I was debating this question with my wife and we both gave an answer way beyond the true answer:
How many hairs are in a human head?
What is your best guess? Please do not cheat by googling around.
No, I am expecting an exact answer to the accuracy of single digit. I am expecting a roughly close answer.
10 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 29 2009 11:26PMI recently come across a few multi-level marketing ads and would like to let good fellow ActiveRainers know about this to avoid waiting your time or being screwed.
I personally do not think MLM is evil. It is a marketing that is so easily to be taken advantage of by some un-ethnic spamsters. Just the subprime mortgage. It was designed with a good intention (maybe) but it has been abused by the bankers and destroyed at least 50% of the economy.
As far as AR is concerned, I see a few members post a few website with "super" products and marketing. They do not describe what they are selling unless you submit your personal information.
All legitimate companies would love to show what they have to offer, in a very simple to understand way. If the company is very dodgy or make it very difficult for you to understand their products or services, that is most likely a ponzi scheme.
Actually, not only on AR, I can also come across quite a few MLM artists in each casual business meetings.
So, folks, just be cautious about any new ponzi schemes.
Disclaimer: I wrote this because I clicked a few links today and it wasted my time. I know most agents here can tell a ponzi scheme easily. So the purpose of this post is to save your time. Thanks for reading this post.
7 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 29 2009 08:32PMI was at my friend's place. I have never met the wife and the wife did not know me at all.
I said she got such a good house. The wife quickly connect the house to what she does---a Realtor. She said it is the best time to buy a house and there is a 8K credit thing. Then a long story about her credibility to be a good Realtor.
I do not how to describe my feeling. I am kind of afraid of seeing her. I do not want to tell her that I also got a license.
But anyway, here is a quick math. She began to sell her service merely after about 3 minutes or less than 5 sentences of conversation.
I am not sure if I am picky or not but if I am ordinary buyer, I think 3 minute would be too short.
4 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 28 2009 08:13PMI have to fill my tank today. Within two days, I noticed that my favorite gas station has increases their prices at a whooping 12 cents to $2.03. 12 cents is not a lot but it is a 6% increase!
That is a direct effect of printing money to save the economy.
I am afraid this trend will continue.
The trend has not been picked by the real estate market. Maybe buyers should be aware. Who knows.
5 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 27 2009 10:04PMThis is a heads up for the city people. Please read the following article on Providence Journal.
Police online deals were really hot
The basic story is that somebody broke into house and stole some electronics and then sold them on Craigslist.
Folks, the economy is bad now. Some people might become too creative. So be really careful locking your door up. Police think that this particular guy might have been scanning the neighborhood for unlocked doors.
2 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 26 2009 11:28AMA great analysis. Linda should be an eonomist for the current administration.
We Know Congress ‘Broke' the Housing Industry, so why do we think they can fix it?
Those of us that have been in the real estate industry for years understand that Lenders did not ‘just decide to start making risky loans". They were encouraged by the backing of the full weight and power of the Federal Government who backed these loans and purchased them on the secondary market through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As we found out, they were not only encouraged but coerced into making risky loans to further the agenda of Congress and Congress was involved every step of the way. AIG was encouraged to insure these loans because the loans were risky and did not have the ‘old fashioned' down payment or qualifications that loans had in previous years.
Of course, many people that were not in the real estate industry would never have known how risky these loans were. They never knew how much the mortgage backed securities had changed - but we did! It was our business.
Fix Capitalism with Socialism?: Now to fix the problem that Congress created - they have voted to "Save Us" and our economy by taking us down the road to Socialism. We did not ask them to do this - they decided that this was the best way to go - our only other option was to ‘Stand by and Do Nothing". I can think of a few other options that do not destroy our economic system.
Outrage: As the Fix is implemented and over a TRILLION dollars are given to private industry, Congress becomes ‘Enraged' that someone slipped something into the Recovery Act that they did not see coming. That is because they did not take time to Read, Discuss or review the TRILLION dollar Recovery Act and now they are surprised by the very things they voted for! It only serves to attract attention to the fact that they did not read the Bill before they voted it into law.
Law of Contracts: So that brings us to the ‘need' for Congress to tamper with the Law of Contracts to fix the problem that enrages them in the Recovery Act that they voted for. As real estate agents and any other business person in America - we must protest - do not weaken Contract Law. That is how we get paid for our services. Our Trust in the strength of contracts makes the American Society and Economy strong. When Congress (the House so far) votes for these punitive actions, that makes them feel better - but it makes the rest of us (including the rest of the world) leery and concerned about investing in America. We are changing the very ‘basic foundation' of our law.
Ruled by Laws; not by Men: The Rule of Law is the very thing that makes us a Republic. We are not a Democracy ruled by the whims of men and the mob. The Founding Fathers created a Republic. Our Congress is making decisions today that are changing the Foundation of our government.
It's UnConstitutional: The Congress felt they had discovered a legal way around the Constitution, so that they could retroactively punish those very people that they had just paid bonuses to. It is against the Constitution for Congress to single out an individual or a group of individuals for different treatment. So does that mean they want to tax everyone's bonuses like the ones we get when we sell a difficult house, or does it mean they are willing to go against the Constitution? Just because they are outraged that they voted for the bonuses - either way - that is not what we want.
Nationalized Banks: Now it is important to understand that when Bernanke and others say we have not nationalized our banks - the definition they use is: 100% ownership of the bank by the government. Since we are only at 80% it is not nationalized. Sweden has begun to criticize us for our actions in ‘bailing out/buying Banks'. Once again we want to turn the economy around, but we behave in a way that the rest of the world sees as risky and ‘UnAmerican'.
Printing Money: The Federal Reserve, which is an arm of the world banking system (not the US government); has just authorized the printing of a TRILLION dollars. The implications of this are huge and very dire for our economy. China has reacted yesterday by declaring that we need a new world monetary system. The US dollar is too risky to be used and actions by the Fed and Congress have brought into question the soundness of our monetary system. This should also point out - that the things I have said here are understood by some very powerful people.
Our system of government is under Attack: Read our Founding Fathers, the real George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. http://www.nccs.net/freedom_defined/const.html
This way you can fully appreciate the unique form of government we enjoy. Before we allow others in Congress to destroy it in a few months time (because we are in a 'crisis'); you may want to get involved in this extraordinary time in the history of our Nation.
The Basis of our Economy is Under Attack: Congress does not understand Capitalism or Free Enterprise. They are Bureaucrats not Businessmen like us. Businesses are uniquely qualified to run Business and the economy. The economy is not designed to go straight up with never a glitch. There are business cycles (Ups and downs to the economy). We do not want Treasury Secretary Gietner to be appointed the Financial Czar with complete power under the ‘Resolution Authority' - being pushed on us at this time. This was a main reason for the president's press conference last night.
Government can not save us or fix the problem. Let the leaders of industry work on each of their specific industries. Believe it or not, we real estate agents are working on our industry - every day with a single mindedness never seen in a bureaucracy.
It is not the fact that we are experiencing an economic down turn (and it may be a big one); it is how we react to these cycles that builds integrity and weakens or strengthens our economy. I think most of us have learned a valuable lesson and would do things a little differently in the future. We would make decisions to strengthen our economy.
We would not choose to become a Socialist country instead of Capitalist. We would not choose to weaken our Constitution or question the Rule of Laws, just because we are having an economic down turn. So why are we allowing our government to do this for us?
What are we going to do about it? Any suggestions?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94lW6Y4tBXs click here to get the perspective of our friends across the Pond.
Lynda Bennett, Maggie valley, NC
0 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 25 2009 09:41PMA pretty good list for folks who will do short sale.
What is Needed to Submit a Short Sale Package to a Lender?
Each lender requires relatively the same documents. You should be prepared to provide supporting documentation for any financial information provided to the lender.
The Short Sale Packet:
Listing Agreement - Lenders want to see that the home is actively being marketed for sale. In addition, the lender wants to verify that actions are being taken to maximize the price for the property in order to minimize their loss. The lenders can be very wary of non arms-length transactions. These are transactions that involve related parties and are normally rejected by the lender. A listed property that has been exposed to the entire market place (and not to just a few investors) is more likely to be taken seriously by the lender.
Authorization to Release Information - This form will give whomever the borrower appoints, permission to speak to the lender on their behalf. Without authorization, the lender will require that all communication go through the borrower.
Short Sale Hardship Letter - Lenders require a hardship letter from their borrowers. The purpose of the letter is to tell the bank "what happened" and what led the borrower to becoming delinquent on the mortgage. Be honest, brief and persuasive. Don't blame a negative equity situation as a reason for your delinquency. Don't blame your loan officer for giving you a loan that you didn't understand or was not in your best interest. It goes back to the old saying "Buyer Beware". Every borrower should read their mortgage contract and if they do not or did not understand it should have sought the advice of an attorney. Avoid using obscenities.
Financial Work Sheet - Some lenders require this while most don't. However, in my opinion, this is one of the most valuable pieces of evidence for hardship that you can provide to a lender. While the hardship letter can be useful, most don't illustrate the entire story. The financial work sheet will reveal a borrowers hardship much more accurately than a letter.
Two Most Recent Pay Stubs - The lender wants to verify any information that you provided on your financial work sheet.
Two Most Recent Bank Statements - Again, this is to corroborate your current financial standing. In addition, when going through the short sale process it is important to keep in mind that little recording you hear every time that you call the bank (or the bank calls you), "This is an attempt to collect a debt...." They are also checking to see if you can make this month's payment!
Last Two Years W2s: Once again, they are looking for verification of the hardship and to make sure that your income matches what you put on your financial worksheet.
Last Two Years Tax Returns
Preliminary Settlement Statement: The lender will use this to calculate their loss. It is important for this to be as accurate as possible as it may be the difference between accepting your offer or not.
Sales Contract: Once again, this is used for the calculation of loss to the lender. Once they receive an offer to purchase they will have a Broker Price Opinion (BPO) or appraisal done completed. They will make a decision to accept the offer or not based on what the house is worth, what other bank owned properties are selling for in the area, amount of loss they might incur and the cost to hold the house as a REO property (taxes, insurance, maintenance etc). The time it takes for them to make a decision could be a couple of weeks to a couple of months.
0 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 25 2009 09:38PMWhile my title sounds like too extreme, it is a realistic inference from economic Nobel laureate Paul Krugman's latest post:
NYTimes' columnists have recently published strong accusations of the Obama policy. I am with them. This particular article is easy to understand, even for non-economists.
A few quotes:
"The Obama administration is now completely wedded to the idea that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the financial system — that what we’re facing is the equivalent of a run on an essentially sound bank."
"As Tim Duy put it, there are no bad assets, only misunderstood assets."
"financial operations with very little capital but lots of government-guaranteed liabilities. For the private investors, this is an open invitation to play heads I win, tails the taxpayers lose."
We need to focus on what we are doing and stay positive but we just cannot afford to double what the current crisis.
Banks have been gambling on real estate. With the courage from the government, they will sure gamble again (and who will not). But anybody with a brain would know real estate is not good a target to gamble on.
So folks, banks will gamble on, but they will not gamble on real estate, mostly likely*. So should Realtors lobby to convince the banks to gamble on real estate AGAIN?
*P.S. Money can drive people crazy. Rational move is not to gamble on real estate but who knows what banks will do when bankers were driven crazy by the free money (no-recourse loan as per Paul Krugman's word).
1 comment • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 23 2009 11:41AMI try to watch the relay of Jay Leno show. No luck in Youtube. Finally, this hulu thing helped me.
If you missed the show and want to watch it, you can watch it here in the rain directly. Thanks to Hulu.com
Not too much juice in the show, but I like Obama's last joke: want to get a friend in Washington? Get a dog.
6 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 20 2009 10:46AMFor those who read economic news, I guess we all know what will happen. The greenback will depreciate soon, thanks to Bernanke.
So it is time to buy something like real estate, that will hold value, or at least depreciate slower than the dollar.
This is not because the industry has recovered. It is because houses will be comparatively cheap in monetary value.
I know $ will depreciate but I could have never thought the government will do something like this drastic but they actually did.
If you have some cash at home, keep enough to buy food and spend the rest to buy something real: gold, real estate, business, energy, raw material, etc. The government is stealing money from you, do not let them fool you again.
7 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 20 2009 08:53AMMy bank sent me the new mortgage rate today and said that rate might change dramatically. (Attached is my rate sheet. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the coming weeks and months.)So banks are finally lending out money? I need to pass this message out.
This is a local bank in Rhode Island. I have not heard from the big banks yet.
0 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 19 2009 03:42PMIt seems finally the government wants to something with Wall Street and some people definitely want blood there.
CORRECT: Bid Denied To Keep Merrill Bonus Data Confidentia(CNNMoney)
So by tomorrow, we may be able to know who received the big bonus in Merrill out of TARP.
I am a strong believer that transparency is needed to reform the wall street therefore to save the current economy. Let us see how this will impact the banking and therefore the mortgage industry.
6 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 18 2009 11:00PMBryant wrote this great post on how to do a listing presentation. I reblog his post and write a seperate a post out of this posting soon.
Thank you, Bryant and best wishes to TLW.
What makes for a strong listing presentation? Well, what I have learned over the years, is that the best listing presentation is when the Sellers are doing all the talking. Ask the right questions, sit back and listen.
Sellers don't care about Power Point Presentations, 25 Marketing Strategies for a Successful Sale, Broker Opens, how many designations you have, how large your company is or a myriad of other things we say to potential Sellers to show how good we are.
Remember......it's all about them not about us.
The Sellers I meet with want to talk. They want to show you their house and tell you their reasons for selling. They want to blow off steam from the bad experiences they have had with past Realtors. They want someone that will listen to them and respond accordingly. No scripts, no ABC sales techniques and no print out of all your awards.
Sellers want an honest and forthright opinion of what their house is worth and what it will take to get it sold. Most importantly they must know that you genuinely care about them and their needs. And believe me this can not be faked. It must be a sincere caring. Bottom line.... people want to work with people they like and trust. So next time make your listing presentation a listening presentation.
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0 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 18 2009 09:35PMDisclaimer: I will begin to write one paragraph comment on things that happen to our daily lives, latest news, etc from today. I am a strong believer of Occam's Razor. I think many problems could be boiled down to one single paragraph to outline its causes.
I think the biggest problem of AIG is OPM: other people's money. The problem of OPM is no single person is responsible for it. That means? If you screw the money, you have nothing to lose. At least for now, I see no accountability issues with AIG or any other companies. So what will they do? They will continue screwing every single American. That is also the problem of State Own Enterprises' (SOE)problem in China back about 30 years ago. Now that most SOE have been privatized. It is funny we have a new SOE-like problem here.
8 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 17 2009 10:22AMI have been thinking about the foreclosure and short sale over the past two weeks. Most Realtors would say a foreclosure is worse than a short sale. I try to figure out scenarios where a foreclosure would be better. Below are two scenarios that I can think of now. Correct me if I am wrong.
Am I wrong?
1 comment • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 15 2009 10:21AMI finished listening to Bryant's short teleconference. I have a question on short sale and tax forgiveness.
I know the bill HR3648. Short sales are changing rapidly. That bill was passed two year ago. I wonder if there is any new bills passed ever since.
I would like to quote those related bills to a few potential clients and would appreciate it if somebody can shed some lights on this, to save my research time.
Thanks.
0 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 15 2009 10:01AMWe all know vacant houses are not good. There is an old saying: a house cannot afford to be filled (with people) but not vacant.
Yesterday, there is a fire in a vacant house, in Pawtucket, RI.
The police are still investigating the reasons but the "vacant" catches my eyes.
With the ever increasing economic pressure on my people, vandalism is going to be a big issue. Now not only vandalism but also fire will be a big concern for banks or property owners.
Let us get the real estate industry moving, do not worry about the price.
7 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 14 2009 08:27AMCouple weeks back, I post a post;
40 millionaires from China are visiting USA searching for house deals
I would like to take this opportunity to update on that trip.
It turns out that less than 40 finally showed up for various reasons and none of them made any deals at the end.
***the following are pure my personal opinion******
Honestly, that is what I would expect.
Due to complex tax laws in China, most people would be reluctant to reveal their true wealth. True millionaires never admit they are millionaires. I believe this is just human nature.
This very trip, when it gained publicity, I had a feeling that it is just a marketing. From various resources, I can draw a conclusion that this trip is rather a marketing for the website that organized this trip. The millionaires are true millionaires but they were mainly here for the travel purposes with very remote interest to purchase anything.
Are foreign investors buying? You bet. But not in this publicity. Not their style. Not to their best interest.
I have a some business buyers from China. They sign contracts with me that I will not release their identity.
-------
So the conclusion is that investors will surely come but not like that trip.
Will more trips like that come again? You bet.
***end of my comments*****
1 comment • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 12 2009 05:31PMNotice this is a true story happened to my friend. I hide the identity for privacy reasons.
My friend owned (notice the past tense here) a house. Let us call my friend Z for simplicity. The house is a waterfront property with only one bedroom. Two years ago, Z wanted to put some structure on the deck so that it will become a bedroom. Z talked to many "friends". Finally one friend said he can help, for a very good price.
The deal is: he will only work on this project when he is not busy, i.e., during his very low-cost scrap time.
As Z is not in a hurry to have an extra bed, this sounds like a deal.
Here were what happened:
Finally, everything added had been torn down.
The house has been foreclosed at this point. (By the way, Z's "best friend" who is an account told Z to declare bankruptcy and let it go the property).
So, what seemed a best deal (pricewise) turned out to be the most expensive deal---thousands of dollar for nothing.
I am not a builder and I am writing to get any building job. I am sharing this story with everybody to show a simple life philosophy: the best option for everything is usually to work with the best.
P.S.: the builder is still in business right now.
3 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 12 2009 01:43PM
I was listening to Bryant Tutas's short sale teleconference and learned quite a bit. I am sharing here one quote from him.
If you have not listened to his teleconference, read his following post:
It was a conference organized by Jennifer Allan and Jani Coffey. It was a really nice conference.
In his talk, Bryant said one sentence that is worth a quote to recite.
It is me who needs to be changed.
Everybody is affected by this market. Lots of blaming, finger-pointings. But after all, it is "me" who needs to be changed.
Thank you, Bryant.
6 comments • Huiting Zhuang,Sell your business overseas • March 12 2009 09:16AMContent © 2009 'Frequent Contributors'. Design © 2009 ActiveRain Corp.
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