Category Archives: Inspiration

Communication, education, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Short sale, Team work, tips

FHFA Streamlined Modification Initiative

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FHFA announced just recently the new Streamlined Modification Initiative for Borrowers and Servicers to benefit from a more simplified program to the borrower and servicer.

The New Streamlined Modification Initiative Borrowers is an additional option for borrowers who are in trouble with their mortgage in addition to the modifications options their servicerā€™s offers to them.

This FHFA program is offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and runs from July the 1st 2013 and expired on August 1, 2015 and is a program that is available to homeowners whose loan is guaranteed by either Fannie Mea or Freddie Mac. Their mortgage must be a first-lien mortgage with either Fannie Mea or Freddie Mac and needs to be at least 12 months old with a loan-to-value ratio equal to or greater than 80 percent.

Borrowers who are between 90 days to 24 months delinquent starting July 1st will receive a Streamlined Modification Solicitation Offer from their servicer and when the borrower agrees to the terms of the offer they do not have to Streamlined Modification Solicitation Offer but will need to make trial period payments on time.

Borrower should still work with their servicer to possible pursue the full range of modification options available to them like the HAMP program ever prior to being later more than 90 days.

Inspiration, Team work, tips

Urban farming a popular trend

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You have seen it on the popular DIY channels on TV, in Homes magazines and during local fairs and exhibits. Urban farming is here to stay.

Some individuals even started to make a career out of their urban farm and have been very successful doing it.

When you plan on starting an Urban Farm you need to do your homework before you even start. Not only to research what grows in your area but also the legality of what you can or cannot do in the area you live in.

For instance when your garden is within a homeowner association you might have limitations on how large your storage shed can be, maybe your fence can only be a certain height or you cannot build the chicken coop your daughter would like to have for 4-H.

Some of you might live outside the city limit but maybe you are within the jurisdiction and limitations of a city even so you are outside the city limits.

Before you start turning the soil, do your homework first.

Find out form the local Planning and zoning board what if any limitations are attached to your land and property due to zooming ordinances. Some limitations could be the height of a fence, size and location of a storage barn, or limitations on small farm animals. When you are in within a homeowner associations read through your associations rules and regulations. You might not be able to have a small composter or your storage shed needs to be the size of a postage stamp with a lot less storage you need.

When there are too many limitation for you to have your own backyard farm you might put your farm into containers and scale it down or rent a small plot in the community garden many cities now has for their residents.

Communication, education, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work, tips

Not all Cities are great for Small business

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Thanks to the 6 + inch snow outside I have some time to catch up on reading. Last week I found and saved a article written by Laurie Kulikowski called ā€œBest Cities for Small Businessesā€ and found that not every cities is created equally and supports small business owners especially women business owners.

Some of the few Cities mentioned in the article who are supportive of small business owners are San Antonio CA, Des Moines IA, Miami FL, Kansas City KS, and Atlanta GA.

Other cities have been very slow in reacting to the changing business field and have mainly been focusing to attract large employers and businesses to their market. Many cities are not willing to invest into their future by investing and updating their infrastructure to attacked small businesses into their town. For any small business to move into the areas they need the support.

Support from the local government is needed by providing the basic infrastructure for the business to attract qualified personal during work and play, with a well-connected transit system, over all great connectivity, parks and family friendly recreation areas.

Also the support from local already established businesses are needed as well.

Many cities and their businesses have many opportunities who are more male oriented and very seldom female. The attitude that ā€œshe ā€œis just doing this because ā€œsheā€ is a bored ā€œhousewifeā€ is still alive and well established throughout the country.

The attitudeā€™s is slowly changing and it has taken years to get to this point.

Sure we have National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) , American Business Women’s Association and the SBA (Small Business Administration) who is focused on women. Have you noticed that most of them have groups and meetings only in the larger cities of each state? You donā€™t hear much about them and you have to know they exist. Some cities offer networking evens for women but you have to be in the know or know someone who is in the know to find out about any meeting that is geared to women business owners or women who are interested in opening up their own business.

Meghan Casserly, with Forbes pointed out in her article called ā€œWhy Women’s Networking Groups Failā€ that when the network is balance of resources, information and good intentions to make a network not just functional, but beneficial to all members you have a good network. When one of the parts is missing you have just a great conversational group that meets for coffee.

Communication, education, Inspiration, planning, tips

Spring break but not for burglars

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Here we have another spring break. Suitcases are packed and the air is full of excitement and anticipation of the trip to the fun and the sun. Burglars are as exited for your to go on spring break only for a totally other reason.

Within the United States, one in every thirty-six homes will be burglarized with an average loss of $1,675 per break-in.

During all of the spring break excitement have you take some precautions to minimize the possible risk of being burglarized?

  • Hold the mail and newspaper
  • Put lights on timers and set timer to different times of the day
  • Leave the TV or radio on for noise
  • Make sure all the doors ,windows and garage doors are locked and secure
  • Have the blinds closed so no one can peek into the windows
  • When you have an alarm system make sure it is armed
  • Have your exterior light on light sensors
  • Ask someone you trust to take out your trash and pull back in your trash can for and after trash day
  • You might consider hiring a house sitter for a while
  • Do you have a written inventory of your household items, including all of the serial numbers of your electronic items? Just in caseā€¦..

Is this a guarantee to 100% prevent a burglary. No ā€¦but we can make sure we have done everything we can on our end to make sure that no one knows you left the home and it is unattended.

commitment, Communication, Inspiration, organizing, planning, Team work

Planning for the next stage

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Just had an interesting article called ā€œWhen I Hire You, Iā€™m Hiring Your Mentorsā€™ Judgmentā€ written by Adam Bryant and he interviewed Ilene Gordon, CEO of Ingredion for this article come over my desk and it hit home.

Standing at the crossroads I can see that I have to tackle what I do with a team and see it as a project and count on that Plan A might fall through and Plan B, C or D needs to be in place and to have someone I could lean on and consult with when the Plans are falling apart.

Needless to say I donā€™t have my team in place and that is the first thing I need to get back into place. A team I can consult with and who knows me better than I do. What I already have is a potential target list of companies I am considering to contact to work with as an independent contractor.

I can see now that I have put the cart in front of the horses. I need to get my horses into place first.

That hard part will beā€¦.who to ask and where to startā€¦.

Looking in my tickle file of articles I have kept over the years I came across and article written by John Warrillow titled ā€œHow to Pick a Mentor: Take a Cue From Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidtā€ that gave me some great tips.

Here comes the challenge to find the individuals who do or have done successfully what I would like to do in the future.

education, Inspiration, planning, Team work

Standing at the crossroads

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This year has been already a roller coaster ride of ups, downs and sideways movements and again I am standing in a fork of a road.

I am actually very excited while looking at the fork in the road that has been presented to me this time. The hardest decision will be what road to take. Any of the roads I will take will be just fine and that is the exiting part.

At this time I actually feel like a kid in the candy store.

Overwhelmed by all of the goodies that are presented to me and having mom in the background urging you to make a decision. This time that mom voice in the back has been silenced and time for a decision has time and will come later.

Anyone who was standing at the fork in the road knows what I mean with the mom voice in the back.

There comes a time where it is ok to listen to and do what the mom voice tells you to do. Sometimes there are times where the voice has to be silenced and you have to reach deep to discover your own voice and passion, compare of doing what you think feels right or everybody expects you to do.

commitment, education, Inspiration, planning, Team work, tips

Think outside the box

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How many times do I hear individuals voicing their concern about not being able to ā€œget anywhereā€ either in their personal or business life?

In this fast pace world we are in it sometimes feels like that we are taking two steps forward and three steps back.

Most of us never take the time to celebrate or see the small successes we had. In some cases some of us just donā€™t see the tree from the forest and maybe overlooking some of the small or large opportunities that are presented to us. Ā There are also some who have been given the ā€œbig opportunityā€ and the mindset has set in that there are set for ā€œlifeā€ and donā€™t have to look outside the box any longer for new opportunities.

Zig Ziglar has a great quote: A lot of people quit looking for work as soon as they find a job.

Now other will tell meā€¦.but the economy is bad, the area we are in strugglesā€¦..let me throw another one of my favorite Zig Ziglar quotes out to you.

I’ve always taught that a poor economy is the best opportunity for salespeople because the naysayers and grumblers have already given up, leaving more territory, more opportunities to be successful than in a good economy when virtually all salespeople are out there, giving it their best.

Now how to we get past the brain freeze and start again thinking outside the box?

Let me throw two more Zig Ziglar quotes at you:

I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t truly be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.

Communication, education, Inspiration, planning

Transition

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Watching a historical moment unfold, for the Catholic Church, today on TV! I was thinking back on the day of his election and placement as head of the Catholic Church 8 years ago and I am amazed on how peaceful any transition has been over the centuries.

My first thought moved to the small word: Transition

We could learn a great string from the transitions in the past. Many of the heads of states or Companies transitions are not as piece full and fluent.

We in our personal and business life have many transitions we face on a regular basis.Ā  Some of the obvious once are birth, graduation, marriage, death, divorce, job change just to name a few obvious once.

How well do we deal with any transition is all up to us, our personal preparation and attitude we bring to the table.Ā  Any transition is emotional no matter how good we prepare and it is ok to have emotions.

My favorite saying is: ā€œWe are humans and not robots.ā€

I ran across a great article from the CharmingHealth.com called the ā€œTransition Phases During Life and emotional imbalanceā€ where I found some great Ideas and tips on how to deal with lifeā€™s transitions we all have to face.

Now you are asking what this would have to do with our business life.

I am thinking a lot.

When we are not prepared ourselves to deal with the lifeā€™s little emotions that might come our way how can we help our contractors we hired or employees we have with their emotional crutches they keep.

buying, commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, planning

Are you ready to hit your personal reset button?

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Within the recent years many of us have taken the road many traveled. Some would call it we failed and others would say we just took a detour to the goals we would like to reach.

Denis Waitley said it best:

ā€œFailure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid only by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.ā€ Ā Denis Waitley (American motivational Speaker and Author of self-help books. b.1933)

I took my personal detour and had decided to hit my personal reset button and take my personal detour. During my scenic travels I have learned a lot what I now can utilize in my daily Real Estate business.

The Real Estate market is starting to return to a new ā€œnormalā€ and is ready for the buyers who have hit their personal reset button a while back and now are ready to buy for their personal investments. This market is best for the investor who is a cash buyer at this time. Who has either has personal experience in rehabbing properties or has the cash flow to hire a contractor to help with the rehab.

Sure, currently the interest rate for a mortgage is low right, but why are you wanting your investment to pay someone else but you? I mentioned this in my blog called ā€œAre your investments paying you or do your pay for them?ā€

There will be always good deals in real estate even later, when you are not at the point to pay cash for any investment you would like to buy today.

Here are some Ideas on how to get you to the point to pay cash for a real estate investment:

  1. Pay off your credit cards, house and toys.
  2. Save for your emergency fund and when you have kids start their college fund if needed
  3. Start saving for your investments plus keep the repairs and upkeep and other expenses like taxes insurance in mind when creating the fund.

Will you have your bills paid and your funds in place over night? No!!! This will take time and a bit of personal sacrifices.

commitment, Communication, education, Inspiration, Team work, tips

You never know what will motivate you.

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Just taking a few minutes to read some of the posts on theĀ  Affiliated Women International (AWI) – The Connection Station and Linda Fitzgeraldā€™s post about ā€œBeware advice giversā€ reminds me of the post I have written about ā€œ I m and expertā€¦ā€

How many time have we ran into the ā€œexpertsā€ in a field or to the handful of individuals who love to give their unsolicited active about something.

Two quotes come in mind.

A quote from Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

Advice is like snow – the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper in sinks into the mind.

And the other one is from Denis Waitley:

Never become so much of an expert that you stop gaining expertise. View life as a continuous learning experience.

How well put by both of them.

What has this now to do with motivation?

Simpleā€¦.. Samuel Taylor Coleridge tells me that when I want to give advice to be very selective on what and how much I am saying and Denis Waitley reminds me never to call myself an ā€œexpertā€ because an ā€œexpertā€ has most likely stopped learning and is ready for the ā€œrocking chairā€.

That alone is motivation enough to never stop moving.