Economy Woes & TV Shoes

Howdy everyone. I hope your having a great day. I have been so far, just got done playing a round of golf at The Governors Club with my boss and some other agents. It has to be one of the nicest courses I've ever played. I am pretty darn bad at golf but I enjoy playing. I trumped my normal goal of getting one par on the day, with a whole two pars. That called for some celebrating at the clubhouse after the round.

Speaking of achieving goals, many of you know my friends Heba & Ed are on The Biggest Loser this season. I went to the viewing party they hosted Tuesday and got to see them win an RV! I think everyone see's them as a big threat for how many challenges they have been winning, let's just hope they can keep it up. Tuesday nights at 8:00, make sure you are cheering on the orange team.

So last time I wrote I was going on about ECU football. Well that has taken a turn for the worst if you hadn't noticed. I really hope we can get it together and win the rest of our schedule, I'd hate for us to be some early season flash in the pan. I had to skip the game in Greenville this past weekend. Between showing houses and dog sitting for my old pal Delilah I couldn't make the trip. I was living with my friend Matt at the time he got her and for 2 years after, so it was fun getting to spend a weekend with her.

Right now my business is still moving, but the market is not making it an easy job. I am working with one buyer at the moment looking at foreclosures. There are plenty of these on the market right now, with a handful of them being good opportunities. The home we ended up pursuing is a short sale. The way a short sale works is a bank owes more than they are selling it for, they simply want to cut their losses. These tend to be better investments than other foreclosures. There are lots of situations where banks have given 1st & 2nd mortgages for close to the value of the home. When prices were increasing, this made sense. Now with prices stalling or falling, there is no way for the banks to recoup all their money; with no real investment opportunities in these homes they will sit on the market with the rest.

With all the money banks now have tied up in these homes, there is a limited amount of funds to lend. With the economic bailout plan set to be voted on today, the goal will be to put these funds back in place for the American consumer to borrow. It is a harsh reality to see now what has occurred, and the economy has learned a tough lesson. I suggest reading this article from 1999, which shows some seeds being planted that spurned this mortgage crisis.

I have seen some pretty creative ways to sell a property in recent months. Real Estate raffles seem to becoming quite popular with homeowners. I may buy a ticket for this house, $50 seems like a good price for a waterfront home. Other homeowners who can't sell will have to face the reality of foreclosure. I've sat with many of these homeowners where there is no solution in site. I find most people are more concerned with what their neighbors think thank their own financial future. In other news of note, I've recently put in my application to do some substitute teaching. I have a pretty flexible schedule so I look forward to being able to do this once or twice a week. I went by my old elementary the other day and let all my past teachers know, I'm pretty excited to be going to back to Ephesus Elementary now and then. Have a great weekend.