Archives

April 2007

5 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO

Posted at 7:28 PM, Apr. 30, 2007

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival.     Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST
Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112.  If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked.  Try it out.

SECOND
Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end.    Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you.   Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk). 
Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!"

THIRD
Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery.  This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

FOURTH
How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 #     A 15 digit code w ill appear on the screen. This number   is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code.    They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.  You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either.    If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
And Finally....

FIFTH
Free Directory Service for Cells

Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to.  Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem.  When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.
This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving, so pass it on to your family and friends. 

Hope you are well. Let me know if there is anything in the world I can do.

Discount Points

Posted at 9:35 PM, Apr. 27, 2007

Discount points are fees paid at closing to lower monthly mortgage payments, and can help buyers save money in terms of overall costs over the life of the loan. In essence, points are prepaid interest. A point is 1% of the loan. So on a $100,000 loan, one point equals $1,000. This cost is paid to buy a lower interest rate, and is known as a rate buydown.

If homeowners intend to keep their property short term -- five years or less -- they might not recover the cost of paying the discount points. If they intend to keep the mortgage for a long time, discount points are an excellent upfront investment.

To determine whether discount points are to their advantage, clients must first calculate their monthly payments both with and without the points. Determine the difference of the monthly mortgage payment. Now take the difference (i.e., the savings) on the monthly payment and divide it into the cost of the discount points. The end result is the number of months it will take to recover the upfront cost to lower the interest rate.

Another key benefit is that discount points for residential real estate are tax deductible in the year they are paid. Tax deductibility can vary for points in purchase and refinance transactions. In refinancing, the deduction for points must be spread out over the life of the home loan. Consult your tax advisor regarding the details of these deductions.

Clients should consult their tax advisors regarding the details of these deductions.

Kirk.Alexander@americanhm.com, American Home Mortgage 

Staging Your Home For Sale

Posted at 7:53 PM, Apr. 26, 2007

The way you live in a home and the way you sell it are two different things, says home-staging guru Barb Schwarz in her book "Home Staging: The Winning Way to Sell Your House for More Money." Here are some home-staging tips to help you while your home is being marketed.

Staging is not decorating. Decorating is personalizing a space, where staging is "depersonalizing" it. Staging is not about displaying a favorite color rug or ruffles someone loves. It's about selling the house. Remember, if buyers are seeing a messy house, you are throwing away money.

If you can smell it, you can't sell it.  Do a sniff test and understand that odors you might be used to have to be eliminated.  Have an outsider come in and do the sniff test with you.

Clutter equates to stress. One of the biggest challenges to home staging is clutter.  It's just as important to get rid of excess "stuff" as it is to clean your house.  Clutter interferes with the potential homebuyers' ability to mentally move into the house. They can't imagine their own furniture in a room if it's cluttered.

Consider painting the interior of the house. You might like the designer colors and/or wallpaper, but homebuyers want the house to have a cohesive, simple color scheme. Drastic color changes from room to room can actually startle potential homebuyers.

For more information or to view Barb Schwarz's CD, give me a call at 702-360-8165 or e-mail me at Mary@MaryW.com.  I would be happy to loan it to you for a day.

Is a Living Trust Right for You?

Posted at 8:09 PM, Apr. 25, 2007

I currently have a listing which is in escrow.  During the listing period, just before the offer came in, the seller passed away.  The son started the probate process and the last few weeks have been a waiting period.  Probate can take months depending on the estate and circumstances.  It's a hard enough time for a person to lose a parent but then to have to deal with the issues of probate while still in the grieving process makes it that much harder.  Putting everything in trust for your children (grown or small) will make life much easier for them.  See your financial planner or attorney to determine if this might be right for you.

A revocable living trust (RLT) is a written plan managing and distributing your estate upon your death. The agreement is "living" because you create it while you're alive. It is "revocable" so you can change it or abolish it at any time. The "trust" names a person (trustee) or persons to be responsible for the distribution of your property. Laws governing revocable living trusts can differ in each state.

A RLT can require considerable paperwork and can be expensive, depending on the value and complexity of your assets. You can create an RLT online, at home using special software, or by visiting an attorney or financial planner.

Here's some additional information to help you decide if an RLT is right for you:

• To take advantage of the benefits of a living trust, you must transfer property into the trust.
• An RLT can save you money. In most states, it avoids probate proceedings, even if you own property in more than one state. Probate can cost 10% of your estate value and take three years to complete.
• Upon your death or if you become incapacitated, an RLT can immediately transfer estate management without court proceedings.
• A guardian for your children cannot be appointed via an RLT; however, a separate will can be used to assign guardianship.
• An RLT lets you dole out assets to beneficiaries. For example, guardianship typically ends when a minor reaches 18 (in some states up to 21) years. Most parents don't feel comfortable with their minors having access to, say, a $500,000 insurance policy check at age 18. An RLT allows such funds to be held by the trustee and disbursed as needed or instructed.

Speak to your attorney or financial advisor for more information about revocable living trusts.

Motivation

Posted at 7:18 PM, Apr. 24, 2007

This was in a recent newsletter from one of my all time, favorite real estate coaches Floyd Wickman.  This not only pertains to real estate agents but to everyone who wants to make something of themselves.

                          Great RESULTS are the sum of small things done well, repeatedly.

Too many people are looking for that magic pill, or that one big thing.  If I were to offer you a penny or a million dollars, which would you choose? If you chose the million--welcome to the majority.  But consider if I were to make it a condition that you would not get either for 30 days; during which time, I would double the value of the penny every day.  At the end of the month, the penny would be worth $5,368,709.12!  You would have turned down over $4 million dollars!  Those small things add up when you multiply your efforts.

I believe the right person, doing the right things well, often enough, guarantee great results.  Assuming you are the right person, and you know how to do the right things well, the big question is: are you doing the "small things" often enough?