On August 31st I will be undergoing hip replacement surgery. During this time I have asked several people to continue to post here so you will be seeing some guests writing for about a month. I also have a wonderful team that will be taking care of all my real estate clients; Kathy and Bob, so go ahead and call and let us help you with any real estate needs you might have.
I anticipate being back at work full force within 6 to 8 weeks and am looking forward to walking again without pain and a limp! I am also making some minor changes to my real estate website with some updated information and pictures. I hope you like it! Don’t hesitate to give us a call as we have taken every precaution to make sure your needs will be met while I am out for a short time. All I ask of you is for your prayers and will appreciate all your good thoughts!
I remember all too well what is was like during the busy summer months and though I was glad to have the kids home and go on vacation, there was a part of me that was glad to get them back in school! There is so much going during the summer that it’s hard to keep up with those few personal things we ladies like to do! We love to do things like a manicure and pedicure or getting our hair done or even a massage every once in a while.
Now that the kids are in school it’s a perfect time to do even one of the things you love to do for you. Just take a little time this week and pamper yourself. You don’t have to spend a lot of money; just take the day off and take a walk in the park; go to the bookstore and read a book or magazine; have coffee with friends you haven’t seen in a month or so; anything that brings your breath back to you. You will find that it will help in all of your relationships because you can’t give of yourself if you don’t fill the well!
I am always amazed at how many people are thrown these days by something that simply does not go their way. It’s as if that old Boy Scout saying “always be prepared” has lost its way. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a time where you made due with what you had so you better be prepared because you didn’t always know what you had until it arrived!
I’ve known people that grew up eating lard sandwiches everyday for lunch because that’s what they had. I have another friend who thought that the only food there was growing up that didn’t come out of the garden or home from a hunting trip was peanut butter and pinto beans. Their families made do. The fact is that many made do without TV, computers, cars, radios and many other things that people take for granted. It’s a much better thing to be prepared; to know what you will do if your car breaks down; if your computer dies; or if you get sick. Think through these situations and make arrangements now so when these things happen you are prepared and have a plan.
I have heard them refereed to as “birthers”, the people who claim that our president is not a US citizen because he was born in Hawaii or Kenya (depends on who you listen to) or maybe both. As a long time educator, I am continually amazed at how people allow themselves to get sucked into this kind of mania. If you don’t like what the president is doing, fine, just say so. You do not have to resort to these types of accusations. So let’s see what we do know and see if we can critically “think” through this issue.
First of all, all political figures have to go through a vetting process where all of there qualifications are verified in order to run for the office in which they seek. While there may be some that get away with “fooling” the vetting process, once you get to the level of President of the US, this would be almost impossible to do. The opposing party would be the first ones to get a person disqualified for not meeting the qualifications. But let’s assume for arguments sake that Obama fooled them.
Now we need to look at the birth certificate itself and verify it is the original. We see that it is a valid Hawaii birth certificate that the current governor has validated (for the record, she is a Republican so there is no reason to do so outside of the fact that it is so). We see Obama was born in 1961 and Hawaii became a state on August 21, 1959 so he was not born before Hawaii was ratified as a state. Since his birth was also printed in two local papers that are on microfilm this should put an end to the story. But let’s suppose that we have a birth certificate from Kenya just like the one that has gone around the internet.
If you know your history, you will note right off the bat that this is a fake since it was issued by the “Republic of Kenya” and Kenya did not become a Republic until December of 1964. Even Karl Rove responded on Twitter, saying “I believe this is likely a forgery.”
This argument can go on and on and it’s not just the right that does this sort of thing. We know these types of things will proliferate because it’s so easy to make a statement and let the internet and media system take it from there. This is why I am so adamant that people start looking at these issues through a critical thinking lens. We have much more to do in this country than to be distracted by the noise but we need to know what is real and what is made up. Only through critical thinking can we even start to figure it out.
There is an old saying; “numbers never lie” that is appropriate as you look for the Real Estate Company in and around the Nashville, Tennessee area. You will see a lot of advertising stating who is number one in what and though they may have been in the past, the most recent numbers indicate that the number one Real Estate Company for sales of single family residential properties is RE/MAX Choice Properties.
If you are looking in Sumner County or the Hendersonville and Goodlettsville Tennessee areas there is no question who has sold more single family residential properties. Let’s just take a look at the numbers.
As you can clearly see, RE/MAX Choice Properties in Hendersonville is the clear and present winner for anyone looking to list their property or looking to buy a property in Sumner County!
The Federal Reserve has met for the two days earlier this week in order to discuss the next move in regard to interest rates as well as whether to maintain some of the aggressive programs that were put in place this past year to fight back the devastating consequences of the failing economy. They did announce on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 that it will keep short-term interest rates at a record low in order to further stabilize the U.S. economy. Though this may seem to be a bad sign, the Fed also signaled confidence in the recovery, saying economic activity is “leveling out.”
This is just another step toward our economy coming back around though everyone does expect the progress to be slow. If you go back to other economic times you will note that unemployment is one of the last areas that rebound so we may be seeing that number rise even more before it finds its tipping point and dips into acceptable levels once more. This is much better news than we were getting six months ago and there will be challenges ahead but as a nation we are going in the right direction.
The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce has been named Chamber of the Year by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives. This is one of the most prestigious awards given by this group and another great reason to look at Nashville, TN as a place to live. Some of the factors used to judge the chambers around the nation are financial health, member services as well as volunteer engagement and impact on the community. These are all parts of the general overall organizational excellence that chambers need to have.
The Nashville Chamber of Commerce won in the large chamber category with an application that included its “A Leading Edge” programs aimed at helping members manage business through the recession and its participation in “Nashville for All of Us,” a coalition that helped defeat a measure to make English the official language of city business. The president of American Chamber of Commerce Executives, cited the “consistent quality,” scope and scale of the Nashville chamber’s work while presenting the award to the current chamber president and CEO Ralph Schulz who was present to accept the award.
Schulz divided much of the credit to “the leadership and support of our board, staff, members and community partners,” and stated as he accepted the award that “Now, we must all continue pushing forward with an aggressive list of priorities to support and increase prosperity in our region.”
The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce has 2,300 member companies and continues to work with its members and community partners to make our community and region a place that will prosper even during hard times. You just cannot ask for more from an organization at this time.
One of the things that happens when the economy is down is people cut back or totally cut out their vacation. Sometimes it is because they just don’t have the money and other times it’s because they feel their employer will be upset and either let them go or cut back on their hours. For those who do not feel they have the funds to take a vacation they can always plan a staycation and stay home and find some great things to do within a 30 mile radius of where they live. This can be camping or just hitting all the parks and playgrounds in the area and exploring what you have available right in your backyard! Most of these things are either free or low cost.
If you feel your boss will take your vacation as a sign of you not caring about your job, go talk to him or her and explain how you will come re energized and ready to work. You can quote the research from a Tel Aviv University study that demonstrates that vacations result in decreased work absenteeism, job stress and burnout. Dov Eden, Ph.D., also of Tel Aviv University, stated in an article in Medical News Today that employees who take a complete break from work benefit the most from a vacation and are less likely to experience burnout. This means you really should take that vacation and they should want to too as well.
For those of us who have used credit cards our entire lives as well as those who have just started using credit or thinking about using credit cards, you may want to think again before making that next purchase. Several of the large credit card banks (Bank of America & JP Morgan Chase) have now changed their interest rate policies from fixed rates to variable rates in order to circumvent the laws that Congress passed several months back. If your card has a variable rate the new consumer protection laws (Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act) does not affect them.
While other major banks have not changed their rates yet, most have come out and said it is a possibility. JPMorgan Chase has also increased its monthly minimum payment to 5% from 2% of the balance for about 1 million cardholders, which will raise the monthly payment substantially for these customers. Both of these changes have been made to accounts of good paying customers and not those that have been habitually late or no pays. So whatever your situation and no matter how well you have paid your bills, the credit card companies will get more and more money out of you, the consumer.
So, as always, it is consumer beware. Beware of teaser fixed rates that will turn into variable rates once the introductory period is over as well as the fine print one every one of your credit card bills of notices that come in the mail!
According to an article in the New York Times in late July, the slide in home prices is slowing down. Apparently, for the fourth consecutive month, there has been modest improvement in housing prices as found by the Standard’s & Poor’s Case-Shiller Housing Index that reports data for 20 metropolitan areas.
“For 16 months, beginning in October 2007 and ending in January 2009, the Case-Shiller index posted record annual declines. As recently as February, all of the 20 cities in the index showed a decline from the previous month.
In May, only five of them did. The cities that are still dropping are Las Vegas and Phoenix, the two places where the bubble was the worst, and Miami, Seattle and Los Angeles. Prices improved in 13 cities.”
While this is promising news, it is still predicted that a stable housing market is quite a few months away, never mind one that is increasing in value. This can also be affected by the current economic picture both positively and negatively and long term recovery will have to wait for the trends to become reality over time.
