by: Laurie.Manny on March 08, 2008 15:05:19

Are You Safe in Your Own Home?

 

Your home is your safe haven from the world.  At least it is supposed to be.  What if it isn't?  What if anybody could get in at anytime?  Would you still feel safe?  My Dad sent me an email yesterday with a link to a news video about bump keys.  To say that it was enlightening would be a major understatement. 

 

Have you heard about Bump Keys yet?  Apparently they can be purchased online for about $2.00 each and can be used to open almost any lock in seconds. I urge your to watch this video. You may want to upgrade the locks on your Long Beach Homes after watching it.

 

 

How does this work? Check out this short video as well.

Read more »

digg me Reddit newsvine del.icio.us Technorati
More Information

Meta Data





by: Brian.Brady on July 28, 2007 17:33:31

Adjustable rate mortgages, ARMs for short, are the most misunderstood, misused, and maligned financial instrument.  The have been abused by consumers, Realtors and loan originators alike these past 3-4 years and are now the subject of national scourge.  Much like our Second Constitutional Amendment critics, the ARM critics are usually misinformed and preying upon the fear of catastrophe. 

These inexperienced mortgage sales people or "loan hacks" as I like to call them, are banking upon your fear of catastrophe.  Loan hacks sold you ARMs in 2003 and negative amortization ARMs in 2005.  After they ride the fixed rate mortgage trend, they'll move on to reverse mortgages. They lack original thought and critical analysis.  They'll sell you any loan that is on the front page of USA Today.

ARMs don't cause foreclosures, loan hacks cause foreclosures.

READ:   I am an American ARMs dealer.

Fixed rate mortgages, for the lion's share of the population, are an inappropriate recommendation.  Mortgage advertisers, unschooled in financial planning , are aggressively advertising fixed rate mortgages as a cure to the rising ARM rates.   They're encouraging you to sell low and buy high.

SAY WHAT?   DID THEY FORGET THAT RATES GO DOWN, TOO?

You should lock in a fixed rate mortgage at the low end of an interest rate cycle, not the high end of it.  It is easier to sell fear than to properly counsel you so these loan hacks will try to baffle you with slick sounding "Myths". 

 

Three Myths Fixed Rate Loan Hacks Love to "Quote":

READ ON

digg me Reddit newsvine del.icio.us Technorati
More Information

Meta Data





by: Brian.Brady on July 05, 2007 09:04:53

brian_suspenders_edited.jpgHard money is not stupid money. Pragmatic underwriting guidelines are followed so as to insure the principle that the private mortgage really is a temporary loan, designed to solve rather than to perpetuate the underlying problem. I attempted to define this niche in one of my first posts on Bloodhound and followed it up with an hour-long conference call with two private mortgage investors.

 

Private mortgage loans are not asset-based lending. There must be a demonstrative ability to repay the loan. If the borrower opts to “state” the income, the trust deed broker has an obligation to the investor (and the borrower) to perform due diligence that would suggest that the borrower has that ability. We sometimes eschew traditional underwriting guidelines to demonstrate that ability to repay. Often, we accept a statement of future earnings from the borrower (useful for entrepreneurs). We will review the assets in a retirement plan as reserves to draw upon should that statement of future earnings not materialize.

 

CONTINUE

digg me Reddit newsvine del.icio.us Technorati
More Information

Meta Data





by: Brian.Brady on July 03, 2007 21:07:16

brian_suspenders_edited.jpg           Wealth Planning ?  From a Mortgage Salesman? 

 

Actually, the answer is yes.  Some mortgage "salespeople" actually practice their profession differently than the rest of the industry; I'm one of them.  If you think about it, we're the first encounter most people ever have with a financial planning professional.  My aim has always been to start people off correctly.

 

Let me tell you how I arrived at this destination: 

I graduated the Villanova School of Business with a degree in Business Administration .  After graduation,  I started the Merrill Lynch Financial Adviser Training program and spent six years working as a securities broker in Philadelphia.  I handled over $20 million in assets under management.  That was back when $20 million was a lot of money.  Alas, I moved to Arizona as a young man, took a look around, and realized that real estate was where the future of Arizona's wealth was going to be.

 

I had no desire to show homes to people nor did I have an interest in commercial real estate.  I did, however, have a strong interest in helping people from a financial advisory perspective.  The mortgage business seemed like a likely place to best use my talents.

 

READ ON

digg me Reddit newsvine del.icio.us Technorati
More Information

Meta Data





by: Lenore.Wilkas on June 08, 2007 03:08:32

 No_picture_picture.jpg

Okay, I know I am prejudiced about this but I become furious when I search for properties online and there are no pictures uploaded by the listing agent.  If it bugs me does it bug you?  Do you even want to go see a property in person if you can't inspect in online first?  

I personally think agents are just lazy when they don't put pictures up with a listing.  Today, digital cameras are downright cheap to buy, easy to use and a snap to upload pictures to the web.  Our local MLS has made it really simple to do, too. So why don't agents do it?  Are they from the Old School, where they expect someone else to come out and take the picture for them? (Yes, this was a good business for someone until quite recently, in fact.)

If you are searching online for a home, how important is it for you to see pictures? 

  1.     Mandatory - wouldn't consider it without first seeing it online.
  2.     Important - might consider it if the area and price are right.
  3.     Who Cares - it doesn't matter because I need to see it anyway before deciding if I like it.

I think most people fall into the first category but occasionally I do find someone in the second category.  On the other hand, if I am working with a Senior buyer, the third category isno_photo.JPG where they often land because many of them do not use computers in their daily lives so when I take them to show prospective homes that is the first time they will have seen it.

So dear reader, where do you fall in the need to see a picture online?  Mandatory?   Important?   Or,  Who Cares?  Fill in a comment and let me know what you think.  Is a picture worth a thousand words?  And, yes these two empty pictures do come from listings.  One is off of Infolink's reil.com and the other from realtor.com.   There is no need to say which listings these are from because you, too, can find your own set of  empty houses just for your own curiousity.  They're out there everywhere. 

digg me Reddit newsvine del.icio.us Technorati
More Information

Meta Data





by: Lenore.Wilkas on June 05, 2007 18:51:24

Telephone.JPGI received a call today from Amber Farina, Coordinator of Community Services for the San Mateo/Foster City School District, correcting some information I had been given by another person at the district office and that I wrote about yesterday. Foster city Schools do have room for Foster City children, there just might not be room at their neighborhood school. Currently there are two schools in the district with impacted Kindergartens - Baywood School in San Mateo and Foster City Elementary in Foster City. Children unable to attend these schools will be able to do so in first grade unless an opening happens during the school year, and then they will be transferred to their school.  Baywood School will have a portable class room set up to allow for another Kindergarten class.  
The district is trying to keep all children at their neighborhood school whether they live in San Mateo or Foster City.  These children have priority in attending their local school. Only then can transfers from other schools within the district come in and on a space available basis. All four of the middle schools are technically impacted and that's why we are seeing portable class rooms popping up all over the district.

There is early discussion about developing a committee to study the enrollment issues within the district.  If this takes place, the Board of Trustees will announce it. Right now, our San Mateo/Foster City School District has an abundance of children and that's good.  What's not good is there is no room for many of them to immediately attend their neighborhood school, but the district is working  hard on accommodating everyone.  

Generally within the first three days of class in the fall, the schools have a pretty firm handle on what their enrollment will be for the term.  At that time they can move the children back to their neighborhood schools if there is room.  What you as a parent must do is be patient. The reason it takes a couple of days is many of the parents who enrolled their children in the Spring decided to place them into private schools, or might have moved, so the first week of class is really a shake down period for the school.  Got it?  Good.  

Thank you Amber for your corrections. Keep your eye on the website for the district to know what's changing and when.  Or better yet, attend a Board of Trustee meeting.

digg me Reddit newsvine del.icio.us Technorati
More Information

Meta Data





by: Lenore.Wilkas on June 04, 2007 18:21:23
 j0382578.jpgThe San Mateo/Foster City School District has some important information for you to know about and it's likely you may not know it unless you have already been affected by it.  When your Realtor writes up an offer to buy  a house in our area there is a single page document that says the local school near this house may not be available for your child to attend.  Reason:  impacted class rooms.  Since the San Mateo/Foster City School District started class size reductions to no more than 20 children in a K-3 class was started several years ago, a couple of schools have consistently been impacted at the kindergarten level.  The one everyone knows about is Baywood School in San Mateo because there is a sleepover that takes place every February when local parents begin lining up in front of the school by Noon the day prior to Kindergarten registration takeing place.  It's become somewhat of a party atmosphere as chairs, tents, TVs, wine and beer pop up as the evening grows dark. The parents of those already enrolled even come by with food and it is now a regular press event.

What everyone does not know about is that all four of Foster City's schools are now also impacted.  That mean the three elementary schools (Foster City Elementary, Audubon and Brewer Island) as well as Bowditch Middle School do not have space for any new children to enroll for Fall 2007.  This is critical information to know since the Foster City Schools are always testing high along with Baywood School.  Thus the four highest ranking elementary schools in the San Mateo/Foster City School District are impacted. 

What can you do if you already live in one of those school areas?  Register your child.  The SM/FC School District tells me today, that if your child is denyed admission to your local school because it is impacted they will guarantee admission the following year.  But this may not be something they can continue to guarantee as more than half of the schools in the entire district are now nearing capacity. 

If you are concerned about this, it is important that you let the School District and the School Board know about this.  Write them.  Call them. Attend Board Meeting.  It may be the only way you can guarantee that your local school is the school your child will attend in the future.
 
 
digg me Reddit newsvine del.icio.us Technorati
More Information

Meta Data