Jeff & Linda Brandt

Vacation Homes: Is Now the Time to Buy?

2011-04-11T16:02:00.001-07:00

Vacation Homes: Is Now the Time to Buy?

Looking for a vacation home here in our beautiful desert? We can find you anything from a family neighborhood home to a multi million dollar dream home! Why wait, give us a call today at 760-776-2471

Vacation Homes: Is Now the Time to Buy?
By Patricia Kime

Deborah Rehyer of Vienna, Va. had just one requirement for buying a vacation home: It had to be waterfront.

Her search began in a region 90 minutes from her home, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. And her search ended on the opposite side of the state with a six-acre parcel on a tidal pond just off the Chesapeake Bay.

"Waking up in the morning is the best. I take my coffee out to the floating dock and watch the world wake up," Rehyer says of her vacation property.

Many of us visit vacation spots and wonder what life would be like to live there. Often, we pick up the real estate brochures searching for a cheap vacation home or the luxury house of our dreams.

Even as the national real estate market remains stagnant, professionals and experts say that the market for vacation homes may be the most attractive it's been in years, with prices down and interest rates low.

"If you're looking at getting a recreational home or a home where you think you want to spend most of your time in -- maybe the next portion of your life -- it's doable now. You can get in the door," says Tom Kelly, syndicated real estate newspaper columnist and co-author of "How a Second Home Can Be Your Best Investment."

The number of vacation-house purchases rose slightly in 2009, up 1 percent from 2008, according to the National Association of Realtors' 2010 Investment and Vacation Home Buyers' Survey. Although the number is still down from the vacation-home-sales heyday of 2005 and 2006, buyers are returning to the vacation-home market, the NAR says.
The typical vacation homebuyer has a median age of 46 and a median household income of $87,200. Half of all vacation home buyers in 2009 purchased their second home in the South; the typical property was a median distance of 348 miles from their primary residence, according to the NAR.

If you are among those considering buying a vacation home, think about the following before starting to expand your real estate portfolio.

Preliminary Analysis/Affordability

If you dream of owning a home away from home, start your search by determining how much home you can afford. If you haven't saved enough for a cash transaction, you'll need a mortgage, and the bank can help you determine what you can pay. Loan officers determine the amount of mortgage and type of mortgage for which you qualify based on several factors, including the amount of cash you have for a down payment, your debt-to-income ratio and your credit score. (Also see our guide: "How Much Home Can I Afford?")

Regarding the down payment, banks have gotten tight on requirements, often asking for between 20 percent and 40 percent for a down payment on a second home. Make sure you have money set aside for the down payment and closing costs.

To calculate your debt-to-income ratio, add your current monthly home payment, the projected payment of your second home and any other debt (car payments, student loans, credit cards, etc.) and compare it with your monthly gross income. Know that lenders will not give loans to those who have a debt-to-income ratio of more than 36 percent, so consider this in addressing your price range.

Also, make sure your credit score is in its best form. (Still wondering how much home you can afford? Check out AOL Real Estate's Mortgage Affordability Calculator.)

Then ask yourself the following question: Do you plan to rent out your vacation property? NAR says only one in four vacation homebuyers plan to rent out their properties to others. But one in five investment homebuyers plan to use their purchases for personal vacation use and/or as a family retreat. (Also see our guide: "Rent Out Your Home as a Vacation Property and Make Money.")

The difference between a vacation home and an investment property, according to the Internal Revenue Service, is 14 days: If you rent a house out up to 14 days a year (which you can do tax-free and still qualify for mortgage deductions on your taxes), it's a vacation home; if you rent it out and spend less than 14 days per year in it for personal use, it's an investment property. Make sure you calculate the tax ramifications when considering what you want out of a property.

Still worried about affordability? Consider shopping to buy a vacation home and asking the owners whether they are interested in owner-financing, Kelly says. "Ask what's possible. If an owner sees a terrific family that's willing to put 10 to 15 percent down and will cash them out in five years, they may be amenable."

The Fun Stuff

Beach, mountains, island getaway, rural retreat? When looking at homes, make sure it has something special – a view, proximity to main attractions, a three- or four-season resort with vacation appeal to all or waterfront. Finding a place that has one quality with universal appeal boosts one's enjoyment of a space and is good for resale. "Chances are if you like something about a place, others will too," Kelly says.

A rule of thumb for buying a vacation home is to find one within a three-hour drive of your primary residence so it's accessible on weekends. Kelly says people tend to stick with this rule, mainly because they enjoy a close corps of friends and family at their primary residence and want to stay close. Still, the NAR reports that 50 percent of vacation homebuyers in 2009 purchased a home 500 or more miles from their primary house, so don't restrict your search if you, say, live in Ohio and really want a home on North Carolina's Outer Banks.

Taxes and Oversight

A quarter of buyers who purchased a vacation home in 2009 intend to use it as a principal residence in the future, the NAR says. Many vacation homebuyers look for potential retirement homes. Owners avoid paying capital gains taxes when they sell their principal residences, so if they move into their second residences for at least two years, they can sell that house without paying capital gains.

Joy and Cliff Williams of Williamsburg, Va. took the opposite tack. They left their primary residence, an 18th-century historic home in the country that Cliff restored in the 1970s, to move into town. But they didn't want to give up their rural retreat, so they decided to rent it out as a vacation destination. Using VRBO.com by HomeAway and other websites, Cliff Williams now manages the house, Lightwood, as a side business and the Williamses have been able to keep a precious asset. "It was a leap of faith as to whether it would work, but it did, " Joy says. "We get people from as far away as Australia and Britain renting out our property."

Kelly says that Internet sites like VRBO.com and craigslist.com have eased the challenges of renting out vacation homes, so he encourages buyers sitting on the fence to keep an open mind regarding renting out their dream homes.

"I think people underestimate the number of people who are interested in renting vacation homes rather than staying in hotels," Kelly says.

They also overestimate the amount of time they'll spend at their own vacation home, he adds. But don't let that scare you. Vacation homes, he says, are a lure for family and friends. As a vacation homeowner himself, he's hosted many family gatherings in the mountains near Seattle. "You can't put a dollar sign on that stuff. Those are family memories we got," Kelly says.

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Gay Housing Project Slated for Palm Springs

2011-02-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

By Michael Kaminer

Does architecture for older gay people differ substantively from design for hetero seniors? Certainly in execution, says Hollwich, who runs a program in aging and design at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Fighting age discrimination through architecture is the same for the LGBT community and everyone else - however, designing for the LGBT community differs in programming (all master bedrooms for the LGBT community, different socializing programs, different idea of the extended family)," he wrote. "The one point that I might want to speculate is that the LGBT community is more open for progressive design -- so this is where the power of architecture can truly unfold its potential."

On a more sobering note, the New York Times in 2007 reported that LGBT seniors face homophobia, isolation, and even abuse.

While BOOM's price structure has not been firmed up, Hollwich says the project "will have a full range of [home] sizes -- from studios to 4-bedroom houses. We aim to make it affordable for all kind of income levels. since the concept of BOOM is about integration on every level."

BOOM will break ground in 2012, Architizer says, starting with 300 residences built in eight neighborhoods, each designed by a different firm. Phase 2 of the project will add another 300 residences.

Matthias Hollwich has big plans to build an innovative gay housing development for seniors in Palm Springs, Calif., called BOOM. The 40-year-old New York architect is the ringleader of what FastCompany magazine's design blog is calling -- with some understatement -- "a wacky, $250m old folks' community for gays."

As the gay housing market mushroomed over the last decade, developers jumped on the bandwagon by hyping LGBT-oriented retirement communities. But most -- including Santa Rosa's Fountaingrove Lodge, Oregon's Rainbow Vista, and a facility in Boston's Fenway neighborhood -- tanked before laying a brick.

Will BOOM be a bust? "Most other developments just focused on quick sales," Hollwich says. "We don't. We will also have a 10-city tour where we invite people to come to workshops, work with us on the reinvention of architecture and community. Once we have a critical mass and shaped the concept of BOOM towards the needs of the future residences, then it will be for sale....It will be a big success, for the people who will live there and beyond."

BOOM is a "master-planned community,...pedestrian-oriented, culture-driven, designed to inspire residents to better themselves," according to the See photos of homes for sale in your area and across the country on AOL Real Estateproject's website. Along with Hollwich's firm, HWKN, the 100-plus acre site will feature boundary-breaking buildings by the glossy likes of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, LOT-EK, L2, Surfacedesign, and Arakawa + Gins (see computer renderings below).

Plazas and pathways will link 300 homes to an entertainment complex, with restaurants and stores, a boutique hotel, a gym with spa, and wellness facilities.

What the site doesn't mention is sexual orientation. But Hollwich himself waxes enthusiastic about FastCompany's sobriquet for BOOM as "a theme park for gay retirees."

"Yes!" he wrote in an e-mail. "We aim for a 40+ development that is inspired by the LGBT community, but open for all....At BOOM we gave the architects full freedom to unfold their creativity -- and what we got is a survey of today's most contemporary architectural thinking. We intentionally did not want to create one common language, since BOOM is all about diversity."

Does architecture for older gay people differ substantively from design for hetero seniors? Certainly in execution, says Hollwich, who runs a program in aging and design at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Fighting age discrimination through architecture is the same for the LGBT community and everyone else - however, designing for the LGBT community differs in programming (all master bedrooms for the LGBT community, different socializing programs, different idea of the extended family)," he wrote. "The one point that I might want to speculate is that the LGBT community is more open for progressive design -- so this is where the power of architecture can truly unfold its potential."

On a more sobering note, the New York Times in 2007 reported that LGBT seniors face homophobia, isolation, and even abuse.

While BOOM's price structure has not been firmed up, Hollwich says the project "will have a full range of [home] sizes -- from studios to 4-bedroom houses. We aim to make it affordable for all kind of income levels. since the concept of BOOM is about integration on every level."

BOOM will break ground in 2012, Architizer says, starting with 300 residences built in eight neighborhoods, each designed by a different firm. Phase 2 of the project will add another 300 residences.

Real Estate 2011: No Rebound, No V

2011-01-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

By Candy Evans

What's in store for real estate in 2011? The year 2010 was a terrible one for the U.S. housing market. We started the year with high hopes that since 2009 had been so shockingly bad, 2010 could only get better. Next came the euphoria of the first-time home buyer's credit. Then came the slide: We ended the year with sinking home values in almost every U.S. market, except four: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Even worse: Six U.S. markets hit their lowest pricing levels since 2006: Miami, Charlotte, Atlanta, Portland Oregon, Seattle and Tampa.

So how do we look for the new year?

Now that our hangovers are in check, here's the bad news: Hardly any expert out there thinks the market is going to get better in 2011. Many think it will get worse. Enter Dr. Gloom, Gary Shilling, not to be confused with Standard and Poor's Case-Shiller report, which is also not very positive. Shilling says home prices could crater in 2011 by as much as 20 percent. Zillow has more optimism and put money on a 5 to 7 percent decrease. But the overwhelming majority opinion is, well, not that great. The Wall Street Journal surveyed 96 analysts:
Some 96 analysts surveyed made their forecasts public. Of those, 30 expect prices to fall next year, and another 30 are calling for annual home price appreciation of no more than 1 percent. The most bearish forecaster, A. Gary Shilling, president of A. Gary Shilling & Co., calls for prices to fall by 11 percent in 2011.

And when you hear that John Paulson practices what he preaches and bought two homes this year, don't get any wild ideas: he made billions betting on the sub-prime market and can afford several hundred homes. You and me, we don't have that luxury.

Sliding home prices will drag on the economy like a lead weight. Think of the consequences: lower property values, lower municipal taxes in fiscally hurting cities, more underwater homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth, more foreclosures, more shadow inventory sitting around further diluting prices.

Let's play optimistic here, and assume that, because of market-glutting home foreclosures, home prices will decline another 5 to 7 percent in 2011. What could make buyers want to buy at 2003 home prices? Steady paychecks. But with an unemployment rate of now over 9 percent, even people with jobs are afraid to rock the boat and move up, or anywhere. That's why many experts are expecting the market to bottom in 2007, and say homeowners should not expect a V-shaped recovery.

Is this trend good for anyone? Maybe the home buyers who can now slip into homes they could not begin to afford just a few years ago. We've got low interest rates, but banks have the strictest credit standards ever. Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at a company that follows national foreclosure trends, RealtyTrac, says the market won't recover until consumer confidence returns, which won't happen until consumers see real job creation.
Then there's Patrick O'Keefe, an economist, who wonders why housing supply and demand are not more in balance by now -- new home construction has all but stopped, but existing home prices are sinking.

There is, he says, "an almost unbridgeable gap between potential buyers and sellers."

It's more like a giant clog in the system. Sellers can't sell because so many would have to take money to the closing table, and buyers either cannot afford the home or cannot get a mortgage.

So if you're looking for happy spring real estate news, you may have to wait three more years, when analysts think the market will kick back to normal.

As for new home construction, analysts are predicting more than 700,000 housing starts in 2011, which would be an improvement from 2010, but only half of what is actually needed to keep up with population growth. In New Jersey, for example, 13,500 housing units were started in 2010, which is better than 2009, when only 12,235 were begun. Keep in mind those are the lowest housing start numbers on record since World War II.

About the only silver lining is that this lack of construction could ultimately lead to a housing shortage down the road, which would then pump up housing prices. Gen X and Y, once they move out of their parents' home, may have to rent, or buy, which could lead to a housing shortage.

Maybe it's time to kick 'em out!

October's Home-Price Drop Keeps Housing as a Major Drag

2010-12-28T11:10:00.000-08:00

By Joseph Lazzaro

The U.S. housing sector received another dose of sobering news Tuesday, as home prices in 20 major cities fell a worse-than-expected 1.3% in October from September, on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price survey. That's the index's fourth straight monthly decline. Also, the 10-city index fell 1.2% in October compared to September.

Home prices in the 20-city index also fell 0.8% in October on a year-over-year basis. However, the 10-city index rose 0.2% in October on that basis. October's decline marked the first year-over-year drop for the 20-city index since January.

A Bloomberg survey had expected home prices in the 20-city index to fall 0.7% in October from September, and 0.2% on a year-over-year basis, after falling a revised 0.8% in September from August, and 0.6% year-over-year in September.

"There Is No Good News"

David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's, said concerned about a double-dip recession in home prices is warranted. "The double-dip is almost here, as six cities set new lows for the period since the 2006 peaks. There is no good news in October's report. Home prices across the country continue to fall." Blitzer said, in a statement.

"The trends we have seen over the past few months have not changed," he said. "The tax incentives are over, and the national economy remained lackluster in October, the month covered by these data. Existing homes sales and housing starts have been reported for both October and November, and neither is giving any sense of optimism."

In October, all 20 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the 20-city and 10-city indexes were down compared to September, Blitzer added. Further, while not always consecutive months, 12 of the MSAs and both indexes have posted at least six months' of decline since the beginning of 2010.

Monthly price drops in October in major U.S. cities were as follows: New York, 1.6%; Chicago, 2%; Boston, 1.2%; Washington, D.C., 0.2%; Atlanta, 2.9%; Tampa, 0.9%; Miami, 1.1%; Dallas, 1.1%; Denver, 0.6%; Los Angeles, 0.7%; San Francisco, 1.9%; and Seattle, 1.3%.

October's home price report is an unqualified negative. As the impact of the homebuyer tax credit waned, home prices have stagnated. The large inventory of unsold homes is likely to continue to place downward pressure on home prices at least through early 2011, and probably for longer. Until both existing- and new-home sales rise in a sustained way to lower those high inventories, home prices will keep struggling.

Most Expensive House in U.S.? A Shack

2010-11-19T08:16:00.000-08:00

Most Expensive House in U.S.? A Shack
By Ann Brenoff

What is the most expensive home on the market in U.S. right now? If you guessed Candy Spelling's Holmby Hills, Calif. mansion, selling for $150 million, you'd be right -- unless you were going by price-per-square-foot.

According to a Forbes blogger, if you compared listings strictly by square footage, a shack on the beach in Carpinteria, Calif. tops the country's list of most expensive homes.

Well, yes and no.

Sure it's great fun to compare it to Candy Spelling's manse of 56,500 square feet (see photo below, right) and realize that the beachfront shack listed at $5.3 million (with less space than a regulation squash court) comes out to a higher per-square-foot price -- Spelling's is $2,700 a square foot and the aforementioned shack is around $7,000 per square foot.

But to throw a bucket of chilled Perrier on the premise, there are always factors that impact a home's value which have nothing to do with the size of the actual shack, I mean, house: the view, location, sun angle, design, style, special features and condition all weigh in.

Starting with location, have you been to Carpinteria lately? Nice place for a weekend camping trip if you don't mind the roar of the traffic just outside your tent. The beach is nice enough, but you aren't going to see limos drive up here for any A-list parties.

Nor will you find a Michelin-star restaurant or a single Kardashian selling anything anywhere near Carpinteria. It's home to surfers, dudes in pickups, and some students who can't afford campus life at UC Santa Barbara, 12 miles away. Dudes in pickups don't frequent Holmby Hills, where Spelling kicks off her Manolos.

We allow how not everyone needs a near brush with celebrity to find fulfillment in their housing. So how about design? The shack is, to put it in kind Realtorspeak, in need of TLC. Some might say it's a tear-down and what you're really paying for is the half-acre of land, the 92 feet of beachfront it sits on, and the fact that its thoughtful owner has already gotten approvals to build a 2,600-square-foot replacement home on the site.

Spelling's place? A regular palace worthy of Queen Oprah, who at one point was rumored to be buying it. It's move-in ready for even the most discriminating buyer. A housekeeping staff must dust and vacuum 24/7 here to meet Candy's expectations in the spit-and-polish department.

Our shack does have a leg up in the view category. There's no ocean view like the one from the sand. Candyland, as real estate pundits have dubbed the Spelling home, is lovely, gated and private. It has gracious lawns that sprawl over its 4.7 acres. But not even Aaron Spelling's money could move the Pacific Ocean closer.

Still, how it is possible that a beach shack in a beach shacky town can command a higher price per square foot than a veritable castle in one of the country's toniest neighborhoods? Well, to state the obvious: Neither of them has sold yet, have they?

The Daily Fix: Remove a Broken Key From a Lock

2010-07-02T14:07:00.000-07:00

The Daily Fix: Remove a Broken Key From a Lock

Secure Your Home For Summer Vacation

2010-06-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

Secure Your Home For Summer Vacation
by Jen Jafarzadeh L'Italien, Posted Jun 21st 2010 9:30AM

Going on a trip? Take precautions to keep potential intruders away from your property.

When you finally take some time off for vacation, the last thing you want to worry about is what might go wrong at home while you're away. But the reality is that your home could be a sitting target for burglars when it's empty.

The good news? With this simple checklist, you can head for the sunshine knowing your house is safe and secured. The key to deterring intruders from your house? Make sure your home looks lived-in, even if you'll be away a couple weeks. Here's how.

1. Arrange for mail to be held while you're away. Mail quickly piles up in the mailbox (hello, catalogs!), and an overflowing mailbox is a sure sign to everyone that you're not home. You can easily stop mail delivery by notifying the post office online. Then you can pick up your mail when you get back.

2. Put your newspapers on hold. Besides the waste of paper (who's going to read old news when you return from vacation?), a pileup of newspapers on your doorstep is an easy red flag that you're away.

3. Show-off your alarm system. Make sure to have an easy-to-see sign on your door or window to alert everyone of your spiffed-up security system. Consider putting up a sign, even if you haven't invested in a high-tech alarm.

4. Don't button up the whole house. It's natural to want to "close up" the house while you're away, but you want to give the appearance that the house is lived in. Leave drapes and window treatments slightly open, rather than closed shut. Put some of your indoor lights on timers, and have some of them go on at night to give the appearance that someone's at home.

. Show-off your alarm system. Make sure to have an easy-to-see sign on your door or window to alert everyone of your spiffed-up security system. Consider putting up a sign, even if you haven't invested in a high-tech alarm.

4. Don't button up the whole house. It's natural to want to "close up" the house while you're away, but you want to give the appearance that the house is lived in. Leave drapes and window treatments slightly open, rather than closed shut. Put some of your indoor lights on timers, and have some of them go on at night to give the appearance that someone's at home.

5. Invest in motion-sensing floodlights for the yard. Now is a good time to consider investing in motion-sensing floodlights. When you're on vacation, glaring light will deter potential intruders. And when you arrive home, it'll be easier to see what's going on at night.

6. Leave a radio on. To those outside, the buzz of voices will make it seem like there are people at home. Choose a talk station, like NPR, rather than an station that just plays music.

7. Leave a car in the driveway. If you're flying to your destination, simply leave your car in the driveway. If you're taking a summer road trip, ask a neighbor if they could park one of their cars in your driveway while you're away. It's also a good idea to alert a neighbor or friend that you'll be away, so they can keep an eye on your house.

8. Arrange for your lawn to be mowed. You want to stop some services (like mail delivery) while you're away. But others, like getting your lawn mowed, should continue on just like you're at home. Arrange with your landscaper to have your lawn mowed as usual while you're away. If you typically mow your own lawn, consider hiring a local to come mow your lawn once while you're away during extended trips. Long grass is another sure-fire signal to burglars that the house has been vacant.

9. Take a walk-around your house a week or so before you leave. Check for any shrubs, hedges, trees, or landscaping that looks overgrown (also look for tree limbs that provide an easy route to an upstairs window.) Trim any greenery that looks like it would provide a hiding place for intruders.

10. Make sure unnecessary electrical equipment is turned off while you're away. It's a good idea to plug your electronics in surge protectors that are easy to power on or off with the flick of a switch. You'll also be saving energy (and saving on your electric bill!) by powering off the TV, computer, and entertainment center. Many appliances are also known as ghost energy hogs, sucking energy even when they're simply turned off. By plugging these devices in a safety surge protector, you can stop the flow of electricity.

11. Give the cat-sitter or dog-sitter a spare key before you leave. You don't want to hide the key under a rock, doormat, or in the BBQ grill. These are all known hide-a-key tricks; they give burglars a free pass into your house.

Tip: Ensure you come home to a fresh house post-vacation. Clear your refrigerator of any perishable foods (you can offer your milk to your friendly neighbor) and make sure you take out stinky trash before you leave.

The Right Mortgage for Every Lifestyle -- AOL Real Estate

2010-06-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Right Mortgage for Every Lifestyle -- AOL Real Estate

FINALLY SOME GOOD REAL ESTATE NEWS FOR THE DESERT!

2010-06-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

By Debra Gruszecki • The Desert Sun • June 20, 2010

Home sales and prices in the Coachella Valley rose in April and May, the latest real estate market report from MDA DataQuick shows.

This makes the seventh consecutive month of positive sales and price gains.

Economists say that's a sign the market is in a stage of recovery.

“The market is doing very well for buyers and sellers,'' said Brady Sandahl of RE/MAX Real Estate in Palm Springs.

DataQuick reported the 1,029 sales of new and existing homes in April rose 8.1 percent and the median price hit $215,000, reflecting nearly a 23 percent surge in price from 2009.

May posted 1,021 sales, recorded a 7.8 percent rise in sales and measured a $210,000 median. That median is 15.7 percent higher than in May 2009.

Since December 2009, median prices have been above $200,000 — besting the performance for most of 2009 when the median bumped along the $180,000 line.

Prices off from 2008
The April and May home sale prices still are well off the $301,000 median in April 2008 or $309,000 in May 2008 — prices hit their highest point at $410,000 in February 2006 — but the Southern California market already is at the $300,000 level.

Southern California home sales prices topped $300,000 in May for the first time in 20months, a spurt DataQuick linked to a cache of buyers capitalizing on low mortgage rates and the California home-buying tax credits that kicked in May 1.

The gains also were attributed to a shrinking stock of “ultra bargains” in the low-cost inland areas.

The DataQuick report for April and May seems to bear that out.

Hard-hit foreclosure zones of Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, Indio, Thermal and Thousand Palms, which had triple-digit sales activity in 2008 and part of 2009, saw sales contract year-over-year in April and May.

As sales there sputtered, the buying gravitated to communities of Indian Wells, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, La Quinta and Rancho Mirage.

Home sales in La Quinta are up 42 percent in April and up 22 percent in May, as is the median sales price.

The median rose 22 percent to $380,000 in April, up from $310,000 in 2009. Rancho Mirage's 65 sales drove up the median some 23 percent, as home sales prices rose to $440,000 from $355,000 in April 2009.

The Indian Wells median sales price rose 4.9 percent year-over-year in April to $524,500. And it outdid itself in May, measuring a 158 percent increase in sales and a new median of $810,000. That's up 40 percent from May 2009.

Positive indicators
Inland Empire economist John Husing said the sales increases and median price gains are positive indicators.

“May, one year ago, was the bottom of the market,'' Husing said.

Banks may be holding back supply from the foreclosure process to keep supply levels on pace to stimulate sales, he added, and advised: “Watch for slippage in sales volume.

“Still, the large increases in price shows the market really has started to recover.”

Luxury home sales activity has also picked up in a significant way from the 2009 doldrums.

Seven sales, ranging from $1.2 million to a high of $6 million, were noted in the DataQuick report for April. While April was the fourth month of solid sales in this genre, January came in like a lion with the sale of a $7.4 million home in Bighorn and two others in the range of $4.5 million and $3.1 million.

In May, the pace continued with one $7.8 million sale in Palm Desert.

Lags on market
New home construction sales is the only segment of the market that's been hurting.

Sales were off by 8.3 percent in April and May.

Altogether, less than 100 homes were sold in the median price ranges of $210,000 to $254,500.

That pace of home sales has been taking shape across California, the Building Industry Association reported. The monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence report showed sales in new-home communities of 10 units or more were 32 percent below April 2009.

Foreclosure activity also continues to dog the market.

RealtyTrac has reported that foreclosure filings for May across the nation are down 3percent from April, but have not completely subsided as foreclosure filings rose 1 percent from 2009.

“Those numbers confirm a trend that overall foreclosure activity may be leveling off, as lenders work through the backlog of distressed properties,'' said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac.

Expansion begins
Even as market distress nips at the Coachella Valley, real estate companies across the Coachella Valley are ramping up to cater to growing sales opportunities.

That's because buyers are eyeing the middle and upper level brackets.

In some places, prices are 40 percent less than they were in the real estate heyday.

Windermere Real Estate Coachella Valley in April disclosed plans to open a new office in Indio in June, as an addition to its 13 other offices in the valley.

The company added 15 new agents to its 600-member team and may soon add another office to serve the desert.

Keller Williams Realty Inc. opened a new Legacy division in La Quinta at the end of April and made its debut in May. HK Lane acquired Classic Homes Real Estate to gain market share in recent weeks, and Realty Executives Desert Cities of Palm Desert last week held a grand opening for its new Palm Springs office.

“When we look at sales in Palm Springs from January through May and match them against the same curve for 2009, the counts are up 41 percent,'' Sandahl said. “In 2009, there were 10 properties that sold above $1 million. In 2010, there's been 24: It's more than doubled.”

VIP prices
The VIP homes that have come on the block in recent months — Liberace, Anne Rice, Edra Blixseth's Porcupine Creek — have helped reinvigorate interest from afar in the Palm Springs desert resort market, real estate professionals say.

Market interest — and some celebrity home sales — hasn't gotten lost on Bjorn Ahlstrom, an international player in the economy.

Ahlstrom, who grew Volvo North America Corp. as president and CEO from a $50 million car importer in the 1970s to a $6 billion company, and kept many properties in the Palm Springs market after he retired from Volvo in 2004, just put his $1.49 million tennis estate up for sale.

“It's time,'' he said, hinging it on observations of a “shrinking” market.

Ahlstrom said he and his wife, Diane, listed their four-bedroom, four-bath home in the Movie Colony because they're spending more time at their penthouse home in Marina del Rey and would like to add a condo in Manhattan to their property portfolio.

“I believe things are turning around a little bit,'' Ahlstrom said. “We decided to list it now to test the market, if you will”

In 22 days, Sandahl said the home's had seven strong showings.

“That's distinctly different from a year-and-a-half ago,'' Ahlstrom said, when the home was listed the first time. “Nothing moved.”

Now, the buyers are even different — heading in from multiple states and two coasts.

“As prices adjust down and available supply continues to shrink, buyers see value,'' Sandahl said.

“Houses are moving.”

The median rose 22 percent to $380,000 in April, up from $310,000 in 2009. Rancho Mirage's 65 sales drove up the median some 23 percent, as home sales prices rose to $440,000 from $355,000 in April 2009.

The Indian Wells median sales price rose 4.9 percent year-over-year in April to $524,500. And it outdid itself in May, measuring a 158 percent increase in sales and a new median of $810,000. That's up 40 percent from May 2009.

Positive indicators
Inland Empire economist John Husing said the sales increases and median price gains are positive indicators.

“May, one year ago, was the bottom of the market,'' Husing said.

Banks may be holding back supply from the foreclosure process to keep supply levels on pace to stimulate sales, he added, and advised: “Watch for slippage in sales volume.

“Still, the large increases in price shows the market really has started to recover.”

Luxury home sales activity has also picked up in a significant way from the 2009 doldrums.

Seven sales, ranging from $1.2 million to a high of $6 million, were noted in the DataQuick report for April. While April was the fourth month of solid sales in this genre, January came in like a lion with the sale of a $7.4 million home in Bighorn and two others in the range of $4.5 million and $3.1 million.

In May, the pace continued with one $7.8 million sale in Palm Desert.

Lags on market
New home construction sales is the only segment of the market that's been hurting.

Sales were off by 8.3 percent in April and May.

Altogether, less than 100 homes were sold in the median price ranges of $210,000 to $254,500.

That pace of home sales has been taking shape across California, the Building Industry Association reported. The monthly CBIA/Hanley Wood Market Intelligence report showed sales in new-home communities of 10 units or more were 32 percent below April 2009.

Foreclosure activity also continues to dog the market.

RealtyTrac has reported that foreclosure filings for May across the nation are down 3percent from April, but have not completely subsided as foreclosure filings rose 1 percent from 2009.

How to remember passwords -- and what to do if you can't

2010-06-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

How to remember passwords -- and what to do if you can't

Low Mortgage Rates Point to Perfectly Sunny Summer

2010-05-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

By Patricia Orsini

Europe just delivered the U.S. housing market a pleasant surprise for summer. Thanks to the financial chaos across the pond, experts are forecasting that mortgage rates may fall to 4.5 percent over the next few months, rather than shoot up to 6 percent, as previously predicted.

This could provide the historic opportunity many buyers have been waiting for.

The lower rates are good news for home sellers, as well. When the Obama administration's tax credit expired at the end of April, some real estate brokers were convincing sellers to reduce asking prices by $8,000 -- the same amount first-time buyers might have gotten through tax credits in the preceding months. With reduced rates, the cost of a home goes down, and sellers might be able to sell closer to their original asking price.

It's also a reversal of fortune for the more than half of all borrowers with 30-year fixed-rate mortgages of 5.75 percent or higher, who might be able to refinance their rates at more than a full percentage point. Furthermore, more people will qualify for mortgages, and others might find they qualify for a slightly larger loan.

"The lower the rate, the more affordable the mortgage payment; it's a great buying opportunity," Melissa Cohn, president of mortgage broker Manhattan Mortgage Co., in New York City, told HousingWatch.

Speaking from her office Monday afternoon, Cohn added, "We are definitely busy. People want to take advantage of this opportunity. I've been in business for 25 years; in terms of fixed rates, this is the lowest I have seen."

Mortgage rates declined this week, upending predictions that rates already had hit rock-bottom and would be increasing again as the Federal Reserve's mortgage-securities purchase program ended. The reason: Investors from around the world who are finding refuge in U.S. Treasury bonds.

Amid concerns about the global economy, America is looking like a safe bet in terms of investment. The rates on the bonds decrease when there is more investment; when Treasury bonds drop, so do mortgage rates.

This wasn't something people were predicting a month ago, when projections were for interest rates to go up, says Manhattan Mortgage's Cohn. On Monday, the average rate for a 30-year, fixed-rate loan was 4.87 percent.

In late March, according to Freddie Mac, the average 30-year mortgage rate was 4.9 percent. By the week of April 8, the rate had gone up to 5.21 percent, then dropped slightly in the following weeks.

The rush to qualify for the tax credit made April a big one for home sales -- existing home sales were up 7.6 percent from March. But there still are plenty for sale. At the end of April, there was an 8.4-month supply of homes nationwide.

Not everyone believes the lower rates will boost the number of home sales. Unemployment remains high, and qualifying for a mortgage is not as easy as it once was.

Nevertheless, the low rates and large number of homes for sale scream opportunity for buyers. But they need to act quickly, says Cohn. While the Wall Street Journal reported that industry-watchers are saying rates could go as low as 4.5 percent this summer, Cohn says no one knows how this is going to play out.

"The mortgage rates are based on the economy, and the economy is volatile right now," she says. "When we start seeing positive signs in Europe, the rates will start going up again."

Cohn's advice: Stay on top of the news. "If the markets are volatile, the rates can change more than once a day.

"Before they head north," she says, "take advantage of the volatility."

Housing Bounce Starts in 2011, Says Index of Top Experts

2010-05-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

If you're keeping track of all the real estate surveys out there, add this one to your list: MacroMarkets, the research firm founded by housing sage Robert Shiller, has started releasing a monthly "home expectations survey" that asks a hundred of the country's top housing analysts to forecast prices five years out.

And guess what? May's consensus predicts national home prices, as measured by the benchmark S&P/Case-Shiller Index, to start recovering next year. That might seem optimistic, as the index has been sinking steadily over the past three years, with only one uptick posted so far (in February's data, the latest available).

After a fat zero predicted for this year's price gain, the survey sees 2 percent growth next year, a pace which adds up to a cumulative 12.36 percent by the end of 2014. The range of predictions for 2014 runs from a depressing -17.99 percent to a giddy +36.74 percent.

"This is not necessarily a resounding indicator of a raging bull market, but it's a more optimistic projection than we would have seen ... six months ago," says Terry Loebs, MacroMarkets managing director and co-developer of the survey.

But do these numbers mean anything?

As Henry Blodget pointed out on Business Insider: "the vast majority of the analysts in the survey didn't see a crash coming (ever) in 2007." He adds that such a speedy recovery within five years of a bust would be unusual. "Usually after a bubble bursts, prices fall way below trend for a while. If this forecast is right, they won't even have fallen back to trend, let alone below it," he writes.

Loebs counters that old rules don't apply. "We are in uncharted territory," he says. "We're coming off of a historic bubble and an historic series of government programs to support the housing market."

And of course, everyone has a good reason for their forecast.

The Wall Street Journal's James Hagerty spoke to economists on either end of the scale. Gary Shilling, who runs a firm that offers economic advice to"'leading corporations" and institutional investors, offered the most bearish prediction: He is concerned about oversupply of inventory, including those from looming foreclosures (read: shadow inventory). On the other side, James LaVorgna, a Deutsche Bank economist whose prediction was the most bullish, argued that a job market rebound would spark enough demand.

My view: MacroMarket's survey is worth tracking, even if just as an indicator of sentiment. The firm created the influential S&P/Case-Shiller Index and its co-founder, Robert Shiller, is the same Yale economist who warned about the housing bubble long before it was fashionable.

Hopefully this survey will make it easier to spot the Shillers of the next housing bubble. (Pun fully intended.)
by Dalia Fahmy

Thinking About Refinancing? You May Want to Get Off the Fence!

2010-04-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

By JENNIFER OLDHAM

With mortgage rates bouncing around like a child's plastic yo-yo, pulled down by government intervention in the housing market and yanked back up again by a strengthening economy, experts say now is the moment for homeowners to refinance.
Home Description: Select One Single Family Multi-Family Condominium Townhouse Mobile Home Manufactured Home Your Credit Profile: Select One Excellent Good Fair Needs Improvement Poor Advertisement Homeowners have been spoiled over the last decade with historically low mortgage rates. But that's about to change, now that the market is believed to be bottoming out.

"We're probably at the trough, or not far from the trough, in terms of rates," says Sam Khater, a senior economist with First American CoreLogic. "Any time rates are in the 5% range they are very low relative to history. We forget that the longer-term average for a 30-year fixed is 7%."

Homeowners With Adjustable-Rate Mortgages
Among the homeowners who should seriously consider refinancing now are folks who are in the unusual situation of holding an exotic adjustable-rate mortgage or ARM, that is currently clocking in at rates as low as 3%. Another group who should act now: homeowners with option ARMS that are due to adjust in the next two years, says Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com. While refinancing now might seem counterintuitive, it can help these homeowners from adjusting to much higher rates next year.

Compare Rates in Your Area
Select Your State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming "Doing that for many borrowers will mean trading away a very low rate for a higher rate right now," McBride says. "A lot of people, they will say 'Wait a minute, why trade in a rate at 3.5% for one at 5.5%?' Well, you're trading away a 3.5% to lock in at a 5.5%, so you're 3.5% doesn't turn into a 7.5% a few years from now--which is very possible."

It's difficult to say how many borrowers have adjustable-rate mortgages like these, although statistics show that the dollar amount of these loans that are scheduled to reset over the next few years is as high as $20 billion a month, says McBride.
Some buyers understand the high stakes in the mortgage interest rate guessing game. David Shaw, the chief executive officer of Quantum Health, recently refinanced the interest-only mortgage on his three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,577-square-foot home near Venice Beach. Calif. to avoid paying higher rates when it adjusted a few years from now.

"I had a five-year-interest-only" loan, Shaw says, "and thought that since rates are very low now, but would be going up soon, I'd be better off with a 30-year fixed. I got it at 4.75%."

Like Shaw, many folks are already looking to cash in on historic low rates, with mortgage purchase applications increasing last month to their highest level since last Halloween. Many homebuyers are rushing to close loans before the expiration of the government's homebuyer tax credit program this month.

But what the government giveth it also taketh away. As rates ticked upward in early April, the federal government ended a program to buy loans from mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, according to a weekly survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association. This massive infusion of cash into the market helped drive rates to their lowest level in three decades. Now that the cash is drying up rates are expected to rise.

Homeowners with Underwater Loans
Another group that should refinance sooner rather than later are homeowners with "underwater" mortgages that owe more on the loan than the home is worth.
Ideal candidates for refinancing are those who plan to stay in their homes for at least two to four years and who have "reasonable equity" of around 10%, together with an interest rate north of 6.6%, said Keith Gumbinger, a vice president at HSH Associates.

An expansion of the federal government's Home Affordable Modification Program announced last month allows investors to refinance these borrowers into loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration. There are several steps homeowners should take if they're considering refinancing. If prices in your area have already tumbled and there's more than a six-month supply of homes on the market, analysts say it's not worth waiting for even lower rates because lagging values are likely to drive down your equity further.

Bankrate.com offers a search engine to uncover the lowest interest rates in your area and what terms are required to qualify. The web site also has calculators that allow homeowners to figure out how making the change from an adjustable to a fixed-rate mortgage would impact their monthly payment.
Even those who are underwater--and there are many, with one in four of the nation's homeowners currently owing more on their home than it's worth--may qualify for a refinancing by taking advantage of the federal government's loan modification program. To find out if you may qualify, visit http://makinghomeaffordable.gov/eligibility.html.

Why it's Time to Refinance Now
Many homeowners have already jumped on the refinancing bandwagon. Over three million of them took advantage of federal programs--and the lowest average annual mortgage rates since reliable tracking began in 1971— in 2009. Borrowers who have refinanced have typically saved $108 a month in mortgage payments, according to a report by First American CoreLogic.

Kevin Wolf, the public relations rep says he didn't start the refinancing process sooner because he was concerned his home would appraise for less last year and he wanted to wait to finalize this year's taxes. He hopes to save at least $500 a month on his mortgage—which will come in handy with two kids in school starting this fall.
"Priority number one is to lower monthly payments," Wolf said. "With rates low and likely to climb, I figure now is the time to re-fi."

Restaurant.com 60% off coupon code

2010-04-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

Restaurant.com 60% off coupon code

Julien Duret, Mystery Man Who Helped Rescue Bridget Sheridan from New York's East River, Is Found in France - AOL News

2010-04-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

Who said the French don't like the Americans? Great story & a great samaritan!
Julien Duret, Mystery Man Who Helped Rescue Bridget Sheridan from New York's East River, Is Found in France - AOL News

Tricks of the trade to using scents to help sell your house

2010-04-02T13:07:00.000-07:00

Tricks of the trade to using scents to help sell your house

$600 million in housing aid on the way for 5 more states

2010-03-29T13:24:00.001-07:00

$600 million in housing aid on the way for 5 more states

Posted using ShareThis

Some dollar store stars that last for years

2010-03-24T12:08:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been, then please go! Please pass this on to your clients that buy rental properties & need to fill them up with everything! It's a great place for cleaning products to housewares! Take a look for yourself!

Some dollar store stars that last for years

The Good News About Declining Foreclosures Is Misleading

2010-03-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

The Good News About Declining Foreclosures Is Misleading

How to Use Twitter to Find Your Dream Home

2010-03-09T17:17:00.000-08:00

How to Use Twitter to Find Your Dream Home

Developers Embrace New 'Flip Tax'

2010-03-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

Developers Embrace New 'Flip Tax'

Nab a real estate deal - while you still can

2010-03-05T11:56:00.001-08:00

Nab a real estate deal - while you still can

Posted using ShareThis

aolhealth Tweets

2010-03-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

Important info for Men & Women. Some supplements are uneccessary and some are essential to take everyday. Please take a minute to read. You will be doing yourself a favor!
aolhealth Tweets

It's All a SCAM, BEWARE, Please!

2010-03-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here are the most frequent scamming targets – eBay is No. 1. And below are some classic schemes that just keeping on working for the crooks who rely on them:

Money from Nigeria (or Cleveland): Unless you really do have an aunt in Nigeria, chances are the attorney trying to reach you and give you millions is a crook. "Nigeria is a lawless place and these Nigerians are seriously bad people," Yoder says. They are members of organized crime groups that have been running these scams for years, and even though the whole concept has become a joke, they still keep making money.

Stuck in a foreign country and needing help. These crooks break into your Facebook or Twitter account, impersonate a friend of yours and ask for money. Yoder says, "It's very convincing."

Orders to update your bank, Paypal or eBay account. Look hard at the address this kind of appeal is coming from. The first thing to the right of www. should be the name of the legitimate financial company you do business with. If it's not, hit delete as quickly as possible. "Particularly indicative of evil is a numerical address," Yoder says.

Requests to change your password: Whether they come from Facebook, MySpace, a bank or even your company's IT department, be suspicious.
Requests to open an attachment. Even if it is someone you know, this could be trouble, especially if the attachment ends in .exe or .pif

How to stop phishermen from catching

Why Does Gas Cost So Much?

2010-02-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

Why Does Gas Cost So Much?

The Coming Foreclosure Flood

2010-02-18T10:52:00.000-08:00

The Coming Foreclosure Flood

Five Tips for Selling a Home, Fast.

2010-02-17T19:06:00.000-08:00

Five Tips for Selling a Home, Fast.

Slashfood Tweets

2010-02-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

Slashfood Tweets
Sore Throat Soother!

Check this out for a sore throat! It works for me. I have bronchitis & nothing better than this easy to make soothing beverage to drink hot or cold!

DROP IN FORECLOSURES IN THE LAST MONTH!

2010-02-11T12:22:00.000-08:00

Foreclosure activity in Riverside County showed a double-digit percentage drop last month as fewer properties received filings from lenders, a real estate tracking firm reported today.

A total 6,991 mortgage default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions were recorded in Riverside County in January -- a 14 percent drop from December and a 29 percent decrease from a year ago, according to Irvine- based RealtyTrac.

With 1 in 110 households in default last month, the county had the fifth-highest foreclosure rate in the state, down from the third-highest in December, figures showed.

Stanislaus County was No. 1, followed by San Joaquin County at No. 2 and San Bernardino County at No. 3, just ahead of Merced County, according to data.

RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio said the dip in foreclosures was similar to what occurred last winter.

"If history repeats itself, we will see a surge in the numbers over the next few months as lenders foreclose on delinquent loans, where neither existing loan modification programs or the new short sale and deed-in-lieu of foreclosure alternatives work," he said.

Nationally, California ranked No. 3 in foreclosure activity in January, recording 71,817 filings -- 1 for every 187 households -- down 11 percent from December and 6 percent from a year ago, according to RealtyTrac.

Nevada was No. 1, with 1 in 95 households in default, followed by Arizona with 1 in 129, data showed.

In Riverside County, notices of default, generally the first stage in the foreclosure process, sank by the widest margin of all categories, with 2,185 filings in January compared to 2,770 in December, according to figures.

****This article was from the February 11th issue of The Desert Sun.

2009-12-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

Make a Smilebox greeting

KICK YOUR SNORING HABIT FOR GOOD!

2009-09-25T20:45:00.000-07:00

Kick your snoring habit or sleep apnea for good

(ARA) - Do you wake up fatigued because your snoring doesn't allow for a deep, good night's rest? Does your spouse complain that you keep her up all night? If so, it's time to take action before more serious health issues occur.

More than an annoyance

Although snoring is considered somewhat common, it could be an indication of sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a health condition in which breathing stops and starts throughout the night repeatedly.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an interruption of regular breathing or obstruction of the airway during sleep can pose serious complications for the health of the individual; symptoms of sleep apnea should be taken seriously.

Fix the problem before it worsens

The lack of sleep caused by snoring has been linked to a number of health problems including obesity, depression, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and more according to the CDC. So how can you fix your snoring problem?

Surgery is costly and can be dangerous, and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices, which force air through your airway, can be extremely uncomfortable. Oral appliances are an easier option, but can be costly when purchased through a dentist.

The cause of snoring

When you sleep, the muscles in the back of your mouth, tongue, and throat relax. If they relax too much, your jaw and tongue collapse and block your airway thus restricting the flow of oxygen to your lungs, heart and brain. As you breathe the muscles and uvula vibrate and knock against the back of your throat. This causes the sounds you hear during snoring.

To resume breathing, the person must awaken (although one rarely remembers the awakening) and create tension in the tongue and throat tissue. This process opens the airway and causes a distinctive snorting sound. Within a short period of time this process often repeats itself. A person may wake up several hundred times during an 8-hour sleep time. Consequently, this can cause chronic fatigue and other major health problems.

An affordable snoring solution

Skip the dentist's office and get the same quality oral device at a much lower cost in the comfort of your own home. To eliminate or reduce sleep apnea and snoring, Cure My Snore constructs a snoring oral appliance the same way dentists do for 1/3 the cost. You wear this oral appliance while sleeping. The oral appliance repositions your lower jaw forward and does not allow your jaw to collapse and block your air passage way while you are sleeping. By maintaining the air passage way clear while you are sleeping, Cure My Snore oral appliance eliminates or reduces your sleep apnea and snoring.

Cure My Snore can:

-Eliminate or reduce snoring
-Eliminate or reduce sleep apnea
-Eliminate or reduce depression
-Eliminate or reduce daytime fatigue

Extensive Research

More than 127 clinical studies performed by more than 100 universities and hospitals, including Harvard and Yale, have shown that oral appliances eliminate or reduce sleep apnea and snoring.

You would pay your dentist $700 for a comparable device. The Cure My Snore kit is available for 2 payments of $69.95 and includes:

-Impression kit
-Lab work
-Custom snoring oral appliance
-Carrying case
I-nstructions chart

Stop snoring and live longer. Visit http://www.adfusion.com/adfusion.partnersite/LinkRedirect.aspx?UserFeedGuid=790f937a-c021-4f40-b71d-51b495ef27d1&ArticleId=2124&ComboId=5920&LinkId=1&salt=KzkWrgq today and take the quiz to find out if the Cure My Snore oral appliance will work for you.

Sponsored content provided by ARALifestyle. Copyright ARAnet, Inc.

Social Media Revolution - a Must See Video

2009-09-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

This is by far one of the best You Tube videos on the Social Media Revolution! Take a few minutes & please watch this! You will be very happy you did & will want to be a part of it as well!
Get with it everyone, it is not just the future, it is the present & a free present at that!

Have a day filled with laughter & sunshine!
J&L
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIFYPQjYhv8

Sad Week for the Entertainment World

2009-09-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

Folk Legend Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary Dies at 72. May she RIP. What an amazing singer!

Don't like to be the barers of bad news but:'Laugh-In' actor Henry Gibson died today too at 73....May he RIP. I loved him on Laugh In & then as a judge on Boston Legal.

They will be deeply missed along with Patrick Swayze.

AMAZING DESERT HOME W/ ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR VIEWS!

2009-09-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

THIS IS ONE HOME THAT SHOULD BE SEEN BY EVERYONE. THE VIEWS ARE JUST SPECTACULAR! http://www.tinyurl.com/lh64fg

Patrick Swayze Loses His Battle With Cancer at 57

2009-09-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

On a sad note....Patrick Swayze the hunky actor who starred in two of the biggest romantic hits of the 1980s, 'Ghost' and 'Dirty Dancing,' died Monday after a spirited battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 57. "Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months," said a statement by his publicist, Annett Wolf. No other details were provided.
http://tinyurl.com/oqg6wf

Are You Ready for an Earthquake?

2009-09-14T15:53:00.000-07:00

We went on line and pulled some information on being prepared for an Earthquake. Attached there is some very useful information from The American Red Cross.

Here's what You can do to prepare for such an emergency:

-Prepare a Disaster Supplies Kit for home and car, including first aid kit and essential medications.
-Canned food and can opener.
-At least three gallons of water per person.
-Protective clothing, rainwear and bedding or sleeping bags.
-Battery-powered radio, flashlight and extra batteries.
-Special items for infant, elderly or disabled family members.
-Written instructions for how to turn off gas, electricity, and water if authorities advise you to do so. (Remember, you’ll need a professional to turn natural gas service back on.)
-Keeping essentials, such as a flashlight and sturdy shoes by your bedside.
-Know what to do when the shaking begins. DROP, COVER, AND HOLD ON!
-Move only a few steps to a nearby safe place. Stay indoors until the shaking stops and you’re sure it’s safe to exit. Stay away from windows. In a high-rise building expect the fire alarms and sprinklers to go off during a quake.
-If you are in bed, hold on and stay there, protecting your head with a pillow.
-If you are outdoors, find a clear spot away from buildings, trees and power lines. Drop to the ground.
-If you are in a car, slow down and drive to a clear place (as described above). Stay in the car until the shaking stops.
-Identify what to do after the shaking stops.
-Check yourself for injuries. Protect yourself from further danger by putting on long pants, a longsleeved shirt, sturdy shoes, and work gloves.
-Check others for injuries. Give first aid for serious injuries.
-Look for and extinguish small fires. Eliminate fire hazards. Turn off the gas if you smell gas or think it’s leaking. (Remember, only a professional should turn it back on.)
-Listen to the radio for instructions.
-Expect aftershocks. Each time you feel one, DROP, COVER AND HOLD ON!
-Inspect your home for damage.
-Get everyone out if your home is unsafe.
-Use the telephone only to report life-threatening emergencies.

Earthquakes can happen in most states . . . anytime . . . without warning. Reducing hazards and knowing what to do can make a big difference in how an earthquake affects your household. Adults and children in the household should talk about what you will do when an earthquake happens. This checklist will get you started in planning. Have various members of the household complete each of the items on the checklist below. Then get together to finalize your Home
Earthquake Plan.

Pick one or more “safe places” in each room of your home. Practice DROP, COVER AND HOLD ON! in each place.
Write the locations of safe places in each room of your home—
Bedroom: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Bedroom: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Living room: __________________________________________________________________________________
Kitchen: ______________________________________________________________________________________
Other rooms: __________________________________________________________________________________
____ Choose an out-of-town relative or friend to be a family contact person.
Family contact: ________________________________________________________________________________
Phone number: ________________________________________________________________________________
____ Put together disaster supplies kits.
Location of home kit: __________________________________________________________________________
Date assembled: _______________________________________________________________________________
Shoes and flashlight put next to everyone’s bed: ____________________________________________________
(date)
Smaller kit put in car: __________________________________________________________________________
(date)
____ Teach household members how to turn off utilities.
Location of gas and water valves and electrical switches and turnoff tools: ______________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
____ Install strong latches or bolts on cabinets.
____ Secure water heater to wall studs with two steel straps.
____ Bolt bookcases, china cabinet, and tall furniture to wall studs.
____ Secure items that might fall (TV, books, computers, etc.).
And remember . . . when an earthquake, tornado, flood, fire, or other emergency happens in your community, you can count on your local American Red Cross chapter to be there to help you and your family. Your Red Cross is not a government agency and depends on contributions of your time, money, and blood.

For more information, please contact your local American Red Cross chapter or emergency management office.

You can also visit these Web sites:
American Red Cross: www.redcross.org
Federal Emergency Management Agency: www.fema.gov
U.S. Geological Survey: www.usgs.gov

We hope this is helpful. Please do yourself a favor, print it out & complete as much as you can. We sure will!
Have a great day!
Jeff & Linda

Senate Loses it's Lion

2009-08-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

Senate loses its lion; nation mourns icon
By GLEN JOHNSON • The Associated Press • August 26, 2009

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the last surviving brother in an enduring political dynasty and one of the most influential senators in history, died Tuesday night at his home on Cape Cod after a yearlong struggle with brain cancer. He was 77.

In nearly 50 years in the Senate, Kennedy, a liberal Democrat, served alongside 10 presidents — his brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy among them — compiling an impressive list of legislative achievements on health care, civil rights, education, immigration and more.
In a brief statement to reporters at his rented vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., President Barack Obama eulogized Kennedy as one of the “most accomplished Americans” in history — and a man whose work in Congress helped give millions new opportunities.
“Including myself,” added the nation’s first black president.
Kennedy’s only run for the White House ended in defeat in 1980, when President Jimmy Carter turned back his challenge for the party’s nomination. More than a quarter-century later, Kennedy handed then-Sen. Barack Obama an endorsement at a critical point in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, explicitly likening the young contender to President Kennedy.
To the American public, Kennedy was best known as the last surviving son of America’s most glamorous political family, father figure and, memorably, eulogist of an Irish-American clan plagued again and again by tragedy. But his career was forever marred by an accident at Chappaquiddick in 1969, when a car he was driving plunged off a bridge, killing a young woman.
Kennedy’s death triggered an outpouring of superlatives from Democrats and Republicans as well as foreign leaders.
“If Teddy were here, .. as they say in the Senate, if you would excuse a moment of personal privilege, I personally think it would be inappropriate for me to say too much about the initiative we're announcing today and not speak to my friend,” Vice President Joe Biden said during a public appearance. He said he was “truly, truly distressed by his passing.”
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“Teddy spent a lifetime working for a fair and more just America and for 36 years I had the privilege of going to work every day ... and being a witness to history,” an emotional Biden added. “Every day I was with him ... He restored my sense of idealism and my faith in the possibilities of what this country could do.”
Sen. Orrin Hatch, the conservative Republican from Utah who was alternately a political partner and opponent of the unapologetic liberal for three decades, said “Ted Kennedy was an iconic, larger than life United States Senator whose influence cannot be overstated.” He listed of nearly a dozen bipartisan bills they worked on jointly, including a federally funded program for victims of HIV/AIDS, health insurance for lower-income children and tax breaks to encourage the development of medicine for rare diseases.
Kennedy’s family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday.
“We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,” it said. “We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all.”
A few hours later, two vans left the famed Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port in pre-dawn darkness. Both bore hearse license plates — with the word “hearse” blacked out.
Several hundred miles away, flags few at half-staff at the U.S. Capitol, and Obama ordered the same at the White House and all federal buildings.
There was no immediate word on funeral arrangements. Two of Kennedy’s brothers, John and Robert, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington.
In his later years, Kennedy cut a barrel-chested figure, with a swath of white hair, a booming voice and a thick, widely imitated Boston accent. He coupled fist-pumping floor speeches with his well-honed Irish charm and formidable negotiating skills. He was both a passionate liberal and a clear-eyed pragmatist, willing to reach across the aisle.
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He was first elected to the Senate in 1962, taking the seat that his brother John had occupied before winning the White House, and served longer than all but two senators in history.
His own hopes of reaching the White House were damaged — perhaps doomed — in 1969 by the scandal that came to be known as Chappaquiddick. He sought the White House more than a decade later, lost the Democratic nomination to President Jimmy Carter, and bowed out with a stirring valedictory that echoed across the decades: “For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.”
Kennedy was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in May 2008 and underwent surgery and a grueling regimen of radiation and chemotherapy.
He made a surprise return to the Capitol last summer to cast the decisive vote for the Democrats on Medicare. He made sure he was there again last January to see his former Senate colleague Barack Obama sworn in as the nation’s first black president, but suffered a seizure at a celebratory luncheon afterward.
He also made a surprise and forceful appearance at last summer’s Democratic National Convention, where he spoke of his own illness and said health care was the cause of his life. His death occurred precisely one year later, almost to the hour.
He was away from the Senate for much of this year, leaving Republicans and Democrats to speculate about the impact what his absence meant for the fate of Obama’s health care proposals.
Under state law, Kennedy’s successor will be chosen by special election. In his last known public act, the senator urged Massachusetts state legislators to give Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick the power to name an interim replacement. But that appears unlikely, leaving Democrats in Washington with one less vote for at least the next several months as they struggle to pass Obama’s health care legislation.
His death came less than two weeks after that of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver on Aug. 11. Kennedy was not present for the funeral, an indication of the precariousness of his own health. Of nine children born to Joseph and Rose Kennedy, only one — Jean Kennedy Smith, survives.
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In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Kennedy’s son Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., said his father had defied the predictions of doctors by surviving more than a year with his fight against brain cancer.
The younger Kennedy said that gave family members a surprise blessing, as they were able to spend more time with the senator and to tell him how much he had meant to their lives.
Kennedy arrived at his place in the Senate after a string of family tragedies. He was the only one of the four Kennedy brothers to die of natural causes.
Kennedy’s eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a plane crash in World War II. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down in Los Angeles as he campaigned for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination.
Years later, in 1999, John F. Kennedy Jr. was killed in a plane crash at age 38. His wife died with him.
It fell to Ted Kennedy to deliver the eulogies, to comfort his brothers’ widows, to mentor fatherless nieces and nephews. It was Ted Kennedy who walked JFK’s daughter, Caroline, down the aisle at her wedding.
Tragedy had a way of bringing out his eloquence.
Kennedy sketched a dream of a better future as he laid to rest his brother Robert in 1968: “My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.”
After John Jr’s death, the senator said: “We dared to think, in that other Irish phrase, that this John Kennedy would live to comb gray hair, with his beloved Carolyn by his side. But like his father, he had every gift but length of years.”
His own legacy was blighted on the night of July 18, 1969, when Kennedy drove his car off a bridge and into a pond on Chappaquiddick Island, on Martha’s Vineyard. Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28-year-old worker with RFK’s campaign, was found dead in the submerged car’s back seat 10 hours later.
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Kennedy, then 37, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a two-month suspended sentence and a year’s probation. A judge eventually determined there was “probable cause to believe that Kennedy operated his motor vehicle negligently ... and that such operation appears to have contributed to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne.”
At the height of the scandal, Kennedy went on national television to explain himself in an extraordinary 13-minute address in which he denied driving drunk and rejected rumors of “immoral conduct” with Ms. Kopechne. He said he was haunted by “irrational” thoughts immediately after the accident, and wondered “whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys.” He said his failure to report the accident right away was “indefensible.”
After Chappaquiddick especially, Kennedy gained a reputation as a heavy drinker and a womanizer, a tragically flawed figure haunted by the fear that he did not quite measure up to his brothers. As his weight ballooned, he was lampooned by comics and cartoonists in the 1980s and ’90s as the very embodiment of government waste, bloat and decadence.
In 1991, Kennedy roused his nephew William Kennedy Smith and his son Patrick from bed to go out for drinks while staying at the family’s Palm Beach, Fla., estate. Later that night, a woman Smith met at a bar accused him of raping her at the home.
Smith was acquitted, but the senator’s carousing — and testimony about him wandering about the house in his shirttails and no pants — further damaged his reputation.
Kennedy offered a mea culpa in a speech at Harvard that October, recognizing “my own shortcomings, the faults in the conduct of my private life.”
Politically, his concession speech at the Democratic convention in 1980 turned out to be a defining moment. At 48, he seemed liberated from the towering expectations and high hopes invested in him after the death of his brothers, and he plunged into his work in the Senate. In his later years, after he had divorced and remarried, he came to be regarded as a statesman on Capitol Hill, with a growing reputation as an effective, hard-working lawmaker.
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His legislative achievements included bills to provide health insurance for children of the working poor, the landmark 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, Meals on Wheels for the elderly, abortion clinic access, family leave, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
He was also a key negotiator on legislation creating a Medicare prescription drug benefit for senior citizens, was a driving force for peace in Ireland and a persistent critic of the war in Iraq.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement that said: “Ted Kennedy’s dream was the one for which the Founding Fathers fought and for which his brothers sought to realize. The liberal lion’s mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die.”
Former first Lady Nancy Reagan said that her husband and Kennedy “could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another.”
Whatever his national standing, Kennedy was unbeatable in Massachusetts. He won his first election in 1962, filling out the unexpired portion of his brother’s term. He won an eighth term in 2006. Kennedy served close to 47 years, longer than all but two senators in history: Robert Byrd of West Virginia (50 years and counting) and the late Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who died after a tenure of nearly 47½ years.
Born in 1932, the youngest of Joseph and Rose Kennedy’s nine children, Edward Moore Kennedy was part of a family bristling with political ambition, beginning with maternal grandfather John F. “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, a congressman and mayor of Boston.
Round-cheeked Teddy was thrown out of Harvard in 1951 for cheating, after arranging for a classmate to take a freshman Spanish exam for him. He eventually returned, earning his degree in 1956.
He went on to the University of Virginia Law School, and in 1962, while his brother John was president, announced plans to run for the Senate seat JFK had vacated in 1960. A family friend had held the seat in the interim because Kennedy was not yet 30, the minimum age for a senator.
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Kennedy was immediately involved in a bruising primary campaign against state Attorney General Edward J. McCormack, a nephew of U.S. House Speaker John W. McCormack.
“If your name was simply Edward Moore, your candidacy would be a joke,” chided McCormack.
Kennedy won the primary by 300,000 votes and went on to overwhelmingly defeat Republican George Cabot Lodge, son of the late Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, in the general election.
Devastated by his brothers’ assassinations and injured in a 1964 plane crash that left him with back pain that would plague him for decades, Kennedy temporarily withdrew from public life in 1968. But he re-emerged in 1969 to be elected majority whip of the Senate.
Then came Chappaquiddick.
Kennedy still handily won re-election in 1970, but he lost his leadership job. He remained outspoken in his opposition to the Vietnam War and support of social programs but ruled out a 1976 presidential bid.
In the summer of 1978, a Gallup Poll showed that Democrats preferred Kennedy over President Carter 54 percent to 32 percent. A year later, Kennedy decided to run for the White House with a campaign that accused Carter of turning his back on the Democratic agenda.
The difficult task of dislodging a sitting president was compounded by Kennedy’s fumbling answer to a question posed by CBS’ Roger Mudd: Why do you want to be president?
“Well, it’s um, you know you have to come to grips with the different issues that, ah, we’re facing,” Kennedy said. “I mean, we can, we have to deal with each of the various questions of the economy, whether it’s in the area of energy ...”
Long afterward, he said, “Well, I learned to lose, and for a Kennedy that’s hard.” Kennedy married Virginia Joan Bennett, known as Joan, in 1958. They divorced in 1982. In 1992, he married Washington lawyer Victoria Reggie. His survivors include a daughter, Kara Kennedy Allen; two sons, Edward Jr. and Patrick, a congressman from Rhode Island; and two stepchildren, Caroline and Curran Raclin.
Edward Jr. lost a leg to bone cancer in 1973 at age 12. Kara had a cancerous tumor removed from her lung in 2003. In 1988, Patrick had a non cancerous tumor pressing on his spine removed. He has also struggled with depression and addiction and announced in June that he was re-entering rehab.
Kennedy’s memoir, “True Compass,” is set to be published in the fall.

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