I have always enjoyed giving back to my community, since I was a child. When I was 10 I started collecting for Muscular Dystrophy. My 1st year I raised $500 in one day, but told then the following year, I would double it and I  did it in 2 days raising $1035. This continued until I was 13 or 14 .

This past week I joined as mentioned in a previous Blog the Chamber of Commerce, Toastmasters, and the Knights of Columbus. Tonight I get coronated as a Knight. I am excited and look forward to giving back to the youth in the area.

I also on May 17th will be on the Board of Directors for the city of Danbury's Greater Danbury Haitian Cultural Association. I got nominated for this position by helping someone for the past year who did not qualify for a loan build his credit and remove some negative reports from his file permantly, all for FREE.

On Saturday, May 3rd I will be at a Rally for Real Estate in my town. A local Keller Williams agency is promoting this and I was asked to be a part of this great event. I hope to make the dreams of first time home owners come true not only this day but on a daily basis. 

Bank Owned Properties

 

 

 

This is an introduction to buying Bank-Owned Properties. Most buyers do not understand the intricacies involved in buying bank owned or foreclosed properties. There are many things that must be understood before considering these investments. The following are a list of facts and items that you must know. They are the most common elements but are by no means all-inclusive. Prior to making an offer you should request a copy of the bank addendums and review them carefully.

  

1. UTILITIES: Usually are shut off. The bank wants the buyers to turn on utilities in buyers name prior to city and private home inspections and for appraisal.

  

2. CITY INSPECTIONS: The bank wants the buyer to pay for the city inspection and accept all repairs and conditions prior to closing.

  

3. PRIVATE HOME INSPECTIONS: The bank usually wants all potential buyers to pay for their own private home inspection prior to writing an offer, but may make exceptions.

  

4. RE-WINTERIZATION: If winterized, buyer must pay for de-winterizing and re-winterizing the property up front.

5. CLOSING COSTS: Banks are hesitant to pay much in the way of buyers costs, perhaps 3% at the most. VA or HUD will not pay. If the property is HUD or VA owned they will not provide title insurance or pay transfer taxes.

  

6 EARNEST MONEY DEPOSIT: The deposit monies are usually required to be held by the listing office or title company. Because the buyer's agent does not hold them it is very difficult to get back in case of a dispute. They usually want $1,000 in certified funds. Based on a Pre-Approval from buyer's lender, the bank will try to keep the earnest money even if the buyer's mortgage is denied.

  

7. CLOSING DATE: Banks want a firm closing date within 30-45 days or less. If buyer cannot close by that date, even if no fault of their own, the bank will charge a per diem fee, usually $100 per day.

  

8. CLEAR TITLE: Banks will only give you a Special Warranty Deed and not a Warranty Deed. They may not want pay for title insurance. If an issue arises after closing you are in a difficult position.

  

9. "AS-IS" CONDITION: The bank is exempt from disclosing defects in the property and limited in Lead Based Paint disclosures. These homes are usually in rough condition and have been vandalized. Expect extensive repairs.

  

10. CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY: The buyer must obtain their own Certificate of Occupancy in order to occupy property in cities that require inspections. Some cities require that a Bond or Escrow be placed with the city prior to issuing a temporary certificate of occupancy. This bond, from $500 to $3,500, may be forfeited to the city if the property is not brought up to code within 6 months of issuance. Some cities will not even allow utilities to be turned on without a deposit.

  

11. NEGOTIATION: It may take several weeks of waiting and negotiating before a bank accepts an offer from you. Offers are usually countered and accepted verbally. The bank considers a verbal offer to be binding on you but not on them. Some bank addendums even have an escape clause for them essentially giving them the right to back out at any time and for any reason right up to closing. Banks do not usually accept really low offers. Instead, they will gradually reduce the asking price until someone takes it.

  

12. EXTRA FEES: Some bank addendums require you to pay the banks real estate agent a fee or bonus of several hundred dollars.

In general, buying a bank owned property is a high-risk venture. A buyer needs about $5,000 to $20,000, in liquid funds, over and above the normal closing costs to even consider buying a bank owned property.

  

I received this and had to pass it on. 2 weeks ago someone stole my wallet and checkbook from car glove box. 



Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday.  Maybe we should all take some of his advice!  A corporate Attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.

1.  Do not sign the back of your credit cards.   Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED.'

2.  When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card Accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the 'For' line.  Instead, just put the last four numbers.  The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.



3.  Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home Phone.  If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address.  If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address.  Never have your SS# printed on your checks.  (DUH!)  You can add it if it is necessary.  But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.



4.  Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine.  Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc.  You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to Call and cancel.  Keep the photocopy in a safe place.  I also carry a Photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad.  We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.



Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have firsthand knowle dge because my Wallet was stolen last month.  Within a week, the thieve(S) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.  But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:



5.  We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately.  But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card Numbers handy so you know whom to call.  Keep those where you can find them.

6.  File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen.  This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an Investigation (if there ever is one).

But here's what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)

7.  Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Security fraud line number.  I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the internet in my name.  The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done.  
There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert.  Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in).  It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Now, here are the numbers you always need to  contact about your wa llet, etc., has been stolen

  1.) Equifax: 800-525-6285

  2.) Experian (formerly TRW): 888-397-3742

 3.) Trans Union : 800-6807289

4.) Social Security Administration  (fraud line):800-269-0271

We pass along jokes on the Internet;  we pass along just about everything.

If you are willing to pass this information along,  it could really help someone that you care about.

confirmed

Hey all I received this in a email from a friend and had to pass it on.....

WHAT COSTS MORE PER YEAR THAN THE IRAQ WAR???

Be sure to read the 14 reasons at the bottom.

Social Security Change For 2008

The United States Senate voted to extend Social Security Benefits to Illegal Aliens beginning in 2008. The following are the senators who voted to give illegal aliens Social Security benefits. They are grouped by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting representative.

Alaska : Stevens (R)

Arizona : McCain (R)

Arkansas : Lincoln (D) Pryor (D)

California : Boxer (D) Feinstein (D)

Colorado : Salazar (D)

Connecticut : Dodd (D) Lieberman (D)

Delaware : Biden (D) Carper (D)

Florida : Martinez (R)

Hawaii : Akaka (D) Inouye (D)

Illinois : Durbin (D) Obama (D)

Indiana : Bayh (D) Lugar (R)

Iowa : Harkin (D)

Kansas : Brownback (R)

Louisiana : Landrieu (D)

Maryland : Mikulski (D) Sarbanes (D)

Massachusetts : Kennedy (D) Kerry (D)

Montana : Baucus (D)

Nebraska : Hagel (R)

Nevada : Reid (D)

New Jersey : Lautenberg (D) Menendez (D)

New Mexico : Bingaman (D)

New York : Clinton (D) Schumer (D)

North Dakota : Dorgan (D)

Ohio : DeWine (R) Voinovich(R)

Oregon : Wyden (D)

Pennsylvania : Specter (R)

Rhode Island : Chafee (R) Reed (D)

South Carolina : Graham (R)

South Dakota : Johnson (D)

Vermont : Jeffords (I) Leahy (D)

Washington : Cantwell (D) Murray (D)

West Virginia : Rockefeller (D), by Not Voting

Wisconsin : Feingold (D) Kohl (D)

http://rense.com/general79/seniors.htm

I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I have included the URL's for verification of the following facts:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0.html

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and Social Services by the American taxpayers.http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens.http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US .http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

12. The National Policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.'http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin.http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States '.http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

Total cost is a whooping... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!

If this doesn't bother you then just delete the message, but on the other hand, if it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, then forward it

Snopes is provided for doubters:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/bankofamerica.asp    <-  CHECK THIS OUT PLEASE

Hey all, sorry I haven't been posting much, but I have been working on a marketing campaign and launched it today, so we shall see whay happens....

I also joined the local Chamber of Commerce, Toastmasters, Knights of Columbus, and was just nominated to serve on the board of Directors for the Greater Danbury Haitian Cultural Association, as a Mortgage Advisor.

I am very excited about my new marketing campaign, and joining the networking organizations.

As for the Haitian Board of Directors, it's funny how if you do something to help someone how it comes back ten fold. I have been helping someone who works for the City of Danbury' s Housing Dept. but did not qualify for a loan, but I have been working with him for over 1 yr and keeping in touch so we can get him approved in the next few months. he nominated me and this Sunday past, met the members and the current Board. I am looking forward to working with them and a local attorney whom specializes in Immigration. 

Letter by a Florida teacher................ A teacher speaks    This is a subject close to my heart. Do you know that we have adult  students at the school where I teach who are not US citizens and who  get the PELL grant, which is a federal grant (no pay back required)  plus other federal grants  to go to school?    

One student from the Dominican Republic told me that she didn't want  me to find a job for her after she finished my program,because she  was getting  housing from our housing department and she was getting PELL grant which paid for her total tuition and books, plus money left over.  

 She was looking into WAIT which gives students a CREDIT CARD for gas  to come  to school, and into CARIBE which is a special program (check  it out - I did) for immigrants and it pays for child care and all  sorts of needs while they go to school or training. The one student I  just mentioned told me she was not going to be a US Citizen because  she plans to return to the  Dominican Republic someday and that she  "loves HER country."

 I asked her if she felt guilty taking what the US  is giving her and  then not even bothering to become a citizen and she told me that it  doesn't bother her, because that is what the money is there for!  

I asked the CARIBE administration about their program and if you ARE  a US Citizen, you don't qualify for their program. And all the while,  I am working a full day, my son-in-law works more than 60 hours a  week, and everyone in my family works and pays for our education.    Something is wrong here. 

 I am sorry but after hearing they want to  sing the National Anthem in Spanish - enough is enough.    Nowhere did they sing it in Italian, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German  or any other language because of immigration.   It was written by  Francis Scott Key and should be sung word for word the way it was  written. The news broadcasts even gave the translation -- not even  close.

Sorry if this offends anyone but this is MY COUNTRY    IF IT IS YOUR COUNTRY SPEAK UP -- please pass this along. I am not against immigration -- just come through like everyone else.  Get a sponsor; have a place to lay your head; have a job; pay your  taxes, live by the rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE as all other  immigrants have in the past --  and GOD BLESS AMERICA!    PART OF THE PROBLEM    Think about this: If you don't want to forward this for fear of  offending someone -- YOU'RE PART OF THE PROBLEM!  

  It is Time for America to Speak up If you agree -- pass this along,  if you don't agree --- delete it!