Monday, December 29, 2008

Real Estate Short Sales Are Really NOT Short At All



Real estate short sales are anything but short. Believe me, it can take forever sometimes for the bank that owns the property to release its interest in it even though willing buyers are ready to close the deal. In today’s real estate market, property values are lowering to rock bottom prices and homebuyers are ready to scoop them up. But what was once a simple real estate transaction that took approximately30 days to complete has now turned into a very lengthy time process that can take as long as 90 days or longer.


Typically, a short sale is supposed to allow a homeowner, who is about to have their home foreclosed upon, the opportunity to sell their property in order to avoid ruining their credit history with a foreclosure showing on their credit report. This sounds simple, but the bureaucratic process banks implement to process short sales has several stages that they must go through before they will ever release their interest in the property.


Normally, a willing homeowner will sell their home to a bank-approved buyer who then is able to close escrow and move in to their newly acquired home. In a short sale, the homeowner, who is losing his/her home, must first get his/her bank to approve the terms of the sale before the transaction ever closes escrow. This can be difficult in today’s marker when home values are continuing to decline. Obviously, the bank that owns the home wants back all the money it is owed. But in most cases, the amount that is owed far exceeds what the house is worth in value. The bank will then assign its own appraiser to determine the current value on the house and proceed to turn the file over to a “negotiator” who will then respond to an offer made by the potential buyers. By the time the interested buyers receive any feedback on their offer their file has been bounced around at the bank several times. Sometimes short sales are really not what they appear to be and can turn into an endless nightmare with the buyers often withdrawing their offer to purchase. Makes you think why congress ever bailed out the banks, but that’s another story.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Winning The Lottery

Winning the lottery can be quite a challenge especially if you don’t play that often. I used to buy five one dollar tickets every other month until it was clear the chances of winning a big jackpot may not ever occur in my lifetime. Every once in a while I might win five dollars or at least break even. I read about people winning the lottery every once in a while and sometimes they win big, sometimes as high as ten million dollars. The only consolation I ever get is knowing these people live in nearby areas that I recognize, but never anyone I know.

Every once in a while I will read in the local newspaper about a group of employees purchasing lottery tickets together. Winning the lottery in this manner increases the odds for everyone if they purchase their tickets together. It’s a lot better to win a share of each winner’s ticket than to not win at all. Usually lottery pools are small in size, about 10 – 20 employees. When purchasing lottery tickets in a pool, chances are, several individuals are going to win. Even if only five members of the pool win five dollars each, at least everyone can share in the winnings. Can you imagine if a group of 100 persons formed a lottery pool together? Or how about 10,000 persons joining a lottery pool together. WOW! This sounds like fun. Their winnings may not be as high, but winning something is better than nothing. Who knows, maybe someone will win the big one.

Can you imagine a group of 100,000 persons, or more, playing one dollar tickets twice a week, every week, what the potential of winning it big will be? Surely, this is a lot better than playing alone. Well, this may seem impossible, but its not. By joining Zxotto, a legal lottery pool, everyone has one thing in common, winning the lottery.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Join My Lottery Pool and Win!

Xzotto is a way for everyone over the age of 18 to join a pool of lottery players all over the world and share in each others winnings. No kidding, when I first heard about it I couldn't believe it. You can purchase lottery tickets online and not have to go to the local drug store or minimart to buy them. Because Xzotto is just staring out, only the California Lottery is available. But soon it will include in each state of the union and other countries too.

But that's not all, players also have the unique opportunity to become representatives of Xzotto and can enroll others to join their lottery pool too. Whenever someone under an Xzotto representative wins the lotto, everyone above them wins too. Can you imagine having a group of 1000 or more players under you? Someone in that group is going to win and when they do, you win too. Who cares that this is a multi-level-nework! The bottom line is this is fun and joing a lotter pool increases you chances to win. Go ahead and see for yourself - CLICK HERE!