When was the last time that you could buy a home in Southern California at such a discount?  And when was the last time you could buy cash flowing investment real estate?  And think of how much lower your property taxes will be or could be?  Like I said, Better is Always Different.

Well Guess What???  The time is now, even Alan Greenspan agrees.

Alan Greenspan told the Wall Street Journal last week that we are witnessing a 100-year event. That could possibly mean that in his opinion our housing crisis surpasses that of the great depression of the 1930s. (Different)

“The truth is, this problem will not be fixed from the top down. It will only be fixed from the bottom up. Courageous positive individuals need to take action now to clear excessive inventory (one house at a time) before pricing will normalize.” (Better)

Even though the government is trying to implement new policy to help homeowners survive, the market turn around will ultimately come from homes being bought by people who are qualified to buy their first home and investors who are purchasing rental properties.  Everyone needs a roof over their head so don’t think that real estate is a bad investment or it’s a bad time to buy.

True, this is a different (better) time to buy that and requires different strategies and qualifications.  I know what it takes to buy a foreclosure or an auction property based on experience, not based on what someone else is saying.  I also know the importance of financial security and how to help you develop a road map to manage your debt and cash flow.  We have been helping our clients for years develop their blue print.  Change is good, working with someone who changes is even better.

How Silverstar is Different
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I’ve heard the term “buy & burn” used lately to describe someone who goes and purchases a new home that could even be in the same neighborhood at a cheaper price and then turn around and walk away from their current home and loan. The resulting default or foreclosure wont matter to them at this point because they’ve already closed escrow on a new less expensive home. I guess they just have to make sure they are set for a few years while their credit takes a huge hit.

Yes this is fraud and it is definitely NOT the right thing to do but people are doing it. I’m not sure if it is desperation or simply they don’t feel obligated to stick to what they originally agreed on. Either way, I think people that are doing this will definitely get what’s coming to them down the road and I don’t know how they could sleep at night.

What happened to personal responsibility? I guess if these people were lending out their money, they’d be ok with someone sticking it to them as well?!! ha ha. It’s just sad that so many people made really bad choices and now they are just dumping their problems onto everyone else across the board! Okay, Ok enough with my personal tirade….back to the point.

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Research has confirmed that one out of every three homeowners have no idea what kind of loan they have. If you and/or any of your family members find yourself in that category, I have set aside some time to review their loan and provide advice to determine what to do next.

When a family member, friend or neighbor needs advice about buying/selling/borrowing, please don’t keep me a secret because you want them to get the best possible result and be delighted that you introduced me, don’t you?

All anyone has to do is give me a call to talk about their own situation or equally as important, to give me the name and number of someone they think will benefit from a relationship with a trusted adviser.

Rarely do I send out the same video twice but, in this case, it’s such a no brainer (saving money) that I would hope everyone would inquire after watching the video. Will you do me a favor? Will you please forward this email to those who you work with or better yet, to a Human Resources person who is authorized to forward this to the entire company ? I’m sure your fellow co-workers/friends/teammates will certainly appreciate their company looking out for them by way of giving them a way to save hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each and every year. This will, of course, spread the word about what we do here as well. Let’s just call it another win/win for everyone. (more…)

“The great thing in this world is not so much where you are, but in what direction you are moving.” And it’s completely up to you!!  ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Great Big Dreams Require Great Big Thoughts & Little Tiny Steps from Janet French on Vimeo.

It’s really quite simple to enlist the help of a Trusted Advisor team. All it takes is one simple phone call to schedule a short 1-2 hours of your time to sit down with me and get your finances on track. From that point forward, all you need to do is keep committed, meet with us annually and let us handle the rest. Now you’re on your way to a balanced life!!

And if even if it’s not the time to refinance your loan, you may be thinking, “What on earth could a mortgage consultant do for a client that doesn’t need a loan? After all, the loan is closed…what else is there???”

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Your mortgage is not “just” the loan on your home; it is an important piece of your overall financial picture. A better way to look at your mortgage is to examine it in the context of your entire portfolio. A piece of real estate is an asset to your portfolio. The mortgage on that piece of real estate determines how much of that asset is leveraged versus how much is tied up with real cash.

Sure, you might have some equity or not at this point but your payments are the same, your tax deductions may be less and you still have x amount in savings and are struggling to put enough money away for retirement. Ask yourself, has much changed in your life since your property value had increased so dramatically over the previous years or you refinanced last time to pay off high interest credit cards and are they still gone?

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“Wherever we look upon this earth, the opportunities take shape within the problems.”
~ Norman Rockefeller, U.S. Vice President

In this weeks video, I discuss a few important topics pertinent to today’s economic conditions:

1. 3 solid money saving tips
2. I’ve come up with a solution to the energy crisis and I’ve also found a way to balance the budget. I’ll share with you my ideas on how to solve both problems in a relatively short amount of time.
3. I will discuss with you why this real estate market and the opportunities that are there for the taking are unlike any other real estate market cycle in times past.

Of course, all ideas and plans require willing and accountable participants that finish what they start. I’m always here to lend my 2 cents to those inspired to make a change for the better in their lives. I’ve had my own set of hard times and I’ve participated in plans that had no chance of success, and I learned a lot from every one of them. Now, however, I have a team of experts that will do their very best to ensure that my mistakes of years past are not repeated.

As you watch this video, think about the following:

Often you don’t know what you can do until you do it; what you can be until you become it; or what you can have until you have it. Enjoy!

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Quote of the Week:

Self Actualization

“The highest form of success… comes not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President

Well, in case you missed yet another part of history over the weekend and yesterday, Tiger Woods won his 14th major tournament, just 4 shy of Jack Nicklaus’ record for most majors won. Watching him play is indescribable.

Instead of recording my own video this week, I’ve decided to dedicate two of his, as it’s certainly the right time for some tribute to his triumph. Even if you’re not a sports fan, and I’ve said this before, I recommend watching him play…though it may be awhile because of an injury. We are in the presence of greatness and if you’ve ever played a round of golf in your life, I’m sure your appreciation goes beyond measure, as it does for me. He was the reason that I took up the sport years ago and I love it more and more every time I play it. I remember back when I was a kid I would see golf on TV and I would wonder how on earth anyone could sit and watch 4 hours of this nonsense! NOW I understand.

I included this commercial because it’s one of the best and most touching commercials I’ve ever seen. Tiger Woods’ father died a little over a year ago, which makes it even more meaningful to watch. It’s kinda cool to hear about the things that his dad used to do to him as a kid to encourage his success. You’ll probably watch this more than once and your boss will understand!: (more…)

Brief snippet from an article I read an last week:

“LATE PAYMENTS: One in 11 mortgaged houses was at least 30 days late or in foreclosure at the and of March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The delinquency and foreclosure rates are the highest in the 36-year history of the MBA’s quarterly survey. In California, 1 in 19 mortgages are delinquent (5.26 percent) and 1 in 32 are in foreclosure (3.13 percent). Combined, 1 in 12 houses are delinquent or in foreclosure. That’s better than the national combined rate, but the state numbers aren’t seasonally adjusted. If they were, they would be higher. The national numbers are seasonally adjusted.”

Most of us in this business have now seen the adjustable rate mortgage reset chart, below, that’s been floating around now for about the last 8-9 months. What’s interesting and changing is that at the beginning of this market decline, loans that were in default were hitting the REO market about 7 months after a homeowners first late payment. Now we are seeing banks hold off on issuing the notice of default for 5-6 months before issuing the NOD. We wont see these homes as REOs until mid 2009.

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“What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul.”
~ Joseph Addison, writer, statesman

Janet and I would like to extend a special thanks to all who attended our event last night. We hope that what we teach will become a part of the sculpture that you will pass on for many generations to come.

2 New Videos:

www.silverstarfinance.com/annual_review

and

www.silverstarfinance.com/rate_watch

I read a startling statistic in an article this morning . After watching the 2 videos (especially the “annual review” video), hopefully you’ll begin to understand why we are so adamant about what happens AFTER we close a transaction. When reading the article below, please ask yourself:

“If the one in eleven households had at least a 6 month cash reserve for unforeseen circumstances such as job loss, higher gas and food prices, accidents, etc., would they have been late on their mortgage payment(s) which will ultimately result in a drastically lower credit score and hundreds of dollars in late fees?”

Hmmm….did I mention that establishing such a cash reserve is the very first step in our “4 Steps to Building Financial Security” process that we put together for our clients? Imagine that! =)

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