foreclosure report

You've undoubtedly seen all of them or read them. Glossy ads or four-color propagates in magazines and newspapers promising to teach you every one of the juicy information regarding successful real estate investing. And all you have to do to learn each one of these real est investing surface encounters chuck russo secrets is to pay a rather high sum for a one-or two-day seminar.




Often these slick real-estate investing workshops claim you could make smart, profitable real-estate investments with absolutely no money lower (with the exception of, of course, the significant fee you purchase the class). Now, how interesting is that? Make a benefit from real property investments you created using no cash. Possible? Not likely.




Successful owning a home requires cashflow. That's the nature of any type of business or even investment, especially property investing. You put your money into something that you hope and plan is likely to make you additional money.




Unfortunately too little newbies for the world of real estate investing believe it's the magical type of business in which standard business rules don't apply. Simply put, if you need to stay in property investing for more than, say, a day time or two, then you're going to have to come up with money to utilize and commit.




While it could be true in which buying real-estate with simply no money down is easy, anyone that is even made a basic owning a home (like buying their very own home) knows there's a lot more involved in real estate investing that can cost you money. For illustration, what about any essential repairs?




So, the number one rule people new to real property investing ought to remember is always to have obtainable cash supplies. Before you determine to actually perform any real estate investing, save some funds. Having a little money inside the bank when you begin real est investing surface encounters chuck russo can help you make more profitable real estate investments in rental properties, for example.




When real-estate investing inside rental qualities, you'll want to be able to select simply qualified tenants. If you've no income when real-estate investing within rental attributes, you could be pressured to take a much less qualified tenant since you need somebody to pay for you money to enable you to take care of maintenance or lawyer fees.




For any kind of real estate investing, meaning rental properties or even properties you get to sell, having money reserved can allow you to ask for any higher price. You can request a higher price from the owning a home because an individual surface encounters chuck russo won't feel financially strapped as you wait for an offer. You won't be backed into a corner and forced to accept just any offer because you desperately need the money.




Another downfall of numerous new to real estate investing will be, well, greed. Make the profit, yes, but will not become so greedy that you ask for ridiculous leasing or resale rates on all of your real est investments.




Those new to real est investing have to see real estate investing as a business, NOT a spare time activity. Don't think that real est investing is going to make you wealthy overnight. What enterprise does?




It will take about six months to figure out if real-estate investing in for you. If you've decided which, hey I love this, then give yourself a couple of years to actually start earning profits. It often takes at minimum five years to become truly successful in property investing.




Persistence could be the key to success in real-estate investing. If you've decided that real estate investing is for you, surface encounters chuck russo keep plugging away at it and the rewards will be greater than you imagined.












(h/t Heather at VideoCafe)

It is a truism rarely acknowledged in this country: the single most important infrastructure investment we can make for the future is in education. I'm not talking about retrofitting the buildings or constructing more classrooms. No, we provide for the future by educating our young people, preparing them to become productive members of society. Study after study shows that the higher one's education level is, the higher the median income and the less likely one is to suffer unemployment.

But we're not doing that. No, in these austerity times, politicians clamor to cut services and jobs. Teachers are demonized. Vouchers are touted as the answer, when it's simply a way to privatize profits away from public schools. Hell, some GOP would be happy if we eliminate the Department of Education altogether.

A rare and welcome progressive appearance on the Sunday shows, Rep. Maxine Waters bemoans the disconnect between what politicians say we need to focus on and what they're really doing about it:

To tell you the truth, the plight of education in this country is shameful. Just a few days ago I learned that more cities, more states are reducing the number of education days down to four instead of five. And I could not help but stop and think, "Is this America? Is this the country that said and continues to say that education is a top priority?" Why are we not investing more in education? Why do we have dropouts? Why do we have educational systems that are failing? Why is it that we have a situation where many of our young people will not be able to compete in this high technological society because they're not properly educated? And so, no, we do pay lip service to education. We don't really invest in it, and that's got to change. But let me just say this, Americans want to work. This joblessness is not only hitting the middle class, but it is hitting all classes. It is absolutely unconscionable what is happening in the minority communities. When we look at this no jobs haven't been created in August and we find in the African-American community it has increased from 16 percent, 15.9, 16 percent, up now 16.7 percent, and now we're going to talk about cutting government by $1.5 trillion, this new 12 committee membership that we have after the raising the debt ceiling debate? And that means that we're going to lose more jobs, that means more people are going to be unemployed. The African-American rate will probably go up to about 20 percent. I don't know how our country can sustain that kind of...

Of course, David Gregory interrupts her at this point, because Lord know, the plight of the African American community doesn't concern him. But then again, he has the gall to say that we only play lip service to the importance of education. You know, the same guy who only pays lip service to journalism and who spent the better part of the last two years telling his viewers that Americans cared about the deficit when poll after poll proved him a lying hack with a corporate agenda.

Warren Buffett just announced that he's making a landmark investment, $5 billion, in Bank of America.

Bank of America was facing a free-falling stock price and a number of criticisms, including that it did not have enough capital, and that its assets were not worth what it claimed.

Now thanks to Buffett, that will certainly change.

When similar investments were made in Citi and in Goldman Sachs, by Prince Alwaleed and Warren Buffett, in 1990 and 2008, respectively, the stocks experienced long term gains. 

And get this - he says he dreamt up the idea to invest in Bank of America in the bathtub on Tuesday. He liked it, so he called Moynihan on Wednesday morning. The entire story of how it happened is available in a video embedded below, as told to Becky Quick by Buffett.

The story (and the mental image) is amusing but also important - it suggests that the Obama Administration and/or the Treasury, did not have a hand in the agreement.

And to make it very clear that Treasury or Obama had no hand in the arrangement, which makes the news even better for Bank of America.

So does this - the deal is expensive for Buffett, and a good deal for Bank of America. He says in some ways, it's better than the deal he gave to Goldman Sachs in 2008.

But obviously, it's a great deal for Buffett.

Buffett's investment alone is now worth $700 million more than it was when he bought it.

foreclosure investing

You've undoubtedly seen all of them or read them. Glossy ads or four-color advances in publications and magazines promising to teach you all of the juicy information about successful property investing. And all you need to do to learn all these real estate investing surface encounters chuck russo secrets is to pay a rather high sum for a one-or two-day seminar.




Often these slick property investing classes claim you could make intelligent, profitable property investments with absolutely no money down (other than, of training course, the significant fee you buy the seminar). Now, how attractive is that? Make a make money from real estate investments you created using no cash. Possible? Not likely.




Successful owning a home requires cashflow. That's the character of almost any business or investment, especially property investing. You put your cash into something which you wish and plan will make you more money.




Unfortunately not enough newbies for the world of real-estate investing believe it's a magical form of business exactly where standard enterprise rules don't apply. Simply set, if you need to stay in real-estate investing for more than, say, a day or 2, then you will have to create money to make use of and make investments.




While it could be true in which buying real-estate with no money down is simple, anyone that is even made a basic investment (such as buying their particular home) understands there's much more involved in real estate investing that will set you back money. For illustration, what regarding any required repairs?




So, the primary rule people not used to real property investing ought to remember would be to have accessible cash reserves. Before you determine to actually carry out any property investing, save some money. Having just a little money in the bank when you begin real est investing surface encounters chuck russo can help you make more profitable real estate investments in rental properties, for example.




When property investing in rental properties, you'll want to be able to select simply qualified tenants. If you've no cashflow when property investing within rental properties, you could be pressured to take in a a smaller amount qualified tenant because you need somebody to cover you money so that you can take care of maintenance or lawyer fees.




For almost any real est investing, meaning local rental properties or perhaps properties you get to re-sell, having funds reserved can permit you to ask for a higher price. You can ask for a greater price from your investment because a person surface encounters chuck russo won't feel financially strapped as you wait for an offer. You won't be backed into a corner and forced to accept just any offer because you desperately need the money.




Another downfall of many new to real estate investing will be, well, greed. Make any profit, yes, but don't become so greedy that you simply ask for ridiculous local rental or second-hand rates on any of your real property investments.




Those new to real est investing need to see real-estate investing being a business, NOT an interest. Don't think that real property investing is going to make you wealthy overnight. What enterprise does?




It takes about six months to decide if real-estate investing in for you. If you might have decided which, hey I really like this, then give yourself a couple of years to truly start making money. It usually takes at the very least five years to get truly successful in property investing.




Persistence is the key to be able to success in property investing. If you might have decided that property investing is made for you, surface encounters chuck russo keep plugging away at it and the rewards will be greater than you imagined.

The manic depressive market wildly swings up and down on each new news story: The Fed is meeting at Jackson Hole on August 27 possibly to discuss QE3 (or not), and that news may pump up the stock market. But China's banks seem to be using Enron's accounting manual, Europe's banks need liquidity and are loaded with bad debt, and U.S. banks only temporarily TARPed over trouble. Gaddafi's regime in Libya appears over, but Libya's oil output may not fully recover for years. Venezuela wants banks to open their vaults and send back its gold, but Wells Fargo says gold is a bubble. Pundits say gold is a barbarous relic, but exchanges and banks are now using gold as money. The U.S. is headed for hyperinflation with skyrocketing stock prices, but on the other hand, we seem to be deflating like Japan and doomed to a deflating stock market for another decade. Whom do you trust and what should you do?

No one knows where the stock market or U.S. Treasury bonds are headed tomorrow, but in my opinion, here are some fundamentals to consider.



The Bad News Isn't Going Away

Until we have real global financial reform and restrain the banks, we won't have sustained growth. The stock market hasn't hit bottom. There's a crisis of confidence in banks and all currencies. We haven't taken effective steps to tackle the U.S. deficit through productivity. We haven't examined spending to eliminate fraud and waste, and we haven't addressed our need for more tax revenues by eliminating the Bush tax cuts (for starters).

Savers are punished by "stranguflation:" negative real returns on "safe" assets, declining housing prices, and rising costs of food, energy and health care. The Fed touts the falling cost of I-Pads, but how often do you buy one of those, and how often do you eat?

Good News (for Now)

The USD is still the world's reserve currency. Even though we devalued the USD, there has been a global flight to U.S. Treasuries pushing down our borrowing costs (yields). No one in the global financial community feels the U.S. has done its best to correct our problems, but severe problems in Europe, China's inflation, and Middle East unrest has money running to the U.S. Since we've devalued the dollar, we appear to be a bargain for foreign investors, even though they are terrified by our money printing presses and the potential for inflating commodity prices in the long run.

How did I play this? My own portfolio is currently more than 20% gold with some silver, and I bought out-of-the-money call options on the VIX when it was in the teens with maturities of 4-6 months. This is "short" stock market strategy, one could have also done well buying puts on the S&P a few months ago. In the first big stock market downdraft in August, I sold the options when the VIX hit the high 30's, and I'll buy more options again if the VIX falls again. Many investors are not comfortable with options, and this strategy isn't appropriate for everyone. The rest of my portfolio is chiefly in cash or deep value opportunities.



What Happens Next?

No one knows for sure, and anyone who tells you he or she does is selling snake oil. The situation is fluid. We tried to reflate our deflating economy. Our massive dollar devaluation may encourage investment, because it's protectionist. It reduces our cost of labor, among a few other "benefits." The problem is that the Fed has printed money, and we haven't done anything to position the U.S. for greater productivity. We're trying to inflate our way out of a problem without investing in productivity. This is a very dangerous way of attacking this problem. Even more "stimulus" would just be an attempt to inflate our way out of our long-standing deep recession. That's the foolish and unsuccessful strategy we've adopted so far. That could lead to runaway budget deficits (our deficit already looks intractable) and bring us to double-digit inflation. Even the European flight to US Treasuries may not save us from a deeper recession in that scenario.

If we don't overreact -- and we may have already overreacted -- our dollar devaluation results in our foreign trade situation first getting worse (as it has now) before it gets better. Now is the time (actually, we should have started years ago) to spend capital to increase U.S. productivity. The dollar's plunge relative to other currencies will eventually make us more competitive. This will be good for blue chip companies, in particular those that own real assets and manufacture items. The Fed and Washington may do anything, however, so one must watch the news.

What does this mean for the U.S. stock market? In my opinion, it is currently not good value and feels like the 1970s when we experienced a recession followed by inflation. One should consider staying mostly in cash and expect stocks become cheaper. One might miss an interim rally, especially if the Fed announces QE3 (more "stimulus" and money printing) or more bank bailouts, but that is like using Kleenex laced with sneezing powder. We will see stock prices even lower than they are today. The old paradigm dictated that stocks were a buy when P/E ratios were 13 or less (and many are well above that), dividends at 4%, and book values at 1.3 or less. (This excludes oil companies, which tend to trade at lower P/E ratios in general.) I believe we'll see much better deals in coming months. In 1978/79 P/E ratios sank below 7 for blue chip companies.

Should one buy U.S. Treasuries with long maturities? The long end of the bond market doesn't reward investors due to the potential of rising interest rates. If interest rates spike to double digits, then one can reassess the situation.

Long term investors should consider buying commodities or companies that own physical commodities. We're running out of key commodities especially related to agriculture and fertilizer. Washington's brand of the latter isn't the type we need.

It is very difficult to determine the sex of a pigeon. I used to keep pigeons as a kid so I’m good at it.

There are three ways to do it:

1 – Check their reproductive organs

Pigeons genitalia all look the same (they have ‘cloaca‘) so you will have to cut them open to actually see their reproductive organs. Not a very efficient method.

2 – See who goes on top

There isn’t much variation in the sex life of a pigeon. Males go on top. No Kama Sutra here. Fortunately all they do is eat and, ehm, reproduce. You won’t have to wait very long to see that happen. But you do need 2 pigeons and some patience.

3 – Look at their faces

Yes, pigeons have faces just like humans.

It takes years to be able to read the face of a pigeon. I kept pigeons as a kid so I can tell the sex of any pigeon just by looking at their faces for few seconds. Just like with most humans. Humans have the added benefit of clothing, hair and breasts. But even without that a face looks feminine or masculine.

Investors try to look under all those feathers but up close all excel sheets look the same. They try to see who goes on top but then you would have to wait until the entrepreneur meets an actual client.

But once you have met enough starting entrepreneurs one look at someones face is usually enough. You know what you have got and who is a good bet and who isn’t.

Just like with pigeons.

This is a variation of post I published in 2007. Photo credit: Igor Stevanovic via Shutterstock.

foreclosure homes

The number of homeowners who lost their properties to foreclosure jumped 9% in July as lenders moved to repossess a glut of homes with past-due mortgages.

A total of 92,858 homes were repossessed in July, according to foreclosure listing firm RealtyTrac. That's 9% higher than in June and 6% higher than the figure for July 2009. July was the eighth straight month to post a year-on-year rise in homes lost to foreclosure.

And foreclosure filings, a category that includes default notices, scheduled actions and bank repossessions, hit 325,229 in July. That's a 4% increase from June, but notably, it's a 10% drop from July 2009.

"July marked the 17th consecutive month with a foreclosure activity total exceeding 300,000," said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac. "Declines in new default notices, which were down on a year-over-year basis for the sixth straight month in July, have been offset by near-record levels of bank repossessions."

Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate among all states, with one in every 82 households receiving a foreclosure filing.

California had the highest percentage of the total foreclosures filings, accounting for 21% of the nation's filings.

From Jeff Horwitz and Kate Berry at American Banker: Procrastination on Foreclosures, Now 'Blatant,' May Backfire

ervicers are not initiating or processing foreclosures at the pace they could be.

By postponing the date at which they lock in losses, banks and other investors positioned themselves to benefit from the slow mending of the real estate market. But now industry executives are questioning whether delaying foreclosures — a strategy contrary to the industry adage that "the first loss is the best loss" — is about to backfire. With home prices expected to fall as much as 10% further, the refusal to foreclose quickly on and sell distressed homes at inventory-clearing prices may be contributing to the stall of the overall market seen in July sales data.
...
Banks have filed fewer notices of default so far this year in California ... than they did 2009 or 2008, according to data gathered by . Foreclosure default notices are now at their lowest level since the second quarter of 2007, when the percentage of seriously delinquent loans in the state was one-sixth what it is now.

New data from LPS Applied Analytics in Jacksonville, Fla., suggests that the backlog is no longer worsening nationally — but foreclosures are not at the levels needed to clear existing inventory.
...
"The industry as a whole got into a panic mode and was worried about all these loans going into foreclosure and driving prices down, so they got all these programs, started Hamp and internal mods and short sales," said John Marecki, vice president of East Coast foreclosure operations for Prommis Solutions ... "Now they're looking at this, how they held off and they're getting to the point where maybe they made a mistake in that realm."
...
"The math doesn't bode well for what is ultimately going to occur on the real estate market," said Herb Blecher, a vice president at LPS. "You start asking yourself the question when you look at these numbers whether we are fixing the problem or delaying the inevitable."

There is much more in the article.

Note: The LPS delinquency data for July will be released tomorrow. Here are some of the findings (no link):

• July showed an astounding 24.5% month-over-month increase in foreclosure starts, which dovetails with Treasury's latest report on HAMP cancellations (approx. 50% according to Treasury's numbers)
• Abysmal foreclosure rates in NV, FL and CA have led to much higher level equity loss for homeowners in those states as compared to the rest of the country.
• Cure rates remain steady, but seriously delinquent (6 mos.+) cures have declined significantly, by approximately 25%
• Origination remains depressed due to much stricter underwriting guidelines and low purchase activity, but what is being originated is of good quality.
• Until the deterioration ratio improves from its steady two deteriorations for every one improvement, it's hard to see how we're going to get out of the hole.

The report shows the GSEs are stepping up foreclosures.

eric seiger

Defining Normal In The Brain - Science <b>News</b>

Scans set standard for how connectivity evolves during maturation.

Z on TV: Fox <b>News</b> says it will not cover burning of Quran - TV <b>...</b>

Gentlemen: While I often find myself at odds with the opinions of your news network, I applaud your decision not to cover the Koran burning insanity. You are starving the attention-craving beast, precisely as necessary. Congratulations! ...

Finally! <b>News</b> on When We&#39;ll See Terrence Malick&#39;s &#39;Tree of Life <b>...</b>

What's the best way to get an auteur to finish his long-awaited film? A deadline, of course! Everyone needs 'em, even (or especially) Terrence Malick,

foreclosure help

There's a lot of despair in these parts lately and it's perfectly understandable. The country is going to hell in a handbasket and the forces of corporatism and know-nothingism are dominating the political culture while the Democrats seem to be in a state of suspended animation. It's very tempting to just tune it all out and watch TV. But we can't. Not as long as there are progressive politicians like David Segal out there on the campaign trail fighting to change things every day. If don't support real progressive leaders with a track record of success, we are basically giving up.

David is running in a primary for the Democratic nomination for Patrick Kennedy's seat against two doctrinaire establishment hacks and an anti-choice zealot and he needs our help in the home stretch. (The election is September 14th.) His most formidable rival, the mayor of Providence is using his money advantage to run a deceptive ad and David needs our help to run this rebuttal to remind people who the real progressive in the race is:

I know it's hard to get excited about politics right now. But it would be foolish for us to fail to support a young, smart progressive with a proven track record in his run for congress. Unless we are prepared to simply surrender to the forces gathering around us we need to nurture future progressive leaders who understand this political environment and have ideas about how to prevail in it. David is one of those future leaders.

Here's what Howie wrote about him when Blue America endorsed him:

David Segal is one of us. He was elected to the Providence City Council in 2002 as a Green, and is now a lefty Democratic state Rep for Providence and East Providence. He has a very clear path to victory and he can win-- and if he does, he'll be among the strongest voices for progressives in the halls of the Capitol.

David's worked on the meat-and-potato issues: Jobs, the environment, housing, progressive taxes, all with success. He's successfully pushed for expanded renewable energy, more affordable housing, against predatory lending, and for foreclosure prevention measures.

But he's never shied away from the really controversial issues: He's been a vocal leader on criminal justice reform, standing up for the rights of immigrants and for gay rights, and has pushed as hard as one can from the state level against war spending. He's an ardent supporter of gay marriage, and was the sponsor of the last year's bill, which was passed over the Governor's veto, to allow gay partners to plan each other's funerals.

He's a co-sponsor of marijuana decriminalization, and just convinced the Governor-- after two years of vetoes-- to allow a bill to become law that ensures due process for people on probation.

He's sponsored the "Bring the Guard Home" legislation, and his first act on the City Council was to pass a resolution against the war in Iraq.

But, most importantly, he's an organizer at heart, who is committed to joining the Progressive Caucus-- and making it function better. Here's an excerpt from an interview with David:

"n Rhode Island I've tried to develop alternative structures for legislators to lean on when the leadership makes such threats. I am the lead organizer for our progressive caucus. I founded a political action committee to support members of our progressive caucus so that if funding from sources dries up at leadership's request because something was done to offend them, that we would have at least some, some degree of money to fall back on to help fund our campaigns nonetheless. We funded ten, twelve races relatively modestly in the last cycle and hopefully we'll be able to do something in the forthcoming cycle."

That's the kind of inside political organizing we desperately need in the US Congress. If you can help with a few dollars today the campaign can keep its ads on the air and compete. If he wins the primary, there's almost no doubt that he will win the seat. It could be one of the few progressive victories in this midterm election.

Amidst the nation's worst economic recession since the Great Depression, and continuing problems in California with health care, education funding, home foreclosures, and lack of jobs, how do you explain the disgraceful spending by candidate Meg Whitman in her campaign to buy the governor's office.

According to campaign finance reports filed yesterday, Whitman has spent $99.7 million the past two years, a figure that the Associated Press notes climbs to $100.3 million when including donated services.

Those numbers, which shatter campaign spending records in California and presumably exceed the amount any candidate running for any office in the U.S. other than President has spent, signal a campaign that is out of control and that shows little regard for the real life of most Californians.

With more than 2.2 million Californians are out of work (Employment Development Department, July 16, 2010), at least 6.4 million are uninsured (U.S. Census Bureau as of 2007), and California ranks 41st in the U.S. in per capita spending per pupil (National Education Association rankings), such massive resources could surely be put to better use.

Those are just three of the many signs of crisis in California that show the appalling contrast with the outrageous spending spree by one billionaire candidate who seems to be driven by personal ambition and little else.

If Whitman, whose main qualification for office appears to be her unlimited wealth, really wants to help the state, there are many other ways she could use those resources to add real social value to our state, and help Californians who are hurting, who are sick, or to bolster our education system.

At the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, we have calculated, with the help of our research arm, the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, other, more fruitful ways that $100 million could have been spent.

• Pay monthly unemployment benefits for 82,237 unemployed Californians. (Average unemployment benefit in California is $1,216) Source: Orange County Register, July 19, 2010



• Pay the unemployment benefits for two months for the 40,000 workers she would lay off. (The U.S. Department of Labor calculates that by its broadest measure, the U-6 rate which is defined as total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, California has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, 21.9%.)

• Pay yearly health insurance premiums for 7,477 families. (Average yearly health insurance for family coverage $13,375) Source: Employer Health Benefits, Annual Survey 2009, Kaiser Family Foundation

• Fund 18,018 students at the Pell Grant maximum. (Pell Grant maximum for school year 2010-2011 is $5,550.) Source: United States Department of Education

• Pay for 11,447 pupils in California K-12. (Average expenditure per pupil in 2008-2009 school year was $8,736) Source: California Department of Education

• Pay the "fees" for 10,770 students to attend one of the University of California campuses for academic year 2009-2010. (Fees to attend UC are $9,285.) Source: University of California, Fees and Financial Aid

• By our calculations, help as many as 5,714 households avoid foreclosure The California Housing Finance Agency, the state's affordable housing bank, estimates it will help 40,000 or more households avoid foreclosure with principal write downs and other plans unveiled Wednesday. In all, the agency received $700 million for the relief programs. Source: James Wasserman, "California to help pay down homeowners' mortgage debt."

[Four out of the Top ten cities for housing foreclosures are in the Central Valley. Source: Realty Trac].

o Modesto is ranked second in the nation with 5,138 homes or 2.93 percent of all housing units in foreclosure in the first quarter

o Stockton is ranked fifth, with 6,327 homes in foreclosure, or 2.77 percent of the city's homes.

o Merced is sixth. It had 2,307 homes in foreclosure in Q1 or 2.76 of all homes.

o And Bakersfield is ninth in the nation, with 6,343 homes in foreclosure or 2.33 percent of all housing units]

• Hire as many as 1,755 new grad RNs in California for a year. Source: United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2008 Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates

make money from home jobs