History Behind a Midwest Town

Originally posted 2009-01-11 10:37:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Did you know that an industy or company could develop a community or city?  In most of the Midwest this was a common practice, hence the development of the community of East Chicago, Indiana.

The city has a history of being described as the “Twin Cities”.  This description was due to the city being divided into as east and west sides by the citizens at the time of inception.  The east side was known as Indiana Harbor and the west side was known as Sunnyside.

East side was comprised of Inland Steel and several other industries, and the west side was comprised of 140th Street North, south of Columbus Drive, west of Alder Street, and east of Cline Avenue.

The city grew and it 1920 had a population of approximately 36,000.  It was in 1920, that the section of Sunnyside was developed as a new community in Indiana Harbor.    This new community was comprised of 100 duxplexes that still stand today.   The homes were owned and rented to Inland Steel employees.   The rent was reasonable, so there was always a waiting list.

As times and financing changed, so did the ownership of the development, in 1963 the Purdue Calumet Development Foundation took over operation of the development.  The Development decided to sale the duplexes in 1969 with Inland employees getting first choice on the purchase of the homes.

With the sale of most of the homes, there was a need to develop more homes in the area.  In 1970, 38 homes were built.  With another eight homes being added to Evergreen Estates in 1974.

With the growth of Inland Street, the company committed to renovating the 100 duplexes in 1971.  This renovation was named the largest renovation in Midwest history.  The homes received many upgrades at the time to include upgrades to the plumbing, electrical wiring, and heating.

In those days, the companies were involved in your life to make your life better on and off the job.  I think that we may be headed by to those times.  Remember history has a habit of repeating itself.

Trust Transfer Made Easy

Originally posted 2009-02-12 10:32:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Due to recent changes to Fannie Mae’s financing criteria, an investor may want to consider putting his or her properties in a trust to be able to refinance the properties.  The change affects all investors who have his or her investment properties under a limited liability corporation.  

Today, I found an article at http://blogs.tldlaw.com/estate_planning/2007/02/transferring_re.html that explained a simple and economical way to transfer the properties in to a trust. 

The article goes on to explain what to do if you want to transact any other business with the properties under the trust. 

It is also important to understand the advantages to a trust and consult an attorney before entering in to the trust.

Get $25 off of Your Next Home Inspection

Originally posted 2009-03-02 12:25:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Expiration: 06-01-2009

MC2 Home Inspections 8435 Catchfly Dr. Plainfield IN 46168

What is a Land Trust?

Originally posted 2009-01-29 08:00:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Changes to Fannie Mae’s Financing Criteria Affect Investors

Recent changes to Fannie Mae’s financing criteria have created a need for investors to reconsider how they take ownership of their new investor property.   Those changes are affecting investors who finance the property in their portfolio and have those properties under the entity, limited liability corporation (LLC). 

Freddie Mac backs many of the conforming loans on the secondary market, so any changes in the rules is very important and should be headline news; hence, this news release. 

 

The changes are as follows:

• Freddie Mac will no longer approve refinance for any property that has been under a limited liability corporation entity for the previous six months. 
• Freddie Mac is limiting the number of properties the investor can have financed to four not ten as in years passed.

 

Land Trust is Answer to Recent Fannie Mae Changes

  

The ownership option that will combat the change to the financing institutions’ criteria changes is taking ownership of the new investment property under a land trust.  What is a land trust?

 

A land trust is a method of real estate ownership in which the trustee has legal title to the property.   The beneficiary, though, has full power to control the property to include disposing of the property and management of the property. 

 

The trustee for the land trust can be an attorney, law firm, or a bank.  Remember, the trustee holds the legal title.  However, whether the trustee is an attorney, law firm, or a bank, those entities can not act without the written consent of the beneficiary who has full power to control the land trust.

 

 

Benefits of Land Trust

 

The land trust is not only the solution to the changes for financing, but the land trust also has great benefits such as:

• Privacy
• Succession
• Litigation
• Probate
• Flexibility
• Financing
• Asset protection

A land trust is considered to be superior to most business entities such as corporations, limited liability corporation, etc because the land trust has the added benefit of privacy.  The land trust does not have to be registered that means there is no public record of the officers, directors, shareholders, or beneficiary.  The trustee must keep the beneficiary and trust records in a secure location, and the trustee can not reveal the information unless subpoena.

 

Along those same lines, it is recommend that at time of purchase that of the new investment purchase for it to be conveyed directly to the trustee to avoid the owner’s name ever being part of public record.   There is other reasons anonymity or privacy is beneficial.  It can prevent unfair price increases on purchasing of property.  For example, when the land was accrued for the Disney World, Walt Disney used a land trust to disguise his intentions for the usage of the land to prevent increases in the price of the land. 

 

Still yet, another advantage to a land trust is asset protection.  The beneficiary is protected from judgments and liens.  The land trust prevents the judgment to automatic be attached to the real estate owned by the investor since the title is not in beneficiary’s name.

 

However, it is important to note that because the investor maintains control of the trust, the control or interest can be subject to creditor’s claim.  To avoid creditor’s claims, the trust needs to be irrevocable not revocable.   

 

The land trust is flexible because it allows for ease of multiple ownership.   Even though there are multiple owners all owner do not have to sign for the acquisition of a new property just the trustee who has written instruction from the owners sign the documents for acquisition of the new investment property. 

 

The land trust does can not be partition when one of the owners’ part, but the parting owner can transfer part of his or her interest in the trust.

 

The best is advantage of the land trust is ease of succession.  If the beneficiary of the land trust passes away, the interest in the trust is simply transfer via the previous written instructions to the trustee.  This eliminates the need for probate and the lengthy and costly process involve with the probate proceeding. 

 

The beneficiary of the land trust can be an individual or an entity, so if you have a limited liability corporation the LLC can be the beneficiary. 

 

The cost of the land trust may vary, but the investor may be charged as little as $100 to open a trust and $75 a year to maintain the trust for an investment property valued at $250,000.

 

Remember, the land trust is a legal document that must be review by an attorney to ensure that all of your interest is address.  If you have a LLC make sure your LLC has instructions in it as well for your beneficiary interest in the land trust. 

 

 

Guest Blogging

Originally posted 2009-03-30 05:28:38. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I recently was a guest blogger on Socialmatic Blog.  I wrote on a tool that I recently learned about that help optimize this blog.  The title of the blog was “Optimization is Essential to a Successful Blog.”

The site that I was a guest blogger on has nothing do with real estate, but it does contribute to this site’s success.  It is a site about improvement of one’s blog.  I feel that it is important to provide great content to my readers so I educate myself by following and learning from other guru like Alvin Phang, Gideo Shalwick, Yaro Starak, and others.    These individuals have added very unique and essential ingredients to my blog that helps me provide the great content that I provide to you about read estate, mortgage, and insurance.

Visit their sites and you will soon agree that there is something worth revisiting their sites again and again for.

Happy Reading.

Business Products and Services

Originally posted 2008-12-22 01:40:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

If you are looking to start a business these business products and services may be what you are looking for:

Stimulus Package – Free Web Tools to Make Your Life Easier

Originally posted 2009-04-01 05:17:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

There are ten FREE web tools that can make your life better.  Those tools are:

• www.mint.com – This site helps you track your expense because it pulls to a secure site all of your bank information.  This makes it easier to get your taxes information together.
• www.zenbe.com – This site allows you to check all of your email accounts, facebook, and twitter accounts all in one convenience location.
• www.getdropbox.com – This site allows you to back up your email files.
• www.everyscape.com – This site allows you to run a three dimensional view of streets at city level.
• www.inhabitat.com – This site gives tips to homeowners that want to go green.
• www.yelp.com – This site reviews plumbers, doctors, resturants, etc.
• www.billshrink.com - This site discovers if there are any hidden cost on your credit card, cell phone bill, etc.   It also give recommendations for alternatives to the credit card or cell phone that has the hidden cost.
• www.gasbuddy.com – This site helps you find a cheap gas station. 
• www.fotoflexer.com – This site allows you to touch up your photos with different effects and adjust light.
• www.designspongeonline.com – This site allows do-it-yourselfers on a budget that want to redecorate their home. 

These tools can be a stimulus package because it helps you save money.

How to Strengthen your Trading Mindset

How to Strengthen your Trading Mindset

To be able to succeed at trading, you must be fully aware of how to strengthen your trading mindset.

Trying your luck at trading is as good as trying your luck at a card game table in a casino, you take a gamble byt placing your bet on what you consider your aces, try to establish a fallback position by managing your risks and how to play with your cards to make the most out of every possible gambling situation you are in, whether you win or lose.

Here are some common tips on how to strengthen your trading mindset.

Always take full responsibility for your trading decisions.

As a rule of thumb, most investors simply follow the crowd, but successful traders make up their own minds.

Although you should always be open to good advice from other experts, but the final and ultimate decision rests upon you and not with anybody else.

You can always try to focus on the opportunity to learn since there’s plenty of it, but don’t  let it cloud your perspective or determine the choices you make.

Avoid the pitfalls of over-trading.

There are basically two types of over-trading – trading too often and trading too many shares.

If you are trading too often, remind yourself that there’s really no good reason to trade constantly, since extreme over-trading creates stress, produces high commissions but sometimes often leads to losses.

This is so because market forces do not last forever and time has shown various examples of the law of gravity in the trading market- that whatever comes up must go down.

Instead of grabbing every stock that comes along, make sure each trade setup meets the criteria of your trading plan, don’t be too over cocky or too selfish.

To prevent trading too many shares, use a risk calculator to determine the appropriate position size before you click the enter button. It relieves stress to know that the amount at risk for each position you hold is safely proportioned to the size of your entire account, this is asset management at work.

Always go easy on yourself.

There’s a tendency for traders who take responsibilty for their actions to be tough on themselves.

After all, this gives credence to the saying that ‘do not cry over spilled milk.’

This could be a good opportunity for some positive self-criticism, but don’t slam yourself too hard or too often, since even the best traders make mistakes.

When you do, learn from them quickly and then let it go.

Avoid yelling at yourself, as self inflicted psychological damage is tough to overcome, so it’s best to avoid it entirely.

Always think like a winner.

Thinking like a winner turns you into a winner, since the sum of your thoughts has an interesting way of showing up in your life.

Thoughts are like muscles, the ones you use the most will grow to become the strongest. Work on the thoughts you want to develop and focus on them regularly, since it has the tendency to become action, action become habits, and habits determine results.

Always think of success and you are much more to be on your way to success.

Lastly, take every effort to relax.

Even though trading is serious business, the best traders know how to laugh – especially at themselves.

Having fun and enjoying at what you do is a very good motivator to give you focus on making money and earning it on trading.

So know how to strengthen your trading mindset and be on your way to success.

Related articles

• Can (and Should) You Roll a Credit Spread? (community.tradeking.com)
• How to Repair an Iron Condor if Your Stock Moves Against You (community.tradeking.com)

Breaking News for Investors

Originally posted 2009-01-04 13:04:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

On August 1, 2008, Freddie Mac changed its guidelines.  Those changes are affecting investors who finance the property in their portfolio and have those properties under the entity, limited liability corporation (LLC). 

 

Freddie Mac backs many of the conforming loans on the secondary market, so any changes in the rules is very important and should be headline news; hence, this news release. 

 

The changes are as follows:

• Freddie Mac will no longer approve refinance for any property that has been under a limited liability corporation entity for the previous six months. 
• Freddie Mac is limiting the number of properties the investor can have financed to four not ten as in years passed.

 

The solutions to these changes are as follows:

• Cash is king.  Allow the equity that you have build in the properties you currently own acquire new properties not using a loan; however, with this option you will have to factor in the cost of repairs.  In other words, the cash has to cover the purchase and the repairs.
• All properties that are acquired must be protected.  The way they are protected will still include the LLC.  It will just be a trust that will act as a go between.  The property will be held under a trust with the beneficial interest being the LLC.

 

Remember, these changes do not preclude you from owning properties.  It just changes how they are held and how many can be financed at any given time.  Lastly, speak with an attorney on how to set up your trust and having the beneficial interest going to the LLC.

Why should You Use Technical Indicators in the Stock Market?

Why should You Use Technical Indicators in the Stock Market?

For someone who is new in the trading business, it is always a good start to take time to do some research in line with the useful technical indicators. So much more, even the pros still have the same degree of need for them. What they typically do often is that of surfing the Internet for blogs and articles that feature the discussion of the gurus regarding why they believe that their personal choice of indicators are so far the best. While there is no rule saying that you should not believe them, it is always implied that there are times when the presented indicators are often conflicting. To make things worse, people who simply adopt the exact plans of the Internet guys don’t actually succeed.

The Clear Indication

Now here is the catch. The people who call themselves technical indicator gurus are convinced that their businesses work basically because they have already formulated their specific goals and working your way towards success in this line of trade is all about having your personal definite plan. Yes, all that you must do is to pull things together and execute your wisest judgment. You have to be responsible for every single course of action that you take.

The Importance of Technical Indicators

Why is it important to utilize the so-called stock market technical indicators? Can they really help you out as you find your chance in the stock market? Don’t worry because they can definitely do some of the hard work for you. Most of the known technical indicators are able to spot the precise entry and exit points as you venture into trading in the stock market. More so, you can count on them whenever you need help.

Technical Indicators Explained

For every type of business, there are rules and standards for you to adopt. In line with the stock market, the indicators are among those that can aid in inviting more of your luck.

Basically, technical indicators are the mathematical formulas that you must meet. They are furthermore based on the movement of the price. Since many people trust them, experts agree that they are indeed very much precise.

There are several known indicators out there and normally traders make use of one, two, or even more indicators before they execute whatever decision they have in their minds. The thousands of varieties of indicators likewise run on numerous varying formulas too. In fact, you can take a pick from among them. Of course, as mentioned above, gurus have their own bets. They are likely to recommend to you those which they think are working the best. You must know that many of them suggest those indicators that they personally use or else they will not bear that strong amount of conviction. While it is emphasized that you may or may not follow what they say, it will not also hurt if you prefer the first option. After all, they serve as your guide. On the other hand, never limit yourself and your decision with those things that they tell you. You can always find out the indicators that will also work best for you. Talk about experimentation and discovery!

What is so great with the stock market technical indicators is that their being accurate allows you to see the potentials in making money. They express signals that will let you determine the possible risks at hand. All you must do is to load them up via a chart and they will do the rest.

 

Related articles

• The Technical Indicator: Despite rally, technical repairs needed (marketwatch.com)
• The Technical Indicator: S&P, Nasdaq edge atop major resistance (marketwatch.com)
• We’re In a New Bear Market, Says One Technical Indicator (blogs.wsj.com)

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