Michael Peron's Blog

Michael Peron

Blog

Displaying blog entries 1241-1250 of 1414

Defend Yourself from Scams and Flimflams

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
by Michael Peron
by Michael Sexton

"I went to a foreclosure auction the other day," said a woman who called our offices last week. "And do you know what? There was no point in bidding on any of the houses, because they were the same ones that I had already seen on realtors’ Websites and in newspapers. Other people didn't seem to realize that and they were overbidding. And the whole time, the auctioneers were pressuring everybody to bid immediately, sight-unseen, claiming it was the last chance to buy these foreclosed homes at rock-bottom prices."

Now, you might say that those auctions were not truly scams - just aggressive sales to help banks dispose of foreclosed property. And I suppose that it true. But the fact remains, buying a property in a rushed, impulsive way is unwise, especially when there are better ways to buy the same property at the same price.

Here are some pointers that our real estate faculty recommends for financial self-defense:

  • Always base your valuation on hard, current comparables - or on realistic estimates of future prices. An auctioneer might claim that a property was worth $350,000 only six months ago - and then claim that you can steal it now for $250,000. That is faulty figuring. The question is, what are current comparables like? You either have to be able to document the value of a property against current sales - or have some realistic idea of what you can really expect to sell it for in the future.  As a rule of thumb, add up the price you are paying and cost of the repairs that the property will need; If that figure exceeds the value of current comparable sales, you just might be paying too much.

  •  Keep an eye on cash flow. Can you really rent out a property until the market turns around, for example? Look at other rental properties in the area. Are there a lot of vacacies? Even if you can rent it, will you be able to generate enough rental income to cover monthly expenses? Deficient cash flow can kill you  -  even if your properties have good long-term appreciation potential.

  •  Always get the help of an experienced real estate attorney if you are considering foreclosures or other properties with troubled pasts. Former owners or mortgage-lenders can appear out of thin air, claiming to have rights to your property. You need to be protected.

  •  Never shortchange property inspections, title searches and other fundamental steps that are part of all good real estate transactions. Should you move quickly to seize a great opportunity? Yes, if need be. But that is not the same thing as moving recklessly. In your gut, you know the difference.

Incidentally,  there's an enteertaining slide show on Forbes.com that highlights some of the scams that have tricked naïve real estate investors. It’s a good reminder that even though a sucker might be born every minute, there is no rational reason to become one too.

I wish you every success!

Add Comment

Real Estate Investing: Beware of Red Flags

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
by Michael Peron
by Gary W. Eldred

Blog Image

“On this April Fool’s day, vow never to become the fool.” - Gary Eldred, PhD

Although I love real estate and believe it offers most people their best opportunity to become wealthy, no one should assume that every great-sounding offer actually represents a great deal. In fact, investors are well-advised to recognize and beware of numerous red flags that signal danger - or at least warn would-be buyers to slow down and examine cautiously before they proceed.

One such red flag that I continuously spot as I travel around the world looking at property offers involves “rent guarantees.” Although in the high-dollar commercial property field, rent guarantees sometimes make sense, the red flag rent guarantees are those offered by builders of new residential apartment projects - especially projects sold off-plan (preconstruction) to out-area-buyers. I’ve recently seen such offers in the U.K., Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and in much of Asia. (Timeshares, fractional ownership, and hotel room sales also have been making similar offers.)

Ads for such projects might promise something like, “8% rental guarantee for 3 years.” Why do I view that as a red flag? Because as with all “too good to be true” come-ons, it intends to dull your critical inquiries. Such a promise should cause you to question whether the market rent levels will actually support the project - and what is likely to happen to rents into the future. The promise implies (quite wrongly) that you need not worry about the true rental market.

Further, many naïve buyers fail to inquire whether the promised rental return yield refers to gross or net returns. (They are almost always gross--i.e., before operating expenses and amortization.) Moreover, the buyers fail to ask who is actually making the “guarantee” and what their financial capacity to honor such a commitment is. And in many instances, the “investment” units are rented out furnished, which could mean large out-of-pocket costs for furniture replacement in the not-too-distant future.

Although this “rent guarantee” example refers to just one specific type of hyped promotion, apply the general principle to all come-ons, promises, and “too good to be true” offers such as:

  • “These properties are bound to appreciate at least 10% to 20% a year - just as they have in the past.”
  • “You set the terms, I’ll set the price.” 
  • “Nothing down - below-market financing.”
  • “Priced well below appraised value.”
  • “No need to worry - you can always refinance.”

Beware: Due diligence must rule all purchases. Remember that more than a few builders, sellers, and sales agents want to highlight (even exaggerate) your potential gains and keep the potential risks well-hidden in the fine print and footnotes of your written contracts.

As many cities throughout the United States now experience the down part of the real estate cycle, I am receiving many e-mails from investors (using the term quite loosely) who now find themselves in the red. In every instance, these investors failed to adequately research and forecast the underlying supply/demand fundamentals of the markets where they were buying, and /or failed to understand the pitfalls of the financing terms they were agreeing to.

So, on this April Fool’s day, vow never to become the fool. No matter how appealing the sales promotion and promises, no matter how much a market is booming, no matter how certain the deal seems in terms of risk and reward - before you act, rely on multiple metrics of valuation, multiple data points, and multiple sources of information. Even with property, long-term wealth-building invites and encourages education and work.

Add Comment

In the Fed’s Cross Hairs Exotic Game

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
by Michael Peron
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON

IN the week or so since the Federal Reserve Bank of New York pushed Bear Stearns into the arms of JPMorgan Chase, there has been much buzz about why the deal went down precisely as it did.

Its primary purpose, according to regulators, was to forestall a toppling of financial dominoes on Wall Street, in the event that Bear Stearns skidded into bankruptcy and other firms began falling apart as well.

But a closer look at the terms of this shotgun marriage, and its implications for a wide array of market participants, presents another intriguing dimension to the deal. The JPMorgan-Bear arrangement, and the Bank of America-Countrywide match before it, may offer templates that allow the Federal Reserve to achieve something beyond basic search-and-rescue efforts: taking some air out of the enormous bubble in the credit insurance market and zapping some of the speculators who have caused it to inflate so wildly.

Of course, it could be simple coincidence that the rescues caused billions of dollars (or more) in credit insurance on the debt of Countrywide and Bear Stearns to become worthless. Regulators haven’t pointed at concerns about credit default swaps, as these insurance contracts are called, as reasons for the two takeovers. (And Bank of America’s chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, has flatly denied that his deal with Countrywide was at the behest of regulators.)

Yet an effect of both deals, should they go through, is the elimination of all outstanding credit default swaps on both Bear Stearns and Countrywide bonds. Entities who wrote the insurance — and would have been required to pay out if the companies defaulted — are the big winners. They can breathe a sigh of relief, pocket the premiums they earned on the insurance and live to play another day.

Investors who bought credit insurance to hedge their Bear Stearns and Countrywide bonds will be happy to receive new debt obligations from the acquirers in exchange for their stakes. They are simply out the premiums they paid to buy the insurance.

On the other hand, the big losers here are those who bought the insurance to speculate against the fortunes of two troubled companies. That’s because the value of their insurance, which increased as the Bear and Countrywide bonds fell, has now collapsed as those bonds have risen to reflect their takeover by stronger banks.

We do not yet know who these speculators are, but hedge fund and proprietary trading desks on Wall Street are undoubtedly among them.

The derivatives market is huge, unregulated and opaque because participants undertake the transactions privately and don’t record them in a central market. The growth in the market and the potential for disruption, as a result of its size, has surely caused regulators to lose plenty of sleep.

Credit default swaps were created as innovative insurance contracts that bondholders could buy to hedge their exposure to the securities. Like a homeowner’s policy that insures against a flood or fire, the swaps are intended to cover losses to banks and bondholders when companies fail to pay their debts. The contracts typically last five years.

Recently, however, speculators have swamped the market, using the derivatives to bet on companies they view as troubled. That has helped the swaps become some of the fastest-growing contracts in the derivatives world. The value of the insurance outstanding stood at $43 trillion last June, according to the Bank for International Settlements. Two years earlier, that amount was $10.2 trillion.

But before a contract can pay out to a buyer of the insurance, a company must default on its bonds. In both the Countrywide and Bear Stearns takeovers, the companies were saved before they could default. Both deals also specify that the acquiring banks assume the debt of the target.

As a result, the insurance policies that once covered Bear Stearns and Countrywide bonds will become the obligations of much stronger issuers: JPMorgan and Bank of America. No payouts are coming, guys.

So consider all those swaggering hedge fund managers and Wall Street proprietary traders who recorded paper gains on their credit insurance bets as the prices of Bear and Countrywide bonds fell. Now they must reverse those gains as a result of the rescues. If they still hold the insurance contracts, they are up a creek — and the Fed just took away their paddles.

An interesting side note: It’s likely that JPMorgan, the biggest bank in the credit default swap market, had a good deal of this kind of exposure to Bear Stearns on its books. Absorbing Bear Stearns for a mere $250 million allows JPMorgan to eliminate that risk at a bargain-basement price. JPMorgan declined to comment on the size of its portfolio of credit default swaps.

We’ve yet to hear a peep about losses stemming from the Countrywide and Bear Stearns debacles. That doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Remember all those months that the subprime problem was supposed to have been “contained”?

IF we’ve learned anything from this year-long walk down the credit-crisis trail, it is that speculators on the losing end of such deals don’t typically volunteer that they have suffered enormous hits in their portfolios until they are forced to — often when they’re on the brink of collapse.

Do the Bear Stearns and Countrywide deals represent a regulatory template? Both had the same types of winners and losers. Bondholders won, while stockholders and credit insurance owners lost. Although there aren’t that many big banks left that are financially sound enough to buy out the next failure, it’s a pretty good bet that future rescues will look a lot like these.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence that both these deals involve wiping out billions of dollars worth of outstanding credit default swaps linked to Bear Stearns and Countrywide bonds.

Still, helping to trim the risk just a tad in the $43 trillion credit default swap market certainly qualifies as a side benefit. Had either Bear Stearns or Countrywide defaulted, the possibility that some of the parties couldn’t afford to pay what they owed to insurance holders posed a real risk to the entire financial system.

It’s pretty clear that some major losses are floating around out there on busted credit default swap positions. Investors in hedge funds whose managers have boasted recently about their astute swap bets would be wise to ask whether those gains are on paper or in hand. Hedge fund managers are paid on paper gains, after all, so the question is more than just rhetorical.

Losses, losses, who’s got the losses?

Add Comment

Banks Lending Standards As Strict As They Were 20 Years Ago!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
by Michael Peron

By Alan Zibel and J.W. Elphinstone, AP Business Writers

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just when consumers and the U.S. economy need banks to lend more freely, the mortgage industry is making it harder to borrow -- even for those with good credit.

Mortgage insurers, whose backing is required for borrowers who can't afford the traditional 20 percent down payment on a home, have already flagged nearly a quarter of the nation's ZIP codes where they refuse to insure some home loans.

That encompasses a wide variety of neighborhoods: McMansions in Scottsdale, Ariz.; luxury Miami condos; 1960 ranch houses in Flint, Mich.; and early 20th century kit homes in Metuchen, N.J.

The entire states of California, Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Ohio and Nevada -- which have seen the highest foreclosure rates and the worst price declines -- are blackballed on some mortgage insurers' lists.

Banks that have lost billions because of bad bets during the housing boom are now reverting to strict lending standards not seen in nearly 20 years, according to industry data and interviews with lenders.

For new home buyers and those seeking to refinance, it can mean higher down payments and a higher bar for credit scores, among other requirements. The toughest restrictions are in markets where home prices are falling, though regions where property values are rising are not immune.

"We're in the midst of an epic, broad, sweeping change in the mortgage industry," said Chris Sipe, a loan officer with America East Mortgage in Frederick, Md.

The reluctance to extend credit comes despite a flurry of government initiatives, including steady interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, intended to make it easier for would-be borrowers and those facing interest-rate resets on their mortgages.

Lenders' growing leeriness threatens to dampen sellers' already soggy prospects for the spring home-buying season -- and that means more pain for the already battered housing sector and the broader economy.

In recent weeks, mortgage insurers have flagged more than 9,600 ZIP codes in at least 34 states where they won't insure certain types of home loans -- those for investment properties or second homes, those with riskier adjustable-rate or interest-only mortgages, or for buyers making down payments of less than 3 percent.

With banks and mortgage insurers pulling back, state and federal programs for first-time buyers and people with poor credit are attempting to fill the void.

Don Brekke, an equipment operator from Colorado Springs, Colo., tried to buy a bank-owned 1950s ranch home for $113,000. At first he couldn't get a loan because the house was in a potentially declining market, and lenders required a 10 percent down payment, more than he could afford.

Ultimately, he was able to qualify for a 100 percent loan from Colorado's state financing authority, and he plans to close in the coming days.

"It was a bunch of headaches -- going around and around to get this done," Brekke said.

The combination of sinking home prices and tighter lending standards has been a major aggravation for Ron Broussard, a 38-year-old sales representative for a home builder.

Broussard took advantage of soaring Southern California property prices three years ago to refinance a loan on a house he had owned since the late 1990s. Today he's still stuck with a $720,000 mortgage and has been renting it out since moving with his family to Texas a year ago. Once appraised for $1.1 million, Broussard's lender now says it's worth about $300,000 less.

He does not yet owe more than the property is worth, but Broussard worries that is a possibility.

"The way the market's going, you know, who knows?" he said.

Broussard has found little sympathy from his lender, Countrywide Financial Corp. While Broussard accepts responsibility for taking out a mortgage whose monthly payments are due to skyrocket once the unpaid principal exceeds the home's value by 15 percent, he feels betrayed by the lender's unwillingness to negotiate better terms.

The stinginess of banks is showing up in home loan statistics: The value of all new mortgages plummeted to $450 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007, down 38 percent from a year earlier, according to trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance.

Subprime loans, made to borrowers with poor credit, virtually disappeared from the market, plummeting 90 percent to $13.5 billion in the October-December quarter.

There is a silver lining: The Federal Reserve has repeatedly cut interest rates, helping borrowers whose mortgages were just about to reset to higher rates and people with student loans. Reflecting the Fed's efforts, rates on 30-year mortgages dropped below 6 percent this week for the first time in more than a month.

But the long-term impact of the Fed's move is far from certain, and the central bank's actions could end up feeding inflation and pushing up long-term rates.

"The credit crunch is much like the movie villain that refuses to die," said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. "The effects are spilling out, far beyond what was originally seen."

Amid the turmoil, the mortgage industry is playing hardball with borrowers.

Wells Fargo & Co. now requires a 25 percent down payment in the most distressed markets, according to a document sent to mortgage brokers last month. A company spokesman said in an e-mail message that Wells Fargo is "focused, as we've always been, on fair and responsible lending and sound credit risk management."

Some borrowers who took out home-equity loans or second mortgages are being blocked from refinancing. The problem is most common among consumers using two different lenders.

Companies that made second mortgages are now denying requests -- common in a refinancing transaction -- to take secondary status in the event of a foreclosure. Especially in markets where prices are declining, holders of those loans want to be paid off before a loan is refinanced rather than take on the risk of default, industry experts say.

Lenders' changes have removed 30 to 40 percent of the borrowers who could have qualified in recent years, estimated Tom LaMalfa, managing director at Wholesale Access, a Columbia, Md.-based mortgage research firm.

Lenders and mortgage insurers are also requiring proof of income and employment, something they didn't always do during the housing boom.

"It's no longer people buying pools of loans, strictly written by a computer, and no one knowing what's in a pool," said Marc Schwaber, chief executive of Preferred Empire Mortgage Co. in New York. "The loan is going to have to make sense."

Many in the real estate industry hope that the economic stimulus legislation signed by President Bush earlier this year allowing Fannie and Freddie to back loans larger than their former limit of $417,000 will kick-start the housing market.

And while this week's interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve could tempt banks to lend more, experts say they are likely to remain skittish for months to come.

"It's going to take time for banks to tiptoe back into the water," said Jefferson Harralson, a banking industry analyst with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.

J.W. Elphinstone reported from New York.

 

Add Comment

Put Email On A Schedule Stay Focused !

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
by Michael Peron

by Janet Attard

Do you have your email program open all day long? Are you spending too much of your day reading and replying to email? Do you get compliments from business associates and friends on how fast you answered their email?

If you answered any of those questions with a , "Yes," it's time to put email on a schedule.

What do I mean? How can you stop email from coming in all day long?

You can't. But you CAN stop your time-draining habit of reading your email as fast as it comes into your email box.

Email is distracting. Every time you stop doing some other task to take a peak at your email, you are interrupting yourself and slowing your progress on the task you were working on. Worse, you can get so involved in answering the email, or looking at links someone sent you that you don't get back to the task you had been working on for a half hour, hour or more. When you do return to the task, it will take you at least a few minutes to review what you had done earlier before you can dive into the task again.

Solve the problem and get much more accomplished each day by scheduling a time to read and reply to email. Try to schedule the time your start reading email time for a few hours after you start your day - say 10 or 11 AM. If you need it, schedule a second period for reading email later in the day - say 3 PM or 4 PM. Schedule a specific time to start and to stop. You'll get through all the mail faster if you know you only have a limited amount of time allocated for email.

If you must read email the first thing in the morning, learn to scan the email and only deal immediately with truly important email. Wait to reply to the less important mail or check out forwarded links later in the day.

Add Comment

4 Anti-Cold Cocktails That Work

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
by Michael Peron
Written by Tim Ferriss Topics: Physical Performance

ginger-and-orange-peels-tea-soup.jpg
The 2,000-year old cocktail: it tastes as bad as it looks… but it works.

My back hurts. So does my throat, and I feel like a sumo wrestler is sitting on my head trying to pop my eyes out.

Alas, the common cold has got me. Fortunately, I expect to be rid of it in 48-72 hours.

Like millions this time of year, I have the bug. But, thanks to Chinese and German friends and several helpful doctors, I’ve found a few effective treatments — the closest to cures I’ve experimented with — that can get you back on your feet faster. I suggest you test them in stages, from oldest to newest, as the side-effects tend to increase as we include modern drugs.

The Chinese Cure for the Common Cold—Simple and Direct

Despite some craziness like shark-fin soup and bear gallbladders, the Chinese have had a long time to experiment with the common cold.

In Beijing, I’d doubted the traditional Chinese approach to reducing fevers (bundle you up in winter clothing and force you to drink near-boiling tea or water until you sweat profusely), which ended up working like a charm, so I’ve been willing to test ideas that could have some clinical basis.

The ladies—my five surrogate mothers—at my neighborhood Chinese restaurant suggested the following fast-acting cold remedy (end product pictured in the first photo from this post), which — for me — cuts symptoms like sore throat and sinus pain by at least 50% over 24 hours.

Step 1: Get fresh ginger and the orange rind (peel) from one orange, preferably organic or otherwise not treated with pesticides. Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods will do. The Epsom salts will be explained and is not part of the recipe.

ginger-orange-peels-and-epsom-salt.jpg

Step 2: Cut the ginger into small pieces and mash them down with the side of a large kitchen knife.

crushed-ginger.jpg

Step 3: Bring water to a low boil (medium setting on my electric stovetop) in a small pot and insert ginger pieces. Wait 20 minutes. Note: to help relieve the muscular pains that often come with a cold or flu, I’ll run a hot bath during this 20 minutes, put in the entire box of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate), then soak for 10 minutes before coming back to the kitchen for step 4.

Step 4: Add the orange peel sections to the boiling water and wait an additional 10 minutes.

Step 5: Strain and serve. Be forewarned that it has a strong taste and a few dabs of organic honey will help those with girly-man stomachs (I’ll plead girly-man on this one). The liquid/tea/soup stores well in the refrigerator but tastes 10x worse cold.

The German Solution—Alcohol, Of Course!

The German solution I’ve been offered is easier to describe:

1. Get a deep-tissue massage
2. Chamomile Tea
3. Spiced Rum
4. Bed

I suspect the spiced rum could have an effect less from the alcohol and more from the cinnamon typically used to make it spicy. Though generally thought of as being viral, the common cold is often misdiagnosed or accompanied by other types of bacteria and infection.

Cinnamon has been shown to inhibit E. Coli and increase insulin sensitivity, among other things, which is why I take it supplementally prior to meals if I’m cycling off of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) as an insulin mimicker.

I’ll discuss ALA at greater length another time, but here is a preview from wikipedia: “Lipoic acid has been shown in cell culture experiments to increase cellular uptake of glucose by recruiting the glucose transporter GLUT4 to the cell membrane, suggesting its use in diabetes.”

Modern Non-Prescription Options

Though it’s true that “supplement,” “drug,” and “food” are largely legal distinctions and not biochemical ones, getting prescriptions is both time-consuming and expensive. For shortening the duration of the common cold, I use Zicam oral mist (nasal delivery can damage your sense of smell) every 3-4 hours, along with the following:

kyolic-garlic-acidophilus-vitamin-c.jpg
Garlic extract (2 capsules, 3x/daily), probiotic acidophilus cultures (one capsule per meal), 3mg melatonin prior to bed, 8-10 grams of vitamin C in 1g divided doses.

I don’t use echinacea because I’ve found the supporting research inconsistent and it upsets my stomach. I’m aware that some researchers dispute Linus Pauling’s conclusions about vitamin C, but I believe it’s because of insufficient dosing and spacing, as it is water soluble and can have a half-life of just 30-60 minutes.

From the non-ingestible standpoint, having suffered from sinus infections since childhood, I’m a proponent of sinus irrigation, which entails driving distilled water mixed with salt and baking soda in one nostril and out the other.

I’ll do this each morning and evening as soon as symptoms appear, and it all but eliminates the intra-cranial pressure and black-eye look so typical of sinus inflammation:

neilmed-neil-med-sinus-rinse.jpg
The NeilMed sinus rinse kit.

The Last Resort—Heavy Prescription Artillery

The common cold, as mentioned earlier, is generally thought of as a viral infection and attributed to any number of rhinoviruses and friends: “Common colds are most often caused by infection by one of the more than 100 serotypes of rhinovirus, a type of picornavirus. Other viruses causing colds are coronavirus, human parainfluenza viruses, human respiratory syncytial virus, adenoviruses, enteroviruses, or metapneumovirus. Due to the many different types of viruses, it is not possible to gain complete immunity to the common cold.”

Diverse as the causes might be, there is one combination of drugs—my personal holy trinity—that seems to kill off most variations of cold-related upper-respiratory issues if all else fails:

z-pack-azithromycin-flonase-pseudovent-pseudoephedrine-guaifenesin.jpg

From left to right: the “Zmax” or azithromycin, an antibiotic (don’t use this and acidophilus at the same time); Flonase or generic fluticasone propionate, an anti-inflammatory nasal stray with little systemic absorption of the glucocorticoids; and Pseudovent, a decongestant and expectorant not unlike Primatene tablets.

These drugs all have side-effects and should not be used without medical supervision. If your HMO or doctor seems clueless, however, feel free to make suggestions.  Please note also that I use antibiotics only when warranted, as in the case of severe and recurring sinusitis with related causes.  Uninformed overuse of antibiotics can do more damage than anabolic steroids, so caveat emptor.

###

The common cold has been with us for millenia and will likely be with us for millenia to come. Is doesn’t mean you have to lay down and take it. Test some of these options, with the guidance of a doctor when needed, and perhaps we can save one more casualty from flu and cold season.

Add Comment

Low-Cost, High-Reward Mini-Retirements: Explore the World with International Volunteering

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
by Michael Peron

Written by Darius Monsef IV Topics: Mini-retirements

One great method for taking an expenses-paid “mini-retirement”—or adding more time to your travels without adding costs—is to work with an international volunteer organization.

Some volunteer groups charge a participation fee, but there are some that will cover your food, housing—and provide you with good meaningful work—at no cost. I would like to share with you a few stories from friends who have all taken mini-retirements with Hands On Disaster Response, one such group.

Marc Young, Volunteer

A Little Back Story

Breakdowns of any sort can be great experiences: nervous, communication, etc. They allow us to return to center and to refocus on what it is that truly matters. For Tim, it was a one-way ticket to London in June 2004.

My breakdown came just a few months later and took me to Thailand to find anyone or any place I could help recover from the Tsunami that had just destroyed tens of thousands of homes and lives. I had been living in L.A. working as a freelance designer, treading water and occasionally getting mouthfuls of it, and my adventure to Thailand was a conscious decision to give up treading and to dive down deeper to explore just what was around me…
What was meant to be a one-month trip to volunteer and travel turned into 5 months in Southern Thailand and, ultimately, an international relief organization. It is from this organization that the stories come from below:

Michael Babel - Grad. Student, Licensed Massage Therapist, Life Coach
Michael Babel - Grad. Student, Licensed Massage Therapist, Life Coach
Michael, far right with cast of play he organized in Biloxi, MS.

From Michael:

I first connected with HODR in Biloxi Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. I was originally volunteering with another group but was looking for something more hands-on, and came upon Hands On a few towns away from where I was working. I arrived at 7:30am and was out cutting trees by 8am; it was love at first sight. I just returned from my 4th project with Hands On and, in spite of the disaster it will imply, I look forward to the next time.

Travel a lot of the time has to do with funds, how much money there is available to sustain one’s traveling habit. HODR helps me travel longer with less funds, allowing me to experience so many amazing moments…

In the Philippines “The realization that if we weren’t there, no one else would be.” In Biloxi “The moment when I realized the streets were clean, things were in piles, our efforts were making some difference.” In Bangladesh “Taking a boat 22 hours down a river, being the only white and English-speaking person on that boat, and being dropped off at a dock at the edge of a jungle.” In Peru “The night we went around the campfire and asked where people were from and there were volunteers from over 30 countries present.” In Bangladesh: “I gave a little boy some colored pencils and he burst into tears and hugged my legs.”

Jeff Johns - Student & Photographer
Jeff Johns - Student & Photographe
Jeff, crouching center with crew of volunteers in St. Domingo, Philippines.

From Jeff:

When I am not chasing HODR around the globe I am a full time Visual Journalism student in Ventura, Calif.

After the Tsunami in 2004, I was looking on the internet for any aid group that was accepting volunteers and that didn’t make it almost impossible to sign up. Hands On was the most impressive and human organization. No applications, no fees, no interviews. Just show up and get to work. It takes a special kind of person to travel to the far ends of the earth to work your butt off with complete strangers, I guess that weeds out the whackjobs. Well, the bad ones… I plan to graduate from Brooks in 2 years and when I do, plan to spend at least the next 5 years disaster hopping with HODR. There is nothing like free life experience!

I arrived in Thailand with a ticket home in 3 weeks. I left 4 months later. I went to Biloxi for just one week. A week after my return home I raised money and roadtripped from L.A. back to Biloxi with my roommate. All other trips I have changed and extended my trips at least by a few hours. With an experience that is human and real, it is almost impossible to tear yourself away, no matter what the living conditions might be or where in the world you are.

The first time, on my first deployment, that I saw a tear on the eye of a woman who just told me we were the answer to her prayers it really hit me. I’m not a religious man, but to realize you might be the answer to someone’s prayers is a powerful thing.

Also, although there is an ever-growing group of volunteers I have worked with before and now consider family, the experience of meeting complete strangers one week and not remembering your life without them a week later is an intense and amazing experience.

While in Bangladesh the bus system shut down for a morning because the driver had been bitten by an unruly passenger. Also, in the Philippines and Bangladesh, taking breaks with sweaty, dirty volunteers to have tea. I mean, there are so many funny and memorable moments with Hands On and there is no way to explain them. They wouldn’t’t seem funny to anyone else. You really have to be there.

Eric Zdenek - World Traveler
Eric Zdenek - World Traveller
Eric, far left with volunteers taking a boat trip on an off day in Thailand.

From Eric:

I make money by helping my bros run a Christmas Light company in LA (Sept thru Jan).

I first got hooked up with HODR when I canceled a 9 month trip to Italy to work with then Hands On Thailand after the Asian Tsunami in 2005.

At the time most of the resources Hands On received went directly to the effort, but for some of the longer term workers, deals were struck for discounted accommodation and meals. In part by being in deserted towns (towns often are after disasters) and by receiving aid from HODR, I was able to comfortably stay in Thailand for just over 4 months.

I have had the opportunity to explore a fair amount of the world considering my slightly unripened age of 25, but nothing I have done or seen even comes close to my experience with the fellow volunteers of HODR. It truly is the most rewarding form of traveling, giving its patrons the opportunity to meet the best of peoples, help others in the worst of times, and leave a village or town better off then when you arrived. I will never forget my time with HODR in Thailand and I look forward to many more opportunities to travel and volunteer with HODR.

Perhaps the single best day of my life occurred while working with HODR on Phi Phi island when a close group of 5 volunteers (Michael, Sunisa, Lizzy) took a day trip to the uninhabited bamboo island for the night. We brought with us some beer, bread, nutella, and a celebration bottle of champagne. Not having enough food for the night, we found dozens of crabs on the beach and chose to grub on them rather than not eat that night. We fell asleep after an amazing sunset and woke up to an even better sunrise. Talk about paradise!

Volunteering Mini-Retirements

If you can afford the travel costs to a HODR project, then all but beer money or personal expenses are covered. We have had hundreds of volunteers extend their travels aboard because they were able to stay with us for another week or month and not increase their costs dramatically. More information can be found on www.HODR.org.

Benefits of International Volunteering:
- Cut Travel Costs
- Be Immersed in a Different Culture
- Meet Fellow World Travelers
- Challenge Your Mind & Body

Here are several other reputable organizations—some may charge participation fees—that offer international volunteering experiences:

Burners Without Borders

Following the 2005 Burning Man event, several participants headed south into the Hurricane Katrina disaster area to help people rebuild their devastated communities. After several months of working along the Gulf Coast, BWB has set up a project in Pisco, Peru to assist with earthquake relief work.

Project HOPE

Nearly 50 years ago, Project HOPE was founded on the willingness of doctors, nurses and other medical volunteers to travel the globe on a floating hospital ship, the SS HOPE, to provide medical care, health education and humanitarian assistance to people in need. While we now operate land-based programs in more than 35 countries, Project HOPE has again returned to sending medical volunteers on board ships around the world to provide medical assistance, long reaching health education programs, vaccinations and humanitarian assistance.

International Relief Teams

International Relief Teams mobilizes volunteers and distributes medical supplies to support the organization’s four missions: 1) domestic and international disaster relief, 2) medical education and training, 3) surgical and clinical outreach, and 4) public health. Since 1988, IRT has provided more than $5.6 million in volunteer services, and more than $112 million in medicines and supplies to families in desperate need in 42 countries worldwide.

Relief International

Relief International is a humanitarian non-profit agency that provides emergency relief, rehabilitation, development assistance, and program services to vulnerable communities worldwide. RI is solely dedicated to reducing human suffering and is non-political and non-sectarian in its mission.

About the Guest Author, Darius A Monsef IV
Darius a ultravagabond in training, creative consultant, entrepreneur (COLOURlovers and others) and co-founder of Hands On Disaster Response

 

Add Comment

Foreclosure Mortgage Forgiveness Act Signed into Law By Bush

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
by Michael Peron

President Bush signed H.R. 3648, The Mortgage Forgiveness Act of 2007, into law, sparing homeowners the tax burden associated with canceled mortgage debt.

Prior to this action, forgiven mortgage debt due to foreclosure, short sale, or deed in lieu of foreclosure, was considered taxable income. The new law, however, temporarily waives these taxes for debts forgiven (as high as 35%) from the beginning of 2007 to the end of 2009. The bill also extends the tax deduction for mortgage insurance premiums through 2014.

"This is going to make a happy holiday for many homeowners," President Bush said yesterday before signing the bill in to law. During the press conference he added the following:

"When you're worried about making your payments, higher taxes are the last thing you need to worry about. So this bill will create a three-year window for homeowners to refinance their mortgage and pay no taxes on any debt forgiveness that they receive. And it's a really good piece of legislation. The provision will increase the incentive for borrowers and lenders to work together to refinance loans – and it will allow American families to secure lower mortgage payments without facing higher taxes."

"There's more work to be done," Bush added, saying that Congress needs to pass legislation to strengthen Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, to modernize FHA, and to allow the government to issue tax-exempt bonds for refinancing existing home loans.

Add Comment

Senate Democrats, Republicans Seek To Advance Foreclosure Relief Bill Amid Home Crisis

Wednesday, April 02, 2008
by Michael Peron
WASHINGTON – April 2, 2008 – Under growing pressure from voters to do something about the nation’s home foreclosure crisis, top Senate leaders agreed Tuesday to at least start with a plan that can win the support of both Democrats and Republicans.

The pact between Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., ended weeks of partisan bickering over what to do about the crisis in the housing market and the toxic effect it’s having on the economy.

There is considerable common ground on several steps that can be taken to improve the situation, but battles over how to structure the debate had threatened to produce gridlock.

Reid agreed not to bring up a Democratic plan containing a controversial provision – strongly opposed by Republicans and President Bush – to give bankruptcy judges power to cut interest rates and principal on troubled mortgages. That plan stalled a month ago.

Instead, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and the panel’s top Republican, Richard Shelby of Alabama, were instructed to forge a compromise by Wednesday afternoon.

The legislation is likely to draw on elements of the Democratic plan such as letting states issue $10 billion in tax-exempt bonds to refinance subprime loans and permitting homebuilders and other money-losing businesses to reclaim previously paid taxes.

Democrats also want to provide $4 billion to states to buy up and refurbish foreclosed homes, a plan that the administration opposes as a bailout for lenders and speculators.

Senators in both parties gave the arrangement a 94-1 stamp of approval on a previously scheduled procedural vote. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., was the sole “nay” vote.

The upcoming bill also is sure to attract a GOP amendment by Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia to award $15,000 tax credits to people who buy and move into foreclosed homes. That would sharply boost demand, Isakson says. Lawmakers in both parties support the idea.

The measure is also likely to include a plan by Dodd to have the Federal Housing Administration guarantee perhaps $400 billion worth of refinanced loans if lenders reduce loan amounts to reflect reduced home values. The measure would force banks to make less money on the loans but would also reduce their credit exposure.

There is also bipartisan backing for $200 million in new money for debt counselors to help homeowners negotiate with lenders.

A floor battle still looms over whether to change bankruptcy laws to help borrowers trapped in subprime mortgages keep their homes. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is the top backer of the idea, which has drawn withering opposition from banks, Republicans and a few Democrats.

Durbin said more than 2 million homeowners face foreclosure by the end of 2009, many of whom were duped into signing mortgages with unfair terms. The Center for Responsible Lending, which combats predatory lending practices, estimates about 600,000 people would keep their homes under Durbin’s plan instead of ending up before bankruptcy judges who aren’t permitted to adjust mortgage terms, regardless of how onerous they are.

The hotly contested provision rewriting the bankruptcy code, opponents say, would allow borrowers to effectively rewrite their mortgage contracts and would prompt lenders to tighten their standards and raise interest rates.

“It would mean higher risk, higher interest rates and higher monthly payments,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.

“The mortgage bankers, God bless them, say this is the end of civilization as we know it ... If these people go into court to be able to stay in there homes ... interest rates will go up all over America,” he said. “Well, that isn’t the case at all.”

Tuesday’s developments don’t guarantee a successful result, but both parties are under great pressure to produce a bill that can pass this year. There’s enough common ground for a bill, even though difficult negotiations remain on several fronts.

As part of the breakthrough, Republicans agreed to not weigh the bill down with amendments unrelated to the housing crisis.

The progress comes on the heels of steps by the Federal Reserve to broker the eleventh-hour sale of a major investment firm, the failing Bear Stearns Cos., to a rival. It guaranteed some $30 billion in Bear Stearns assets, including questionable mortgage-backed investments. The central bank also allowed investment houses to get emergency loans previously reserved only for commercial banks.

The Bear Stearns deal greatly ratcheted up the pressure on lawmakers and the Bush administration, who faced the possibility of being portrayed as favoring huge investment titans over millions of people threatened by foreclosure.

“When it was clear that a major investment bank was in trouble, the Bush administration rushed to the scene like firefighters responding to a five-alarm blaze,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. “But a full year into the subprime mortgage crisis, they have done nothing but hit the snooze button on the alarm as millions of homeowners watch their dreams go up in smoke.”

Dodd said that about 8,000 homes are being foreclosed on every day.

“Foreclosures of this magnitude are on a par with the severity of foreclosures during the Great Depression,” Dodd said. “Each day without action means more are losing their homes.”

AP LogoCopyright © 2008 The Associated Press, Andrew Taylor (Associated Press Writer). All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
Add Comment

Selling Homes Is All about Marketing? Hmmm Not Always

Tuesday, April 01, 2008
by Michael Peron

RISMEDIA, March 31, 2008-(MCT)-For years, even during the corpse that passed for a real estate market in the early to mid-1990s, every agent and broker passed along to sellers the same list of tips for getting their houses ready to show.

The list, I believe, was originally drawn up by William Penn’s real estate broker, who could sell a cave on the Schuylkill River to Martha Stewart for twice its 1682 value, about 2 pounds, 6 shillings and a cocked hat.

Apparently, Penn’s broker also was into bread, cinnamon sticks and potpourri, because all three appear on the list of “what your house should smell like during a showing.”

I remember baking bread, boiling sticks and potpourri when we were trying to sell our estate in the Queen Village neighborhood of Philadelphia at the start of the late-1980s slowdown. It succeeded only in making me nauseated and the house-hunters suspicious.

“What are they trying to hide?” I heard one prospect say to his spouse as I passed them on my way inside after the open house.

I didn’t know it at the time, but the aroma was masking the odor they add to natural gas so you know there’s a leak before the house explodes. We had a faulty gas meter in the basement.

Today, with a lot of houses available, selling one is less about smell and more about marketing.

A couple of weeks ago, our online operation asked me to participate in a video interview of Realtor Allan Domb. I told him I’d recently interviewed a first-time buyer looking in both city and suburbs. The buyer said that he’d found suburban sellers more willing to negotiate.

“If that’s true,” Domb said, “the listing agent is at fault. If the seller isn’t willing to negotiate, the agent is not providing the necessary education.”

Change isn’t easy, especially if you remain unconvinced that it’s needed. To sell a house in this market requires flexible thinking. As hard as it is to part with a single penny of equity, you just might have to.

In fact, you may have to hire a stager. Many real estate agents know what they are and use them, with great success.

“I had a listing … for $1.1 million that was on the market for three months,” said Bari Shor, an agent with Prudential Fox & Roach in Philadelphia. “We brought in a stager, there were three bidders, and the winner paid the asking price.”

When sellers asks her why, she tells them to watch HGTV, which has become the home-staging network.

Diane Williams, an agent with Weichert Realtors in Spring House, Pa., reports similar success with staging.

“I had an 18-year-old contemporary house that was so personalized that it was not a good candidate for a quick sale,” she said. “The homeowner was moving to Arizona and had no time to make changes.”

The seller was familiar with staging, so she told Williams to proceed.

“The house was listed on a Friday, and the agreement of sale was signed on a Sunday,” Williams said.

Sale price: $700,000.

I’ll be the first to acknowledge that the market is not what it was two or three years ago. That said, Global Insight, a Lexington, Mass., economic-forecasting firm, recently reported that this housing market is close to being valued properly rather than overvalued, as many other regions still are.

So, how do you get a house ready to show?

Shor met with a seller who had several children and suggested that the house needed to be decluttered.

“You mean make it like no one lives here?” the seller asked.

And while you’re at it, cancel the potpourri

Add Comment

Displaying blog entries 1241-1250 of 1414

Syndication

Categories

Archives

A Daily Email List of New Homes for Sale as they Hit the Market!    http://www.SearchBrowardMLS.net

We are proud to present these featured Home Listings within the Fort Lauderdale, Florida Real Estate market.      http://www.southfloridahomesolutions.com/Properties

Sign Up Today For Our Home Buyer Class. http://www.BrowardHomeBuyerClass.com