a mortgage, absconding with the cash.  Such ruses may not work in this environment, with lenders tightening up their standards.

But several scams still are effective, according to Jim Ronan of Interthinx, a provider to lenders of fraud-prevention services, and Robert Hagberg, a fraud investigator for mortgage giant, Freddie Mac.   “It’s a constant battle to keep up with the innovative ways that scam artists come up with to defraud others,” said Vincent Rabago, an Arizona assistant attorney general who works on mortgage fraud cases, “especially in the real estate industry where transactions are very complicated.”

The new appraisal fraud - One modern gambit is under-appraising property values.   These schemes involve short sales, which come up when a struggling homeowner is “underwater,” or owes more on his mortgage than the home is worth.   When done legitimately, the owner sells the home for the lower market value, and the lender agrees to accept just that amount and forgive the difference.

When illegitimate, fraudsters fake very low appraisals for the homes and use those appraisals to justify low short-sale prices - well below true market values.   If busy bankers don’t check the appraisal closely, they may agree to sales of homes that should be worth $200,000, for $150,000 or even less.

The buyers - in cahoots with the owner - then flip them for a big profit. 

The new ‘liar loan’,  Another fraud, one more often committed by average buyers than by career criminals, has also morphed into something new.   During the boom, many borrowers misrepresented their income or assets with “no-doc liar loans,” approved on the basis of good credit scores with no documentation.   After the mortgage meltdown, no-doc loans vanished, but applicants who lie have not.  “Liar loans” are now fully documented - but with really good fraudulent documents,” said Hagberg.

In one case investigated by Interthinx, a New York man buying an investment property in Georgia provided documents that showed double his actual salary.  Advanced information technology and photocopying equipment have gotten so accurate that very convincing papers, including income statements, savings accounts and tax returns can be produced on demand.   Ronan said there are Web sites that provide believable documents that scam artists use.

“Because they say it’s for ‘novelty purposes,’ you can’t really do anything about it,” he said. “They don’t say it can be used to defraud.”  Scams that misrepresent income or employment are still the most common type of fraud, according to MARI.   

‘Buy and bail’ - This is a new scheme that had no equivalent during the boom years.   You’re underwater on your mortgage and want a new, cheaper home down the block.   You could just bail on the existing home, but no lender would give you a mortgage for the new one.   So you tell the bank you plan to rent out the current home - even though you have no intention of doing so.    “This is a very difficult scam to pin down,” said Jennifer Butts, a spokeswoman for MARI, because the rental agreements that borrowers proffer may not be scrutinized by lenders.

The Federal Home Administration announced in late September that it hoped to head off many buy-and-bails by no longer insuring mortgages if the homeowners had existing loans - unless they could show enough income to pay off both loans simultaneously.   But don’t sell fraudsters short - they’ll probably find brand new ways to get around the policy. First Published: October 17, 2008: 11:18 AM ET

Get Tidy Tips - Timesaving spring-cleaning strategies to help you enjoy the season

  Spring has arrived and nothing welcomes the season like a clean house. According to a recent survey conducted by The Soap and Detergent Association, 60 percent of Americans agree that springtime is the best time to eliminate clutter and dirt from their homes. Prepare in advance with these timesaving spruce-up strategies.

Start by identifying your clutter source.  Determining the source helps to eliminate future clutter and keeps your home organized in a more efficient manner. The following suggestions help combat clutter stemmed from common sources: paper, kids and limited space.

Entryway - Keep a small paper bag at the front door to hold junk mail and catalogues. At the end of the week, toss the whole bag in the recycling bin and replace the bag.  Designate one container for each family member to place incoming clutter such as shoes, toys, or sports equipment. 
Home Office - File all mail, permission slips, invitations, coupons, etc. in specific folders.  At the end of the week, sort through the papers, discard outdated materials, send replies or pay bills. 
Garage - Utilize hooks to hang garden, sports and automobile equipment and keep the floor space clear.
Tip: Keep all car wash products in  bucket and hang the bucket on one of the hooks for easy access.
Bedrooms - Spend one day conducting a thorough organization of the house, especially bedrooms. 
Tip:  Enlist the help of family members to sort through clothes and toys.  Sell the discarded belongings at a garage sale and use the money to reward your family for helping.
Kitchen - Encourage your family to use fewer glasses and dishes to practice daily water conservation.
Tip:  Give each family member a water bottle and/or cup to reuse for water throughout the day.

Size W - Microfiber cloths to dust , Vacuum cleaner dusting attachment for high ceilings, walls, corners, Dusting spray, Trash cans for every room or area in the house, Trash can liners—these can be reused grocery bags, Baking soda, Recycling bins—labeled for easy sorting , Central heating and cooling filter—changing this twice a year significantly reduces allergens and dust.  

By Ed Wright.  For more wonderfull ideas and helpfull tips visit: http://www.homeimprovementmag.com/Home-Improvement-Online

The HGTV Beginner’s Guide to Remodeling Your Own Kitchen

  Want to renovate your kitchen but don’t know where to begin? Our guide to kitchen remodeling basics shows you how to move this big project forward in small steps. Here’s what you’ll need to do at every stage of the remodeling process:

Find Inspiration for Your New Kitchen - Getting Your Remodel Off to a Good Start : Getting Started: Before beginning a kitchen remodel, a lot of prep work is required. Here are five things you’ll need to do before even hiring a designer. Before making any remodeling decisions, research all your options.  Are you itching to breathe new life into an outdated or poorly-functioning kitchen? Hold on. Put down the phone. Before contacting a remodeling professional, you’ll need to do a little soul-searching and research first.

Sellers Need Incentives to Attract Homebuyers - Be prepared to increase financial rewards without sacrificing the price

Sellers are competing with builders and foreclosures in this buyer’s market.  America’s housing market has gone from robust to just plain bust in the past 18 months.

These are the times that try the skills of real estate professionals, says Jim Crawford, a real estate coach in Atlanta.

“It’s a buyer’s market without buyers,” he says. “Of the top 40 markets, 36 are down. In Atlanta at this time of year, we should have a maximum of 52,000 homes for sale; we have 114,000. What’s happened is, if you can’t sell in Chicago, you can’t buy in Atlanta. If you can’t sell in Boston, you can’t buy in Florida.”

Here’s the squeeze: Rising inventories make it difficult to set — and get — your asking price. Buyers, caught in the same predicament, are reluctant to buy, hoping prices will return to earth soon.

Now that the seller’s market is officially history, and competition is keen, how will you attract a buyer for your home? Incentives, of course.

Builders have new homes sitting vacant on which they dare not lower the price for fear of setting off a domino effect. They offer incentives to attract buyers without reducing prices.

“The incentives today are different,” says Dianna Kokoszka, vice president of Mega Achievement Productivity Systems at Keller Williams Realty. “The big-screen TV worked for a home builder many years ago. Now builder incentives are $40,000 to $50,000 off landscaping in the front, new appliances, 1.5 points if you go through our mortgage company and an allowance if you use our decorator.”

Kokoszka says today’s buyer wants money-in-pocket value, not frills and playthings. If your home is competing with nearby new construction, be prepared to offer the same or equivalent incentives as the builder.

Crawford agrees: “A consumer today is very savvy. They have lots of points of comparison for neighborhood home value, some by the MLS and some free data. They are not impressed by all the extras. A lot of the people who are leading the charge for incentives have not been in real estate long enough to know you cannot do a lot of incentives anymore.”

And, similar to the down market of the late 1980s, home sellers must now compete not only with builders, but with foreclosures, thanks to all those subprime loans you’ve been hearing about.

Earle Gibson, a real estate broker in California wine country, says foreclosure trustee sale notices run three full pages a day in the local newspaper.

“In Vallejo right now, there is an inventory of well over 1,000 single-family homes and maybe 10 closings per week, while each week we add probably 20 new listings to the market,” she says. “Everybody’s hurting. It’s like, who’s the lucky agent this week?”

Gibson likens her high-priced turf, which includes Napa, Sonoma and Marin counties, to a high noon stare-down between home sellers and prospective buyers, each of whom can afford to wait for the other to blink.

Which is not to say there isn’t considerable strategizing going on - but now the power meetings are between listing agents and their anxious sellers on how to flag the attention of agents representing qualified buyers?

“In order for a home to sell once, it has to sell twice: You have to sell it to the Realtors and then the Realtors sell it to their buyers,” Kokoszka says.

The best way to sell to a Realtor is via an increased commission or a sales bonus.

Gibson confirms that the courting of buyer agents is in full swing. “We’re seeing more back to the split of (more favorable) 6 percent commissions, but we’re also seeing, in the confidential area of the MLS, bonuses of $5,000 or $10,000 to selling agents, to try to lure them,” she says.

Many brokers won’t touch agent bonuses for fear of fraud litigation. Such bonuses also tend to artificially inflate the value of a property, warping neighborhood comps and creating a problem for lenders if the mortgage holder defaults.

But Crawford knows firsthand how strategically nudging the commission split can work to a seller’s advantage. He once had a frustrated seller who was willing to drop his asking price $15,000 below what he paid for the house. Crawford suggested instead that he increase the buyer’s agent’s commission 1 percentage point, to 4 percent. The house sold within two weeks, at a considerable savings to the grateful seller.

That said romancing real estate agents alone won’t sell your house. It has to be priced right.

By Jay MacDonald, Scripps Howard News Service | Published: 11/01/2007

Where is my contractor?

June 2008 (Palm Springs, Calif.) — An article in the Sunday, June 1, 2008, edition of the L.A. Times Real Estate section titled “Worker has no license? Be wary”, by Times Staff Writer Robert Lopez, tells the familiar story of a homeowner’s plight. In spite of taking a cautious approach when hiring a contractor to remodel her kitchen and dining room, she found herself in a predicament. Several months into the remodel, her contractor stopped showing up and leaving her floor ripped apart and electrical wiring in the attic unfinished. Now, more than three years after the contractor abandoned her job, she is still paying to fix things that weren’t done right. “It’s been one problem after another.”

Although the “contractor” she hired gave her his license number, that license had expired several years ago and didn’t even belong to the person/company she hired. When she went to the Contractors State License Board (CSLB) she found she was far from alone in her situation. Pamela Mares, a spokesperson from the CSLB is quoted in the article as saying “It’s safe to say that there are thousands of people out there breaking the law by contracting without a license.” And “There’s a lot of money out there, and they know it.”

The article states there is an estimated $10 billion annually spent on home remodeling and construction projects. In the fiscal year 2006-07 the agency received more than 15,000 complaints regarding contractors with 11,500 of those complaints being formally investigated resulting in 105 contractors referred to local prosecutors and 195 licenses being suspended

Hiring a contractor is a daunting task to even the savviest of homeowners. The California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA) urges homeowners to use prudence and hire the best, most reliable contractor you can find. Carefully check the contractor’s credentials and insurance and verify his/her track record with other customers.

Once you have selected a contractor there’s another safeguard you can employ to avoid an unpleasant ending. You can hire an independent, code certified, CREIA New Construction Specialist (CNCS) to periodically inspect the work as it progresses. Although this may appear redundant, since municipal inspectors inspect the work for code compliance along the way, municipal inspectors have many inspections each day and cannot devote the time to do a thorough inspection; significant defects are often not discovered. Additionally, it is uncommon for a municipal inspector to go under a building or in an attic.

Established in 1976, CREIA is the largest and oldest state inspection association in the country. CREIA inspectors must adhere to CREIA’s Code of Ethics and follow the Standards of Practice developed and maintained by the Association. Recognized by the State of California, these Standards of Practice are considered the source for Home Inspector Standard of Care by the real estate and legal communities.

CREIA is dedicated to consumer protection and education. To locate a qualified CREIA inspector near you click here or call CREIA at (800) 388-8443.

For Better and For Worse:

A woman’s guide to financial security before, during and after divorce

For many women, the financial ramifications of a divorce can be devastating. Women are much more likely to interrupt their careers to raise families, to neglect insurance and retirement planning, and in many cases, to have no plan at all when faced with a divorce.  According to Prudential’s 2006 study on Financial Experience and Behaviors Among Women, 62% of women gave themselves a grade of “C” or lower when it came to their knowledge of financial products and services. And only one in five women feel very well prepared to make wise financial decisions.  These days, nearly 43 percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 15 years.*   It may seem pessimistic to plan your finances around this possibility, but to ignore it could have dire consequences. To get started, take a personal financial inventory:

·          What if any assets are in your name only?

·          Whose name is your house in? Would you be at risk of losing your home if your marriage ends?

·          Do you and your husband both have a will? If so, who are the beneficiaries? (If this is a second marriage, make sure your will has been updated.)

·          Update or create your will to make sure your assets are protected from probate court.

·          Make sure you know how to access vital documents like the title deed to your home and insurance documents. Many women still leave records’ management to their husbands and are woefully in the dark when they find themselves on their own.

·          Review your insurance coverage, including your life and disability needs. Be sure to ask your financial advisor how long-term care insurance fits into your plan.

·          Max out your 401K. There’s nothing like having savings set aside in your own name to boost your financial security and peace of mind. 

·          Start educating yourself about products created to help secure your retirement income, like an annuity with an optional benefit, which can guarantee a lifetime stream of income. (The guaranteed income is based on the claims paying ability of the issuing company.)

·          Meet with a financial advisor who understands divorce laws in your state and review your situation. Make suggested changes now – just in case.

For better or worse, married women need to take financial matters into their own hands so they are prepared if they become suddenly single due to divorce.  Should the day arrive when you are required to make it on your own financially, will you be prepared?  With these simple steps, you can be.

*According to a 2005 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Prudential Financial, its affiliates, and their licensed financial professionals do not render tax or legal advice. Please consult with your tax and legal advisors regarding your personal circumstances.

Stacey A. Gordon, MBA & Amanda C. Satyadi, – CA Life Insurance #s 0F94638 & 0F30979 are Financial Services Associates with The Prudential Insurance Company of America’s Greater Los Angeles agency located in El Segundo, California.  Both Stacey and Amanda can be reached at (310) 414-4111 with the following email addresses: Stacey.Gordon@prudential.com / Amanda.Satyadi@prudential.com.

Women and Investing: Finding the Extra $$$ to Save

Many American women spend less time in the full-time workforce, as they juggle family and work responsibilities Multiple demands on their time and money mean they may have fewer opportunities to accumulate pensions and retirement savings. And despite some progress, women generally still earn less than men in comparable positions. They also live longer than men. This is not a good combination for creating financial security in retirement. Overcoming these odds takes an attitude shift that makes saving for the future a priority, a plan of attack with defined goals, and the discipline to stick with it.

Refocus Your Priorities

Samuel Johnson once said, “ Resolve not to be poor, whatever you have, spend less.” Two good thoughts there: first, make a conscious decision to break the spending habit and change your mindset into a saving state. Secondly, find creative ways to save additional money that you can then invest for retirement. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Pay off outstanding credit card debt as soon as possible. Get out from under the burden of high interest rates and finance charges. Resolve to pay cash whenever possible.

Have your paycheck deposited directly into your bank account and set up automatic monthly deductions for investment accounts if you can. Although automatic deductions make it easy to stay on track, please remember that they do not assure a profit or protect against a loss in declining markets.

Shop around – for a car, a mortgage, shoes for the kids. Don’t pay more than you have to. Negotiate on everything – you may be surprised to find you can pay less for things, just by asking for a deal. Re-use, recycle, repair whenever possible.

Borrow instead of buy. Your public library is a great source for free books, magazines, music and movies.

Re-examine your monthly accounts for phone bills, television, Internet access, cell phones, and more. Are there cheaper alternatives? Investigate using a package of services from just one provider with a single, consolidated smaller bill.

Simplify your life. Sell unused furniture, cars, clothes, jewelry, books, toys and household items. Yard sales and online auction sites have taught us that there is a buyer for virtually anything.

Invest, rather than spend, any windfalls you may get, from lottery or gambling winnings, bonuses, gifts, income tax refunds, inheritances, or yard sale profits.

Consider raising the deductibles on your insurance coverages. Your premiums will be less, and you can invest the difference.

Discipline Makes the Difference

Start small – don’t try to accomplish everything all at once. Educate yourself about saving, investing – and financial strategies. See a financial professional to help get started right, and then stick to your strategy and revise it as your situation changes. There is a wealth of resources available online, in the library, and in the phone book.

Stacey A. Gordon, MBA & Amanda C. Satyadi, – CA Life Insurance #s 0F94638 & 0F30979 are Financial Services Associates with The Prudential Insurance Company of America’s Greater Los Angeles agency located in El Segundo, California.  Both Stacey and Amanda can be reached at (310) 414-4111 with the following email addresses: Stacey.Gordon@prudential.com / Amanda.Satyadi@prudential.com.

Next Page »