Category Archives: tips

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 servicer’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.

Communication, education, planning, tips

Open invitation for burglars

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Cruising  some of the neighborhoods to look at potential homes who are listed for sale for some of my  buyers and would you not know it ………    one of the neighbors took the trash out today and is now advertising to anyone who drives by that they are the proud owner of a 55 inch Samsung flat panel TV.

How tempting it was to pull into their driveway and knock on the door and make them aware of what they are doing by throwing out their un-collapsed box into the trash for the trash service to pick up on Thursday and today is only Tuesday. It would been better for them to collapse the box , turn it inside out ,make it as small as possible and string it together for the trash service to pick up.

One way to prevent your house to be burglarized is not to throw un-collapsed boxes from recent purchases like TV or other electronic items into the trash. You don’t want to advertise what you have in the house for someone to take.

When it is an item they can quickly turn around and sell very quickly on the open market or their drug dealer down the road they will.

Just a few days ago I had posted another blog called: “Spring break but not for burglars”. Where is gave some ideas on how to make sure that your home is not an open invitation for burglars when you are out for spring break.

Is this a guarantee to 100% prevent a burglary? No …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 during work and play time and to make sure that no one knows what you all have they might be willing to steal while you are out.

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 “Best Cities for Small Businesses” 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 “she “is just doing this because “she” is a bored “housewife” is still alive and well established throughout the country.

The attitude’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 don’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 “Why Women’s Networking Groups Fail” 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 case…..

Is this a guarantee to 100% prevent a burglary. No …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, 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 “get anywhere” 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 don’t see the tree from the forest and maybe overlooking some of the small or large opportunities that are presented to us.  There are also some who have been given the “big opportunity” and the mindset has set in that there are set for “life” and don’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 me….but the economy is bad, the area we are in struggles…..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.

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 the  Affiliated Women International (AWI) – The Connection Station and Linda Fitzgerald’s post about “Beware advice givers” reminds me of the post I have written about “ I m and expert…”

How many time have we ran into the “experts” 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?

Simple….. 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 “expert” because an “expert” has most likely stopped learning and is ready for the “rocking chair”.

That alone is motivation enough to never stop moving.

commitment, Communication, Inspiration, organizing, planning, tips

Too much information

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Have you ever attended meetings, seminars, webinars where the presenter just kept on talking and talking and talking about the same topic but tried to explain it in different ways over and over again?

Just recently I was in such meeting.

A question was asked and it could have been answered with a short, sweet and to the point but the presenter choose to user up to 10 minutes to answer this simple question. I am sure the presenter felt great about being able to fill the room with all the information he knew about the topic but I am sure that most of the room was lost after 2 minutes.

I need to admit I am the last person to give meeting advice but even I was off to another dimension to occupy my time and to wait out the long winded present to move to the next topic.

Lighthouse Consulting had a great article on how to keep a meeting on track called Six Tips for Holding Successful Meetings with Staff Members. I think this could easily be translated into any type of meeting. I also found a great meeting article from the Norwood Business Portal called Tips on Holding Online Meetings.

No matter if you have a face to face meeting or a online webinar you need to keep your audience engaged and interested and some questions just need to be answered in person or with a personal phone call.

Don’t be long winded with any topic or when answering a question.

Andrew Jackson said it best:

Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in. – Andrew Jackson –

Communication, education, Inspiration, Team work, tips

“Do you have workers or believers?”

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Stood out to me as I read an article in the IBJ under the Small Business Matters blog titled Preaching to the choir could be good strategy.

 

Is our internal and external staff truly satisfied? It is not the leadership it is a satisfied staff that will be the crucial part of a business success. No matter how many money rain dances the leadership does when the Indians are not happy noting will be accomplished.

 

Is the business as healthy from the inside as you make it appear on the outside or does it have bald spot under all the hair? Is everybody in the same board rowing into the same direction or do you have some who do not understand the your goal and vision and do you have an internal tug-of war going on.

 

Did you clearly communicate your vision your culture to your organization? Did you include others but the normal decision maker to create your goal and vision or did you just use the “normal” handful to help with the decision making.

 

When we don’t market our vision to our internal and external staffs who can you expect them to sell it for you?

commitment, Communication, education, Team work, tips

I am an EXPERT in ….

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I see this line on so many things from blogs, business cards, emails signatures and I am wondering if the person who added the line truly is an EXPERT.

 

An EXPERT is having, involving, or displaying special skill or knowledge derived from training or experience and EXPERT’S have a prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field.

 

Reading this I wonder how many of the EXPERTS out there have the prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in the field they are claiming to be an EXPERT in.

 

I will use myself as an example.

 

I have been selling real state now for over 15 years including short sales. I am by no means an EXPERT in short sales or real estate. I have experience in selling real estate of any kind, but by no means do I consider myself an EXPERT.

 

Every day I am learning more and more about my field and I still have a lot to learn.

 

I am daily doing research in this area to attempt to understand the relation between cognitive structures and processes of real estate in any form. I have gotten better but still not considering myself as an EXPERT.

 

When I hear anyone call themselves an EXPERT this quote comes in mind:

 

Experts always know everything but the fine points. When I took my citizenship exams, no one there knew how the White House came to be called the White House. “ Hedy Lamarr “