Is now the Time to buy?

Is now the Time to buy? The opposing views

Go for it	Stay put
Buy soon if you have good credit and plan to stay in a home a few years.	Don’t buy yet. Prices will likely drop much further and deals will get even sweeter.
Over the long run minor price differences won’t make much difference.	The mortgage crisis, rising inventories and recession threats will bring a lower equilibrium.
Lock in a low rate today and you’ll reap the benefits for years to come.	It took four years to recover from the last housing slump — we’re facing a few more years of pain.

 

The Balancing Act

The Balancing Act
These days, most of us work two jobs—the one that pays, and the one we love (at least most of the time): raising our kids.

On the messageboards at iVillage.com, they have great tips on how to make it easier to do both at once. It’s also a great place to share advice of your own, and to get support if something’s getting you down. And though it’s mostly for Moms, working Dads can find plenty of helpful advice, too.

Here are a few of the best tips for balancing work and family:

Get up before your kids do. Painful, but worth it. Getting that extra 15 minutes of sleep is nothing compared to the calmness you’ll feel if you get up and get yourself ready first. Whatever it takes for you: work out, take a shower, get the coffee down your throat. When your act is together, it makes it easier to get their acts together.

Prep ahead. You do it at work, why not do yourself a favor and think a few steps ahead at home, too? This can mean anything from picking out their outfits for the next day before going to bed, to making lunches the night before, to keeping casseroles frozen for fast and easy dinners. A little prep can prevent a mad dash.

Stick to a routine. Whether it’s getting dressed in the morning, or eating dinner at night, make sure your kids know what to expect when, and what’s expected of them. A lot of melt-downs can be avoided by everyone knowing the plan.

Stay involved with your kids’ care. Okay, so you work during the days, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be an active participant in your kids’ daycare or school. If you can’t drop in for lunch like stay-at-home parents, maybe you can bring in an activity for the kids, or a snack. Or you can use your work skills to do something for the class, like build the kids a little website, or cut out the patterns for a class project. Your kids will feel like you care, and so will the school.

Save some time for you. Make sure when all is said and done that there’s some time for you and your partner to be adults together. It can be a lunch date, dinner once a week, or even renting a movie. Just build it into the schedule. It’ll help you feel better about all the demands on your time. Because if you’re not a happy camper, you can’t expect the other campers to be happy.

We all have to do what it takes to keep the ship afloat. Hope these tips help to give your ship a little more buoyancy.

Ask for Referrals

Ask for Referrals
<![endif]–>expect the referral. When your tone or facial expressions show that you don’t really believe your client will have a good answer, they will be!

If people seem tentative, or they say they’ll think about it, tell them you’ll get back to them, and set a specific time to do so. Keep the appointment, even if it’s just a phone call. Remind them that this is the way your business model works. You “get buys” with a little help from your friends.

You can also use this language in the signature of your email, below your name and contact information. Every email becomes a mini-billboard, even when you’re out of the office and have your auto-responder set.

One of the best referral generators I’ve heard of is simply a delicious fruit basket. Greg Frost, one of the nation’s top loan originators, pioneered this technique. He sends a fruit basket to his client after the close of a successful loan. Unlike candy, which tends to get hoarded by the recipient, fruit has a built-in expiration date, so people keep it on display to share. He sends this fruit basket to his client’s place of employment, which makes them feel special. When co-workers ask where it came from, the client simply says, “My loan executive gave it to me.” This opens the door to many subsequent referrals.

Please let me know how these ideas work for you, and don’t hesitate to call me if you have any questions.

The Art of Happiness

The Art of Happiness
The Art of Happiness*, the Dalai Lama shares this powerful insight into life:

so hard to do?

Because like anything of any worth, it takes effort. It takes practice. It takes time. And like most skills, the sooner you begin, the sooner it gets easy. But no matter how old we are, we can all start practicing positive thinking today, and begin being happier immediately.

It’s very easy to get out of practice, however, so it’s best to surround yourself with triggers for happiness. Music is one of the best triggers. Just think how happy we get when we hear Little Orphan Annie singing, “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow,” or Bobby McFerrin crooning, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” We can also remind ourselves with little incantations such as “look on the bright side” when things aren’t going as planned.

I hope this tip brightens up your day!

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