Archive for January, 2008
Succulent Firebreak, Great Retardant.
January 30th, 2008 Categories: Home Fixin's, Findings and Planting
Plants that are not only beautiful but helpful in areas exposed to fires are Aloe Arborescens.
The leaves and stems of these plants are filled with moisture, so they are slow to catch fire. Never tinder dry and always lush, they don’t explode into torches like drier vegetation, and they don’t spread flames easily.
Even when these plants looked “cooked”, gel-filled aloes may survive, depending on how intense the fire.
These succulents can be a great accent as a border plant around the home. Just something to consider in the yard the next time you are doing some plantinb.
Article source: Sunset Magazine; “Right Plant, Right Now”.
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What Is A Problem To One Is An Opportunity For Another
January 28th, 2008 Categories: "Say What? Just Some Real Estate Talk
In some areas of the United States real estate has been in the tank.
This has not gone unnoticed by investors in foreign countries especially since the dollar is down against most currencies.
Investing in the United States has been a safe investment but it just got better. True what has distinguished the United States from other States is our stability and security. Other countries that investors feel are stable and safe include Germany and England.
But with the weak dollar real estate looks extremely good for the bargain hunters.
Foreign investors appear to be favoring retail, hotel, industrial, multi-family (apartments) and office properties.
The areas that have seen strong foriegn investments are the cities of New York, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. Las Vegas is another area that is starting to look good to these bargain hunters.
It also appears that countries offering the best opportunity for appreciation aside from the United States are China, India, Russia and Mexico.
Article Source: Foreign investors love U.S. real estate by Prashant Gopal
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Sweat A Lot; Save On Energy Cost
January 28th, 2008 Categories: Home Fixin's, Findings and Planting
Infrared Saunas. An item that some people feel they need in their home is an infrared sauna. These saunas are advertised as a way to detoxify and rid one’s body of toxins and uranium that are injested from fish, pesticides and polyvinyl chlorides (new car smell).
However great the ads say these saunas are, they do only one thing for the human body…….makes it sweat and there is limited if any detoxing involved. The organs that help the body to detoxify itself is the liver and kidney says Dr. Dee Anna Glaser, Dermatology Professor at St. Louis University.
Dr. Donald Smith of UC Santa Cruz, who studies treatments for metal poisoning, states that sweating does limited if anything to rid the body of mercury or other metals.
So if you plan to spend thousands of dollars on a sauna to detox it will not happened. You will simply sweat.
Source Information: Article “You sweat, but toxins likely stay” by Chris Woolston
New Solar Panels. Home owners are looking for ways to reduce high energy prices to heat or cool their home.
Being marketed is a thin film technology which is mounted on glass windows and other type surfaces to absorb the sun’s rays is an experimental method being looked at as a substitute for silicon which is in very short supply.
Thin film appears to be less costly to manufacture, more durable, less unsightly than the bulky solar panels and cost less to install. However it hasn’t generated the same kind of power as silicon.
And in both cases, when the sun doesn’t shine neither produces significant if any energy. There also some questions now being asked as to how much a home owner saves with energy panels. So the industry is still young and growing and the savings to cost is just starting to be debated.
An unrelated item that will save a homeowner money on energy cost is a tankless water heater. Expensive to install but it will save money on utilities. It could be money well spent.
Source Information: Article “New approach may power future of solar” by Richard Dobson
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We Have Snow In Ventura County
January 26th, 2008 Categories: In Case You Missed It---
Our Winter Rains Left Us With Snow. View of Topa Topa Mountain.
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Mortgage Payment Is More Important Than Price…..Say What?
January 22nd, 2008 Categories: Buyer and Seller Knowledge Center
You have your home listed along with hundreds of others. What will it take to get a buyer? Reduce the list price? NO! Reduce the buyers monthly payments. But…….
A strategy to consider……help the buyer save money and you will sell your home. But…..
Be smart up front and plan a strategy when you list your home of offering the buyer a reduction in interest rates (buy down) instead of a reduction in your asking price.
What occurs with most offers to purchase from a buyer is a price approximately 5 to 10% (or more) less of your asking price. The initial reaction of sellers is to disregard the offer.
Rethink that strategy. Show the buyer that with you buying down his/her interest rate they save money. How can this occur?
Work with your realtor, banker or mortgage broker and put together a schedule showing the potential buyers the savings they achieve. What will they achieve?
First they will see that with the sellers (your) offer of a buy down of interest they will realize the need for less income to qualify for a loan. Using only numbers would the buyer be impressed by the fact that his/her annual income doesn’t have to be $ 100,000 but could be closer to $ 75,000 to qualify for a loan. You bet! Does it help you? You bet! A very critical point of contract negotiating strategy.
With a buy down strategy the second item that a buyer achieves is a reduction in monthly mortgage payments. Will this be important to the buyer? You bet! Depending on the loan amount buyers can realize $ 100 to $ 500 (or more) less in monthly mortgage payments. Will this impress your buyer? You bet!
And then they can be shown the overall savings in interest that they will achieve over time because of your recommended buy down of interest rate.
What do you get? You sell your home, at the price you want and have a happy buyer.
But you say “it costing me money.” Yes but its money that you would be giving up when you reduce your asking price (remember that 5% to 10% counter offer). You simply have channeled the funds to help you keep a buyer and today “a buyer” is worth more than gold.
Basic information source: Michael Dorr, Mortgage Planner “Should you reduce sales price or reduce buyer’s interest rate.”
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Home Energy Audits
January 19th, 2008 Categories: Home Fixin's, Findings and Planting
With rising utility cost to heat or cool a home many home owners are looking for ways to reduce these type of cost.
A fast growing field is home energy auditing. Not a new field but new in the area of residential homes. And in most cases unregulated.
With high tech tools (such as infrared cameras) an inspector will come to your home and inspect and suggest the fixing of various energy hogs throughout one’s home.
Some States offer its residence upward to $ 1,000 if they make improvements to lower energy cost. In fact recently the State of Massachusetts Senate passed a bill requiring that home sellers provide prospective buyers with an audit scoring of the home’s efficiency.
But today most people simply want to know whether it is worthwhile to find the various leaks, look at appliance efficiency, and have healthy air in the home.
Some problems can be resolved without an inspection. If your home has a furnace that is 30 to 75 years old you recognize there could be a problem. The furnace efficiency is kaput and a newer one would be more efficient. However the cost of replacing the heater or furnace may be an insurmountable task and the payback may not yield the return on replacement.
If it is decided to get an energy audit, expect to pay between $ 300 to $ 700 or more. Therefore one’s energy consumption needs to have jumped significantly over a short period of time or was extremely high from the start of occupying the home to justify the cost of finding out what has to be done to to decrease cost overall.
Upon completion of an energy audit one will receive a 15-50 page report of problems that exist inside and outside of the home. It will include recommended fixes, such as replacing the heater/air conditioner/appliances, as an example and will give a ball park figure of what it will cost to make the fixes.
True some things can be done by the homeowner. But when windows need to be replaced, or a seperation between ceiling and walls needs fixing, or exterior electrical outlets need to be replaced then one needs a professional to do these things and the home owner is looking at some significant cost.
Is the home energy audit worth the price?
Yes. It would be good to know where the problems are and certainly one could, if they wish, create a plan of attack to resolve the most critical. So some action to reduce energy cost may result in some good saving for the home owner which may warrant the expenditure.
But one has to be careful to make sure that the problem being resolved is the real problem. If one puts insulation in the attic and it is the roof that needs to be replaced, the savings, if any, will be extremely small.
It is a case by case situation and the bottom line is money and the pay back for implementing the required changes.
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Santa Paula Theatre
January 18th, 2008 Categories: Its' Show Time
SPTC SEASON 2008
125 South 7th Street Santa Paula, CA 93060
Wendy Wasserstein’s ISN’T IT ROMANTIC?
Directed by Andrea Tate
Janie and Harriet, two former college classmates who differ in both personality and appearance, struggle to cement their individual identities in the face of two sets of overbearing parents, while also attempting to maintain their friendship.
February 15 – March 23, 2008
VISITING MR. GREEN by Jeff Baron
Directed by Jerry Castillo featuring Don Pearlman
One of the most widely performed plays around the world, Visiting Mr. Green is a poignant, at times hilarious, and heartwarming portrayal of the collision of two men — one a devout Jewish widower, the other a young hot-shot American Express executive — each of whom
April 18 – May 25, 2008
THE PHILADELPHIA STORY by Philip Barry
Directed by Fred Helsel
Rich, haughty and spoilt, Tracey Lord is about to get married for the second time. But she’s reckoned without her former husband, and the reporter sent to cover her wedding. The presence of both men at her pre-nuptial party, the collision of the volatile emotions of the trio, combined with a drunken midnight swim, provokes Tracy into learning some painful lessons, and taking an uncharacteristic look into her heart. Glamorous and sophisticated, Philip Barry’s The Philadelphia Story is a compelling mix of wit, satire and romance, with a freewheeling heroine who delights, exasperates and moves us in equal measure. It was performed on Broadway in 1939, and became one of the great movies of the golden age starring Katherine Hepburn & Cary Grant.
June 27 – August 3, 2008
Conor McPherson’s SHINING CITY *
Directed by David Ralphe
Set in Dublin, Shining City tells the story of a man who comes to a counselor seeking help. He claims to have seen the ghost of his recently deceased wife. But what begins as an unusual encounter becomes a desperate struggle between the living and the dead–a struggle which will shape and define both men for the rest of their lives.
September 5 – October 12, 2008
* Pending Rights Availability
CHRISTMAS BELLES by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope, and Jamie Wooten
A church Christmas program spins hilariously out of control in this Southern farce about squabbling sisters, family secrets, a surly Santa, a vengeful sheep and a reluctant Elvis impersonator.
November 21 – December 21, 2008
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Buffett Screwed Up….And Became A Millionaire
January 18th, 2008 Categories: "Say What? Just Some Real Estate Talk
It is interesting how people look at millionaires. Many think that all were born with a silver spoon in their mouth or were very lucky or, or, or.
What they don’t know about are the mistakes they made in achieving their accomplishments.
Also of interest is the fact that millionaires don’t think of themselves as millionaires. But one facet shows that a number of millionaires became millionaires because they went against the norm.
For example, Warren Buffett began as a paperboy for the Washington Post. His first entrepreneurial endeavor was as an odds book publisher (can I say bookie??) for gamblers at race tracks.
He next moved into pinball machines where he started the Wilson Coin-Operated Machine Company.
His investing mentor was Benjamin Graham whom Buffett study under. But Buffetts’ first large venture was the purchase of a controlling stake in a textile mill in Massachusetts. The mill was Berkshire Hathaway which eventually went bankrupt.
Warren Buffett took the time to learn, take reasonable risks and had that sense of mind to know what was good for him and not act on the basis of what the guru’s were advising.
Today many people hold themselves captive to the constant sell of doom and gloom. If we don’t have a problem just wait and the news, TV or political guru’s will make one.
Today we are working through a scare fest in real estate. That and global warming are the current arena’s of fear.
Today should be a day when one looks around and does what investors of all kinds do…..ask where they can make some money.
As a real estate broker I come in contact with people who will verbalize all of the language that they have either read or heard about how the real estate market will be in the tank for years. They will not move until it is written and they read that they can move. When they do it is too late.
To succeed one has to take the time to study, make mistakes and have the common sense of knowing what is good for themselves. Just maybe with their own common sense, patience and strength, they will become millionaires without knowing they are millionaires.
For those awaiting the written word, go, take the time to rummage around in the real estate arena, look for deals that make sense to you and be prepare to make some money. Tomorrow you will be glad you did.
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Major Cities Real Estate % Appreciation Trends.
January 12th, 2008 Categories: National and Local Real Estate Appreciation Forecast
This listing has been developed with real estate investors in mind. Others may use it but the focus is on investments.
Listed are some major cities in various parts of the United States and the expected % appreciation of these areas over the next 36 months.
Dollar for dollar it appears that the best investment areas will be the South (Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Mississippi, New Orleans, to name a few states). It is in the South where on can still purchase good investment properties for approximately $ 125,000 to $ 175,000 with a chance at some positive cash flow.
California appears to have reached the bottom of the real estate cycle with most areas now showing good appreciation over the next 36 months. However it will be a daunting task to achieve a positive cash flow in California. One has to be extremely alert as to the location and other factors such as employment, area growth and the like.
Trend information was developed from edsforecast real estate model. This table will be updated quarterly.
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Killer Debt Is Like Quick Sand.
January 4th, 2008 Categories: Buyer and Seller Knowledge Center
With the media attention on foreclosures and credit card debt there are a number of businesses advertising to contact them so they can help people get rid of their debt.
Maybe they can, but most likely they cannot.
But individuals can help themselves to get out of debt at zero cost. All that is needed is the will to get out or reduce debt, a change in attitude and minimize the use of credit.
First to eliminate debt a person has to develop a mind-set of wanting to eliminate their debt. The second thing the person has to do is to write a plan to eliminate all or as much of the debt as possible.
Assuming the mind set is in place, the plan becomes easy.
- List all debt by lender, total amount owed, the interest rate, and monthly payments. (Note example below).
- The next step, list all family expenses and determine which expense can be eliminated or decreased.
A simple task of decreasing an expenditure is to buy a cup of coffee that cost $ 2 instead of $ 5 per day. The individual hasn’t given up coffee, it simply meant finding a place that sells coffee for $ 2 per or less.
Our debt example by vendor/amount owed/interest rate/monthly payment:
Credit card #1 $ 5,000 9% $ 50
Credit card #2 $ 10,000 14.5% $ 100
Credit card #3 $ 2,500 18% $ 50
Mortgage $ 250,000 6.5% $ 1,850 (principle and interest)
Auto Payment $ 25,000 8.5 % $ 375
The Method.
Eliminate the smallest debt amount first (in this case it would be credit card #3).
Add the coffee savings of $ 3 per day or $ 60 per month (5 days per week times $ 3 times 4 weeks) to the payment for credit card #3. Total amount that would be paid per month totals $ 110. Add a note telling the lender that the added payment ($ 60) is to be used to decrease the principal.
If you do not add a note with the payment the money received will be treated as a regular payment with interest being deducted first and whatever is left over going to the principal.
It is critical that you tell them (the credit card company) what it is you are doing. Then each month check to see that it was done as you instructed. If it wasn’t find out why and get the lender to correct the transaction.
Keep paying the minimum monthly amounts on the other cards and debt payment items.
The focus is to pay off on the smallest total amount. Do not worry about the higher interest rates or lowest interest rates just the amount that is due.
The reason to attack the lowest amount is to realize a quicker pay off and see a quick result and accomplishment.
When that debt is paid off reward yourself with a little something…..a movie?
Once credit card # 3 is paid, look at the next lowest amount and in this case it will be credit card #1.
Add to credit card #1’s monthly payment the $ 110 you used to pay off credit card #3. The total payment for credit card #1 now becomes $ 160 per month. As before add a note to the credit card company that the increase payment (in this case the $ 110) is to be directed to the principal.
The same step would be taken to offset the next lowest amount, which is credit card #2. The total payment would be $ 260 per month with (again with note showing that $ 160 going towards the principal).
The next in line would be the automobile and lastly one can attack the home mortgage the same way.
Whatever credit card debt that you create in month while this plan is in place has to be paid off monthly. Otherwise it will not work.
As the credit cards are zeroed out do not close them. Use them knowing that the any monthly use will be paid off each month. And it will help your credit score.
So to get out of debt requires a mind set and secondly, action. When finish you will be surprise as to how much cash you have each month. Why? You are not paying the interest.
How much did it cost you? Nothing. You helped yourself and can take the steps necessary not to get back into debt.
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