Mindset

It's what is going on inside our head regarding everything all the time.
Turn every negative thought around as soon as possible.  We have a
choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past.  We cannot change the fact that people
will act a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only
thing we can do is rely on the one thing we have and that is our
attitude.  Life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how
we react to it.  And so it is with you.  You alone are in charge of
your attitude.

Ten facts we must accept:

1.    I must accept the fact that I will have a lot of days when  I simply do not

       feel like doing anything at all.  But I must do it anyway.

2.    I must accept the fact that there will be days when I spend the entire

       time in the act of failing and understand it’s part of life.  Failure is

       positive as it causes growth.

3.    I must accept the fact there is going to be a lot of days when I do not

       succeed no matter how hard I try.  Two choices…good day or bad day.

4.    I must accept the fact that building a successful business always takes

       longer than I thought it would and longer than I was told.

5.    I must accept the fact this is going to be much harder work than I

       thought it was going to be.

6.    I must accept the fact that I will need a lot of support on a regular basis

       to change how I think and how I behave.  You can’t have too much

       positive support.

7.    I must accept the fact there are a lot more things I have to learn than

       I ever imagined.  Ego gets in the way of learning.

8.    I must accept the fact that no matter how I look at the real estate

       business, it is still a numbers game and I must adjust my mindset

       to that fact.

9.    I must accept the fact that I have to do what I am supposed to do

       every day in spite of what is going on in my life.

10.  I must accept the fact that I have to keep trying, even when I’ve chosen

       to give up,  because we never know when we are going to win.

How Does Escrow Work?

 

If you've ever made an informal bet with a friend, you may have asked a third person to hold the money until the wager was resolved. When you take out a mortgage to buy a home, you're doing something similar by opening an escrow account.

How it works

When you put money in escrow it is held by a neutral third party (called an escrow agent) who works for both the lender and the borrower. The agent's role is to carry out the instructions agreed upon by both parties. The money is released when all the terms of the agreement are met. Escrow can be involved in anything from multimillion-dollar building projects to purchases made on online auction sites.

When it's used

When your mortgage closes, your lender will usually require you to open an escrow account to cover property taxes and homeowner's insurance. You'll make an initial deposit, followed by payments to the account every month. (Usually these are added to your regular mortgage payment.) The escrow agent will then release these funds as your taxes and insurance premiums come due.

Its purpose

The idea is to protect the lender by ensuring that you pay your taxes and insurance on time. If you default on your property tax, for example, your municipality can put a lien on the house, which would make it difficult to sell. Or if your house burns down and you've neglected to pay the insurance, the lender would be left with no collateral.

How you benefit

Escrow can benefit borrowers by helping them spread insurance and tax expenses evenly over 12 payments. For example, assume your yearly property taxes are two payments of $1,000 each, and your insurance is $400 annually. If you paid these directly, it would mean three large payments a year; your escrow costs, however, would be a manageable $200 a month.

Escrow payments

Your escrow account will have a built-in cushion -- if you miss a payment, the lender must still be able to pay your accounts on time. However, federal law prohibits lenders from requiring more than two months. expenses in escrow. And because your tax and insurance costs will change slightly from year to year, the lender will review and adjust your escrow payments annually.

When escrow may be waived

In most states, the money you place in an escrow account earns no interest for you. For that reason, many borrowers prefer to pay their taxes and insurance directly. Lenders may agree to this if your down payment is more than 20 percent, although some will raise your interest rate slightly to compensate. Once you agree to putting funds into an escrow account, however, it is difficult to cancel it, so make sure you fully understand the arrangement before your mortgage closes.

Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most Out of Your iPad for Real Estate Business

By James Kimmons, About.com Guide

See More About:

• real estate technology
• ipad for real estate

I had my iPad the first day possible, and have been working ever since to find the best, easiest and least expensive solutions to do as much with it in my real estate business as possible. Why reinvent the wheel when you can take advantage of my research and testing, as well as the large number if apps I bought but found not to be what I needed. You'll find some great solutions here to make your iPad a real business tool.

1. First Impressions on Opening the iPad

Jim Kimmons

Worse than a kid at Christmas, I met the Fedex person at the truck to get my iPad. Read in this article what comes in the box, as well as my impressions of this amazing Apple product.

Look, Feel and First Impressions

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2. Printing with the iPad Over the Web

While it would be nice to have a USB port to print locally, you can accomplish this task using an online service called PrinterShare This service is easy to use, with the installation of software on your computer, and the sharing of your attached printers.

Printing With the iPad Using PrinterShare

3. Using the Pages App on the iPad for Real Estate Documents & Flyers

Apple

Pages, the iWorks app for word processing is a beautiful solution for anyone who wants an easy to use word processing application that works well with images and tables. And, there's even a template for a real estate listing flyer to get you going quickly.

Using The Flyer Template for Real Estate Listings

4. Drawing Real Estate Floor Plans & Vector Drawings on the iPad

Jim Kimmons

While there are floor plan apps for the iPhone, none had been designed especially for the larger screen of the iPad when I was looking. I'm glad, as it helped me to find this vector drawing application that not only does my floor plans, but also allows complex drawings for flyers and other marketing materials.

Easy Drawing to Scale of Floor Plans

5. Using Evernote for Real Estate Document Management on the iPad

iStockPhoto

I've written about the amazing features and abilities of the Evernote online note capture service. I use it a lot, and now will use it even more. You can email your iPad documents to your Evernote account, pick them up on any computer, and get them back on the iPad when you want.

Evernote Meets So Many Business Needs - Now It Helps on the iPad As Well

6. Using an Online Backup Solution for iPad Real Estate Document Management

iStockPhoto

I've used Sugarsync for a long time now as my backup solution. It works in the background, making mirror image copies of all of my documents as I change or create them. Now, I also find that it helps me to manage, store, and retrieve my iPad documents.

Using Sugarsync to Safeguard All of Your Files & Manage iPad Documents

7. Using the Numbers App on the iPad for Real Estate & Mortgage Calcs

® Photo: Jim Kimmons

You can do just about anything you need in a spreadsheet application with Numbers on the iPad. Check out this short article about templates that provide fast and professional client sheets for mortgage comparisons.

Templates for Comparing Mortgages + Amortization

8. Keynote for iPad Real Estate Presentations

iStockPhoto

Using Keynote on the iPad to create a presentation is easy, and the ability to resize and rotate images with your fingers is fun as well. But, the huge value lies in the types of presentations you can create, and the professional look when you sit in front of a buyer or seller with the iPad. Learn here also about a cool free app to capture website screen shots to use in your presentations.

See How Keynote Can Supercharge Your Presentations Here

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9. WordPress for Real Estate on the iPad

© iStockPhoto

One of the first projects on my new iPad was learning what I needed to know to post to my WordPress blogs on the go. Learn at this short article about the WordPress app for the iPad, as well as how I also post with the browser to my regular admin interface.

Two ways to post to your WordPress blogs with the iPad.

10. Voice to Text Conversion Apps for Real Estate on the iPad

In the short article at the link, I give you four ways to get your voice notes out of the iPad via email. Three also convert your voice to text. Learn why I like them all, and which are best for your needs.

Learn Which Apps I've Tried That Really Work

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How To Sell Your House: Declutter

Soon the government check won't be in the mail

Government announces deadline for phasing out paper benefit checks including Social Security

Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer, On Tuesday December 21, 2010, 3:58 am EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Before too long, the government check will no longer be in the mail.
Officials have settled on the dates when millions of people will no longer be able to get their Social Security and other benefit checks by mail.
New recipients of benefits will have to accept paperless payments starting on May 1 of next year, three months later than first proposed.
Those already on Social Security will have until March 1, 2013 to make the switch to direct deposits or a debit card.
More than 58 million retirees, disabled people and surviving family members receive Social Security or Supplemental Security benefits. Already eight out of 10 people getting federal benefits receive those payments electronically, officials say.
The switch to electronic payments will eliminate the problem of lost or stolen checks and also the problems faced by people displaced from their homes who have to worry about getting their checks mailed to them, said Richard L. Gregg, the Treasury Department's assistant fiscal secretary.
"Even though we have done a good job of encouraging people to switch over, we still are making 120 million payments by mail for Social Security every year and another 15 million annually for veterans and other types of benefits," Gregg said.
Every year, the government has to process about 600,000 claims for lost or stolen checks. Social Security will save $1 billion over the next decade from phasing out paper checks, he said.
The final rules, scheduled to be unveiled Tuesday, are very similar to the proposal the government put forward in June.
But in response to public comments, the government has decided to allow people who are 90 and over and are still getting Social Security benefit checks to continue to receive their benefits the same way. The government estimates there are 275,000 people who fall into that category.
For people who do not have accounts at a bank or credit union, the government has an option that allows them to use a Direct Express debit MasterCard issued by Comerica Bank, Treasury's financial agent. More than 1.5 million people have obtained these cards, which were first issued in 2008.
In addition to the automatic waiver from electronic payments for those 90 and over, people living in remote areas who might have trouble getting to a bank can also petition for a waiver from the new rules. Gregg said that the government expects fewer than 1 percent of current benefit recipients will petition for a waiver.
Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue said that people should not wait until the deadlines to make the switch to electronic payments.
"Switching now eliminates the risks of lost and stolen checks and provides immediate access to your money on payment day," Astrue said.
The new deadlines for the switchover were announced by Treasury's Financial Management Service, the agency that processes payments for the federal government.
Congress passed a law in 1996 giving the agency the power to halt mailing paper checks for all government payments outside of refund checks from the Internal Revenue Service.
To help with the switchover for those still getting paper checks, the government has created a website, http://www.GoDirect.org and a toll-free phone number, 1-800-333-1795, that people can call for assistance

Keller Willams Profit-Sharing Statement Reaction