Question and Answer for Thursday July 11th

Posted on July 11, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

Q: What are some benefits and drawbacks to purchasing a foreclosed home?

A: In today’s uncertain economic times, most people are looking to save as much money as possible. If you are thinking about buying a home, you may consider a foreclosure for this reason. Foreclosed homes are often sold at significant discounts, sometimes as much as 25 percent or more, because the lender wants to recover as much of its investment as possible, as quickly as possible.

Finding a foreclosed property that meets your needs, however, can be difficult and some of these homes may need quite a bit of repair work.

The most important step you can take is to find an experienced real estate professional – like me – to help you find the right house. I can provide you with a list of these properties and compare prices to other homes to make sure that the price is indeed a bargain.

It’s also important to have the home inspected. This will help you obtain financing and provide you with peace of mind that the home is a sound investment.

When you are ready to buy or sell, be sure to contact me. Let me put my knowledge and experience to work for you!

 

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Google Government is watching you!

Posted on July 9, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

President Obama announced Monday a plan to apply to the operation of the federal government the type of computer technology he utilized in his 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns.

“Back in 2007, when I was first running for this office, I had the opportunity to visit Google headquarters in Mountain View in Silicon Valley to discuss ways we could use technology to allow more citizens to participate in the democracy and bring the government still largely in the 20th-century into the 21st century,” Obama said as he announced the program at a White House meeting.

 
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“After all, we had already set out to build a new type of campaign – one that used technology to bring people together, and then trusted them with that technology to organize on their own,” he said.

But the program presented as a benefit to citizens may not be as altruistic as Obama initially made it appear, according to the author of new book that provides a postmortem analysis of the Republican defeat in 2012 and a critical blueprint for a Republican presidential victory in 2016.

WND senior staff writer Jerome R. Corsi is the author of “What Went Wrong: The Inside Story of the GOP Debacle of 2012 … And How It Can Be Avoided Next Time.”

“A key point of the book is that Obama’s two presidential campaigns have applied advanced computer and data management techniques to capture what Democrats hope will be a new and possibly permanent Democratic electoral majority,” Corsi said.

Corsi noted Obama has applied advanced computer technology to develop the National Security Agency’s capability to listen in on every phone call and to read every email sent in America. The Obama re-election campaign reached the point at which every voter in America could be individually profiled and scored for their personal political preferences and their likelihood to vote for Obama.”

Corsi cautioned that Obama aims to use data to control and manipulate citizens as well as voters. The president’s attention, he said, remains focused on collecting data on individuals as a means of exerting political power, without regard to the risks of infringing upon constitutional rights to privacy and free speech.

In his announcement today, Obama offered an illustration of how the technology is being applied.

“Today, for example, many online shopping websites help fill in some of your information so you don’t have to enter it every time you log in,” Obama explained. “As a consequence, we’re working on a project called MyUSA that will save you time by doing the same thing with government forms.”

Corsi cautioned that Obama’s aim in 2012 was not only to use computer technology and database management science to win an election.

“His goal was to transform presidential politics,” Corsi said, “such that any candidate without the resources and computer science management team capable of competing would be left in the dust.”

“Obama created an image of himself as a celebrity and reached out on Facebook and in personalized emails,” he said. “The messages were designed to make gullible voters feel Obama cared about their needs, with the promise that re-electing Obama would give each voter precisely the benefits they wanted back from the government.”

In “What Went Wrong,” Corsi describes how the Obama 2012 presidential campaign targeted the re-creation of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition in a modern-day configuration.

Reaching out to African-Americans, Hispanics, single women, labor union voters and young voters just entering the job market, Obama’s computer profiling collected sufficient matrices of data that each voter communicating with the campaign could envision Obama’s re-election would fulfill their personal needs. The offerings included more affirmative action, a new immigration bill that would amount to amnesty, free contraceptives, government-funded abortions, new entry-level jobs and an extension of unemployment insurance, disability benefit and food stamp programs.

“Whether or not Obama had any capability of delivering on his promises in his second term, the 2012 Obama campaign made likely voters feel a part of Obama’s team,” Corsi stressed. “The Google-like feel of the Obama campaign technology was seductive to voters who felt slighted and wanted to hear the message that someone else was to blame.”

Corsi pointed out that Obama-crafted campaign themes played right into identity-politics themes such as “The rich aren’t paying their fair share” or Republicans are anti-women because they oppose abortion.

“Obama did it again today,” Corsi pointed out, “promising that his Google-outreach techniques applied to the federal government would allow FEMA to analyze satellite and aerial imagery to target more effective emergency relief efforts to families needing help in a natural disaster than could be achieved if FEMA had to identify disaster victims in the field.”

Obama noted that after Hurricane Sandy, most victims were able to sign up for assistance using FEMA’s mobile and web apps, enabling them to update and check the status of their applications.

“And FEMA agents went door-to-door in some areas with iPads, helping residents who had lost power and Internet access sign up for disaster relief without leaving their homes,” Obama said. “So making sure that we’re delivering services better, faster, more efficiently.”

Corsi pointed out that every time a citizen offers personal information to government via computer technology, the information is easily data banked into an ever-evolving personal profile. The ultimate goal is to influence the his behavior or affect his thinking, often without even being aware of the manipulation.

“In the name of reducing government waste and increasing government responsiveness to citizens, Obama is asking for the computer tools he needs to expand big government beyond dimensions most people imagine is possible,” Corsi warned.

“As we have seen with Obama’s use of the IRS as a weapon to punish those who disagree with him over ideology or issues of political policy, Big Brother under Obama has an insatiable desire for power.

In the 21st century, no American must ever forget that knowledge is power and there is no greater knowledge than that modern computer science equipped with the Internet is capable of collecting and analyzing to know who we are one-by-one.”

Obama’s ‘Google government’ is watching you

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Economic Advisor – Weekly Update

Posted on July 3, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

Incomes and spending were a key newsmaker last week with personal income increasing in May by $69.4 billion 0.5 percent, and personal consumption expenditures PCE increasing by $29 billion, or 0.3 percent, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported last week. Disposable personal income DPI grew by $57 billion 0.5 percent, and real disposable income income left after taxes increased 0.4 percent in May. Real PCE ticked up 0.2 percent. Personal saving — DPI less personal outlays — hit $387.6 billion in May, compared with $359.2 billion in April. The personal saving rate — personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income — was 3.2 percent in May, compared with 3.0 percent in April. Turning to real estate, sales of new single-family homes in May hit an annual rate of 476,000, marking a 2.1 percent gain over April’s revised rate of 466,000, according to last weeks’ report from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Compared to last year, May’s sales were 29 percent over the May 2012 estimate of 369,000. Looking at price, the median sales price of new houses sold in May was $263,900, and the average sales price was $307,800. In terms of inventory, the number of new homes for sale at the end of May was 161,000, representing a 4.1-month supply at May’s sales rate. In employment news, the number of first-time claims for unemployment insurance filed during the week ending June 22 hit 346,000, a drop of 9,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 355,000, the Employment and Training Administration reported last week. The four-week moving average was 345,750, a decrease of 2,750 from the prior week’s revised average of 348,500. The total number of insured unemployed Americans during the week ending June 15 ticked down to 2,965,000, a decline of 1,000 from the previous week’s revised total of 2,966,000, the Administration also reported. The four-week moving average was 2,973,250, a slight decline of 9,250 from the prior week’s revised average of 2,982,500. Perhaps it was these trends that buttressed June’s consumer confidence scores. The Conference Board reported its Consumer Confidence Index, which had improved in May, increased again in June to hit 81.4 a baseline of 100 was set in 1985, up from 74.3 in May. The Present Situation Index, which describes how consumers feel about the current economy, increased to 69.2 from 64.8. The Expectations Index, which describes how they think the economy will do in the near future, improved to 89.5 from 80.6 last month. Meanwhile, the University of Michigan’s Consumers Sentiment Index hit 84.1 in June, which was down, but just barely, from 84.5 in May and well above 73.2 in June 2012. Consumer Sentiment was higher in the past two months than anytime since 2007. The Expectations Index, which describes how consumers expect the economy to perform, rose to 77.8 in June from 75.8 in May. The Current Conditions Index, which describes how consumers feel about the current economy, hit 93.8 in June, which was slightly down from May’s 98. This week, we can expect: Monday — May construction spending from the Census Bureau. Tuesday — June car and truck sales from the auto manufacturers. Wednesday — Initial jobless claims for last week from the Employment and Training Administration; May trade balance from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Friday — June payrolls, unemployment, earnings and workweek from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

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Insurance Premiums on the Rise

Posted on July 1, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

Why Your Insurance Premiums Just Went Up (and What to Do About It)

by Rich Smith

Have you noticed that your insurance premiums are going up lately? Going up a lot?

You’re not alone. According to a new report out from Bankrate.com, more than one-third of U.S. consumers say their insurance costs grew in 2012. In a few cases, this was because people had more things to insure — they bought a new house, or a second car, or perhaps brought home a new baby, who needed some health insurance. But in the majority of cases — 62 percent — consumers say they’re paying more simply because their insurance company is charging more.

Insurance professionals estimate the average homeowner’s insurance premium has risen 10 percent per year every year since 2008.

What’s Behind the Hikes

But is this a case of insurers price-gouging their customers? Or are there legitimate reasons for the rising rates? Actually, it’s the latter.

Insurance Information Institute spokesman Michael Barry points out that between “Hurricane Irene, the Joplin tornado that was the single biggest insurance event in Missouri history, and widespread winter storms, tornadoes and flooding in interior states like Minnesota,” the past decade has been one of the costliest in terms of natural disasters in U.S. history. And because insurance companies bear a large portion of that cost, it only makes sense that they might need to charge higher premiums to pay for all the claims they’ve been receiving.

Health care costs, too, are on the rise — leading to higher premiums for that flavor of insurance as well. Consumer Federation of America insurance director J. Robert Hunter blames health insurance for much of the inflation indicated in the Bankrate survey.

But the real reason is bigger than either of these explanations.

The Float is Sinking

On one hand, yes, insurance companies of all stripes are spending more to satisfy customer claims. The increased costs these companies face drive them to raise their rates to recoup their expenditures. But that’s only half of the problem.

To understand the other half, you need to understand how insurance companies work — how they make their money. This basically consists of three steps:

Step 1 is, of course, to collect premiums.

Step 2 is to invest the money from those premiums until it comes time to pay out on a claim. An insurance company doesn’t just put the money under a mattress after cashing your premium check. Rather, it takes this money — called “float” in industry parlance — and invests it in the corporate bond market, in federal savings bonds, and in the stock market.

Here’s where the problem begins: The interest rates insurers have been getting on their bond investments have been frightfully low these past few years. Similarly, the stock market is in a funk. It’s been doing well these past few weeks, true. But the bigger picture shows that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, for example, still hasn’t regained its highs of October 2007. That means that for more than five straight years, insurers haven’t earned anything on their stock holdings.

And this brings us to Step 3, which is the real problem. Insurance companies were counting on profits from the stock market (and the interest on those bonds) to help cover their costs when it finally came time to pay out cash to satisfy insurance claims. Those profits simply haven’t materialized, and as a result, insurers need to find money somewhere else in order to make good on insurance claims from their customers.

Guess where they found it?

That’s right. They found it in your wallet. In order to make up the difference between the money they thought they would have, and the amount they actually wound up with, insurers are raising prices. It’s really the only solution for them — and even then, insurance professionals say that there’s been little or no profit for insurance companies in homeowners insurance since about 2008.

Read the full article here: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/01/24/why-your-insurance-premium-just-went-up-and-what-to-do-about-it/

 

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Weekly Update

Posted on June 26, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

Real estate was a key newsmaker this month with sales of existing single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops rising a solid 4.2 percent in May to hit an annual rate of 5.18 million, the National Association of Realtors reported last week. May’s total marked the highest level since November 2009 and was 12.9 percent higher than May 2012’s 4.59 million-unit pace.

Total inventory of homes for sale in May rose 3.3 percent to 2.22 million units for sale, which represented a 5.1-month supply at May’s sales pace, down from 5.2 months in April. Listed inventory is 10.1 percent below a year ago, when there was a 6.5-month supply. These shortening supplies will impact home prices, NAR noted.

In fact, the national median price for existing homes of all types hit $208,000 in May, marking a 15.4 percent gain over May 2012, and the sixth straight month of double-digit price gains. This was the strongest price gain since October 2005, and the last time there were 15 consecutive months of year-over-year price increases was from March 2005 to May 2006. Distressed homes — foreclosures and short sales — accounted for 18 percent of May sales, which was unchanged from April.

Looking at new real estate, permits issued for private housing in May dipped to an annual rate of 974,000, which was 3.1 percent below April’s revised rate of 1,005,000, the Census Bureau reported last week. That said, May’s total was 20.8 percent over May 2012’s estimate of 806,000. Permits for single-family homes in May notched up to a rate of 622,000, which was 1.3 percent over April’s revised figure of 614,000.

Starts on construction of private homes in May grew by 6.8 percent over April to hit an annual rate of 914,000. This was a whopping 28.6 percent over May 2012’s rate of 711,000. Starts on single-family homes hit 599,000 in May marking a 0.3 percent increase over April’s revised figure of 597,000.

Employment saw some glum news with first-time claims for unemployment insurance filed in the week ending June 15 hitting 354,000, a gain of 18,000 from the prior week’s revised figure of 336,000, according to last week’s report from the Employment and Training Administration. The four-week moving average was 348,250, a bump of 2,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 345,750.

That said the total number of unemployed Americans covered by insurance during the week ending June 8 was 2,951,000, a drop of 40,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 2,991,000, the Administration also reported. The four-week moving average was 2,978,750, a gain of 7,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 2,971,750.

This week, we can expect:

Tuesday — Durable goods orders and new home sales for May from the Census Bureau; June consumer confidence figures from The Conference Board.

Wednesday — First quarter gross domestic product from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Thursday — Initial jobless claims for last week from the Employment and Training Administration; personal income and spending for May from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Friday — June consumer sentiment survey from the University of Michigan.

 

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4 Sales Technique’s that simply are out of date!

Posted on June 24, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

Do you want to set more appointments with the right prospects and close more and larger sales in just a few days? Then isn’t it time for you to face up to the fact that the old sales techniques that have been taught for the past 50 years have completely lost their effectiveness?

People today are too smart to fall for all those old-school mind games and gimmicks. Today, sales occur 98 percent of the time because the prospect has developed some respect and trust for the salesperson. And that kind of relationship only happens by having real conversations with people.

Today, you must learn to ask the right questions to get your prospects to tell you about their problems and what they really want. That way, they’ll want to meet with you and end up practically selling themselves.

Here are four old-fashioned sales techniques that don’t work.

1. “Selling is a numbers game.”

Sales is only a numbers game when all you know is traditional old-school selling techniques. There is a better and easier method of building trust and getting your product or service message across. Simply by changing your sales approach and asking the right questions, you’ll begin a serious conversation with intelligent back-and-forth questions, answers, insights and clarifications, all for the purpose of attaining deeper understanding for both parties.

2. “Use a sales script to sell.”

People can tell when you’re using a script, even if you think you’re pretty good at it. There’s nothing personal about it and people will pick that up. Being artificial just puts you into the typical salesperson category. If you learn to ask the right who, what, where, when, why and how questions to get people to tell you what they want, you’ll eliminate the negative triggers that can lose your sale within seconds. And, you’ll quickly become their trusted advisor.

3. “Rejection is part of the sales process.”

Rejection is not part of the sales process. Rejection is triggered by what you are telling them. Remember: No one likes to be told. Telling is not selling. Ask the right questions to get them to tell themselves.

4. “Focus on closing the sale.”

Are you “going in for the kill” with your 101 closing techniques? If you are, then you could end up killing your deal instead. Old-school closings techniques do nothing more than pressure the client or prospect. As a result, the prospect naturally wants to retreat away from that pressure, and that pressure is created by you. By learning to ask the right questions and getting them to tell you, you’ll be able to move the sales process forward to get the result you want.

Learning to ask the right questions is the critical key to consistently setting high-quality appointments with your ideal prospects and closing more sales. Asking the right questions is how you establish immediate trust and competence with your prospects to build strong and lasting relationships. Remember, people buy from people they like and trust.

Asking the right questions is how you get your prospects emotionally involved in the sales process. People buy based on emotions and justify their decision based on logic.

If you ask the right questions, it will make them want to solve their problems right now. You can learn how to conduct a better initial interview by trial and error, which is time-consuming and expensive. Or, you could find a mentor or hire a sales coach. Or, you could choose to live with a 25 percent to 40 percent closing ratio. The choice is yours!

 

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I was asked to be the Guest Speaker…..

Posted on June 24, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

Several months ago, I was asked to be the guest speaker at a church in Mesquite, Texas.

Thank you to Pastor David Roberson and the congregation of Another Chance Family Fellowship for allowing me to speak to you.

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Who is running your business ?

Posted on June 23, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

Numerous surveys in recent years have shown stress levels are up among small business owners. The most recent came from Brother International, but TD Bank, Hiscox and other businesses have all come to the same conclusion within the past year or so. Oh well, time to throw your hands in the air and just accept an overstressed lifestyle, right? Wrong!

There are numerous sources of stress common among small business owners just like you. However, by recognizing and limiting their influence in your life, you can pursue your entrepreneurial dreams without worrying about form 56-F at 3 am. Let’s discuss how to guarantee gray hair as a small business owner so you know what to avoid!

1 – Let Customers Ruin Your Day

Rude and obnoxious customers are everywhere. But, they don’t have to ruin your day.

Click here for tips on how to deal with them.

2 – Over-Tech Your Workplace

Ironically, my browser just froze as I began to write this. If that happens again, I will take this computer out to a field and re-enact the Office Space scene where Michael, Peter and Samir pulverize a printer that caused them enormous amounts of stress.

In reality, tech really can elevate stress levels. In fact, there is a scientific term for it: technostress. According to Wikipedia, it is caused by the following:

the quick pace of technological change

increased workload

lack of standardization within technologies

lack of proper training

reliability of hardware and software

If you can honestly say you haven’t experienced at least one of the mentioned issues in regards to tech recently, there is a very lucrative salary awaiting you in Silicon Valley. Oh, and Michael Bolton (the Office Space version – not the one he hated) would feel vindicated knowing the last cause on the list.

3 – Hire the First Warm Body

The mentioned TD Bank survey revealed that 20 percent of small business owners believe managing employees is their top source of stress. With this in mind, you’ll want to perform due diligence when hiring to ensure you get a productive employee. Otherwise, you could end up with a bad hire, which will really get your goat!

4 – Work Long Hours

According to a survey from Wells Fargo and Gallup, small business owners clock an average of 52 hours per week. This may be why, according to TD Bank, 11 percent of small business owners cite long hours as their top source of stress.

If you find yourself consistently working long hours, it’s time to hire an employee. Consider a leased employee, temp or part-timer if you’re leery about hiring a full-timer.

5 – Never Take Off

According to Manta, nearly half of small business owners didn’t plan to take a summer vacation in 2012. And, a majority of those who did planned to check work email and documents while away. In other words, most small business owners did not take a true summer vacation last year.

Unfortunately, overwork can lead to stress, heart problems and other health issues. Let’s not forget that it can also lead to gray hair!

via Five Ways to Guarantee Gray Hair as a Small Business Owner | Business Finance Store.

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What is your personality?

Posted on June 22, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

We all have a certain way of ” filling in.” Everybody has a look, an attitude, a certain role and demeanor that they choose when dealing with others. This is your personality and it dictates what you get back from the world.

Many times our personality was formed at an early age. Some people say as young as age 4 is when your personality was formed. What many people overlook is the fact that your personality can be affected by your surroundings, your past and those defining moments in your life.

The Four Temperament Types ( as taken from Wikipedia )

Sanguine

The Sanguine temperament personality is fairly extroverted. People of a sanguine temperament tend to enjoy social gatherings, making new friends and tend to be quite loud. They are usually quite creative and often daydream. However, some alone time is crucial for those of this temperament. Sanguine can also mean very sensitive, compassionate and thoughtful. Sanguine personalities generally struggle with following tasks all the way through, are chronically late, and tend to be forgetful and sometimes a little sarcastic. Often, when pursuing a new hobby, interest is lost quickly when it ceases to be engaging or fun. They are very much people persons. They are talkative and not shy. For some people, these are the ones you want to be friends with and usually they become life long friends.

Choleric

A person who is choleric is a do-er. They have a lot of drive and determination and try to instill it in others. They can dominate people of other temperaments, especially phlegmatic types. Many great charismatic military and political figures were cholerics. They like to be leaders and in charge of everything.

Melancholic

A person who is a thoughtful ponderer has a melancholic disposition. Often very considerate and get rather worried when they could not be on time for events, melancholics can be highly creative in activities. A melancholic is also often a perfectionist. They are often self-reliant and independent; one negative part of being a melancholic is sometimes they can get so involved in what they are doing they forget to think of others.

Phlegmatic

Phlegmatics tend to be self-content and kind. They can be very accepting and affectionate. They may be very receptive and shy and often prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are very consistent, relaxed, rational, curious, and observant, making them good administrators and astronauts.

Understanding these personality traits will help you understand what makes you tick but also will help you understand how other people react or respond.

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What do your tapes play ?

Posted on June 19, 2013 by robertjrussellcompanies

Perseverance is a day-by-day decision not to give up. Do you give up or do you keep moving forward ?
How many times in the day does that little voice inside your head keep telling you ” Its not worth it – give up ”
Just when you hear this voice is when you should ask yourself – Who do I listen to ? Do I listen to self doubt or do I choose to ignore the negative tapes that are playing in my head ?

Many people will go through life with memories of being told ” Your not good enough ” or ” You can’t do that ” and that is when you have to remember that there is only one person that is stopping you from moving in a positive direction – that person is YOU.

Some people call this game of giving up a Self Defeating Game. It is a game that you play with yourself and probably one like most of who struggle with on a daily basis.

My question for today – Do you give up or do you keep moving forward ?

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