What is a Vision Board? Is it just a trend? What does it really do? Does it work? When you hear people talk about Vision Boards, what come to your mind? Do think this is for individuals who need external motivation or do you think it really accomplishes something? Is this just a hip cool and trendy conversation piece or just a fad? Or is it just a Motivation Guru’s latest gimmick? I can only speak from my own experience. I have been a dreamer all my life and very visual. When I lived in Connecticut I used to visit Boston, MA and always said I wanted to live in Boston, MA. In those days I had an American Express  Calendar Book, pre-Day TimersJ and I had a picture in the hardback portion on the last page. Before and after sales appointments I would look at the picture of the Boston Skylin... 01/30/2014

How to prepare for a Short Sale before you begin the Sales Process? As some of you know, I have written what a Short Sale is from a Seller’s Perspective at the end of August. Just in case you missed it I am enclosing a link to that post (http://actvra.in/GWv ) Now I would like to focus on how to prepare for the Short Sale Process. The First Step: The Realtor & the Seller should have an extensive, truthful discussion about the Seller’s financial status. Honesty and full disclosure are essential to the successful closing of a short sale transaction. The Second Step:   The seller & the listing agent need to work together. Now with that said the Seller needs to contact the lender and feel out the Lender how open are they to a Short Pay Off? This is a complex transaction and both Seller & Li... 10/25/2012

Latest update on Endeavour’s slow voyage to its final destination the California Space Center Well here we are, Endeavour is slowly moving along Los Angeles Streets to the excitement of the local residents and those who came from all the way as far as Australia, Nebraska ….I could go on and on. This is not just a “local event” it is an “International Event”. Well as the old saying goes “P….Poor, Planning, Prevents, P….Poor Performance” (The Ranger in me had to say this) well a small glitch in the planning Caused a little delay in The Space Shuttle’ move to cross over the 405 Freeway. The benefit TOYOTA Motors Corporation gets a fantastic Commercial; they will use a Toyota Tundra to pull Endeavour across the 405 Freeway, because the crawlers would have been too heavy to cross the 405 Fre... 10/12/2012

  Have you heard of Bank of America’s Mortgage Forgiveness Program?   Bank of America recently has announced that they are in the process of mailing out to approximately 150,000 customers information, that there will be an automatic erasure of their liens on their second mortgages. So what does that mean in plain English? The intent of this is to put the homeowners in an improved financial situation by reducing their monthly obligations and potentially create for them equity in their homes. According to B of A, they are offering home owners who are behind in their loan payments the opportunity to have their remaining second lien mortgage dept eliminated. This offer will eliminate the full unpaid principal balance on the second loan. The objective is to help the homeowners avoid foreclos... 10/05/2012

 Breaking News Fannie Mae announced HomePath Financing Changes. Fannie Mae announced that HomePath Mortgage which is currently available to low to middle income first time buyers will be allowing Investor financing to purchase Fannie Mae owned properties. This new Mortgage Product will allow eligible individual and LLC borrowers to finance up to 20 properties using the Homepath Mortgage products. Fannie Mae will offer flexible terms as well as they will not require appraisals http://www.homepath.com/ HomePath Renovation Mortgage is also available and will allow a buyer to purchase a property that requires light to moderate renovation. The one loan amount includes both the funds for the purchase and the renovation. Basically up to 35% of the completed value, but no more than $35,000. Thi... 09/22/2012

Looking for an inexensive good red wine for you next barbeque? Check out: Crios Malbec 2010 As you know I love good values when it comes to wine. Hence for all my readers I chose an Argentinean Malbec. It is inexpensive, but very good, amazingly under $13 a bottle. Here are the Winemaker’s notes; I could not have said it better:        The wine has a beautiful reddish/purple color as most good Malbecs do. The aromas are a mix of freshly crushed black cherries and toasty/smoky oak—just enough to frame the exuberant fruit. On the palate, the flavors of cherries and spice are obvious, and the jammy fruit quality just keeps coming on strong, with hints of spice and sandalwood lurking in the background. This is a wine that you'll want to buy by the case because it can be consumed at almost a... 07/08/2012

Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy a must read for Spy Thriller Fans! As a book collector, I have to admit that there are many books we own, but that does not mean I read all of them. Tom Clancy happens to be one of those writers for me, who falls into the category of “one of these days I have to read it”.  In all fairness, I have seen every movie that was converted from the written word to the big screen. You might be wondering then why not read him? Part of it goes back to many years ago I felt slighted by him. The fact that he has such a large fan base but does not give back to his loyal followers i.e.: not doing book signings. This is one of the reasons he went on the back burner for me when it came to reading. There is only so much time to read, hence other authors preceded him in my must r... 01/21/2012