Is It Time To Buy Real Estate?

A peaceful hello to you and wishes for happiness. Today I ask the question, Is It Time to Buy Real Estate? The answer:

Buy! Buy! Buy!



Yes it's true, the nation is battling one of it's toughest financial times. Holy smokes, has it been a volatile and turbulent ride lately, but have no fear the time is now to invest in Real Estate. You may ask, how can I possibly say this?

Well, I have been in the Real Estate industry for over 15 years. I became a licensed Florida Realtor in 1998 and prior to that I had already been investing in Real Estate. I was a Top Sales Agent for Century 21 and Carla Bonten Realty Inc.,I was a Broker Associate and also a Registered Real Estate Appraiser.

I entered into commercial Real Estate in 2004 with Stadium Realty Inc., founded by Tom McGillicuddy, whose grandfather was the famous "Connie Mack". They called him Mack for short because McGillicuddy wouldn't fit on the scoreboard back in the early 1900's.

Stadium Realty was purely a land acquisition company for residential developers such as, Toll Brothers, D.R. Horton, Centex, and some smaller private Real Estate Developers. These were my clients on the West Coast of Florida.

My theory for individual residential investors during that time was to follow the "Big Boys", such as the clients above. Also, I still believe "people will always be addicted to having a roof over their head".

Unfortunately, many of us got caught up in the incredible Real Estate Boom and ultimately a lot of us fell when the bust came. Myself included along with numerous other companies and individuals. I had sold most of my investment properties to do a small development project in July, 2005.

I had gotten in too late and lost all of my money and the property by the summer of 2008. These were the risks I had been willing to take then. I literally lost everything but I have gained immense insight and knowledge through that experience. With every negative there is a positive.

So what if you have terrible credit. So what if the banks aren't loaning much money now. So what if there are millions of foreclosures on the market and more to come. If you still have an ounce of life left in you, a little hope left and some faith in yourself. Now is the time to buy Real Estate.

The new banks are going to be private individuals who own properties outright. Sure, they may have been affected by our economy in some fashion but you can bank on this...They will be more open to an "Owner Financing" deal now more than ever. If people can't get loans, they can't sell their homes.

If you find yourself with the Real Estate Bug, welcome to my club because I love it. If you want to invest in Real Estate, do it. Just make sure to do your "due diligence", make a plan, and consult professionals before signing your life away and handing over your money.

Chinese Fortune Cookies

A peaceful hello to you and wishes for happiness. I would like to share with you an experience with "Fortune Cookies".

Chinese food is great. I like the "New York" style take out, the "All You Can Eat" buffets, and the regular old Chinese Restaurants where you can have a big Scorpion Bowl for two. The presentation is the novelty at these types of establishments. The decor, music, and flaming food and drink displays are quite the show. At the end of your meal, regardless of which style of dining was chosen, there is the famous "Fortune Cookie".

I have never gotten a bad fortune from a fortune cookie and don't even think they would make a bad fortune. Saturday night, my family, Shawna, Dylan, and I went to a Chinese Buffet. At the end of our meal we received 3 fortune cookies. We each grabbed a cookie and opened it up to reveal the fortune inside.

My fortune should have gone to Shawna, Shawna's fortune should have been for Dylan and Dylan's should have been for me. I always thought a fortune cookie was just a wise Chinese proverb or whimsical bit of wisdom and that it could relate to anyone reading it.

Even though our fortunes didn't match us individually, they did match each of us at the table to a T. The fortune I received was, "Do not dwell on differences with a loved one-try to compromise." Shawna, can be hard-headed and we as a family had an experience with her hard-headedness earlier in the day.

Shawna's fortune was, "Your hard work is about to pay off. Congratulations!" Dylan has been studying very hard for his ASVAB test, which he will be taking this Thursday.

Dylan's fortune was, "Admire those who succeed, and learn from their success." I always try to learn from people that are successful and I try to learn from their mistakes as well as my own too.

Certainly, these are ordinary personality traits, however, it did seem as if they were honed into our current personal situations a little more than usual. We were surprised and humored by the accuracy of those fortune cookies, even if we did select the wrong ones. Perhaps it was a way for us to realize something about each other that we were taking for granted. Whatever it takes to show love and respect for each other is fine by me, even a fortune cookie.

Pursuing Peace and Happiness!

Laura

Electricity, I Love It

Hello, and I hope life is good and moving in the right direction for you.

I have learned to be happy with what I have. I have also learned to be content with what I don't have. But, I don't think I'd ever be content without having electricity.

Yesterday, I was bored and was expressing my need for some excitement. Such as a Hurricane Party. Something, anything to liven up my day. I love bad weather, I love the unpredictable nature of a storm. The whipping wind, the heavy rain, the loud thunder, the lightning; it is exciting, risky, and at times a little dangerous.

What happened instead, was a very quick Thunder storm came by. It lasted a mere 3-5 minutes, over in the blink of an eye. I had been outside on the balcony watching it. I was feeling the wind and the rain. I saw the neighbors belongings get blown off their balconies. Empty beer cans, styrofoam coolers, and clean laundry free-falling to the ground, maybe never to be seen again. Pine cones and pine needles strewn on the pavement, leaves and branches cracking and falling. It was great! Then it ended.

I headed back inside, moping to the kitchen thinking, "What a tease". Disappointed, I thought I'd make some coffee. Without thinking, just using muscle memory, I flicked the kitchen light switch on and took a step. You know, one fluid motion, flick and step. I flicked, stepped, stepped and no electricity!

No storm, no electricity, no coffee, no internet, no tv, no a/c. No nothin' but boredom again. So, I have realized my true love for electricity and won't take it for granted any more.

Pursuing peace and happiness while loving electricity.

Laura

Orbiting Reality and We Just Don't Get It!

Hello and I hope you are well and life is peaceful. Yes, I think I will always start my blogs with a kind hello and a peaceful wish for you.

So, I have this story I am working on, this is going to be a book that I hope will be published some day and it is called "Orbiting Reality".  I have coined the term "Orbiting Reality" and the cool part is, that if you google "Orbiting Reality", I am the first one on the Google page!

I know this may seem silly, but it means something to me.  Wahoo! I am the first on Google, I better get writing again. This has inspired me. I have inspired myself. LOL at myself.

Pursuing Peace and Happiness.

Laura

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What is Going On Here?

Hello, I hope you are all doing well and life is peaceful. Today, I am going to let out some concerns of mine about our country's economy and our country's future. The unemployment rate is at 9.5%, as of June, 2010. If the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the Unemployment rate by people who claim unemployment benefits, well then, what about those individuals who don't claim the unemployment benefits?

I am one of those individuals that are not collecting unemployment benefits. So, does that mean that the BLS can add 1 more to the nicely rounded 14.6 million people that they have documented as "Unemployed?" I think it does mean that. So I also think the number of unemployed Americans is much higher than 14,600,001.

Luckily, I am in the process of being re-hired from the company I was laid off from in February. Amen. However, it is only part-time. It is apparent to me that the new full-time is part-time and the new part-time is, if you're lucky, 10-20 hours a week.

Still, I am very concerned about the people that are unemployed, documented or not. What are we going to do? As I think further into the situation, I am concerned about the future of our country. Are we going to go bankrupt? What will we do then? Should I, should you start making a plan? A plan of cash, gold, and silver?

I have no cash, I sold all of my gold, I never liked silver and if I did, I would have sold it by now, and I don't own a metal detector. I think I will go buy one. What is going on here? What is going on here, is we are currently orbiting reality, never quite touching down on the truth of our current status.

Pursuing Peace and Happiness,

Laura