Home Tracker - Keep Track of Your Home's Value

Here is a challenging & fun electronic puzzle that has an interesting message.

Coldwell Banker's Home Tracker service will let you track the value of your home or any other home in the current market. You will get automatic updates every time the value of your home changes based on home sales in your neighborhood.

Give the puzzle a try and contact me at rahaworth@cox.net to set up your own free personal Home Tracker account. See if your kids can solve the puzzle quicker than you can (be careful betting on this).

Click the arrow on the puzzle to begin.



Richard

Voting for Judge Retention in November 08

In an effort to reduce some of the confusion we all face when Judge Retention is on the ballot (as it will be in Nov '08), I am providing a link to a judge evaluation Blog that talks about this issue in detail.

WARNING: This Blog makes no bones about being conservatively oriented and so it is. But that is plan from the outset and can be factored in to what is presented there. It certainly characterizes judges as conservative or liberal. That much seems to be accurate.

This is the only internet resource I have been able to find that even TALKS about Judge Retention. I figure some information is better than going in blind.

You can click here to access this Blog.

Good luck.

Richard

Foreclosure Prevention

I have signed up to attend a Foreclosure Prevention/Loss Mitigation training session on November 14th. It is sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Arizona Foreclosure Prevention Committee. It will cover ways to avoid foreclosures by working with lending institutions and strategies to help homeowners stay in their homes.

Look for my post-training debrief here at the Blog.

Richard

Arizona Ballot Propositions

I wanted to give you a summary of two Ballot Propositions that will be voted on in Arizona in November. Both involve real estate. If you are an Arizona voter PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU VOTE.

PROPOSITION 100

If passed, this Initiative would prohibit the State Legislature from enacting a real estate transfer tax when you sell or buy a home. This would be an additional tax over and above what we pay now. The Proposition would amend the State Constitution so that the Legislature could not override it by passing a law. With the current State Budget in the red by quite a bit, Proposition 100 will block the Legislature from enacting a real estate transfer tax as a way to help make up the state's substantial tax income shortfall. The Arizona Association of Realtors sponsored this Proposition and recommends a "yes" vote as do I.

PROPOSITION 201

This Propositon is a bit tricky. You have probably been seeing ads on both sides of this Proposition. At first blush it sounds good, More protection for home buyers and protection against the big builders. But, if some of the ads are to be believed, ANYONE can sue a home seller for up to 10 years after the sale. Evidently, it will apply to private home sellers as well as builders.

A home builder friend of mine predicted that if Prop 201 passes, new home building will be drastically curtailed because builders will not want to build homes in, what will be for them, a legally more risky environment. For me, that is an important consideration.

Read your voter materials on Prop 201 and make up your own mind. Remember, this is a long Proposition and with long ones the devil is often in the details.

Richard

You Don't Have To Loose Your Home

A national survey recently by the Mortgage Banks Association found that almost 50% of the people who have lost their homes to foreclosure never once contacted their lender.

That is probably the worst error a homeowner can make when they are having trouble making their mortgage payment.

There are scads of programs out there to help distressed homeowners work out SOLUTIONS to their payment program. Here are a couple ...

- Guide to Avoiding Foreclosure (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development)

- The HOPE NOW Alliance and the Homeowner’s HOPE Hotline (1-888-995-HOPE)

If you know anyone who is in mortgage trouble or is heading in that direction, have them look at the two links above or at least call their mortgage lender.

Help is available.

Richard

Just for Fun - Ladies Over 40

Attributed to Andy Rooney of CBS's 60 Minutes TV program, the following is offered for your entertainment.

Richard

For all those ladies over 40
THIS IS PRICELESS!

In case you missed it on 60 Minutes, this is what Andy Rooney thinks about women over 40:


60 Minutes Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS)

As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, 'What are you thinking?' She doesn't care what you think. If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting. Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it. Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated. Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart. Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her. Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize.

For all those men who say, 'Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?', here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!

Andy Rooney is a really smart guy!

Forward to five fine, fun, fabulous, fancy-free female friends over 40 or who have female friends over 40!

Here is nice saying:

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Official Buyer's Advisory for Arizona

Click on the link below to go to the Arizona Department of Real Estate's BUYER ADVISORY. This is an excellent resource for all sorts of community information and things you should know about buying a home.

Consider yourself a veteran home buyer? I'll bet you even money you will find something in the Advisory that is new.

My recommendation? Take time to take a look.

Click here to go to the advisory.

Richard