The Buzz

I have been watching the news around the world on the new Financial Reform Bill that President Obama signed the other day.  According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary Reform is defined as the following:

transitive verb 1 a : to put or change into an improved form or condition b : to amend or improve by change of form or removal of faults or abuses
2 : to put an end to (an evil) by enforcing or introducing a better method or course of action
3 : to induce or cause to abandon evil ways <reform a drunkard>

The new reform should change the current situation into an improved situation; put an end to "evil" by enforcement; introduce a better course of action and cause to abandon evil ways.  All in favor say I!

According to the new reform bill that affects us all, will take over the financial system, creating a single agency to "enforce" rules and prohibit fees on credit cards. Ensure that mortgage brokers are not "steering" you toward a more expensive mortgage so they can get hidden kickbacks. Mortgage brokers will now have to operate in an honest and transparent way. The list of "reform" goes on and on and all sounds great for the American families.  However, the government thinks we are going to have more control over our finances.  I want to know why we had to have all this "reform" when a few years ago, you could shop for credit cards, get good deals, control your finances, get a mortgage without fraud and American families were in better shape.

The evil that we speak of was bills that have been passed in the last administrations that took away these regulations for the bank. What guarantee do we have that now that we have all this "REFORM", that the next administration doesn't do away with it or create their own REFORM bill, that will walk like a duck, quack like a duck, but will bury the American family all over again.

The only way to change a condition and do away with Evil is if the American people take control of their lives and stop giving the power to the government and crying the poor Me's when they can't pay their bills. Stop using credit cards, live within your means like our parents did before credit cards.  Sure we didn't have a lot but we had family values. Our children played with homemade toys, wore hand-me down clothes and a family of 6 split a lb of beef for dinner by creating casseroles and using fillers like rice, pasta and potatoes to fill our bellies.

The American people are to blame for the crisis we are in due to pure and simple greed.  We want it, we can buy it on credit and who cares about the future as long as I have my new car, my new home, my kids have all the most expensive toys and clothes credit can buy! It is "We the People" that should be reforming ourselves, not leaving it up to the government to do it.  We don't want Big Brother looking over our shoulders, yet we give them the power to do that every time you swipe a credit card or fill out an application for another one that you don't need and don't know how you are gonion to pay.

Cut up your cards, pay them down or file bankruptcy. Isn't that what big business does when they get in over their heads? They file bankruptcy and move on, some change their names and continue in business debt free.  The American people need to WAKE UP and stop crying over their losses of their homes, their cars, their jobs, their toys.. We put ourselves in this position with our greed for what the media sells us. Do you really need to have a Play Station and a WII? Do you really need that brand new car with all the bells and whistles or would a used one in good condition for a lot less work just as well? Do you really need to have fast food three or four times a week or buy enough food at the grocery store to feed 2 families then throw out the leftovers because nobody will eat them?

It is time "WE the People" start taking back our family values, our core principles and give up the credit cards, give up the toys and the expensive things that you do not need if you can't afford to pay cash for them. Start a savings plan or a Christmas Club as we used to have so that when Christmas came you had money to buy your presents, not charge them. Start planning family dinners together where a casserole or meatloaf is not the main item, but the farmers market fresh vegetables which are healthier for all of us.

We have given the governmentthe right to take over our lives by giving them all our money, now we are giving them more in the form of taxes, so they can bail out the banks and Wall street. Did anyone out there get a bailout? Did the government forgive your credit card debt cause you lost your job? Did the mortgage companies and the big banks say.. "hey, don't worry about your mortgage, we understand, everyone got greedy especially us; we should not have loaned you the money anyway and we knew it was wrong, so your debt is forgiven"?  Did anyone hear that?

Financial Reform is just another way the government can Rip us off because WE are greedy Americans that can't live without the finer things in life. Our grandparents and parents know what it is like to sacrifice. The younger generation or the "me" generation does not know how.  So instead of the government flip flopping around every administration trying to make it better for us or better for the big banks and Wall street, why don't they start offering education starting in Kindergarten that teaches our children and maybe even ourselves how to live on the cheap? How to do without? How to share what we have with others that don't have. If they won't teach it in school, then talk to your grandparents, parents and elders to find out how they lived, find out what they did to survive when there was no such thing as credit cards!

This country is Ripping us off AGAIN, under the guise of Financial Reform.. Wake Up America.. time to take responsibility for yourselves is at hand. Learn to live within your means and the government won't need reforms or bailouts!

I recently had the interior of my house painted.  What a huge difference it makes. Nice white ceilings and trim, color on the walls all fresh and clean.  WOW is all I can say!

This got me thinking that if my house which is older and small looks this good with new paint, how much the houses I sell would look.  Of course, most of the listings I have now are short sales, and let's face it, who in their right mind is going to put money into a short sale!

But wait, there is an upside to painting the interior or your short sale property.  It will show better, that is a no-brainer, it will cost less for the new owner at move in time making the house more desirable; the new paint will definitely make the house smell better especially if there were tenants in place prior to it going on the market. The one huge difference it will make is in the market right now with all the bank owned and short sales on the market, a clean fresh house sells in record time!

I've seen this over and over again.  Sellers need to know that there are thousands of homes that are comparable to theirs right now on the market and what is the difference to a buyer except price? Location is not even so much a factor right now, price is king!  So, you don't have the perfect location, your price is about where everyone elses is, the lender is being stubborn about what they will take and it looks like your house might go on the auction block.

If you seriously want to keep a foreclosure off your credit, and who wouldn't?  You need to spend a few dollars while it s on the market to get it sold faster and for more money. The more money the bank gets the less you will have to pay taxes on if it is your primary or the less the bank will come after you for later on.  IN any event what are we talking here folks?

A 5 gallon bucket of paint and someone who is unemployed looking to make a few dollars; hand them a paint brush and a bottle of water and let them go at it. Of course you will have to keep the power on in your house and the water if you have public water supply, but still what is the cost of that compared to the taxes the government will hit you up with.

What about the lawn, keep it mowed and trimmed, keep the property looking its best as if you were making a profit because YOU are making a profit on every penny you don't have to give to the government in taxes or your lender after the deal is done if they put you in recovery. Also, you are walking away from a huge debt, dont' you feel a responsibility to help get it sold quickly and for the most money as if you were actually selling it yourself.  You are not paying commission or closing cost or none of the other related cost, so why not spruce up your property before it hits the market. 

Realtors will hold an open house in one that has curb appeal, but if you sit in an open house with the paint peeling and the carpet stained and bugs crawling around, nobody is going to stop so why waste your Sunday?   The properties that I have had as short sales, with and without tenants in them, are kept up. Most of my sellers know that keeping the property available to show is important.  Not all my sellers are on board, but those houses are still sitting there looking sad and abandoned with no buyers.  The others are gone and new families are living in them already.

Wake up people, unless you are truly destitute and cannot afford to put $500 into your house to get it sold quickly and for the most money possible in this market, don't blame your Realtor or the market for your house not selling when the gavel comes down and you have a foreclosure on your credit for the next 7 years or more.

It is a small price to pay in this market to achieve what is in essence freedom from a mortgage and the aversion of foreclosure!  Call your Realtor today and tell them you want to paint the interior walls of your house, mow the lawn and maybe even paint the front door to give your house the edge it needs to sell in this competitive market. 

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Good luck and happy writing.

The Successwebsite team