About Palm Coast Florida

More About Loans For The Underwatered

2011-10-24T14:31:00.001-04:00

Info on Harp was updated. Here is the latest. In a few hours we should be hearing from Obama on his ideas to help out us poor credit risk homeowners.

Homeowners can determine if they have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan by going to: http://www.FannieMae.com/loanlookup/

HARP is the only refinance program that enables borrowers who owe more than their home is worth to take advantage of low interest rates and other refinancing benefits. The program is offered to borrowers whose loans were sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on or before May 31, 2009, with current loan-to-value (LTV) ratios above 80 percent.

New program enhancements change several aspects of HARP including:

• Eliminating certain risk-based fees for borrowers who refinance into shorter-term mortgages, and lowering fees for other borrowers.

• Removing the current 125 percent LTV ceiling for fixed-rate mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

• Waiving certain representations and warranties for lenders that make loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

• Eliminating a new property appraisal if there is a reliable AVM (automated valuation model) estimate provided by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

• Extending the end date for HARP until Dec. 31, 2013, for loans originally sold on or before May 31, 2009.

Mortgage lenders should have more information about the HARP program changes by Nov. 15, 2011. Since participation isn’t mandatory, implementation schedules will vary.

Palm Coast Part of New “$100 Down” HUD Program to Sell Foreclosures!

2011-10-24T10:12:00.001-04:00

HUD has approved a program aimed at putting foreclosed homes back into the hands of owner-occupant buyers.
Florida is one of several select states, from now into October of next year, where buyers need a down payment of only $100 to purchase a HUD-owned REO home.
The $100 down payment incentive program has been approved for two of HUD’s four national regions – the regions managed by the Denver Homeownership Center and the Atlanta Homeownership Center. HUD homes in the states listed, as well as the Caribbean are currently eligible for the program.

Atlanta Homeownership Center’s Jurisdiction:
• Alabama
• Florida
• Georgia
• Kentucky
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Mississippi
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Caribbean
HUD’s $100 down payment incentive program can also be applied to an FHA 203k loan, which can be used to fund repairs and renovations on the home. The 203k program allows buyers to finance both the mortgage and additional money for rehabilitation needs with a single government-insured loan.
The buyer must be an owner-occupant, utilizing financing insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). Standard FHA underwriting guidelines apply, and the sale must be for the full amount of the current list price.

Homeowners can determine if they have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac loan by going to: http://www.FannieMae.com/loanlookup/

Buying A Home Now Is A Real Crap Shoot

2011-06-23T10:27:00.001-04:00

Here is some follow up information about the Shadow Inventory of homes why it is impossible to predict the trend of house prices.

I talked about the Banks and the Politicians messing up the marketplace. I should have included the courts.

Courts may reshape mortgage industry
NEW YORK – June 17, 2011 – A New York appellate court last week ruled that a Reston-based company that electronically tracks and transfers millions of mortgages did not have the right to foreclosure on a property or assign a mortgage it doesn’t actually own. The decision came only days after an appeals court in California took a different view, ruling that the firm indeed has the power to act on behalf of lenders.

The two cases, like dozens of others already decided or playing out in courtrooms across the country, highlight a protracted legal wrestling match that could determine the validity of foreclosures already in the pipeline and shape the mortgage market for years to come.

The cases also underscore the uncertainty that continues to surround Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS), which has allowed the financial industry to transfer and reassign millions of mortgages quickly and cheaply since the 1990s. The company also has acted as a proxy for banks in many foreclosure proceedings.

The MERS business model has increasingly come under fire since revelations last fall of widespread problems in foreclosure filings around the country – including forged documents and lingering questions about who actually owns the homes being foreclosed. Embattled borrowers and their attorneys continue to challenge the legitimacy of MERS, which doesn’t actually own any of the 65 million loans in its vast registry.

Those challenges have had limited success so far. But as cases are reviewed on appeal, the rulings could call into question countless foreclosures that have taken place since the housing bust. Perhaps more significant, if judges ultimately deem the MERS model invalid, it could mean massive lawsuits against banks that improperly bundled and sold mortgages to investors and could hinder the private securitization market, making it tougher for average Americans to get home loans in the long run.

“We know that MERS is a problem; we don’t know exactly what that’s going to mean,” said Adam Levitin, a Georgetown University law professor. “We still don’t have really definitive law on any of the issues involved. It’s going to take awhile before we really know the answers.”

MERS, which was created by the mortgage industry in the 1990s and became a key component in the securitization process during the housing boom, has had a range of legal wins and losses.

“The law must not yield to expediency and the convenience of lending institutions,” Justice John M. Leventhal wrote in the New York appeals court ruling last week, adding, “Proper procedures must be followed to ensure the reliability of the chain of ownership.”

Earlier this year, a Michigan court of appeals ruled against MERS, saying state law requires a foreclosing party to have a stake in the loan itself, which the firm did not. Those decisions came after other blows to MERS from courts in Maine, Kansas and California. In March, the company asked banks and servicers to stop foreclosing in the MERS name.

These are “extra precautionary steps that we don’t think are legally necessary, but may reduce some of the administrative headaches,” Tom Deutsch, executive director of the American Securitization Forum, said of the decision to end MERS foreclosures. Still, he said, “ I just don’t think it’s possible for the court system to roll back” the current system. “If you don’t allow electronic transfers of mortgages, it takes us back to the stone ages.”

At the same time, the company has won numerous victories in scores of other courtrooms, from Hawaii to Virginia – a tally that it publishes in quarterly and monthly publications. In Minnesota, legislators passed a law stating that MERS explicitly has the right to undertake foreclosures. And the company has spent more than $1 million in lobbying in recent years to garner support among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“The court decisions have overwhelmingly leaned in favor of MERS and validating MERS’s business model,” said Janis Smith, vice president of corporate communications for MERSCORP, the firm’s parent company. “Overall, the record is pretty clearly established.”

The company is fighting a multi-front war. It recently received a subpoena from the Delaware attorney general seeking information about its practices. New York’s attorney general also has undertaken an investigation into all aspects of the mortgage lending and securitization business, an examination that likely will involve inquiries into how mortgages were assigned and bundled.

In addition to its legal fight, MERS faces competition from Delaware-based Global Debt Registry, which plans to launch an alternative registry service later this summer.

“The more we researched it, the more it seemed there was a need for an alternative [to MERS],” said Mark Parsells, the firm’s executive chairman. “We see the need for a proper alternative that alleviates any ambiguity” related to the ownership of the underlying mortgages.

Copyright © 2011 washingtonpost.com, Brady Dennis and Renae Merle.

The shadow inventory of repossessed and soon-to-be repossessed homes

2011-06-23T09:04:00.000-04:00

This is a follow-up to my Blog about the Shadow Inventory of homes that will eventually get to market. What the politicians do and how the banks respond will determing whether we have an immediate flood onto the market with major price drops or, if they trickle in-a long,gradual drop in house prices. It all depends. This article gives the numbers. They are enormous!

06/22/2011 By: Carrie Bay

The shadow inventory of repossessed and soon-to-be repossessed homes not yet visible to the market has been trimmed, according to new data released by CoreLogic Wednesday.
The company reports that as of April 2011, the industry’s shadow supply fell to 1.7 million units, down from 1.9 million units 12 months earlier.
CoreLogic attributes the decline to fewer new delinquencies and a high level of distressed sales – a combination which has helped to reduce the deluge of foreclosure properties that threatens to upend an already fragile market beset by a supply and demand imbalance.
CoreLogic estimates current shadow inventory, also known as pending supply, by calculating the number of distressed properties not currently listed on multiple listing services that are delinquent by 90 days or more, in foreclosure, and real estate owned (REO) by lenders. Shadow inventory is typically not included in metrics of unsold inventory.
The company’s April 2011 estimate is 18 percent lower that the shadow inventory peak of 2 million units hit in January 2010.
Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic said, “The shadow inventory has declined by nearly one-fifth since it peaked in early 2010, in large part due to a reduced flow of newly delinquent loans in recent months. However, it will probably take several years for the shadow inventory to be absorbed given the long timelines in processing and completing foreclosures.”
Of the 1.7 million properties currently in the shadows, CoreLogic says 790,000 are seriously delinquent, 440,000 are in some stage of foreclosure, and 440,000 are already in REO.
The overall sales pace has slowed so even with 200,000 fewer homes in the dark, the current shadow inventory represents five months’ worth of supply, according to CoreLogic’s calculations. The larger shadow inventory from a year ago also constituted a five-month supply. At the peak in January 2010, the supply was 8.5 months.
The total shadow and visible inventory was 5.7 million units in April 2011, down from 6.2 million units a year ago, according to CoreLogic. The decline occurred in both the visible and shadow inventories. The shadow inventory accounts for 29 percent of the combined stock.
CoreLogic notes that in addition to the current shadow inventory, there are 2 million borrowers who are current on their payments but “upside down” or in negative equity by more than 50 percent, or $150,000.
The company says these loans have increased risk of entering the shadow inventory if the owners’ ability to pay is impaired while significantly underwater.

The Russians Are Coming? No, The Russians Are Here!

2011-06-23T08:16:00.004-04:00

I was reading eBay for Dummies this morning, getting ready to convince a power eBay seller her in Palm Coast to use my new site, PalmCoastGarageSale.com to sell his stuff. See my pilot site at http://www.creativepages.net/ted/

I was thinking about unique stuff to sell. Maybe do the site in Russian. I have a young Russian couple with two kids next door and an old Russian couple next to them on our four-house cul-de-sac (the fourth house is an old Italian couple, but they just left=snowbirds.)

We have a very large Russian community here in Palm Coast. The former Maffia ghetto on Coney Island has become the largest Russian community in the US.

We have three Russian grocery stores here and they all seem to be doing well. The Russian speaking real estate agents were doing great. There must be something I can sell that will have great appeal to this market.

Well, I haven't found the million dollar product yet, but I did find a very interesting Russian thing, a Russian massage gizmo. A Venic. Looks like fun! Take a look at the video and let me know what you think.

And if you have an idea of something our Russian Community would really like to be able to buy locally, but it isn't avaiable, please let me know. Our social security checks are not hacking it.

http://russian-bath.com/venik/

http://russian-bath.com/venik/

False Indicator of Improvement in Housing Market

2011-06-22T08:47:00.000-04:00

This News Release will give the impression the housing market is improving. It is not. Read the next one, issued the same day on my market report, that shows how many mortgages are waiting to go into foreclosure (Unless the Government continues to with the marketplace)

Distress Claims Smaller Share of Dwindling Existing-Home Sales
Distressed properties accounted for just 31 percent of existing-home sales in May, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported Tuesday. The ratio of distressed homes - typically bank-owned or pre-foreclosure short sales - was down from 37 percent in April and 40 percent in March. A pick-up in non-distressed sales volume is typical for the spring and summer seasons, but last month, overall sales of previously owned homes dropped along with the distressed percentage to hit a six-month low.

NOW HEAR THIS...

Industry's Past Due Mortgages = 6,350,000
Data released by Lender Processing Services (LPS) Tuesday puts the number of home mortgages that are delinquent or in foreclosure at 6,350,000. The company's assessment is based on mortgage performance statistics derived from its loan-level database through the end of the month of May. In April, LPS reported that there were 6,388,000 mortgages going unpaid.

You Worry Me!

2011-06-22T08:07:00.000-04:00

I couldn't help but editing and passing along this message I received from a good friend. A Marine, he flew Phantom jets in Viet Nam and was a pilot for Continental. He is a passionate patriot and I respect and thank him for his service.

A Muslim threat is not the hot topic here in Palm Coast. I don't know if we should care more; maybe we should. But I do think it fair to encourage peace loving, American Muslims to speak out. Read this and see if you agree:

YOU WORRY ME!
By Captain John Maniscalco,
American Airlines Pilot

I've been trying to say this since
911, but you worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down
the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still
blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But
you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me.

I notice you because I can't help
it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been
attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years
now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate, but I know that
nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.

On September 11, ARAB-MUSLIMS
hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in
front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of
those planes and crashed them into buildings, killing thousands of proud
fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends,
favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers.

The Palestinians celebrated, the
Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab world. So, I notice you now.
I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage,
hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists But I
need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and
family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference
between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist.

How do I differentiate
between the true Arab/Muslim Americans and the Arab/Muslim terrorists in our
communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR
communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next
attack that will slaughter these same good neighbors and children?

The events of September 11th changed the answer. It is not my
responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of
its religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults.
It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me.

I want to know, I demand to know
and I have a right to know, whether or not you love America . Do you
pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you proudly display it in front of your
house, or on your car? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah
will bless this nation; that He will protect it and let it prosper? Or do
you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your Jihads? Are you thankful for
the freedom that this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the
blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this
country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by also paying the
ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America? If this is your commitment,
then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.

Your Muslim
leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts
on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and as a
religion to protect the United States of America . Please, no more benign
overtures of regret for the death of the innocent, because I worry about who you
regard as innocent. No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked
attacks, because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not
interested in any more sympathy; I am interested only in action.
What will you do for America - our great country - at this time of crisis, at
this time of war?

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving
the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting 'Allah Bless
America '. I want to see young Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military.
I want to see a commitment of money, time and emotion to the victims of this
butchering and to this nation as a whole.

The FBI has a list
of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the WTC attack. Many of these
people live and socialize right now in Muslim communities. You know
them.
You know where they are. Hand
them over to us, now! But I have seen little even approaching this sort of
action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community
close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have
posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened
lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisals.

The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media
were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned with making
sure that the United States proves who was responsible before taking
action. They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims
from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they
did with supporting our country and denouncing 'leaders' like Khadafi, Hussein,
Farrakhan, and Arafat.

If the true teachings of Islam
proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and
verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it
up. What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good, pure, and
true, when your 'leaders' are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and
intolerance? It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if huge numbers of
the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere
to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been demonstrated
to us over and over again. A form whose structure is built upon a
foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose members are
recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose members (some as
young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year
after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our
presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air. A
form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms
against the great United States of America, the country of their birth. A
form whose rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show
their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam.

We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that
matter, to take away that which is so precious to us -our rights under the
greatest constitution in the world. I want to know where every Arab Muslim
in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true
citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of
thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution
that is protecting you and your family.

I am pleading with
you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend,
as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding
your allegiance, and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand. Until
then, "YOU WORRY ME!"

Legislation to Delay Banks from Foreclosing

2011-06-21T08:35:00.002-04:00

The Housing Market Is Unpredictable

Passing legislation at the federal level (it already exists in Florida) that lengthens the time it takes a bank to forclose will motivate more borrowers to strategically default; stop making their payments and either live in their houses for free or rent them out and pocket the proceeds.

But it will also artificially prop up sale prices and make us think we have hit bottom. The flood of foreclosure properties that would normally be coming onto the market will be delayed, but they will eventually appear. This will give a false sense that the housing market is improving and will be spun hard by the OBama team that things are getting better, not just being postponed.

Government action to assist those threatened with foreclosure will have a tremendous impact on the value of your home...one way or the other.

Here is the article explaining the pending legislation. I have put in bold the parts I think sum it up.

Article from DSNEWS.COM:

Bankers Advocate Opposition of Mortgage Servicing Amendment
06/17/2011 BY: CARRIE BAY
The American Bankers Association has sent a letter to key lawmakers in the Senate, urging them to reject foreclosure legislation proposed by Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

Their bill, tagged the Regulation of Mortgage Servicing Act, has been introduced as an amendment to the larger economic development legislation (S. 782) currently making its way through Congress.
It addresses several reforms already included in regulatory consent orders, such as a single point-of-contact for borrowers and ending dual-tracking. It also requires an independent, third-party case review prior to foreclosure. This last point is a major sticking point for the bankers group.
In offering up the amendment, Merkley said, “This economic development bill is designed to help get people back to work, but we won’t get the economy moving again until we deal with the foreclosure crisis.”
He added, “Since foreclosures bring down the prices of surrounding homes, everyone loses when a family is not given a fair chance to refinance. This mortgage servicing amendment will help to keep families in their homes, producing a win-win benefit for families and local economies.”
But the American Bankers Association (ABA) says, “The Merkley/Snowe provision would further destabilize the mortgage and housing markets by suspending legitimate foreclosures already in process imposing new requirements on existing loan terms, and increasing costs for all homeowners as lenders factor in costs imposed by the new requirements.”
In the ABA’s letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the group went on to say, “The on-going price declines in the housing market, foreclosures relating to job losses, and other impacts of the recent recession are devastating to borrowers and lenders alike. This legislation, however, will only exacerbate an already difficult situation. Delaying legitimate foreclosures and increasing costs associated with them will only prolong the pain of the current situation.”
ABA also stated that the legislation is “ill-timed,” noting that both the state attorneys general and federal banking regulators are already engaged in discussions on how to impose both servicing and foreclosure standards on lenders.
“This legislation would presumably trump and potentially conflict with those efforts, adding further confusion, delay, and cost to an already troubled housing market,” ABA said.
While Snowe argues that the amendment would help to stave off “unnecessary foreclosures caused by confusing communications with loan servicers and misfiled or flawed paperwork,” ABA again stressed that it will only prolong the market correction by slowing down “legitimate foreclosures” and they urged Reid and McConnell to lead the Senate in rejecting the amendment.

Here is the link to the Florida State Law on the same thing:
http://bit.ly/jCoFqq

Strategic Defaulters Rejoice-HAMP'S Been Humped!

2011-06-10T09:20:00.001-04:00

They can't get it done!

Yesterday my accountant told me how effective he has been helping folks get their mortagages mitigated. That is, having the bank reduce the principle amount they owe thus reducing thier monthly payment to something they can afford and eliminating the need and cost for the bank to foreclose.

The government has a program they call HAMP-Home Affordable Mortgage Program-to payoff the banks for the loss they will take in doing a loan modification.

But our government is broke, so they needed to find a way to delay paying the HAMP money. Easy. Evaluate the lenders and then claim they are not performing good enough. Classify them as needing “substantial” improvement and then withold payment of the bailout money.

Nothing more disappointing to Banks doing HAMP deals based on the government giving them bailout money, and then finding out the government won't pay! Common sense says you better stop doing these HAMP deals until you start getting the money you were promised.

Read the article. If you are in Strategic Default you will be delighted to learn which banks are taking forever to foreclose.

If you try to get the taxpayer to pick up the loss the bank will take if they foreclose on your house by using the HAMP bailout money, then you probably lose. These loans will dry up.

Sort of forces delinquent borrowers to not pay anything to their lenders and do a strategic default; rather than try to get a double-crossed bank to modify their loan via HAMP, don't cha think?

Here is the article where I got the poop on the government defaulting on its obligation to the banks:

Treasury Puts Performance of 10 Largest HAMP Servicers on Display
06/09/2011 BY: CARRIE BAY DSNews.com

The U.S. Treasury has released its regular monthly report card on the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). New this time is an assessment of how the 10 largest HAMP servicers are performing.

Four servicers have been designated as needing “substantial” improvement: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Ocwen Loan Servicing, and Wells Fargo.
For three of these – BofA, JPMorgan, and Wells – Treasury is withholding all future financial incentives until they make specific improvements. Should they fail to correct identified problems in a “reasonable time,” Treasury says it may permanently reduce their financial incentives. As problems are remedied, incentive payments will resume.
Treasury will not withhold servicer incentives owed to Ocwen because officials say Ocwen’s compliance results were “substantially and negatively affected” by its acquisition of HomEq Servicing just before the compliance testing period, which covered part of the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year.
“Treasury will withhold servicer incentives from Ocwen if future compliance results do not indicate improvements,” according to the department’s report.
The remaining six of the largest servicers have been tagged as needing “moderate” improvement: American Home Mortgage Servicing, CitiMortgage, GMAC Mortgage, Litton Loan Servicing, OneWest, and Select Portfolio Servicing.
These firms could have incentives withheld in the future if they fail to make certain improvements, Treasury explained.
All withholdings apply only to incentives owed to servicers for their participation in the federal program. Incentives slated to go to homeowners or investors will still be paid through the servicer.
No servicer has been identified as needing only “minor” improvement.
According to Treasury’s report, there are currently 608,000 permanent HAMP modifications in active status.
Servicers converted 29,000 trial mods to permanent during the month of April and started another 29,000 trial plans during the month.
Treasury notes that of trial modifications started since June 2010, the average length of the trial period has been 3.5 months and 70 percent of those have been converted to permanent modifications.
The median payment reduction among permanent mods is 37 percent, or more than $500 a month, and Tim Massad, assistant Treasury secretary, says re-defaults have been “lower than anyone expected.”
Treasury says it plans to issue program assessments of the top 10 servicers on a quarterly basis.

________________________________________

AGAIN: Throw the Bums Out!

2011-06-08T14:59:00.000-04:00

This supports my opinion in my last blog that the most important reform we need is to eliminate term limits and the self-serving politicians they breed. Let's attract successful people willing to contribute Public Service for a few years.

FROM TEAPARTYPATRIOTS.COM

"We're talking about the Four Big Lies that Republicans, Democrats, Congressmen, Senators, Reporters, and the President will tell you over the next few weeks as they try to convince you to let them raise the debt ceiling"...
There's no way to cut enough spending. So we must raise the debt ceiling. If we don't raise it America will not be able to pay back its creditors and the rest of the world will never trust us with money again. It will be a disaster!!!"

Fact
The problem is not that congress can't cut spending. The problem is that congress
doesn't want to cut spending.
There's a big difference.
The United States Government is addicted to spending money. It is a gluttonous, greedy, vulgar addiction that makes drug addicts look stable by comparison.

If you lock a heroin addict in a nice room, provide him with everything he needs to live, but give him no more heroin, what happens? He panics. He will become totally irrational, scream, cry, beg, plead, bargain, lie, steal, and (given the chance) maybe even kill to get more drugs. It would be difficult to watch him go through the painful process of breaking the addiction. But if you care about his future, you know that you cannot trust the words that are coming out of his mouth. It's the addiction talking. You stand strong and cut off his supply until the addiction is broken.

It's time to lock the government in a nice room. We will care for it and give it everything it needs to live. And because we love America, we're going to stand strong and force it to break the addiction.

The truth is that the spending can be cut quickly and in a large enough amount to avoid blowing past the debt ceiling.
At the end of President Clinton's term in office (just 10 years ago) the government was operating with a budget surplus. Some debate the specifics; but no one can debate that spending was far lower than it is now, and the economy was much better than it is now.

During President Bush's term in office federal spending climbed and climbed. Government grew faster and bigger than it should ever be allowed to do.

President Obama has had the credit card for only 28 months. And in that time the government has grown more than it did under all previous Presidents added together!

Common sense dictates that if it can be pumped up that quickly, it can be cut back quickly too.

Many of the things that will have to be reduced are popular government programs that politicians fear cutting. But we cannot continue to survive as a country if we fail to properly manage massive government programs because they're considered "sacred cows".
The "sacred cows" have run off into the wild and are going to starve to death if we don't bring them back into the barn.

We've also got a few diseased "mad cows" (like Obamacare) that just need to be put down in order to save the herd.

Mr. President, Senate, & Congress; We are not going to let youraise the debt ceiling. So stop asking. Now move on"

WHY TO NOT VOTE "REPUBLICAN"

2011-06-08T08:24:00.001-04:00

Here is a paragraph from John Mauldin's newsletter that is very enlightening...

"Europe, America and Japan draw their economic managers from the ranks of professionals sliding back and forth between the banks and finance ministries – what the Japanese call “descent from heaven” to the private sector where worldly rewards are greatest.

It is not merely delayed payment for past service. Their government experience and contacts helps them influence the remaining public bureaucracy and lobby their equally opportunistic replacements to promote pro-financial fiscal and monetary policies – that is, to handcuff government and deter regulation and taxation of the financial sector and its real estate and monopoly clients, and to use the government’s taxing and money-creating power to provide bailouts when the inevitable financial collapse occurs as the economy shrinks below break-even levels into negative equity territory."

I have a college degree, have earned Mercedes level income and have always voted Republican.

I did not have time to learn how some "conservative" values were self-serving. If you had extra money and were an "investor", if you had a "financial advisor" you were a Republican and a patron of our financial institutions.

However, our current Republican Congressmen are in bed with Wall Street. They depend on them for contributions and get-me-elected-again, support. They have nearly ruined our country using debt to finance pork and political payoffs .

I am now a local "Tea Party" Independent. Until and Unless I find out Tea Party candidates are just as self-serving and corrupt as the ones we already have.

I think the only real answer is term limits. "Throw The Bums Out" Don't let the bastards make a well-paying career out of "public service". Kill their health and retirement benefits. Our current politicians are a ruling class, not public servants.

(My quote is from The Stark Choice for Europe - John Mauldin's Outside the Box E-Letter)

Can't Decide What to Fear Most-Local Crime and Gangs or Jihadists

2011-06-04T22:05:00.000-04:00

I stopped into a gun store opening up here in Palm Coast. That will make four in town I think. After the visit I decided to start writing a new Blog "Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition" to give myself a chance to rant about local crime and also how slow we are to recognize the danger of Jihad. Here is a revised blurb on something I read on another blog:

Join the movement to stop Islamic expansionism in the West! We are now a rag-tag coalition. We come from different world views, religions, races, lifestyles and political parties.

But remember those wonderful World War II movies that depict American units composed of an ethnic mix from central casting--a New York Jew, an Irishman, a Southerner, a Midwesterner--each with starkly different family backgrounds and beliefs, waiting for combat. They were welded into a rough, durable unit by the common threat they faced: diabolical racist aggression by Nazi Germany.

Split as we might have been on Dec. 6, 1941 about the wisdom of taking part in the Second World War. Resentful as Irish-Americans might have been of Great Britain. Torn as Italian-Americans felt about invading Italy. Suspicious as Christians might have been about sending aid to Stalin's Russia... when our nation was openly attacked we pulled together for the duration of the fight.

We did not highlight our differences or broadcast the grudges(some of them justified) we held against each other. We shrugged them off and soldiered on. That is what we must do now against the new threat to our nation, Muslim Jihadists. Join me. Stand up! Speak Out!

About Local Crime: I need to put together contacts who can help me expand on the short, local "Cops Corner" weekly column in the Palm Coast Observer. To get data on who and where the four Gangs we are purported to have in Palm Coast are located. To track and report on which areas of town are or are becoming Crime Ridden. Do you know anyone I can talk with? At the Palm Coast Police Department? Sheriff's Department? Drop me a comment.

God Bless America! Long Live God!

Inflation, Outliving My Money, Jobless Realtor=Ebay!

2011-06-03T12:11:00.000-04:00

Desperation is the mother of innovation. I need a fun way to earn some money.

I contemplate...

(a) Palm Coast does not have its own Craig's List. We have to use Daytona's or St. Augustine's.
(b) I used to give stuff to a pack n ship guy who put things on Ebay for a fee; but he closed up shop.
(c) I have been giving good stuff to GoodWill

IDEA!
Wife wants to give away an extra set of dishes. Online research suggests they are worth almost a thousand. I look around the house. There's all kinds of chatchkees we could be getting rid of.

AND...My friend is thinking about bankrupty and wants to unload a bunch of stuff first and spend the money before he files.

AND...I have a hand gun I want to sell so I can by a shotgun.

CONCEPT: Open an Ebay store to sell and ship. But also sell large stuff like furniture and lawnmowers for pickup in Palm Coast.

Recognize the Recession! People are interested in good used stuff at cheap prices. Combine Craig's List convenience and inspection advantages with Ebay's ability to reach lots of people. Let people know about interesting and useful things for sale at bargain prices. Classify them as to whether they can pick the thing up in Palm Coast or whether it needs to be shipped to them.

I don't plan to buy stuff at garage sales and flea markets and places like that for resale. But I will take interesting stuff on consingment and sell it for a small fee plus out of pocket costs if I think will help draw visitors to my store.

Think I can do it?

I do! I am busy taking pictures of those dishes!

AND I am looking for someone with Ebay expertise to train me on the nuances of running an Ebay store.

Got Something to Sell? Drop me an email with a photo: tedleshersr@gmail.com. Use TALK TO TED for the subject line or it will probably get deleted before I read it.

Also send me an email and use TALK TO TED if you want me to hire you for your Ebay expertise or if you really know ebay and would like to make some extra money helping me post items. ($10 hr to start. Remember I am a starving, 74 year-old retiree!)

Designing A Computer Screen?

2011-02-19T07:15:00.000-05:00

One of my former consultants, Susan Weinschenk, writes a good blog "What Makes Them Click". Useful for anyone designing anything for a computer screen...

Cognitive loads are expensiveYou are paying bills at your online banking website. You have to think about what bills need to be paid when, look up your balance, decide how much to pay on your credit cards, and push the right buttons to get the payments processed. As you do this task, you are thinking and remembering (cognitive), looking at the screen (visual), and pressing buttons, typing, and moving the mouse (motor).
In human factors terminology these are called “loads”. The theory is that there are basically three different kinds of demands or loads that you can make on a person: Cognitive (thinking and remembering), Visual, and Motor.
Not all the loads are equal — Each of the loads uses up different amounts of mental resources. You use up more resources when you ask people to look at something or find something on a screen (visual) than when you ask them to press a button or move a mouse (motor). You use up more resources by asking people to think or remember or do a mental calculation (Cognitive), than when you ask them to look at something on a screen (Visual). So from a human factors point of view, the order of the loads from most “expensive” to least is:
Cognitive (most “expensive”)
Visual
Motor (least “expensive”)
It’s all about trade-offs — From a human factors point of view, when you are designing a product, application, or website, you are always making trade-offs. If you have to add a few clicks, but by doing so the person doesn’t have to think or remember as much, that is worth it. Clicking is less of a load than thinking. I once did some research on this topic. People had to go through more than 10 clicks to get the task done, and at the end they would look up and smile and say, “That was easy!” because each step was logical and gave them what they expected. They didn’t have to think. Clicking is less of a load than thinking.
Reduce loads to make it easier — Most of the time when considering loads in design we are looking to reduce the loads (especially cognitive and visual) to make the product easier to use.
Increase loads to grab attention — But sometimes you want to increase the load. For example, to grab someone’s attention you might put more visual information (pictures, animation, a video) and thereby increase the visual load of the product.
Increase loads = gaming — The best example of purposely increasing loads is gaming. A game is an interface where one or two or three of the loads has been intentionally increased in order to provide challenge. Some games have high cognitive loads, some have high visual loads, some have high motor loads, and some have purposely increased more than one load.
Have you evaluated a website or product from this point of view? Have you designed a product or website from this point of view?

100 Things You Should Know About People: #60 — Cognitive “Loads” Are The Most “Expensive”
Posted: 17 Feb 2011 09:32 PM PST

PALM COAST RUSSIANS: Planning a vacation? Check out this report on which countries do the most drinking

2011-02-17T12:18:00.000-05:00

http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/global_alcohol_report/

What bars do my Russian neighbors favor in Palm Coast? Most of those I know go to the liquor store and drink at home. If there are some popular bars where Russian speakers gather, please post them here as a comment.Talk to Ted!

PALM COAST RUSSIANS-HEAR WHAT ALJAZZEERA SAYS ABOUT EGYPT

2011-02-17T08:43:00.002-05:00

My Russian neighbor gets the Brighthouse Russian TV channel and doesn't watch much regular TV. She does use her computer to talk with friends and relatives. I thought our large Russian community might be helped if I edit the Aljazzeera website for its point of view on world happenings.

Here is what they say about Egypt. Please drop me a comment if you find this useful in helping you determine your own position. Use the link to go directly to the article. I think you will be able to search and find the Russian language version of their website. Please post it here as a comment if you find it.

The Egyptian revolution has resurrected pan-Arabism but this is not the pan-Arabism of previous generations

The Egyptian revolution, itself influenced by the Tunisian uprising, has resurrected a new sense of pan-Arabism based on the struggle for social justice and freedom. The overwhelming support for the Egyptian revolutionaries across the Arab world reflects a sense of unity in the rejection of tyrannical, or at least authoritarian, leaders, corruption and the rule of a small financial and political elite.

Arab protests in solidarity with the Egyptian people also suggest that there is a strong yearning for the revival of Egypt as a pan-Arab unifier and leader. Photographs of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the former Egyptian president, have been raised in Cairo and across Arab capitals by people who were not even alive when Nasser died in 1970. The scenes are reminiscent of those that swept Arab streets in the 1950s and 1960s.

But this is not an exact replica of the pan-Arab nationalism of those days. Then, pan-Arabism was a direct response to Western domination and the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel. Today, it is a reaction to the absence of democratic freedoms and the inequitable distribution of wealth across the Arab world.

We are now witnessing the emergence of a movement for democracy that transcends narrow nationalism or even pan-Arab nationalism and which embraces universal human values that echo from north to south and east to west.

This is not to say that there is no anti-imperialist element within the current movement. But the protests in Egypt and elsewhere promote a deeper understanding of human emancipation, which forms the real basis for freedom from both repression and foreign domination.

Unlike the pan-Arabism of the past, the new movement represents an intrinsic belief that it is freedom from fear and human dignity that enables people to build better societies and to create a future of hope and prosperity. The old "wisdom" of past revolutionaries that liberation from foreign domination precedes the struggle for democracy has fallen.

The revolutionaries of Egypt, and before them Tunisia, have exposed through deeds - not merely words - the leaders who are tyrants towards their own people, while humiliatingly subservient to foreign powers. They have shown the impotence of empty slogans that manipulate animosity towards Israel to justify a fake Arab unity, which in turn serves only to mask sustained oppression and the betrayal of Arab societies and the aspirations of the Palestinian

people.http://english.aljazeera.net/video/africa/2011/02/201121745529374196.html

Islam is Doomed

2011-02-12T07:19:00.001-05:00

I need to understand Islam. Their philosophy is very compelling.

God makes the rules, not man
God's church should govern man's actions
Humans are not equal; God's Chosen are superior

The West's unwavering commitment to democracy, translates into an unwavering commitment to theocracy, including an anxious impulse to resurrect the caliphate;

http://www.meforum.org/2831/can-american-values-radicalize-muslims

Of course all of these pillars of Islam are made of loose sand. They, themselves, cannot agree just which man has the direction connection to God and should be in charge of telling the rest of us what his rules are. Consequently, they cannot agree on who should run God's church.

Or who are God's Choosen. Which of the Islamic spin-offs is 'The True Church'

So I think we should let them squabble among themselves as they have been doing for thousands of years. We should stop interfering. We are just giving them a unifying cause; "stop westernization" to rally around.

I am convinced their women will shed their bourkas and refuse to remain uneducated and be dominated by males while the men will continue to kill each other over who should be boss.

As they continue with their internal struggles, their Sharia culture will be doomed by the Information Age. The governed will see real world alternatives. The Media Is The Message.

Multiculturalism? Sounds Nice...

2011-02-11T22:11:00.000-05:00

I brag about Palm Coast I describe how culturally diverse it is. What a sweet mix of ethnic groups from all over the world.

However, that is a two edge sword. We also have a touch of "multiculturalism"--the politically correct but weaker word for "balkanization"...

Balkanization, or Balkanisation, is a pejorative geopolitical term originally used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or non-cooperative with each other (Wikipedia)

My next-door neighbors, Russians, would not teach their children English until they were five years old. The kids had to speak in the mother tongue.

Pandering to Hispanics we have dual language signs all over our new Lowes.

Miami has been annexed by Cuba.

It's time we became outspoken on the dangers of Balkanization here in the US. I love our ethnic mix. It's healthy. It's American. But we must integrate, not segregate and we must all speak English..

Defend yourself against Foreclosure

2011-02-09T16:23:00.002-05:00

Under Water? Looking into how to defend yourself when talking to friends or your bank? Here is a very well done presentation of the homeowner's argument and the banks argument. It's a business agreement now; a contract. Not a moral obligation. The bankers are being thrown out of the temple.

On Friday we expect our government will pull out from backing mortgages.

And after the next wave of foreclosures, expect the credit card bust to happen. Why should folks not paying their mortgages bother to pay their credit card debt? Another video like this should be in the works!

http://bit.ly/ggG1sk

Honor Killing and Shari’a Explained

2010-09-13T12:36:00.000-04:00

Here is an exerpt from The Middle East Forum, a newsletter. Here is the link to the entire posting: http://www.meforum.org/2745/problem-of-honor-killings

“ …the evidence illustrates that Islamic orthodoxy generally condones the practice, whilst not explicitly recommending it per se. The most egregious case in point is the Umdat Al-Salik ("Reliance of the Sojourner" in Arabic), a manual on Shari'a (Islamic law) certified by Al-Azhar University, the most prominent and authoritative institute of Islamic jurisprudence in the world, as a reliable guide to orthodox Sunni Islam.
The manual states (01.1-2) that "retaliation is obligatory against anyone who kills a human being purely intentionally and without right," except when "a father or mother (or their fathers or mothers)" kills his or her "offspring, or offspring's offspring." Hence, according to this view a parent, who murders his or her son/daughter for the sake of "honor," whether owing to issues of chastity, apostasy and the like, incurs no penalty under Shari'a. This ruling is derived from a hadith (Sahih Muslim, Book 19, Number 4457) where it is affirmed that one should not kill a child unless one could know "what Khadir had known about the child he killed." Khadir is a figure featured in the Qur'an who accompanies Moses on a journey and kills a son of believing parents for fear that he would rebel against the will of God (18:74 and 18:80-81)”

The Power of Dissuasion...Real Estate As An Investment

2010-09-13T11:50:00.000-04:00

Here is an article in a Florida Realtors newsletter that gives four rules for purchasing an investment property. The only thing the article leaves out is that there are almost no properties available that meet all these guidelines. Are they suggesting investors stay home?

"Investment property: four considerations

NEW YORK – Sept. 7, 2010 – Real estate entrepreneur Ryan Moeller offers these four tips for anyone considering a consumer real estate investment:

1. Don’t count on appreciation. Appreciation is a bonus.

2. Watch the loan-to-value ratio. Ideally, the total cost of the purchase, fees and repairs should be no more than 70 percent of the appraised value of the property in good condition.

3. Maximize annual return. Aim for properties that can be rented for at least 1.5 percent to 3 percent of the purchase price. For example, plan to pay no more than $50,000 for a property that can be rented for $750 per month.

4. Have an exit strategy. Seek properties that are attractive enough to have value no matter what happens to the market – as rentals, for sale to other investors, or for sale to somebody who plans to live there via conventional financing or lease purchase.

Source: BiggerPockets.com, Ryan Moeller (09/01/2010)
© Copyright 2010 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688

RENT A LIS PENDENS (Pending Foreclosure) USE TED.

2010-08-25T11:22:00.001-04:00

I checked with the Realtor’s legal hotline the other day. Tenants have 90 days to stay in the house after the house has ACTUALLY BEEN SOLD ON THE COURTHOUSE STEPS. That can easily take a year or more. AND IF THE PURCHASERS THEMSELVES ARE NOT MOVING INTO THE HOME, (purchasing it as a second home or investment) YOUR LEASE MUST BE HONORED if it goes beyond the 90 days.

If you are a well qualified renter with a clean history, I can work with you to find a real bargain home to rent. No trailer trash or scam artists please.

If you have just been served with a LIS PENDENS, contact me about finding a good tenant and keeping the rent money.

Check out this info gathered in response to Wells Fargo’s aggressive tactics to get renters of houses in foreclosure to move out. Then drop me a line in the comments section below. Maybe we can work together.

“Wells Fargo Bank is committed to following all rules that protect tenants who are living in foreclosures, spokesman Jason Menke said. At the same time, Wells Fargo is in the business of lending money for home purchases, not in managing rentals, he said.

“Generally, it’s our object to get a new owner into the house as quickly as possible,” Menke said. “It’s in our best interest and that of the community to return properties to the market.”

California Attorney General Jerry Brown launched an investigation into the issue last month, partly in response to the Tenants Together report. Brown sent a letter in June to California banks, lenders, investors and law firms asking them to explain their procedures for dealing with tenants in foreclosed properties in an effort to find out whether laws are being broken.

Tenants are protected by a 2009 federal law that allows them to stay in their units for 90 days after a foreclosure notice is posted, but they have other rights as well:

• Renters can insist on staying in their units until the end of their leases, except when the new owner of a single-family home wants to move in.

• They can require banks and their agents to put all communication in writing.

• They are not required to take cash incentives to move out before the law requires.”

• Harassment, such as changing locks without a court order, entering the home without permission or shutting off utilities, is illegal.

BACK TO BUNGALOWS?

2010-08-25T09:50:00.001-04:00

The market for resale homes new construction suggests we may need a new kind of house. One that conforms better to our recent decimation of what once was a large middle class and our new rush into poverty.
I subscribe to a newsletter that sometimes has very interesting stuff. It is written by Joe Keller, Senior Loan Consultant at Prospect Mortgage in Newtown, PA. http://bit.ly/bcYAjL

The first house my parent purchased was a small, two bedroom bungalow. I still drive by it when I am in my hometown and think about how Dad shoveled coal into the furnace and took out the ashes. All within my generation!

"The American Bungalow

The American Bungalow, or Craftsman home, grew out of the Arts and Crafts Movement of the late 19th century. The movement rejected the Industrial Revolution's increasingly ornate machine-made products and the overly decorated, impractical architecture of the Victorian era.

The word "bungalow" originates in India and refers to a simple, low-built structure with porches on the outside. The American Bungalow emphasized a visibly sturdy structure, clean lines, natural materials, simplicity and efficiency. Use of space was maximized by clustering the kitchen, dining area, bedrooms and bathrooms around a central living area.

The American Bungalow also reflected a changing America — members of a growing middle class who sought an affordable home of their own where they could raise a family. This meant a floor plan integrating the kitchen with the common areas providing easy sight lines of the dining and living rooms so one could easily watch the children while preparing meals.

The American Bungalow was immensely popular. Kit homes that suppliers could ship anywhere in the country led to "bungalow mania" in the 1910s and 1920s. Sears was the most prominent supplier of these kits and reportedly sold more than 100,000 homes between 1908 and 1940. Sears bungalows are now highly prized by bungalow enthusiasts.

The American Bungalow has a distinctive style: a low, gently slopping roof, usually one story (some Bungalows have attics and dormer windows), wide overhanging eaves, exposed rafters (rafter tails), an incised porch (set beneath the roof) and tapered or square pillars (corbels) supporting the roof. Throughout the interior, designers showcased the wooden craftsmanship with exposed beam ceilings and built-in cabinetry, shelves and benches."

Want one of the least expensive homes in the US in one of the best places to live?
Move to Palm Coast...Talk To Ted!

Humm...OM, Aum...Pork U.

2010-08-23T09:53:00.001-04:00

I found this on a tattoo blog I follow…note at the end, she isn’t sure the tattoo is correct! All the more reason for the government to support research on temporary tattoo ink! Maybe one of my elected congressmen will append a research grant for temporary tattoo ink onto the next defense funding bill and include a provision the research be conducted in his home district. I support pork and no term limits!

“Om and Aum are the same thing; it's just written two different ways. Think of "Om" as the phonetic spelling and "Aum" as the actual spelling. The sound of "Aum" - the slow, calming chant many associate with the word, is the sound that was made when all of creation came into existence. The essence of the universe and all creation, wrapped up in one unimaginable and indescribable aggregate (for lack of a better term), is known as Brahman. The "Om" represents the four divine states of Brahman - metta (loving kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy), and upekkha (equanimity). Brahman is actually a core belief system in both Hinduism and Buddhism, both of which use Om regularly in their daily life. (Feel free to research further on this with the links below - it's quite fascinating.)

So, just the sound of "Aum" is so beyond human comprehension that it boggles the mind, and then there is the symbol as well. Just as Brahma is the culmination of everything, so is the Om symbol. It's written in Sanskrit, and each part of the symbol has a very significant purpose. The two curls on top of each other (that sort of look like the number 3), with the downward curl that spirals out from the "3" shape, each represent a state of consciousness. The large, bottom curl stands for the normal state of being awake, which you probably are in right now. The curl above it stands for deep sleep, while the curl emanating out from the center of the two represents the dream state. Those are the states of consciousness that every human on earth experiences. But the dot and the open curve above that is what elevates the symbol to a much higher and more sacred meaning. The dot represents absolute consciousness; that's not the same as merely being awake, but it means being fully aware of yourself and everything around you. The open curve that cradles the dot represents an infinitely open mind, which is required to achieve that level of absolute consciousness.* (See note below)

As you can see, it's not just a soothing chant or a pretty symbol. If you plan to place an "Om" on your body, you need to understand and embrace all that it stands for.

Note: After my own personal research on this symbol, it occurs to me that the symbol in the tattoo seen here may actually be incorrect as it's missing the dream state curl to the right of the "3" shape. I'm not knowledgeable enough on the subject to know if this is an acceptable variation to those in the various faiths that hold the "Om" in great esteem. I'm going to continue doing some research and will hopefully have more information to add in coming weeks. There are, however, known acceptable variations: the Jain Om, the Tibetan Om, the Vedic Om, and the Sikh Ek Onkar.”

I TOLD YOU…THE U.S. GOVERNMENT WILL SOON OWN LOTS OF HOUSES!

2010-08-18T14:59:00.000-04:00

Hot off the Florida Realtors newsletter is this quote from a meeting Obama just had with a bunch of big bankers: “Bill Gross, the managing director for bond giant Pimco, suggested Fannie and Freddie should be formally merged into the government. He also called on the administration to allow millions of homeowners to automatically refinance their loans to help stimulate the economy.”
Others were a bit more coy about it…”A more widely held view at the conference is for the government to do away with Fannie and Freddie, and instead provide a guarantee that mortgage investors get paid even if borrowers default in droves.”

To read the entire article go to http://bit.ly/cqKvM2

PALM COAST RUSSIANS (Ukraine)

2010-08-18T08:17:00.000-04:00

This video is being promoted on YouTube. It’s about Kiev and Odessa’s sex problem. It’s very long, but you might be interested. It would be nice to see an outreach from the Palm Coast Russian community to the street kids. Some groups are mentioned in the video-you might try contacting them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL-Y-W59BFo
If you have a Russian relative or friend who wants to move here. Talk ToTed ! I use my next door neighbor, Janna, to translate. (Also use other next door neighbor, Alex, for my Haircuts!)

DEMOCRACY HAS A PROBLEM

2010-08-18T06:28:00.001-04:00

I went to a “Meet the Candidates” night last night. I had attended one a few weeks ago. Want to become more politically active and informed. Think the country is at a tipping point.

The Problem: too many choices, too little information, no organization of content. We are having a primary election here on August 24. The sample ballot had 78 names on it; some of them duplicated in the “Nonpartisan” sections. And the labels: "Circuit Judge, 7th Circuit, Group 3" Define that for me please??

You can’t do good research on all these candidates. The best I can do is get a quick first impression or take some partisan’s word that their guy is best…and not too many of my friends-one’s whose political judgment I respect and feel akin to-are political partisans.

I have put “Campaign Financing” at the top of my list of priorities for the country. This is one area where the government does have to step in. Integrating and evaluating info from my internet, TV, print, and radio sources is impossible for me to do well. We need an effective system in place that makes it easy to become educated on issues and to learn where candidates stand.

I will take a shot and vote in this election, but who I vote for will depend more on the Holy Spirit than my reasoning capacity, and I am not sure God wants to take a position for me.

Term Limits is second on my list of political priorities. But if I can’t figure out who to vote for in the first place; why worry more about term limits.

Since I can’t make a well-informed decision on who to vote for, I offered to sign an absentee ballot for $10 for anyone who wants my vote. I think that would be a better way to buy votes than spending money on all those negative, Taqiyya and Kitmun television ads that are driving me crazy. Can I do that legally?

Know what a Twelver is?

2010-08-15T19:17:00.003-04:00

O'Bama opted out from opening a discussion about whether CAIR and the NY Mosque Muslims are a religious movement or a political movement.

I don't know much about the nuances of Islam. I wanted to know about the 'Twelvers'. My Wikipedia-derived explaination (a) taught me a little and (b) gave me a glimpse of how much division there is among Muslims.

TWELVERS:
"Twelver or Imami Shīa Islam is the largest branch of Shī‘ī (Shi'a) Islam. Adherents of Twelver Shī‘ism are commonly referred to as Twelvers, which is derived from their belief in twelve divinely ordained leaders, known as the Twelve Imāms and their belief that the Mahdi will be none other than the returned Twelfth Imam that disappeared and is believed by Twelvers to be in occultation. Approximately 85% of Shī‘a are Twelvers, and the term Shi'a Muslim as commonly used in English usually refers to Twelver Shī‘a Muslims only."

Twelvers share many tenets of Shī‘ism with related sects, such as the belief in Imāms, but the Ismā‘īlī and Zaydī Shī‘ī sects each believe in a different number of Imāms and for the most part, a different path of succession regarding the Imāmate. They also differ in the role and overall definition of an Imām. The Shia Muslims believe that following the Prophet Muhammad's death, leadership should have passed directly to his cousin/son-in-law, Ali.

The Twelver faith is predominantly found in Iran, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, ((Afghanistan)) and Kuwait. It also forms a large minority in India, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Throughout history, Shia Muslims have not recognized the authority of elected Muslim leaders, choosing instead to follow a line of Imams which they believe have been appointed by the Prophet Muhammad or God Himself.

WHAT ABOUT SUNNI'S?

"The division between Shia and Sunni dates back to the death of the Prophet Muhammad, and the question of who was to take over the leadership of the Muslim nation. Sunni Muslims agree with the position taken by many of the Prophet's companions, that the new leader should be elected from among those capable of the job. This is what was done, and the Prophet Muhammad's close friend and advisor, Abu Bakr, became the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. The word "Sunni" in Arabic comes from a word meaning "one who follows the traditions of the Prophet."

Sunni Muslims make up the majority (85%) of Muslims all over the world.

THE GREAT DIVIDE BETWEEN SUNNI AND SHIITE: Shiite Muslims share the belief that leadership should have stayed within the Prophet's own family, among those specifically appointed by him, or among Imams appointed by God Himself.

NOW I KNOW THAT...SO WHO IS COMMITTED TO KILLING ME; A KUFAR? ALL OF THEM?

Palm Coast Florida Houses Are Selling for Half What Was Paid

2010-08-13T13:33:00.001-04:00

Want a quick look at our real estate market? Without struggling through lots of who, what, when, where info?

I just read a Real Estate Transactions article in our weekly Palm Coast Observer newspaper (Great new paper!) where they gave a report on all the real estate transactions recorded for the week of July 19-23. The data was comprehensive by neighborhood, houses and condos. Toby Tobin of GoToby.com helped to compile it.

To give you some idea of the housing bargains here the $625K house that sold for $350 is in Palm Coast Plantation, a gated community on the Intracoastal. It has a pool that features an island with a palm tree on it and 2457 sq ft of living area.

MY LIST: I took just the amount the property sold for and the amount the sellers paid for it and made this list:
PAID/SOLD

$625,000-$350,000
231,000-113,000
499,000-215,000
177,000-168,500
290,000-120,000
136,000-95,000
358,000-120,000
254,000-116,000
290,000-139,900
92,000-54,000
430,000-208,600
47,500-95,000
415,000-213,700
149,900-55,000
164,900-175,000
314,000-120,000
?-110,000
242,600-110,000
183,700-109,000
148,500-135,000
?-112,000
248,000-127,500
257,000-125,000
258,000-125,000
145,000-170,000
285,000-132,000
There has never been a better time to buy a home in Florida. For the best deal, Talk To Ted ! (me). tedleshersr@gmail.com

It's Time To Stop Losing Money On That 'Investment' House

2010-08-11T11:01:00.001-04:00

South Florida home values see nation’s biggest drop in a year. Yes, this is SOUTH FLORIDA, but we are not doing any better, just not big enough to get headlines.

"MIAMI – Aug. 10, 2010 – South Florida home values suffered the worst decline of 25 large metropolitan areas in the second quarter of this year, falling 15 percent compared with 2009, according to a national real estate report.

The data, released Monday by analysts at Zillow, found that the median home value in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties fell to $146,500, down nearly 7 percent from the beginning of this year and a whopping 52 percent from housing’s peak values in 2006.

Nationally, median home value, including townhomes and condominiums, dipped 3.2 percent from the same time in 2009"

AND THE “OIL BELOW THE SURFACE: “Zillow found that 44 percent of South Florida single-family homes with mortgages are underwater – real estate slang for owing more on a loan than the home is worth.”

TALK TO TED If you are sitting on an investment property, waiting for the price to come back up or if you have an “Over-Priced Turkey” listed way above what the Flagler Property Appraiser says is it’s “Just Market Value” you are making a mistake. ‘Talk To Ted’ about a strategic default or a for-sale-by-owner at the market price to limit your loss on this fast-depreciating asset.

RIP OFF: Air Conditioning Repairs Rate Fixing.

2010-08-11T09:52:00.000-04:00

I was burned once already by my Palm Coast ‘five star’ air conditioning sales and repair outfit. I always used “the best” when I was younger and my income and finances were much better. No more. My first clue was when they started a “duct cleaning” service. An almost worthless service for which they charged hundreds of dollars. It doesn’t take much research to discover how near useless that investment is.

Now, the air conditioner (heat pump) I purchased from them…the one that required their “special hand made air filters” that were premium priced (and looked like they were made by ten-year-olds)…has stopped working. I think it is a thermostat problem; but I am not sure. So I called them up to make an appointment:

$70.00 for a ‘service call’ to drive to my house. Then they want a ‘parts and labor’ payment payable on completion.

Well, I have to budget from my social security payment, so I asked what their labor charge would be. They don’t have a labor rate. They charge a combined ‘parts and labor’ fee based on the part they replace. Huh?

I used the yellow pages and called someone who was advertising a lower price for the drive to my house; the ‘service fee’. I could have sent a taxi for them and it would cost less. When asked their labor rate I got the same answer…”we charge a combined rate for the part needed and the labor to install it”. When questioned further, it turns out that MOST OF THE AIR CONDITIONING REPAIR OPERATIONS IN OUR AREA USE A NATIONAL ‘RATE BOOK’ TO ESTABLISH THEIR CHARGES.

This is a neat way to avoid head-to-head competition on rates, expertise and service. And it allows them to hire the cheapest, least qualified help, charge the “rate book” rate, and maximize their profits. I think it’s a monopolistic practice and a scam.

I am continuing to look for an individual with a good reputation who will give me a reasonable charge for coming to my house and diagnosing the problem-it’s not rocket science. I will pay a fair fee for that.

Then I should be able to decide about who will fix it at what price. This tightly coupling of the service call, the diagnostic exam and the fixed-price repair call into a "one call/one price/payable upon completion" policy is wrong.

I think I can find an air conditioning repair person to do travel to my house and do the diagnostic for a reasonable fee and then I can check my checkbook to see if I can pay for the work they say needs to be done or get a second opinion.

If you have a good Palm Coast air conditioner repair person who does not use the “national rate book” to establish rates, please drop me a comment..

RATE FIXING-A COMMON PRACTICE: Most auto repair places use this same “rate book” monopolistic practice. But with auto repairs you can take your car to a shop, get your problem identified, and then shop for a repair price. With a plumbing or air conditioning or electrical problem in your home, you cannot.

I had one auto repair shop say I needed a new head gasket. Another said I needed a water pump. I finally took it to highly-recommended John who is US Auto in Bunnel. He said I had a leaky radiator and might also need a water pump, he had to look. He fixed the radiator and replaced the water pump after telling me what it would cost His bill was very reasonable and the car is running fine.

Gaaa! What if I had paid to have the head gasket replaced and the radiator still leaked!

"Made in America" is taking on a new meaning to me when it comes to repair services. But No, I don't want the government to take over shopping for me!

Lawyers Being Sued Over Fraudulent Foreclosure Practic

2010-08-09T10:42:00.000-04:00

The amount of delinquent Florida loans foreclosed and sold on courthouse steps has slowed down. Some of the slowdown can be attributed to the new law that requires arbitration befoe filing suit.

Another reason is that the process can be delayed by homeowners demanding proof of who really owns their loan. A major foreclosure law firm in Florida is being sued for attempting to get around this "proof of ownership" issue. This excerpt from an article from the 8/4/2010 Florida Realtor News newsletter helps explain why it is hard to determing just who owns your mortgage ..derivitives!

THE EXERPT:
"... The suit, filed last month in U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, says David J. Stern and his Plantation-based legal team violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by generating fraudulent mortgage assignments when pursuing foreclosures.

An assignment is held by the entity that has the right to receive mortgage payments.
Stern’s practice, which the lawsuit claims filed up to 7,000 new foreclosure cases in Florida every month last year, is also alleged to have pursued foreclosures for lenders that didn’t own the debt on the homes.

“There really is no proper plaintiff to sue and foreclose and that’s what this charade is designed to cover,” said Fort Lauderdale Attorney Kenneth Eric Trent, who is seeking class action status and filed the suit on behalf of Oakland Park resident Ignacio Damian Figueroa. “There is no real holder of the note and the mortgage anymore because they broke it up and sold it to 10, 12, 20 people.”

During the real estate boom, loans traded hands often, sometimes being bundled or split up and sold to investors.

Tracking the true owner of the debt sometimes can be a challenge. When pressed for proof of debt ownership, Trent said Stern’s office would create an assignment signed by a Stern employee instead of a representative of the lender attempting to foreclose."

The Oil Leak Is Halted But The Foreclosure Torrent Has Not

2010-08-04T11:50:00.002-04:00

Sell your “investment” house now. It is a depreciating asset that will continue to decrease in value for several more years until the foreclosure flood recedes!
Talk To Ted!

HUFFINGTON POST-It's like picking fly shit out of pepper

Whenever I tell my friends I follow the Huffington Post on Twitter, they berate me and think I must be a left wing activist. Truth is, this Blog has some of the best writers in the country contributing to it. It has great news coverage. If you follow it on Twitter and pick out articles that interest you, you will really be surprised. Of course, you have to ‘verify’. Just like what you see on TV or read in magazines and newspapers. But this is not a 'political-only' Blog.

For example, here is what they have to say about Obama’s sleight-of-hand to mask the real crisis that still exists in housing.

EXTEND AND PRETEND: “President Barack Obama's signature plan to combat the housing crisis has fallen short of its goals -- rather than significantly and permanently reducing home foreclosures, it is only delaying them.

The administration unveiled its Making Home Affordable plan in February 2009. Obama vowed in front of an audience gathered at Dobson High School in Mesa, Ariz., that MHA's signature effort, the Home Affordable Modification Program, would "enable as many as three to four million homeowners to modify the terms of their mortgages to avoid foreclosure."

The $75 billion initiative -- $50 billion from the bank bailout, $25 billion from government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- was designed to induce lenders, servicers and investors to modify distressed mortgages through a series of cash incentives.

It's not working.

In its first year, 1.5 million people were invited to try HAMP. About 40 percent of those who tried it have been kicked out of the program; fewer than that have been given an actual shot at keeping their homes.

When President Obama took office, it took an average of 319 days to complete a foreclosure, according to Jacksonville, Fla.-based data provider Lender Processing Services. Now it takes 461 days.

Extending the process by which homes enter foreclosure allows banks to continue carrying the loans on their books at full value, delaying loss recognition. That allows unhealthy banks to appear healthy, staving off costly bank failures.

As a result, fewer homes hit the market in a distressed state. Home prices stopped their free fall.

"Extending and pretending was the right thing to do last year," says John Burns, a housing industry consultant based in Irvine, Calif. "It pains me to say that, but that's the situation they've got us into. Throwing these people out on the street and selling their homes would have depressed home prices."

The strategy has achieved stability for the housing market, but not for the people inside the houses. Families are merely given more time to wonder when sheriff's deputies will finally pile their belongings on the curb.

A Year Into HAMP, 'We're Losing Our Home'

Bea and Terry Garwood applied to JPMorgan Chase for HAMP help in April 2009 and were approved for a "trial" modification that July because they met the core requirements: their house payments took up more than 31 percent of their monthly pre-tax income; they lived in their home; they owed less than $729,000; and they were at risk of default. Garwood says the HAMP trial reduced their monthly payment on their two-story home in Pinckney, Mich., by nearly $500 to about $1,175 -- a huge relief, she adds.

A HAMP trial is supposed to become "permanent" after three months, but Garwood's dragged on for nine. "They kept on saying a bank statement was missing, or one of the documentations wasn't signed, or they didn't have the affidavit, or the hardship letter," Garwood says. "And then on March 19, I received a letter saying, 'You do not qualify for a permanent modification. You now owe us $12,000.'"

Chase rejected the Garwoods for two reasons, according to the letter Garwood received: The bank claimed their monthly mortgage payment amounted to less than 31 percent of their income and they failed HAMP's opaque "Net Present Value" test, a complex Treasury Department formula that servicers use to determine if a modification will make investors more money than a foreclosure. Garwood says that Chase assumed they had an inflated income by looking at deposits to their bank account and ignoring the money paid out to the people who work for her husband, a roofing subcontractor. If Chase went by the Garwoods' tax forms, she claims, the bank would realize they make thousands of dollars less every month and the couple would qualify for a permanent modification. Chase declined to comment.

Garwood says that the difference between their reduced payments during the trial period and what they would have paid otherwise, plus late fees, is $12,000. She says they can't possibly afford it all at once but that they would have found a way to make full monthly payments if they hadn't been lured into HAMP. They stopped making payments in April, shortly after they were turned down for a permanent modification. Sheriff's sales have been set for June, July, and now August. Garwood says she thinks she may be able to continue to dodge the foreclosure for a little while longer, but she's not exactly grateful for the extra time.

"They told us we were a great candidate, so we went for it," she says. "And as a result we're losing our home."

Treasury Department officials downplayed HAMP's role in the administration's foreclosure prevention efforts in an interview with HuffPost, insisting that the goal of helping three to four million people is broader than just HAMP or even the umbrella program under which it falls, Making Home Affordable.

"Foreclosure prevention was only one piece of the administration's approach to stabilize the housing market that included... interest rates at historic lows [for] increased affordability and refinancing, support for [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] to make sure there was a mortgage market available, and the homebuyer tax credit to stimulate demand," says Phyllis Caldwell, chief of Treasury's Homeownership Preservation Office. "HAMP is one part of foreclosure prevention."

'Anemic' Number of Permanent Modifications

HAMP gives servicers and investors $1,000 incentive payments for permanent modifications, and additional payments each year that borrowers stay current. Through June, Treasury has disbursed just $247 million for successful modifications, according to a July 21 report by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The TARP auditor called the number of permanent modifications "anemic."

"HAMP has not put an appreciable dent in foreclosure filings," SIGTARP's report to Congress notes. "[F]oreclosure filings have increased dramatically while HAMP has been in place, with permanent modifications constituting just a few drops in an ocean of foreclosure filings."

"There is some extending and pretending going on," says Celia Chen, an economist and specialist in housing for Moody's Economy.com. "Many trial modifications have failed to become permanent modifications. We're starting to see the number of REOs [bank-owned homes] rising."

During Obama's first three months in office, banks repossessed nearly 191,000 homes. In the three-month period ending in June 2010, that number jumped to 270,000 -- a 42 percent increase.

More than 529,000 homeowners have been kicked out of HAMP through June, Treasury figures show. About 1.2 million entered the program with a promise and expectation of permanent relief. Roughly 389,000 are benefiting from the "permanent" modifications guaranteed to keep their payments down for five years.

Lenders have repossessed more than three times as many homes during this time.

The Treasury Department rolled out the program quickly, and initially allowed servicers to put borrowers into trial modifications without solid documentation of their income -- a mistake that auditors of the program say inflated the number of people in trial mods that would never pan out. Every few months, Treasury released additional directives that, among other things, have expanded the criteria that servicers might use for income verification, from 4506-T tax forms and pay stubs initially to documents that reflect unemployment benefits and alimony payments.

Servicers frequently complain that such constant changes to the program make it difficult to administer, according to government auditors, including SIGTARP and the Elizabeth Warren-led Congressional Oversight Panel.

HAMP homeowners know a thing or two about delays and supplemental directives: Banks' requests to resend lost paperwork dominate complaints about the program. Of the 364,077 trial plans, 166,000 have dragged on for longer than six months.

Teresa Follmer, an interior designer in Mesa, Ariz., tried over a year to modify her mortgage with Countrywide (now Bank of America) before discovering that she'd met HAMP's eligibility requirements in May 2009. But when she tried to apply, Countrywide told her it didn't do HAMP mods, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in July. After Follmer called the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions to complain, a Bank of America executive got in touch and initiated a long series of back-and-forth discussions.

Many unhappy HAMP recipients have similar stories to the one outlined in Follmer's lawsuit: In response to the executive's request, Follmer compiled personal financial information and sent it to the bank, which acknowledged receipt the following day. A week later, Bank of America sent Follmer a notice of its intent to foreclose on her home. The bank then advised Follmer to gather up her financial information again and resubmit her application. In October, she received a package indicating her HAMP trial would begin -- and another package days later asking her to send additional paperwork. In January, Bank of America asked her to send a missed payment (which she denies she missed) and yet more documentation. In February, the bank thanked her for making payments and asked her to send her pay stubs and her tax returns (again). In May, Bank of America said it would foreclose because Follmer missed trial payments. When Follmer protested, she was told she could start her trial period all over again. But then in June, the bank told her she owed $23,988 and would lose her home if she didn't pay.

Follmer's suit, one of several across the country seeking class-action status, alleges that Bank of America "regularly falsely informs borrowers that it did not receive requested information and demands that documents be re-sent."

A Bank of America executive acknowledged the paperwork problems in June: "We continue to train and retrain to try to improve our process and we've done a lot of things to try to make sure we don't lose documents anymore," he said during a conference call with reporters. "We do think the experience is getting better and better, but again, it's still not the level we would hope it to be because we still have more customer complaints than we believe are acceptable."

Homeowners in New York City sued JPMorgan Chase for allegedly telling them to quit making payments in order to qualify for the program (similar suits have been launched against Chase in California and Seattle). "I trusted them because they're a big bank. I did whatever they asked me to," plaintiff Alex Lam told HuffPost. "Just to get a modification, that's all I'm asking for... Since day one, that's all I'm asking for."

The Government Accountability Office notes in a June 24 report that Treasury had yet to fine a single servicer for noncompliance. In fact, Treasury had yet to even formalize its penalty scheme. The GAO says that Treasury's lack of clear consequences "risks inconsistent treatment of servicer noncompliance and lacks transparency with respect to the severity of the steps it will take for specific types of noncompliance."

Treasury's enforcement of the rules has been limited to prodding servicers to do better, and requiring them to review borrowers' applications. While Treasury has the contractual right to claw back payments made to servicers, it has yet to do so. The agency declined to offer reasons why it has not done so.

TO SEE THE REST OF THIS STORY, GO TO: 'EXTEND & PRETEND': Inside Obama's FAILED Foreclosure-Prevention Program http://huff.to/cFg3pP (via @HuffPostBiz)

What New Houses Will Look Like

2010-07-28T15:36:00.001-04:00

I just read and article in my Florida Realtors newsletter about what the architecture of a new house will look like once the market for new builds revives. It is and easy read and I agree with what it predicts.

Here is the most interesting part of the article:

"Andy Chambers has seen the boom and the bust. He’s president of both MasterCraft Builder Group and the Northeast Florida Builders Association. “Are people going to build bigger, higher-cost houses for the most part?” he said. “I think not.”

Rooms that encourage just a single use -- formal living rooms and dining rooms, isolated media rooms --will be the first to go.

“People are just looking more carefully at the space that’s useful,” said Skinner.

In coming years, look for multi-use rooms of flexible design, featuring lots of open space. That central living area is more spacious, tied into a kitchen that’s functional but not over-the-top.

The family area will be focused even more so around the TV screen, which will be even larger, said Skinner: “The TV has taken the spotlight, and people aren’t as ashamed of it as they used to be.”

He also expects kitchens to be more practical than extravagant. And bathrooms? They won’t be the “palaces” of past years. They’ll be nice, sure. But who really needs a palace for a bathroom?

Skinner said there’s plenty of room in the future for modern-looking houses, but he expects something of a return to a more traditional look. “I think there’s this sense of what a home looks like,” he said. “Proportions will become closer to something that looks classically driven; the scale of homes will be more pleasing to the eye. There’s been a lot of movement in the directions of neighborhoods that are more into the Avondale, Riverside, San Marco design.”

For years, people have been envisioning smart “Jetsons”-style houses packed with centralized high-tech systems that will run the whole building. Those predictions were likely overblown, said Chambers, the builders association president. “The high-tech houses, quite honestly, have never taken off, and I think that’s because technology has exceeded the high-tech houses, because of wireless for the most part.”

And the much-ballyhooed green house? People are slowly moving that way, though Leinenweber points out that most green construction methods remain too expensive for widespread use. Better insulation and more efficient windows, however, have come down in price enough to be popular.

Leinenweber said he’s also seeing less reliance on conventional building materials. Instead, there’s more cement composite siding and recycled plastic and PVC trim."

One key issue this article leaves out is the trend toward multi-generation living. Parents and a divorced child with kids of her own sharing Mom's house. Children moving in to care for a parent; a sick and aging parent moving in with a child rather than a nursing home (the parent usually bringing along an income and some nice assets). It's very evident here and, in this Great Recession, very practical. Moranda is selling lots of six bedroom houses in Palm Coast!

Where homes are affordable in the US

2010-07-27T11:23:00.000-04:00

CNNMoney.com published a story about "Residents who live in these 25 growing towns see their incomes go the furthest." Two of the towns are in Florida; Deltona and Deerfield Beach. Neither one offers as good a lifestyle as Palm Coast as was reported in Fortune when we were chosen one of the five top places to retire in the country.

But I did get an interesting perspective on each of the 25 they picked. They gave a little rationale about the area after each selection. You might want to skim through the article and see who was picked and why...meanwhile, I am studying Canopy Walk and all the condos in Palm Coast and have an appointment to help a homeowner do a "For Sale By Owner" in Island Estates, a gated part of Hammock Dunes on the Intracoastal that I think is the finest section of Flagler County...if you have over a million to spend on a home!

Looking for a Real Estate Consultant or Buyers Agent? Talk To Ted!

HERE'S THE LINK:
http://bit.ly/99rPhV

Today, It’s Almost An ‘Investors Only’ Housing Market-You Got The Cash, You Get the House.

2010-07-25T19:58:00.000-04:00

I have written before about how difficult it is for the everyday person to purchase a house at the bargain prices most are selling for today.
Today I read the article below. It confirmed what I told my Broker/Owner cousin in New Jersey who I visited last week. “Bank-Owned” is where it’s at and only investors are savvy enough and willing to take the risks of purchasing a Bank-Owned house and put up with all the crap they give you...’take it or leave it’; ‘Our way or the highway’…and they still get multiple offers because many investors have not yet read “Aftershock” and think the housing market is near bottom. I don’t.

Here is the article. I have highlighted the good parts so you can skim it.

"Hungry for homes, buyers are edged out"
MIAMI – July 23, 2010 – When Joel Flores learned that his girlfriend was pregnant, he decided it was time to get serious about buying his first home. After 12 years of saving up, the 38-year-old computer technician set his eye on South Florida’s depressed foreclosure market, certain he could land a steal.

But like many other middle-income Floridians looking to buy, he found savvy investors were beating him to the punch on foreclosures in the under-$150,000 market he could afford.

As South Florida’s home sales have continued to outpace national trends, distressed properties are still dominating the market, with more than half of all homes and condos sold last month at some stage in the foreclosure process. And cash-happy investors have been scooping up these bargain basement deals at a fast clip, often before middle-income buyers can get financing.

According to figures released Thursday by Florida Realtors, South Florida’s sales of existing homes and condos saw increases in June compared to the same month last year, even as national sales slumped with a post-tax-credit hangover. Miami-Dade sales of single-family homes increased 1 percent to 686, and condo sales jumped 33 percent to 855.

In Broward, single-family home sales were down 2 percent year-over-year to 862 in June, and 1,003 condo sales represented an 8 percent increase for the year.

Year-over-year prices are down nearly across the board, and a deeper look offers up one reason for the ever-falling home values: Most of sales taking place these days involve distressed, discounted properties. Short sales and purchases of bank-owned home accounted for 60 percent of home sales in Miami-Dade last month, and 56 percent of sales in Broward. Nationally, distressed properties have accounted for about 30 percent of sales this year.

With plenty of properties still defaulting – South Florida has had 95,357 foreclosures in the first six months of 2010 – investors from across the country and abroad have decided to come to the rescue, cash in hand, and often to the detriment of people needing a mortgage to buy a primary residence.

“It’s outrageous,” Flores said. “Investors have a pretty good monopoly on it.”

Since foreclosures sell at an average discount of about 25 percent, their dominance of the local real estate market – and the presence of investors negotiating all-cash deals – have put additional downward pressure on average home prices.

Median sales prices for single-family homes in Miami-Dade were $203,300 in June, down about 4 percent from June 2009. That price represents an increase of 3.4 percent from May. For Miami-Dade condos, median sales prices were $128,800 in June, down 9 percent from the same month a year earlier.

In Broward, the median single-family home sold for $209,600 in June, up 2 percent from the year before, but down 3 percent from May. Broward condos saw their median prices slip to $78,600 last month, down 6 percent for the year and 3.5 percent for the month.

Statewide, median home prices were at $143,400 in June, down 3 percent for the year. Florida condo prices found a median at $95,000, down 16 percent for the year.

The low prices and deluge of foreclosure filings have given Miami-based investor Julian Dominguez plenty of properties to choose from as he decides where to invest his money and the funds of clients who have hired him.

Tough deals

Dominguez, president of Foreclosure Investment Systems, said market forces are at play, and while those forces tend to prefer investor cash over the often-uncertain financing of the average buyer, the market may actually be protecting the novices from themselves.

He said he has watched many unprofessional buyers try to take advantage of a foreclosure deal, only to be frustrated by how difficult and unpredictable the process is. Many inexperienced buyers, he said, have had to learn the hard way that along with deep discounts, foreclosures often come with baggage – huge repair bills, complex contracts and other unexpected problems.

“It’s a very dangerous thing to do,” he said of buying foreclosures without having full knowledge of the process. “But it’s a fair competition. Whoever [offers] the most takes it. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you could end up spending a lot of money.”

Flores said the discounted prices – and his girlfriend’s upcoming delivery date – encouraged him to take the plunge into homeownership after more than a decade of preparing for it financially. But each time he tries to pick up a low-priced home, he said, he finds savvy, well-connected investors standing between him and his property of choice. One investor even offered to buy Flores’ property of choice at auction and sell it to him at a 20 percent premium.

Condo-mania

Vanessa D’Souza, a sales associate with Coral-Springs based Exit Team Realty, said the swarm toward Broward County condos has intensified this year.

“We’ve seen a lot more with investor interest,” she said, pointing to Broward County’s off-peak prices as the main draw. “I’d say on average they’re getting between 10 and 12 percent return.”

While some investors, like Dominguez, aim for a quick flip, the Broward buyers D’Souza has worked with are using acquisitions to generate rental income.

In Miami-Dade, investor interest has sparked bidding wars in the under-$100,000 market, an analysis from Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors shows. Single-family homes selling at five-figure prices account for 20 percent of all sales and spend an average of 67 days on the market, down from 98 days last year and less time than any other price bracket. Short sales are up astronomically, with 562 single-family short sales in the second quarter of 2010, compared to just 10 in the same period last year.

The average short sale is purchased after about five months on the market, down from about 10 months a year ago. Bank-owned properties are being scooped up after an average of 37 days on the market, compared with 77 a year ago.

Flores, who has about seven months until his first child is born, said he plans to continue his search for a high-quality, low-cost foreclosure deal.

“I’m going to keep trying,” he said. “But from what I see my chances of getting a foreclosure deal are pretty low.”

Copyright © 2010 The Miami Herald, Toluse Olorunnipa. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

The Rules Are About To Change for Bank Loans

2010-07-14T07:48:00.003-04:00

Knowing which real estate agent's suggested price to use to sell your home has always been a challenge.  Did the agent price the home too high to show she could get the best price for the home and thereby get chosen to list the property?   Did the Realtor price the home too low to insure it would be sold very quickly with little expense or effort?
Just how good is that "Comparable Market Analysis" anyway?

Well, banks need to sell loans to FANNIE MAE and FREDDIE MAC and they generally use their rules when making a loan to a borrower. And you house is probably going to sell for the amount the bank will loan on it based on the price the bank's appraiser puts on it plus the minimum down payment percentage they require.  I think "Overpriced Turkey" listings will disappear from the marketplace.

Check out info from this article about accurate bank appraisals just sent out to Realtors:

"...Recognizing a problem, Fannie Mae instituted a new rule that becomes effective on Sept. 1.   "...Fannie Mae told its participating lenders that they must contact the appraiser to resolve disagreement" (about whether they agree the bank's appraisal is accurate). "If that fails, banks must order a second appraisal."

As a Buyers Agent, I have been suggesting to all my customers that they have me get them an appraisal from a bank-certified appraiser to use when making their offer to purchase a property. When advising someone who is listing their property, I suggest the same thing.

Also, some real estate agents doing BPA's are being pressured to give high priced, BPA's or "Broker Price Opinions" to qualify Short Sale offers. These price estimates are very similar to the "Comparable Market Analysis" agents use for listing presentations to suggest "Market Value".  Agent BPA's are much cheaper than Fee-Paid Appraisals from professional appraisers and are used to get short sale offers approved by cooperating banks.  I think these BPA's are now less likely to be affected by what the homeowner wants to have the BPA come in at.

All told, the new regulation will probably do two things; tend to lower amount banks will loan so they will be sure Fannie and Freddie will back them; and provide more uniformity to house pricing so comparable houses for sale will tend more to be listed at about the same prices.

You can read the full article at
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=243247

Looking to buy a condo or a house in Palm Coast?

Talk To Ted !
Broker Associate, Sunburst Realty Group Inc.
386-503-1101

Caught between devalued homes and job loss? Will Congress step in?

2010-07-12T20:18:00.003-04:00

I just read this article in the latest edition of The Christian Science Monitor. It gives the clearest and most up-to-date info on what is happening with foreclosure legislation.
I have taken the liberty of putting in bold copy that I think constitutes the meat of the article so you can skim this blog if you like. To see the whole article from its source you can go to the link provided below.

By Alissa Figueroa, Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor / July 12, 2010 Boston http://bit.ly/aATPRt

For almost a quarter century, Cynthia Johnson, a Boston homeowner, has paid the mortgage on her three-bedroom single-family house on time. But in July, for the first time, she'll miss a payment.

"I'm on [the bank's] doorstep at this point, saying, 'The savings are gone. I can't pay you as promised,' " she said.

Unless something changes, Ms. Johnson (not her real name) is set to join the nearly 2.4 million Americans with prime loans seriously delinquent on their mortgages. They are the new face of the housing crisis. Unlike subprime borrowers, most of these homeowners did everything right. They bought houses they could afford and used standard mortgages. But falling home prices and a protracted recession have pushed them into a classic squeeze: They can't keep up their mortgage payments because someone in the household has lost his or her job. They can't sell because they owe more than the home is worth.

"In the next 12 months it's going to be tragic – most people are just starting to fall behind now," said Avi Liss, a lawyer helping homeowners avoid foreclosure in the Boston area. According to the Center for Responsible Lending, a nonprofit research and policy group, as many as 9 million homeowners could go into foreclosure between 2009 and 2012.

Is there a solution? Yes, but it's controversial. Congress would have to force banks to write off part of homeowners' troubled loans as a way to keep them in their homes.

There are plenty of reasons to avoid this course. Chief among them is the moral hazard. If banks write down one homeowner's loans because of hardship, what's to keep other homeowners from claiming hardship, too? And the losses don't accrue to some faceless bank; they add up for individual shareholders and pension funds that have money tied up in mortgage loans.

"In a way, reducing principal is like rewarding [homeowners] for backing out of an obligation," said Stan Longhofer, director of the Center for Real Estate at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kan.

But the current program isn't working either, critics say. And the debt write-down happens anyway, whether a homeowner goes through foreclosure or the house is relinquished in a short sale. So isn't it better, they ask, for the bank to take its losses early and keep the owner in his home?

Foreclosed on, but kept his home

Osazee Egharevba, a Nigerian immigrant who came to the Boston area in 2000 after his wife passed away, worked two jobs and saved enough to bring over his five children in 2006. That same year he purchased a two-family home. He could afford the $3,950 monthly payments by renting out the first floor.

Then Mr. Egharevba lost one job, and the extra $800 a week it brought in, and started missing payments. Deeply "underwater" on the $510,000 property (owing more than it was worth), he was foreclosed on this past winter, after five failed attempts at attaining a loan modification.

"My children were going to be on the street because there was no way, there was no home," he said.

But he stayed in the house. In April 2010, a nonprofit called Boston Community Capital was able to buy the home and sell it back to him for $296,000 – the home's current value. His monthly payment has fallen to a manageable $2,300. Egharevba doesn't get off scot-free. He is bound to share with BCC any profit he makes when he sells the property.

"There's no incentive for someone to do this to make money," says Patricia Hanratty, who runs the loan program at BCC. "This is for people who desperately want to save their homes."

In the year that the program's been running, almost 70 homes have been either sold back or rented to foreclosed homeowners. None have redefaulted. When the group buys a foreclosed property, it routinely asks the selling bank if it wants to participate in the shared equity deal. Every one has declined the offer.

"They said it was too complicated; it wasn't something they were used to doing, they didn't want to get involved in it," said Ms. Hanratty. "Maybe that will turn, that will change in time."

A lesson from the farm?

There is a precedent for widespread principal reduction on property loans. During the farm crisis of the 1980s, young farmers who had bought farmland at inflated prices suddenly saw crop prices plunge and, soon after, land prices fall as well. It was a debt squeeze not unlike today's crisis for underwater homeowners who have lost their job. Seeing the unfolding rural disaster, Congress created a new chapter in the bankruptcy code. It allowed bankruptcy judges to modify loans, including partial debt write-downs, so family farmers could stay on their farm.

"People who will pull themselves out of trouble and be good credit risks again, those are the people who merit this kind of intervention and who will also help stabilize the markets," said Neil Harl, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University who helped write the bankruptcy language.

In 2008, Sen. Harry Reid (D) of Nevada introduced a similar bill for the housing crisis. But the measure languished, in large part because, at the time, subprime borrowers were in the eye of the storm and many of them had stretched to buy homes they really could not afford. Will the new foreclosure wave of prime borrowers change the political calculus? Professor Harl isnt’t optimistic.

"Unfortunately, people in Congress listen to [lobbyists]" said Harl. "They tend to drown out those that don't have as much money."

Instead, homeowners facing foreclosure can try to get their loan modified through the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP. Typically, the bank servicing the loan tries to make monthly mortgage payments affordable by extending the mortgage to a 40-year loan and reducing the interest rate. One year into the program, however, only about 300,000 of an estimated 4 million eligible homeowners have received permanent loan modifications.

Why modification requests get denied

That's partly because loan servicers were unprepared for the massive influx of loan modification requests. It's also because a loan modification is difficult to qualify for. This is particularly true for owners with big mortgages whose income has decreased, like Cynthia Johnson.

Her spiral toward foreclosure began with a divorce in 2006, which halved her $160,000 a year household income. She took equity out of her home to buy her husband out of the mortgage. When she was forced to take a $22,000 pay cut, her $2,000 monthly mortgage payments became impossible to manage.

She's gone through about $14,000 in savings to keep paying her mortgage – which now eats up more than 40 percent of her paycheck. Still, she's about $60,000 underwater and, because of that, she can't refinance again or borrow off the equity on her home. Johnson appealed to her loan servicer to adjust her monthly payments, but because she is not yet in arrears, her request was denied.

Lenders test to determine whether it is more beneficial for the investor to modify the loan and get a lower monthly payment or foreclose on the home.

"In many cases where the person's income has dropped substantially, they decide it's better to foreclose," explained Ms. Cohen.the home.

For homeowners who do qualify for a modification, few are offered principal reductions. Because less than 30 percent of the mortgages modified so far (about 98,000) included any reduction in the loan amount, many homeowners with modifications remain underwater. Some blame continued negative equity for HAMP's high redefault rate – about half of the loans modified through the program go into default.

The Treasury Department has taken sweeping steps to address problems with the program. In late March it announced a new initiative for unemployed homeowners – starting this month they will be given a three-month forbearance period before applying for a loan modification.

Underwater homeowners current on their loans will also be able to apply for refinancing from the Federal Housing Administration. This is the first time that modifications for people not yet in arrears will be performed as part of the program.

Perhaps most significantly, HAMP will now incorporate principal reduction into the refinancing process. Servicers will be required to consider the advantages of reducing principal to match the current value of the home. As an incentive, banks that reduce principal on loans will also get a fee based on how much debt was forgiven, and how deeply underwater the modified loan was beforehand.

The changes to HAMP have been hailed by housing and consumer lending advocates as a move in the right direction. But some insist that Treasury's reluctance to make one key change could significantly limit the revamped program's reach: principal reductions remain voluntary for banks.

As long as servicers can opt out of reducing principal, they will, say housing advocates – even when the only other options are a foreclosure or a short sale, which ultimately results in the property being devalued to the current market price.

"The way loan servicers get paid is that they earn a percentage of the principal balance of their book of business," said Julia Gordon, a Washington-based senior policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending. So when the dollar value of the principal outstanding on a mortgage is reduced, so are the bank's fees, she added. "You can see right there why the servicer doesn't want to write down principal."

Balancing risks

Mortgage bankers, though, insist that that argument is misguided. "The servicer would find some very minimal reduction [in fees] if a principal reduction is made," said Jay Brinkman, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. "But they're not the one making that decision – they make the recommendations, but the principal reduction has to be made by the investor."

Ultimately, the issue boils down to balancing risks: the possibility that banks are pushing too many people into foreclosure versus the danger that banks' leniency will encourage more homeowners to default so they can get their mortgage principal reduced.

There are effective ways to modify loans (like reducing interest) that won't encourage such defaults, Mr. Brinkman says. "While [principal reduction] might improve things for one borrower, will it help the economy if 10 more homeowners default and ask for a reduction?"

Should Children Learn About Condos in Kindergarten?

2010-07-12T09:10:00.000-04:00

Well if their parents are looking for one in Palm Coast, Florida they should learn about the Canopy Walk Condominiums. This, in my estimation, is one of the most desirable family oriented condominium complexes in our area with its child friendly swimming pool and water playground and its Tree House Playground. For older kids it has play lawns, a sand volleyball court, and a basketball court.

Got a boat? It has boat slips with lifts and a gazebo on the Intracoastal Waterway for fishing, or dolphin watching; a Sandy beach for launching canoes or kayaks; a seven-mile nature trail and stocked fishing lakes!

I am a Buyer’s Agent. There are great buys available in this condo complex. It has a very solvent Homeowners’ Association. Its Marina is only available to occupants and it, too, is very solvent. May Management Services manage the complex and they are about the best.

There are foreclosures, short-sales, for-sale-by-owners and MLS listed properties in Canopy Walk. Priced from below $200,000, I would love to hunt one up for a well qualified prospective buyer.

A group of local realtors with listings in the complex and headed up by Branka Damaini, Broker Associate with Palm Coast Real Estate worked with May Management and the Homeowners Association to organize a well-run Real Estate Open House that is held the first Sunday of each month. I visited the Open House for a couple hours yesterday and chatted with some of the real estate agents. My conversations confirmed this would be a very good place to buy a condominium on the Intracoastal.

The Homeowners Association allows you to rent your condo for a day, a week, a month, or a year…take your choice. You can see and read more about it at www.canopywalkca.com. Any interest in renting or buying a condo in Palm Coast? Condominiums are one of my specialties, so TALK TO TED! 386-503-1101 or tedleshersr@gmail.com

Sniffing Under The Canopy

2010-06-30T07:04:00.000-04:00

I have been checking out the May Management Website listings and contacting 'for-sale-by-owner' ads about whether they would like me to show their condos and list them on our MLS at no charge. Getting good response. (Canopy Walk is on the Intracoastal, right near the pay bridge)

Also planning to be at the Canopy Walk Realtor Open House Sunday, July 11 from 12-5 to check out properties, talk with owners, and learn as much as possible about this condo complex. I have started a notebook with all the sales and rental listings, foreclosures, for-sale-by-owners, slips for rent and everything else I can learn. I think this well managed complex is priced right and will be recommending it to my buyers.

Please add your comments about Canopy Walk to this blog post so we can see what you think. Or call me at 386-503-1101

Ted Lesher

Buyers Agent-Condo Specialist

Sunburst Realty Group, Palm Coast, FL

Ted's Going Condo

2010-06-11T14:33:00.000-04:00

I have been carefully watching the real estate market begin to improve. Or at least look like it might be beginning to pick up a bit.

I attended a learning session on Bank Owned properties last week and confirmed banks are treating prospective buyers of their properties as if they were vagrants begging for a handout. They treat their listing agents and buyer prospects with arrogance bordering on contempt. The flow of bank-owned (REO) properties onto the MLS is slowing down. Hopefully there may be less of these we have to deal with.

But I think a bright spot in the market is condo sales. I plan to get agressive with my AboutPalmCoastCondos.com and AboutCanopyWalk.com domains and concentrate my efforts on knowing everything there is to know about the Flagler/Palm Coast condo market so I can be the best Buyers Broker available.

Got one for sale? Let me know about it!
Want me to promote your "For Sale By Owner" condo, no charge?
Want me to research Tidelands, Grand Haven, Canopy Walk or any other condo complex for you, a prospective buyer?

Or add your comments about your HomeOwners Association or Condo complex as a comment to this Blog Post.

TALK TO TED !

Florida Not Spending Foreclosure Releif Money

2010-04-01T09:44:00.003-04:00

Any ideas about why, anyone?

Foreclosure help: Millions in federal money unspent in Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – March 31, 2010 – Florida and several local governments within Central Florida are way behind in spending $91 million statewide in federal funds aimed at stabilizing neighborhoods shaken by foreclosures.

Florida trails all but three other states in putting the foreclosure-relief dollars to work and could lose any funds not committed to projects by the end of September, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report this month on the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

“It’s obvious that the state … was unprepared to handle processing of those kind of grant resources and has dropped the ball,” said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, a Republican who represents parts of Polk, Osceola and Hillsborough counties.

Though HUD officials say most local governments in the country have committed about one-third of their funds by now, the cities of Deltona and Lakeland and Brevard and Volusia counties have fallen behind. Deltona, for instance, still has more than $6 million of its $6.6 million allocation.

“The challenges have been learning the … system, finding the [housing] units, negotiating with the lending institutions,” said Lee Lopez, a spokesman for Deltona city government.

Apopka, meanwhile, was one of only two of the hardest-hit cities in the state that opted not to take the federal money. City officials there did not return phone calls seeking comment, but state officials said the money Apopka would have received, had it applied for the funds, is going instead to Miami Beach, which has already exhausted its original funding.

Local and state problems in spending the foreclosure-relief dollars have come to light at a time when Florida is slated to get its largest housing-rescue package yet – $418 million as part of the federal government’s Hardest-Hit Fund. Next week in Orlando, the Florida Housing Finance Corp. will accept public comments about how to distribute that windfall.

The coming pot of money – enough to give $10 to each owner-occupied house in the state – will be distributed by Florida Housing Finance, an agency that has been unable to spend most of a $30 million pot that the state Legislature approved last year to boost homeownership across Florida.

By mid-March, only about $4 million of that money had gone to homebuyers, even though the program effectively ends April 30. The agency said it provided the money to local governments, but those agencies then had trouble finding takers. The program fronts as much as $8,000 for downpayments to qualified homebuyers who are supposed to repay the money once they get a federal homebuying tax credit for that amount. The unused millions are now likely to be rolled into other, existing housing programs.

Cecka Green, spokesman for Florida Housing Finance, said it may be difficult for the public to imagine how so much money can be allocated to a state with such great needs, only for much of the money to go unspent. But it takes time to ensure that accountability measures are in place so that such money is spent wisely, she said. SOUNDS LIKE POLITICAL WRANGLING GOING ON-TED

Like those downpayment funds, the federal Neighborhood Stabilization funds have been slow to make it to people’s doorsteps in Florida. The money is supposed to filter down from the state Department of Community Affairs to local governments and other funding groups, which then use the money to buy, rehabilitate and resell foreclosed homes in low-income areas.

If the state “doesn’t pull it together pretty quickly, they’re walking away from a lot of opportunities to help Florida homeowners who are underwater on their mortgages,” said Putnam, who serves on the U.S. House subcommittee for Housing and Community Opportunity.

State Rep. Darren Soto, D-Orlando, said he may push for an extension of the deadlines rather than risk Florida losing the money.

“Obviously a lot of us are disappointed with how slowly these monies are being spent, and a lot more is coming online,” said Soto, an Orlando lawyer. “I understand we need to be thoughtful in how we spend this money, but we can’t be thoughtful forever.”

In response to criticisms of the Neighborhood Stabilization program, the Department of Community Affairs recently hired three rapid-response technical-assistance firms to help local governments distribute the funds. It made other personnel changes to expedite the program and changed some of its requirements for cities and counties getting the funds.

“When these programs came out, everything was about fraud and oversight, and we had high levels of oversight looking for credibility,” said Janice Browning, director of housing for the Department of Community Affairs. “Did we go overboard? Maybe. But it seemed to be the right thing at the time.”

The state is now giving local governments more flexibility to look at how they spend the money, though “we will check on them” as the funds are spent, Browning added.

Putnam said he is concerned that agencies and governments may act rashly to spend the money before the September deadline.

“Our concern is that, yet again, they will be ill-prepared to handle that tranche of money in an efficient way,” Putnam said. “And, perhaps even worse, in an attempt to make sure it doesn’t get redistributed to another state, they will lower standards and misspend it.”

Copyright © 2010 The Orlando Sentinel, Fla., Mary Shanklin. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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

2010-03-25T12:06:00.000-04:00

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.

I Promise, I'll Get A Vasectomy!

2010-03-16T16:41:00.002-04:00

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'

Ted's Not Dead! About the Gout

2010-03-15T16:01:00.001-04:00

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'

To Run, Walk or Stay Put…Foreclosure Strategies

2010-03-02T14:18:00.001-05:00

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’

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

2010-03-01T17:00:00.000-05:00

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?

2010-03-01T11:07:00.001-05:00

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

2010-03-01T09:58:00.001-05:00

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/

Humping HAMP...How banks are mitigating mortgage mitigation

2010-02-28T08:41:00.001-05:00

Go Toby’s excellent Newsletter article (http://bit.ly/cGzRuZ) describes class action suits being filed because of banks failure to process the U.S. Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Here are details about HAMP From my edited version of the article in the Florida Realtors News and Events newsletter:

"WASHINGTON – Feb. 26, 2010 – A federal program designed to help owners losing their homes – those owners who cannot hold onto their property even with existing federal aid ...

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) was designed to help owners stay in homes by lowering principal, lowering interest rates and/or extending the payment period. However, some homeowners still don’t have the ability to hold onto their property under HAMP, and will inevitably lose their homes, either through foreclosure or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure (homeowners voluntarily cede ownership to the lender by mailing in their keys). To help these owners, the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) was created.

HAFA created a standardized process for short sales. It benefits real estate licensees, homeowners and lenders in some ways – including a faster short sale process – but it also creates rules that impact some real estate company policies. If dealing with HAFA short sales, however, buyers, sellers and real estate licensees must accept the terms.

For licensees, a contract that does not follow the law could be illegal; more importantly, however, a contract that does not adhere to the terms of HAFA won’t be accepted by a lender, further bogging down the slow short sale process even more and further frustrating buyers and sellers.

HAFA does not impact all short sales. Created to help only the most needy homeowners, the rules apply only under the following conditions:

• The property must be the borrower’s principal residence.

• The loan was originated on or before Jan. 1, 2009.

• The loan is delinquent or a default is reasonably foreseeable.

• The unpaid balance on the mortgage is less than $729,750 (higher for two-to-four unit properties).

• The total monthly mortgage payment exceeds 31 percent of a borrower’s gross income.

For properties that qualify under HAFA rules, real estate licensees and brokers must adhere to the following limitations:

• There can be no agreements to share any portion of a commission after the deal closes to the buyer or seller. This negates any form of commission rebate offered by some licensees.

• The transaction must be “arm’s length,” meaning the buyer, seller and Realtor cannot have a personal or familial relationship.

• A real estate licensee cannot earn a commission through the sale of his or her own house.

• A buyer must agree to not resell the home within 90 calendar days.

• A seller cannot have any expectation of buying or renting the property back after the sale.

Under HAFA... a HAFA sale fully releases them from future liability for the first mortgage debt. The program also offers financial incentives to some participants.

HAFA becomes effective April 5, 2010, but servicers may implement HAFA earlier, providing the servicer is able to collect and report all required information described in the reporting requirements. Borrowers may be accepted into HAFA if the short sale agreement is fully executed by the borrower and received by the servicer on or before Dec. 31, 2012."

THE LINK: http://bit.ly/danmnw

Shoot The Bastard

2010-02-26T09:47:00.002-05:00

Here's a doozie about an anti-gun senator in North Carolina shooting an intruder into his home!

"Long time Anti-Gun Advocate State Senator R.C. Soles, 74, shot one of two intruders at his home just outside Tabor City, N.C. about 5 p.m. Sunday, the prosecutor for the politician's home county said.

The victim, Kyle Blackburn, was taken to a South Carolina hospital, but the injuries were not reported to be life-threatening, according to Rex Gore, district attorney for Columbus, Bladen and Brunswick counties.

The State Bureau of Investigation and Columbus County Sheriff's Department are investigating the shooting, Gore said. Senator Soles who was not arrested, declined to discuss the incident Sunday evening. "I am not in a position to talk to you," Soles said by telephone. "I'm right in the middle of an investigation."

The Senator, who has made a career of being against gun ownership for the general public, didn't hesitate to defend himself with his own gun when he believed he was in immediate danger and he was the victim.

In typical hypocritical liberal fashion, the "Do As I Say And Not As I Do" Anti-Gun Activist Lawmaker picked up his gun and took action in what apparently was a self-defense shooting. Why hypocritical you may ask? It is because his long legislative record shows that the actions that he took to protect his family, his own response to a dangerous life threatening situation, are actions that he feels ordinary citizens should not have if they were faced with an identical situation.

It has prompted some to ask if the Senator believes his life and personal safety is more valuable than yours or mine.

But, this is to be expected from those who believe they can run our lives, raise our kids, and protect our families better than we can."

I follow closelythe debate about arming citizens. I have a carry permit. I think Florida has been a real positive bellweather on this issue.

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://bit.ly/RZv1A

A ‘Palm Coast Sunday’ Drive…Black Bear Scenic Byway

2010-02-26T08:48:00.001-05:00

Rah, Ray, Northern Florida! I was reading this article in Camping.com. I think it might be a nice drive one Sunday after church. Have lunch someplace in God’s country and say thanks for my blessings. When? Maybe I will wait for spring blossoming and warm weather!

THE ARTICLE:
“The Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway provides an amazingly scenic drive through some of Florida's (and the United States') most unique ecosystems. Along the way you'll enjoy rivers, lakes, forests, rare plants and animals, natural springs, and much much more.

The byway encompasses about 123 miles of road along SR 40 and SR 19. The western point of the byway lies in Silver Springs and the eastern-most point of the byway is in the city of Ormond Beach. Should you wish to take a shorter route, you can remain on SR 40 and drive between Silver Springs and Ormond Beach. This abbreviation of the byway still has a great deal of amazing sights and activities to enjoy. However, the part of the byway on SR 19, which travels right through the Ocala National Forest, will lead you to some of the most amazing sights that Florida has to offer.

If you drive west to east, you will start your journey in Silver Springs. This delightful town has plenty to offer any and all visitors. It has entertainment, fresh food, and much more. The greatest attraction of this town is the Sliver Springs themselves. Silver Springs is one of the largest spring systems in the world, and it feeds the beautiful Silver River. Visitors simply must take a ride on the glass bottom boats, which ferry people across the springs. From these boats, visitors can marvel at the vents that feed the springs.

The centerpiece of the byway is the Ocala National Forest. SR 19 bisects the forest from north to south and SR 40 crosses it from west to east. The Ocala National Forest is home to some of the rarest and most unique habitats, plants, and animals in the United States. It is the oldest National Forest east of the Mississippi and it is also the most southern National Forest in the continental United States.

The byway crosses the Big Scrub within the Ocala National Forest. The Big Scrub is the world's largest scrub forest, also called a sand pine scrub. The sand pine scrub is a very rare ecosystem that provides a home to plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. The sand pine scrub is a very desert-like ecosystem. The poor soil quickly draws the water down and away from the reach of the root systems. This scrub forest also relies on the occurrence of fires every 20-80 years in order to remain healthy. The sand pine scrub is a stunningly beautiful and remarkably rare sight, and it alone is worth a visit on the Florida Black Bear Scenic Byway.

Another interesting feature of the scenic byway is the Florida black bear. The Ocala National Forest comprises much of the habitat for the Florida black bear. This bear is related to the American black bear, but it is smaller and makes its home in Florida. Not surprisingly, the byway is named after this amazing animal. As you travel through the forest, be on the lookout for these bears, especially in the early morning.

Beyond the amazing scrub forest and the Florida black bear, the Ocala National Forest has much to offer. Within the forest, visitors will find springs, lakes, and plenty of hiking. Nature lovers will have the opportunity to view plants and animals found nowhere else in the world. The recreational opportunities range from camping, canoeing, and kayaking to swimming and scuba diving.

Travelers on the scenic byway should also spend some time enjoying the waters at some of the springs along the way. Juniper Springs is one of the best and most popular swimming spots. The water is always a pleasant 70-73 degrees. At this spring you can swim, snorkel, and just relax in the beautiful water.

Along SR 19, near the town of Salt Springs, byway travelers can take a dip in the Salt Springs. The Salt Springs provide a home to a variety of wildlife normally found only in ocean habitats, but because of the high salt content in the water these species have found a home at Salt Springs. The salt content comes from a salt deposit that the spring water rises through.

Birders and day hikers alike will also love a visit to Salt Springs. From this town, you can take the 2 mile round trip hike on the Salt Springs Trail, which will lead hikers to the Salt Springs Run. There, visitors can enjoy amazing vistas and keep a look out for birds from the observation platform. This short hike is only one of many great options for hikers along the scenic byway. Over 100 miles of the Florida National Scenic Trail run through the same area as the byway, and there are many trailheads and access points along this route.”

THE LINK: http://www.camping.com/hit-the-road/2003

There is money and help available to avoid foreclosure, but try to find it!

2010-02-23T12:09:00.001-05:00

If you are getting threats of foreclosure, there are programs and there is money. Just no clear, well-marked, well publicized path to it. They don’t want too many applicants.

I received a Florida Realtors post this morning… “A year into the program, 116,297 permanent loan modifications, including 14,598 in Florida, have been completed”

EXCERPTS FROM THE POST:

President announces $1.5 billion plan to help struggling homeowners

LAS VEGAS – Feb. 22, 2010 – A plan to channel $1.5 billion to housing agencies in five states hit hardest by the real estate crash has Florida officials hopeful they can keep more people in their homes and out of foreclosure.

Those solutions are expected to plug holes in the administration’s earlier Making Home Affordable Program, which has struggled to help unemployed homeowners who don’t have the income to qualify for a loan modification.

The program offers incentives to banks to reduce mortgage payments by cutting interest rates or principal amounts, but has been panned by critics for not reaching enough people.

The $1.5 billion in taxpayer money, which is coming from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, can be used to help negotiate with lenders to write down mortgages on underwater loans.

A year into the program, 116,297 permanent loan modifications, including 14,598 in Florida, have been completed. But that’s only a fraction of the estimated 3.4 million loans nationwide that are 60 or more days delinquent.

Boynton Beach resident Lenore Cohen, 81, said she’s been overwhelmed by the loan modification process, which she said has included harassing letters from her bank and notices of non-payment, even when she paid.

LINK TO POST:
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=233453

The post referred to the FLORIDA HOUSIING COALITION

“Jaimie Ross is President of the Florida Housing Coalition”

I looked it up. Here is some stuff about it….

“Our Vision:

The Florida Housing Coalition is the State of Florida’s affordable housing training and technical assistance provider. The Florida Housing Coalition is commonly acknowledged as the foremost authority in Florida on affordable housing, community development and related issues, as a clearinghouse for information, a provider of training and technical assistance, and an advocate at the state and national levels for people in need of affordable housing. Every Florida community, large and small, practices a community ethic reflecting a belief that access to housing that is decent, safe, affordable and of a person’s own choosing, is a fundamental right and that at least one active, viable community-based organization plays an important role in delivering affordable housing and related services in each community.

The Coalition provides information, training and technical assistance on affordable housing and related issues; supports community-based partnerships in leveraging

resources; and advocates for policies, programs and use of funding resources that maximize the availability and improve the quailty of affordable housing in Florida. The Coalition carries out this mission recognizing that affordable housing is an integral part of community revitalization and economic development.

The Florida Housing Coalition is based in Tallahassee and has six other offices throughout Florida. Our technical assistance team consists of a highly skilled and geographically dispersed network of professional staff providing technical assistance in all areas of affordable housing planning, finance, and development. Our professional technical assistance team also includes the expertise of our twenty five member board of directors. Our team is one of the largest and most accomplished statewide providers of training and technical assistance in the nation.

Florida Housing Coalition - Tallahassee Office

Phone: 850-878-4219

Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET

THE LINK:
http://www.flhousing.org/Home

The Post also refers to the US Government’s MAKING HOME AFFORDABLE PROGRAM. I looked it up:
http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/

This site is very complicated. It will take hours and hours of work to just to find out if you qualify and then to prepare the information needed before you can call a counselor and ask for help. They really don’t want applicants. It’s a political stall. Eventually, FANNY and FREDDIE will have to foreclose. The government will own a large share of the housing market, and will control housing (along with automobile manufacturing, banking…and)

We really are at a tipping point. European style “government control with some private enterprise” or “Private Enterprise with some government control. Make your choice and place your vote!

Conservative Humor?

2010-02-16T12:55:00.003-05:00

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:
1. Liberals
2. Conservatives
Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement...

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud.. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans.

Ted Wants to Know About Your Vacant Lot

2010-02-15T21:47:00.004-05:00

As a Buyer's Agent, I am dedicated to finding my customers/clients the best location at the best price. That includes locations that are not on the market. I would like to include your lot in my inventory of prospective locations if you think you have a great location and would sell it.

I do not want to list your lot or promote your lot, and will not make public the possibility of it being able to be purchased.

Cleared lots in particular are in demand. Check out this article:

Vacant lots become hot property

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Feb. 15, 2010 – Vacant residential lots are looking better and better to real estate investors.

The cost of a finished, ready to build lot, can cost a developer about 25 percent of the finished home price. There are a number of these ready-to-go lots on the market at about half what they actually cost to prepare. Investor groups are snapping them up, figuring that the time will come soon when they will be in demand.

“The country needs 1.2 million new units for the next 10 years just because of population growth,” says Scott Clark, president of American Development Partners, which has bought thousands of vacant lots all over the West. “[U.S. builders] built about 500,000 units in 2009 and 600,000 units in 2008, so there eventually will be pent-up demand. We want to get as many of those finished lots as we can because as demand begins to rise, the need for housing will become painfully obvious. The delta (ratio of change to value of underlying asset) in this investment will be significant.”

Source: Inman News, Steve Bergsman (02/12/2010)
© Copyright 2010 INFORMATION, INC. Bethesda, MD (301) 215-4688

What do you mean you are "Spiritual' ??

2010-02-15T12:53:00.003-05:00

Quoting Joan Chittister...

I realize that many people may say there is no distinction, but for me the Christian religion is the organized institutional expression of the following of Jesus; regulation for the way we go about worship.

Spirituality, on the other hand, is the personal expression of that following of Jesus; of living Christian values at every level of our lives. For example, we could go to church every week throughout every year of our entire lives and never develop our own spirituality. We could jump through every religious hoop, and at the end of the day, still not have any real spiritual consciousness.

Religion is meant to lead us to a spiritual life. That's why some people say they are both the same. But religion does not necessarily lead us to spirituality. We have to do that for ourselves. I am reminded of a story in which a Sufi Master is dying and his disciples say to him, "Oh, do not leave us master, because we won't know what to do." The master looks at his disciples and says, 'You must understand that I am only a finger pointing at the moon. When I go, hopefully, you will see the moon." Religion is like that, a finger pointing at the moon.

Ted sez..Many different fingers point upward-our earth has only one moon.

My Source: Sacred Journey Article Vol 61 No 1 Winter 2010
An Interview with Joan Chittister, member of the Benedicting Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania

Wishes For My Grandchildren

2010-02-15T12:21:00.003-05:00

Found this in Sacred Journey Aug/Sept 2008 and liked it...

Wishes for My Grandchildren
Then David took his staff in his hand and chose  five smooth stones from the river, and put them in his shepherd's bag...
  and he drew near to the Philistine   I Samuel 17-18

May you aspire to be holy trouble-makers,
distrusting bureaucracies,
confounding the doctrinaire.

May your hungers call you
to compassion,
your questions to humility,

May you nurture the living
and bury the dead,
may sturdy books guard your prayers

and the stones in your pocket
remind you
that the rivers you walk in

are the rivers you will become.

             Michael S. Glaser
             Named Poet Laureate of Maryland in 2004

I Wonder How I Will Die???

2010-02-14T09:03:00.005-05:00

I am 73 years old.. I figure, with luck, I’ve got 7-10 years left.

It’s Sunday. I’m watching ‘Hour of Power’. I am not at home, so I don’t go to one of my two churches; Trinity Presbyterian-your typical Christian denomination, or Unity of Daytona Beach, my ecumenical Christian church. If I find a rock and roll, Born Again church, I will go there too. That’s where all the emotional action is.

So I am wondering… will I leave for my next time-space adventure from a world ruled by Sharia Law?

Or will the Witnesses and Born Againers and Common Christians, unite under a single charismatic leader and whoop the asses of the passionate but third-world Muslim radicals?

My hope for the best solution, a tolerant, ecumenical, a “To Whom It May Concern” environment when I make my crossing, is a real long shot. These guys do not have the passionate, “I’ll Kill You” leadership. They’re missing a driving, uniting, death-defying motivation. As Barak is slowly learning, you can’t lecture and reason a religious radical into leaving you alone. That’s like telling the bully in the school yard who has just pushed you to the ground “That’s not nice. Can’t we be friends?”. You need an older, bigger buddy to step in and kick his ass.

So how will I wind up? Converting to Islam and attending the Center for Islamic Studies in St. Augustine just in time to be on the winning side?

Taking my old silver cross from the top drawer of my dresser. The one I took off when I went to college. Hanging it back around my neck. Parading around town praising our fallen Christian warriors and looking for someone still living who can take care of my sorry old ass?

Or before the next war is decided, will I make a fatal mistake or get a fatal disease. Enter I-95 heading in the wrong direction, realize it, swing wildly into the woods and have a tree welcome me back to nature? Or find my prostrate growing as large as my ego with it cells on a disorganized, reproductive rampage and wandering around to other places?

Just wondering. Hour of Power just ended…for now I will count my blessings. Laugh and be happy. Carefully watch what happens. God only knows what will.

God Bless Me...Namaste'

Philanderers Take Note…And Have A Happy Valentine’s Day!

2010-02-13T10:58:00.002-05:00

Have you evolved from one of the following:

Bonobos, relatives of the common chimpanzee, have won a reputation for promiscuity. Bonobos do not form long-term, sexual partnerships. Rather, they engage in sexual activity with single or multiple partners. They will participate in both hetero and homosexual encounters. In Bonobo society, sex is used for reproduction, but it's also a means of greeting and conflict resolution.

Antechinus, a mouse-like marsupial, is polygamous. Each antechinus female will mate with several males in a breeding season, with the result that a single antechinus litter has several fathers. The antechinus mating ritual is long and exhausting with copulation lasting up to twelve hours. In fact, following the breeding season, there is complete die-off of the physiologically exhausted males of the group.

Dolphins are known for their playful nature and happy dispositions. It's no wonder they're so cheerful; they mate several times a day. Although the reproductive act is short, dolphins also engage in a variety of sexual behaviors simply for pleasure. Dolphins have hetero and homosexual partners and will sometimes behave sexually towards other whale and dolphin sub-species, resulting in fertile hybrids like the Wolphin. Occasionally, dolphins behave sexually towards other animals, including human beings.

Male elephant seals are extremely aggressive towards one another, fighting to become "beach masters." A beach master protects a harem of 30-100 female elephant seals and, in turn, mates with as many of the females as possible. A successful male can impregnate up to 50 females in single mating season and sire over 500 pups in a lifetime.

Snakes, the female Eastern Garter Snake does not lay eggs, but rather gives birth to live young. Breeding is competitive. Sometimes, if several males find a female at the same time, the entire company forms a "breeding ball," the snake equivalent of an orgy. The snakes wrap around one another in an attempt to mate.
(Is this where the phrase “Having A Ball” originated?)

Male warthogs make use of a reproductive system known as "overlap promiscuity." Unlike lions or elephants seals, male warthogs don't defend or provide for a group of females in exchange for mating rights. Instead, male warthogs simply roam around to different territories, mating with a female from each population before moving on to new territories. Like an old-fashioned sailor, the male warthog has a lady in every port.

The Topi Antelope is a fascinating animal in that it displays the reverse sexual behavior of most mammals. Females are the aggressive, promiscuous pursuers, while males are stand-offish and choosy. Females are fertile for only one day each year. During the month-long mating period surrounding this day, they will copulate with as many as twelve partners, mating several times with each one. It is not uncommon for male Topis to collapse with exhaustion or fight off possible female partners.

I took the info from a HuffingtonPost.com article. The article has photos and films. I highly recommend it!
LINK: http://bit.ly/aJiKI9

Tribes in Palm Coast

2010-02-12T11:21:00.003-05:00

I just posted a topic on Forums at FlaglerOnline.com
I am repeating it here...

I recently mentioned tribes in a post...I was referring to the family orientation and other cultural values shared by cultures where family members live in close proximity to each other and look after each other.

I grew up with 18 aunts and uncles and tons of cousins all living near me at the shore in New Jersey. My lifestyle and culture changed after I graduated college and was hired by DuPont who transferred me all around the country. This "college to corporate employment" with the resulting corporate transfers was really the beginning-of-the-end of close family relationships; tribal relationships.

Palm Coast is blessed with many large ethnic groups. Someone accused me of "steering", but I am interested in the value of our cultural groups gathering and sharing. Here is a good example of what could happen in Palm Coast...

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/france/100209/little-france-brooklyn
New York's Little France blossoms
Some French who have made Carroll Gardens home tout its benefits over their native land.

Why Banks Love Foreclosures…The Video Math

2010-02-11T21:55:00.002-05:00

On Friday, February 5, 2010 I wrote a blog post commenting about how it is more profitable for a bank to foreclose on a mortgage than to “mitigate” it

“It Pays to Default On Your Mortgage…It Pays Someone...”
LINK TO MY POST: http://bit.ly/azqFzD

Today, Toby Tobin posted a video link on his newsletter that gives the math and elaborates on how this scam is being pulled off.

THE VIDEO: http://bit.ly/crlrGR

GOTOBY LINK: Go Toby Posting Thursday, February 11, 2010
Are You Mad at the Big Banks and Wall Street Yet? You Should Be.
http://bit.ly/d64eaH

It's Still My House Until It's Sold at The Courthouse??

2010-02-08T11:48:00.001-05:00

Here is a comment posted on FlaglerOnline’s General Forum about the complex issues the City of Palm Coast is facing in their efforts to keep forcloser properties from becoming a blight on the community while still trying to protect homowners’ Privacey rights.

I think the main problem is with the exterior of the houses. If a forecloser's exterior is run down and in disrepair it affects the whole neighborhood.

Inside it's a matter of housekeeping and up to the prospective buyer to devalue the house based on its interior condition. Lets clean up the exterior appearace of dilapidated forecloser houses first.

This forum post gives a nice explaintion of the City’s activity and the complexities of the issues:

fru fru 1

Active Member
Joined: 08/16/2007
No. of Posts: 84 Topic: I can't even believe this!!!!!!!
Posted: Today at 8:46am

The Police need a warrant to enter your home .....and now the town thinks they can send in the Code Enforement, with out a warrant, to deal with this. And from a group that can't even deal with watering your lawn on the wrong day. I can't wait for the "lock and load" to happen. What are they thinking?

PALM COAST-- Partly in response to foreclosures, Palm Coast officials are working on wielding a bigger legal hammer when property owners allow houses to turn into eyesores or neighborhood hazards.

The City Council will continue discussing at a workshop Tuesday rules giving the city more power to collect money faster when its crews must clean up or repair a dilapidated house. If the homeowner doesn't pay, the new ordinance would allow the city to place the charge right on the property owner's tax bill. If still unpaid, the city could eventually foreclose on the property.

The workshop begins at 9 a.m. at City Hall, 160 Cypress Point Parkway, Suite B-106.

The proposal could also give code enforcement officers more authority to demand entrance into a home, although that wouldn't mean they could just show up and demand to check a house, city staff said. The ordinance would also declare any house in the process of foreclosure as "abandoned real property" even if it is still occupied. That would shift responsibility to the bank or other institution foreclosing on the house, said City Manager Jim Landon.

"This is probably the most difficult to deal with," said Landon during a recent workshop. "You have somebody that's living in their home. They've quit making payments. They are not putting any time or money into that property because they know their time is limited. It's in that transition. The problem is that transition can take up to a year. I lived next to one of these. I know. It took about a year and a half before the bank finally took on responsibility."

During the workshop, city staff displayed pictures of past problems. One photo showed a home heavily damaged by fire. Another depicted a two-story house with boarded up windows and doors and graffiti scrawled on its red brick walls. Another shot showed stacks of rubbish, mattresses and furniture strewn on a front lawn.

Under current rules, the city could wait for years until a house is sold to collect on any liens it placed on the property. Putting the charge on the tax bill would speed up collection. If such a bill is unpaid, it would result in a tax lien and ultimately foreclosure, said city attorney William Reischmann.

To go the tax bill route, Palm Coast would have to establish a citywide special assessment district, Reischmann said. The tax lien would rank high in the hierarchy of liens, Reischmann said.

"It's only going to be on your tax bill if you fail to comply with the requirements," Reischmann said. "The city goes out and spends some money. You don't pay it then it gets put on your tax bill. If your property is fine, you're never really going to feel this."

The proposed rules would also give code enforcement more power to enter a house "as provided by law," said Community Development Director Nestor Abreu.

Mayor Jon Netts said the issue of the city's power to enter a house made him "very uncomfortable" and he wanted more information at a future workshop. If the house is not abandoned and there are no "horrific circumstances," Netts said he would not want to authorize government to enter a house.

Even if the person quits paying the mortgage and the bank moves to foreclose, Netts said, he would not want the city code enforcement officers to be able to enter a house unless there is some other health, safety or public welfare problem.

"I would just be very uncomfortable in my home, if somebody comes knocking on the door and saying I'm coming in and check your guard rail," Netts said.

A city staffer said code enforcement couldn't do that.

"Oh, I want to make sure you can't" Netts said.

frank.fernandez

THE LINK TO FLAGLER ONLINE'S FORUM AND THIS POST:
http://bit.ly/d520Pf

Namaste...I See the Christ In You

2010-02-06T10:36:00.003-05:00

I like this word. It's sort of ecumenical and "feel good". I often worry if I spelled it right and if the person I send it to knows what I am trying to say.

So I thought it would be good to include the Wikipedia definition in this blog in case I forget. I also mean I bow to the good in them; not to their fear thoughts or ego actions...my A Course In Miracles philosopy

God Bless you. Yesterday was the Muslim Holiday, today is the Jewish Holiday, tomorrow is the Christian holiday. Walk Your Talk.
God Bless You and

Namaste

(Sanskrit: नमस्ते, Hindustani pronunciation: [nʌmʌsˈteː], from external Sandhi between namaḥ and te) is a common spoken greeting or salutation in South Asia. It has multi-religious or else common usage where it may simply mean "I bow to you". The word is derived from Sanskrit namas, to bow, obeisance, reverential salutation, and te, "to you".[1]
When spoken to another person, it is commonly accompanied by a slight bow made with hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointed upwards, in front of the chest. This gesture, called Añjali Mudrā, can also be performed wordlessly and carries the same meaning.

LINK:

http://bit.ly/15Pa61

Palm Coast...Going to Pot?

2010-02-05T16:47:00.002-05:00

Last night I saw a newsclip about a Marajuana Superstore in California. The talking heads had a hard time faking indignation and projecting calamady.

Today a guy was repairing my propane line. I told I should have given up real estate, moved in with my son and his family in California, and started selling weed to conservative geriatrics like myself who need some pain relief medicine. But my wife scowled at the idea, and that was that.

I told the repair guy, maybe it would soon be legal in Florida. He said 'Never'. He didn't say "How Awful!"-just "Never".

Well, instead of dismissing the MaryJane idea out of hand, I think we should watch California and track what happens to the illegal pot trade and the increase or decrease in related social problems.

Here is an article I just read from an overseas publication:

Posted by RationalThought on February 3, 2010 17:45 ET

"I am 48m yr old American who just returned last week from week in Amsterdam as a "marijuana tourist". Aside from the weather I had a great time and felt totally safe from both the criminal element and the government, unlike at home. The only tourists I saw being unruly appeared to be young Brits who had all been drinking in the pubs. I think the so called conservatives are being counterproductive and playing right into the hands of organized crime. Legalize the wholesale market and you will completely eliminate criminal involvement the same as with alcohol. In general my impression of the Dutch is that they are conservative yet pragmatic and understand the meaning of personal liberties and privacy. I doubt Dutch parents expect the government to eliminate their childrens potential exposure to drugs and alcohol (an impossibility) but instead teach them to be responsible, hence the low drug and alcohol use among Dutch teens. I also doubt the Dutch parents really want to spend their taxes on incarcerating recreational cannabis use and prefer to spend these funds on their childrens education for future careers. I truly believe that the USA could learn from the Dutch."

There were some interesting comments. To see them go to:
THE LINK:
http://bit.ly/9mkKTe

It Pays to Default On Your Mortgage…It Pays Someone

2010-02-05T12:50:00.002-05:00

I have been tweeting about ‘strategic defaults’ and what you can gain by defaulting on your mortgage payments and credit card debt.

Far from the values concerning the MoneyChangers in the Temple; today we have been led to believe that using the laws and defaulting on credit is “morally wrong”.

Here is how the big boys do it. Below is an article that gives a pretty good layman’s description of the ‘Derivitives’ scandal that has wrecked our economy.

It is copied from an article, ‘How To Stop Foreclosures” written on Wednesday, August 26. See below for the link.

"Thanks to new readers joining us from Alltop.com we are re-posting an article from last month.

How to Stop Foreclosures

If I default on my $300,000 mortgage Bank of America will collect approximately $550,000 to $650,000. If my friend defaults on their $500,000 mortgage Goldman Sachs will collect $900,000 to $1.2 million (depending on interest rates, term of the mortgages, and credit ratings).

Why do they collect such a big payout? Because they have insurance on the Mortgage-Backed Securities that hold the mortgages. When an MBS goes into default, the insurance pays. Why do they collect so much more than the face value of the mortgage? Because, over the life of the loan the mortgage would have generated 2 ½ to 3 times the face amount in cash flow, minus discounts; the insurance covers that anticipated cash flow, not the nominal value of the original mortgage.

What is this insurance? Credit Default Swaps are essentially insurance for Mortgage-Backed Securities. If a certain percentage of mortgages held in the MBS go into default then the MBS defaults and the insurance is paid. AIG Financial Products was the largest writer/issuer of CDS contracts. With the government’s backing AIG has paid out tens of billions in claims on CDS contracts.

CDS is not typical insurance; it is almost completely unregulated; an investor can purchase a CDS contract/insurance policy even though they have no insurable interest in the underlying mortgage or even the underlying MBS; if CDS insurance is purchased that covers my mortgage, I do not receive any notification. The homeowner has been unilaterally stripped of their mitigation rights as a party to the contract by the purchase of CDS contract. This, in effect, modifies the original contract without consideration to the homeowner for that modification.

We do not allow doctors to purchase life insurance policies on their patient's lives without the patient’s knowledge and then be in charge of making life and death decisions for the patient’s treatment. I trust my doctor but we all recognize that it is reckless and foolhardy to subject that trust to excessive temptation. We do allow mortgages investors to purchase default insurance policies without the homeowners’ knowledge and, if delinquency occurs, we recklessly tempt these investors to make the decisions on whether the loan will be modified or go into default.

CDS insurance offers a clear incentive for the investors or holders of pooling and servicing agreements (PSAs) to force a "default" either through foreclosure, short sales, short payoffs, or deed in lieu transactions. PSAs place limits on the number of modifications a mortgage servicer can perform.

Less than 3% of seriously delinquent borrowers receive concessionary modification in the first year following the first serious delinquency; concessionary modifications may be reductions in the principal balance or interest rate or extension of the term, or all three. Less than 5% of serious delinquencies receive non-concessionary modifications; their payments actually increase (half of these redefault within 6 months). Approximately 30% of serious delinquencies go the route of short sale or deed in lieu transactions; essentially, the borrower loses their home. Approximately 50% of serious delinquencies result in foreclosure proceedings and 30% of seriously delinquent borrowers lose their home through foreclosure in the 12 months following the initial delinquency. To recap: approximately 80% of serious delinquent borrowers lose their homes, 5% get a bad modification, 3% get a good modification, and the others are stuck in modification limbo.

In the first 6 months of the Hope for Homeowners Program only 25 homeowners were able to get refinancing under the plan, despite a nationwide appeal by President Bush. Federal programs have improved in the past few months but show no sign of making major inroads to solve the problem of foreclosure.

There are frequent anecdotal examples of investors/PSAs/servicers not really trying to help homeowners. I personally know a real estate attorney who offered a $350,000 settlement on a $510,000 mortgage; that offer was turned down and the property was offered at $200,000 in an REO sale. I know one man who has been attempting modification for 16 months. I know another woman who has been attempting modification for 8 months but Bank of America has lost her application 5 times. Bank of America shows remarkable efficiency in tracking billions of daily check and charge transactions to the penny, yet they show stupefying incompetence in tracking a modification application. The lack of competence is a direct result of a lack of incentive to modify. These examples are the norm, not the exception.

It would be easy to suggest that most foreclosures cannot be prevented, yet there are some excellent proposals to keep homeowners in their homes and stabilize house prices; the Milken Institute has proposed a plan “How to Rebuild US Home Prices and Fix the Economy” that could eliminate negative equity and lower monthly mortgage payments, and the price for this plan is less than what has already been spent on the AIG bailout. Regrettably, we may never see this plan put in place unless we can remove the incentive for investors and holders of PSAs to force default, unless we can stop the big CDS insurance payout for defaults.

Have the investors/PSAs/servicers actually been forcing defaults? We know CDS contracts offer the temptation of the largest possible compensation when claims are paid. We know investors/PSAs/servicers are in a position of power to create hurdles to modifications and to deny modifications. We know that defaults outnumber modifications by more than 10 to 1. We know that several financial institutions have posted exceptionally large earnings despite the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. We have not seen (publicly disclosed) investigations or research that revealed the smoking gun. We have seen motive, opportunity, and results.

AIG, with the backing of the government, has been treating CDS claims in a most un-insurance like manner – they have been paying the claims in full without conducting full investigations or audits. Never in history has an insurance company paid out tens of billions of dollars in claims without denying at least some part of the claims.

Simple forensic audits of the original mortgage loans could discover fraud, predatory lending, or other violations on the underlying mortgages and give cause to rescind the CDS contract. If the CDS contracts are determined to be insurance, the only proper action would be to deny the claim and return the premium. It is strange that so far, no claims have been determined to be fraudulent, none of the money paid out has been determined to be laundered, and apparently all taxes have been paid; yes taxes should be due because CDS contract is not officially recognized by any state insurance department as insurance and does not share the tax exemption of insurance.

Nothing will stop foreclosures, stabilize US home prices, and fix the economy more than removing the incentive to foreclose created by the CDSs. The investors will negotiate in good faith to make it attractive for the homeowners to start to pay their mortgages and with fewer REO properties on the market the homeowner will not have the incentive to walk away and buy a cheaper comparable property down the street. Markets will be more rational and not be propped up by illegal insurance that distorts true values. The taxpayers will save fortunes being flushed down the AIG black hole. And the added benefit to society is that people will stay in their homes without speculators and profiteers placing side bets on their home.

THE LINK TO THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://bit.ly/a5kGtl

Heads Up Our Fannies

2010-02-04T12:42:00.004-05:00

Since I have been posting about Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac I thought it would be good to see their current definition in Wikipedia.com. I think you will find their definitions interesting:

Fannie Mae

The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) (NYSE: FNM), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1968 as a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), but founded in 1938 during the Great Depression. The corporation's purpose is to purchase and securitize mortgages in order to ensure that funds are consistently available to the institutions that lend money to home buyers.[3]

On September 7, 2008, James Lockhart, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were being placed into conservatorship of the FHFA. The action is "one of the most sweeping government interventions in private financial markets in decades".[4][5][6] As of 2008, Fannie Mae and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) owned or guaranteed about half of the U.S.'s $12 trillion mortgage market.[7]

THE LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Mae

Freddie Mac

• The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), known as Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), is a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) of the United States federal government. Freddie Mac has its headquarters in the Tyson's Corner CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia.[1][2]

• The FHLMC was created in 1970 to expand the secondary market for mortgages in the US. Along with other GSEs, Freddie Mac buys mortgages on the secondary market, pools them, and sells them as a mortgage-backed security to investors on the open market. This secondary mortgage market increases the supply of money available for mortgage lending and increases the money available for new home purchases. The name, "Freddie Mac", was an acronym of the company's full name that had been adopted officially for ease of identification (see "GSEs" below for other examples).

• On September 7, 2008, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director James B. Lockhart III announced he had put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the conservatorship of the FHFA (see Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). The action has been described as "one of the most sweeping government interventions in private financial markets in decades".[3][4][5]

Moody's gave Freddie Mac's preferred stock an investment grade rating of A1 until August 22, 2008 when Warren Buffett said publicly that both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae had tried to attract him and others. Moody's changed the credit rating on that day to Baa3, the lowest investment grade credit rating. Freddie's senior debt credit rating remains Aaa/AAA from each of the major ratings agencies Moody's, S&P, and Fitch.

THE LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Mac

Got Money? Buy Distressed

2010-02-04T11:22:00.001-05:00

If you have cash on hand and want to avoid the aomost certain upcoming currency devaluation and take advantage of the probable inflation that will follow, buy some real estate.

But you need to be very careful. Very informed. Use a Buyers Broker and a good but inexpensive attorney.

Here an excerpt from one of my real estate newsletters:

Rising distress sales slash prices by 38 percent

"ORLANDO, Fla. – Feb. 3, 2010 – Distress sales are driving the region’s housing market to such a degree now that two-thirds of the existing-home closings in the Orlando area last month involved bank-owned or short-sale properties, according to a report released Wednesday.

That growing number of desperation sales, combined with the region’s free-falling condominium prices, drove down prices overall last year by more than one-third, to a median of $130,000, compared with a midpoint of $209,000 in 2008, the Orlando Regional Realtor Association said. "

Fannie and Freddie Are Also Trying to Find Loopholes and Get Out of Their Loans!

2010-02-04T10:01:00.002-05:00

If you thought somehow that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were government entities and not capitalistic entrepeneurs, read this. In addition to offering incentives to purchase their houses and competing with private owners, they have their lawyers combing their contracts with banks and trying to find ways to get out of their committments...to find loopholes.

Check out this article:

Fannie and Freddie go after bad loans

"WASHINGTON – Feb. 3, 2010 – Accountants at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are auditing mortgage files to uncover loans with improper documentation about a borrower’s income, and then forcing banks and savings and loans to buy the loans back.

Freddie required lenders to buy back $2.7 billion of loans in the first nine months of 2009. Fannie Mae won’t disclose its figures, but the mortgage trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance said Fannie made $4.3 billion in loan-repurchase requests in the first nine months of 2009.

One result is that banks are underwriting mortgage loans even more carefully than they were last year, which can further slow the lending process.

'If you’re being hit with a lot of repurchases very suddenly, the easiest thing to do is to tighten your standards rapidly,' said Glenn Boyd, a Barclays analyst.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (01/30/2010)"

Some New Home Builders Are Surviving...But How?

2010-02-03T19:12:00.001-05:00

Toby Tobin published an excellent article in his newsletter on January 19th listing Palm Coast Builders and how many houses they "pulled Permits" for. IE a building permit to enable them to build a new house. He does not give details about the source of the information, but Toby has a reputation for providing very reliable information. The key question...What is the quality of houses they are they building during these difficult times?

Here is a summary of his report:
"Flagler County 2009 New Home Construction Report

Many builders are gone but a surprising number are still active. 157 building permits were issued to 37 different builders.

Palm Coast, FL – January 19, 2010 – 2009 marked a dismal year for local homebuilders, across the country and here at home in Palm Coast in Flagler County, FL. Homebuilders faced competition from distressed properties selling for about $80 per square foot. Lenders were not returning their calls. With few exceptions, the term "spec house" has become an anachronism. Though national builders abandoned our market when real estate sales dried up, an independent source reports that 157 new homes were permitted in Flagler County by 37 different builders who are gutting it out.

My hat is off to these 38 builders and their employees. I thought you would like to know who they are.

The following builders pulled more than 3 permits during the year:

• Seagate Homes – 39 permits

• Adams Homes - 23

• Moronda Homes – 14 permits

• Vanacore – 8 permits

• Habitat for Humanity – 6 permits

• Intervest – 5 permits

• CBV Resort Homes – 5 permits

• Amaral – 5 permits

Other builders who pulled permits in 2009 are:

• New Coastal

• Staughton

• Skyway

• Olsen

• Florida Green

• Paytas

• Lancia

• Ideal

• Country Club

• Auburn

• Applied Building

• Wayne Duffy

• Stajo

• Skyway

• Skyhawk

• Saltwater Homes

• Rinek

• Palm Coast Homes

• Morello

• Machin

• Longworth

• Harmon

• Delanoy

• Del

• Antonio Capela

• Haley

• Grandeur

• Gold Coast

• Gemstone

• Fontana

Reader Comments

So what is the cost new?

We can't see the actual turnkey cost new for the permitted construction, as the permits only reflect the base cost. The resales are still around $80 a square foot, for average construction on an average lot, many needing repairs and updating. Many will only buy Brand new homes as they have the money and don't want to rehab an old home. The estimate for new is around $135 plus the lot, and lots go for about $5 a square foot for average.So for $140 a square foot you get new turnkey. That's still way under the national average. The property taxes are also low, so people come here for the pricing. Resales will never go up in value at the current rate of demand, and may go down further, as they age and more foreclosures flood the market. We have a ways to go both localy and nationaly before things pick up. It is estimated thet 55% of all sales in late 2009 and early 2010 will be due to the tax insentives for new and move up buyers. After that expires and/or rates go up we will be in for another drop in values. We are waiting for jobs, and so far they can't be found, at a level paying enough, to drive the real estate prices up.

Posted by George Meegan"

To see the entire article go to Toby’s site at

http://www.gotoby.com/news/palm_coast_flager_2009_new_home_report.htm

TED SAYS: Now more than ever prospective buyers need to work with a Buyers Agent who has a history of our local market and is up to date on the changes that have taken place. You a prospective buyer? Talk ToTed ! tedleshersr@gmail.com

MEG: For the Rich and Medically Well Connected?

2010-02-03T10:48:00.002-05:00

MEG…GET ME THAT TEST!

More than just the elderly are concerned about what kind of healthcare they will get when they move to Palm Coast. And now on TV we are seeing all kinds of goodies most people can’t get anywhere. MEG tests for example.

I have been treated for heart conditions since I was in college. Didn’t pay much attention to retirement plans. Felt my lifespan would be rather short. Burned the candle at both ends. Had a great life. Surprise! At 73 I am still here. Oh shit. Ran out of money!

And my closest medical "connection" to help me with personal influence on our medical establishment is a dentist in Warren, PA.

But there’s some great new stuff hiding in the bushes, waiting for the rich and well connected. Like MEG testing.

Here are a few snippits about MEG Testing:

Definition: "Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a rare, complex neuroimaging technique that allows scientists a unique view of the dynamic, interactive brain. There are only a few research centers in the world that have the expertise and capital to incorporate this advanced level of technology into their brain studies."

Applications: "MEG provides scientists a vital neuroimaging tool to gain critical perspectives into the basic mechanisms of the cognitive processes of the healthy, functioning brain in the same lightning speed at which the brain itself operates."

"MEG studies also allow researchers valuable insights into the dysfunctional brain with respect to neurological disorders and diseases such as: schizophrenia, stroke, mental retardation, dyslexia and Alzheimer’s disease through measuring these changes in the brain’s electro-magnetic fields."

"…researchers can now localize brain activity and measure it in the same temporal dimension as the functioning brain itself. This allows investigators to measure, in real-time, the integration and activity of neuronal populations while either working on a task, or at rest. The brains of healthy subjects and those suffering from dysfunction or disease are imaged and analyzed in these MEG studies.."

History: "This ever-evolving technology began as a single-channel system in the 1970s. Since then, MEG technology has been constantly updated and refined into its current state-of-the-art status. The MEG instrument at the Brain Sciences Center, is one of the few of its caliber in existence. Its 248 SQUID sensors make this imaging machine one of the most powerful and technologically advanced in the world."

I saw something about MEG on a news snippet and googled it. Here is the link to the above quotes

http://www.brain.umn.edu/research/MEG.htm

This blog got too long as I ranted about how revising healthcare should prioitize a major speedup of government funding and proliferating new technology like MEG testing in order to get it quickly into large, regional hospitals all over the country. We need to make new, high tech treatments/studies available to many thousands of us 'just folks' (no money, not well connected). We need to produce a negative incentive for doctors and their particular hospitals so they do not make their own fame and fortune a major criteria in patient selection. We need a practical and just patient selection criteria for advanced medical studies/treatments and we need transparency and public input.

Tell The Tea Party!

And if you want to hear my personal history (ugly) using Cardiologists and hospitals in the Palm Coast area. And my experience getting a heart valve replaced at the Cleveland Clinic, drop me a comment. Boy, do I have opinions! Send me a comment from this blog and we can dialog.

TALK TO TED !

What The Hell Is Happening In Palm Coast?

2010-02-02T12:20:00.002-05:00

Here are four demographic trends from the Urban Land Institute report:

TREND 4: Immigrants – both legal and illegal: They are nearly 40 million strong. They often prefer multi-generational households and if they can afford them, larger homes in neighborhoods with a strong sense of community.

I think the trend toward multi-generational households has had more effect on Palm Coast than any other and it is woefully underreported. Maronda Homes came into town offering very large, very low priced homes. Ugly two story Marondas sprung up in the middle of nice looking streets. Often two of them, side by side, because the builder purchased a ton of Palm Coast lots and sold primarily “spec” houses. That is they built the house and then offered it for sale. They suffered from poor quality. Today their quality has improved and, because of “size for price” and availability of a ‘spec’ homes, they are still selling lots of homes here. An example from a building permit they pulled in January…

Maronda Homes 13 Seathorn Path Sq. feet: 2,399 Value: $79,432

Many large, four bedroom houses were purchased by lower income families who wanted to move a relative or friend in with them to share the expenses. Look at the number of the cars in the driveways and yards.

Someone should do a count on how much the “average number of people over age 30 living in a single family house” has increased. I think we would be amazed.

But I disagree the best way to describe the trend is “Immigrants”. Yes, unlike modern Americans, foreign speaking residents seem to take more responsibility for caring for their relatives; have more tribal instincts in that respect. When I grew up in the 40’s having two generations in one house was common. My Grandparents took in newly married children (they had 9) and helped them get started. And occasionally, because average lifespans were then at about 65, a grown child would take in an aging parent.

Now the prime motivator for multi-family living and multi-person living is almost always economics, not compassion. We have defacto, multi-family houses all over the place. Especially in parts of the P and R sections where houses are filled with an assortment of “roommates” sharing the expenses and earning money in lets call it “the new underground” economy.

Unfortunately. Our leaders think it is not good politics or good for business to publish this information. Police reports on gang crime in our Palm Coast schools and in our neighborhoods is not given much, if any, airtime or newspaper time or newsletter time. The problem is buried. It may be very small. Is it? Is it growing? Where?? Public access to this politically incorrect information is limited and obscured.

I think a good reporter who befriended our police and first responders could write a blog or newsletter that would get more subscribers than the circulation of all our local papers put together.

Our emergency responders need community support to run bad guys out of town. Hiding the existence of drug dealers and gangs is not a good economic strategy. Identifying who and where they are is. If you want to write this type Blog or Newsletter, maybe I can help. Send me a note.

I have no young children. I don’t need a Predators List as badly as my children who are raising my grandchildren. I would like a similar report on where our convicted drug dealers and gang members live. We are a town of many retirees. We want to be safe. If you know someone in our local government who wants to take on the issues of exposing crime and drugs in Palm Coast in order to limit them; let me know.

I worked in NYC and knew what streets to avoid and where and when to be careful. This information is carefully guarded from me here in Palm Coast. If I am wrong and uninformed, let me know. Send me a comment about what you know or have heard. We need a Palm Coast internet Crime Watch!

The other trend I think is especially pertinent to Palm Coast is:

TREND 3. Generation Y: They are larger than the baby boom generation (with a population of about 86 million). As they enter the housing market, they are less interested in homeownership than their parents were when they were young adults. “They will be renters by necessity or choice for years ahead,” says John K. McIlwain, author of the report.

I believe this is and will continue to happen. But Generation Y is not flocking to Palm Coast. We are jobless. However, in Palm Coast, divorces, foreclosures, lack of credit, retirees from cold climates and economically challenged downsizers are contributing to this paradigm shift to leasing instead of purchasing their homes. I like “leasing” and think long-term leases, where the tenant has an incentive to maintain and upgrade their home because he will be there long enough that it will become part of their identity, has already begun.

The stigma of being a “renter” and therefore, like “trailer trash”, someone who doesn’t maintain and take pride in their home because the physical structure is owned by someone else, is passing.

In my neighborhood within Pine Lakes you cannot tell by looking which houses are rented and which are owner-occupied. This trend is being accelerated by buyers from overseas who never did own their home, but took pride in its appearance.

Personal Anecdote: Recently I offered to put $10,000 in capital improvements into a rental property in Sea Colony. The absentee owners were committed landlords; they did not want to sell. I asked if they would give me a seven year lease. They turned me down. Not on the rent I offered. They did not want a long term lease. The place stayed unrented and run down and has depreciated along with the rest of the market.

This is the exact reverse of the commercial market. I rented several offices in NYC on a long term basis and made leasehold improvements. The landlords were delighted. This is how business space is rented. I think residential will catch up. If you have a residential property you are willing to rent for five or more years, Talk To Ted. I have made different arrangements, but maybe I can help you with my experience and advice.

The other two trends in the Urban Land Institute research are:

TREND 1. Aging baby boomers (ages 55 to 64 years old): They will keep working, and many will be forced to stay in their suburban homes until values recover. Those who are able to move will choose mixed-age living environments that cater to active lifestyles. Walkable suburban town centers also will appeal to this group.

TREND 2. Younger baby boomers (46 to 54 years old): They are now entering their prime earning years but they will lack home equity and, unlike the older members of their generation, they won’t be able to purchase second homes. This will likely curb the prospects for the second-home market.

You can read the entire thing at:

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=231520

Pass this Blog along to any of your friends who are thinking about moving to Florida. I am a single agent Buyers Broker who can help them find the best location. tedleshersr@gmail.com

Watch Your Fannie!

2010-02-01T19:21:00.006-05:00

If you are trying to sell your house, there's a gorilla in the room! Fannie Mae is trying to avioid bankruptcy. So they are competing with the private market by offering freebies if you buy one of their distressed properties. Check out this release from Friday...

"WASHINGTON – Feb. 1, 2010 – Fannie Mae, the largest provider of residential home funding in the United States, announced on Friday that it would start to pay closing costs for buyers of foreclosed homes in its inventory. Buyers of qualified properties will get up to 3.5 percent in closing costs or an equivalent amount for the purchase of new appliances.
Fannie wants to clear out the nearly 50,000 properties it has in inventory – listed on HomePath.com, the Web site created by Fannie Mae last year to sell the growing number of foreclosed homes. The offer is available to any owner-occupant who closes on the purchase of a property listed on HomePath.com before May 1, 2010. Applicable properties can be found on HomePath.com, along with property descriptions, photographs, community and school information, and more..."

To see the entire FloridaRealtors newsletter's article go to
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=231524

If you want to see the seven houses in Palm Coast that were on Fannie's list when I wrote this, click here...
Palm Coast's HomePath.com listings

Finding the right property to buy is complicated. Don't just go touring houses. Contract with a Buyers Broker. Talk To Ted about how this could cost little or nothing and provide invaluable information to the sophisticated buyer. tedleshersr@gmail.com

Down With "The American People"

2010-01-31T09:25:00.002-05:00

Both Republicans and Democrats keep appealing to "The American People".

I object to the phrase. It reminds me of the politically incorrect segregationist phrase "You People". I am a US citizen. A U.S. voter. Not a Canadian or just an "American". I want to be addressed as a Citizen of the United States OF America. Not as an "American". Makes me feel better.

And, politicians, don't say "The" anything. Say "We"..."We U.S. Citizens..."

Conservative Attempt At Humor

2010-01-31T08:48:00.000-05:00

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1. Liberals

2. Conservatives

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement...

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolize d by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud.. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans.

Obama Mortgage Modification: 31% of Before-Tax Income

2010-01-30T17:37:00.002-05:00

According to a news release by Florida Realtors in their newsletter, the administration is planning/attempting to steer delinquent mortgages into mortgage modifications that limit payments to 31% of before tax income. The administration plan seeks to lower payments for troubled borrowers to 31 percent of before-tax income for five years, after which the interest rate on the mortgage begins rising. To read the complete article, go to
https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox/1267b7ccbd7b8a92

Adopt a Child? Select a Doner? Clone One? Where We Headed?

2010-01-30T13:21:00.004-05:00

I just finished a phone call to my son about him getting a dog. We had just seen ratings of intelligence by breed; Border Collies came out first.

Philosopher curmudgeon that I am, my mind jumped around to the news about adopting babies from Haiti, the selection of sperm donors and invetreo fertilization and the choice of an incubator Mommie. Throw in some random thoughts about the conviction of the abortion doctor murderer and my erectile dysfunction and I got off daydreaming about what I think is an interesting philosophical/moral issue:

It has always been politically correct to discuss whether if you want a dog, you should get a mixed breed from the pound-take your chances on the genetic personality, behavioral, size and shape and other latent possibilities within that adorable little pup and just expectantly wait to see what you get.

Or, if you don't like the uncertainty of adopting a “rescue” animal, and if you have the money, you can begin to do research on different breed's and their characteristics and the breeders and their track records and prices.

Now how about adopting a kid? Although it's not politically correct to discuss these issues, technological advances have presented us with some new and difficult choices.

When I was a child in the 1930’s-1950’s tradition was to adopt an illegitimate from a friend or relative often faced with a pregnant teen-aged child. Birth control was unreliable and it was hard for a teenager to privately acquire condoms. Religious doctrines frowned on birth control.

But copulation was great fun and one of the least expensive and most available forms of adolescent entertainment. "Going Steady" was one of our favorite pass times. "It meant "getting it steady" Today the game has been renamed getting "Hooked-Up", " It's Dangerous and Exciting! Like Drag Racing. But....Coathangers or banishment to Auntie’s house to have it were about the only choices if she “got caught”.

AND NOW? Always and correctly, Selling of babies is a high crime and misdemeanor. Consequently, legally adopting in America is a long and difficult process adopting across racial lines-and even more difficult. So, follow the trend. We are shopping for overseas merchandise.

OUTCOMES ALMOST ALWAYS POSITIVE: I was raised with an adopted cousin one year my senior. Lived with us for a couple years. She was like a sister to me. Her life worked out fine, it included a despotic stepmother and a loving, devoted father and all the rest of life’s dramas. Almost fine…it was a short life. She had her ups and downs like everyone else, but was very much loved. She is remembered by many for her goodness. Someone I wish I could be more like. (No, I'm not a closet Queen! I mean more good like)

My next most memorable adoption related experience was learning about successful adoptions by some of my lesbian friends of children from overseas; especially China. They seem to have resulted in many happy relationships and happy children. Of course the final result will not be known until the children are grown, become parents themselves, and can tell their stories and become statistics.

The gay community has been leading edge in the adoption movement. I have personal, positive feedback; but all anecdotal. For example, my daughter dated a Greenwich Village teenager being raised lovingly by two Dikes. Mamma left Pappa and took Chris with her to hook up permanently with her female love interest. Nothing unhappy about the kid at the time. Time will tell. But maybe not. If he screws up his life there probably will be lots of possible causes to blame-not just the Lezzies. Another loved cousin did the same with better child rearing results than almost all the heterosexual parents we know. Makes the issues surrounding same sex marriage more complex that just religious dogma would suggest. But I digress...

Here's the rub. An in depth discussion of Adoption as an Option is Politically Incorrect, but will soon be a major issue all of us many will have to deal with. We will want to take moral and ethical positions.

Try this on for emotional stimulation:

Adopting a child is fast becoming fraught with difficult choices and very similar to deciding on whether to adopt a pet.

Infertility a Problem? Then Use a sperm donor? or a surrogate womb? or Adopt? Why is Cloning such a No-No?

-If You Choose to Adopt??
     -How important is the DNA?
     -Do I want an infant? An adolescent? Or a full grown?
     -Will I/we raise HeSheIt ourselves? Home Teach? Or use the school system, day care and babysitters for most of the time, effort and knowledge required to fulfill our legal and moral obligations as parents?

I just heard an interesting TV News discussion about whether the government should give tax breaks to encourage more citizens to have children. The conversation was all about projecting the economic and social impacts; Should we provide stimulus incentives or offer tax deductions? Will our efforts result in Octo-Mom’s working the Nanny state system to its death? Nothing was said about the intriguing philosophical issues.

Don't murder of the messenger! Just give it some thought. The questions are already there. Opinions will need to be formed. You will need to weigh your churchy moral positions against your rational, ethical structures. Most will probably just stick our heads in the sand and hold our ears. A few of us confrontationalists will relish the thoughts and us philosophers will take them out to play.

What Think You?

Talk to Ted at http://aboutpalmcoast.blogspot.com/

You Gay? Move to Palm Coast or Flagler Beach. Ted will Tell you why!   Give you the straight scoop! tedleshersr@gmail.com

Flood of TV Home Improvement Ads is a Signal

2010-01-27T09:33:00.003-05:00

The Home-Remodeling market is improving. The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University identified three areas of home improvement growth.: remodeling rentals, remodeling to reduce energy costs and improve the environment (“going green” ) and foreign homeowners as the most active remodelers.

This Harvard Housing Study caught my attention. Continued growth in home improvement spending by foreign-born homeowners — their spending levels have grown almost 13% per year since 2000- is well in excess of the 7% growth by native-born households.

If you live abroad and want to buy property in Palm Coast, you should work with a realtor who will also act as your personal property manager and take care of fixing up the place after you buy it. Most bargain priced property will need repairs and upgrading; especially foreclosures, short sales and bank owned properties. You need someone knowledgeable and trustworthy to help get the best prices and insure the quality of the work. Someone who knows our local handymen and subcontractors and can get your upgrades and repairs done well. The Home Inspection Report is your Blueprint; your real estate agent can be your Home Improvements Manager…Talk To Ted!.

IT SEEMS NOW-OR CLOSE TO NOW-IS THE BEST TIME TO BUY IN PALM COAST’S DEPRESSED HOUSING MARKET. Our inventory levels indicate we may have hit bottom. Canadians, Russians, Germans and South Americans are especially active in our market at this time. Send me a referral so I can start a dialog with them about their dream home in Florida, USA.

If you have a friend or relative living abroad who should be taking advantage of our bargain prices and weak dollar-Talk To Ted! I can document I am honest and trustworthy and I will find your overseas friend or relative the right investment and follow through to make improvements after the sale. I work with my language translation assistants to be sure we communicate accurately and completely.

Are your friends and relatives planning to visit Palm Coast now? Want a free consultation about how to buy their lot or their vacation/investment home? The time is right! Talk To Ted!

HARVARD STUDY LINK:
http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/remodeling/remodeling2009/index.htm

Note to Palm Coast's Russian Community

2010-01-26T13:40:00.001-05:00

I read with interest this new STRAFOR report about the Ukraine. Two of my neighbors are from Kiev. I will get their comments on it. I would like yours!

If you have a friend or relative overseas. If they are considering buying property in Florida. If they need an honest, trustworthy real estate agent ...Talk To Ted!

January 26, 2010
1314 GMT

By Peter Zeihan

Ukrainians go to the polls Feb. 7 to choose their next president. The last time they did this, in November 2004, the result was the prolonged international incident that became known as the Orange Revolution. That event saw Ukraine cleaved off from the Russian sphere of influence, triggering a chain of events that rekindled the Russian-Western Cold War. Next week’s runoff election seals the Orange Revolution’s reversal. Russia owns the first candidate, Viktor Yanukovich, outright and has a workable agreement with the other, Yulia Timoshenko. The next few months will therefore see the de facto folding of Ukraine back into the Russian sphere of influence; discussion in Ukraine now consists of debate over the speed and depth of that reintegration.

The Centrality of Ukraine

Russia has been working to arrest its slide for several years. Next week’s election in Ukraine marks not so much the end of the post-Cold War period of Russian retreat as the beginning of a new era of Russian aggressiveness. To understand why, one must first absorb the Russian view of Ukraine.

Related Special Topic Page

• The Russian Resurgence

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, most of the former Soviet republics and satellites found themselves cast adrift, not part of the Russian orbit and not really part of any other grouping. Moscow still held links to all of them, but it exercised few of its levers of control over them during Russia’s internal meltdown during the 1990s. During that period, a number of these states — Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the former Czechoslovakia to be exact — managed to spin themselves out of the Russian orbit and attach themselves to the European Union and NATO. Others — Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Ukraine — attempted to follow the path Westward, but have not succeeded at this point. Of these six, Ukraine is by far the most critical. It is not simply the most populous of Russia’s former possessions or the birthplace of the Russian ethnicity, it is the most important province of the former Russian Empire and holds the key to the future of Eurasia.

First, the incidental reasons. Ukraine is the Russian Empire’s breadbasket. It is also the location of nearly all of Russia’s infrastructure links not only to Europe, but also to the Caucasus, making it critical for both trade and internal coherence; it is central to the existence of a state as multiethnic and chronically poor as Russia. The Ukrainian port of Sevastopol is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet, and Ukrainian ports are the only well-developed warm-water ports Russia has ever had. Belarus’ only waterborne exports traverse the Dnieper River, which empties into the Black Sea via Ukraine. Therefore, as goes Ukraine, so goes Belarus. Not only is Ukraine home to some 15 million ethnic Russians — the largest concentration of Russians outside Russia proper — they reside in a zone geographically identical and contiguous to Russia itself. That zone is also the Ukrainian agricultural and industrial heartland, which again is integrated tightly into the Russian core.

These are all important factors for Moscow, but ultimately they pale before the only rationale that really matters: Ukraine is the only former Russian imperial territory that is both useful and has a natural barrier protecting it. Belarus is on the Northern European Plain, aka the invasion highway of Europe. The Baltics are all easily accessible by sea. The Caucasian states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia are on the wrong side of the Caucasus Mountains (and Russia’s northern Caucasus republics — remember Chechnya? — aren’t exactly the cream of the crop of Russian possessions). It is true that Central Asia is anchored in mountains to the south, but the region is so large and boasts so few Slavs that it cannot be controlled reliably or cheaply. And Siberia is too huge to be useful.

Without Ukraine, Russia is a desperately defensive power, lacking any natural defenses aside from sheer distance. Moscow and Volgograd, two of Russia’s critically strategic cities, are within 300 miles of Ukraine’s eastern border. Russia lacks any natural internal transport options — its rivers neither interconnect nor flow anywhere useful, and are frozen much of the year — so it must preposition defensive forces everywhere, a burden that has been beyond Russia’s capacity to sustain even in the best of times. The (quite realistic) Russian fear is that without Ukraine, the Europeans will pressure Russia along its entire western periphery, the Islamic world will pressure Russia along its entire southern periphery, the Chinese will pressure Russia along its southeastern periphery, and the Americans will pressure Russia wherever opportunity presents itself.

Ukraine by contrast has the Carpathians to its west, a handy little barrier that has deflected invaders of all stripes for millennia. These mountains defend Ukraine against tanks coming from the west as effectively as they protected the Balkans against Mongols attacking from the east. Having the Carpathians as a western border reduces Russia’s massive defensive burden. Most important, if Russia can redirect the resources it would have used for defensive purposes on the Ukrainian frontier — whether those resources be economic, intelligence, industrial, diplomatic or military — then Russia retains at least a modicum of offensive capability. And that modicum of offensive ability is more than enough to overmatch any of Russia’s neighbors (with the exception of China).

When Retreat Ends, the Neighbors Get Nervous

This view of Ukraine is not alien to countries in Russia’s neighborhood. They fully understand the difference between a Russia with Ukraine and a Russia without Ukraine, and understand that so long as Ukraine remains independent they have a great deal of maneuvering room. Now that all that remains is the result of an election with no strategic choice at stake, the former Soviet states and satellites realize that their world has just changed.

Georgia traditionally has been the most resistant to Russian influence regardless of its leadership, so defiant that Moscow felt it necessary to trounce Georgia in a brief war in August 2008. Georgia’s poor strategic position is nothing new, but a Russia that can redirect efforts from Ukraine is one that can crush Georgia as an afterthought. That is turning the normally rambunctious Georgians pensive, and nudging them toward pragmatism. An opposition group, the Conservative Party, is launching a movement to moderate policy toward Russia, which among other things would mean abandoning Georgia’s bid for NATO membership and re-establishing formal political ties with Moscow.

A recent Lithuanian power struggle has resulted in the forced resignation of Foreign Minister Minister Vygaudas. The main public point of contention was the foreign minister’s previous participation in facilitating U.S. renditions. Vygaudas, like most in the Lithuanian leadership, saw such participation as critical to maintaining the tiny country’s alliance with the United States. President Dalia Grybauskaite, however, saw the writing on the wall in Ukraine, and feels the need to foster a more conciliatory view of Russia. Part of that meant offering up a sacrificial lamb in the form of the foreign minister.

Poland is in a unique position. It knows that should the Russians turn seriously aggressive, its position on the Northern European Plain makes it the focal point of Russian attention. Its location and vulnerability makes Warsaw very sensitive to Russian moves, so it has been watching Ukraine with alarm for several months.

As a result, the Poles have come up with some (admittedly small) olive branches, including an offer for Putin to visit Gdansk last September in an attempt to foster warmer (read: slightly less overtly hostile) relations. Putin not only seized upon the offer, but issued a public letter denouncing the World War II-era Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty, long considered by Poles as the most outrageous Russian offense to Poland. Warsaw has since replied with invitations for future visits. As with Georgia, Poland will never be pro-Russian — Poland is not only a NATO member but also hopes to host an American Patriot battery and participate in Washington’s developing ballistic missile defense program. But if Warsaw cannot hold Washington’s attention — and it has pulled out all the stops in trying to — it fears the writing might already be on the wall, and it must plan accordingly.

Azerbaijan has always attempted to walk a fine line between Russia and the West, knowing that any serious bid for membership in something like the European Union or NATO was contingent upon Georgia’s first succeeding in joining up. Baku would prefer a more independent arrangement, but it knows that it is too far from Russia’s western frontier to achieve such unless the stars are somewhat aligned. As Georgia’s plans have met with what can best be described as abject failure, and with Ukraine now appearing headed toward Russian suzerainty, Azerbaijan has in essence resigned itself to the inevitable. Baku is well into negotiations that would redirect much of its natural gas output north to Russia rather than west to Turkey and Europe. And Azerbaijan simply has little else to bargain with.

Other states that have long been closer to Russia, but have attempted to balance Russia against other powers in hopes of preserving some measure of sovereignty, are giving up. Of the remaining former Soviet republics Belarus has the most educated workforce and even a functioning information technology industry, while Kazakhstan has a booming energy industry; both are reasonable candidates for integration into Western systems. But both have this month agreed instead to throw their lots in with Russia. The specific method is an economic agreement that is more akin to shackles than a customs union. The deal effectively will gut both countries’ industries in favor of Russian producers. Moscow hopes the union in time will form the foundation of a true successor to the Soviet Union.

Other places continue to show resistance. The new Moldovan prime minister, Vlad Filat, is speaking with the Americans about energy security and is even flirting with the Romanians about reunification. The Latvians are as defiant as ever. The Estonians, too, are holding fast, although they are quietly polling regional powers to at least assess where the next Russian hammer might fall. But for every state that decides it had best accede to Russia’s wishes, Russia has that much more bandwidth to dedicate to the poorly positioned holdouts.

Russia also has the opportunity. The United States is bogged down in its economic and health care debates, two wars and the Iran question — all of which mean Washington’s attention is occupied well away from the former Soviet sphere. With the United States distracted, Russia has a freer hand in re-establishing control over states that would like to be under the American security umbrella.

There is one final factor that is pushing Russia to resurge: It feels the pressure of time. The post-Cold War collapse may well have mortally wounded the Russian nation. The collapse in Russian births has halved the size of the 0-20 age group in comparison to their predecessors born in the 1970s and 1980s. Consequently, Russian demographics are among the worst in the world.

Even if Russia manages an economic renaissance, in a decade its population will have aged and shrunk to the point that the Russians will find holding together Russia proper a huge challenge. Moscow’s plan, therefore, is simple: entrench its influence while it is in a position of relative strength in preparation for when it must trade that influence for additional time. Ultimately, Russia is indeed going into that good night. But not gently. And not today.

THE LINK:

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100125_ukraines_election_and_russian_resurgence?utm_source=GWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100126&utm_content=readmore&elq=5381f608e62249dfa807c7ba8dcbb57e

Location, Location, Location-Seek The Truth!

2010-01-26T13:18:00.002-05:00

There are terrific real estate bargains available today. Interest rates are at all time lows. It’s time to move some of your assets into owning a nice home in Palm Coast, Florida But where?

Say you have found several houses on a real estate web site that look like they might be what you want. What next? You have friends in Palm Coast; they know the place-call them and ask them to recommend an agent friend? Or Call the Listing Agent directly about the house being promoted? You need to talk with someone with access to the MLS. Who???

Location is most important; everyone agrees to that. But location is more than an address. It is a lifestyle...Here is my opinion on why you should contact a Buyers Broker in order to get an unbiased opinion of houses you found on the internet and are considering. (Of course…I am a Buyers Broker!).

WHO REPRESENTS YOU? You really need objectivity to compare houses before you make your offer. Unbiased answers to your questions and all the relevant information-not just the surface story about the seller’s motivation to sell-you need to try to learn about confidential information sellers prefer you not find out.

You need to know whether you have someone working for just you. As a Single Agent-they can do that. But if your your real estate agent is acting as a Transaction Broker-they are pledged not to disclose confidential information and to work for both the Buyer and the Seller. Before your choose an agent, make sure you know who they will represent. Most act as Transaction Brokers so they can sell their own, more profitable listings.

KNOW THE LISTING-SIDE AND THE SELLING-SIDE COMMISSION SPLITS AND SELLING INCENTIVES. The Listing Agent for the properties you want to investigate is likely to earn much, much more commission if they sell you one of their own listings. The properties they most need to sell are the ones they have listed themselves!

Most homes you see on internet sites are listed with a Multiple Listing Service. The Listing Brokers receive 100% of the final commission proceeds that are paid by the Seller at closing.

These Listing Brokers offer to “co-broke” with other MLS Brokers in order to get them to try to sell their listings. “Sell my Listing Agent’s listing and I will give you half the commission” kind of thing. This is called the “Selling- Side”Commission and often includes a bonus for selling a specific property.

The real estate commission pie has many different sized pieces. The Selling Side Broker receives this share of the commission and then pays their agent and also the Selling-Side Broker who, in turn pays his Sales Agent according to an individual subcontract between the Broker and the individual Agents working under the Broker’s license.

OK, so you can call an agent friend who lives in the town. Now you are well-aware and wary about the fact they probably will earn much more if they sell you their own listing. But you plan to ask them to help you investigate other listings you have found on the internet. This seems better. They can be more objective and you find the best house in the best location for the best price?

Almost. Percentages offered as Selling-Side commissions and incentive bonuses can still be very influential to your agent friend; your Selling-Side Agent. The difference is often in the thousands. Listing Brokers often offer cash bonuses, golf memberships and other incentives to entice Selling-Side agents to push a particular listing.

You need to know the commission splits. You are not shown commission information on the internet real estate the web sites. “For Buyers” listing print-outs and the ads Buyers receive intentionally do not disclose the commission or commission split information. Buyers usually don’t learn until closing how much of the total commission the Listing Broker was paying to the Selling-Side. I think buyers need to know all about real estate commission details before they make an offer.

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION. Your Selling-Side Agent needs to know and research the up-to-date history and lifestyles of the particular Palm Coast neighborhood and even the particular street the listings are on. Just a la-te-da tour in and out of listings is not enough. This is a very big investment.

For example. Maybe the house you see on the net is located in our well established, desirable, gated community of Grand Haven. Well, Grand Haven itself has 23 different Villages. If you plan to live in Grand Haven, you need to know a little something about all of them and a lot about the Village the listing you are investigating is in. I have been selling real estate in Palm Coast since 1996 and I still don’t know much about each of the Villages of Grand Haven. (But I do know the developer’s top salesperson and work together with her with every one of my buyers who wants to learn about a listing in Grand Haven.)

Buying real estate is entering a new paradigm. Buyers are more sophisticated. They are starting their searches on the internet and then selecting someone to communicate with in the local area about what they have found. However, most are still unsophisticated when it comes to choosing an agent. They think it really doesn’t matter that much and go with a friend of a friend, or the agent who has listed the house they saw on the internet, or go with a big name franchise, what’s the difference…If you're just looking for pleasure and just want house tours; none. If you are a serious buyer; Lots!

A serious, qualified buyer needs an honest agent who Knows, Finds Out and Will Share all the important details about every house under close consideration. You one of those? Then you need a Buyers Agent...Talk To Ted!

ADDENDUM: Here is a posting on Active Rain from another real estate agent that, like me, specializes as a BUYERS AGENT…

Home : Blogs : Kris Wales - Macomb County MI real estate blog & homes for sale search site : Macomb County MI real estate blog

Your seller may be very nice, but it isn't my job to make him happy.

I wrote a blog post earlier about appraisals, and what we as buyers agents can do to help our buyer clients to understand current market value and to avoid appraisal issues.

One of the comments I recieved said something like "You may not make the sellers happy..."

I'm a nice person. I like to think that I'm an easy agent to co-op with, and that I do perform my duties with care and diligence. My brokers have never received a complaint about me, nor do I ever expect them to. However, being nice and co-operating with the sellers agents doesn't mean that I won't do my job to the best of my ability for my client - the buyers.

My fiduciary responsibility as a buyers agent is to my buyers. When they find a home they wish to purchase my responsibility kicks in to high gear. I will analyze the current market for them and present them with all of the facts that I have on hand. They will then be able to make an educated decision about the price to offer for the home. I will then take their offer to purchase, along with my data and present it to the sellers.

Not long ago I heard these words from a sellers agent after my buyers offer was presented to them: "My seller is a nice man. He's worked hard, and his home is in good shape. He really deserves a better offer and isn't happy with this one."

My reply? "I'm a nice lady. I work hard. My home is in nice shape. I deserve good things to happen to me. But my home is still only worth XXX and it wouldn't appraise for more than XXX, and I surely wouldn't expect a buyer to pay more than XXX."

My buyer didn't overpay for that home, and we moved on to find them another home.

HERE’S THE LINK:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1452920/your-seller-may-be-very-nice-but-it-isn-t-my-job-to-make-him-happy-

How Much of the Reason Is The Season?

2010-01-26T06:58:00.001-05:00

The Florida Realtors "News and Events" newsletter today talks about the increase in housing sales in general and condo sales in particular...

"Existing home sales rose 33 percent last month with a total of 14,630 homes sold statewide compared to 11,013 homes sold in December 2008, according to Florida Realtors. Statewide existing home sales last month increased 4.3 percent over statewide sales activity in November.

Florida Realtors also reported a 91 percent increase in statewide sales of existing condos in December compared to the previous year’s sales figure; statewide existing condo sales last month rose 22 percent over the total units sold in November.

Seventeen of Florida’s metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) reported increased existing home sales and higher condo sales in December. A majority of the state’s MSAs have reported increased sales for 18 consecutive months."

Link to the Newsletter:
http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=230708

OBoy! Maybe real estate has turned the corner. Maybe I will be able to sell a condo and make a commission. Maybe my house will start to increase in value and be worth what I owe on it. Maybe. Maybe?

Our town is flooded with Snow Birds. People who rent condos and homes each winter season are deciding to take advantage of the depressed market and buy the thing. Will it last? When they go home in March will the market go plop again? I think the weak dollar and continued flow of foreclosures will still bring in foreign investors, but what the government does to stimulate home ownership will be a big factor. I will be glued to the State of the Union message but doubt I will hear anything I can count on as going to happen.

No Gang Tours in Palm Coast...Maybe Miami?

2010-01-23T19:42:00.004-05:00

Regardless of our depressed housing values and high unemployment, it's comforting to know how comparably safe we are living here in Palm Coast. Whether we live behind the Gates of Grand Haven or on a lettered street in an open neighborhood. Life is good. Life is safe. That is why folks are still moving here from cities. Cities in Florida. In the USA. From cities all over the world. Here is a bellweather happening...Take a Tour of Gangland! Special discounts Friday and Saturday nights.

There is a new venture in Los Angeles offering tours through Los Angeles gang turf.
These are high end specialty tours of top crime scene areas of South Central Los Angeles.

The first tour on January 16th was sold out! Passengers received a discount of $35 on the regular $100 per head ticket and signed waivers that they were aware they could become crime victims and agreed to put themselves in the hands of ex-gang members who had negotiated a cease-fire in the most violent gang area in the U.S.

The objective of these tours, which are scheduled to run once a month, is to create jobs for residents of South Central and to inject money back into the community. It also promotes the continuation of a cease fire in certain designated areas in exchange for the tour operators hiring some of their youth for employment and training opportunities. Designated routes and times are being honored by participating gangs.

For more information on these tours visit L.A. Gang Tours."

It's for real. Check out their website at http://www.lagangtours.com/

Originally posted at: Your Los Angeles Town Crier: L.A. Gang Tours - Yes, L.A. Gang Tours!

The FHA Is Going Bankrupt

2010-01-21T13:46:00.002-05:00

The FHA insures loans and it is going broke as the flood of bad loans continues to hit the market.

They just passed two new rules to help keep them afloat...they are increasing the insurance premium they charge for FHA insured loans to 2.25% and they are requiring a credit score of 580 or more. 2.25% on a $200,000 loan is $4,500.

Borrowers will still only need 3.5% downpayments for FHA insured loans; the mortgage premium will just be added to what they owe.

I think the FHA will end up asking for a federal bailout.

Today's comments by our President failed to integrate how Barney Frank's push to make it easier to buy a house resulted in bad loans that greatly contributed to the financial crisis. Or why there is no proposed tax on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's obscene profits.

"The Buck Stops Here!" one day;
"It's Not My Fault! It's Their Fault!" the next.

We are listening to a blame game with no popular, common sense solutions being proposed. Florida postponed the problem by requiring all new foreclosures to first go through an arbitration process before a lein can be filed. Then what?

To see the full article from Florida Realtors News, click here...

http://www.floridarealtors.org/NewsAndEvents/article.cfm?id=230514

Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy Hang On!

Palm Coast Commercial Property

2010-01-21T11:33:00.002-05:00

I specialize in residential property, but Palm Coast Florida is overflowing with commercial property bargains. Here is a listing by Jerry Maisello one of our top commercial brokers. I know them all. If you are interested in buying commercial property or buying a business in Palm Coast, Florida...Talk To Ted First !

Some Foreigners Buying in South Florida Are Making A Big Mistake

2010-01-19T10:52:00.005-05:00

If you live in Germany, Russia, Canada or one ot the other countries where many investors are now taking advantage of our weak dollar and investing in a bargain priced US home in a warm climate, you are on the right track.

But if you are thinking of investing in any town on the east coast of Florida south of Ft. Lauderdale, or even south of Vero Beach, be very careful!

Many of our Palm Coast home buyers are coming in droves from Miami and southeast Florida. The reason? Well, they say it doesn't seem like you are even in America in most parts of Miami and many parts of the southeast Florida coast. Spanish has become the first language and the predomimate culture. Traffic is very congested. Gangs and crime are flourishing.

The world is behind the curve on the Balkanization of southeast Florida.

Note this article from the UK:

OVERSEAS PROPERTY PROFESSIONAL NEWS ARTICLE
"MIAMI PRICE DROP TRIGGERS FOREIGN ‘BUYING FRENZY’

US, Florida, Miami, Condo Vultures, discounts,

Miami developers saw a surge in condo sales in the second half of 2009 after lenders slashed property prices by 30%.

Buyers purchased 1655 new condos in Greater Downtown Miami in the latter part of the year, up by 133% from 711 sales in the first six months, according to tesearch from Florida-based consultancy Condo Vultures.

“Buyers, primarily with cash, purchased an average of 6.5 new condo units per day from developers in 2009,” said Peter Zalewski, principal at Condo Vultures. “The buying activity really picked up velocity in the second half of the year once retail condo prices were slashed by lenders from $300 per square foot down to $200 per square foot, which is in many cases below the replacement cost of the finished product.

“The new prices triggered a buying frenzy by foreign nationals with strong currencies and private equity groups that finally began to purchase, completing a dozen condo bulk deals in the Brickell Avenue Area, Downtown Miami, and the Biscayne Boulevard Corridor in 2009.”

Zalewski said it is unclear how much of an effect the lack of condo financing in Greater Downtown Miami had on the final transaction totals for 2009.

More new condo sales were made in the third quarter (977) than the whole of the first half of 2009, but transactions saw of a decrease of 27% to 700 in the fourth quarter"

OVERSEASE PROPERTY PROFESSIONAL ARTICLE: http://www.opp.org.uk/news_article.asp?id=3597

Good PR for Condo Vultures, but very bad advice for non-spanish speaking foreign investors. My advice is to find a friend or relative from your native country in Florida and couple that with a local real estate agent who knows about each sub-neighborhood in the town and what they offer in the way of a lifestyle and investment opportunity.

I start a dialog with my prospective buyers about what they want and need. I then do a comparative analysis of different candidate places in Florida that meet their needs. If they are planning to visit the US, I send them on an area tour to meet with competent local agents and check the towns out.

The foreclosure bargains and depressed real estate market is universal in Florida. You can find a great deal almost anywhere if you do the right research. A reflexive reaction to buy in Miami could bite you.

Location, Location, Location. Talk To Ted ! tedleshersr@gmail.com. Licensed Florida Real Estate Broker.

Dollars are Dying; Quick-Buy Real Estate

2010-01-14T07:48:00.000-05:00

The debt position of the US plus the inability to stop spending on unfunded entitlements and new social programs makes it inevitable the US dollar will suffer from inflation and that the best way to deal with our debt to China will be to devalue the dollar.

Currency devaluation due to inflation is a common strategy in European countries. The ruble was redenominated on January 1, 1998, with one new ruble equalling 1000 old rubles. The redenomination was a purely psychological step that did not solve the fundamental economic problems faced by the Russian economy at the time, and the currency was devalued in August 1998 following the 1998 Russian financial crisis. The ruble lost 70% of its value against the U.S. Dollar in the six months following this 1998 Russian financial crisis.

As a real estate Buyers Broker in Palm Coast Forida I am marketing to wealthy investors in Russia encouraging them to invest in property in Florida; in particular Palm Coast. The dollar is weak, the weather is great, we are on the east coast of Florida and an easy drive to Orlando. Talk To Ted? tedleshersr@gmail.com.

Below I have listed a quote from Wikipedia on the history of the Russian Ruble. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_ruble). They have devalued it twice already from 1961.
First ruble, Antiquity - December 31 1921
The ruble has been the Russian unit of currency for about 500 years. From 1710, the ruble was divided into 100 kopeks.

The amount of precious metal in a ruble varied over time. In a 1704 currency reform, Peter I standardized the ruble to 28 grams of silver. While ruble coins were silver, there were higher denominations minted of gold and platinum. By the end of the 18th century, the ruble was set to 4 zolotnik 21 dolya (almost exactly equal to 18 grams) of pure silver or 27 dolya (almost exactly equal to 1.2 grams) of pure gold, with a ratio of 15:1 for the values of the two metals. In 1828, platinum coins were introduced with 1 ruble equal to 77⅔ dolya (3.451 grams).

On December 17, 1885, a new standard was adopted which did not change the silver ruble but reduced the gold content to 1.161 grams, pegging the gold ruble to the French franc at a rate of 1 ruble = 4 francs. This rate was revised in 1897 to 1 ruble = 2⅔ francs (0.774 grams gold).

With the outbreak of the First World War, the gold standard peg was dropped and the ruble fell in value, suffering from hyperinflation in the early 1920s.

Second ruble, January 1, 1922 - December 31, 1922
In 1922, the first of several redenominations took place, at a rate of 1 "new" ruble for 10,000 "old" rubles. The chervonets (червонец) was also introduced in 1922.

Third ruble, January 1, 1923 - March 6, 1924
A second redenomination took place in 1923, at a rate of 100 to 1. Again, only paper money was issued. During the lifetime of this currency, the first money of the Soviet Union was issued.

Fourth (Gold) ruble, March 7, 1924 - 1947
A third redenomination in 1924 introduced the "gold" ruble at a value of 50,000 rubles of the previous issue. This reform also saw the ruble linked to the chervonets, at a value of 10 rubles. Coins began to be issued again in 1924, whilst paper money was issued in rubles for values below 10 rubles and in chervonets for higher denominations.

Fifth ruble, 1947 - 1961
Following World War II, the Soviet government implemented a confiscatory redenomination of the currency to reduce the amount of money in circulation. This only affected the paper money. Old rubles were revalued at one tenth of their face value.

Sixth ruble, 1961 - December 31 1997
The 1961 redenomination was a repeat of the 1947 reform, with the same terms applying. The Soviet ruble of 1961 was formally equal to 0.987412 gram of gold, but the exchange for gold was never available to the general public. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, the ruble remained the currency of the Russian Federation. New set of banknotes was issued in the name of Bank of Russia in 1993. During the period of hyperinflation of the early 1990s, the ruble was significantly devalued.

Seventh ruble, January 1, 1998 -
The ruble was redenominated on January 1, 1998, with one new ruble equalling 1000 old rubles. The redenomination was a purely psychological step that did not solve the fundamental economic problems faced by the Russian economy at the time, and the currency was devalued in August 1998 following the 1998 Russian financial crisis. The ruble lost 70% of its value against the U.S. Dollar in the six months following this 1998 Russian financial crisis.

Anatomy of a Garage Sale

2009-12-15T05:21:00.000-05:00

One of my sons lives in Ponte Vedra. He just bought a new home there and had to dispose of a lot of items from his old home. He is renting it until the market improves. He has found a good tenant who wants to move in right away and so he has to get rid of the left over household goods he did not take with him. My wife and I offered to hold a garage sale at the old home.

We are very familiar with Palm Coast garage sales. We have neighbors who go regularly as a form of entertainment. We have bought things from Comin Around Again (http://CominAroundAgain.com) and our friend runs At Your Service, another professional garage sale and estate sale organization here in town. Garage Sales are very popular here. Early Birds arrive in droves and cars fill the street around the sale houses.

Not so in Ponte Vedra. Different demographics. Palm Coasters are looking for bargains. Ponte Vedrans are mostly just nosy neighbors checking out other neighbors to better keep up with the Joneses-or at least bad mouth them and their poor taste. And no Early Birds. The rush didn’t come until after 10:00am.

But the Ponte Vedra address did attract some bargain hunters and the tenants themselves decided to purchase a number of things. We sold two oriental rugs, an antique vanity with a mirror, an antique roll top desk, a chest of drawers, a pool side set of wicker chairs and small tables, and a lot of geegaws and small things. This Thursday we are renting a trailer, going back to Ponte Vedra, and hauling the rest of the stuff home here to Palm Coast- where bargains are appreciated and garage sales tours have replaced model home tours as a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

Barb and I don’t like to haul stuff in and out of our garage. And the garage is full to the brim. And you can never tell if it will rain on your Garage Sale date and then you can’t use your driveway. But we want to downsize for when we get feeble and we have lots of things we want to dispose of. So I am creating www.PalmCoastGarageSales.com to sell my son’s stuff and some of my own.

We will attack the garage like this: We will make three piles…”Throw this crap out” “Try to Sell This Stuff” and “Give this to Goodwill”. With some luck we will have room in the garage for at least one car by spring.

My online-garage-sale thing is unique. Palm Coast does not have a CraigsList. We have to list on Daytona’s or St. Augustine’s. Sell on EBay? I just bought something from an EBay auction. What a pain in the ass. Staring at the deadline time and frantically punching in higher “maximum bids”-I got my thing at somewhat of a discount, but did not like the process. About a year ago I used the “Buy Now” feature of EBay and wound up owning two Dyson sweepers by mistake. And selling things? And EBay is putting the squeeze on the little guy and has made it much more restrictive and complicated to sell one or two items. They want storefronts with lots of items and five star ratings.

So I am doing an internet thing. I am developing my website using lots of videos on it to show items. Lots of pictures. And I have a unit at Champion Self Storage I call my “Inspection Station” where-if you see something you like on the website-you can arrange to see it in person at the Inspection Station. Like at a garage-based Garage Sale, you make me an offer using email and I either accept your offer or call you a nasty name. It should be fun.

Many of us Senior Citizens who go to Garage Sales break out in a rash when someone asks us if we have email or use a computer. But more and more of us Oldies are admitting computers are like indoor plumbing. You can’t really defend why you won’t use one. Well, you can and do, but I think you know you are sounding ridiculous.

I am offering www.PalmCoastGarageSale.com as a vehicle for other Palm Coasters to sell their stuff and give the proceeds to charity and I am also selling space on it real cheap-free to some-in order to get started with a good inventory so the site will be a good place to go and browse around and look at things… without the need to get up early in the morning and then hassle with where to park your car.

Got something you would like me to sell for you? Drop me a comment. Talk To Ted !

Palm Coast Condos Are Not for Poor People

2009-12-09T14:44:00.006-05:00

On Monday, the Federal Housing Administration started limiting the number of buyers in condo buildings that can get loans insured by the agency.

The rules put restrictions on buildings with poor finances, too many delinquent owners and a high number of rentals. One change is that no more than 15 percent of total units can be more than 30 days behind on condo association fees. Another is a requirement that 50 percent of a condominium be owner-occupied.

These tighter lending standards are designed to protect the financial health of the FHA. Roughly 18 percent of loans currently insured by the FHA are delinquent or in foreclosure. The agency’s financial cushion is below the federal minimum.

The FHA, a key source of mortgage financing, insures roughly one in four new loans. Primarily because buyers need only a 3.5 percent down payment.

Prices in qualifying condos will probably go up while “unqualified” units won’t sell at all. The move will be a blow to many Palm Coast condo owners who are trying to sell their units. And a boon to people with money who want to make a smart, long-term real estate investment.

This runs counter to political initiatives that encourage first time home buyers and other “economically disadvantaged” to buy a home.

Overall, poor folks and real estate agents like me will suck wind….government greenhouse gas.

I wish I knew which of our Palm Coast condos had “poor finances and/or a high number of rentals". Canopy Walk? I will keep tuned in to Toby Tobin’s newsletter at http://gotoby.com/ to see if he gets info about where and how this new, restrictive lending policy is affecting Palm Coast’s emergence from the real estate slump.

But the Rich Can Get Richer using the FHA Section 203k program to purchase ‘dream homes’. More and more distressed properties are hitting the market and mortgage lenders increasingly offer FHA Section 203k mortgages. These loans finance both home purchases and residential improvements, allowing buyers to purchase dwellings with possibilities and transform them into dream homes. In many instances, homes are in prime locales but need some work; and experts say the 203k mortgage program lets average buyers snap them up. I'm a Buyers' Agent! Let me find one for you!

Intellectuals Don’t Own Television Sets...Do They?

2009-12-07T16:43:00.002-05:00

A friend of ours is very proud to let everyone know they don’t own a TV set. I know they are both very bright and have in-depth knowledge about subjects that are of interest to them. One also has considerable musical talent. In general they are justifiably people to admire.

But this put me off…”we don’t own a television set”. Like everyone who does is intellectually deficient.

And I see the same thing with one of our Home-Schooler friends. “We don’t own a TV set”. “Our children spend time studying and taking music lessons and going to horsey camp”.

Watching too much TV is definitely on my ‘do not’ list. Watching no TV is not.

Not having an iPhone, bad-mouthing text messaging and not participating in social networking is more a signal that you are close-minded. Not that you are refined and “Conservative”.

And not owning a television set is a pseudo- intellectual accoutrement. Posturing. Trying to be “smarter than thou”, “better than thou”.

Common Sense has fallen into disrepute:
"Those “commoners” want to take over control of their local and national governments, want to establish their moral values as our community’s moral values, to dictate what textbooks are used in schools. To resist acceptance of co-ed college dormitory living where their student children can party and have sex under more favorable conditions. How wrong. How dare they! A Populist Movement? Pshaw. Nix. Nein. Those Commoners just aren’t qualified to be in charge of anything."

Or are they?

Since I am smarter than most and do not consider myself a Commoner, I understand my academic-elitist and pseudo-intellectual friends' arguments. However, my Common Sense (non sequitur) tells me many of their ideas won’t work. Including not watching a little TV. We need to keep in touch with the riff raff.

Almost everything is changing. So I better consider that ‘History Repeats Itself’ and give that shibboleth as much importance as ‘Rely on the Reasoning of Smarter People’. And I better keep aware of what is going on around me. Outside my comfort zone.

Please note how I use fancy words and expressions to be sure any possible reader of this tripe will recognize How Great I Am.

Joulupukki Wishes A Merry Christmas to all Palm Coast’s Nuuttipukki’s

2009-12-06T11:51:00.000-05:00

Joulupukki, is the Finnish Santa Claus and he lives with his wife and helpers and reindeer in Lapland. (One of my favorite places)

I looked up Jolupukki on Wikipedia so I could ask him for something for Christmas.

I found out my fellow travelers are called Nuutipukki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joulupukki

What? You don’t know what a Nuuttipukki is either? No, it’s not some nut with a hangover, ralphing his heart out.

They are “people who perform for leftover food after Christmas” And they dress like goats. (Hopefully they don’t smell like them).

I expect there will be more Nuttipukki’s types than ever in Palm Coast this year. The unemployment rate is over 16%.

My PalmCoastGarageSale.com site isn’t up yet, so I will be among them.

Anyway, I’m an Aires Ram and think this link is a great read for us Wiko-philes

Riches to Rags…Palm Coast Accommodates Change, Ted Pioneers It !

2009-12-05T21:58:00.004-05:00

About three years ago Flagler County was about the fastest growing area in the country.

Last month Palm Coast had Florida’s highest unemployment rate-16.1 %.

Before the large increase in population Palm Coast was predominantly a retirement community, Becoming a retired person immediately sharpens one’s bargaining skills and changes one’s shopping habits.

So does losing your job.

Before we retired to Florida my wife and I shopped in small, locally owned specialty stores for almost everything. Kings Market for groceries, and Roots for clothes. A nearby farm for our eggs, a butcher shop for meat.   Even in a place on Main Street in Madison, NJ where you bought a live chicken and they killed and de-feathered it for you.

We watched Toys-R-Us be born and Two Guys from Harrison start up. And then we began shopping in Big Box stores

We grew older.  Retired to Florida and kept the same lifestyle. However, as the years passed we began to outlive our money. We had to rely more and more on Social Insecurity checks.

So we have joined the droves of Palm Coast Geezers and Gerties eating Early Bird Specials, shopping in The Dollar Tree and going to garage sales rather than Vegas Casino’s for our kicks.

Some of us 'Senior Citizens' are becoming computer literate and can shop Craig’s List, Amazon and Ebay for bargains. But most of us oldies prefer more social interaction.

We have already been through the ‘Scratch and Claw’, ‘Upward Mobility or Bust’ phase of our lives. We no longer need to rub shoulders with 'type A' over-achievers and people with more money than us.

Now we are happy and amused checking out the tattoos and hearing the deep south, Russian, Jamacian, and ‘God only knows’ foreign accents at the Flagler Farmers Market.

Giving away to someone one of the bargains we discovered at Goodwill, or a consignment store, or Beal’s Clearance, or something that we spotted at a Garage Sale or Flea Market may still be considered Gosh by those with gelt; but we don’t think so. Or care.

Especially when we give one of our bargain treasures to someone for no reason at all. No birthday. No Christmas present. Not for a wedding or graduation. Just because we love you and were thinking of you (and we love to shop and just had to buy it and it was sooo cheap!)..

Today Palm Coast is a gold mine for bargains of all kinds. Restaurant specials, two-for-one deals ("we can always give one away"). Coupons up the gazoo. Garage sales, Flea markets, Farmer’s Markets, Consignment Shops.

Palm Coast makes being poor fun.

However...on seeing this happening...I just could not suppress my lifelong addiction to entrepreneurial adventures. To identifying trends; to starting new businesses.

So last week I piloted my Internet Garage Sale.

I’m working out the bugs at .   http://pontevedragaragesales.com/
It's under construction but online.
And I will migrate that site to my PalmCoastGarageSale.com site real soon.   Then we can downsize and I can empty out my garage. And (if I don’t lose my ass on it) maybe I will sell some of my friends and neighbors stuff on it, too. Hell, maybe I will become rich again and shop in Dubai. Look out Craigslist, here I come!

Check the site out and give me some advice. Tell me to “Forgettabout It”, give me some good interface design ideas... or some good stuff to sell cheap on my websites. Tell me something you have for sale.

That’s what this blog post was all about, right? People buying and selling good stuff at bargain prices!

http://pontevedragaragesales.com/

Of Interest to Pilots: Sullenberger Public Record Release

2009-12-04T09:14:00.000-05:00

I just received this YouTube link from a Facebook friend. I found it interesting...and I am not a pilot!

http://www.exosphere3d.com/pubwww/pages/project_gallery/cactus_1549_hudson_river.html

President Obama: We Lost, Let’s Go Home!

2009-12-03T19:08:00.003-05:00

I listened to our President last night. I think he has serious doubts, like most of America, that we can convert a country run for centuries by tribes and tribal rules; Mullas and religious rules, and get them to subjugate themselves to a single central authority. First America sends in a less than overwhelming force to be 'the authority' and then America somehow transfers their power to the Afgan police and/or army? By training them? Your kidding!

It won’t happen. The Afgannies are too diverse a people and too chaotic. Wealth and power is disbursed too unevenly. Between religious differences and entrenched economic interests-including the drug trade-it would take a Kubla Kahn (or Saddam Hussein) to get them all in line... all following one authority like a central government and/or national police force.

Unless maybe there is a strong-armed dictator somewhere in the bushes. But America usuallys pick the wrong one to help-someone who soon turns against us or gets thrown out of power.

Forgettaboutit!

And I think our President agrees. He is just being, as is normal for him, "politically expedient" and sending in more troops to support an ambiguous, lose-for-sure, strategy.

I wonder why Colin Powell doesn’t speak out? “Go in with overwhelming force and have an exit strategy, or don’t go to war at all” is such good advice.

We need to get out of Afganistan and the existing "strategy" as soon as possible and re-start a new effort to somehow protect ourselves against fanatical, religious terrorists wherever they are.

We need to stop shooting at a moving target; claiming ‘territory’ like Falusia or Southern Afganistan or wherever. We will kill some of them, but if we do start to win the battle over geography, the bad guys will just pull up stakes and go somewhere else.

You don’t think so? Add a comment. As we all sit here waiting to see what will happen politically at the polls, materially with our money and most importantly, with our sons and daughters in the service of our country..

I’m A Lesbian WannaBe; But This Can Go Both Ways!

2009-11-30T16:13:00.000-05:00

The Devil is on my shoulder again.

I love to laugh. And Liv. And Let Liv. You will (should) enjoy this. I got it looking over the shoulder of one of my Key West friends…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0MxsQnWRX0

Have Hope

2009-11-30T14:44:00.002-05:00

At Unity yesterday Carmen preached about having hope. She was very convincing about how having a positive outlook is a winning philosphy even when what you hope for doesn't happen.

As ususal, she was speaking from her heart. Her husband was recently discovered to have two different forms of cancer and is undergoing treatment for both. I understand one is brain cancer. I should buy the recording of her message and keep it to listen to each time I plumment downward on my flight through life (and from this life).

Scientists are doing experiments that could anihilate the globe, the globe is warming and we are going to drown, the terrorists are going to bomb us, the turtles will be extinct, children are starving, God is dead... dadah, dadah. And I am poor again.

So, 'A Course In Miracles', continue doing your thing for me. Keep me positive. Keep me giving myself hope. Because I sure keep messing up. And I defintely prefer pipe dreams to nightmares.

God Blesses Us, Namaste', Allahu Akbar and Shalom.

Junk Science! Scientists Are Angry and May Kill Us!

2009-11-30T13:13:00.001-05:00

I read about a new record being set by a new particle accelerator (LHC)that is competing with the older one (CERN) to be the fastest and enable the best damn particle crashes ever. This whole particle acceleration thing is into Quantum Physics, a scientific New Age where the science seems more like it was taken from an LSD trip; but it’s for real.

Angry Einstein “fractal & practical” guys are claiming these Quantum Physics woo-woo guys are full of crap. Threatening civilization with their dangerous experiments using particle accelerators.

Like the Conservatives ranting against the Liberals. Screaming at each other because what is going on today is changing things faster than we have time to evaluate-before they have dire consequences. Sound familiar?

So for fun, I took this Einstein guy's rant and his warnings against the quantum theory guys; tried to understand it and simplify it. Edited it. Here’s how he sounded to me:

“CERN Misinforms Mankind”…

(THEM GUYS) The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a quark factory that will deconfine millions of quarks, the strongest, most attractive particles of the Universe. They carry the Atom’s mass, caged inside their nuclei. 99% of LHC’s production will consist on superfluid Quark condensates, a new state of matter, defined by Einstein, in which Quarks fusion together, creating hyper-dense, attractive tornado-like vortices with properties similar to black holes.

(US GUYS) “Astro-physicists fear that if enough quarks are pegged together in one of those condensates, they can trigger a mass-reaction that would attract all the other quarks of the Earth, transforming our planet into a dense pulsar or black hole. Because in Nature all what is possible happens (Gell Mann’s Totalitarian principle), Quark stars should happen at LHC… risks for Earth of a quark factory in this planet

.

(THEM GUYS) “This is a clear case of industrial corruption. But the Company (LHC) voices out ‘ad hominem’ campaigns against those who denounced the crime, voices out false statements…and makes marketing campaigns on fringe theories pumped up as the ‘meaning of it all’ (the god’ s particle, which Nambu, last year nobel prize proved to be self-similar to the already discovered top quark, hence non-existent…the big-bang hype, a discredited theory, which today serious ‘avant-garde’ scientists have dischared.

“…this ‘Quark Cannon’ is just a relic of the Cold War industry of Nuclear Devices, ‘reconverted’ to spureous civil use; a weapon that menaces for the first time in history the survival of our species and is halting the true evolution of Cosmology, by limiting resources for telescopes, by lobbying against the spread of the more advanced fractal theory of the Universe and Einstein’s work, which contradicts the outdated musings of Mr. Higgs and Mr. Hawking.

(US GUYS) “Indeed, Fractal Relativity has proved that Einstein’s relativity not quantum theorists have properly defined Mass ….Mass is therefore the frequency of a cyclical vortex, a clock of time that carries the information of the Universe, as Nobel Prize Wilczek has proved ad nauseam. Those are the true models that are advancing cosmology with pen and paper, all of them based in Einstein’s work

(THEM GUYS) “On the other side quantum fantaphysics, proposes the absurd Higgs Mechanism according to which an invisible ‘particle’ is ‘foreseen’ by other particles who ‘come to meet Higgs’ as if ‘it were a celebrity’ (sic), attracting them. This is truly nonsense, and so Nobel prize weinbgerg justly calls Higgs the ‘toilet particle’, to be flushed down into one of Einstein’s spacetime vortex as the Earth might be next year.

(TED MUSES) It’s interesting to me that older, “practical”, conservative scientific thought is sort of denying any ‘creationist- door-opener’ Quantum findings. Findings of mysterious, unexplainable happenings going on that might possibly influence the anti-creationist argument. Progressives suggesting there possibly could be a creator? Now there’s a flip-flop!)

Back to the article…

(US GUYS) "People do not understand that CERN’s quantum entropy physicists deny Einstein’s work, despite being the foundation of modern cosmology because in Einstein’s models upgraded today by fractal Relativity the risks of extinction are close to 100%.

“As today because of those ‘ad hominem’ campaigns, serious scientists trying to alert mankind can no longer explain those risks in mainstream magazines and the right to Freedom of Speech has been impeded. Still in http://www.lhcdefence.org you can see a documentary with the other side of CERN. Many lives are at risk, real lives of real people, as never before.

“Today mankind has no defense because the judiciary, politicians and the press who should check and denounce the excesses of companies and governments are not doing their job of warning the population and so private individuals have to step forward, obviously with far less efficiency as our suits against this company which judges have refused to accept, have shown. Time is running out to take seriously the biggest danger for Global Safety of the year 2010.

(THEM GUYS) “This machine-weapon MUST be halted till the theoretical dispute between quantum theorists and relativity theorists is solved, as all seems to indicate in favor of Einstein; which will mean the quark factory will have to be closed if we want to survive and advance further our knowledge of the cosmos, on the path the true master of physics, NOT a machine but a HUMAN MIND showed us.

“The so-called toilet particle has been the alibi for the construction biggest, most dangerous weapon since Teller tried to sell a Doomsday giant H-bomb to blow up the entire Soviet Union - manufactured by his own company at stratospheric costs, with the approval of ‘all’ the Nuclear Physicists’ community. Eisenhower called Krushev to stop that madness. We need a new Eisenhower to stop ‘cuckoo nuclear physicists’ from trying once again to blow up the Earth with the excuse of knowledge. Mr. Rompuy and Mr. Obama perhaps could make a change ‘we can believe in’ and deserve a Nobel Prize received in the past with an action from the future.

“Recently ‘quantum physicists’ proved with their nonsense maths that the future was interfering with LHC. It is ‘the future of science’ what is warning mankind against an obsolete machine that menaces the future of all of us.

(TED ENDS WITH) A bit heavy for one of my blogposts, but I hope you will just get my jist. The familiar sounds and arguments. And will leave a comment. Talk To Ted !

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/11/lhc-sets-new-world-record/

Big Tobacco Wants Marijuana?

2009-11-29T05:26:00.000-05:00

Reading some snippits lately that suggest the current pro-weed stuff is coming from Big Tobacco, who sees this delicacy as an ideal replacement for it's killer crop.

My own well reasoned position is that individual states need to vote on two separate issues. One, should maryjane be available to true medical patients like cancer victims? and Two, do states want to make the recreational use of marijuana legal? Conflating the two issues is what is causing the problems.
Here is an article about the subject. I think Big Tobacco was behind it. Did this doctor really take time to write it without any outside help or incouragment? I shortened and edited it:

Salem-News.com - November 29, 2009 - 2:01 am

Medical Marijuana: A California Success Story

Dr. Phillip Leveque, Salem-News.com

(MOLALLA, Ore.) - California was the first state which legalized marijuana for medical use in 1996 by way of an initiative legal process started by voters' petitioning, and has the most patients with 350,000.

Apparently the legislators were so shocked by the common people's effrontery they were paralyzed. No so the scotch drinking police and sheriffs - they howled like banshees, and have seemingly done everything they could think of to reduce or restrict their highly efficacious medicine.

The various cities and counties of California are in a schizophrenic stand-off about what to do about legally sanctioned marijuana use and dispensaries, (currently there are about 200) where marijuana and even hashish, (a concentrate) can be purchased by patients having a letter from a physician giving them approval for its use.

About half of the localities say its OK, others harass, close and confiscate medicine and money. The DEA and some local cops are going frenetic. They even raid legal grow sites. At the same time, the Mexican Mafia and others are farming it wherever they can, usually in remote national forest areas.

As this is written a plantation in northern Idaho was raided. It had 14,000 plants with a street value of $60 million. It is estimated the marijuana crop is the financially most important in the Unites States, and the cops are trying to stop it?

The cops with General Barry McCaffrey were working with the boards of Medical Examiners to harass physicians who are writing approval letters for sick patients. Many of the prominent physicians have been charged with violating the Standards of Medical Practice Act, but no one knows what the standards are.

One of the worst examples was a DEA agents' raid at a Santa Cruz cannabis using hospice where elderly disabled patients were handcuffed to their beds while the agents devastated the gardens and patient's rooms.

The local mayor dispensed marijuana on city hall steps the next day, in protest.

Despite all this, there are about 30 California physicians who openly advertise their services and some have as many as 19,000 patients though most are in the low two thousands.

Eleven states have some semblance of legal medical marijuana but individual state's rules and regulations are as varied as the state's geography.

It appears that Oregon has the most successful program per capita, but the regulations appear to be the most rigorous because physician and patient records are absolutely legally protected, neither the Board of Medical Examiners nor the police or district attorneys can snoop. Apparently this is not the case in California where police pose as fake patients with fake medical records are incessantly harassing the known medical marijuana physicians.

In the meantime, more and more patients are getting more and more doctors to sign their applications in all medical marijuana states.

THE FULL ARTICLE: http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may232007/leveque_ca_med_pot_52307.php

Death Wishes

2009-11-28T10:47:00.002-05:00

My Dad was full of Pennsylvania Dutch common sense. When my great Aunt Zoe died and left a sizeable estate (she herself had accumulated it from her sisters, great aunts Maude and Ottie)…to her great nieces and nephews. Dad came up with a good system for keeping the peace when it came to dividing the estate. I want to share it with you:

THE SYSTEM: He hired an auctioneer to use to itemize and sell everything. We then got an itinerary list with appraised price estimates for all the stuff. (I have used this technique twice myself. I used a garage sale expert one time and an estate appraiser another to itemize and price the goodies.)

Second, since the only two heirs divvying up my Dad's share of the loot were my sister and I, we tossed a coin to see who would get first pick from the auctioneers itinerary list. The other would get second pick and we then continued alternating picks until we picked all the stuff we each wanted-AND HERE’S THE KEY-and were willing to pay for.

The stuff we wanted was set aside and not offered at the auction.

The auction was held.

The total cost of our selection of goodies came out of our share of the auction proceeds. Right off the top. Pop deducted the total of appraised value of the stuff we took, then deducted these amounts from our shares of the proceeds of the auction.

THE VULTURES: Somehow every heir and many non-heirs just happen to place great sentimental value and really want something in particular from dead old HoosieWatsis-Until faced with the fact they will need to pay fair market value to get it. The amount of demands being made on the Executor for the very expensive stuff drops way down!

ABOUT EXECUTORS: My Aunts had not wanted any trees cut down from the summer cottage, they wanted the Phildelphia town house to stay in the family forever, they wanted this they wanted that, and put it all in their will; thinking that by leaving their stuff to the children of their relatives they would be sure their wishes were honored. Duhhh!

I have been an estate executor several times. I use my Dad's System when the Senior Heirs let me: Develop an itinerary, Establish a market price for everything, Give heirs, etc. the ability to purchase what they really want, Then sell the rest, deduct their share and distribute the balances. It really works well.

EXECUTORS: What doesn’t work is putting your requests and bequests in your will and making a Family Member your Executor. Your requests and bequests will almost always be modified or ignored by the Family Member Executor who will have his/her own opinions about who should get what, and the Senior Relatives will threat the executor with reprisals if he doesn’t ignore the will and do what they say. I was involved in two different instances where a will was so controversial it was just thrown away and forgotten about.

This application of “Reasonable Executor Judgement” often occurs even when funeral arrangements are specified in a living will document, a personal note from the deceased, or in the will itself. It is rare a Family Member Executor gets sued about his fiduciary responsibilities..

How many times do you think a deceased who requests there be no viewing gets their wish? They want to save the estate money. They don’t want people to remember them looking like this…”Just use a picture of me when on my wedding day”.. Forgetabout it. There will be a viewing. We need to get together and talk about the good and, in the hallway of the morgue, the bad about you.

SOLUTION: So don’t waste your time Geezers and Geezetts, just writing down what you want to happen and thinking it will. The game is 'Executor Take All' and the only safe way to handle your estate-one that is sure to be resisted by your loved ones…Select An Attorney to be the Executor of your will and give him/her you will and last wishes.

I really am anti-attorney, but you do what you have to do.

This advice is to die for...Pass It On.

More Old People Die in December

2009-11-28T08:26:00.004-05:00

I read that someplace a few years ago and have been watching the December Obits ever since. It seems to be true... I hope it’s not me this December!

It’s an interesting topic for speculation: cold weather and snow shoveling; sadness thinking about holidays past and memories of loved ones now gone causes depression and reduces your immune system; flu season; no money for Christmas presents and you need an excuse for not giving or giving less so you check out instead. Car accidents on icy roads.

Many causes seem to relate to the physical effects of cold weather. But Florida has their share of departing geriatrics. Mental factors play havoc with immune systems.

Anyway, the situation raises hell with families. They get over the loss of the elderly loved one in a reasonable amount of time. But the animosities spawned over who gets what loot from the estate last for years and years. Brothers and Sisters want to kill each other over who gets what. That will be my next post!

I’m getting morbidly depressed writing about this . Cheer me up. Write me an uplifting comment about why its great to be old and dying.

The Messiah Returns! I’ll Be There!

2009-11-27T20:32:00.003-05:00

My wife usually participates with the large group of over one hundred plus quality singers who present excerpts from Handel’s Messiah in St. Augustine every year. It’s one of the more popular Christmas Season events in this charming city just thirty minutes to the north of Palm Coast. She couldn't this year, but I will still be there when it happens.

The city lit up all its Christmas lights this week. The horse and carriage tours are stalling car traffic all over the city. But who cares! (If you can’t visit during the Christmas season, tours of the neat “Old Jail” are always available. That’s another very popular go-see.)

Flagler College, a high quality and high cost liberal arts college is right in the middle of the city so you encounter a good mix of both youth squanderers and old geezers glazed and gazing on the walking mall, getting great home made ice cream; some toking, some talking.

My son and his wife do a bed-and-breakfast thing in St. Auggie regularly. And they only live 40 minutes away! Escape from the kids. We babysit.

Here is a website with one of the most comprehensive schedules of events…

http://www.getaway4florida.com/nights/events.php

And here are the dates and times for this year’s event:

“HANDEL'S MESSIAH

The St. Augustine Community Choir presents their annual performance of excerpts from Handel's Messiah and other Christmas holiday music at the St. Augustine Cathedral Basilica, located at 38 Cathedral Place in St. Augustine. Presentations are at 8 p.m Saturday December 12th and at 2 p.m Sunday December 13th. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.
Phone: 904.824.2806”

Will Black Friday be Good Friday?

2009-11-25T22:24:00.002-05:00

When I worked in NYC in the 60's the Jewish retailers were delighted to promote Christmas. The Fifth Avenue storefronts were spectacular. The Rockefeller Christmas tree brought in visitors with American Express credit cards and their unlimited lines of credit.

Money was spent (gift wrapping cost extra). Everyone was eager to participate in this Judeo/Christian tradition. Bloomingdales was an international attraction. A trip to FAO Schwarz was really a trip.

Today the most important shopping period of the year starts with Black Friday at Costco, Wal-Mart’s and Best Buy. You can't even find an independent record store anymore. Our gelt is going overseas to China. Once American Corporations are now international corporations and who knows where our dollars wind up. Christmas Overtime pay is now Holiday Part-Time pay...if you can even find that.

Political Correctness has castrated product marketing and promotion. The result is consumer revolts and boycotts.

And now it has infected Thanksgiving. I got one note from Barak and one from Michelle today. "God" had been redacted. Probably by chief politico Rob "Emmanuel". They just "gave thanks..." To no one in particular; they just threw it out there. "We give thanks".

And that is supposed to mean something? Maybe the pardoned White House turkey doesn't have enough brains to know who to give thanks to, but the White House turkey who wrote the emails should have been able to find something more profound for our President to say...someone to thank. Like maybe the God of our nation's founders-whose praises are carved on all those buildings in our Capitol?

Well, Wal-Mart will be open at 4am on Black Friday. That will make all their Chinese suppliers even richer. Until our dollar crashes and burns.

The "Christmas vs. Holidays" street fights will begin. And Americans will stay home reading unemployment ads and letters advising them their Visa credit line has been reduced or terminated. Maybe sales for this critical retail selling season won't tank. But I think they will.

We Americans seem to be joining the Kamikaze pilots and Muslim suicide bombers in that we have adopted an emotional commitment to Economic Suicide in the name of One-Worldness and Political Correctness. Our bleeding hearts are bleeding our national treasure.

Give Thanks and Have A Happy!