Arizona Real Estate

OnTheAvenues SEO

2009-09-23T13:22:00.001-07:00

Great place for information related to SEO, search engine optimization as it relates to web sites, blogs, and using SEO techniques for social networking and more. Latest news, processes and answers to questions to help you perform better on the internet by knowing how to use the proper resources

in reference to: Facebook | OnTheAvenues (view on Google Sidewiki)

Forex Wealth. Bill Poulos Forex Income Engine 2.0

2009-06-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

Collapsing Economy Creates Forex Wealth (video training) Forex Risk Shield Video. New Forex Income Engine 2.0

Last Fall, during a late-night Forex trading research session, one of the industry's most respected trading educators made a discovery around day trading Forex that he shared with a limited group of traders. Watch this free, amazing new way to successful trade Forex video by clicking here

Now, 6 months later... the same trading educator recently re-emerged from a marathon follow-up research session where he analyzed the killer results his initial group of traders got...and discovered 3 different ways to make them even BETTER.

From what I've seen, NO ONE is trading Forex like this (yet)...not to mention this completely turns traditional "day trading"on its ear...

He recorded a new training video this past weekend that "pulls back the covers" on this updated discovery & reveals how you can shield your portfolio from risk every single time you trade forex...especially if you're inexperienced & have little time.

Watch this free, amazing new way to successful trade Forex video by clicking here

During his research, he confirmed what I (and others) suspected for a long time:

* The collapsing global stock markets and economies are creating pressures that, in turn, are creating more profit potential than we've ever seen before in the Forex markets.

That may come as a big surprise, especially if you're new to trading... but he explains in his training video why this is happening, and how you can get in on it.

You'll also discover:

* How you can literally TRIPLE your profit potential when you use a little-known trick that has to do with the predominant trend...

* 2 "retracement tricks" most traders flat-out MISS, which, if you know how to spot them, can turn an otherwise losing trade into a profit powerhouse...

* The huge "edge" you get over other traders when you automatically identify the predominant trend at any point in time... and then "throw yourself in front of it"...

* The #1 key to trading Forex you MUST do EVERY SINGLE TIME before you place a trade before even thinking about profit. When you do this, you automatically "up the odds" that a profit will unfold...

* ...and a TON more.

If you're interested in Forex, or have been a little "spooked"
by what's been going on in the markets, then this may be the most important trading video you'll ever see this year.

Why? Because after you watch it, you'll be SCRAMBLING to start trading Forex this way...

It finally brings flexibility and customization to Forex day trading so that ANYONE can have an "edge", whether you only have 20 minutes to trade, or if you have all day. Your choice.

It's awesome (and surprisingly simple)...Watch this free, amazing new way to successful trade Forex video by clicking here

Homes Sales Rise 4.7%

2009-03-26T09:53:00.000-07:00

New-Home Sales Rise 4.7%

Source: Wall Street Journal

Sales of new homes rose in February for the first time in seven months, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday, another sign that the housing market is thawing.

The increase was fueled by higher activity in the South and West, where deals on foreclosures and other "distressed" properties, particularly in California, are helping to drive interest.

Sales of new and existing homes are picking up month over month, and prices may soon follow. But the crosscurrent is whether unemployment will continue to rise, says USC real-estate economist Delores Conway. Stacey Delo reports.

The data "have allayed some fears that the housing market would continue to freefall," said Omair Sharif, an economist with RBS Greenwich Capital, "but it's way too early to say if we've hit bottom."

Wednesday marked the third consecutive day of positive news in the housing market, a contrast to the drumbeat of bad news in recent months. On Tuesday, a government gauge of home prices posted its first gain in almost a year, while Monday brought news that sales of previously owned homes, the biggest share of the market, also increased last month.

Also Wednesday, the California Association of Realtors said existing-home sales in the state were up 83% in February from the previous year, as the median home price was down some 40%, helping to shrink inventories to about a six months' supply from 15 months last year.
Bette Zerba, a real-estate agent in Phoenix, said a high level of foreclosures is prompting similar activity in her area.

"I thought the market looked spectacular right now and wanted to take advantage of it," said one of Ms. Zerba's clients, Rosanna Fischer, 40 years old, a first-time home buyer. She offered $175,000 on a 2,000-square foot bank-owned home with a pool in Glendale, Ariz., last week.

Shares of retail companies rose on Wednesday after government data showed durable goods orders and home sales rose more than expected. Home Depot was a leading gainer.

Sales of new homes nationwide rose 4.7% last month to a 337,000 annual rate, though they still are down sharply compared with this time last year, and increased competition from cheaper existing homes could hamper their sales ability in the coming months. The median sales price for a new home was $200,900 last month, down from $251,000 in February 2008, but still high compared with the median sales price of an existing home last month of $165,400.

Falling prices and low mortgage rates are helping to stir buying activity, along with the government's $8,000 tax credit, part of the stimulus bill, for buyers who purchase a home before Dec. 1. The number of new homes for sale -- some 330,000 units -- is the lowest in almost seven years, a sign builders are beginning to work through bloated inventories after cutting back on new construction.

Separately, data Wednesday showed that orders for manufactured goods rose last month for the first time since July, another signal that the U.S. recession isn't deepening. The Commerce Department said orders for manufactured durable goods -- items such as autos, furniture and appliances designed to last three years or more -- rose a seasonally adjusted 3.4% last month to $165.6 billion, the first monthly gain since July.

Last month's rise in orders, however, only partially reverses January's revised 7.3% drop, which is sharply lower than first estimated, and orders are still down nearly a quarter from the previous year. A key gauge of business spending -- orders for capital goods excluding defense and aircraft -- also rose after posting a revised 11.3% plunge in January.

Meanwhile, inventory levels of durable goods declined last month, a sign that the jump in orders is helping to pare bloated inventories, paving the way for a future production increase. But households are likely to remain under pressure for some time: Economists still expect the unemployment rate, now 8.1%, to flirt with double digits later this year or next.
—Jim Carlton contributed to this article.
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123798406285137541.html

Write to Kelly Evans at kelly.evans@wsj.com

The Healthiest Housing Markets for 2009

2009-02-24T09:10:00.000-08:00

The Healthiest Housing Markets for 2009
Builder, in conjunction with Hanley Wood Market Intelligence, debuts its metric for determining markets with the best and least potential.
By: Boyce Thompson

With most economists and builders expecting a national market decline this year, this may not seem like the best time to be selecting the "healthiest" markets in the country. Virtually every market was down last year. But a close look at the numbers reveals that some markets have way outperformed others during the last four years and are likely to continue to do so this year.

When the housing market stages its official recovery, the markets listed on the following pages are likely to lead the parade. It may take a year or more for the weakest markets--where burgeoning foreclosure sales are still pounding new home values, making building and selling new homes an exercise in futility-- to finally stage a turnaround. We’ll present that list next week.

The healthiest markets have many things in common. Most of them are great places to live, either close to the ocean, mountains, or major universities. Most of them didn’t have a huge run-up in prices during the boom and aren’t experiencing rampant deflation during the bust.

To compile these lists, we analyzed the top 75 housing markets in the country. We ranked them based on population trends and job growth, perennial drivers of housing demand. We also examined what’s happened with home prices; many of the healthiest markets have managed to hold the line on home values. And finally, we considered the rate building permits, which may be the single best ongoing indicator of builder confidence in a market. We combined all these metrics to produce a score for each market. Here are the top 15, in reverse order.

15. Myrtle Beach, S.C.
2008 total building permits: 3,211

Though permit activity dropped sharply last year, Myrtle Beach remains one of the hottest markets in the country, especially when you analyze the number of permits pulled per resident. Only 263,287 people live in the Myrtle Beach metro area, which until recently had been growing its population by nearly 5 percent a year. That means builders pulled one permit for every 82 residents. A steady influx of people, many of them retirees, are drawn by close proximity to the ocean and 117 golf courses at last count. That has helped keep home prices steady; they fell only 10 percent last year to a very affordable $174,800. Most of the home building is split between Brunswick and New Hanover counties. Jobs are dependent on the tourist industry, though, and the metro area was rocked last year when a $400 million rock-and-roll themed amusement part, Hard Rock Park, opened and then filed for bankruptcy. Myrtle Beach added jobs last year, but as of December employment was decreasing at a 4.2 percent rate compared to a year earlier.

14. Wilmington, N.C.
2008 total building permits: 3,551

Wilmington has the second highest ratio of permits pulled per resident, behind only Myrtle Beach. The population here, 352,919 by Census estimates, has been growing at a 4 percent annual rate for the last five years, well above the national average. Primary residents are drawn by a four-season climate, close proximity to Atlantic beaches, and affordable housing. Median home prices, at $198,700, are just about the national average. The area gave back 1,000 jobs last year, after gaining 19,000 the previous three years. Wilmington has had a 60 percent decline in permit activity since 2005, around the national average, but its track record for population growth helps it make this list.

13. Charlotte, N.C.
2008 total building permits: 12,231

People and businesses must love Charlotte, because they are moving there at a high rate. The metro area of 1.74 million has grown its residents by 4 percent annually over the last five years, one of the highest rates in the country. They are drawn by relatively affordable housing for the east coast—median home prices are only $210,900, and they’ve only "corrected" downward by only 4.2 percent in the last year. A strong fourth quarter helped Charlotte record 12,231 permits last year, only a 44 percent decline since 2005. Charlotte’s strength relative to other markets led the investment banking firm UBS to predict last year that it would be one of the first markets to recover from the housing downturn. Charlotte is still a single-family market, with 62 percent of the residential activity in stand-alone homes. The job market in this banking hub contracted last year, after growing 3 to 5 percent annually the previous three years.

12. Denver, Col. 2008 total building permits: 8,800

Denver has been all over the home building news of late, with Beazer and Centex leaving town, then Village Homes of Colorado declaring bankruptcy. But the market hasn’t been hit as hard by the home building recession as other Western markets, in part because it didn’t experience rampant price appreciation during the boom. That’s partly because there’s lots of land available to develop in Denver. The median price of an existing home here was still an affordable $225,100 in the third quarter of last year, down only 11.4 percent in the last year (through 3Q 08). Denver enjoys one of the highest population growth rates in the country--2 percent annually for each of the last five years. Builders pulled 8,800 permits in Denver last year, down from 20,864 in 2005, a percentage decline that’s close to the national average. Denver is buoyed by a strong commercial real estate market.

11. Nashville, Tenn. 2008 total building permits: 8,142

Nashville, the 20th largest home building market, operated under the radar of the national housing boom. It didn’t ramp up wildly during the boom years, and it’s not contracting viciously during the bust. Median home prices remain an affordable $152,100, propped up by a growing job base. Eighty percent of the residential construction is single-family. Some of the market’s resilience stems from above-average population growth of about 2.3 percent a year. Back in the day, 2005, Nashville accounted for 16,654 permits; it now runs at about half that level. But that’s a better performance than most major markets.

10. Washington DC 2008 total building permits: 11,693

Washington D.C. showed signs last summer that it might be emerging from the downturn, then it turned south again. Even so, the area produces a ton of jobs—an estimated 35,000 in the last year—that fuel a vibrant housing market, the 11th largest in the country. Many of the jobs stem from contracts with the federal government. Washington D.C. remains a relatively unaffordable place to live, with a median home price of $332,700 in the third quarter of last year. But values have fallen only 24 percent in the last year in part because the population continues to grow—an average of 1 percent annually over the last five years. Home building patterns have changed dramatically in the nation’s capital with builders mothballing subdivisions well beyond the beltway and focusing on infill opportunities. The region remains one of the worst in the nation for commuters.

9. Fayetteville, Ark. 2008 total building permits: 2,989

Fayetteville has made some important lists in recent years. Located in the foothills of the Ozarks and within an easy drive of Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters, it has recently been named one of the best places to live (by Kiplinger) and to do business (by Inc.). Employment, which had been strongly positive since 2005, dropped somewhat in the fourth quarter of last year. Recent layoffs at Wal-Mart’s corporate office sent tremors through the market. But several Fortune 500 companies that sell products to Wal-Mart have established offices here, and they have helped Fayetteville achieve one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter. The University of Arkansas is also located in Fayetteville, and it has helped attract start-up businesses. Residents are drawn by an affordable housing stock; median prices average only $139,400, below the national average, and they’ve lost only 2.4 percent of their value in the last year. Builders pulled only 2,989 residential permits last year, down from 7, 449 in 2005.

8. Indianapolis, Ind. 2008 total building permits: 7,004

Builders are still pulling permits at a relatively healthy rate in Indianapolis, despite a virtually flat job market. Unlike other major markets that have become multifamily-oriented, single family still accounts for two-thirds of home building activity. Ultra-affordable housing accounts for some of the activity—the median price of a home here is only $117,900, making it one of the most affordable markets in the country. As a result, home prices have declined only 4.5 percent in the last year. At the top of the market in 2005, builders in Indianapolis took down 15,619 permits, so activity is down 55 percent, slightly better than the national average. Unfortunately, the relative health of the market wasn’t enough to keep Davis Homes, one of the area’s largest private builders, from going out of business last year.

7. Seattle, Wash. 2008 total building permits: 13,021

Seattle, a city of 3.4 million people, last year weighed in as the eighth largest home building market. Residential construction activity here, as measured by permits, is off only 50 percent since 2005, much better than most markets. Seattle has steadily transitioned during the last 10 years from an affordable to an upscale housing market, with the median price of an existing home reaching above $350,000. Even so, existing home prices fell only 11 percent in the last year. One of the secrets to Seattle’s success is that it has added lots of jobs in recent years; and held on to them last year. Some builders there have even stepped up their land buying in anticipation of a market recovery. As the city has become more urban, the share of single family to multifamily permits has reversed; multifamily now accounts for 58 percent of activity.

6. Raleigh, N.C. 2008 total building permits: 11,386

Another state capital with multiple universities, Raleigh was still adding jobs at a 1.9 percent annual rate though the third quarter of last year. With a population of more than 1 million, it also has one of the highest rates of population growth of any top metro market in the country over the last five years: nearly 5 percent annually. Though the price of a median home here, $221,900, is above the national average, it is well below other cities in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The metro area has added roughly 68,000 jobs since 2005, and employment held steady last year. With a glut of national builders in the market, locals such as Dixon Kirby have experimented with different looks and styles to keep sales alive.

5. Dallas, Texas 2008 total building permits: 26,145

In a year when permits declined 35 percent nationally, Dallas only experienced a 9 percent fall-off. With a population of 4.2 million, Dallas was the third largest home building market last year, as measured in permits pulled. Employers in Dallas, a popular place for corporate relocation and expansion, added 42,000 jobs last year, a growth rate of 2 percent. Existing home prices have held steady, falling a paltry 2.3 percent in the last year, Interestingly, the face of residential construction has changed dramatically in Dallas in recent years; 58 percent of the activity last year was in multifamily, compared to a five-year average of 23 percent. The relative stability of the market, though, wasn’t enough to prevent Wall Homes from filing for bankruptcy earlier this year. On the other hand, former Meritage co-CEO John Landon recently started a new Dallas-based home building company.

4. San Antonio, Texas 2008 total building permits: 10,261

San Antonio is another Texas market that is still adding jobs, about 15,000 last year. A city of more than 2 million people now, its population is also growing, at a 2.8 percent annual clip through the third quarter of last year. Existing home prices are barely declining in San Antonio, down only 1.8 percent in the last year, leaving the median price of an existing single-family home at an affordable $154,400, 25 percent below the national average of $200,500, according to the National Association of Realtors. The upper end of the housing market was hurt recently when AT&T announced it would be moving its corporate headquarters to Dallas.

3. Fort Worth, Texas 2008 Total Building Permits: 10,388

Fort Worth, always operating in the shadow of higher profile Dallas, nevertheless can currently claim to have a slightly healthier housing market, based on its employment growth, relatively strong permit activity, and inexpensive housing. Now the 14th largest home building market in the country, Ft. Worth’s builders pulled 10,388 permits last year, roughly two-thirds of them single-family. That may be half as many as 2005, but many other major markets showed much sharper drop-offs. The relative strength of the Fort Worth market in recent years stems from its ties to the oil and gas industries, which has fueled above-average job growth. The metro area added 17,300 jobs last year.

2. Austin, Texas 2008 Total Building Permits: 14,250

Nine years ago, during the tech bust, some builders felt that Austin was too crowded and left. The bloom is back on Austin’s yellow rose now; it moved up the leader board to become the sixth largest home building market last year. Job creation explains the move. While other markets lost employment, Austin added 17,400 jobs last year, 2.31 percent growth rate. It helps that Austin is home to both a major university, The University of Texas, and the state capital. Existing homes cost a little bit more in Austin than other Texas markets, roughly $190,900, but that’s still below the national average. Also, Austin is one of the few metro areas in the country where median prices actually rose in 2008--1.4 percent through the first three quarters of the year. Amazingly, Austin now generates more home building activity than Chicago, which has six times more people.

1. Houston, Texas 2008 Total Building Permits: 42,697
They like to do things big in Houston. Now the metro area, home to nearly 5.8 million people, can lay claim to being the largest home building market in the country, with 42,697 building permits. The market is still benefiting from an influx of population and jobs and rebuilding in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Employment rose 2.2 percent last year, representing the addition of an incredible 57,000 jobs. Home building activity in Houston has only fallen 31 percent since 2005. Also, existing home prices actually rose in Houston last year, 2.8 percent, to $160,200, still a very affordable level. Roughly one third of the home building action is in Harris County, followed by Houston proper and Fort Bend County. One of Houston’s largest builders, Royce Homes, shut down last year, and Kimball Hill, one of the biggest builders in Texas, closed its doors this year after it failed to find a buyer.

Obama throws $75 billion lifeline to homeowners

2009-02-19T10:10:00.000-08:00

Obama throws $75 billion lifeline to homeowners

President Barack Obama threw a $75 billion lifeline to millions of Americans on the brink of foreclosure Wednesday, declaring an urgent need for drastic action — not only to save their homes but to keep the housing crisis "from wreaking even greater havoc" on the broader national economy.

The lending plan, a full $25 billion bigger than the administration had been suggesting, aims to prevent as many as 9 million homeowners from being evicted and to stabilize housing markets that are at the center of the ever-worsening U.S. recession.

Government support pledged to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is being doubled as well, to $400 billion, as part of an effort to encourage them to refinance loans that are "under water" — those in which homes' market values have sunk below the amount the owners still owe.

"All of us are paying a price for this home mortgage crisis, and all of us will pay an even steeper price if we allow this crisis to continue to deepen," Obama said.

The new president, focusing closely on the economy, in his first month in office, rolled out the housing program one day after he was in Denver to sign his $787 billion emergency stimulus plan to revive the rest of the economy. And his administration is just now going over fresh requests for multiple billions in bailout cash from ailing automakers.

Wall Street has shown little confidence in the new steps, declining sharply on Tuesday before leveling off after Wednesday's announcement. The Dow Jones industrials rose 3 points for the day.

Success of the foreclosure rescue is far from certain.

The administration is loosening refinancing restrictions for many borrowers and providing incentives for lenders in hopes that the two sides will work together to modify loans. But no one is required to participate. The biggest players in the mortgage industry temporarily had halted foreclosures in advance of Obama's plan.

Complicating matters, investors in complex mortgage-linked securities, who make money based on interest payments, could still balk, especially those who hold second mortgages or home equity loans. Their approval would be needed to prevent many foreclosures.

"The obstacles have not gone away," said Bert Ely, a banking industry consultant in Alexandria, Va.

Another cautionary note came from John Courson, chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

"It seems to offer little help to borrowers whose loan exceeds their property value by more than 5 percent," he said, noting that that requirement would limit the plan's success in some of the hardest-hit areas in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona and parts of the East Coast.

Indeed, Obama himself said, "This plan will not save every home."

The goal is to lower many endangered homeowners' payments to no more than 31 percent of their income. But that depends on a high degree of cooperation by lenders who have been increasingly wary of new lending as the crisis has deepened.

Still, the Obama administration, after talking with mortgage investors, appears confident that it is providing the right mix of incentives and penalties to make sure mortgage companies take part. Obama said he backs legislation in Congress to allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of primary home loans — an idea ardently opposed by the lending industry.

"Taken together, the provisions of this plan will help us end this crisis and preserve, for millions of families, their stake in the American Dream," Obama said. Yet, he also added: "We must also acknowledge the limits of this plan."

He called on lenders, borrowers and the government "to step back and take responsibility" and said: "All of us must learn to live within our means again."

There's broad economic anxiety across the nation, an Associated Press-Gfk poll indicated.

Nearly three in four people say they know someone who has lost a job in the past six months as a result of the tough economic conditions, according to the poll, released Wednesday. And more than half say they worry about being able to pay their bills and about seeing their retirement investments decline. So far, Obama's job approval rating still is high, at 67 percent, and he is scoring strong marks for his handling of the economy.

The president unveiled his housing plan at a Phoenix-area high school in a state with one of the country's biggest foreclosure rates.

Nationally, Moody's Economy.com says that of the nearly 52 million U.S. homeowners with mortgages, about 13.8 million, or nearly 27 percent, owe more than their homes are worth after many months of declining prices.

How soon will the new plan show results?

"You'll start to see the effects quite quickly," Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told reporters in Phoenix, noting that rules governing the changes will be published March 4.

In theory, homeowners facing foreclosure or borrowers owing more on their homes than their mortgages are worth would have more opportunities to refinance their loans so that they have lower monthly payments. Lenders would voluntarily participate in the government programs.

The $75 billion Homeowner Stability Initiative would provide incentives to mortgage lenders to cut monthly payments in an effort to persuade them to help up to 4 million borrowers on the verge of foreclosure. The goal: cut monthly mortgage payments to sustainable levels, using money from the $700 billion financial industry bailout passed by Congress last fall.

Another part would specifically help people with dwellings whose market value has sunk below the principal still owed on the mortgages. Such mortgages have traditionally been almost impossible to refinance. But the White House said its program will help 4 million to 5 million families do just that — if their mortgages are owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

To boost confidence, the Treasury Department said it would double its support to the two mortgage giants that the government essentially took over last fall.

It said it would absorb up to $200 billion in losses at each company by using money Congress set aside last year and will continue purchasing mortgage-backed securities from them. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are projected to need a combined government subsidy of about $66 billion, well short of the new promise of up to $400 billion.

Obama emphasized that his plan focuses on helping families who have "played by the rules" stay in their homes.

But, he said, it will do nothing to help "the unscrupulous or irresponsible." He cited so-called speculators who took out risky loans on multiple properties to make money by selling them during the housing boom, lenders who took advantage of naive buyers by glossing over the fine print, and people who willingly bought homes that were way beyond their means.

"This plan will not save every home," Obama said.

Associated Press Writers Alan Zibel, Mark S. Smith, Jennifer Loven and Martin Crutsinger in Washington contributed to this report.

Forex Dollar Great Investment In These Financial Recession Times

2008-12-02T08:18:00.001-08:00

Bill Poulos comments on his Forex Income Engine. are you trading Forex with this ‘risk shield:

Bill Poulos ’flexible forex’ day trading discovery (free video 1)

Check out the Free Bill Poulos Forex Income Engine video here — and remember, this is free Forex training video! Watch this Complimentary Forex trade training video by clicking here

Earlier this year, during one of my many late-night Forex trading research sessions, I made a discovery around day trading Forex that I’m finally ready to share with you…

-and from what I’ve seen, NO ONE is trading Forex like this (yet)… not to mention this completely turns traditional “day trading” on its ear…

So I recorded a new training video this weekend that “pulls back the covers” on this discovery, and what it could mean to your portfolio.

Check out the Free Bill Poulos Forex Income Engine video here — and remember, this is free Forex training video! Watch this Complimentary Forex trade training video by clicking here

During my research, I confirmed what I suspected for a long time:

* The collapsing global stock markets and economies are creating pressures that, in turn, are creating more profit potential than we’ve ever seen before in the Forex markets.

That may come as a big surprise, especially if you’re new to trading… but I explain in my training video why this is happening, and how you can get in on it.

You’ll also discover:

* How you can literally TRIPLE your proft potential when you use a little-known trick that has to do with the predominant trend…

* 2 “retracement tricks” most traders flat-out MISS, which, if you know how to spot them, can turn an otherwise losing trade into a profit powerhouse…

* The huge “edge” you get over other traders when you automatically identify the predominant trend at any point in time… and then “throw yourself in front of it”…

* The #1 key to trading Forex you MUST do EVERY SINGLE TIME before you place a trade before even thinking about profit. When you do this, you automatically “up the odds” that a profit will unfold…

* …and a TON more.

If you’re interested in Forex, or have been a little “spooked” by what’s been going on in the markets, then this may be the most important trading video you’ll ever see this year.

Why? Because after you watch it, you’ll be SCRAMBLING to start trading Forex using this type of trading.

It finally brings flexibility and customization to Forex day trading so that ANYONE can have an “edge”, whether you only have 20 minutes to trade, or if you have all day. Your choice.

Check out the Free Bill Poulos Forex Income Engine video here — and remember, this is free Forex training video! Watch this Complimentary Forex trade training video by clicking here

To see all the exceptional Bill Poulos Forex and Stock Market training tools and programs that are proven to make you successful in the Forex and Stock market Click Here

Letters From Santa

2008-11-25T09:42:00.001-08:00

Letters From Santa. Free Call From Santa. Santa Claus Commemorative Postmark

On Monday, December the 1st the 2008 Santa Claus commemorative postmark will officially be available and our first batch of letters from Santa will be some of the first envelopes baring this historic emblem! Letters from Santa Claus... discover a family holiday best kept secret Click Here NOW!

Many have already taken us up on our offer for a free phone call from Santa with every letter you send to make this Christmas just that much more magical. This offer is for a very limited time but it's still not too late...but don't wait any longer. Letters from Santa Claus... discover a family holiday best kept secret Click Here NOW!

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How To Sell Your Home In Today's Market

2008-11-19T08:17:00.001-08:00

'Realistic' approach is needed in weak market
by Ellen James Martin-Universal Press Syndicate

Those who sell real estate recall those heady days just a few years ago, when competition over the best homes on the market - known as "showcase properties" - was robust. Multiple bids were common, and eager buyers submitted contract offers stripped of all conditions, such as the right to a home inspection.

Indeed, some buyers were so anxious to beat rival bidders in the race to own an attractive home that they would snap it up without even visiting first, recalls Tom Early, a real-estate broker and former president of the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents (www.naeba.org).

Nowadays, the tables are turned. In many neighborhoods, buyers have lots of leverage, and motivated sellers, including the corporate owners of homes taken back through foreclosure, are compelled to bargain with prospects. The sellers of showcase homes, known as "cream puffs," are no exception. "At a time when buyers are incredibly demanding, you must be absolutely realistic about the market," Early says.

Here are pointers for the sellers of homes with exceptional allure:

• Select a listing agent with a good eye.

"If your house is spectacular, you want visuals to show just how good it looks," says Dorcas Helfant, a former president of the National Association of Realtors (www.realtor.org).

Visuals include photos for print advertising and video for online listings, including the "virtual tours" that have become a popular home-marketing tool in cyberspace.

As Helfant notes, more agents are taking classes in digital photography, and more are producing the sort of professional-quality visuals that home sellers need to compete, especially in neighborhoods with many homes for sale.

• Don't expect too much of a pricing premium.

Is the property you're selling decked out with several features that excite buyer interest, such as fine wood cabinets, granite countertops, floor-to-ceiling windows and a fireplace in the master suite? Does it also have 10-foot ceilings throughout? If so, you may be tempted to ask a lot more than your neighbors are asking for similar-size properties that lack such fancy features.

But Helfant cautions against attaching too high a premium when pricing your showcase home, no matter how fancy or well-kept it is.

"Given today's competitive markets, where available properties abound, I wouldn't go more than 3 to 5 percent over other like homes in your community, even the ones that don't show nearly as well," she says.

• Consider a neighborhood open house for the public.

Real-estate experts often downplay the value of public open houses as a means of attracting the interest of serious purchasers. They say most open-house visitors are curious neighbors or "wishful buyers" who lack the means to go through with a purchase. On the other hand, well-qualified buyers are typically guided through homes by their agents.

But Helfant says there's a way to increase the impact of the public open house conducted for your showcase property: Encourage other sellers in the neighborhood to hold open houses on the same day, thereby increasing your potential draw.

"Ask your listing agent to contact the agents representing all the other sellers. The more the merrier when it comes to open houses. With more homes open, the greater the chance that serious prospects will come by, with or without their agents," Helfant says.

A neighborhood open house can be especially beneficial for the sellers of showcase homes because buyers can quickly compare all the places they see.

• Don't second-guess yourself on your plans to sell.

Many owners of showcase homes are ambivalent about letting go of their properties in a market where bargain shoppers have so much clout. Even after they've put their place up for sale, they wonder if they should pull the place off the market until they can get a better price.

Before retreating, Early urges you to take into account the personal and financial implications of postponing your sale.

"Maybe your neighborhood market could stage a huge rebound within one to two years. But you should also consider all the ways you might lose out by waiting," Early says.

"Postponing your hopes and dreams for a better housing situation means you could be missing that once-in-a-lifetime chance to buy your fantasy property at a major discount," he says.

New Google Android Phone

2008-09-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

Google Android Phone's Big Premiere

In the most anticipated mobile-phone launch since the release of Apple's iPhone, the T-Mobile G1 was unveiled Sept. 23.

Like the iPhone, unveiled in June 2007, the G1 is the brainchild of one of tech's most innovative companies; it's the first phone boasting the Android software created by a Google (GOOG)-led consortium. Like Apple's music-playing handset, the G1 features a full Web browser and connects to the Internet with Wi-Fi technology. G1 similarly boasts a large touchscreen and lets users download games and tools from an online bazaar akin to the Apple App Store.

That's about where the similarities end. The G1 is to follow a different path from the Apple (AAPL) iPhone in some crucial ways, notably volume growth. G1 is expected to do well, though it may not replicate the iPhone's early successes.

Fewer T-Mobile Subscribers
Analysts predict that manufacturer HTC will sell 200,000 to 400,000 units this year, once the device becomes available on Oct. 22 in select markets. The device will sell for $179 with a two-year contract. At the high end of that estimate, the first Android device would gain almost 4% of the U.S. smartphone market in the fourth quarter, expected by wireless researcher Strategy Analytics to total 10.5 million. Tina Teng, an analyst at research firm iSuppli, believes Android-based devices will sell 2 million to 3 million units globally in 2009.

Still, the original iPhone sold 1 million units in its first 1½ months on the market—and that was during what is usually a slow sales season, compared with end-of-year holidays. Apple expects to sell 10 million units of the next-generation device, the iPhone 3G, this year.

Sales expectations are lower for Android partly because G1 will be carried by T-Mobile USA, which has 30 million subscribers, compared with Apple's iPhone partner, AT&T (T), which has more than 70 million.

Another strike against Android is that T-Mobile's high-speed wireless network isn't as extensive as AT&T's. "Consumers still choose the carrier first," says Ross Rubin, an analyst at consumer electronics research firm NPD Group. "For early adopters, they'd need to contend with T-Mobile's embryonic 3G network for at least a few months," Rubin says. What's more, G1 buyers will likely have to buy an additional calling plan to use G1's built-in Wi-Fi more extensively; iPhone users can freely use their device's Wi-Fi capability. T-Mobile will offer a limited data plan for $25 a month and unlimited Web access and messaging for $35 a month.

Some analysts who have seen versions of G1 also say it's not quite as stylish as the comparable Apple device. "It does not feel as luxurious as the iPhone," says Moe Tanabian, senior principal at IBB Consulting who has seen a late prototype of the device. The device is a cross between the iPhone and a Sidekick, an earlier T-Mobile phone that also boasts Web access and was a favorite of hip cell-phone users. Andy Rubin, who heads Google's Android effort, helped develop the Sidekick.

Wide-Open App Marketplace
Google and other Android supporters surely will try to prove the pessimists wrong. Google, for one, is expected to launch an extensive marketing campaign for the device. "Google is the defining Web 2.0 company for online search," Ambrosio says. T-Mobile is also throwing its marketing muscle behind the G1—though its budget is typically nowhere near as big as that of larger rivals. "It will be the biggest marketing campaign we ever launched for a mobile device," Cole Brodman, T-Mobile's chief information and innovation officer, said at the unveiling, attended by Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

G1 sales will also benefit from the flexibility of the Android Marketplace online app store. Unlike Apple's iTunes App Store (BusinessWeek.com, 9/5/08), Google's marketplace won't vet developers. Google will let anyone post applications to its store, where features will be rated in a YouTube-like manner. The openness of the Android software also can make it easier for developers to create associated tools more quickly.

The Android-based handset also boasts a slide-out full Qwerty keyboard, which the iPhone lacks. The device, which will feature a capable music player, that allows for easy music downloads from Amazon (AMZN), is also expected to come in three colors: black, white, and brown. And as expected it offers plenty of tight integration with a wide range of Google services, including search, mapping, and address book tools. "If T-Mobile launches a bugs-free, easy-to-use phone, then its brand equity will increase," says Tanabian, who has consulted for T-Mobile.

The Android Army Is Coming
Apple's iPhone isn't expected to be the main competitor for G1. The Android-based phone may erode sales of the Sidekick, phones that run Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows Mobile software, and smartphones made by Motorola (MOT) and Research In Motion (RIMM), maker of the BlackBerry. RIM "might lose some share by virtue of being the market leader" in the U.S., Rubin says. T-Mobile's parent, Deutsche Telekom (DT), will introduce the phone in the U.K. on Oct. 22 and elsewhere in Europe in the first quarter of 2009.

G1 stands to become a more formidable competitor as it's picked up by other manufacturers as well. Motorola, LG and Samsung are expected to launch Android models worldwide in 2009. And their Android-based phones may look vastly different from each other and the G1. Europeans may get a slider with a 12-key keyboard that they favor. Japan may get a phone with built-in mobile TV. There could be special phones for doctors or for lawyers.

Big cell-phone carriers also will help determine the success of coming Android phones. "Android has the potential to be much bigger than Apple because they can have many more manufacturers making its products," says Chris Ambrosio, an analyst with consultancy Strategy Analytics.

Kharif is a senior writer for BusinessWeek.com in Portland, Ore.

Wickenburg AZ Custom Home For Sale

2008-09-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

JUST LISTED. WICKENBURG AZ CUSTOM HOME FOR SALE

$410,000 - 470 IRONWOOD PL,
Wickenburg AZ

Virtual Tour - Full Listing Info

Incredible Custom Michael Daily designer retreat!!! PRICED TO SELL FAST!!!!

Property Type: Residential
Map Code/Grid: C20
Subdivision: Three Crosses
BD: 3
BA: 2
Approx SQFT: 2,095
96

Incredible Custom Michael Daily designer retreat!!! PRICED TO SELL FAST!!!!

Entertainer's dream home, surrounded by mountain views! Enjoy the sunset lounging in the pebble tec pool. Enjoy 'Cocktail Hour' sitting in front of your gas fireplace or bar in the backyard Ramada! Spa pad wired & ready! Beautiful desert landscaping, drip system in front yard. Surround sound, alarm system and professional FAUX paint on inside. Wait until you see the master bedroom with claw foot tub and open shower!! How romantic! UNBELIEVABLE kitchen with granite countertops, hickory cabinets and stainless appliances. Great room with beehive fireplace for those cool Wickenburg nights. DON'T Miss this opportunity to buy your dream home! Owner Agent

Ready to find a great home in Wickenburg AZ. Contact Robin, your in town RE/MAX Wickenburg REALTOR today at 602-799-7331 , or visit http://www.azhomesdirectory.com/wickenburg-az-homes-real-estate-sales.html to search the Wickenburg MLS Listings of every home for sale

5 Recession Proof' Trading Attack Plans

2008-09-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Staying Rich with the PROVEN Trading Advice of Bill Poulos. Stock, Forex Doom & Gloom Trading Secrets Free Video

"You're About To Discover The 5 'Recession Proof' Trading 'Attack Plans' That You Can Use To Enhance ANY Trading Method At ANY Time In ANY Market..."

Hopefully you had a chance to read my brand new "Market Mastery Profit Plans" report that I released on Tuesday. Close to 15,000 traders have already gotten their hands on it...

-and the feedback I'm getting so far is awesome.

But I wanted to let you know that since Tuesday, I also released
2 more brand new training videos, including one that's becoming somewhat of an 'instant classic'

"Doom & Gloom Trading Secrets"

In this video, you'll discover how individuals that are dependent on the so-called media experts for trading advice generally run scared because of the "doom & gloom" scenarios painted nearly every day in the news...

...and how select groups of traders know how to turn this "doom & gloom" into profit potential, again and again.

It was a LOT of fun for me to record this video, and I'm certain you'll get a lot out of it.

Important: TAKE NOTES.

I'm also releasing 4 more videos over the next 4 days.

All of this stuff is "on the house", but I probably WILL sell it in the future at some point, so unless you want to pay for it later, go ahead and get it NOW here:

How would you like to get your hands on some BRAND NEW, "insider" stock trading videos + "profit plans"?

(They're still NOT for sale, but you can get them "on the house" for a little while longer.)

The "profit plans" were just released on Tuesday, and since then, these videos have also been released:

Market Mastery Trading Basics

Recorded especially for beginner stock traders. You'll learn the essential basics of technical stock trading, along with a walkthrough of some actual trading and charting software. It sticks to what you need to know, so you can begin trading ASAP.

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There are also 4 more complimentary trading videos you'll get your hands on over the next few days, too.

Collectively, all this training material will likely be sold in the near future for around 200 to 300 bucks. However, the author, a 30+ year trading veteran, is giving it away right now as a sort of "stock market band-aid" to show you how you can spot profit potential again & again in any kind of market... and any kind of economy.

At the very least, I urge you to check out the "Doom & Gloom" video before you place another trade. It may surprise you.

Get everything here: Doom and Gloom Trading Secrets

Good Trading

Virus Warning:Your Internet Access Is Going To Get Suspended

2008-09-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

Your internet access is going to get suspended - SPAM
Sophos has been intercepting many spam emails containing a malicious attachment overnight.

The emails all claim that “your internet access is going to get suspended”, as the receipient has committed “illegal activities” such as pirating software, movies or music.

This is the email:
Your internet access is going to get suspended

The Internet Service Provider Consorcium was made to protect the rights of software authors, artists.

We conduct regular wiretapping on our networks, to monitor criminal acts.

We are aware of your illegal activities on the internet wich were originating from

You can check the report of your activities in the past 6 month that we have attached. We strongly advise you to stop your activities regarding the illegal downloading of copyrighted material of your internet access will be suspended.

Sincerely
ICS Monitoring Team

The emails, which say they come from the “ICS Monitoring Team”, claim that a report of the user’s activities in the past six months is attached in a file called user-EA49943X-activities.zip.

However, if you open the contents of the user-EA49943X-activities.zip file you risk being infected by a malicious Trojan horse designed to communicate with remote hackers. Criminals can then break into your computer and use it for their own money-making purposes.

Sophos is identifying the malicious files seen being used in the campaign so far as Troj/Meredrop-A and Troj/Agent-HQK. Users of other anti-virus products would be wise to check their vendor to see if an update is available.

With so many people suffering from internet addiction (also known as ‘discomgoogolation’), it’s not hard to imagine how many people would react to receiving an email like this.

Not only would many people be prone to clicking before thinking at the accusation that they have been engaged in illegal activities, but also a disturbing proportion would be alarmed about the prospect of not being able to surf the internet.

Remember, THIS IS SPAM. Never open an attachment unless you know the sender

Earn Money Fast. Top Forex Affiliate Pays Big Bucks

2008-08-29T12:19:00.001-07:00

Top Forex Affiliate Pays Big Bucks. Earn Money Fast

You're about to discover one of the premiere affiliate programs available anywhere online (or offline, for that matter). It's a proven 'cash machine' that's been online since 2001 and it can send you check after check... month after month... with very little effort on your part.

We want you to make as much money as possible with as little effort as possible. So to that effect, here are the primary benefits you'll enjoy as one of our super affiliates.

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High, 2-Tier Commissions.
We pay generous commissions for every direct (first tier) sale you make. For some of our products, this is over $700 per sale. Additionally, you can earn a significant second-tier commission every time an affiliate you refer to us makes a sale. Second-tier commissions are awesome, and are truly the easiest and laziest way to make a TON OF CASH.

Low Payment Threshold & Frequent Payments.
We pay you if your commission balance is at least $50, and we pay you EVERY MONTH... that means you get paid QUICKLY and OFTEN.

Dedicated Affiliate Manager.
Our goal is run a world-class affiliate program for you. To do that, we have a dedicated affiliate manager whose sole purpose is to make you successful by getting you all the marketing materials and support you need. He does all the "heavy lifting". You collect the checks.

Reliable Management Software.
We use the proven, highly-reliable affiliate management software 1ShoppingCart. This dedicated affiliate software ensures that all of your referrals are accurately counted and makes it a snap for you to keep track of your commissions!

3-Year Cookie For Return Visitors.
When you refer a visitor to our websites, a cookie is stored on their computer for 3 years. This means that even if they leave our websites and come back later to make a purchase, you'll still earn a commission for up to 3 years!

Manual Referral Auditing.
Whenever we take an order, we ask your referral where they heard about us. That way we make sure you get credit for all your referrals. This "low tech" backup system is just a redundant process we do behind the scenes to make sure you make as much money as possible.

Besides our high, 2-tier leading-edge affiliate commissions, here are 7 reasons you should join our program:

You get FREE access to field-tested 'best of breed' marketing ideas and cutting-edge stuff that's working now (in a big way). Not stale junk any newbie can find on eBay.

We have a proven track record of substantial affiliate growth. In fact, at our current growth rate, we'll pay out almost $3M in commissions in 2008.

We've been recognized as Product Launch Experts by Jeff Walker, creator of the Product Launch Formula, and recently did a $2.4M launch over 2 weeks.

Our company founder, Bill Poulos, has been trading the markets for over 30 years. He strives to create high-value products that are professionally produced.

Our products all come with unparalleled follow-up and support. Many of our customers love us for this because many of our competitors just leave their customers high and dry after the purchase. Our primary goal for our customers is to make them successful traders.

We work with leading edge partners to produce and distribute our products. This means your sales will be shipped in a timely fashion and tracked from our fulfillment center to the customer.
You can take our constantly evolving and growing toolkit of affiliate resources and apply them to OTHER affiliate programs, to maximize your own personal revenue potential. It's like a FREE internet marketing education (actually, it's better, because you're getting paid to learn).

Instant Profits - $497
This product shows traders how to spot opportunities in any market and any time frame. We pay first-tier commissions of $198.80, and second-tier commissions of $49.70 per sale.

Super Divergence Blueprint - $247
This product helps traders spot divergence opportunities in the markets, and is a perfect companion to Instant Profits. We pay first-tier commissions of $98.80, and second-tier commissions of $24.70 per sale

Quantum Swing Trader - $1,297
This product shows traders how to master swing trading for stocks. We pay first-tier commissions of $453.95, and second-tier commissions of $129.70 per sale.

Forex Profit Accelerator - $1,947
This product shows traders 4 specific methods for trading the Forex markets. We pay first-tier commissions of $681.45, and second-tier commissions of $194.70 per sale.

ETF Profit Driver - $1,947
This product shows traders 4 specific methods for trading Exchange Traded Funds. We pay first-tier commissions of $681.45, and second-tier commissions of $194.70 per sale.

THE 2008 SUPER SECRET PRODUCT LAUNCH
We've been quietly offering a "top gun" stock trading product to small groups of traders for over a year, and working out the kinks. This has NEVER been offered before to our affiliates... however, we are planning on doing a MASSIVE product launch sometime in 2008 for this, with a sales potential of $3M or more in 2 weeks.
Get on board now so you don't miss this...

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Truth About Bill Poulos Forex Profit Accelerator Bonus

2008-07-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

Forex Profit Accelerator Trading Bonus
Click here for Bill Poulos Forex Profit Accelerator Bonus

Those of you who have been following the teachings of Bill Poulos know how much I LOVE TRADING! Even though Bill has a solid set of methods and techniques he uses for his own trading, he's constantly tinkering around in the “trading lab”. Besides spending time with his family, it’s whathe likes to do in his spare time. Some people like to play golf. Bill rather be trading.

Now, because of my position in the trading education community, I am approached quite frequently by other traders, systems developers, companies, you name it. Many of them send me evaluation copies of their programs and methods to get my professional feedback and opinion. Some of the material I receive is quite good, but honestly, most of it is incomplete. The reason I tell you this is to impress upon you the amount of trading material I have in my personal library – I have a TON, and I believe I’ve seen just about every type of program on the market.

In reviewing all this material and in examining all the questions I’ve been receiving from my readers and students about Forex, I made two key discoveries that were astonishing to me.

"After reading your free e-book, I practice trading at the end of the day, just according your instructions, using the two MA and ADX. Amazingly, the 8 trades were winners. I trade only the GPD/USD, and EUR/USD, because I think these are the most volatile, and I don’t need to spend all my time in front of my PC. It's great, thank you.."Jorge A Hinojosa*

Click here for BIll Poulos Forex Profit Accelerator Bonus

First, there seems to be a flaw in the perception of how money can be made in the Forex markets. And the flaw is this: it seems that 95% of all Forex traders only think they can make money day trading these markets. It actually may be higher, maybe 99%. This perception is very dangerous, in my opinion, because not all traders are psychologically equipped to handle day trading, so they get in over their heads and get eaten alive until their trading accounts are emptied within a few minutes or hours. I’ve seen it happen, and it’s not a pretty sight.

I’ve already told you my opinion on day trading – it’s just not for me. If you prefer that style of trading, then more power to you (I can even recommend some great day trading Forex courses). But the vast majority of my readers have told me time and time again that day trading is not for them, either. And that’s great news…

Why? Click here for BIll Poulos Forex Profit Accelerator Bonus

Because the other discovery I made was how to treat the 24/7 Forex market as an end-of-day market. This removes all the stress and strain associated with trading on a 24 hour basis. It’s often been said that if you can’t make money trading on an end-of-day basis, you’ll never make money day trading. I tend to agree.

When you treat the Forex markets as end-of-day markets, I’ve found they can offer far more profit potential than the minor swings many day traders kill themselves to capture. And when you learn the right way to trade Forex as an end-of-day market, you can quickly jump from one big swing to another as they’re driven by the Forex market giants – the big banks and other financial institutions, including governments...

...but while these behemoths react slowly to market changes due to their sheer size, as soon as you learn to spot a big swing, you can get on and “ride their coat tails”. And by the time they’ve turned to look over their shoulder, you’ll have already gone on to the next big swing.

For example, suppose several major financial institutions think that the Japanese Yen is undervalued versus the dollar and that the Japanese government will soon act to stop artificially suppressing the value of the Yen. Collectively they might begin slowly building what will become very large positions in the market by selling short the USD/JPY pair. I am talking about hundreds of thousands of standard lots.

Whether the Japanese government acts or not, the market might drop as expected, in part, due to the ever increasing short positions of these financial institutions. If they are right, we small traders can apply trading methods that will spot these moves and jump on board at a moment’s notice. We can protect our positions with initial stops and ride the wave to good profits if the market follows through on the downside. And we can jump out just as quickly as we jumped in. The big institutions simply can’t move that fast without damaging their positions.

"Course pays for itself in first two days of trading. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! My first two trades were: Long 2 EUR/USD, Instant Pips for a 45 pip profit on 10/9/07, Short 2 USD/CAD, Pip Maximizer 2 for a 46 pip profit on 10/4/07. Thanks for a great course. I was really unsure about how useful the information would be compared to its cost, but I'm a true believer now."
David Vaughn, Sugar Land, TX*

"So far, about 55% net gain with just the Instant Pips method! Very satisfied. I like your time-saving and conservative approach very much. Course is very easy to understand and I love the colored quick reference cards."
Ted Richardson, Tokyo, Japan*

"I'm very glad my father and I decided to buy FPA in September. On October 9th we did our first trade. Until now we made 12 trades only with 1/4 lot and the profit is amazing, more then $4,000! And that in 5 weeks. Now we are confident with the system we are ready to trade with more money. The system was easy to learn, after one week we could make our first trade. I appreciate the updates, and the extra tactics. We are going to use them too."
Frans & Ingrid H., The Netherlands*

"Just wanted to let you know that I woke up this morning (12/5) to a profit of $2,228.00 on the gbp/usd pair, Instant Pips downtrend, a trade I entered only yesterday. Needless to say, this method works. I appreciate all the work you do and for letting all of us know what you're up to. You're that rare guy who truly cares about his students. This is an incredible method!"
Lee Meddin, Davis, CA*

"I must say how much I am impressed with your level of integrity. You have done everything that you said you would do. Especially the tight number of teaching materials that were sold. You set down a deadline, and you kept the deadline. If it were not for duplicated orders that paved the way for 44 or so unsold packages, I would not have been able to obtain the CDs. You credibility was further enhanced when I listened to the interview that I downloaded from the web today. By the way, I must say that the quality of the CDs is really very good - the presentation itself and the content."
Syling Lee, Murrieta, CA*

"Admittedly I had my doubts about the course, but since I started using the program I found that I can consistently make profits. I have one goal and that is to make a minimum of 2% of my portfolio a week. I have been able to do just that and a lot more with this program. I love the four step program (set-up, entry, stop loss, exit). These four steps help me stay focused and keep my emotions out of the trade. This is my third time starting over in the Forex market. I have come to realize that the two previous times I did not have a complete trading method. With your program, I have the confidence that I finally have a complete trading method, the knowledge to use that method, and the knowledge to recognize other complete trading methods."
Eric Norman, Nottingham, MD*

"In my demo account I started trading using the FPA on Oct 12th. In that time I have closed a total of 24 trades with a net profit of 1,140 pips and I currently have three open positions with profits of 409 pips on the Euro, 534 pips on the Swiss Franc and 350 pips on the Yen. Not too shabby! I'm impressed."
Doug MacQuarrie, Maple Falls, WA*

"I have been paper trading since I received it, and have made about a $12,000 profit. It is a very easy to understand and complete method. Much better than I have had from other systems. Thank you very much for this system, I will be using it from now on."
Yvonne Flowers, Mohave Valley, AZ*

"I have implemented 3 of the methods on Metatrader and have made over $7,000 on 5 winning trades - no losers yet... it could have been a lot more if I had taken all the trades triggered. It has been very useful to have your Pip Feeder to verify my signals. Thank you for the high quality of the presentation and explanations. It does a lot for confidence levels to know one is using a quality product that has been thoroughly researched as well as the knowledge that you are continuing to support us."
Peter Alport, South Africa*

The bottom line here is that we are prepared to ride the trend on the coat tails of the mega traders, but with a level of agility they don’t have. And by doing this, we minimize risk and maximize profit while they’re still trying to “unwind” their positions.

This is a BIG DEAL! If those last few paragraphs didn’t make sense, please go back and read them again. What this means is that I found a way to show you exactly, step-by-step, how to identify when a Forex pair is likely to make a move UP or DOWN. And no matter which way it goes, I created specific trading rules that let you take advantage of those moves and ride them for a huge potential profit. And here’s the kicker – I don’t just show you how to do this one way…

…I developed four complete methods, all based on my time-tested principles, that allow anyone to identify as many profitable trading opportunities as possible.

And that’s why I decided to name my course the Forex Profit Accelerator – because I show you how to truly accelerate your Forex profits with my four methods. And you can use them individually or together - synergistically - to maximize your profit-taking.

So the bottom line is this – no matter what happens in the Forex markets, with the Forex Profit Accelerator, you will always know exactly what to do every time you place a trade. No exceptions. No matter the outcome. It’s that simple.

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If you decide on ordering the Forex Profit Accelerator:

For a limited time only, I can get started for only $5.33 a day. I can choose 3 easy monthly payments of $682 each (or, I can choose to pay everything upfront in one easy payment and save $99 instantly).

This price may increase in the future and I am only guaranteed this charter price if I place my order today.

I am a serious trader and will put forth my best effort to learn and study the Forex Profit Accelerator.

The Forex Profit Accelerator is copyrighted intellectual capital and I am prohibited by law from copying, distributing or sharing this information with others.

I have 90 days to review the Forex Profit Accelerator from my purchase date and I may return it for any reason within those 90 days for a complete refund of my purchase price (not including shipping & handling) as long as I contact you to obtain a return merchandise authorization number first and then return the course in like-new, unmarked condition.

If I select the 3-payment option, I agree to make all three payments in full and to keep my billing information current.

If my order is being shipped outside the United States, I am responsible for any customs or duty fees.

Get Started with Forex Profit Accelerator Today at only $5.33 per day cost. Click here NOW

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Changing Mortgage Loan Requirements

2008-07-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

The Ever-Changing Mortgage Loan Requirements

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Are you ready to buy a house in this crazy market? Better bring a boatload of money to the closing.

In a brutal real estate market where all the players want to hedge against the tremendous risks, down payment requirements and up-front fees have soared, shutting many potential home buyers out of the market.

"I have as many people calling me for financing as ever," said George Hanzimanolis, a Pennsylvania mortgage broker, "but I'm putting less than half of them into loans."

That's happening all over the country, and may slow the housing market's recovery. Indeed, in a Realtor.com survey released today, potential home buyers said high down payments were the second biggest obstacle, after high home prices, to buying a home.

These days, home buyers almost always have to make a substantial down payment, at least 5%, according to Rich Wordman, president of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers. The days of no-down loans are over.

In deeply declining markets, lenders are reluctant to issue loans unless borrowers put at least 10% down, he said.

JP Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), for instance, now asks for a minimum of 10% down in most markets, according to a spokesman, and for 20% in hard-hit areas. In Reno, Nevada, which has been devastated by the housing crisis, the bank requires 25%.

Even bigger jumbos

For expensive homes, the down payments are disproportionately more. Lenders issuing jumbo loans, which are too pricey to be sold to Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) or Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500) in the secondary market, are asking for at least 20% down, according to Ed Craine, a San Francisco mortgage broker. In the most expensive markets, where jumbo loans are over $729,000, that means a minimum down payment of $148,500.

Higher interest rates on jumbo loans are also making them more expensive than they normally would be - with interest rates a full point to a point and a half higher than non-jumbo loans, said Mike Tacconi, a mortgage advisor with lender CMG Mortgage Services based in San Ramone, Calif.

And buyers purchasing homes for investment purposes are getting clobbered. Lenders are telling them to come up with at least 25% of the purchase price, according to Tacconi - and sometimes as much as 35%, depending on the kind of loan.

"Rents are high where I am," said Pennsylvania mortgage broker Hanzimanolis, "so people are having trouble saving enough for down payments."

Those high down payments are are being driven in part by the privatemortgage insurance companies, according to Jay Brinkman, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association, which have themselves hiked their down payment requirements. These firms insure loans when borrowers put less than 20% down, making lenders whole when homeowners default.

In the past, these companies, such as MGIC Investment Corp (MTG). and PMI Group (PMI), often guaranteed mortgages when borrowers put no money down. Today they require 5%, 10% in steeply declining markets, according to Jeff Lubar, spokesman for the trade association Mortgage Insurance Companies of America.

In addition, private mortgage insurers are also charging higher insurance rates. Historically, PMI cost about 0.5% of a home's purchase price. Now, a borrower putting 5% down can pay about 0.75% for the first year.

Higher rates

And although interest rates are relatively low, industry experts say that they're higher than they should be, thanks to concerns about the solvency of Freddie and Fannie, which buy about half of all outstanding mortgages in the U.S.

The average 30-year, fixed-rate loan carried a 6.37% interest rate last week, according to Freddie Mac, up nearly a point from the year's low of 5.48% set last January and up from under 6% in late May. At the same time, yields on 10-year treasuries, which mortgage rates usually track, have trended down.

From June 12 to July 10, 10-year treasurys fell from 4.20% to 3.81%, while mortgage rates actually increased, inching up from 6.32% to 6.37%. Borrowers are probably paying at least a half point more than they ordinarily would, according to Keith Gumbinger of HSH Associates, a publisher of loan information.

That's because the questions surrounding the future of Fannie and Freddie have made the investors who buy their loans - hedge funds, pension funds, and banks - wary. They're demanding higher interest rates to take on the added risk they perceive.

Freddie and Fannie have also imposing higher up-front fees for riskier borrowers, based on credit scores.

As of June 1, buyers with scores of less than 620 with less than a 30% downpayment must pay a fee of 2.75% of mortgage principal, up from 2%. Between a 620 and 640 credit score, borrowers pay 2.5% (up from 1.75%); 640 to 660, 1.75% (1.25%); 660 to 680, 1.25% (0.75%); and 680 to 720, 0.5% (0).

"The fees are costing consumers a considerable amount of money," said Mark Savitt, a mortgage broker there and current president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

All these added expenses are slowing an already moribund real estate market. That means it's going to take even longer to get rid of the tremendous inventory of unsold homes, according to the MBA's Brinkman, especially in areas that were overbuilt during the boom.

Cities hard hit by the housing bust, like North Las Vegas, Stockton, Calif. and Tucson, Ariz, may have to suffer through many more months of stagnant prices and increased foreclosures before they return to better times.

And these higher costs are going to stick around long after housing recovers, according to Brinkman. From now on, they'll just be the price of doing business.

Senate Passes Foreclosure Rescue

2008-07-14T14:15:00.001-07:00

Senate Passes Foreclosure Rescue

WASHINGTON - A mortgage rescue to help hundreds of thousands of struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure and get more affordable, safer loans passed the Senate overwhelmingly Friday, but it faces a bumpy road amid continuing turmoil in the housing market.

The 63-5 vote reflected a keen interest by Democrats and Republicans to send election-year help to distressed homeowners with economic issues topping voters' concerns.

The plan lets homeowners buckling under mortgage payments they can't afford keep their homes and get more affordable mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration. Banks that agreed to take substantial losses on those distressed loans could avoid costly foreclosures and be assured of recovering at least some money.
The new program would let the FHA insure as much as $300 billion in new mortgages, helping an estimated 400,000 homeowners.

It still faces challenges, however, with the House planning to rewrite key details and the White House threatening a veto without major changes.

"It's not the final stop, but it is a major stop in getting this bill done," said Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Banking Committee. "For those who said this Congress cannot come together in a bipartisan fashion to do something responsible about housing, this bill does that."

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the Financial Services Committee chairman and an architect of the bill, says the few but significant revisions House leaders are seeking could be made in as little as one week.

Dodd said he was expecting minor "tweaks" that could be dealt with quickly.

But key players are bracing for intense negotiations to resolve the differences. They hope to smooth over disputes with the White House at the same time, with an eye toward producing a bill President Bush could sign later this month.

The White House Friday renewed its warning that Bush would veto the Senate-passed bill without revisions, citing $3.9 billion in the measure for buying and rehabilitating foreclosed properties it said would help lenders, not homeowners.

The measure includes a long-sought modernization of the FHA and would create a new regulator and tighter controls on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage giants. It also would provide $14.5 billion in housing tax breaks, including a credit of up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers.

Democrats are divided over important elements of the plan, including limits on loans the FHA may insure and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may buy. The Senate measure sets them at $625,000, while House leaders - including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. - want the cap as high as $730,000.

House leaders also oppose the immediate effective date of the Senate plan, preferring to phase in the new regulations for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over six months.

"We'd have a hard time agreeing to that," Dodd told reporters Friday. He called a Capitol Hill news conference to dispel fears about the financial health of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as their stocks plummeted on reports that the government was considering taking over one or both of them.

Another key point of dispute is the funding in the Senate measure for buying and fixing foreclosed properties. The House's band of conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats oppose the money, arguing that it would swell the deficit unless paired with cuts or tax increases to cover the cost.

But many Democrats, particularly members of the Congressional Black Caucus, are fighting to keep the funding, which they say will help prevent the communities hardest hit by the housing crisis from sliding into blight.

"There are people who tell me to ignore" that threat, Frank said in a statement Friday. "But there is too much that is important in this bill, and it has already been too long delayed by procedural problems in the Senate, for us to risk the further delay involved in a veto."

He said he was working to find a way to shift the funds to a must-pass spending bill that would be approved before lawmakers scatter for the year in September.

Dana Perino, Bush's spokeswoman, said the money should be stripped out of the measure "so that they can get a housing bill to the president that he could sign right away."

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the presumptive presidential nominee, said Bush should drop his opposition to the housing plan and other Democratic efforts to ease economic pain.

"I call on the administration to support this bill along with a second emergency stimulus package to jumpstart the economy and build on this important start to advance more rigorous measures to protect homeowners from foreclosure," he said. Obama was on the campaign trail Friday and did not vote on the measure, which had been expected to pass by a wide margin. He was one of 32 senators not voting.

With the administration scrambling to tamp down on investor fears about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Perino called the new regulations in the measure for the two mortgage giants its "most important feature."

Lawmakers and the Bush administration agree on the central concept behind the housing package: allowing the government to backstop new mortgages for struggling homeowners.

To make it more palatable to Republicans, the Senate measure would take responsibility for any losses away from taxpayers and instead cover them by diverting a newly created affordable housing fund drawn from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits.

Forex Free Pip Feeder Access. Forex Pips

2008-07-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

Forex Free Pip Feeder Access.
Forex Profit Accelerator Members Website Preview

Everything about it is first class... and easy to understand.
I'll have more information to send you about it on July 22nd, but for now I've been granted special permission to give you private access to a Members Website Preview so you can get "up close & personal" with this trading course before the rest of the community gets a chance to.

You see, the author of the course is only releasing 555 more copies from July 22nd to July 29th... but here's the problem: He already has 40,000+ traders interested in it. So he just doesn't have enough inventory to go around.

(His first two limited releases sold out in a matter of days.)

That's why he's letting me give you complimentary access to his Members Website Preview, but only until July 22nd. He wants to weed out the "tire kickers" so that only the traders who are truly serious about discovering how to trade the Forex markets in less then 20 minutes a day can get a copy of the course.

A Letter from From Bill Poulos

TOTAL INVESTMENT TODAY: $0.00
Dear Trader,

On Tuesday, July 22nd, I'll be re-releasing my sold-out Forex Profit Accelerator home study course that shows you how to become an independent trader and totally eliminate all the stress and strain typically associated with day trading Forex by spending only 20 minutes a night placing your trades.

I released this course to small groups of lucky traders last Fall and many of them think this is the highest quality course ever to hit the Forex market, both in terms of production value and effectiveness of the trading methods it reveals.

Things are getting pretty crazy over here at my office! My son, Greg, and I have been working day and night getting things ready for you. Over the past few weeks, we've been logging some long hours at the office as we worked on our brand new 'Forex 4-Pack' free training kit. Sign up here to get a FREE copy, and a lot more...

Get A Front Row Seat Today And Watch The Potential Profits Unfold On The Forex Profit Accelerator Members Website Preview

Here's the deal... I'm only releasing 555 more copies of my course on July 22nd, but I have thousands of traders on my "Priority Pip Pullers" list that want the course. So, there WILL be many disappointed traders. Those are the facts.

But I also know that my course isn't for everyone, so to help weed out the "tire kickers", I'm offering 100% FREE access to my Forex Profit Accelerator members website preview so you can get a feel for what it's like to be a Forex Profit Accelerator student before you get your hands on your own copy.

By doing this, I hope more copies of my course are available to those who truly want to get started with it right away.

I know based on my experience teaching students how to trade since 2001 that once you get your hands on the Forex Profit Accelerator, you may never need another Forex trading course again. After all, if something works again and again, why stop trading with it? So get your "first taste" of the Forex Profit Accelerator right now as a "Priority Pip Puller"...

When you sign up as a "Priority Pip Puller", you'll immediately get the following:

FREE complete access to my Forex Profit Accelerator Members Website Preview. This will give you a taste of what's to come when you become a Forex Profit Accelerator student.

FREE complete preview access to my Forex Profit Accelerator PIP FEEDER service until July 22nd. The PIP FEEDER delivers a list of daily Forex pairs that meet the Forex Profit Accelerator trade alert criteria and have a high probability of entering into potentially profitable positions in the coming days. You get access to these lists IMMEDIATELY as part of the preview.

FREE complete access to my newest Forex Profit Accelerator Trade Videos. I've been recording "chart capture" videos to show you the potential profits YOU could be making right now as a Forex Profit Accelerator student.

FREE access to the Forex Profit Accelerator Priority Enrollment Link. This is the link that will go "live" one full hour before the general public gets a crack at grabbing a copy of the course on July 22nd.

One hour may not seem like much, but when the market demand far exceeds the inventory on hand, that one hour could mean the difference between you getting a copy or having to wait 4 weeks, 4 months, or more.

In fact, one of the first things you should do after you sign into the Forex Profit Accelerator Website Preview is to print out the Priority Enrollment Link and keep it next to your computer, so you know exactly where to go on Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008, at 9am Eastern (New York) time.

FREE access to my brand new 'Forex 4-Pack' training materials (if you aren't among the already 40,000+ traders who have downloaded a copy in the past week).

On July 22nd, I'm going to shut down the Members Website Preview and continue on over at the permanent Members Website for the students. This means you don't have much time to join the "Priority Pip Pullers" list and get behind-the-scenes access to the Members Website Preview.

So go ahead, and click here to the "Sign Me Up!" page. It's 100% FREE, and you will be sent a private email with your special username and password that will let you access the Forex Profit Accelerator Members Website Preview immediately.

Please note: Make sure you type in a valid email address, because the private website link, username, and password for the Members Website Preview will be sent immediately to the email that you type in below.

p.s. Remember, this complimentary preview access WILL expire on Tuesday, July 22nd, so I urge you to get in now while you can if you have any interest learning how to dramatically up your "pip potential" while saving hours a day at the same time.

Thanks
Bonnie - best-forex-programs.com

Celebrity foreclosures show extent of housing woes

2008-07-10T10:10:00.001-07:00

Celebrity foreclosures show extent of housing woes

LOS ANGELES - Tabloid magazines like to reassure us that celebrities are just like us - they go grocery shopping, take their dogs for a stroll around the neighborhood, even pump their own gas.

These days, that can also hold true when it comes to the plummeting real estate market. Several celebrities have dealt with foreclosure issues on their luxurious estates and many more have had to drop their asking prices, putting some high-profile faces on a growing problem: the real-estate meltdown is now hitting every socio-economic class.

The case of Ed McMahon has shown that you can make millions over a lengthy show business career and still find yourself in foreclosure. Johnny Carson's former "Tonight Show" sidekick owes more than $644,000 in mortgage payments on his Mediterranean estate in Beverly Hills, a house he and his wife have been trying to sell for the past two years. The six-bedroom, five-bathroom home - in the same exclusive, gated community where Britney Spears lives - is now on the market for $6.5 million, down from an original price of $7.6 million.
The 85-year-old television personality, who has been unable to work since breaking his neck in a fall 18 months ago, described his economic problems as "a perfect storm."

"If you spend more money than you make, you know what happens. And it can happen. You know, a couple of divorces thrown in, a few things like that. And, you know, things happen," McMahon said on "Larry King Live" recently. "You want everything to be perfect, but that combination of the economy, I have a little injury, I have a situation. And it all came together."

McMahon certainly is not the only celebrity to find himself in such financial trouble. Former NBA player Vin Baker saw his home in Durham, Conn., go up for auction last weekend. The seven-bed, six-and-a-half-bath mansion, on about 11 acres with a basketball court and a bowling alley, had been on the market for $2,950,000. Earlier this year, former baseball star and "Juiced" author Jose Canseco stopped making payments on his $2.5 million home in the upscale Encino section of LA's San Fernando Valley.

Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing for RealtyTrac, which monitors foreclosures, says that people of any income level can get in trouble by buying overvalued homes at the peak of the market that they ultimately can't afford.

"Ed McMahon's a sympathetic character in this scenario in that he got into a house that possibly he could have afforded if he had been able to keep working, then he had an injury that upset his financial apple cart pretty badly," Sharga said. "What you don't know is, in a normal real estate market, if the same lender would have taken a look at an 82-year-old man at the tail end of his career and written him a $4.6 million mortgage he had to keeping working to be able to afford."

It's not all doom and gloom, of course. Avril Lavigne listed her nearly 6,900-square-foot Mulholland Estates mansion for $5.8 million and, after just 36 days on the market, recently accepted a cash offer of $5.2 million.

But as celebrity real estate columns like "Hot Property" in the Los Angeles Times and "Gimme Shelter" in the New York Post show, other stars can't command the same prices for their homes that they might have been able to a few years ago.

The price of Angela Bassett and Courtney B. Vance's house has dropped more than $2 million in the past year. The French Colonial in a gated section of Los Angeles' old-money Hancock Park neighborhood has five bedrooms, seven and a half bathrooms, a gym, a hair salon and a two-story guest house. An agent listed it last year for $5,999,000, then a month later took it off the market for seven months. Then June Ahn of Coldwell Banker got the house and listed it for $4,999,000; she reduced it soon afterward to $4.6 million, and now has reduced it again to $3.9 million.

"It was overpriced," Ahn said. "The price difference from $5,999,000 to $3.9 (million), obviously we'll have a bigger number of buyers that can afford to get into it and even take a look at it."

It helps that the husband and wife, who bought the house 17 years ago for about $1.8 million, own it outright. "They're very flexible, they just go with the flow of the market," Ahn said. "Unfortunately, this happens. Last year was better than this year. Now they realize they didn't reduce in time. They were hoping to get the best (price) last year but it didn't happen so they learned the lesson."

Then again, property values can be a matter of perspective, says Ed Kaminsky, a Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based real estate agent who helps professional athletes relocate.

"You've got the new guys with the big contracts that are excited about the $8 million check they just got and they want to spend some, and I'd say rightfully so. Sometimes it's not a smart investment and sometimes it is," he said. "But if you make $8 million a year and you blow $5 million on a house and you sell it for $3 million a few years later, is it really wrong?

"What I try to do is identify what is it that they want, and let them know that it is possible that they could buy a home for a lot of money and sell it for less than they paid for it, and are you OK with it?" he added. "If I handed you $25 million right now, would you think differently about the $2 million house that's down the street? You may not really care that it's 50 grand overpriced cause you like the swing set in the backyard for your kids."

The primary element driving where a celebrity chooses to live is privacy, said Jordan Cohen of Re/Max, who has represented more than 50 stars and athletes in real estate transactions, including Shaquille O'Neal and Marilyn Manson. He's now selling actress Joely Fisher's house - a four-bed, seven-bath, mid-century craftsman at the end of a secluded drive with a pool and a screening room - for $3,295,000, about $1 million less than the asking price when another agent first listed it last summer.

He believes a star's property can bring in more money than a regular house.

"I know it adds value," said Cohen, sitting on a limestone countertop in the kitchen of the suburban Encino home. "A good analogy would be, shoe companies pay athletes millions of dollars to wear a specific shoe so you'll have young America buy that shoe because a celebrity endorses it. It's the same thing with a house."

"Why does anyone read Hot Tracks in People magazine or any other publication?" he continued. "I've never understood that, because they're just, like, people - just like you and me. From the celebrities I've gotten to know, they're just normal people. . .. I don't know why America is fascinated by that, but they are."

But Mark David, who follows celebrity real estate on his cheeky blog "The Real Estalker," doesn't think prospective buyers are willing to pay top dollar for houses simply because someone famous has lived in them.

"It's not common. Property values are property values," said David, a 38-year-old graphic designer who writes under the pseudonym "Your Mama." "You've really got to be somebody for it to add cachet. Maybe if it's a major A-list celebrity who's going to go down in Hollywood history, like Jack Nicholson. But does anybody really care about most of these people's houses? Would you pay more for Danny Bonaduce's house? And I'm not trying to bag on him. I can't imagine that people would do it - then again, there's a lid for every pot."

Bonaduce's house, by the way, is still on the market. It was listed last July for $4.5 million - now it's down only slightly to $4.2 million. The ornate Spanish-style mansion, with four bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms and a theater on just over 7,000 square feet, sits in the hills of LA's Los Feliz section.

So why not drop the price further and finally sell the property?

"He can afford to wait it out for 20 years," said Alfonso Milanese of Show4you Realty, who co-listed the home with another agent when Bonaduce and his wife, Gretchen, filed for divorce. "It's such a minuscule mortgage on there. He's one of the few the people who are not in dire straits in selling their house."

As for McMahon's home, "we've actually gotten a bunch of offers," his real estate agent, Alex Davis of Hilton & Hyland, said recently. "I think we're going to sell it very soon and that it's going to be onward and upward for the McMahons."

AZ Home Buyers Turning to Non-profits For Cash

2008-07-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

Down-payment aid debated
Home buyers turning to non-profits for cash

Arizonans treading in the housing market's choppy waters have found an unusual lifeline - a group of non-profit organizations that siphon down payments from home sellers to buyers.

Use of the decade-old practice known as down-payment assistance has dramatically increased since the demise of subprime lending because it offers another opportunity for buyers without substantial savings to obtain mortgage loans.

Advocates of down-payment assistance contend it has kept Arizona's failing real-estate market on life support by opening doors for responsible borrowers who simply lack the cash for a down payment.
Critics of the practice say it allows home sellers to kick back a percentage of bank-loaned money to buyers, which would be illegal if not done through a non-profit intermediary.

Housing statistics also indicate that charity-assisted loans default at higher rates compared with loans where the down payment comes from the buyer.

The Federal Housing Administration, which insures all loans involving down-payment assistance, has argued that such loans carry a higher default rate and could ultimately bankrupt the FHA.

A housing-reform bill up for vote in the U.S. Senate this week calls for eliminating the practice, while a competing resolution in the House would allow it to continue with some restrictions.

Phoenix loan originator Dean Wegner said nearly half of the home loans being issued involve seller contributions to special non-profit organizations that gift the money - usually 3 to 6 percent of the home's sale price - to buyers after charging a transaction fee of $400 to $600. Unlike other charitable contributions, the seller's donations are not tax-deductible.

"It's a loophole in the FHA guidelines that says the down payment can come from a 501(c)(3) charity," Wegner said.

Now that subprime loans and their creative financing schemes are gone from the market, lenders have returned in droves to FHA loans and the primary reason is down-payment assistance, he said.

"This is what everyone is talking about now," Wegner said, adding that sellers are generally willing to put up the money because it greatly increases their chances of finding a buyer.

The two leading providers of down-payment assistance are AmeriDream, based in Gaithersburg, Md., and Sacramento-based Nehemiah Corp.

Nehemiah was involved in 676 Arizona home-sales transactions in 2007 and is on pace to quintuple that amount this year, passing down payments from buyer to seller on 1,692 sales as of early July.

AmeriDream President Ann Ashburn said the two non-profits provide a vital service to low-income, minority and first-time home buyers while giving the economy a needed boost.

Ashburn opposes eliminating down-payment assistance programs that benefit "good, qualified people."

"The real tragedy will be that 100,000 to 200,000 home buyers annually will be locked out of homeownership," she said.

AmeriDream data indicates that roughly a million U.S. residents have used down-payment assistance in the past 10 years, including nearly 43,000 Arizonans.

Nationwide, $130 billion in loans have been generated by the practice, the non-profit says, with about $5.5 billion in Arizona.

Since its advent, down-payment assistance has faced several attempts by the federal government to ban its practice, but so far the courts have protected it.

In recent months, FHA Commissioner Brian Montgomery has launched a full-scale verbal attack on down-payment assistance, calling it a "shell game" that threatens to bankrupt his administration.

"We had to book an additional $4.6 billion in unanticipated long-term losses, mostly due to the increased number of certain types of seller-funded loans in the FHA portfolio," Montgomery said in June.

"Unless we take action to mitigate these losses, FHA will soon either have to shut down or rely on appropriations to operate."

Montgomery also said the federally insured value of those loans is often inflated, because many sellers simply tack on the amount of their charitable contribution to the home's sale price.

About 30 percent of all FHA loans now involve down-payment assistance, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FHA's parent agency.

HUD data indicates that charity-assisted loans were more than twice as likely to go into default or foreclosure in recent years than loans with the down payment coming from buyers' pockets.

However, Wegner said all FHA loans have credit-score and income requirements, which make them far less risky than subprime loans.

"These people are still getting scrutinized heavily," he said.

One such buyer is Lawrence Smith, who recently purchased a vacant Phoenix home from an out-of-state investor. Although he had never heard of down-payment assistance, his real-estate agent recommended he look into it.

"I had gone through a divorce, so most of my assets were gone," Smith said.

He got an FHA loan with down-payment assistance through AmeriDream. Smith said the entire process was transparent and spared him the six to 12 months it would have taken to save up a down payment.

"I think if you have people that have decent credit and decent incomes, but for whatever reason can't come up with the down payment, it makes a difference," he said.

Source:AZ Republic

Phoenix Area Million Dollar Home Sales

2008-07-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

Phoenix AZ Area Million Dollar Home Sales

Scottsdale home sells for $5.7M

A Scottsdale land developer, a founder and CEO of an information technology group and two local Realtors, are among the buyers and sellers in this week's done deals.

$5,791,500.

Richard and Kimberly Cabral bought a new 10,645 square-foot home with five bedrooms, seven bathrooms plus two powder rooms, bonus room, kids retreat, game room, library with fireplace, office theatre, gourmet kitchen with two islands, six-car garage, plus detached casita has two bedrooms and living room with fireplace. This Calvis Wyant luxury home on four and a half acres is northeast of the Pinnacle Peak Country Club in Scottsdale.

$4,995,000.

Stuart and Mary Rhea purchased a new 8,400 square-foot home with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms. The master suite has an exercise room with bar and two flat screens. There is a library and office with fireplace and private patios; formal living room, dining room with wine room and butlers pantry; huge gourmet kitchen opening to oversized family room, three en-suite bedrooms, media room, game room; and a separate guest house out by a party gazebo and diving pool, A/C garages and Crestron Smart house. This luxury home at Mummy Mountain is on the southwest side of the Camelback Golf Club in Paradise Valley. Stuart Rhea is the founder and CEO of Tolt Service Group, a nationwide provider of outsourced technology field services. He has spent over 30 years in the information technology field.

$3,170,000.

Kent Bowerbank and Leslie Bowerbank, as Trustees of the Bowerbank Trust, paid cash for a 6,991 square-foot home with 650 square-foot pool originally built in 1999. Kent Bowerbank is a Realtor with Embassy Properties in Phoenix.

$3,125,000.

Michael L. White, as Trustee of the Statice Revocable Trust, purchased new home west of the Camelback Golf Club in the Morton Mesa Subdivision of Paradise Valley.

$3,100,000.

Robert D. MacMillan and Mary Hazel MacMillan, as Trustees of the Robert D. MacMillan Family Trust, paid cash for a 4,565 square-foot home with 704 square-foot pool originally built in 1977 on over two acres on the west side of the Camelback Golf Club in Paradise Valley.

Feds Protect Homeowners From Scam Lending Practices

2008-07-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve will issue new rules next week aimed at protecting future homebuyers from dubious lending practices, its most sweeping response to a housing crisis that has propelled foreclosures to record highs.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke of the much-awaited rules in a broader speech Tuesday about the challenges confronting policymakers in trying to stabilize a shaky U.S. financial system. To that end, Bernanke said the Fed may give squeezed Wall Street firms more time to tap the central bank's emergency loan program.

To prevent a repeat of the current mortgage mess, Bernanke said the Fed will adopt rules cracking down on a range of shady lending practices that has burned many of the nation's riskiest "subprime" borrowers - those with spotty credit or low incomes - who were hardest hit by the housing and credit debacles.

The plan, which will be voted on at a Fed board meeting on Monday, would apply to new loans made by thousands of lenders of all types, including banks and brokers.

Under the proposal unveiled last December, the rules would restrict lenders from penalizing risky borrowers who pay loans off early, require lenders to make sure these borrowers set aside money to pay for taxes and insurance and bar lenders from making loans without proof of a borrower's income. It also would prohibit lenders from engaging in a pattern or practice of lending without considering a borrower's ability to repay a home loan from sources other than the home's value.

"These new rules ... will address some of the problems that have surfaced in recent years in mortgage lending, especially high-cost mortgage lending," Bernanke said.

Consumer groups have complained that the proposed rules aren't strong enough, while mortgage lenders worry that they are too tough and could crimp customers' choices.

In an extraordinary action aimed at averting a financial catastrophe, the Fed in March agreed to let investment houses go to the Fed - on a temporary basis - for a quick, overnight source of cash. Those loan privileges, which are supposed to last through mid-September, are similar to those permanently afforded to commercial banks for years.

"We are currently monitoring developments in financial markets closely and considering several options, including extending the duration of our facilities for primary dealers beyond year-end should the current unusual and exigent circumstances continue to prevail in dealer funding markets," Bernanke said in prepared remarks to a mortgage-lending forum in Arlington, Va.

The Fed's decision to act - temporarily at least - as a lender of last resort for Wall Street firms was made after a run on Bear Stearns pushed the investment bank to the brink of bankruptcy and raised fears that others might be in jeopardy. It was the broadest use of the Fed's lending powers since the 1930s.

Bear Stearns was eventually taken over by JPMorgan Chase & Co., with the Fed providing $28.82 billion in financial backing.

Those controversial decisions have drawn criticism from Democrats in Congress and elsewhere that the Fed is bailing out Wall Street and putting billions of taxpayer dollars at risk.

Bernanke, in appearances on Capitol Hill has said he doesn't believe taxpayers will suffer any losses.

In his speech Tuesday, the Fed chief defended those actions anew. If the Fed didn't intervene, he said, problems in financial markets would have snowballed, imperiling the country.

"Allowing Bear Stearns to fail so abruptly at a time when the financial markets were already under considerable stress would likely have had extremely adverse implications for the financial system and for the broader economy," Bernanke said to the mortgage forum, organized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The Fed's consideration of giving Wall Street firms more time to tap the Fed's emergency loan program is part of an ongoing effort by the central bank to bring back stability to fragile financial markets and help to bolster shaky confidence on the part of investors.

Policymakers - in the White House, in Congress and other federal agencies - will need to work together to come up with ways to make the U.S. financial system more resilient and stable and to prevent a repeat of the types of problems that brought about the end of Bear Stearns, an 85-year-old institution, Bernanke said.

Although those efforts are already under way and will be the focus of a House Financial Services Committee hearing Thursday, it will fall to the next president and next Congress to settle them. Both Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are scheduled to testify at Thursday's hearing.

The Bush administration has proposed revamping the nation's financial regulatory structure. That plan would make the Fed an ubercop in charge of financial market stability. But the Fed would lose daily supervision of big banks. Bernanke said the Fed must maintain this power if it is to be an effective overseer of financial stability.

The Fed, which regulates banks, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees investment firms, announced an information-sharing agreement on Monday aimed at better detecting potential risks to the financial system.

Over the longer term, though, Congress may need to adopt legislation to bolster supervision of investment banks and other large securities dealers, Bernanke said.

Bernanke recommended that Congress give a regulator the authority to set standards for capital, liquidity holdings and risk management practices for the holding companies of the major investment banks. Currently, the SEC's oversight of these holding companies is based on a voluntary agreement between the SEC and those firms.

Brand New Free Forex 4-Pack' Just Released

2008-07-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

Forex Profit Accelerator from Bill Poulos. Brand New Free Forex 4-Pack' Just Released

(Don't place another Forex trade until you READ ALL THIS)

You're About To Learn How Select Groups Of Traders Discovered Forex FREEDOM With The 'Underground' Techniques Revealed In My FREE 'Forex 4-Pack'...

HINT: They spend 20 minutes a night, and they're NOT day trading...

The bar for Forex training is about to be raised again...

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It might "ruffle your feathers", but if you have ANY interest in discovering how select groups of traders have been quietly riding the coat tails of the big banks to maximize their "pip potential" in the Forex markets...

-I think you're in for a big SURPRISE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Over the past year, thousands of Forex traders were invited to take part in a landmark survey about their top challenges trading the Forex markets.

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** ...plus, there's a TON more you'll get to sink your teeth into when you get the '4-Pack'...

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SORRY, IT'S NOT FOR SALE
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When I snuck a look at the 'Forex 4-Pack', I was certain I'd be asked to cough up 150 bucks or more for it. After all, it's not one of those flimsy 10-page "ebooks" many so-called "gurus" try to pass of as "value" these days...

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You see, the author released an early version of just one of the pieces to this '4 Pack' last year and he was overwhelmed by the response he received from the trading community.

So that's why he decided to give it away. In his own words, "I want to de-mystify the Forex markets once and for all. So I sat down to produce this material as if I was under oath, being grilled by an attorney. That's how direct and forthcoming it is."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOW TO GET YOUR FREE FOREX 4 PACK COPY
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To get your free forex profit 4 pack copy, just click here right now

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Good Trading,
Bonnie Burns

P.S. This is a TON of material. Take your time and read it all, but hurry and download it. Why? Because it's so large, it could be taken offline at any moment if the author's web server "bandwidth" gets eaten up with all the requests for the '4-Pack'. You can get it here

Home Seller Adds Offer of Marriage

2008-06-30T09:02:00.000-07:00

Home Seller Adds Offer of Marriage
Associated Press
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - She has tried nightclubs and online dating sites, but now a 42-year-old single mother is looking for love where everyone else's heart is breaking: the real- estate market.

After a year of trying to sell her four-bedroom home and eight years of singledom, Deven Trabosh is offering her Florida home and a shot at marrying her on the Internet.

"Marry a Princess Lost in America," Trabosh wrote in the ads she posted on eBay and Craigslist last week. She describes a life of romance and travel and a home that features vaulted ceilings, upgraded tile and a soaking tub in a gated community with a pool and tennis courts.

"I'm struggling . . . I don't want to lose my house, and I want to find somebody," said Trabosh, who changed her name in the ad to Traboscia to keep people from finding her in the phone book. "So I came up with this dream plan because I've always dreamt about being a fairy-tale princess."

She listed the home for $340,000 on a sell-it-yourself Web site, but upped the price on eBay, adding a $500,000 shipping fee to include her companionship.

Trabosh says eBay removed her ad. eBay does not allow the sale of human beings, body parts or relationships, spokeswoman Catherine England said Friday.

Trabosh hasn't received any serious offers but says she's had nearly 500 responses, mostly positive.

She's gotten criticism, too. Her 21-year-old daughter, Haley, says she just wants her mom to find love, but her 14-year-old daughter says her mother is embarrassing her.

American Idol Auditions in Glendale AZ July 25

2008-06-30T08:54:00.000-07:00

American Idol Auditions in Glendale AZ July 25 at Jobing Arena

A little more than a year after the Valley's Jordin Sparks took home the 2007 American Idol crown, the talent show will return to Sparks' hometown of Glendale when it holds auditions July 25 at Jobing.com Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Ave.

It will be the show's first time hosting auditions in Arizona.

Show producers report that they've seen great talent emerge from the Valley - including Valley native Brooke White, who cracked the show's top five this year - prompting their decision to hold auditions here.

Men and women 16 to 28 years old as of July 15 who can legally work in the U.S. are eligible to try out. Some restrictions apply. Auditions start July 17 in San Francisco and will continue on to six other cities. Auditioners typically must show up a day in advance to get a required wristband.
'American Idol' Audition Do's and Don'ts:

Ditch The Costumes, Dude-Sung Celine CoversUnless you're just looking for screen time, leave the face paint, original songs and sack of nail clippings at home.

C'mon people! After six seasons, we get that the first few weeks of "American Idol" auditions are supposed to be a parade of freaks mixed in with a few potential gems just to keep it interesting. We know it's too late for this season's group of musical circus geeks, but if the first two audition episodes are any indication, some of you are in dire need of a refresher course on the do's and don'ts of "Idol" tryouts before we even start thinking about season eight.

Do: Tell the producers a great backstory that might land you one of those "down on the farm" segments where we see you frolicking with your son/daughter/pets/tractor. The sadder, the better.

Don't: Have your backstory be tied to a bag of nail clippings, your "Star Wars" fetish, a stalker routine, an ability to make funny noises or a "wacky" original song about abstinence. Speaking of chastity, though never-been-kissed virgin Bruce Dickson and his lock-and-key necklace told a tale so bizarrely endearing the striking Writers Guild of America should investigate whether he had some help with it, we recommend a little less sharing next time.

Do: Try to stand out in front of the judges by wearing something interesting, (slightly) provocative, flattering or, failing that, bland enough that it doesn't distract them from your singing.

Don't: Shop at the costume shop, paint your face, wear a Cowell-esque top that exposes enough of your chest that Simon and Randy lose their focus, attach anything resembling tin foil to your body or have your shirt signed by your "supporters." And, for the love of God, if you can't see your feet, don't wear a Princess Leia costume, even if you are manscaped. Nobody needs to see that.

Do: Pick a song that fits your voice and doesn't make it seem like you're trying out for "Best Celebrity Impersonators." (Hey, if the strike goes on long enough, it might show up on your TiVo queue!)

Don't: And we can't stress this enough, don't sing a song by a woman if you're a dude. We don't care how great you think Celine or Kelly are, the minute you start that tune you will automatically lose Simon and come off looking like a gender-confused contestant on a Logo reality show, whether you're gay, straight or floating somewhere in the guyliner-assisted middle. There are plenty of great songs sung by men for male contestants to choose from — just ask William Hung. OK, maybe not.

Do: Stand out and be humble. Believe it or not, you can do this by just being yourself — especially, it seems, if you are a cute, bubbly blonde with a growly voice or a cute, bubbly black girl with just the right amount of sass.

Don't: Talk back to the judges and come off like someone who might be lurking behind a garbage can waiting for Simon to get into his limo later that night. Yes, you'll get screen time, but nobody will take you seriously for the rest of your life (especially if your heart is set on "actressing"), and you will undoubtedly be dragged out a few more times over the season in clip shows that will portray you as the lunatic that you are.

Do: Wow the judges with your awesome range and strong vocals.

Don't: Tell them people have said you sound like Whitney/Mariah/Celine/Kelly, because 10 times out of 10, they're wrong and you're wrong and Simon's just gonna rip you a new one. And one more thing: Even if your cute-as-a-button model husband says you sound like a superstar, don't make him say it again in front of the judges if it's clearly not true because, once again, Simon's going to make the drive home more awkward than a Paula Abdul QVC appearance.

Do: Be comfortable in your own skin, even if it means snapping your fingers, bopping your head or making a hand gesture or two. The easier it is for you to move around and look the three judges in the eyes, the easier it will be to do it in front of an audience that's larger than the populations of Chile and Cambodia combined.

Don't: Breakdance, practice shadowboxing, flap your wings, stare at the floor, wriggle like you're giving birth to a 15-pound bag of sand, or, as we learned last season, pretend to be a large, caged cat.

Do: Prepare more than one song, preferably in a different genre. Occasionally, the judges want to hear an extra ditty before they dole out a Golden Ticket. If you only rehearsed "Another One Bites the Dust" and Paula asks for some Sinatra, don't be shocked when you end up another one gone, another one gone ...

Don't: Sing an unrequested second song. If the Idol Trinity agrees that you stink, bursting into a new tune isn't going to change any minds. You're just prolonging the pain. Plus, "Idol" producers love having fun in the editing room, so even if you didn't cut off Simon's critique with a second song-and-dance routine, that's exactly how it will be portrayed by the time it hits airwaves, and you'll ultimately look insolent, desperate and/or unstable.

And, if you're going to ignore all these suggestions and just be your freak-flag-flying self — which, after all, is what really makes us all tune in this early anyway — take a page from the book of 44-year-old Renaldo "You Are My Brother" Lapuz. The strange little man in the silver-and-white cape chewed up 11 minutes with his space-case anthem of brotherhood, which slowly evolved from typical Hung-esque time killer to a strangely great piece of TV that allowed the judges to let their hair down and indulge in some of the same goofball antics they are used to rolling their eyes at.

Hotel Monroe On Hold. Phoenix Downtown Projects Affected

2008-06-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

Lender's downfall puts Phoenix downtown in limbo

The financial storm brewing around Mortgages Ltd. has touched two key downtown Phoenix projects, a blow to ongoing efforts to reinvigorate the city's heart.

There is no more loan money to fund construction and renovation work for Hotel Monroe, a high-profile luxury project, the developer said Tuesday.

And a proposed Jackson Street entertainment district is looking for new lenders for a land deal.
And it was unclear if other downtown projects could be next.

It's unknown what developments are among the estimated 70 loans in the embattled Phoenix company's $925 million loan portfolio.

The downtown projects are significant because Phoenix and state officials have invested years of planning and millions of taxpayer dollars to resuscitate what had once been a sleepy business district.

On Tuesday, city officials downplayed the impact, noting that Phoenix has many successful downtown projects under way. That includes the expanding Arizona State University downtown Phoenix campus, the $600 million convention-center expansion and the nearly complete 1,000-room Sheraton hotel project, said Phoenix's downtown-development director John Chan.

"One segment of the market is slowing down, but there are a lot of positive things going on in downtown Phoenix," said Chan,adding that the Mortgages Ltd. meltdown is a symptom of the national credit crisis.

Yet, the Mortgages Ltd. fallout left two projects scrambling for new lenders.

• On Tuesday, the developer behind a $100 million boutique-hotel project announced that renovations at the historic 1930s office building are winding down. The renovated hotel was expected to open Oct 1.

Its developer, Grace Communities, has been paying contracting expenses out of its reserves because Mortgages Ltd. has stopped funding its loan, which was for $75.6 million, said Jonathon Vento, a partner with Grace.

He declined to estimate how long the project would be delayed, noting that the company is in the process of renegotiating contracts with vendors.

Mortgages Ltd. has said it believes lawsuits filed by Grace and other borrowers are efforts by borrowers that are in default to buy time.

Vento insists Grace has not defaulted on any loan payments to Mortgages Ltd. and that the lender's claims are attempts to distract attention from its financial situation.

• Mortgages Ltd. has also loaned an undisclosed "seven figures-plus" sum to Dale Jensen, one of the developers behind a planned Jackson Street entertainment district near Chase Field, Jensen said.

Jensen is looking for another lender to take over the loan, which helped finance a land deal connected to the entertainment district.

"That's all I am doing night and day, arranging alternate financing," Jensen said, adding that the loan helped to buy two city blocks directly south of the Summit at Copper Square condo tower.

Jackson Street has also faced delays, but they are unrelated to the Mortgages Ltd. problem, Jensen says.

Mortgages Ltd., the state's largest private lender, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday. On Tuesday, Judge Randolph Haines granted Mortgages Ltd.'s motion to convert the case to voluntary Chapter 11, but tabled a request from Grace to appoint an independent trustee to take over the lender's operations.

Mortgages Ltd. has made several changes to its business, prompted by the apparent suicide of Chairman and CEO Scott Coles on June 2.

The company financed commercial real-estate projects for developers using money it raised through accredited investors to fund the loans.

Since Coles' death, the company said it is no longer making loans or accepting new money from investors.

Effects from the case have rippled to projects across the Valley. In addition to Phoenix projects, the lender's borrowers include developers in Tempe and Scottsdale.
Source: AZ Republic

Is Your Phoenix New Home Really Green or Is It Efficient

2008-06-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

Is Your Phoenix New Home Really Green or Is It Efficient

Different shades of green

Over the past six months, large-scale home builders have incorporated claims of environmental friendliness into their marketing efforts like never before.

Some of those claims are even backed by real improvements in design, construction and materials.

Still, home designers and builders who were green before green was gold say the mass-market version of their philosophy often misses the point. Philip Beere bristles when asked about mainstream home builders' recent appropriation of the word green.

Beere recently remodeled a 1960s home in central Phoenix to obtain the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold Certification, which is about as green as it gets.

"I think it's great that the big builders are getting on board to make a better home," said Beere, a green-leaning Scottsdale entrepreneur who formed Green Street Development in 2007 with proceeds from his successful cleaning business, Ecofresh Planet.

"However, it should be advertised for what it is, which is an efficient home, not a green home."

Sure, custom-home builders may be painting with a deeper shade of green, Shea Homes executives say, but their company has a much broader brush.

San Diego-based Shea Homes, one of the country's largest home builders, launched an initiative in January to reduce the overall carbon footprint - the carbon-based pollution caused by human activities - of each new home inside its Trilogy communities by 20 to 30 percent.

The homes also feature better ventilation, conserve more water and require less lumber to build, said Hal Looney, area president of Shea Homes Active Lifestyle Communities.

Though they do not meet all the Green Building Council's certification requirements, the overall reduction in environmental impact will be significant, he said.

"We're building a couple of thousand homes, so the impact will be a lot greater than four or five custom homes," Looney said.

Shea Homes estimates that over the next 10 years, the implementation of its Shea Green Certified Home program will save the equivalent of more than 8.5 million gallons of gasoline and have the same carbon-reducing effect as planting 1.9 million trees.

"It will be a better place for everybody," Looney said.

Arizona State University architect Daniel Glenn said he supports the efforts of mass-market home builders to reduce consumption of energy and natural resources, but being green is not that easy.

"It's really problematic to think about building green when you're talking about these large-scale bedroom communities," he said, "because large-scale bedroom communities are inherently not green."

Glenn, associate director of ASU's Stardust Center for Affordable Homes and the Family, said production home builders have developed a tendency to "green-wash" practices that actually contribute to the pollution problem.

The biggest problem has to do with where they are building homes: places like Trilogy at Vistancia, more than 30 miles from downtown Phoenix, in Peoria.

"The further out you go, the less green it is by definition," Glenn said, which is why the Green Building Council strongly encourages in-fill development and urban redevelopment.

"You can have the greenest home in the world, but if your commute is 20 to 30 miles, you're not living a green lifestyle."

But what if the homeowner drives a Toyota Prius, which gets up to 50 miles per gallon? Shea is including a new Prius with every Trilogy home, Looney said.

Again, Glenn applauded Shea for attempting to reduce the environmental impact of its remote location.

Still, he said commuting 30 miles each way in a Prius doesn't leave much time for community-building, another pillar of the green philosophy.

"Is people spending three hours a day in a car socially beneficial?" he said.

Valley real-estate analyst RL Brown said large home builders have avoided revolutionizing the industry to reduce the carbon footprint of their communities, because their customers have been far more concerned about price than environmental impact.

Beere plans to put his custom green-home project on the market next week at a list price of $882,680, enough money to buy two midrange Shea Green Certified homes.

But consumer attitudes about the value of conservation are changing, Brown said, due in part to rising energy costs and concerns about global climate change.

"I think we're going to see, finally, the coming of the green, with serious efforts and not just lip service," he said.

Looney said large builders such as Shea have the ability to make green homes affordable to the middle class by ordering enviro-friendly products in bulk and teaching contractors new techniques that conserve resources.

Glenn said frugal home buyers should consider paying a bit more for a home that will reduce their energy consumption, because no one knows what will happen to energy prices in the future.

"You can't get a 30-year, fixed-rate energy bill," he said.

Source: J. Craig Anderson - The Arizona Republic

Peoria bolsters fight against foreclosures

2008-06-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

Peoria AZ Foreclosures

Peoria bolsters fight against foreclosures

Peoria has stepped up its efforts to identify vacant foreclosed homes before they become blight on a neighborhood.

The city's utility staff and trash haulers are now taking note if they suspect an abandoned home, such as trash cans not placed at the curb. Police are then made aware of the vacant homes and keep an extra set of eyes on them.

"The county is plagued by foreclosures due to the financial crisis," City Manager Terry Ellis said. "It's a problem in our neighborhoods."
Staff last week gave the City Council an update on a newly formed foreclosure task force, charged with coming up with solutions to reduce the impact of abandoned homes in neighborhoods. Representatives from a number of city departments, including city attorney, police and community development, serve on the committee.

One in 33 homes on average are in foreclosure nationwide, said Glen Van Nimwegen, Peoria's director of community development. In Arizona, one in 18 homes are in some state of foreclosure and as of May, Peoria showed 1,397 homes in the process of being taken back by lenders, Van Nimwegen said.

Arizona and Florida showed the highest foreclosure numbers in the country - the two states were the fastest-growing, which prompted home values to peak and encouraged bad loans, he said.

Peoria currently employs a number of tactics to deal with foreclosed homes that are neglected and overgrown with weeds, becoming neighborhood eyesores.

The city can issue citations to homeowners and with the city manager's approval do immediate abatement at homes with imminent hazards, such as green pools and broken windows, said Van Nimwegen.

The city also uses volunteer groups to clean up an abandoned property after securing permission from the lender to access the site, Van Nimwegen said. He said lending institutions are starting to become more responsive to the problem.

Councilwoman Vicki Hunt at the end of last week's council meeting issued a plea to civic groups for such volunteers.

"We will get the permission for you if your group steps forward," she said.

The city also can go onto a property, do the necessary cleanup and then slap a lien on the home to recoup the costs, but only through the abatement process, Van Nimwegen said. That process requires a notice and appeals by the property owner, he added.

Councilman Ron Aames asked why, if a homeowner can't be located for permission to access the property, can't the city declare the site an immediate danger and abate it because overgrown weeds can become a fire hazard.

"My biggest concern is the front yard," Aames said. "You have just one of those homes and it brings down the entire neighborhood."

City Attorney Steve Kemp said the city has to show significant conditions with a property to take that route.

"Property owners have the right to control access to their property," Kemp said.

Also, he said, placing a lien on a property has limited success.

Oftentimes, the value of the loan far exceeds the value of the property and sometimes there are two and even three loans taken out on a property, meaning the city rarely collects the lien.

When a homeowner is in foreclosure, other bills are not paid and bankruptcy is pursued, discharging the homeowner's debt, including the lien, Kemp said.

"The city fronts all the abatement costs," he said. "The city doesn't recover a significant amount from the abatement of a property."

Kemp said it cost the city anywhere from a few thousand dollars to $30,000 in one extreme case for abatement.

Van Nimwegen suggested the city work within its current ordinances and advised expanding the Neighborhood Pride program and creating a central point of contact for other departments to report vacant homes.
Source: Cecilia Chan - The Arizona Republic

Looking for a home in the Peoria AZ area? Great deals are available for homes, foreclosures, Short Sales and REO. Let an experienced Re/MAX Realtor help you negotiate a new home today. Call : 602-799-7331 . We can show you foreclosures, Short Sales, REO, as well as any and all homes for sale in the Maricopa area. Search the complete Phoenix Metro AZ MLS for free at http://azhomesdirectory.blogspot.com/

Phoenix July 4th Events. Arizona 4th Of July Events

2008-06-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Phoenix July 4th Events. Arizona 4th Of July Events

Celebrate America: 6 p.m. June 29. Celebrate Independence Day with a patriotic concert featuring classic American rock music, and traditional patriotic songs. North Phoenix Baptist Church, 5757 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. Free. 602-707-5757. npbc.org.

Fourth of July Swing Dance Convention: 10 a.m. Thursday and Friday, 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 2-6. Twelve swing-dancing workshops and 15 competitions. Featuring $16,000 in prize money and time for social dancing. Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, 2400 E. Missouri Ave., Phoenix. $219 weekend hotel and pass; $110 weekend pass; $109 hotel; $15 Gary Jobst Workshop; $10 all other workshops; free social dancing. 800-598-2538. www.usaswingnet.com/phoenix/index.htm.

Light up the Sky: 7-10 p.m. July 3. The event will have rides, games, arts, crafts and fireworks. Maryvale Baseball Park, 3600 N. 51st Ave., Phoenix. Free. 602-262-6575. Map it

Rev, White and Boom: 6-9:30 p.m. July 3. Tour the raceway, enjoy entertainment and watch fireworks. Food, beverages and activities will be available. Phoenix International Raceway, 7602 S. Avondale Blvd., Avondale. Free admission. 623-333-2400. www.avondale.org/events.

West Valley

Magnificent Mondays: 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. June 30. Age 3 and older work on a Fourth of July project. Foothills Branch Library, 19055 N. 57th Ave., Glendale. Free. 623-930-3830. glendaleaz.com/library.

Independence Day: 6:30 p.m. July 3. Live music, food and activities. Fireworks set for 9:15 p.m. Bring a blanket. Estrella Lakeside Amphitheatre, 10300 S. Estrella Parkway, Goodyear. Free. 623-386-1000. http://www.ci.goodyear.az.us/.

Valley-wide

Fourth of July Jewelry Making: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. July 1. Use red, white and blue beads to make patriotic necklaces. Guadalupe Branch Library, 9241 S. Avenida del Yaqui, Guadalupe. Free. 602-652-3000. http://www.mcldaz.org/.

American Eagle Craft: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. July 2. Make crafts with toilet tissue. Guadalupe Branch Library, 9241 S. Avenida del Yaqui, Guadalupe. Free. 602-652-3000. http://www.mcldaz.org/.

Red, White and Blue Family Parade: 7:15 p.m. July 2. The parade features floats, scooters, bikes, kids and dogs. Paul Mason Sportsplex, 2525 N. Pinal Ave., Casa Grande. Free. 520-421-8677. www.cir.org/seasonal-fourth.html.

Annual Fireworks Celebration: 8:45 p.m. July 3. Watch the fireworks show overlooking the lake. Lake Pleasant Regional Park, 41835 N. Castle Hot Springs Road, Morristown. $5 per vehicle park entry fee; $2 per watercraft. 928-501-1710 or 602-372-7460. www.maricopa.gov/parks/EventsDetailPublishers.aspx?date=7/3/2008&eventID=6422.

Fourth of July Festivities: 6 p.m. Thursday, 7:30 a.m. Friday, July 3-4. Watch a youth talent show, followed by a street dance with the band Train Wreck Thursday. Friday activities include the Pets and People Parade at 7:30 a.m. and entertainment all day long. Fireworks start at dusk at the Paiz/Stone Complex. Veterans Memorial Park, 3105 E. Fry Blvd., Sierra Vista. Free. 520-266-2304. http://www.visitsierravista.com/.

Third of July Fireworks: 6 p.m. July 3. Live entertainment, outside barbecue, drink specials, and prizes. Reservations required, recommended time: 6-9 p.m. For all ages. Fireworks begin at 9 p.m. Harold's Cave Creek Corral, 6895 E. Cave Creek Road, Cave Creek. Free. 480-488-1906. http://www.haroldscorral.com/.

Fourth of July Barbecue: Thursday through Saturday, July 3-5. Barbecue meal to celebrate Independence Day. Reservations required. Call for times. JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa, 3800 W. Starr Pass Blvd., Tucson. $35; $15 children 10 and under. 520-792-3500. http://www.jwmarriottstarrpass.com/.

July 4-6

Phoenix

Freedom Wireless Fabulous Phoenix Fourth: 6-9:35 p.m. July 4. Kids rides, food court, scheduled events and fireworks at 9:15 p.m. Steele Indian School Park, 300 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. Free. 602-534-3378. phoenix.gov.

Fourth of July: Friday and Saturday, July 4-5. Featuring poolside activities for kids, spa and golf for adults, and an evening poolside movie of Ratatouille on July 4 and National Treasure: Book of Secrets on July 5. JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort and Spa, 5350 E. Marriott Drive, Phoenix. $169 per night; for guests only. 480-293-5000. desertridgeresort.com.

Scottsdale

Grand Ol' Fashioned Picnic: 5-7:30 p.m. July 4. Celebrate with old-fashioned games, patriotic arts and crafts, and watermelon, chili and pie-eating contests. Bring your homemade chili to be judged. Scottsdale Stadium, 7408 E. Osborn Road, Scottsdale. Free. 480-312-2771. www.scottsdaleaz.gov/events.asp.

July Fourth Celebration: 5-8 p.m. July 4. Tug-of-war, live music and crafts, watermelon eating contest and more. No fireworks. Eldorado Park, 2311 N. Miller Road, Scottsdale. Free. 480-312-2771.

Independance Day Bounce: 9-11 a.m. July 4. Flags, balloons and bouncing to celebrate the Fourth of July. BounceU, 8970 E. Bahia Drive, Suite 104, Scottsdale. $6.95 for first child; $5.95 for each sibling. 480-502-0210. http://www.bounceu.com/.

Freedom Parade: 8:30 a.m. July 4. Decorate your strollers, bicycles, skateboards, horses, pets, golf carts or wagons and participate in the parade, or go to watch. Mescal Park, 11015 N. 68th St., Scottsdale. Free. 480-991-7955 or 602-570-0303. www.scottsdaleaz.gov/Parks/neighborhood/mescal.asp.

East ValleyCBS5 July Fourth Tempe Town Lake Festival: 4-11 p.m. July 4. Seven hours of live music, inflatable village for all ages, and fireworks. Tempe Town Lake, Rio Salado Parkway and Mill Avenue, Tempe. $6; age 12 and younger are free. 480-350-8625. http://www.tempe4th.com/.

Hot Dog Theme Day: 1-3 p.m. July 4. Get a free hot dog to celebrate Independence Day. Kiwanis Park Wave Pool, 6111 S. All-America Way, Tempe. $6; $3 for age 2-12. 480-350-5740. www.tempe.gov/kiwanis.

Mesa's Fourth of July Celebration: 6 p.m. July 4. Entertainment and kiddie rides ending with fireworks at 9 p.m. Also offers food and drink for purchase. No bags, backpacks, coolers, fanny-packs or alcoholic beverages. Mesa Community College, 1833 W. Southern Ave., Mesa. $5 for parking and admission; $1 for admission if not parking on campus. 480-461-7000. http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/.

Independence Day Celebration and Fireworks Spectacular: 4 p.m. July 4. In addition to fireworks at 9:30 p.m., the event features live music, a kids carnival and a bike parade. Activities include a 35-foot waterslide, 24-foot rock-climbing wall, a dunk tank and water games. Tumbleweed Park, 2250 S. McQueen Road, Chandler. Free. 480-782-2735. http://www.chandleraz.gov/.

Fourth of July Celebration: 5:30 p.m. July 4. Features live music, a cowboy costume contest, a barbecue, decorated buggy rides, face painting and balloon sculpturing. Fireworks start at 9:30 p.m. Rawhide at Wild Horse Pass, 5700 W. North Loop Road, Chandler. $3-$65. 480-753-7676. www.rawhide.com.

Fourth of July Celebration and Anniversary Party: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. July 4. Families enjoy carnival games, prizes every 15 minutes, live music by the Weezul Brothers from 6-10 p.m. and hotdogs and hamburgers grilled outdoors. Benefits The Choir Boys of Arizona. Red, White & Brew, 4850 S. Gilbert Road, Chandler. Free. 480-305-6993. www.rwbaz.com. http://www.azchoirboys.org/.

Miss Chinese Environmental Contest: 4 p.m. July 4. Chinese community celebrates the fourth of July and a Miss Chinese Environmental contest with dinner. Contest begins at 5:30 p.m. Phoenix Preparatory Academy, 735 E. Fillmore St., Phoenix. $6 includes dinner. 602-321-1898.

West Valley

Fourth of July Celebration: 7 p.m. July 4. Celebration includes swimming, water slides, food, music, a patriotic program, a F-16 flyover by a Luke Fighter Squadron and fireworks. Free swimming at GCC pool begins at 1 p.m.; doors open for night events at 6 p.m.; fireworks at 8:40 p.m. Glendale Community College Community Pool, Glendale Community College 6000 W. Olive Ave., Glendale. Free. 623-930-2299. www.glendaleaz.com/events.

All-American Festival: 5-10 p.m. July 4. Kids zone, concessions, two stages of live music, fireworks and water activities. Fireworks begin at 9:15 p.m. No alcohol or glass containers are permitted. Peoria Sports Complex, 16101 N. 83rd Ave., Peoria. $5 for ages 13 and older. 623-773-7198. http://www.peoriaaz.com/specialevents/.

Road Racers 3: 6:30 a.m. July 4. 5K run and walk. Registration required. Rio Vista Community Park, 8866 W. Thunderbird Road, Peoria. $12. 602-954-8341. http://www.arizonaroadracers.com/.

Surprise's Fourth of July Celebration: 6-8:30 p.m. July 4. Enjoy live music, water zone and food. Surprise Recreation Campus, 15850 N. Bullard Ave., Surprise. $5 for children; $10 for adults. 623-266-4500. http://www.surpriseaz.com/.

Fourth of July Celebration: 10 a.m.-10 p.m. July 4. Splash Bash, food, music, F-16 flyover and fireworks. Litchfield Park, 214 W. Wigwam Blvd., Litchfield Park. Small fee for the Splash Bash. 623-935-5033. az-litchfieldpark.civicplus.com/index.asp?NID=106.

Star Spangled Arts and Crafts Booth: 6:30-8 p.m. July 4. Ages 2-12 celebrate the holiday making bug-themed arts and crafts. Goodyear Branch Library, Goodyear City Hall 190 N. Litchfield Road, Goodyear. Free. 602-652-3000. http://www.mcldaz.org/.

Star-Spangled Fourth: 6:30-10 p.m. July 4. Live music from Billy's Gone and Shallow Water. Food, beer garden, kids zone, and water rides. Fireworks at 9:35 p.m. Goodyear Community Park, 3151 N. Litchfield Road, Goodyear. $10 all you can ride kids' wristbands. Event is free. 623-882-7534. http://www.goodyearaz.gov/.

Valley-wide

Fourth of July Buffet: 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday through Sunday, July 4-6. Brunch features champagne mimosas, eggs Benedict, a waffle station, posole bar and chilequilles. Signature Grill, JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa 3800 W. Starr Pass Blvd., Tucson. $22; $11 for children. 520-792-3500.

Freedompalooza: 6 p.m. July 4. Event includes two stages with 10 bands, and a barbecue. Club Congress, Hotel Congress 311 E. Congress St., Tucson. $5. 520-622-8848. www.hotelcongress.com/club.

Sidewalk Egg-Fry Competition: noon July 4. Fry two eggs on a piece of aluminum foil on the sidewalk. Various prizes given. The event begins with the Ghostrider Gunfighters and takes place on Route 66. Oatman Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 423, Oatman. Free. www.oatmangoldroad.com/events.htm.

Old-Fashioned Fourth: 10 a.m.-noon July 4. Children enjoy games such as cake-walks, sack races, hula hoops, and rubber-duck ring toss. Tubac Presidio State Historic Park, 1 Burruel St., Tubac. Free. 520-398-2704. http://www.tubacaz.com/.

Fourth of July: 4 p.m. July 4. Bring a blanket or chair for a fireworks display. Food and beverage available. Tubac Golf Resort & Spa, 1 Otero Road, Tubac. $65 for VIP ticket, which includes special meal, seating and parking; $5 for parking. 520-398-3522 or 520-398-2704. http://www.tubacaz.com/

July Fourth Celebration: 9 a.m.-9:15 p.m. July 4. Parade starts at Fifth Street to Gila to Seventh Street, which is followed by a water fight at Lions Park. Entertainment and music continues all day with fireworks at 8:45 p.m. Benson, Benson. Free. 520-586-4293. http://www.bensonvisitorcenter.com/.

Fourth of July: 9 a.m. July 4. Coaster races down Tombstone Canyon begins the event. Between heats, the Bisbee Iron- Man Mile footrace starts at the Iron Man statue. A parade at 11 a.m. is in the Warren section. The contest of the traditional mining activities of mucking begins at 2 p.m. and hard-rock drilling at 4 p.m. at Brewery Gulch. Fireworks are at dark at Vista Park in Warren. Bisbee, Bisbee. Free. 520-432-6016. http://www.discoverbisbee.com/.

Fourth of July Softball Tournament: 9 a.m. July 4. Enjoy food and street entertainment after the tournament. Watch fireworks at dusk. Medigovich Field, Mountain View Road north of Arizona 80, Tombstone. Free. 520-457-3994.

Fire Over the Water: 4 p.m. July 4. Information, exhibits, kids activities, souvenirs, and raffle. Rubber duck race begins at 6 p.m. and fireworks at 8:30 p.m. Lyman Lake State Park, 11 miles south of St. Johns on U.S. 191, St. Johns. Free. 928-337-4441. http://www.pr.state.az.us/.

July Fourth Celebration: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. July 4. Clarkdale celebrates its Fourth of July with a parade at 10 a.m., a barbecue at the Verde Valley Railroad station at 11 a.m., and music by a Dixieland band at 12:30 p.m. Clarkdale, $7 for barbecue. 800-320-0718.

Firecracker Express: 1-5 p.m. July 4. Enjoy a patriotic train ride through the Verde Canyon. Verde Canyon Railroad, 300 N. Broadway Road, Clarkdale. $34.95-$79.95. 800-320-0718. http://www.verdecanyonrr.com/.

Rockets Over the River: 9 p.m. July 4. Fireworks over the Colorado River. Best viewing is along the river, south of the Laughlin Bridge. Bullhead City, Free. 702-298-2214. www.bullheadchamber.com/calendar.htm.

Fourth of July Family Day: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. July 4. Activities and games during open swim for all ages. Palm Island Family Aquatics Park, Carr-McNatt Park 1115 N. Brown Ave., Casa Grande. $1; 50 cents for age 17 and younger. 520-421-8650.

Fourth of July Family Day: 5 p.m. July 4. Old-fashioned celebration with food, games and live entertainment. Fireworks at 8 p.m. Paul Mason Sportsplex, 2525 N. Pinal Ave., Casa Grande. Free. 520-421-8677. www.cir.org/seasonal-fourth.html.

Prescott Rodeo Days Fine Arts and Crafts Show: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, July 4-6. Showcases more than 150 artists. On the lawn outside of the courthouse. Courthouse Square, Montezuma and Gurley streets, Prescott. Free. 928-443-5200. http://www.prescottdowntown.com/.

July Fourth at the Fort: 2 p.m. July 4. Event features kids zone, food-eating contests, limbo, and entertainment. Event for all ages, however contest participants must be age 21 and older. Fireworks at 9:45 p.m. Fort McDowell Casino, 10424 N. Fort McDowell Road, Fort McDowell Reservation. Free. 800-THE-FORT or 480-837-1424. http://www.fortmcdowellcasino.com/.

Red, White and Boom: 5-10 p.m. July 4. Fun booths, vendors, food, beer garden, music and fireworks. Old Home Manor Fields, 2100 Old Home Manor Drive, Chino Valley. Free. 928-636-9780. http://www.cv4th.com/.

Freedom Fest: 10 a.m. July 4. Start the day in the pool for open swim and water games before forming teams for the Mud Volleyball tournament. Also participate in the horseshoe tournament, and country-singing contest. A parade will begin at 6:45 p.m. Fireworks start at 8:30 p.m. Heritage Park, 600 N. Main St., Florence. $30 per volleyball team; $10 per horseshoe team; other events free. 520-868-7589. http://www.town.florence.az.us/.

Star-Spangled Spectacular: 6-11 p.m. July 4. Inflatable games, face painting, food, arts and crafts booth, and watermelon-eating contests. Fireworks start at 9 p.m. Ora Mae Harn Park, 13250 N. Lon Adams Road, Marana. Free. 520-382-1950. http://www.marana.com/.

Patagonia's Fourth of July: 11 a.m. July 4. Begin the day with a parade and hanging of Grand Marshall at the Town Gazebo. Also enjoy music, food and vendors in the park. Fireworks start at 8 p.m. at Patagonia High School. Omitted, Free. 888-794-0060. http://www.patagoniaaz.com/.

Independence Day Celebration: 6 p.m. July 4. Includes hot dogs, watermelon, a waterslide and music. Fireworks start with an F-16 flyover at 7:30 p.m. Tolleson Veterans Park, 8601 W. Van Buren Ave., Tolleson. Free. 623-936-7111. http://www.tollesonaz.org/.

Clint Black: 7:30 p.m. July 4. The country singer performs with Amy Scruggs. Held at the Stargazer Pavilion. Doors open at 6 p.m. Cliff Castle Casino, 555 W. Middle Verde Road, Yavapai-Apache Reservation. $35. 928-567-7999. http://www.cliffcastlecasino.net/.

Fourth of July: noon July 4. Dive for soda, candy and money in the pool. Activities include arts and crafts, bouncers, games and a DJ. Food available. Fireworks begin between 9-9:30 p.m. Kenilworth Sports Complex, 671 E. Coolidge Ave., Coolidge. Free. 520-723-4551. http://www.coolidgeaz.com/.

Fourth of July Weekend Side Trip: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, July 4-6. Experience a barbecue with dishes from various nations, including Korea, Spain and Thailand. Served from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. San Dominique Winery, Interstate 17 and Arizona 169, Camp Verde. $6.75; $4.75 for children. 602-549-9787.

Old-Fashioned Fourth: noon-9 p.m. July 4. Food, dunk tank, bouncy house, rock climbing wall and live bands. Fireworks start at dark over Green Valley Lake. Green Valley Park, 600 N. Green Valley Parkway, Payson. Food ranges in price from $1-$5. 928-474-5242, ext. 7. http://www.paysonrimcountry.com/.

July Fourth Block Party: 4 p.m. July 4. Art and antique walk, classic car displays, magician at Deming History Park, food, watermelon eating and seed-spitting contest and carnival games at Presbyterian Church and live bands. Main Street, between Meadow and South Mclane, Payson. Free. http://www.paysonrimcountry.com/.

Celebrate Freedom: 10 a.m.-midnight July 5. Family activities during the day followed by musical performances and fireworks in the evening. Marks the kick-off of the two-month Miller Lite/Harley Davidson anniversary giveaway. Old Tucson Studios, 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson. $16.95; $10.95 for age 4-11. 520-883-0100. http://www.oldtucson.com/.

All-American Independence Day Festival: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. July 5. Activities include a go-cart rally, an obstacle course, a duck race, a silent auction, a barbecue, face painting and contests. Benefits Firewise East Verde Park. East Verde Park, Arizona 87 and East Verde Turnoff, Payson. Free admission; prices vary for events. 928-474-3883.

Home Prices Fall At Record Rate. Arizona Real Estate

2008-06-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Home Prices Fall At Record Rate

Associated Press: U.S. home prices tumbled in April at the fastest rate since a widely followed index was begun in 2000 with all 20 metropolitan areas surveyed posting annual declines for the first time.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 cities fell by 15.3 percent in April versus a year ago, according to Tuesday's report. Prices nationwide are at levels not seen since August 2004.

The narrower 10-city index declined 16.3 percent in April, its biggest decline in its more than two-decade history.

Meanwhile, a report from the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight said U.S. home prices fell 4.6 percent in April from the same month last year, when the index peaked. That marked the biggest decline ever in the agency's monthly index which dates back to January 1991.

The government index is calculated using mortgage loans of $417,000 or less.

While the government report has shown nationwide price declines, the Case-Shiller index has shown far greater drops because it focuses on larger cities where prices rose further during the boom years, and includes riskier loans.

No surveyed city stayed above water, according to the Case-Shiller index. The last holdout, Charlotte, N.C., finally succumbed to the national housing downturn, with prices there slipping 0.1 percent from a year ago.

Las Vegas and Miami both continue to post the largest declines, falling 26.8 percent and 26.7 percent, respectively.

However, the annual declines in Denver, Dallas and Cleveland were less severe than in the previous month, but Maureen Maitland, a S&P vice president, is reluctant to peg that as an indication of stabilization.

“We wouldn't call a trend on one-month data,” she said.

The report also showed prices in eight metro areas increased in April from March, but the gains could be seasonal blips as the home-buying spring season starts up rather than a sign of a turnaround, Maitland said.

The housing slump, along with higher food and fuel prices and disruptions in the credit markets, has taken its toll on consumer sentiment.

An industry group Tuesday said U.S. consumer confidence fell unexpectedly sharply in June to the fifth-lowest level ever. The Conference Board's reading of consumers' expectations also hit an all-time low.

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Forex Profit Accelerator Training Course. Forex Profit Accelerator From Bill Poulos

2008-06-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

The Truth About Forex Profit Accelerator From Bill Poulos

"Discover how to spend as little time as possible actively trading while at the same time maximizing your profit potential..."

Special announcement from Bill: Thanks to everyone who already ordered their copy of the Forex Profit Accelerator during its limited 7-day release. As mentioned prior to the release, the Forex Profit Accelerator is not currently for sale but will be released again July 8, 2008. However, as I am satisfied that my charter group of Forex Profit Accelerator students are well on their way to mastering the course, I will reopen the order page and accept new students. This will be in July 8...I promise!! If you would like to be notified when new copies are available, please enter your name and email when you click this link and I'll add you to my 'Forex Profit Accelerator Notification List'so you'll have the first crack at getting a copy of the Forex Profit Accelerator once it becomes available again to the public on July 8, 2008

Forex trading is quickily becoming one of the investing world's hottest, most rewarding opportunities and it's chosen as "ideal business" by lot of traders. Many of them have indeed achieved their dreams and reach a level of financial independence and freedom. Some of the people even claim forex trading as "The World's Most Powerful Home-based Business".

BUT it is not easy!

95% of all retail traders lose to the institutions.

Yes, Forex trading is one of the most lucrative businesses in the world. But for whom? That's right -- the banks and large institutions.

Individual traders need to have the unique methods to level the playing field and profit 10-100 Pips or more every single trading day!

So if you have ANY interest in discovering how to ride the "coat tails" of the big banks to maximize your "pip potential" in the Forex markets, you're in for a TREAT today...

Introducing Forex Profit Accelerator...

The Forex Profit Accelerator (FPA) course is developed by Bill Poulos, a 30 years trading veteran and dozens of trading systems designer. His previous trading courses have always been designed to take advantage of high probability moves, reinforced with a strong money management formula.

Bill will teach you how to totally eliminate all the stress and strain typically associated with day trading Forex by spending only 20 minutes a night placing your trades. If you enjoy spending hours gazing at charts, then this may not be right for you. The goal in designing FPA was to maximize your "pip potential" while giving you back your time to spend AWAY from the charts.

The idea is to treat the Forex markets as end-of-day markets, he's found they can offer far more profit potential than the minor swings many day traders kill themselves to capture. And when you learn the right way to trade Forex as an end-of-day market, you can quickly jump from one big swing to another as they’re driven by the Forex market giants - the big banks and other financial institutions, including governments.

While these behemoths react slowly to market changes due to their sheer size, as soon as you learn to spot a big swing, you can get on and "ride their coat tails". And by the time they’ve turned to look over their shoulder, you’ll have already gone on to the next big swing.

Bill developed four complete methods in identifying when a Forex pair is likely to make a move UP or DOWN. And no matter which way it goes, he created specific trading rules that let you take advantage of those moves and ride them for a huge potential profit.

Method #1 - Instant Pip
The aim is to go after quick hit moves with the trend that are usually 1 to 2 days in duration. The aim of each trade is to take an average of 40 pips up to 100 pips out of the market with strict risk controls.

Method #2 - Pip Maximizer 1
The aim is to go after 1 to 3 week swings in the market with the trend. The goal of each trade is to take an average of 300 to 500 pips out of the market with strict risk controls.

Method #3 - Pip Maximizer 2
The aim is to go after 1 to 3 week swings in the market with the trend. The goal of each trade is to take an average of 300 to 500 pips out of the market with strict risk controls. This is the same objective as with Pip Maximizer 1 Method, but using an entirely different entry strategy that complements the Pip Maximizer 1 Method entry strategy. Used together, these two methods increase the probability of getting on board major market moves dramatically.

Method #4 - Pip Reversal
This counter-trend trading method takes advantage of market divergence. We are going after the initial leg of a countertrend move which may be the beginning of a trend reversal. The aim of each trade is to take an average of 100 to 300 pips out of the market with strict risk controls.

Here are what you'll be getting with Forex Profit Accelerator package:

Part 1 - The Course

7 CD-ROM video tutorials that you can watch on your computer to learn all four Forex Profit Accelerator methods step-by-step.

The 160-page Forex Profit Accelerator manual, printed in full color for easy reference.

Four "trading blueprints" that summarize all the Forex Profit Accelerator methods in one easy location.

The Quick Start Guide that explains how to use everything that arrives in the big, 5-pound box that will be rushed to your doorstep.

Part 2 - Student Support & Constant Follow-Up

1 year of unlimited student email support. In order to make sure your questions are answered properly and quickly, Bill has hired a full time operations staff to help him make sure his students are successful.

Lifetime access to the Forex Profit Accelerator Members Website where you can get the latest trade examples, bonuses, and Pip Feeder stocks.

The Head Start Guide & Videos that let you get a "jump start" on learning the Forex Profit Accelerator the instant you place your order.

FPA is a HUGE course. But rest assured you can study it very quickly. Bill avoid all the usual boring theory and jargon and speak to you in plain English, very deliberately, in a step-by-step manner so you can quickly and easily grasp the concepts he reveals in the course.

Bill also invested close to $100,000 of his own money researching and producing the course using the latest presentation technologies. So not only is the content excellent, but I think you’ll find it’s one of the most professionally-produced educational courses you will ever see.

Everything about it is first class... and easy to understand.

Without questions, Forex Profit Accelerator is by far the most extensive Forex trading course we have ever seen.

But don't take my word for it. Click here to sign up for the new July 8 2008 new release notice. Bill Poulos will limit the number of programs, so sign up now to receive the release update on July 8 2008.

Foreclosure Firm Scams Arizona Homeowners

2008-06-10T15:40:00.000-07:00

Foreclosure 'Rescue' Firm To Pay $1.2 Million To Arizona Victims
Homeowners lost their homes thanks to firm's 'help'

A company offering a foreclosure rescue service in Arizona violated the state's Consumer Fraud Act, an Arizona judge ruled, ordering Virtual Realty Funding Company (VRF) and its owner Kenneth D. Perkins to pay $1.2 million in restitution and civil penalties.

In 2005, the Arizona Attorney General's Office filed a consumer protection lawsuit against VRF after receiving multiple consumer complaints. The company advertised that it could help homeowners who were behind in their mortgage payments avoid losing their homes.

In fact, state said the transactions offered by VRF were structured so that homeowners would transfer title to VRF or sell the home to a business associate of the company.

"This case represents the worst in our community," Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said. "This company took advantage of homeowners desperate to save their homes from foreclosure and deceived them into turning over their homes."

"The Department of Financial Institutions applauds this court's order," said DFI Superintendent Felecia Rotellini said. "The message is clear: Obey the law or you will be held responsible."

According to court documents, although neither VRF nor Perkins were licensed by the Department of Financial Institutions as mortgage brokers or bankers, VRF lent money to more than 60 homeowners facing foreclosure or in need of money.

It designed the loans, which it called reverse sales, to evade laws protecting mortgage borrowers by structuring them as an outright sale of the property by the borrower, who then rented back the home with an option to repurchase it.

The reverse sale agreements required homeowners to rent back their homes from VRF for a monthly amount equal to the monthly mortgage payment plus an additional charge. In the case of one homeowner, the monthly mortgage payment was $613 and the additional charge was $157, making a monthly rental payment of $770.

In return for "helping" the homeowners keep their homes, VRF agreed to transfer title back to the homeowner through a warranty deed if the homeowner met specific conditions.

Those conditions included the payment of all rent on time (and prior to a specified date, payment to VRF for bringing the mortgage current), unspecified escrow fees and a "funding fee," which was at times as high as $9,000. If homeowners were late on a rental payment or unable to repay the loan and funding fee within two years, they could lose their homes and any equity in them.

Fun Things To Do In Phoenix AZ That You Did Not Know

2008-06-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you've lived long enough to know everything there is to know about the Phoenix area. Watch them feed giraffes at the Phoenix Zoo? Root for the good guys during the shootouts at Rawhide? Wait for more than two hours for dinner at Pizzeria Bianco? Yes, you've been there, done all that.

But even if you've lived here all your life, we've found a few gems you've likely yet to uncover. At a certain upscale steakhouse, for example, you can belly up to the bar at happy hour and enjoy a free filet-mignon sandwich. Or freshen up in a bathroom named one of America's oddest by the Travel Channel, where lights dance along the walls. And when was the last time you took the reins of a mechanical bull?

Use this list to enrich yourself as a Phoenician, or employ it as a travel guide for when your brother-in-law from Wisconsin "drops by" for the 10th year in a row.

1, 245-part harmony

Hear the pure sound of the Phoenix Boys Choir, billed as the largest such group in the nation, with 245 members. The group has sung for presidents, won a Grammy Award and won prizes at international festivals and recorded with such artists as Stevie Wonder, Doc Severinsen and R. Carlos Nakai. The choir performs throughout the year in the Valley at concerts, festivals and churches. Check its Web site, boyschoir.org, or call 602-264-5328 for details on performances.

2, Musical digs

The Valley is home to dozens of concert venues, from the grand (US Airways Center) to the extremely intimate (Brickhouse Theater). The Dodge Theatre is a nice balance, offering enough room to draw top acts (Chicago and the Doobie Brothers perform there Tuesday), but is small enough to feel close to the performers. For a schedule and tickets, visit dodgetheatre.com.

3. Outdoors country

Dance the two-step under the stars to live country music at Greasewood Flat, the no-frills outdoor restaurant and saloon in north Scottsdale. Originally a stagecoach stop, this establishment has been a Valley fixture for more than three decades. 27375 N. Alma School Parkway, 480-585-9430.

4. Shades of blues

Take in a gritty set of blues music at the Rhythm Room, the Valley's best blues club. For 17 years, the cozy venue has served up local and national blues, rockabilly and roots music nightly. The atmosphere is casual, the patrons are friendly and the cover charge is affordable. 1019 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, 602-265-4842, rhythmroom.com.

5. Old-time saloon tunes

Sing along with country musicians and other patrons at the Rusty Spur Saloon in Old Town Scottsdale. This tiny venue bills itself as the oldest saloon in "the West's most Western town," and it's one of the friendliest. On an average night, you'll find a mix of tourists and locals, all intent on sipping something cold and singing the likes of Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, George Jones and George Strait. 7245 E. Main St., Scottsdale, 480-425-7787, rustyspursaloon.com.

6. Big sounds, little sites

Sometimes people complain that there's nothing to do in Phoenix. These are people who would say the same thing if they lived in Manhattan, or haven't heard about Modified Arts and the Clubhouse Music Venue, two teeny venues where you can check out cool bands on their way to being hot. They're the kind of places you can see VH1's You Oughta Know artists. They've hosted such bands as the Arcade Fire, Girl Talk, Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, Blitzen Trapper and other bands you probably already like on satellite radio but never knew their names. Clubhouse Music Venue, 1320 E. Broadway Road, Tempe, 480-968-3238, clubhousemusicvenue.com; Modified Arts, 407 E. Roosevelt St., Phoenix, 602-462-5516, modified.org.

7. Standout stand-up

We're not LA, thank goodness, but we draw the kind of solid comic performers you might see on Sunset Strip, thanks to the Tempe Improv. The club brings nationally known acts (Jerry Seinfeld appeared here when he returned to stand-up after his sitcom ended) and serves dinner to boot. If you've watched stand-up comedy on TV and wondered what's the attraction, take in a live show. That's where the magic happens. Dive into the scene June 27-28 when Cedric the Entertainer performs at the Improv, 930 E. University Drive. Tickets are $45. 480-921-9877, tempeimprov.com.

8. Private karaoke

Indulge your inner Beastie Boy, Billy Joel or Beyoncé in one of four private rooms at the new Geisha A Go Go, a stylish destination for Japanese food and exotic froufrou cocktails. The rentable rooms ($50 to $100 per hour) feature 44-inch flat-screen TVs, their own waitresses, cushy couches and thickly insulated walls. You can bring in your own karaoke disc, or pick from huge books featuring Top 40, standards, rock, hip-hop and everything else. All the signature cocktails feature authentic Japanese sodas, juices or liquors. 7150 E. Sixth Ave., Scottsdale, 480-699-0055.

Must do

9. New Chez Nous

Sample one of Phoenix's best martinis (or a non-alcoholic drink) and hit the dance floor to sweet, old-school soul music at the newly relocated Chez Nous. The venerable lounge, with its notoriously dim lighting, was at another site for more than four decades. Original owner and interior designer Maureen Womack helped current owner Amina Uben decorate the new space, re-creating the gold-flocked wallpaper, picking out swanky new carpet and insisting that the red booths and sconces from the original be refurbished. 915 N.W. Grand Ave., Phoenix, 602-266-7372, cheznouscentral.com.

10. Cactus cocktail

Like Tovrea Castle and Camelback Mountain, some things speak specifically of life in the Valley. But much easier than touring the area, you can just sip a martini at the Westin Kierland Resort & Spa in Phoenix, kind of a gastronomic sightseeing trip. Pink like sunset over the the White Tank Mountains, the Native Arizonan martini ($10) combines Arizona High Spirits prickly-pear vodka and a touch of agave nectar in a chilled glass. The vodka is distilled in Flagstaff. 6902 E. Greenway Parkway, Phoenix, 480-624-1000, kierlandresort.com.

11. Life after Mr. Lucky's

Cadillac Ranch, Saddle Ranch Chop House and Hammerhead Jacks all let you risk your life, or at least your back, on their mechanical bulls. OK, the last place has a modified bull that looks like a hammerhead, but you get the idea. The new Western hot spots are quickly building reputations as places to go to get rowdy. Hammerhead Jacks, 6900 E. Cave Creek Road, Cave Creek, 480-595-7100, hammerheadjacks.com; Cadillac Ranch, at Tempe Marketplace, 2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway, 480-894-1111, cadillacranchtempe.com; Saddle Ranch Chop House, 4321 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, 480-429-2263, srrestaurants.com.

12. Surprise-ing jazz

You might not know that Surprise is one of the hottest jazz spots in the Valley. Owned by bass player Yorman Williams, who has shared the stage with every high-profile jazz musician you've heard of, Yorman's Bistro offers fab music with unjazzlike promptness at 7 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Williams performs with many talented guests, including George Benson, who occasionally drops by. Try the catfish, freshly breaded cornmeal strips or mussels Mississippi. 17191 N. Litchfield Road, Surprise, 623-214-2090.

Instant Profits Trading FREE Forex Video Examples

2008-05-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

Instant Profits Trading FREE Examples

Some people called his stance 'controversial'; others said he was 'right on'...

Click here for more trading examples and a video sneak peek at Instant Profits...

So, on Thursday, May 8th, 34 yr. trading veteran Bill Poulos tackled the controversy with some sobering FACTS in a live web- seminar with a global audience of nit-picky traders watching.

He also shared his key trading secrets, the BIG mistake most traders make, and spent 40 minutes in live Q&A!

Afterward, so many traders asked to see it again, Bill made it available in a replay for a short time. I don't know how long the replay will be available, but you can check here:

Click here for more trading examples and a video sneak peek at Instant Profits...

If the replay is still available, you'll discover:

** Bill's #1 Tactic that too many traders ignore (and can often result in portfolio WIPEOUT)...

** The 4 simple steps successful traders know that you don't...

** The simple formula that an 8th grader could solve to determine the profitability of any trading method...

I think he said the replay would be available for a few days after the event. You should be able to access it here:

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Stop wondering why other traders enjoy success -- discover what edge THEY have that you don't, and 'fix' your trading before you make another trade.

Good Trading,
Bonnie Burns

The Housing Crisis is Over -- Wall Street Journal

2008-05-09T14:11:00.001-07:00

The Housing Crisis is Over -- Wall Street Journal

The dire headlines coming fast and furious in the financial and popular press suggest that the housing crisis is intensifying. Yet it is very likely that April 2008 will mark the bottom of the U.S. housing market. Yes, the housing market is bottoming right now.

How can this be? For starters, a bottom does not mean that prices are about to return to the heady days of 2005. That probably won't happen for another 15 years. It just means that the trend is no longer getting worse, which is the critical factor.

Most people forget that the current housing bust is nearly three years old. Home sales peaked in July 2005.

New home sales are down a staggering 63% from peak levels of 1.4 million. Housing starts have fallen more than 50%, and, adjusted for population growth, are back to the trough levels of 1982.

Furthermore, residential construction is close to 15-year lows at 3.8% of GDP; by the fourth quarter of this year, it will probably hit the lowest level ever. So what's going to stop the housing decline? Very simply, the same thing that caused the bust: affordability.

The boom made housing unaffordable for many American families, especially first-time home buyers. During the 1990s and early 2000s, it took 19% of average monthly income to service a conforming mortgage on the average home purchased. By 2005 and 2006, it was absorbing 25% of monthly income. For first time buyers, it went from 29% of income to 37%. That just proved to be too much.

Prices got so high that people who intended to actually live in the houses they purchased (as opposed to speculators) stopped buying. This caused the bubble to burst.

Since then, house prices have fallen 10%-15%, while incomes have kept growing (albeit more slowly recently) and mortgage rates have come down 70 basis points from their highs. As a result, it now takes 19% of monthly income for the average home buyer, and 31% of monthly income for the first-time home buyer, to purchase a house. In other words, homes on average are back to being as affordable as during the best of times in the 1990s. Numerous households that had been priced out of the market can now afford to get in.

The next question is: Even if home sales pick up, how can home prices stop falling with so many houses vacant and unsold? The flip but true answer: because they always do.

In the past five major housing market corrections (and there were some big ones, such as in the early 1980s when home sales also fell by 50%-60% and prices fell 12%-15% in real terms), every time home sales bottomed, the pace of house-price declines halved within one or two months.

The explanation is that by the time home sales stop declining, inventories of unsold homes have usually already started falling in absolute terms and begin to peak out in "months of supply" terms. That's the case right now: New home inventories peaked at 598,000 homes in July 2006, and stand at 482,000 homes as of the end of March. This inventory is equivalent to 11 months of supply, a 25-year high -- but it is similar to 1974, 1982 and 1991 levels, which saw a subsequent slowing in home-price declines within the next six months.

Inventories are declining because construction activity has been falling for such a long time that home completions are now just about undershooting new home sales. In a few months, completions of new homes for sale could be undershooting new home sales by 50,000-100,000 annually.

Inventories will drop even faster to 400,000 -- or seven months of supply -- by the end of 2008.

This shift in inventories will have a significant impact on prices, although house prices won't stop falling entirely until inventories reach five months of supply sometime in 2009. A five-month supply has historically signaled tightness in the housing market.

Many pundits claim that house prices need to fall another 30% to bring them back in line with where they've been historically. This is usually based on an analysis of house prices adjusted for inflation: Real house prices are 30% above their 40-year, inflation-adjusted average, so they must fall 30%. This simplistic analysis is appealing on the surface, but is flawed for a variety of reasons.

Most importantly, it neglects the fact that a great majority of Americans buy their houses with mortgages.

And if one buys a house with a mortgage, the most important factor in deciding what to pay for the house is how much of one's income is required to be able to make the mortgage payments on the house. Today the rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage is 5.7%. Back in 1981, the rate hit 18.5%. Comparing today's house prices to the 1970s or 1980s, when mortgage rates were stratospheric, is misguided and misleading.

This is all good news for the broader economy. The housing bust has been subtracting a full percentage point from GDP for almost two years now, which is very large for a sector that represents less than 5% of economic activity.

When the rate of house-price declines halves, there will be a wholesale shift in markets' perceptions. All of a sudden, the expected value of the collateral (i.e. houses) for much of the lending that went on for the past decade will change. Right now, when valuing the collateral, market participants including banks are extrapolating the current pace of house price declines for another two to three years; this has a significant impact on the amount of delinquencies, foreclosures and credit losses that lenders are expected to face.

More home sales and smaller price declines means fewer homeowners will be underwater on their mortgages. They will thus have less incentive to walk away and opt for foreclosure.

A milder house-price decline scenario could lead to increases in the market value of a lot of the securitized mortgages that have been responsible for $300 billion of write-downs in the past year.

Even if write-backs do not occur, stabilizing collateral values will have a huge impact on the markets' perception of risk related to housing, the financial system, and the economy.

We are of course experiencing a serious housing bust, with serious economic consequences that are still unfolding. The odds are that the reverberations will lead to sub-trend growth for a couple of years.

Nonetheless, housing led us into this credit crisis and this recession. It is likely to lead us out. And that process is underway, right now.

Source: Wall Street Journal, By Cyril Moulle-Berteaux

May 6, 2008 Mr. Moulle-Berteaux is managing partner of Traxis Partners LP, a hedge fund firm based in New York.

The Housing Crisis is Over -- Wall Street Journal

2008-05-09T14:11:00.000-07:00