Are the Rules Changing for Real Estate for 2007? Part 3

Strategy 3:
Take out a hedge
During the real estate boom, many homeowners treated their houses like ATMs, tapping their ever-growing equity for quick cash. Not anymore. Rising rates have made refinancing the mortgage or taking out a home-equity loan an expensive proposition. Now a San Francisco firm called Rex & Co. (the name stands for "real estate equity exchange") is offering a new option, known as a Rex agreement, that can be used both to draw on a home's equity and to hedge against declining property values.Rex gives homeowners, interest-free, a portion of their house's market price in cash - up to 15 percent of the appraised value of the home, topping out at $300,000. In exchange, Rex gets the right to share in up to half of the future increase in the home's value. The more homeowners are willing to let Rex cash in on future profit, the more money they get up front. If a home declines in value - and many homeowners nowadays are worried about just that - Rex shares in the loss. "It's a way to make the equity you've earned more liquid," says Rex CEO Thomas Sponholtz.
A homeowner and Rex agree on how much money the property owner is to receive, as well as the percentage of the future change in the value of the home he or she is willing to share. (The homeowner also pays back the cash advance when the property is sold.) The home's value is assessed by a third-party appraiser.To discourage flipping, Rex charges a hefty early-exit fee of up to 25 percent of the cash advance for homes that are sold within five years. And Rex can take control of the property if the homeowner is late paying the mortgage, insurance, or property taxes. Only owner-occupied detached single-family homes qualify, and those valued in the top or bottom 10 percent of their local markets are not eligible. Rex agreements are available in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington.A Rex agreement may be a good solution for homeowners who think their house will stay flat or decrease in value and who are planning to own it for many more years. Homeowners who invest their Rex cash in, say, a stock that rises in value would come out ahead in a stagnant housing market. Conversely, owners who put their Rex money into high-risk investments, and whose homes lose value, could find themselves in an even deeper hole. Rex buyer beware.REX ROULETTEHere's what could happen with a $90,000 payout on a $600,000 house with a 50/50 split on its future value.Scenario 1: The house sells for $720,000. Rex gets its $90,000 back and $60,000 in profit.Scenario 2: The home's value stays flat. Rex gets only the original $90,000.Scenario 3: The home's value falls to $480,000. The homeowner returns only $30,000 to Rex.
Via Cnnmoney.com



del.icio.us

Read more!

Are the Rules For Real Estate Changing for 2007? Part 2

Strategy 2:
Go bargain-hunting abroad
Forget that dreamy Tuscan villa or that idyllic goat farm in Spain. If you want to make money investing in real estate abroad, you need to be trolling for property in places like Bulgaria, Romania, and Tunisia. Think of them as neighborhoods on the upswing, without the Starbucks.Even with the weak dollar and the credit crunch, opportunities exist in places where the Michelin Guide is mostly thought to be a manual for installing tires. The hard part is getting leads, especially if you're stuck in an office Stateside. That's where online real estate listing service Properazzi comes in.Founded in 2006 by Yannick Laclau, Barcelona-based Properazzi boasts listings for 4 million properties in 49 countries, wrapped up in an easy-to-use Web 2.0 interface. For finding a flat in Cairo or a castle on the Black Sea, it's hard to beat.

You can search for properties either by naming a locale and then drilling down by number of bedrooms and amenities or by moving a ball over a Google map and calling up properties for sale by region. Set your language and the currency you prefer, and you're good to go. Properazzi gets its listings directly from real estate agents and by crawling more than 10,000 property sites throughout Europe and North Africa.Europe has never had a multinational multiple listing service, but in some ways that's what Properazzi has become. Europeans will talk all day about sex, Laclau says, "but they won't tell you what they paid for a house; that is taboo. We're taking a step toward transparency in a market that is shrouded in mystery."The service offers a glimpse into markets like North Africa that most Americans typically ignore but that enterprising Europeans are targeting because they're undervalued. Laclau plans to next turn his Web crawlers toward the United States and Central America and build a global database of properties for serious investors or wannabe expats. "What you want to be able to do is find that place before everyone else does," he says. "The place that everyone knows about 10 years from now, but that you got in early"
Via Cnnmoney.com



del.icio.us

Read more!

Applied Cognetics to Lose $900,000 Dollars Due to Closure of NetBank

When NetBank was shut down by federal regulators Friday, the founders of a young software company worried they could be forced into a cash crisis.

(FSB) -- After NetBank Inc. was shut down by federal regulators Friday, the founders of Applied Cognetics feared it could force their young firm into a cash crisis.
Applied Cognetics, a software development and online marketing firm based in Brooklyn, N.Y., has about $1 million in deposits in NetBank, an online bank with $2.5 billion in assets that regulators closed Friday because of an unsustainable level of mortgage defaults.

Although the FDIC insures bank deposits of up to $100,000, Applied Cognetics president Chris Colthrust and his four business partners aren't sure what will happen to the remainder of their account.
"Every penny I saved for the last 10 years was in this," said Colthrust, 39. "Basically all of our operating funds and accounts were in that bank. Everything we've worked for the last 2 years [could be] up in smoke."
A cash-intensive business, the company has more than $120,000 in accounts receivable due Monday. Colthrust and his partners will be working the phones Monday morning to alert media buyers and others the company owes that its payments are going to be delayed.
"Not only is it extremely embarrassing but shocking," Colthrust said. To meet their obligations, he worries they'll have to liquidate any of their personal savings and borrow money from friends and family until the NetBank situation is sorted out.
NetBank customers with accounts exceeding the FDIC limit will become creditors in NetBank's receivership, the FDIC said Friday.
Mike Bailey, Applied Cognetics' managing partner and head of business development, said he called the information line FDIC gave to depositors on NetBank's website, but came away with little information on the status of its money.
"You get a very nebulous answer when you call the number," Bailey said.
The NetBank website tells clients: "Please note: as of 5:00 PM EST Sunday, Sept. 30, you will be able to resume all normal account activities."
Wilmington, Del.-based ING Direct, which acquired the deposits of Alpharetta, Ga.-based NetBank Friday, referred CNNMoney's calls to the FDIC. An attempt to reach the FDIC on Saturday for comment was unsuccessful.
Colthrust, a graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, said having his money tied up in the failed bank is a serious setback for his young venture. Applied Cognetics bills itself as a one-stop shop for online lead generation and Internet development.
He and his team - who formed the company after a subprime mortgage lender where they worked was sold - have built the 10-employee company's sales to more than $10 million since it was founded in 2000. Ironically, given that lenders' catering to subprime borrowers have led to a spike in home loan defaults, subprime lead generation software is among the services Applied Cognetics sells.
Colthrust said he opened the company's account with NetBank when he was starting the venture. He had already opened a personal account with the online bank in the late 1990s. After ramping up operations two years ago, the firm started turning a profit this past March.
"This was all very new," Colthrust said. "I was living off of my savings for the last two years to get this thing started."
Why keep the business's money in an online bank? When Colthrust had approached traditional brick-and-mortar banks to open a commercial account, he found them unhelpful and the paperwork daunting. He never imagined losing access to his money.
"We're sitting here in total shock," Colthrust says. "Our money is in some unknown state. There's a lot of stuff that makes me want to cry."

Via CnnMoney.com

del.icio.us

Read more!

PickyDomains.com Pays Internet Surfers $25 Dollars To Create Domain Names

Did cybersquatters take all the good names? Or perhaps webmasters lost their creativity? Whatever the answer is, it’s all good for PickyDomains.Com. The idea for the service is brainlessly simple to say the least.
Can’t come up with a catchy domain name? Put a fifty dollar deposit and let others look for available names for you. When you see a name you like, you simply register it and your $50 is split between a person who came up with the name and the service. If you don’t see any good names, you get your money back.
Guessing from the list of already completed orders, domain contributors are very good at picking both abstract domains and descriptive ones, not to mention ubiquitous web 2.0 names. I can easily picture naming agencies charge hundreds, if not thousands for Pictoma.Com, Deprice.Com or Smartopreneur.Com
PickyDomains.Com lets anyone give it a stab at becoming a contributor (you have to register first). However, all nub suggestions have to pass moderator first. Besides the greed factor (hey, getting $25 deposited to your PayPal account for coming up with a creative domain is pretty cool), I love browsing through orders just to see what kind of websites and web services people are coming up with.
Here is a good one – Site That Lists All Happy Hours In NY City. I can see it becoming popular. Here is another unusual one – Name For Heat-Resistant Paint. Or how about Community Site Where People Come To Get Smarter? Hey I have a great idea for that one. Better submit it, before you think of something better.

http://www.pickydomains.com/

Via NicheGeek.com

del.icio.us

Read more!

Are the Rules For Real Estate Changing for 2007? Part 1

From snapping up condos on the cheap to tapping the social networking craze to find the best deals, there are ways to work the housing slump to your - and your bank account's - advantage.

Strategy 1:
Be a carnivore
Peter Zalewski is a vulture and proud of it. He's the man behind Condo Vultures Realty, a real estate brokerage and consulting firm in Bal Harbour, Fla., that is working with individual investors and syndicates to sift through the wreckage of the once-hot condominium market and snap up properties on the cheap.In recent years, places like Miami and Orlando were magnets for condo flippers, thanks to easy credit and tens of thousands of new units coming onto the market. The condos are still coming, but in recent months the buyers have vanished. Would-be flippers are sitting on properties they can't sell or rent for enough to cover their mortgages. Jack McCabe, a Deerfield Beach, Fla., real estate consultant, expects condo prices to plummet in the next 24 to 36 months.Enter the vultures.
Zalewski, who hails from southern Florida, works with all kinds of investors. The majority so far have been individuals looking to buy one or two properties worth maybe $1 million. Lately though, he's been collaborating with syndicates of investors who are pooling their money in funds ranging from $10 million for a Boulder, Colo., group to $200 million for a gang of Michigan investors. Southern Florida is not the only place ripe for a condo bloodbath, according to McCabe. Prices in Denver, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Sacramento are also likely to plunge.Zalewski has his eye on Biloxi, Miss. The one-two punch of Hurricane Katrina and the credit meltdown is sending buyers fleeing from the condo market there. "It's a true vulture's opportunity," Zalewski says. "This is pure capitalism. I am not trying to return anything to society. I am trying to make money."
Via Cnnmoney.com



del.icio.us

Read more!

No Shame in Home Based Businesses

LYNNE KILLEY followed the advice books when she opened a spa and started producing a line of natural skin care products out of her home in Pagosa Springs, Colo.: she tried to make her one-woman operation look bigger.
“I referred to the company in the third person,” she said. “I made a logo, Stella, and sometimes billed things out under Stella’s name.”
Then, last summer, Ms. Killey’s publicist organized a trip to New York so she could meet with magazine editors. In describing her business, Queen Bee Skin Care, Ms. Killey revealed that she made her products in her own kitchen. Even as she spoke, she said, she realized that perhaps her home-based model was a selling point and not something to hide.
“Here I was sitting in front of people that I needed to impress, and they just loved that I was making the stuff in my kitchen,” she said. Right about then, she rethought her strategy.
With about 50 percent of businesses in the United States based out of the home, this kind of transparency is likely to become more common. “Place honestly doesn’t matter anymore,” said Maggie Jackson, author of “What’s Happening to Home” (Sorin Books 2002).
“It is no longer a faux pas to have a life at the other end of the telephone line.” Ms. Jackson said. “It can make you feel like you’re dealing with a holistic person. And it is just another sign that we are moving away from the industrial age in that we no longer have two totally separate spheres called work and home.”
Just as customers, vendors and other outsiders are getting a chance to peek behind the curtain into home offices, home-based entrepreneurs are also getting more opportunities to interact with each other. StartupNation, an online hub for small businesses, is running a contest, the Home-Based 100, that will rank home-based businesses according to various criteria, including “the top financial performers,” “the greenest,” “the wackiest” and “boomers back in business.”
“Home-based businesses are out of the hiding part, but when we talk about business, we still talk about the Fortune 500, but not the half-trillion dollar economy of home-based businesses,” said Richard Sloan, co-founder of StartupNation. “This new community will also allow home-based businesses to connect with each other, get inspired and share best practices.”
Chris Elam, the founder and choreographer of Misnomer Dance Theater, runs the company out of his Brooklyn apartment, and he is a big proponent of transparency. His company videotapes rehearsals and even office meetings for posting on its video blog, which allows audiences to get a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run a dance company.
“Dance audiences traditionally interact with a dance company for only two hours a year and maybe get a couple of postcards,” Mr. Elam said. “But so much happens outside the performance, and we are trying to find ways of making the whole function of the company more open-source.”
Margot J. Tohn is another home-based business owner who thinks there is no point in hiding. Her decision to start a publishing business came after a disastrous evening of trying to find parking in the theater district in Manhattan. She thought she would write a book about finding parking in New York, and since she was staying in her childhood home in Larchmont, N.Y., it made sense to start her business there to keep her start-up costs low. She could also store books in the garage.
The book, “Park It! NYC”, is now in its second edition. She also works as a consultant for small financial advisers serving affluent families.
Around the same time she started her business, Ms. Tohn, 43, and her two sisters bought the house from their parents, who had moved to Florida for their retirement. Even with this rather unusual housing arrangement, Ms. Tohn says she has found that being candid often worked to her advantage.
“If the local bookstore runs out of my book, I can easily run some over,” she said. “My consulting clients know that I am unusually accessible. It isn’t uncommon for a client to call at 8 or 9 in the evening. It used to happen at 7 in the morning, but we put a stop to that.”
Clients also know that she often leaves the office midday to play tennis or tend to her garden, and leaves the cellphone behind. “When you start work 10 minutes after waking up, it’s healthy to take real breaks.”
Still, Ms. Tohn does not want to confuse her openness with a lack of professionalism. When she brings in a team of interns to help with a project, she sets them up in dining room where everyone can spread out around the table. “It’s all about creating a separate area from where I live,” she said.
She is also a stickler about noise. “I’ve learned from watching my two sisters keep home offices while raising their children,” she said. “When the door is shut to the office, it is shut, and they can’t be interrupted unless it’s blood or death.”
Debra M. Cohen, 40, by contrast, says she designed her business, a contractor referral service for homeowners, around the idea that she might be on the phone for business and her children might be making a ruckus in the background. Her company, Home Remedies of New York, has become so successful, she says, that she now offers consulting services to others who want to copy her business model in their communities. Ms. Cohen says she has home referral operators running her programs in nearly every state and Canada.
When exploring ideas for a business, she ran every idea through the “can it be done from home with kids underfoot” test, she said.
Working from home may allow for certain informalities, but it does not necessarily signal the size of an entrepreneur’s vision. Ms. Cohen’s business passed the million-dollar revenue mark four years after its founding. Bradley Rhine, 46, who works out of his home in San Jose, Calif., is a chief executive of Cogentes, a virtual consulting firm specializing in the information technology industry. Cogentes plans to hire 100 to 200 employees over the next several years.
The company has nine employees, in Atlanta, San Jose and Boston, and as it expands it does not consider where a person lives. “Our ongoing proposition as to find the best people wherever they are,” Mr. Rhine said.
He said his firm’s business model makes sense because it is now possible to outsource many aspects of a business’s operations. The company uses outside firms for payroll, benefits, human resources, recruiting and marketing.
No one commutes, and everyone can live where they want, he said. “It is just a ridiculous waste of time and resources. It is both wasteful and stressful,” he added. “Plus, it is bad for the environment.”

Via New York Times



del.icio.us

Read more!

Barry Bonds Record Home Run Ball #756 to be Permanently Branded With an Asterisk

The public has spoken and out of a total of 10 million votes online, 47% percent of the voters believed the ball should have an asterisk placed on it and sent back to Cooperstown in the Baseball Hall of Fame. 34% of the voters wanted the ball returned to cooperstown unadulterated, and only 17% of the voters wanted the ball launched into space.
Although Ecko does not state when he is going to deliver the ball, it is apparent that sports history and popular culture from this era have been given a voice through this ball that will be remembered forever. Check out vote756.com to read more on this.



del.icio.us

Read more!

10 Good Reasons to Have Credit Cards

Great read from Cash Money Life

10 Benefits of using credit cards:

1. Build credit history: Charging small amounts and paying them off is a great way to establish credit history. Without credit history, it can be more difficult to get loans (including good loans such as student loans or a mortgage), secure insurance, or even land a job. If you are able to secure a loan without any credit history, your loan rate may be higher as a result.
2. Rewards: Many credit cards offer rewards including cash back, airline miles, discounts, rebates, gift cards and many others. Most of these rewards are designed to get people hooked into using the cards or spending more than they would otherwise, but used properly, rewards points can earn you a lot of money.
3. Fraud / Theft Protection: If your card is lost or stolen, you are only responsible for the first $50 in unauthorized charges. Fraud protection for debit is similar, but only if you notify your financial institution within 2 days. If you wait longer than 2 days, you can be liable for up to $500 on your debit account. Fraud and theft protection is non-existent for cash.
4. Disputed charges: When you dispute a charge on your credit card, most credit card companies remove the charge until the dispute is resolved. With a debit card, the money will not be returned unless you can prove the dispute in your favor. With cash, the money is usually gone.

5. Emergency source of funds: I mean for a real emergency. Not everyone has $1000 cash to buy emergency airline tickets, make car repairs, deal with a natural disaster, etc. And in my opinion, paying 15% interest is much better than taking out a payday loan in an emergency. Some payday loans have interest rates near 1000% if left for an entire year.
6. Convenience: I don’t like to carry large amounts of cash with me. If you lose it, it’s gone. If it’s stolen, it’s gone. Credit cards are small, convenient, and carry better protection. They are also convenient to use to buy things on-line, or to buy large dollar items. Another, convenience is travel. I will be going on a cruise next week and if I use my credit cards I won’t need to exchange as much currency. Some credit cards don’t even charge a foreign transaction fee.
7. Car rentals: Some car rental agencies will not allow you to rent a car if you do not have a credit card. Some may allow you to rent a car with a debit card, but may lock up a substantial amount of money in your account until you return the car. You won’t be able to use those funds during that time. Many credit cards also provide additional liability insurance when you rent a car. Debit cards? Not so much.
8. Extended warranties: Many credit card companies provide extended warranties on items you purchase with their card. In some cases, the manufacturer’s warranties are doubled. That’s not a bad feature!
9. Short term loan: Credit cards usually have a grace period, after which your payment is due. This can be several weeks, which allows you to earn interest on purchases you have already made. While this may not be a big deal for a hundred dollars, if you charge a thousand dollars every month and add it up over the course of a year, you can actually earn some decent money with this. With cash or debit cards, the money is immediately removed from your account and you do not earn any interest on it.
10. Budgeting tools: Most credit card companies provide detailed transaction logs which are easily downloaded into Quicken or MS Money. This makes budgeting much easier to track and plan. Yes, it can be done with cash, but it is much more labor intensive. And time, as they say, is money.

Read more!

Update App-O-Rama: Step 2 Apply For the Credit Cards

2 weeks have passed since i performed my App-O-Rama and i have received most of my credit cards thus far. There are a few cards that i have not received however, and there are some that i found out were declined. I am considering this 1st AOR a success thus far because i have managed to secure about $104,500 in credit limits combined. It breaks down to be $51.5k in credit lines that remain 0% for 6months and $53K in credit limits that remain 0% for more than 9 months. It was a goal of mine to obtain over 50% in CL from long term balance transfer offers.

Business Cards I plan to apply for (sorted alphabetically):
advanta small business visa(0%/16mo/$50btfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred results: DENIED - too many inquries

AMEX Business Gold Rewards Card - 25,000 Bonus points with 1st purchase - 1st year waived instant results: approved amt. deffered
Deferred results: approved

Bank Atlantic Rewards Business MasterCard - 0% BT 15mo ($75)
Instant Results: deferred
Deferred Results: Approved $15k CL

BofA Business Power Rewards Visa (0%/9mo/$0BTfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred Results: Approved $5k CL

Chase Business Cash Rewards - 0% BT 12mo ($75)
instant results: deferred
deferred results: Denied business not verified



Chase Business United MP (25k miles, FYF)
instant results: deferred
deferred results: Denied business not verified

Citi Business Card with TYP - 0% BT 12mo ($0) - 15,000 TYP
instant results: deferred with accessorize page
deferred results: Approved $12k CL

Citi Business PremierPass Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($0) - 15,000 TYP 1st yr annual fee waived
instant results: Deferred with accessorize page
Deferred Results: Approved $6k CL

Discover business 0% for 12 months 75BTfee) applied 9-19-07
instant results: deferred 30 days
deferred results:

M&T Bank - Business Card (0%/6mo/$0BTfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred results: Approved $7.5k CL

National City Visa Business (0%/6mo/$0BTfee)
instant results: Approved $10k CL
Deferred results: Approved
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal Cards I applied for (sorted alphabetically):
AM.EX Starwood Preferred (10k pts, FYF)
instant results: deferred
deferred results: Approved

Baylor US BANK platinum Visa (0%/6mo/0BTfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred result: Approved $12k CL

capital one no hassle cash (0%/june08/0fee)
instant results: DENIED
deferred results: too many inquiries

chase platinum mastercard 12mo 0BTfee
instant results: Deferred 30 days in writing
defered results:

Citi Prof 0% 12mo NFBT +$15KTY
instant results: deferred for 30 day processing. probably declined
deferred results:

ESPN WaMu/Providian (0%/06mo/$0BTfee+ 25GC 1-800-497-2835
instant result: approved $7k CL
deferred result: approved

Juniper Bank Atlantic (0%/15mo/$75BTfee) -866-369-1283
instant results: Approved $15k CL
Deferred results: approved

hsbc platinum fly visa 12mo 75btfee
instant results: 10-15days defferred
Deferred results:

LaSalle Bank (0%/12mo/$75BTfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred results: Approved $15k CL

Principal 12mo 0% max 75 applied 9-19-07 877-875-8096
instant results: additional processing required 7-10 days
deferred results:

statefarm good neighbor 9months 0btfee
instant results: 7-10 days
Deferred Results: Declined Too many inquiries

wachovia visa card (0%/6mo/0fee)
instant results: deferred
deferred results: Approved $5k CL

Wells Fargo Platinum Cash.Back (0%/6mo/$0BTfee)
instant Results: deferred
deferred results: Declined can only have 1 WF card

Read more!

Free Money From August

So here is a tally from last month's made money from online surveys, giveaways, and signups. I ended up getting my hands on a $15 in new gift cards from Walmart for a short 15 minute survey. I also received two $10 starbucks giftcards for answering questions about my willingness to undergo a new plastic surgery technique which took about 15 minutes total. Thats another $35 to add to my running total of free money from 2007 to $1354 for 4.35 hours of work.

Dividends Card - $614/ 0 hours - All cash back from daily spending
Citi (Gas Rebate) - $100/ 0.5 hours - time spent filling out rebate
Mbna Rewards - $120/ 0 hours - Cash back from spending
chase identity - $20/ 0.5 hours - Filled out rebate, then cancelled
chase rewards (starbucks) - $5/ 0.1 hours - filled out short survey
sprint new service -$150/ 0.5 hours - filling out rebates
Microsoft survey Amazon GC -$200/ 1 hour - completing 2 surveys
Sprint Referral Program - $65/ 0.25 hours - talking to CSR
Chase Identity - $20/ 0.25 hours - Filled out rebate, then cancelled
Citi Identity Protector - $25 / 0.25 hours - filled out rebate
Walmart Surveys - $15 / 0.25 hours - filled out survey
Plastic Surgery Survey - $20 / 0.25 hours - filled out survey

Grand Total YTD - $1354/ 4.35 hours - total time spent

Read more!

Can Debt Be Hurting Your Body?

With more than three-fourths of American families now carrying significant debt, the stress from owing money has become a serious health threat. According to a recent study by the American Psychological Association, money is a "top source of stress for adults," and can result in devastating health consequences.
This is an excerpt from an interview with News Contributor, Dr. Sylvia Gearing.

Q: Does debt cause more health problems for us?
Dr. Sylvia: Without a doubt, financial debt is a serious trap millions of people experience. Debt leaves you with a feeling of imminent doom, overwhelming stress and as a result more health problems. Research has tied stress to health problems including high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease and stomach disorders such as colitis.

Over time, chronic debt leads to chronic worry. We eat too much, smoke too much, drink too much and generally torture ourselves to death over what we owe!
Q: Why is financial debt so difficult for all of us?
Dr. Sylvia: Money is power and in America we define ourselves by what we own and by what we control. Money is a convenient barometer of individual achievement which all of us buy into. Our society seems increasingly divided into the "ridiculously wealthy" and the rest of us who struggle to make a buck. It is difficult to be in debt in the most affluent country in the world! Unfortunately, debt can happen in the blink of an eye and we can lose everything overnight. Such devastating failures can happen when talent, hard work and commitment are all present.
Q: What happens to people when they begin to fall into debt?
Dr. Sylvia: Most of us will either remain in denial or fight back with harder work. However, it those efforts are unrewarded, we can become extremely helpless and are convinced there is nothing they can do to overcome the debt.
Q: What happens when we become helpless with money?
Dr. Sylvia: Nothing good! Hundreds of studies reveal that people with negative thinking tend to transform a temporary setback into the worst catastrophe of the century! Pessimistic prophecies tend to be self-fulfilling and we literally can create more debt by dwelling on what we don't have.
Q: Is one kind of debt worse than another?
Dr. Sylvia: Choice makes the difference! If we choose the stress, we respond better. If we are stressed because of something that happens to us, we can descend into helplessness, which is worse than the stress itself. For example, if you are in debt because you overspent, that is a far different stressor than debt, which is caused by job loss, divorce or illness.
Q: What are the negative effects of chronic financial stress?
Dr. Sylvia:
Literally Makes You Older: Unfortunately, chronic stress, from any source, can affect hormone levels and shift the body's delicate hormonal balance. Your body will age faster if the stress of debt becomes unbearable.
Women Take It Harder: Women might be flocking to plastic surgeons, diet gurus, and personal trainers for physical makeovers, but according to a Health magazine survey, they might want to add financial advisers to the list. One-third of the 940 women surveyed said their financial situation was their number-one worry, topping appearance/weight (20%), job (12%), and health (11%).
Lack of Enjoyment: Neurological studies reveal that people who are suffering from depression view the world as dull and uninteresting. Chronic money stress can literally steal your ability to enjoy your life and to appreciate what you have accomplished.
Q: What are some tips for our viewers struggling with debt?
Dr. Sylvia:
Money is a fleeting, temporary possession. You are more than what you own and greater than the situation you are in.
Break your debt into small, manageable steps that reward your effort to regain your financial footing. Pay it off gradually but consistently.
Never define yourself by the mistakes you make but by the efforts you expend. Real success in life is always defined by your intentions, not by the outcome.

Via Gearing up.com

Read more!

Just Pull the Plug if You Want to Save

I THOUGHT I was pretty good about energy conservation, but it turns out that I’ve been a bit of a hypocrite. I drive a reasonably fuel-efficient car, I work at home so I don’t use fuel to commute and I am replacing incandescent bulbs in my home with energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs.
But I am also a prodigious computer user, and it looks as if that makes me an energy hog. I started checking how much electricity my electronics were consuming when I wasn’t using them. I used a Kill A Watt EZ energy meter (available online for about $25) and began measuring. My PC was continuously drawing 134 watts all night.

The more devices I checked, the worse it got. My TiVo digital video recorder was sucking down about 30 watts when it was not playing or recording a show. A Comcast digital cable set-top box made by Motorola that I tested was drawing about 40 watts. My DVD player was drawing 26 watts while idle, and my audio system — which I rarely turned off — was using 47 watts. This was in addition to the numerous power adapters and chargers, each drawing 1 or 2 watts, not to mention several other devices sipping energy to keep clocks running or to be ready to turn on at the push of a button.
I’m partly to blame for the audio system and DVD player. They do have on/off switches that I was failing to use. I had falsely assumed they were using relatively little power. But I tested DVR’s from Comcast, Dish Network and TiVo, and none went into a low-power mode. All of this wasted power was costing me money and pumping unnecessary CO2 into the atmosphere. My PC alone was contributing 2,000 pounds of CO2 annually. The DVR. was adding another 543 pounds.
Indeed, the Department of Energy estimates that in the average home, 40 percent of all electricity used to power home electronics is consumed while the products are turned off. Add that all up, and it equals the annual output of 17 power plants, the government says. In an effort to address that, a consortium of Intel, Google, PC makers and other technology companies this week announced their intent to increase the PC’s overall energy efficiency to 90 percent.
Products that idle in what the industry calls low-power mode, or lopomo, consumed about 10 percent of total electricity in California homes, according to a 2002 study prepared for the California Energy Commission by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A few of those devices, even those with Energy Star ratings that signal that they are less wasteful, still use a lot of power. “Some of the larger big-screen TVs consume as much energy each year as a new refrigerator,” according to Noah Horowitz, a scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
You do not have to use an energy meter to reduce your consumption. If you don’t turn off your PC when it is not in use, make sure it goes into a low-power sleep, suspend or hibernate mode. That doesn’t always happen automatically. Windows XP has both a suspend and hibernate option, but it isn’t always turned on by default. Computers running the Windows XP operating system can be configured by clicking on Power Options in the Control Panel to set the number of minutes before Windows will turn off the monitor and hard disks or put the system into standby or hibernate mode. (Hibernation uses the least amount of energy). If it is a notebook PC, there are separate settings for when it runs on the battery and when it is plugged in.
Microsoft says that it has overhauled energy management in its Vista operating system so that machines, by default, should go into a low-power state after 60 minutes of inactivity. The PC sips only a few watts until the user touches the mouse or keyboard. To configure a machine with Vista, type “Power Options” in the search box at the bottom of the Start menu and click on “Change when the computer sleeps.”
All of this, of course, assumes that the systems are working correctly. When I first installed Vista on my PC, I configured it to go to sleep after 30 minutes, but it has been unreliable. Sometimes it fails to go to sleep, and at other times it fails to wake up. Sometimes I experience the worst of both worlds: the drives and fan are spinning, but the monitor is blank, and I cannot get the machine to come back to life without powering it down and turning it back on.
I spent numerous hours trying to fix the problem, including updating the BIOS, installing up-to-date versions of all my device drivers, checking to make sure there were no unnecessary applications running in the background and, of course, scanning for spyware and viruses. The results were encouraging. After all that fiddling, the machine went to sleep most nights and woke up most — but not all —mornings.
I then installed Co2 Saver (co2saver.snap.com), a free program for Windows XP and Vista that seems to have solved the problem. It gives you a simple control panel to specify when to turn off monitors and disk drives and put the machine to sleep. It also adjusts some hard-to-configure settings. One option forces the machine to “Initiate sleep mode if system doesn’t sleep automatically.” This feature, according to its developer, Lee Hasiuk, defeats Windows attempts to keep a machine awake if it thinks (correctly or otherwise) that it is detecting a background task other than mouse or keyboard activity. Now my machine sleeps and wakes properly almost all the time.
Whatever machine you’re using, consider having it go into sleep, standby or hibernate after about a half-hour of inactivity. The shorter the period, the more energy you save. Graphic-intense screen savers can actually waste power.
Unplug unused external power supplies because they can draw energy even when they’re not connected to a device.
If you’re shopping for a new PC, be sure that it meets Energy Star requirements, ideally the ones that go into effect July 20. The new standards require that 80 percent of the power consumed is actually used by the PC.
Use an L.C.D. screen instead of an old-fashioned cathode ray tube monitor. L.C.D.’s are as much as 66 percent more efficient than C.R.T.’s, according to the Energy Department.
Consider buying a notebook PC, rather than a less-efficient desktop. Because notebooks are designed to run on batteries, they’re equipped with chips and drives that draw less power. Seagate’s 160GB 2.5-inch drive uses one-fourth the energy of the equivalent 3.5-inch drive, according to a Seagate product manager, Joni Clark.
And because the screen is integrated on notebooks, there is only one power supply. I tested several notebooks, and all consumed under 30 watts except when charging the battery.
Consider a machine with a low-voltage processor like the Intel Core 2 Duo or one with A.M.D.’s “Cool and Quiet” technology. Trim desktop models also tend to use less energy. The new Hewlett-Packard Slimline models use about 45 watts, which is considerably lower than many larger PCs.
Comparing Apples to Apples, the $1,199 2-gigahertz iMac with a 17-inch monitor uses only 45 watts, and the 20-inch model uses 80 watts. (Apple’s high-end Mac Pro desktop workstation consumed a whopping 220 watts, without a monitor.) The iMac, according to Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, is optimized for energy savings because all the computer components are housed in the same chassis as the monitor, allowing for more efficient power distribution and cooling.
Tweaking can pay off. Annually, my desktop PC is now using 73 percent less energy — saving me $119 a year and depriving the earth of 1,405 more pounds of CO2.

Via NY Times

Read more!

Do Luxury Cars on the Road Like Lexus Impress You?

A recent radio commercial for Lexus says, “What do people think when they see you driving a Lexus? For one thing, they see you as successful.”
But do they really?
Almost everybody leases their cars today. So you don’t need a lot of money to drive Lexus, BMW, or Mercedes.
One selling point of luxury brands has always been the notion that other people will think more of you when they see you buying and using the brand.
But does this still hold today?

type the rest of it here.



del.icio.us

Read more!

The Fate of Barry Bonds' Record Breaking #756 Home Run Ball To Be Voted On

Just read about this story today from fivecentnickelblog
Bond's 756th home run ball just recently sold at auction on ebay for $752,467. Fashion Designer Mark Ecko was the winning bidder and set up a website in order to allow the world to decide the ball's fate. Just visit the website here at www.vote756.com to view the options and then vote on what he should do with the ball. The options are as follows:

A) Bestow it.
Give the ball to cooperstown. The ball that broke Hank Aaron's Career home run record belongs in the Hall of Fame.

B) Brand it.
Burn an asterisk into the ball with a branding iron, adding a permanent footnote to the record. Then, send it to Cooperstown.

C) Banish it.
Put the ball on a rocket ship and launch it into orbit, a moon shot for the ages. Out of sight, out of mind.

Ecko will end voting at 11:59pm on september 25th. So hurry and get your vote in before time runs out. I already voted for option B. However, this makes me wonder what Cooperstown would do with a ball with an asterisk branded into it. Would they even accept it based on the fact that its the actual ball, or would they reject it because the ball had been permanently altered? Tell me what you think?

A hat tip to fivecentnickel




type the rest of it here.

Read more!

How to Get Free Drinks

This is a series called Proposition Bets filmed in a bar somewhere in England. Oh those cunning Brits! Pretty amusing though. So watch it, learn it, then try it! It's worth a shot! Enjoy!


type the rest of it here.

Read more!

Share Videos and Make Yourself Money With Revver

Just what is Revver anyway? It’s a video-sharing site that also shares advertising revenue with either people who upload their own videos, or simply share existing ones. The creator gets 40%, Revver gets 40%, and the sharer gets 20% of the advertisement revenue. This seems like a fun way to post video to blog similar to the way youtube and myspace, except you can earn some money this way. Read about this from USA Today

This particular blogger received a 300 page iphone bill and taped it. She has made around $5k thus far.

Revver can share the wealth because its clips include advertising, whether they are shown on Revver or elsewhere. Producer Tim Street's instructional videos, French Maid TV, hosted by an actress in a French maid getup, can be found on Apple's iTunes Store as a free podcast. The podcast links to Revver, where they are downloaded — with ads.
Its probably really difficult to make serious cash with revver. However, the creators of the ever popular mentos and diet coke experiments have raked in over $50k this year. To date, Revver had reportedly paid out over 1 million dollars to its users.

Read more!

Get Your Credit Report For Free Up to 3 Times Per Year

Find out your credit score in less than 7 minutes.
Know how lenders see you.


Take seven minutes to download a free credit report at annualcreditreport.com. (For year-round monitoring, get a report from one of the three major credit bureaus every four months.) If you spot an error, notify the bureau (online, by phone or by mail) and the creditor (call and also send a letter). You won't find your credit score here, so when you request a report from Equifax, pay $7.95 for your FICO score, the most commonly used score. The range is 300 to 850 - 700 and above is good.


Via CnnMoney.com

Read more!

Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Edition for Vista $60 for Students (.edu account required)

The Ultimate Steal Offers Students Easy Access to Microsoft Office 2007
Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 is offered via the Web to higher-ed students looking for a premium Microsoft Office suite at an affordable price. Ultimate version contains: Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook with Business Contact Manager, Accounting Express, Publisher, Access, InfoPath, Groove, OneNote

Link to Microsoft Announcement

Order The Software Online From Here

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 12, 2007 — As part of Microsoft Corp.’s commitment to education, the company is introducing a promotion inviting students who are actively enrolled at educational institutions and have a valid e-mail address from the institution to purchase Microsoft® Office Ultimate 2007 at a student price of $59.95 (U.S.). “The Ultimate Steal” promotion will run in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States starting today and in France, Italy and Spain starting Sept. 20, 2007. The promotion will end April 30, 2008.

Office Ultimate 2007 is the premium Office suite and provides students with a comprehensive set of tools that can help them create high-quality documents, gather and consolidate lecture notes and other information, stay organized, find what they are looking for quickly, and easily collaborate with colleagues and professors across geographical boundaries.

Comparison Chart Here

“We’re listening to students who have told us they need Microsoft Office for their studies and want more flexible ways to get the latest version,” said Alan Yates, general manager of Worldwide Education at Microsoft. “We’re committed to providing accessible and affordable technology to students so they can meet their academic goals. The Ultimate Steal is the latest in a long history of providing compelling academic offers for students.”

Earlier this year, the promotion was offered to students in Australia as a pilot program, resulting in great experiences and overwhelmingly positive feedback from students. “Our students had been asking for more flexible methods to acquire Microsoft software, so we were very happy to see this Web-based promotion,” said Catherine Overton, manager, IT Contracts, Monash University. “Microsoft Office is also a key set of applications used by our students in their academic studies, so they were pleased to be able to acquire the newest version at such a low price.”

Office Ultimate 2007 includes the entire Microsoft Office toolset that students are accustomed to working with and more, including Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Office Excel® 2007, Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook® 2007 with Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Access™ 2007, Microsoft Office Publisher 2007, Office OneNote 2007, Office Groove 2007 and Microsoft Office InfoPath® 2007.

Students can find program details and see if they’re eligible at http://www.theultimatesteal.com.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

Check here to see if you're Eligible

Via Microsoft.com

Read more!

Jerry Springer bodyguard gets talk show, TV Gets Weirder

Steve Wilkos, a bodyguard who controlled guests and audience members on Jerry Springer's TV series, has launched his own talk show in the US.
He has promised to serve up "tough love" in The Steve Wilkos Show, which made its debut on NBC on Monday.


The first week will see Wilkos talking to a self-confessed paedophile.

Prior to working on The Jerry Springer Show, Wilkos was a US Marine, and later joined the Chicago Police Department, where he stayed for 12 years.

He was recruited for Springer's programme in 1994, when security guards were required a discussion linked to Ku Klux Klan members.

Wilkos continued with the show while he was still a police officer, but eventually quit in 2001.

He said he would draw on his own personal experience for his no-nonsense style talk show.

From BBCnews

Read more!

Chase $50 Dollar Debit Card Bonus, After $500 Dollars in Purchases

From Now Until October 15 Chase will give you $50 dollars for spending $500 dollars on your debit card. Thats 10% cashback on your purchases, not bad. Here are the TC:

Terms from the bank website as of 8/28/07:
1 If you haven’t already, activate your new Chase Check Card by following the instructions on the card sticker.
2 Register your card right here by entering your card number.
3 Then make just $500 in qualifying purchases* by October 15, 2007 using your new card made using a Personal Identification Number (PIN).


This offer is valid on all qualifying purchases made between August 1, 2007 and October 15, 2007 using your new Chase Visa Check Card. Purchases must be made using the debit card recently sent to you. This promotion is intended for the primary checking account holder for which the mentioned debit card is linked. The referenced debit card must be linked to an open checking account in good standing at the time the reward is fulfilled. The cash reward will be automatically deposited to the primary checking account within six weeks of the conclusion of this promotion. The Chase Check Card must be registered at the designated site by October 15, 2007 in order for the purchases made from August 1, 2007 through October 15, 2007 to qualify for this promotion.

*A “Qualifying Purchase” is any signature-based purchase, Internet purchase, phone or mail-order purchase, or bill payment made using a Chase Visa Check Card. A qualifying purchase does not include a purchase made using a Personal Identification Number (PIN).

Read more!

Give Away of The Day: A Variety of Free Licensed Software Daily

The hook for this website is, "the new initiative in the software distribution world! Every day we offer for FREE licensed software you’d have to buy otherwise." This website is a project which specializes in distribution of software. The software will be available for download for 24 hours (or more, if agreed by software publisher) and that software will be absolutely free. That means - not a trial, not a limited version - but a registered and legal version of the software will be free for our visitors but a registered and legal version of the software will be free.

I've already downloaded a 2 video editing programs, 2 video games, and some other photo editing software. Check it out daily for cool deals.

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/

Read more!

App-O-Rama: Step 2 Apply For the Credit Cards

So this being my first ever app-0-rama, I like the idea of documenting in as full detail as possible the process as it goes down. In this step 1.2, as described in the original post, I did the dirty work of it all and applied for as many credit cards as i seemed fit. I configured a list of potential cards in my last post in order to make it easier to make the application process a little more organized. Well, it turned out that i deviated quite a bit from that list as i came across some really awesome deals. So i have compiled another list complete with the details of the status of the application.

Business Cards I plan to apply for (sorted alphabetically):
advanta small business visa(0%/16mo/$50btfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred results

AMEX Business Gold Rewards Card - 25,000 Bonus points with 1st purchase - 1st year waived instant results: approved amt. deffered
Deferred results: card not yet received

BofA Business Power Rewards Visa (0%/9mo/$0BTfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred Results:

Chase Business Cash Rewards - 0% BT 12mo ($75)
instant results: deferred
deferred results:

Chase Business United MP (25k miles, FYF)
instant results: deferred
deferred results:

Citi Business Card with TYP - 0% BT 12mo ($0) - 15,000 TYP
instant results: deferred with accessorize page
deferred results:

Citi Business PremierPass Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($0) - 15,000 TYP 1st yr annual fee waived
instant results: Deferred with accessorize page
Deferred Results:

M&T Bank - Business Card (0%/6mo/$0BTfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred results:

National City Visa Business (0%/6mo/$0BTfee)
instant results: Approved $10k CL
Deferred results:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Personal Cards I applied for (sorted alphabetically):
AM.EX Starwood Preferred (10k pts, FYF)
instant results: deferred
deferred results:

Baylor US BANK platinum Visa (0%/6mo/0BTfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred result:

capital one no hassle cash (0%/june08/0fee)
instant results: DENIED
deferred results:

ESPN WaMu/Providian (0%/06mo/$0BTfee+ 25GC 1-800-497-2835
instant result: approved $7k CL
deferred result:

Juniper Bank Atlantic (0%/15mo/$75BTfee) -866-369-1283
instant results: Approved $15k CL
Deferred results:

LaSalle Bank (0%/12mo/$75BTfee)
instant results: deferred
deferred results:

wachovia visa card (0%/6mo/0fee)
instant results:
deferred results:

Wells Fargo Platinum Cash.Back (0%/6mo/$0BTfee)
instant Results: deferred
deferred results:

I will be updating this as i received all of the results, so stay tuned.

Read more!

Comcast Cable Offers $66 Dollars for Digital Cable and High Speed Internet, Plus at Least $150 Dollars Free Cash Back

Luckily I actually have a great deal from Comcast for our cable and internet needs. However, I was with some friends this weekend who told me of the ridiculous amount they were spending on their cable/internet bill. So i ran a little search online and came across this wonderful gem. Comcast Cable is now offering a stellar deal in which you can receive any combination of high speed internet, digital cable, and/or digital for $33 dollars each before taxes and fees for 12 months. Also referred to as the double or triple play.

It is for new residential service only, but you would be looking at $66+ taxes/fees for cable/internet for the first year. Im assuming that regular rates would apply immediately after this introductory period is over. However, my experiences with cable companies is that they'll undoubtedly have another promo around the time this one expires.

And as an additional bonus, they are offering anywhere from $150 - $250 cash rebate depending on what services you sign up for. Hooray internet! Not to mention they are also providing free equipment for internet. If you want premium cable such as HD or DVR, i believe there is an extra monthly charge for the box.

But in order to capitalize, you must act fast because this deal is limited time only for the low rate and cash back. So you must sign up by 9-30-2007 or you will miss out.

Just put your address and zip code here at Comcast's website to see if this is being offered in your area.

Read more!

Is It the Right Time to Invest in Real Estate? Nouveau Riche and Their Students Are Betting the Farm on It

Apparently Jim Piccolo, Co-founder and CEO of Nouveau Riche, believes exactly that:

Scottsdale:--Several months ago Silvia Cuevas took stock of her life, and it was a profoundly unsettling experience. At 40 she had a solid job with a modest salary at the public library in Santa Ana, Calif. She'd carefully squirreled away some savings and bought herself a little house. She was financially secure - and utterly dissatisfied. All around her, Santa Ana throbbed with the feverish energy of recent immigrants eager to cash in on the promises of America. A short drive from Disneyland, Santa Ana boasts one of the highest concentrations of Latinos of any city in the U.S., and these days it is a hotbed of entrepreneurial activity. Cuevas, though, felt as conservative, meek, and, well, dull as a church mouse in Vegas. "I was going nowhere," she recalls. "How was I going to find my fortune?" Then a girlfriend introduced her to Nouveau Riche University.

Not exactly a university, Nouveau Riche offers real estate investment classes -and a host of related products and services - to would-be tycoons. In April, Cuevas plunked down tuition of $16,000 and attended a weeklong program in Phoenix. Two weeks later, emboldened by her instructors and an advisor assigned by the university, she refinanced her home, taking out $200,000 - a large share of her equity. She used the money for down payments to buy - sight unseen in one case - three investment properties through a real estate agency controlled by Nouveau Riche. By midsummer Cuevas' portfolio of investments had grown to include a condo in Colorado, three acres of undeveloped land in the Smoky Mountains, and a three-bedroom house in San Antonio. Her debt load has grown too, thanks to the hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans she took out on the properties, but she doesn't worry. "I learned how to be bold at Nouveau Riche," Cuevas says. "They're the market experts, so I trust them to help me buy. I can't wait to make my next purchase!"

That's the kind of rah-rah spirit visitors encounter at Nouveau Riche (nruniversity.com), where the lectures are more like pep rallies, the tests are sometimes self-graded, and the homework is optional. Nouveau Riche has reason to cheer too. Co-founder and CEO Jim Piccolo claims that revenues will top $80 million in 2007, up tenfold since 2005, when the company was founded and the real estate market peaked. Piccolo makes money not only from tuitions but also from commissions on the properties his students buy and from the fees he charges for accounting, finance, and property-management services.

Remarkably, Nouveau Riche is able to attract huge crowds (a recent class in Phoenix lured 2,479 students) in a market that is declining rapidly. The Standard & Poor's Case-Shiller home price index (homeprice.standard-andpoors.com) shows that nationally prices fell 2.7% in the first quarter, more than in any quarter since 1990. In a late July conference call with analysts, Countrywide CEO Angelo R. Mozilo, who runs the nation's largest mortgage firm, said home prices were falling "almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression." That's not all. PMI Mortgage Insurance (pmigroup.com), a financial firm that tracks the market, predicts two more years of decline across much of the U.S.

Given those grim stats, why would anyone want to invest in real estate? Nouveau Riche borrows heavily from the investment philosophy popularized over the past several years by real estate guru Robert Kiyosaki, who wrote the bestselling advice book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Like Kiyosaki, Nouveau Riche teaches that working for a salary is a fool's game; the road to riches requires leveraging debt to amass a portfolio of income-generating properties. Yet investing in rental properties, like all entrepreneurial endeavors, is hard work. A successful landlord has to know the market, maintain his properties, and retain paying tenants.

That doesn't seem to bother Nouveau Riche students, many of whom have seen their neighbors get rich flipping houses or renting them out during the boom. Judging from the callused hands and well-worn work boots spotted at a recent Nouveau Riche event, it attracts a blue-collar crowd for whom the promise of riches from real estate rings true at a gut level that stocks and bonds don't reach. "I know I'm not going to get wealthy working for the fire department," says Hector Magallanes, a firefighter from Los Angeles. "I'm working up the courage to take the risks I need to take to be financially independent."

Nouveau Riche makes it easy for would-be tycoons to get started. "We learned through our research that most students of real estate seminars never actually buy any property because they don't have the tools to take that first step," Piccolo says, "so we are offering them all the tools they need to build their portfolios."

At a recent seminar at a Hilton in Phoenix, Fix 'n Flip - a daylong course in the art of the fixer-upper - was standing room only. So was Creative Financing, in which students learned how to tap their retirement savings and their home equity for money to invest. Between classes, throngs of students flocked to the lobby to booths featuring affiliates of Nouveau Riche. Save Our Scores (or SOS, as it is called) helps high-risk borrowers boost low credit scores so that they can borrow more money at lower rates. (Fees range from $600 to $1,200.) Investor Concierge, the real estate brokerage firm owned by Piccolo and his associates, helps students buy houses and condos, arranges financing, then provides management services for their far-flung properties. (The firm's slogan: "Click a mouse, buy a house.") Meanwhile, the Nouveau Riche University Store did a brisk business in polo shirts, plus jackets with the college logo, a stylized eagle.

These days alumni groups are springing up in Atlanta, Boise, Tacoma, and other cities. What's on the agenda at their meetings? "We boast about our portfolios," Heather Echevarria, 29, of Boise, says. "We shop deals too." Echevarria and her husband, Ben, specialize in pre-foreclosure properties - that is, buying houses from cash-strapped owners who can no longer afford to pay their mortgages. Typically, she says, they buy houses for half their appraised value. Last year, the pair claim, they bought-and quickly resold for a profit - 75 homes in Idaho and Nevada.
But will other graduates of Nouveau Riche do as well? What happens if interest rates rise and the monthly payments on a variable-rate loan soar, or a tenant leaves? Will the investor be able to sell at a profit in a market where home prices are falling? Casey Serin, a 24-year-old programmer from Sacramento, had already invested in property (although not through Nouveau Riche) before he enrolled in one of its classes last year. "What they teach there is dangerous," he says. "They're selling you on getting rich fast-and that's a risky game to play."
Piccolo retorts, "There is no better time to buy, because real estate is on sale. You can never go wrong with real estate in the U.S. of A." He admits, though, that he has not bought any property lately.

Raised in Nebraska, Piccolo says he was a poor student, interested more in sports and cars than his classes. After graduating from the University of Nebraska in 1984, he moved to Phoenix and worked in the car detailing and design business. In 1990, Piccolo says, medical bills forced him to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and list debts of $650,539. Piccolo ran into more trouble a year later when he pleaded guilty to the theft of his girlfriend's new Mercedes-Benz. Although he denies responsibility now, Piccolo admitted to the court that he had dumped the car in the desert so that his girlfriend could collect an insurance claim of about $24,000; Piccolo said she'd complained that the car was a lemon. "I couldn't bear to see her hurt," he told the court. After three years probation, his felony conviction was reduced to a misdemeanor.

Not long afterward Piccolo discovered real estate. By the mid-1990s he had stumbled on the idea of consolidating investment seminars, offering students the opportunity to hear several gurus speak on various techniques. Out of that grew Nouveau Riche, which he and a co-founder, Bob Snyder, launched in 2005.

At 45, Snyder is a veteran of the multilevel-marketing business. "I'm good at building teams," he says, and indeed, he has been teaching salespeople for more than two decades, after being trained by Amway (amway.com), the global leader in multilevel marketing, in which sales reps are paid not only for selling products but also for recruiting more reps. To date, he has signed up 1,300 sales reps for Nouveau Riche. Working out of their homes, they sell two products: a 15-volume encyclopedia on real estate investing for $3,500 and tuition to the "college" for $16,000. The first five tuition sales don't yield a commission, but on subsequent ones the sellers get a 50% cut, or $8,000.

How does the company attract customers? It offers free one- or two-day intro classes. According to Andrew Yurasek, an independent regional advisor for Nouveau Riche, at a recent event in Shaumburg, Ill., the company rented Lamborghinis and Ferraris for six of its sales reps for the night so they could roar up to the hotel just as prospective students were filing into the Hyatt. "We want to generate some excitement," says Yurasek. Among the reps, he adds, were an architect, a housepainter, and an office worker, none of whom have a real estate portfolio. About 10% of those who come to the free classes buy the home-study materials or spring for the tuition.

As chancellor of Nouveau Riche, Piccolo doesn't teach any classes, but he is a regular on stage on the university's awards night, working the crowd of star-struck students eager to pose for a quick photo with him. At 50, he has the tanned good looks and boyish charm of actor Dennis Quaid, whom he resembles.

These days Piccolo is living large - and proud of it. "Only in America," he says, "can a guy who barely made it through college end up owning a college." He and his wife, Mary, own three homes, including a ten-acre ranch with a 22,000-square-foot house and a pool in North Scottsdale. Still a car buff, he boasts a collection that includes a Ferrari 360 Spider, a Lamborghini Diablo, and a Bentley GT convertible. He also travels in a Falcon 200 company jet. For their seventh wedding anniversary he surprised his wife with a cherry-red grand piano signed by Elton John. Cost: $100,000. Piccolo says he and his wife also own investment properties in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah; Mary Piccolo manages the portfolio. Piccolo estimates its total value at $20 million.

Investor Concierge, Nouveau Riche's brokerage arm, typically sells students about 100 properties a month, most ranging in price from $100,000 to $200,000, says the firm's president, Craig Cottrell, 39. To date, Investor Concierge has racked up property sales on 1,100 units, most of them in Georgia, Michigan, and Texas. Over two recent weekends the firm moved 60 condo units in a complex in Fenton, Mich., a blue-collar town 15 miles south of Flint, at prices ranging from $60,000 to $67,500.

The way Investor Concierge structured the deal in its prospectus, the buyers put 10% down, borrowing the rest using an interest-only loan. Trouble is, the rents on the condos won't cover the total cost of owning them. No problem. Investor Concierge explains that it has arranged for the seller of the condo complex to subsidize the rent for as long as two years at above-market rates. The seller will also pay all the management fees and real estate taxes for two years. As a result the investors should be $145-a-month cash-flow positive. But what happens when the subsidies expire, and the buyer discovers he is losing money every month? Will he be able to unload his property or command a higher rent?

The way the Michigan real estate market is headed, it might not be so easy. According to Judy Brant, a broker in Fenton for more than 20 years with Coldwell Banker, the inventory of homes in Genesee County, which includes Fenton, averaged 2,000 units in 2005. Today it is 8,000, up 300%. When Brant heard that Nouveau Riche students had bought 60 condo units in her town - sight unseen - she said, "I'm speechless. The housing market here is tied to the auto industry, and prices are falling faster than you can imagine: 10% last year and another 10% this year. Who knows when it will reach rock bottom? As far as rental properties, it's hard to rent anything here now. Houses and apartments sit empty all over town. People are leaving because there are no jobs here. We're really suffering."

Despite these risky deals, Nouveau Riche's enrollment keeps booming and Piccolo's pockets keep filling, which lets him plan big for the future. The company bought 24 acres on top of a black-lava mountain north of Phoenix. In 2008, Piccolo intends to break ground on a new campus with modern steel and glass classrooms and four luxury dorms, each with its own pool and barbecue pit. The pools will be linked by a man-made river; students will be able to float from dorm to dorm, riding the river on inner tubes. "It'll be very theme-y," he says. "We're going to build a Disneyworld for investors and entrepreneurs." *

http://nruniversity.com/

From Cnn.com

Read more!

Lottery a Proven Way to Make Money, at Least for One U.S. Rep

U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, already a millionaire and heir to the Kimberly-Clark fortune, has proven his luck yet again. This Republican representative has won amounts of $250k, $1k, and another $1k, although that is only a drop in the bucket when compared to his reported net worth of $11.6 mill. He reports spending 10 dollars a week on lotto tickets in D.C. which has paid him off $252k in 10 years or roughly $25k per year. Thats not a bad payout for $10 dollars a week. I think ill just stick to more "conventional" ways of making money! Yahoo has the full store about it here.

Read more!

Preparing My First Ever App-O-Rama: Step 1 Continued

So i have finally put together a list of all my potential Credit Card applications in order to complete my goals for Step 1 of App-O-Rama. The process of scouring the net for offers that will be profitable has been made simple by scouting financial forums. This extensive list is not exhaustive as im sure there are still other credit cards out there that i have not come across. Also, im open to suggestions on other potential cards.
Ill call this list AOR 1.1:

Personal Cards that I plan to apply for (balance transfer fee) [sorted alphabetically]
Amex: IN NYC - 0% BT 6mo ($0)
Amex Blue - 0% Purchases 15mo
US Bank Baylor Visa - 0% BT 6mo ($0)
BoA NEA WorldPoints Platinum Plus Visa Card - 0% BT 12mo ($30)
BoA Platinum Plus Mastercard - 0% BT 12Mo ($0)
BoA Rewards American Express Card - 0% BT 12Mo ($0) - $50 Credit
Chase Platinum Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($75)
Chase Sony Card - 0% BT 12mo ($75) - $100 Credit
Chase United Miles Plus Signature Visa Card - 25,000 Miles with 1st purchase - 1st year waived
Citi PremierPass Card Elite - 0% BT 15mo ($0) - 25,000 TYP - 1st year waived
Citi ProfessionalSM Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($0) - 15,000 TYP
Citi AT&T Universal Rewards Card - 0% BT 12mo ($0) - 6,000 TYP
Discover Miles - 0% BT 12mo ($75)
HSBC Cash Back Platinum Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($99)
Juniper National Park Foundation Platinum Visa Card - 0% BT 12mo ($50)
Kroger 1-2-3 Reward Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($75)
National City Visa - 0% BT 6mo ($0)
Penfed Visa Platinum Rewards Card - 1.25%
Cash Back - 5% on gas (this will be my new daily spender)
Pulaski Bank Gold Visa - 0% BT 6mo ($0)
RBS Platinum Mastercard - 0% BT 10mo ($60)
Wachovia Visa Card - 0% BT 6mo ($0)
WaMu Platinum Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($75)
WaMu MyPoints Visa - 0% BT 6mo ($0)

Business Cards I plan to apply for (sorted alphabetically):
Advanta Business Card With Rewards - 0% BT 16mo ($50)
Amex SimplyCashSM Business Card - 0% Purchase 12mo
AMEX Business Gold Rewards Card - 25,000 Bonus points with 1st purchase - 1st year waived*
Bank Atlantic Rewards Business MasterCard - 0% BT 15mo ($75)
BoA Platinum Plus Business Rewards Mastercard - 0% BT 9mo ($0)
CapitalOne Visa Business Platinum Credit Card - 0% BT 12mo ($0)
Chase Business Cash Rewards - 0% BT 12mo ($75)
Chase GM Business Mastercard - 0% BT 12Mo ($75)
Citi Business Card with TYP - 0% BT 12mo ($0) - 15,000 TYP*
Citi Business PremierPass Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($0) - 1st yr annual fee waived*
Discover Miles Business - 0% BT 12mo ($75)
Fifth Third Bank Business Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($0)
National City Business Visa - 0% BT 6mo ($0)
WaMu Business Platinum Mastercard - 0% BT 12mo ($75)

* = Credit cards featured on my credit card bonus post.

Read more!

$200 bonus from CitiBank Checking

If you held off from opening an bank account with Citi, no problem because the nice folks down at Citibank have made the banking deal even sweeter. They are now offering $200 with your new checking account, in addition to $100 for opening a new savings.

Get up to $200 with your new checking Account
1. To get your first $100- Open a regular checking account and fund with at least $1500 within 60 days.
2. To get your second $100- Sign up and use direct deposit for 6 consecutive months.
OR- Pay 2 bills a month for 6 consecutive months at citibankonline.com

Call 1-866-810-9043. Mention the offer code MGWE

Note: Minimum account maintenance balance without Direct Deposit or Bill Pay is $1500. You have 60 days to fund the $1500. Multiple deposits are counted, so you don't have to put in all $1500 upfront. The initial $100 dollars will be credited 90 days after the above requirements have been met. Deal expires on 12/31/2007.

Read more!