Thursday, March 25, 2010

Buy Smart, Get A Home Inspection Before You Make An Offer!

Most people I come into contact with these days who are looking to take advantage of the very  low prices for homes are still very unsophisticated.  Many really don't understand the difference between the selling side commission and the listing side commission for MLS listed houses.  Most don't know the Florida rule that makes most real estate agents act as "Transaction Brokers'  with no fiduciary responsibility to either the Buyer or the Seller!  They just 'facilitate' the transaction.  So I have a lot of explaining to do when I promote myself as a  " Buyers Broker" who gets paid the seller-side commission by the listing agent or when I say I am a "Single Agent" with responsibility only to my Buyer.  But those who get it, really benefit from using a single agent, buyers broker.

For example, one of the techniques I use to work just for the buyer against the interest of the seller is to get a home inspection before I recommend an inital offer for the home.  This gives us an itemized list of everything wrong with the house and estimated repair costs to use in negotiating.  A powerful negotiating tool.

If you are looking to purchase property in Florida, Talk To Ted!  I can advise you on any area of Florida and hook you up with a good, reliable agent in the town to help you find what you want.  The referral fee that agent will offer me will not cost you.  And, of course, if you are interested in checking out Palm Coast, drop me a note at tedleshersr@gmail.com.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

I Promise, I'll Get A Vasectomy!

 

Modern technology gives most women just about complete control to prevent an unwanted pregnancy; including 'morning after' pills.  If she needs to have sex without conception, she can find a way to protect herself.  To trust any male who claims he has had a vasectomy is risky, unless she has removed them herself.

Here's a story from a loved relative who's "partner" just kept promising to get one.  I don't know her particular birth control limitations.

 I have other relatives that have birthed and/or finessed a fucking mistake, but this one is particularly touching...

"Once he drove me to Planned Parenthood to get an abortion he insisted I get after he refused to get his promised vasectomy. I screamed at him the whole way there. He sat in stony silence, willing it to be over if he just ignored it. And me.

When we got there I took the keys and left him in the parking lot. I came back an hour later to pick him up and he yelled at me that I was a terrible mother because I wouldn't get an abortion. I cried and sobbed and told him that, while I believe firmly in choice and I also believed another child would be very hard, I couldn't do it after losing (name of child withheld). That they were connected for me and I didn't know how but they were and please stop please please please stop.

He sneered at me. "You are selfish. This just proves how selfish you are. If you cared at all about your children you would do this."

Supporting me was only possible if I agreed with him.

I cried myself to sleep for weeks until the blessed event: the miscarriage. It was a late one - 11 weeks, I think. He had been exceptionally angry the night before. He wouldn't talk to me, but would only growl insults at me. He grabbed me roughly and reminded me how selfish I was and he spat his disgust at me by stripping away any confidence I had as a parent - he knew the most deadly weapon available to him and he knew how to find my emotional jugular. When I went in for another ultrasound the next day there was no more heartbeat and I remember feeling relieved as I was prepped for the surgical removal of all this conflict wrapped up in a dead embryo.

I'll never forget how he was so nice to me on the way to the OR. He held my hand, he hugged me, he was 'so so sorry this had happened, Babe' but I was 'going to be strong and be just fine' and he gave my hand a tender squeeze. I was speechless. But there was a whole audience now, so I just accepted it and was wheeled off to the OR and soon completely unconscious and unable to try and make sense out of that one.

When I stopped bleeding, we went to Hawaii, with hopes of amnesia I suppose."

If  anyone reads this I will let them wallow in their own judgments about right and wrong and the definition of life.  But have compassion for kids who "get caught".  Make the effort!   Point out the consequences! Unprotected fun can be unrelenting hell.  No religious dogma intended.

God Bless and Namaste'

Monday, March 15, 2010

Ted's Not Dead! About the Gout

I haven't posted to this blog lately.  I'm not dead.  But not well.  Got the gout.  Took the cure.  It damn near killed me.

I have had occasional bouts with my left toe over the last couple years.  Sometimes because I've put my foot in my mouth...embarassing but not painful.  But my toe Gout is caused by sharp little needles formed from crystals of sodium urate in the toe joint.  Piss in my toe! 

Gout pain is on the same scale with back pain.  Not Nice.  First time it happened was on a weekend, two days after I was released from Flagler Hospital for something else.  I was too embarassed to wake my wife and tell her my toe hurt, so I left a note and snuck off to the Emergency Room. 

They understood it was gout and admitted me.  A shot and I can't remember what else and after a few hours, I was released.  Local Doc prescribed colcachine and indomethacin.  I puked and pooped for several days, but no gout pain.

So this time, again in the middle of the night, I thought I figgured it out.  It was the big pill, that indomethacin thing.  I thought I remembered getting sick from that before.  So I didn't take it.  I just took the little tiny colchicine pills.  Every 15 minutes for about an hour. 

That was Wed. Night.  Thursday I didn't feel too well.  Didn't eat much.  Went to dinner with four friends at HighJackers. Had three peel-and-eat shrimp and a YingaLing beer.  One crap during the meal.  When the check came I went running out the door.  Puked way over to the side by the airplanes.  Everyone was leaving as I finished up my internal backflush and I snuck over to our car.

The purpose of this blog:  Gout is heredetary.  Find out all you need to know at wikipedia.com  at http://bit.ly/Ad5bU  but know this from Ted...don't take COLCHICINE.  Its bad and lasts forever.  Here's what Wikipedia says about its toxicity:
"Colchicine poisoning has been compared to arsenic poisoning: symptoms start 2 to 5 hours after the toxic dose has been ingested and include burning in the mouth and throat, fever, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and kidney failure. These symptoms may set in as many as 24 hours after the exposure. Onset of multiple-system organ failure may occur within 24 to 72 hours. This includes hypovolemic shock due to extreme vascular damage and fluid loss through the GI tract, which may result in death. Additionally, sufferers may experience kidney damage resulting in low urine output and bloody urine; low white blood cell counts (persisting for several days); anemia; muscular weakness; and respiratory failure. Recovery may begin within 6 to 8 days. There is no specific antidote for colchicine, although various treatments do exist.[6]"
http://bit.ly/bE3OPp
    I think my dear doctor prescribed this demon drug because I am a charity case using unfunded Medicare Insurance and its Part D drug plan.  The D is for "donut hole".  Fall in and you pay 100% of all costs.  I fall in annually.  So I get all 'generic' drugs.  By law these are allow to contain up to 20% different ingredients than their "identical" brand name products.
  I still feel like shit,  look like shit, can't stop shitting and can only eat mini portions of bland food and drink sips of gater ade.  Left the Good Doctor a voicemail message about my problem.  He will get to it eventually.  God will fix it or take me home, or I go back to the emergency room soon!
TED SAYS:  ALWAYS USE WIKIPEDIA BEFORE YOU SELF MEDICATE.

God Bless You and Namaste'

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

To Run, Walk or Stay Put…Foreclosure Strategies

Here is an article about Debbie who decided to walk away from her home rather than wait for the bank to take it. A good strategy? Read my comments at the end of the article about staying put and decide for yourself.

What you should know about home foreclosure

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Feb. 24, 2010 – After more than six months of wrangling with her bank to get a reduced mortgage payment through a federal loan modification program, Debra Jacobs has had enough.

The West Palm Beach resident is walking away from her home of 14 years.

“I’m just going to wait here until they put a padlock on the door,” said Jacobs, 58. “I’m so over it, I have to let it go. It’s too painful.”

As homeowners grow increasingly frustrated by the nation’s struggling foreclosure prevention programs, more may consider walking away as a viable alternative.

But there’s more to it than just stopping your mortgage payments and handing over the keys.

Boca Raton real estate attorney Marlyn Wiener says there’s no “right way” to walk away from a home.

Knowing the consequences, however, will at least help the borrower make an informed decision, she said.

“There is an analysis that each homeowner should do to find the best way for them to proceed,” Wiener said. “There isn’t a speed lane.”

The biggest gamble in walking away is whether a lender will try to seize a borrower’s assets to pay for its losses, Wiener said. Lenders have up to 20 years in Florida to collect a deficiency judgment.

But banks are more likely to go after borrowers who strategically default – a term meaning the homeowner can afford the mortgage but decides to stop paying because the home is no longer a good investment.

Moral dilemmas aside, Wiener said it can make financial sense in some situations to “pull the plug and regroup” if the mortgage is underwater.

Scott Haft, who oversees the mortgage modification and foreclosure defense division at the law firm LaBovick & LaBovick, said some lenders are willing to forgive a mortgage debt if a borrower voluntarily turns over the home without going through a lengthy court foreclosure.

“We say, ‘We’ll give you the keys on Monday, but you have to waive your right to pursue my client in the future for deficiencies,’ “ said Haft, whose company has offices in West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. “Many times, the lender is only interested in regaining the property.”

Another concern is whether the homeowner will have to claim forgiveness of debt on tax returns for the amount of money owed the lender.

The Mortgage Debt Relief Act of 2007 temporarily exempts people who lose their primary residence from having to claim the canceled debt, but the act is scheduled to sunset Dec. 31, 2012, and can’t be applied to investment properties.

“Everybody’s relationship with their properties and their loans is different,” Wiener said. “People need to take a look at where they are in life before they decide to walk away.”

One thing Wiener asks clients is whether they will need good credit in the near future to secure a car or student loan. A foreclosure can knock up to 300 points off a credit score – damage that can take years to repair and will stay on your report for seven years.

Lenders have recently stepped up efforts to ease the foreclosure process and avoid the complications when a homeowner walks away.

Citigroup launched a program this month that allows some borrowers to stay in their homes for six months without paying. In return, the homeowner turns in the keys at the end of the time period and keeps the home in good shape.

The federal Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program, announced in November, gives lenders incentives for offering deed-in-lieu of foreclosure and for approving short sales.

But for Jacobs, the alternatives are “too little too late.”

“Not only do I not know the options, I don’t care anymore,” she said. “It’s really sad it’s come to this.”

Copyright © 2010 The Palm Beach Post, Fla., Kimberly Miller. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

TALKTOTED SAYS:  This article does not discuss strategic delay…stay in your home until it’s sold on the courthouse steps.


The government is probably going to own Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac due to insolvency. The Administration is pressuring the banks not to foreclose. Florida now requires arbitration before a foreclosure action is undertaken. The courts are clogged. The banks don’t want to flood the market with all the properties they own. Rental prices will probably be low.


I am not a lawyer, but I concluded that a “wait and see attitude” is worth considering if you are underwater, want to continue to live in the home as your permanent residence, and have a hardship condition that makes you unable to pay your full mortgage payment.   “Send them partial goodwill payments and wait and see” may be a good default strategy!


And count your blessings that things in your life aren’t as bad as in Haiti or Chile. Namaste’

Monday, March 1, 2010

Desperate Homeowners flock to Mortgage Mitigation “Save-a-Thon”...Few winners. Many promises. Political Theater

Hundreds of desperate homeowners line up for mortgage help

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – March 1, 2010 – The extent of the nation’s housing crisis was tangible Thursday morning. It stretched the length of one side of Palm Beach County’s Convention Center as hundreds of homeowners, wrapped in blankets and travel-weary after flying from as far away as California, waited for the salvation of a mortgage modification.

Welcome to the “Save-a-Thon” – five days of around-the-clock loan woe turnarounds sponsored by the Boston-based Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, or NACA.

The non-profit group is offering free help with lowering monthly payments through federal programs and agreements it has with many of the nation’s major lenders.

It brought an army of bank representatives – at least 100 from Bank of America alone – and NACA counselors who meet face-to-face with troubled borrowers.

And while the event seemed at times like a church revival as homeowners with success stories were brought to a microphone to testify, there were sincere solutions occurring on the convention center floor.

Teresa Holston, a registered nurse who traveled from Los Angeles for the event, started crying when she spoke of her new 2 percent interest rate, a reduction from 9 percent.

“It’s like a new lease on life,” said Holton, who got in trouble when she refinanced her home and broke up with a boyfriend who was paying part of the mortgage. “I am just so grateful.”

For many homeowners, NACA’s event was the last attempt in a months-long struggle to work with their banks through the Obama administration’s Making Home Affordable Program.

The program offers incentives to banks to lower monthly payments by reducing – sometimes temporarily – interest rates and principal amounts, or offering a principal forbearance, which cuts the principal balance on the front end, but tacks it onto the end of the life of the loan.

NACA founder and CEO Bruce Marks pushes for even better terms. He asks lenders to permanently reduce interest rates. If there is a principal forbearance, he asks that a mandatory repayment be made only if there is a profit made on the sale of the home.

He doesn’t always get his way. Many of the loans modified Thursday had reduced interest rates that will adjust at the end of five years. Still, the reduction helps the borrower now with making monthly payments.

“Frankly, it makes business sense for them to be working with us now,” Marks said about lenders. “These servicers have very good machinery to foreclose on people, but not to modify a loan.”

Marks has been criticized for his guerilla-style tactics, which include rallying outside bank executives’ homes. His operation is paid for partly with federal grants, having received $25 million last year, Marks said. Detractors complain he is not forthcoming with his success rates and should be more transparent since he is getting taxpayer dollars. He says about 30 percent of clients receive a same-day modification. Up to 80 percent eventually get their payments reduced, Marks said.

Bully or not, Marks has persuaded many major lenders to send representatives to his unconventional “Save the Dream” workshops.

Thursday’s event began with pep rally-style cheers from NACA counselors.

“We are NACA,” a man screamed into a microphone.
“We are NACA,” more than 200 counselors echoed.
“Mighty, mighty NACA.”
“Mighty, mighty NACA.”

But not everyone walked away satisfied. An L-shaped table in the corner of the room had signs posted that read “No Solution.”

That’s where Martine and Daillant Edouard, from Brooklyn, N.Y., found themselves. A private investor owns their loan serviced by Bank of America, and they needed more information about the terms the investor allows for modifications.

“What are you going to do?” Martine Edouard said, her eyes starting to tear. “You have to try and keep your composure.”

NACA will remain open 24-hours-a-day until midnight Monday.

It’s the first time the group will pull all-nighters.

“We’re going to do 100 hours straight,” Marks said. “Why? Because it’s the right thing to do.”

LINK:  http://bit.ly/9BvIbw

"Talk To Ted" is a cynic.  I think Marks will, one way or another, make a ton on this.  Smells like a scam.

Bike Week...Thinking About Getting Pierced?

Here is a article I copied from my 'Karen L. Hudson - About.com Tattoos Guide".  I am interested in "body art".  I want to be able to tell what gang a person belongs to, where he/she went to jail, and what the other intended meanings are; just artwork or a message?.  So I have been following Karen.  Here's something interesting about the related art of piercing.  (Dull because it's about ears.  She has more interesting discussions about the piercing of other body parts.)

"Piercings done at Metamorphosis - Broad Ripple (Indianapolis), Indiana
Collector: Jon T.

Definition: The lobe piercing is obviously the grandfather of all piercings. It can be traced back to ancient civilizations and has a vast history. The lobe is the easiest place on the body to pierce and has the highest success rate. It heals well, and can be adorned with many different styles of jewelry. A lobe piercing can also be stretched, which is something practiced in modern as well as ancient times.

No piercing, including the earlobe, should be done with a gun or squeeze trigger piercing apparatus. Please avoid department store and mall kiosk piercing stations - the people there are not trained on proper sterilization methods and everything about gun piercings is the exact opposite of how a piercing should be executed and treated. For more information, read Piercing Gun vs. the Needle.

Recommended Starter Jewelry: You've got plenty of jewelry options for a lobe piercing - CBRs and circular barbells come in a wide range of styles, colors, and sizes. I don't recommend anything smaller than 16 gauge for a lobe piercing, and even if you want to stretch to a larger size eventually, your first piercing shouldn't be any larger than 12 gauge.

The earlobe heals pretty well, but exposure to bacteria is high risk so proper cleansing is essential. Earphones, telephones, pillows, makeup, and hairspray are just a few sources of bacteria and irritants that can make healing any ear piercing more difficult. Initial healing, allowing for jewelry change, takes about 6-8 weeks. That doesn't mean it's completely healed inside and out, though, so you can't stretch your lobe that quickly.

If you're interested in more information on stretching a lobe piercing, please read How to Safely Stretch a Piercing.

A lobe orbital is two lobe piercings connected with one CBR loop, so the jewelry looks as if it "orbits" the ear, like Saturn's rings.

LINKS:
Website:   http://tattoo.about.com/
                http://www.facebook.com/KarenLHudson?nl=1
         

GoToby!...for Cystic Fibrosis

Toby Tobin writes a great real estate newsletter at GoToby.com. I have used much of the information he gathers in my career as a real estate broker, I have advertised in his newletter and I often use exerpts or quotes from it in this blog. Toby has requested help for a cure for Cystic Fibrosis. His eight year old granddaughter suffers from chronic Cystic Fibrosis and a cure is her only long-term hope.


Here is a bit of what Toby put in his posting:

TOBY: I cannot express Faith's plight as well as the following letter from her mother. Please read it and give if you can (and forward this message to others). You can learn more and donate on-line at: Faith Shaw's Great Strides Website or by mail. Send a check or money order made payable to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (with “Team Faith Striders” in the memo section) to:

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - Charlotte Chapter
Attn Laura Neal
7506 E Independence Blvd, Suite 120
Charlotte, NC 28227

THE LETTER:

Dear family & friends,

It saddens me to report that Faith’s follow-up visit with the CF doctor yesterday was discouraging. Months of oral antibiotics to get her lung capacity back to reasonable numbers proved unsuccessful. We began a two-week regimen of I.V. antibiotics which has succeeded in the past. It looked to be headed that way again after week one. But something changed. Her cough returned at the beginning of the second week. Yesterday we found that not only had her lung function NOT improved, it had actually gotten worse! We have never faced this before.

Although her doctor told me not to be discouraged, I admittedly find it very difficult not to be. Whereas I trust we will eventually win this immediate battle, my heart is heavy as I now look at the war from a new perspective.

I now realize that unless a cure is found, the day will come when no treatment, no therapy, no antibiotic will help and we will lose her. There is no “growing out of it”… no remission … only hope that a cure will be found in time.

This realization is the driving force behind our participation in the CF GREAT STRIDES Walk for a Cure, and the reason I've been promoting it so strongly, now with an added sense of urgency.

If you're unable to donate, I understand. I would never ever ask or expect anyone to give what they don’t have or out of what’s necessary to provide for your own! I only ask that you consider supporting our efforts by spreading the word and forwarding this information on to as many people as possible.

If you have already made a donation, I TRULY thank you with ALL my heart and would ask that you consider furthering your support by spreading the word.

If you haven’t made a donation but would like to, you can do so easily and securely online at Faith Shaw's Great Strides Website. If you are unable or uncomfortable donating online, you can send a check or money order made payable to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (with “Team Faith Striders” in the memo section) to:

Cystic Fibrosis Foundation - Charlotte Chapter
Attn Laura Neal
7506 E Independence Blvd, Suite 120
Charlotte, NC 28227

And of course if you would like to show your support by walking with us on May 1st at Frank Liske Park in Concord, we’d LOVE to have you! You can register as a walker at the same website I’ve listed above. There is no registration fee.

Please join with me in fervent prayer for Faith in her fight against this devastating disease. I whole-heartedly appreciate whatever means of support you are able and willing to offer, whether a monetary donation, joining our team for the walk, spreading the word to help raise awareness, etc… all of which are so important in helping the Foundation’s goal of making CF stand for “Cure Found!”

God bless you all.

Sincerely,

Susan Shaw

LINK TO GOTOBY:  http://gotoby.com/