The New Year is approaching and it is a time of expectation and anticipation for the new year and a time for reflection on the prior year. If we all learn the lessons that a harsh 2011 provided, we can move forward in a positive manner in 2012. There will be a lot of properties for sale and buyer
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12/31/2011
FHA Extends Anti Flipping Waiver for 2012. It has gone all but unnoticed, but the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) extended its “anti-flipping waiver” through the end of 2012. The FHA hopes to “accelerate the resale of foreclosed properties in neighborhoods struggling to overcome the possible
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12/30/2011
Foreclosure Numbers for Q3 are Artificially High. Many observers of the real estate market are disturbed by a 20+% increase in foreclosures in the third quarter of 2011. If you merely look at numbers, this can be alarming but frequently (as in this case) the numbers themselves do not portray an
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12/30/2011
The Continuing Saga of our Liberties being Taken Away. As I have written in the past, I am a consulting professor of science at a university in Ukraine. I won't conduct research at a US university since they will claim ownership and control of everything that I do. That is an aside. One of the
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12/27/2011
Real Estate Buyers to Pay for Payroll Tax Extension. The payroll tax cut extension affects all future home owners and real estate agents. Most of the public is unaware that Senate Democrats will raise loan guarantee fees 0.10 percentage points to fund the extension of payroll tax reductions. A r
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12/26/2011
I just returned from another business trip to Russia and I am more thankful for what we have than ever. There are times that I pine for simpler times - such as when I read that there were mass arrests during the release of the retro Air Jordan basketball shoes. As we begin to say good bye to 20
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12/25/2011
For those that follow my blog regularly or have otherwise consulted with me, you know thaty I oftne advocate transfer of real estate as an asset through an LLC or other business entity. There are various sound and legal reasons for this. There will be even more valid reasons in the future. Man
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12/22/2011
I just retuend from a business trip to Ukraine. I am always curious to see how many miles get credited to my frequent flyer account. I flew from JFK in NY to Moscow through Warsaw, Poland. According to US Airways, the flight from JFK to Warsaw was 2,133 miles!!!! 8.5 hours flying aty an avergae
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12/22/2011
It is hard to imagine that the media and the Obama Administration do not take the missing drone seriously. Bear in mind that this was not a standard drone - it was our most advanced, technological marvel. It included stealth technology that took us 40 years to develop (it is based on certain ra
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12/14/2011
If anyone ever needed objective proof of the power of social media, there was a recent run on a Swedish bank due to (allegedly false) tweets and social media statements. Rumors of bad news sparked real-life bad news for Swedbank and SEB, a Nordic global investing firm, this weekend. In response t
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12/12/2011