If your home is languishing on the market, there are many tips that promise to help bring about a sale. But there’s only one that requires a prayer and a spade. The solution to your selling woes? Bury a St. Joseph statue in your yard, head down.

Joseph may have been a carpenter who couldn’t find a real roof to put over Baby Jesus’ head that fateful night in Bethlehem, but apparently he can help you move on to your new home if you just have a little faith — and you needn’t be Catholic!

Whether for superstition or faith, a growing number of people have turned to the “Patron Saint of Real Estate” in the hopes that he’ll deliver, reported the New York Times. After all, desperate times call for desperate measures. And could covering up a saint with a little dirt really hurt?
Dubbed the “Underground Real Estate Agent,” St. Joseph statues have been steadily flying off the shelves of retailers from Catholic Supply of St. Louis and StJosephStatue.com LLC, a company started on a whim by a mortgage broker.

Legend has it that if you bury a St. Joseph statue in your yard, head down, facing the direction you want to move, your home will sell more quickly. When possible, place it near the for sale sign — mainly so that you can remember where you buried it and can dig it up after the sale. Then, it’s recommended that you put old Joe on a mantle or other prominent place in your new home, as a gesture of thanks. Or, just pass it on to a friend.

No yard? No worries. Bury a small statue in a potted plant, suggests the website LuckyMojo, which also offers a couple of prayers to recite on its site.

The statues are typically sold for less than $10 in kits, complete with an instruction booklet with burial prayer and a cloth carrying bag, such as the one pictured from StJosephStatue.com, which also throws in a free real estate listing on its site with every purchase (It currently boasts more than $2.4 billion in current listings.) Some people also obtain their St. Joe’s from their Catholic church, as was the case with Joe D’Eramo, whose tale will give skeptics pause.

“We were selling a home in Taunton, MA. It was an older home with a dirt floor basement. Two buyers had come and gone, each finding something during inspection to pass on the deal,” D’Eramo told HousingWatch. “I went to a local Catholic Church and asked where I could find a statue of St. Joseph. The receptionist had never heard the legend and brought me in to see the priest. He handed me a fairly large statue of St. Joseph and wished me well. By the end of that weekend, we had another buyer and this one closed.”

“Before moving, we gave the statue to my brother-in-law,” D’Eramo continued. “He, too, had been having difficulty selling his home, mainly because it had gone through some serious wear and tear. Lo’ and behold, they, too, received an offer and sold their home.”

So who exactly buys these statues? St. Joe’s popularity has shifted recently, Phil Cates, the owner of StJosephStatue.com, told HousingWatch.

“Caifornia, Florida and Arizona have consistently held the number 1, 2, and 3 spots for the most sales since 2005,” Cates said. However, over the last 60 days Florida took over the top spot, followed by Texas and New York. California moved to the fifth place after North Carolina.

Cates, a mortgage broker by day, speculates that California may have dropped on the list because more homes are being sold by the banks that foreclosed on the homeowners. “I’m not sure bean counters and spirituality have much in common,” he jokes.

Trisha Haas, head blogger at MomDot, has so much faith, she had her St. Joseph statue blessed by her brother-in-law priest before she buried it last month and caught it all on video for her readers. It’s been about 30 days and we are still waiting to hear if she’s had any offers.

In another case, it took just one weekend for a vacation home to sell after a burial. After close to two years on the market and a 20 percent price reduction on his Boulder ski home, Bob Webster of Webster Investment Advisers recalls, “I had now become desperate, as it had been 18 months and not a single offer…not even an embarrassing low-ball salvo. So casting my pragmatism aside, but still holding onto a sense of skepticism … I ordered .” The St. Joseph statue was buried on a Friday and on that next Monday night, he says his Realtor called with a full-cash, 30-day offer. The sale closed Christmas Eve 2009.

“To quote the classic band of the 70’s, The Monkeys, ‘Now I’m a Believer’,” says Webster, who grew up a Catholic kid in Brooklyn.

Stories like these have helped build a diverse following for Joseph. “Maybe half of our clients are Catholic,” says Cates of StJosephStatue.com. “The rest are Jewish, Hindi, atheist, Baptist. This cuts across all lines of thought. Some people look at it as ‘eh, what the heck do I have to lose.’ And others look at it as very holy.”

Cates started selling the statues 20 years ago after using them as a gimmick for marketing his mortgage business to real estate agents. He adds that some agents use statues to help gain their own business. About 40 percent of his sales are to real estate professionals.

Still, Cates doesn’t have his own head buried in the sand beneath the for sale sign. “While many people consider St. Joseph the silver bullet of real estate, I think we should leave the shiny ammo to ‘The Lone Ranger’ and magic to David Copperfield,” he concedes.

For this article I used a photo of my real live home office. These tips are important one to me as I am constantly trying to find the balance between spending 14 hours a day in the office working without ever seeing another room in my home not to mention the shower or being totally distracted by home projects, cooking, laundry, etc. I hope you find it useful and find that balance in working from home.
~Cynthia

More and more companies and organizations not only allow but also encourage telecommuting. If your organization offers that option, you can use your mobile PC to be productive in the comfort of your home or another remote location. In this article, I discuss the tools of the trade and provide tips to ensure that the familiar home environment doesn’t prevent you from keeping your focus and achieving your goals.

Tools of the trade
To efficiently telecommute, you’ll need the following tools.
Internet access: Most teleworkers have access to the Internet at home so that they can connect to their corporate network. As a home user, you can choose from three Internet access options:

•DSL: DSL stands for digital subscriber line. It uses ordinary telephone lines and a special modem to provide an Internet connection that can transmit high-bandwidth information to a user’s computer. A DSL line can carry both data and voice signals. The data part of the line is a dedicated connection to the Internet and does not interfere with the use of the telephone. DSL is high speed and is always connected to the Internet.

•Cable Internet: Cable Internet uses your local cable TV line to receive broadband Internet content. This data rate far exceeds that of modems and is about the same as DSL. Your local TV cable company is typically the cable Internet service provider.

•Satellite Internet: If cable or DSL aren’t available in your area, or if the slow dial-up access speeds are not acceptable, consider using satellite internet. It’s available to you if you live in the northern hemisphere and have an unobstructed view of the southern sky. The service is expensive and the data rate is not as fast as a direct line, but it is a good connectivity alternative if you live in an isolated location.

Computer: Of course, you’ll need a computer! You can use a desktop computer or a mobile PC. If you can take your mobile PC home from the office, you won’t have to install the same programs on your desktop computer. If you do need to use a desktop computer to connect to your organization’s network remotely, you may need to install additional software to meet your company’s connectivity and security requirements.

Dedicated space with some privacy: I’ve heard more than one frustrated telecommuter state that they have a hard time focusing when they work at home. When I ask where their desktop computer or mobile PC is located, they usually say it’s on the dining room table. By setting up your workspace in a busy location, you almost guarantee distractions. Instead, set up a safe, healthy, and efficient workspace with easy access to your computer, a phone, reference materials, and supplies.

Communication tools: When telecommuting, make sure that your colleagues, customers, and manager can communicate with you at all times. Whether you’re in the office or working remotely, make it easy for people to contact you. Here are some suggestions:

•Share your phone number with people you work with regularly and leave your contact information with your manager and one or two additional contacts (such as your administrative assistant or receptionist). Also, consider using call forwarding to your home or cell phone so that you receive incoming calls wherever you’re working.

•Consider using instant messaging (IM). Similar to a chat room, IM is a fast means of communicating with one or more people in real time over the Internet. IM also gives you a way to show and update your communication status throughout the day. For example, when you need a couple of hours of undisturbed concentration, set your status as “Busy” and let everyone know that you’ll be slower than usual to reply to e-mail messages and phone calls.

Tips for staying focused
The tools of the trade don’t guarantee success—you’ll also need some strategies to help you stay focused.

•Start working at the same time. Treat telework days like regular workdays: get up, get dressed, and be “at your desk” at the usual time.

•Establish a schedule. Keep work hours similar to the ones you would keep if you were working at your office. Your manager and your co-workers appreciate knowing when you are available.

•Limit distractions. Be careful not to replace office-based interruptions with home-based ones (such as children, neighbors, and friends).

•Plan ahead. Take the appropriate work home. Some work may be better suited for the home office than other work, so be sure to plan the telework a day ahead.

•Take breaks. Plan time to get up and move around. Consider going for a walk or a run during your lunch break to keep your mind fresh.

•Focus on objectives. Work with your manager and colleagues to define clear goals and objectives against which your performance can be objectively measured.

Telecommuting is not for everyone, but if your job lends itself to working remotely and you are self-disciplined and highly motivated, you can reap the rewards of working effectively at home or remotely. Using the information presented in this column, you can take advantage of the opportunity to work efficiently away from the office while remaining in touch with your colleagues and customers.

This article was written by Armelle O’Neal.

Well, here we are two full months into 2010. This is usually right about the time of year when many people start to fall off the wagon and forget about those goals and resolutions that they set for themselves on January 1st. Hopefully you are still moving full speed ahead towards your goals, but if you need a little bit of extra motivation, I thought I would share some more of my favorite motivational quotes with you. I hope you enjoy them!

“People of mediocre ability sometimes achieve outstanding success because they don’t know when to quit. Most men succeed because they are determined to.” – George Allen

“I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.” -Brian Tracy

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “press on” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race” – Calvin Coolidge

“Only by contending with challenges that seem to be beyond your strength to handle at the moment can you grow more surely toward the stars.” -Brian Tracy

“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.” -Earl Nightingale

“Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” -Henry Ford

“Become a ‘possibilitarian’. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities- Always see them, for they are always there.” -Norman Vincent Peale

“Your decision to be, have, and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else.” -Brian Tracy

“Don’t waste time waiting for inspiration. Begin, and inspiration will find you.” -Jim Rohn

“Do not think of today’s failures, but of success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will have a joy in overcoming obstacles—a delight in climbing rugged paths which you would perhaps never know if you did not sometimes slip backward. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.” -Helen Keller.

Hopefully these words of wisdom were able to give you some extra motivation- they always seem to do the trick for me!

Las Vegas has the highest foreclosure rate of any metro in the country, but lenders there have become more willing to accept short sales as an alternative toforeclosure. The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) reports that 21.1 percent of all existing-home sales in the area last month were short sales.

The association’s short sale figures represent a 2 percent increase from the previous month. Rick Shelton, GLVAR president and a local Realtor, called the increase in short sales “one of the more promising trends” for the month, particularly because it was coupled with a decline in sales involving foreclosed homes.

Shelton said bank-owned homes accounted for a decreasing percentage of all local home sales, dropping from 60.1 percent in December to 57.4 percent of all sales in January.

Overall, GLVAR’s local housing statistics showed that 2010 started looking very much like the end of 2009, with local home prices staying about the same and home sales increasing from the previous year.
During January, GLVAR reported the median price of single-family homes sold in Southern Nevada was $134,925, down 0.8 percent from $136,000 in December. The median price for condos and townhomes increased 5.7 percent, from $65,300 in December to $69,000 in January.

According to the GLVAR, the total number of local homes, condominiums, and townhomes sold in January was 3,266, down from 4,196 total sales in December 2009, but up from 2,664 in January 2009. Shelton said this decline in total sales from December to January was expected since it occurs nearly every year in Southern Nevada during these months.

The percentage of local homes purchased with cash during January was 45.5 percent, up from 40.4 percent the previous month and the highest such percentage ever tracked by GLVAR.

While the indicators point to improvements in Las Vegas’ market conditions, it still carries the label of the country’s most foreclosure-ravaged city, and has for some time now. But with short sales gaining ground in the area as a viable alternative for both lenders and distressed homeowners, perhaps that stat too will soon improve.

The Five Star Institute (FSI) will be hosting a Short Sale Summit in Las Vegas on March 12 as part of its West Coast 2010 Spring Training. The day’s full agenda will be dedicated to the ins and outs of short sales, and upon successfully passing a course exam, attendees will receive The Five Star Short Sale Certification.

In addition to the full-day summit on short sales, FSI’s 2010 Spring Training will be held on March 10, 11, and 13, and covers such areas as building an REO business, mastering broker price opinions (BPOs), and working with the distressed borrower – all taught by instructors who are recognized leaders in their respective fields
By: Carrie Bay

Stock-index futures fell sharply late Thursday after the Federal Reserve announced it’s raising the discount rate it charges on loans to banks. The dollar rallied sharply, and the euro touched a nine-month low on the move, which market participants interpret as signaling the beginning of the end of the central bank’s extraordinary stimulus measures.

The Fed raised the discount rate to 0.75% from 0.5% in order to encourage banks to tap money markets rather than the central bank for short-term loans.

Futures on the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) were off 65 points, or 0.6%, at 10,310 as of 4:40 Eastern time, while S&P 500 ($INX) index futures were off 9 points, or 0.8%, at 1,096. Action in the futures market is often — but not always — indicative of market direction during the regular session.

The U.S. Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, leaped as much as 0.7% on the news, a large move in currency terms.

In a statement aimed at market speculation that the Fed is finally changing the ultra-accommodative monetary policy it has maintained since the financial crisis struck, the Fed said: “These changes are intended as a further normalization of the Federal Reserve’s lending facilities. The modifications are not expected to lead to tighter financial conditions for households and businesses and do not signal any change in the outlook for the economy or for monetary policy.”

Still, it’s the first upward rate move from the Fed since the meltdown. It’s not likely to be the last.
By DAN BURROWS

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I build my business on referrals, so please allow me to assist your friends and family with their mortgage needs.
Contact me today for the best rate….Guaranteed Rate~!!!!Cynthia Weber Bio LR