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Archive for September, 2008

First Time Home Buyers:

Posted by betty Thursday, September 25, 2008 at 11:15 am | Comments (2)

Culled from the internet:

Nervous about buying a home?

You should be. Your home is probably the single biggest investment you’ll make in your lifetime. With an unpredictable economy, a mortgage crisis and record foreclosures, the commitment to buy can be downright overwhelming.In recent years, lax lending standards eliminated some of the obstacles, but now lenders are once again getting picky.

The good news is that for those who qualify for a mortgage — with a steady income, strong credit and a modicum of savings — this is actually a good time to purchase a home. Mortgage rates are low, and home prices have been declining in most parts of the

United States.
Buying my first home

To help you navigate the uncertainties, especially if you’re entering the market for the first time, here are 10 tips for buying a house:

1. Find out how much you can afford, and stay within your budget:

Don’t overreach. Forget the McMansion on the hill if it’s beyond your means. Focus on finding something that will offer affordable monthly payments and a debt load you can handle. Calculator: How much can I afford?

To make sure you fully understand and remain within your boundaries, consider a preapproved mortgage. Many reputable lenders offer them. The preapproval process tells you exactly what you will have to pay. Preapproval also provides some extra peace of mind, ensuring that when the time comes, you’ll have financing in place. That can be important to real-estate agents and sellers as well as to buyers.

If you’re planning to buy, your household budget should allow for hefty savings toward a down payment, unless you’re expecting a generous gift from a family member. The days when first-time buyers could purchase a home with a down payment of less than 10% are gone. Lenders are now requiring buyers to put down a minimum of 10% and sometimes up to 20% to 25%.

“First-time buyers must come to the table with some dollars,” says Ilyce Glink, the author of “100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask” and “100 Questions Every Home Seller Should Ask.” “You need more income, a better credit score and to think about how much debt you can carry. It has become a more difficult process.” Get your credit score up

2. Shop around for the right agent:

Real-estate agents operate on different internal clocks. One may be inclined to call you every day, while another may want to call every few weeks. Ask questions about the agent’s approach and try to find one well-suited to your situation.

Ideally, the agent you choose will do a lot of business in your neighborhood of choice and will have been in the business for years, gathering plenty of useful information about lending options, title searches and useful ways to compare properties. Try to avoid real-estate agents who are doing on-the-job training.“Finding a Realtor is a lot like a short-term marriage,” Glink says. “Shop around; look for the Realtor who is working the most. What’s their level of experience? Are they a good fit with you personality-wise?”

3. Do your homework:

A diligent and dedicated agent by your side is not enough. Buyers need to research their potential new home and neighborhood as thoroughly as possible. Thankfully, a lot of that work can be done from your bedroom or office computer.The National Association of Realtors says 84% of buyers use the Internet to help them find a home. Do not be part of that other 16%. You’ll find the Net is packed with resources about cities, neighborhoods, crime statistics and school districts. Local bloggers can give today’s homebuyers insight into everything from pricing trends to who’s feuding with a neighbor down the block.

“The Internet is a terrific tool. When I last looked for a house in 1992, that kind of information was nonexistent,” says Elliot Goldstein, 46, who, with his wife, Stacey, 45, and their two children, is planning to move to Hoboken, N.J. “I get virtual house tours, multiple listing services . . . everything I need to find out about Hoboken I can find out online.”

4. Visit the neighborhood:

Rich as the information on the Internet is, it’s no substitute for showing up. Experts suggest repeated visits to your neighborhood of choice, so you can check out homes for sale and attend open houses. Walk around. Shoot the breeze with the neighbors. Visit the community several times at different times of day.“Walk it, smell it, hear it,” says Dennis Torres, director of real-estate operations at

Pepperdine

University. “At 3 p.m., maybe your lawn will be overrun with kids getting off school. At 10 p.m., there could be a club that’s only open at night playing loud music.”

5. Don’t be afraid to haggle:

How low can you go? Real-estate agents say it all depends on the pressures facing the individual seller. Some of those pressures are related to particular locations — towns go up and down in appeal — and some have to do with the individual’s situation. But broadly speaking, if ever there was a buyer’s market, this it. “In a strong market, a seller would laugh off a lowball bid,” Glink says. “Now you may be able to bid 20% less than you did nine or 12 months ago. Sellers will entertain lowball bids if they’re truly desperate to get on with their lives.” Or at least negotiate a few additional amenities. That was the case for first-time homebuyer Jenna Smith, 23, whose six months of near-constant house hunting in suburban

Atlanta taught her what she could and couldn’t negotiate. Smith wound up buying into a new suburban development in January. But first she asked the builder to install hardwood floors instead of carpeting. She also wanted a new refrigerator and microwave. The builder eventually agreed, and Smith had her home — with hardwood floors and appliances — for $197,000.

6. Buying foreclosed properties? Proceed with caution:

This gets a bit tricky. Real-estate experts are talking a lot about foreclosed properties. Many suggest that, under the right circumstances, exploitation of a foreclosure can give a buyer a nice home at a very nice price. Map: Foreclosures across the country

Foreclosure filings and bank repossessions are up dramatically, according to RealtyTrac, a

California company that monitors homes in stages of foreclosure. So much so that some agents and lenders have been organizing weekend bus tours (one charges passengers $97 a ride) to showcase foreclosed properties in hard-hit cities such as Stockton, Calif., Chicago and New Haven, Conn. The tours have been popular both with shoppers searching for homes and with investors interested in buying multiple properties. Check out a foreclosure bus tourThough buying a foreclosed property can potentially provide big savings, it can also present a lot of problems that may not be apparent. Pepperdine’s Torres recommends that buyers avoid homes with title uncertainties and consider only properties that have been officially foreclosed on and deeded back to the foreclosing bank.

7. Find the right lender and mortgage:

Many unscrupulous subprime lenders have been shut down. That doesn’t mean there aren’t still some shady characters around. Don’t be tempted to deal with them. Find a lender with roots in the community and a record of integrity that offers reasonable rates.

It pays to do some comparison shopping. Real-estate agents can be a good source. A good agent should be able to recommend reputable area lenders and help a buyer compare types of loans.

“Mortgage rates are very near historic lows, and inventory is high,” says Stephanie Singer, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Realtors.Thorough research of loan offerings will pay off. Smith, the recent buyer from the

Atlanta area, landed a 5.875%, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage from her employer, Merrill Lynch. Merrill required her to come up with a 20% down payment on the $197,000 home, or $39,400. Her monthly mortgage payments are about $1,100.

8. A good home inspector is hard to find. But find one:

In recessionary times, the pride of homeownership tends to suffer. It’s not that people don’t want to maintain their homes; it’s that other priorities intervene. With competing pressures coming from credit card bills, skyrocketing gas prices and rising grocery bills, that new paint job on the house may not make it to the top of the list.

A good inspector can help you spot problems that may result from neglect. Bringing in a home inspector is relatively cheap (often from $200 to $300), but according to Torres, it’s the least buyers should do to make sure they’re purchasing a home in reasonably good shape. Torres recommends buyers accompany inspectors when they examine a home and look out for anything suspicious. Don’t be afraid to ask plenty of questions, he adds.“Ask what every crack, what every stain might be,” Torres says. “Look beyond the cosmetic, the paint, the carpet and the flowers. Check under the steps, check under the eaves.”

9. Buy for the long run:

Home buying should be viewed as a long-term investment. Don’t expect the kind of price appreciation that occurred in the early 2000s. Buy a home you can live in happily for a good many years, if possible. A long-term commitment will pay dividends in peace of mind.

“A home is about putting down roots,” author Glink says. “It’s not about fixing or flipping or making a mint no matter what some infomercial tells you.”

10. Don’t time the market. Do take your time:

When will market prices hit rock-bottom? No one knows for sure, so waiting to get in at the lowest possible price isn’t recommended. Still, experts predict it will remain a buyer’s market for the foreseeable future, so don’t rush.Goldstein and his wife will be moving into their new three-story row house in

Hoboken for about $1.2 million at the end of August, allowing his two children to spend a final summer at the family home in

Closter, N.J. If negotiations hadn’t gone his way, Goldstein was prepared to walk away, he said. That’s the way to do it.

“Don’t let other people talk you into something you don’t want,” says buyer Smith. “It’s your house; they don’t have to live in it.”

Categories : Financial Matters, General Interest

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The 10 Worst Mistakes Career Changers Can Make:

Posted by betty Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 10:56 am | Comments (2)

Culled from the internet:

By Barbara Reinhold
Monster Contributing Writer

The 10 Worst Mistakes Career Changers Can Make:

Changing careers is never easy. Half the world thinks you’ve lost your mind, headhunters say you’ll never work again and your relatives contribute the old “I told you so” routine. But for many burned-out, bored or multitalented folks who are sitting on skills they’re not getting a chance to use, changing fields is the only way to keep from losing their marbles.

Regardless of your career-change strategy, never make these 10 mistakes:

1.Don’t Look for a Job in another Field Without Some Intense Introspection:

Nothing is worse than leaping before you look. Make sure you’re not escaping to a field that fits you just as poorly as your last. Be sure you do a thorough self-assessment first.

2. Don’t Look for Hot Fields unless they’re a Good Fit for You:

You wouldn’t try to squeeze into your skinny cousin’s suit, so why try a field because it works for him? People who are trying to help you will come along and do the equivalent of whispering “plastics” in your ear. Instead of jumping at their suggestions, take time to consider your options. Decide what you really want to do. When you enter a field just because it’s hot, burnout isn’t far behind.

3. Don’t Go into a Field Because Your Friend Is Doing Well in It:

Get thorough information about the fields you’re considering by networking, reading and doing online research. Having informational interviews with alumni from your college, colleagues, friends or family is a fun way to get the scoop on different fields.

4. Don’t Stick to Possibilities You Already Know About:

Stretch your perception of what might work for you. Read some job profiles, and explore career fields you learn about from self-assessment exercises.

5. Don’t Let Money Be the Deciding Factor:

There’s not enough money in the world to make you happy if your job doesn’t suit you. Workplace dissatisfaction and stress is the number-one health problem for working adults. This is particularly true for career changers, who often earn less until they get their sea legs in a different field.

6. Don’t Keep Your Dissatisfaction to Yourself or Try to Make the Switch Alone:

This is the time to talk to people (probably not your boss just yet). Friends, family and colleagues need to know what’s going on so they can help you tap into that large percentage of jobs that aren’t advertised.

7. Don’t Go Back to School Unless You’ve Done Some Test-Drives in the New Field:

You’re never too old for an internship, a volunteer experience or trying your hand at a contract assignment in a new field. There are lots of ways to get experience that won’t cost you anything except your time. A new degree may or may not make the world sit up and take notice. Be very sure where you want to go before you put yourself through the pain and debt of another degree program.

8. Be Careful When Using Placement Agencies or Search Firms:

Do some research to be sure to find a good match. Ask those who work in the field you’re trying to get into or other successful career changers for suggestions. Try to find a firm that knows how to be creative when placing career changers — not one that solely focuses on moving people up the ladder in the same field.

9. Don’t Expect a Career Counselor to Tell You Which Field to Enter:

Career advisors are facilitators, and they’ll follow your lead. They can help ferret out your long-buried dreams and talents, but you’ll have to do the research and the decision making by yourself. Anyone who promises to tell you what to do is dangerous.

10. Don’t Expect to Switch Overnight:

A thorough career change usually will take a minimum of six months to pull off, and the time frequently stretches to a year or more.Changing fields is one of the most invigorating things you can do. It’s like experiencing youth all over again, except with the wisdom of whatever age you are now.

Categories : General Interest

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Today’s Economy

Posted by betty Friday, September 19, 2008 at 11:17 am | Comments (0)

Betty Odak, Editor

The media and any news today is about US economy. The question would be, what is the ordinary people doing to make things better for themselves? Will there be a solution to this, and how soon? Will election in November change things? Your comments and thoughts are welcome.

Categories : Financial Matters, General Interest

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The Happiest Countries in the world

Posted by betty Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 2:57 pm | Comments (0)

The article below is culled from the internet - Reuters, 2008

Denmark is the happiest nation and Zimbabwe the most glum, he found. (Zimbabwe’s longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president for a sixth term Sunday after a widely discredited runoff in which he was the only candidate. Observers said the runoff was marred by violence and intimidation.) The United States ranks 16th.

The Happiness Index
The results of the survey, going back an average of 17 years in 52 countries and involving 350,000 people, will be published in the July 2008 issue of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science. Researchers have asked the same two questions over the years: “Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, and not at all happy?” And, “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?” A Happiness Index created from the answers rose in 40 countries between 1981 and 2007, and it fell in the other 12. Scientists had thought happiness is stable over time when looking at entire societies. “Most previous research suggests that people and nations are stuck on a ‘hedonic treadmill,’” Inglehart said. “The belief has been that no matter what happens or what we do, basic happiness levels are stable and don’t really change.” So Inglehart’s team was surprised that happiness “rose substantially.” They speculate reasons for the sunny outlooks include societal shifts in recent decades: Low-income countries such as India and China have experienced unprecedented rates of economic growth; dozens of medium-income countries have democratized; and there has been a sharp rise of gender equality and tolerance of ethnic minorities and gays and lesbians in developed societies. Previous research has found that happiness is partly inherited and that money doesn’t buy much of it. Yet the new survey finds people of rich countries tend to be happier than those of poor countries. And controlling for economic factors, certain types of societies are much happier than others It found increased happiness from 1981 to 2007 in 45 of 52 countries analyzed.“I strongly suspect that there is a strong correlation between peace and happiness,” said Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, who directed the study.And, said Ingelhart, there is a strong correlation between happiness and democracy. “Denmark is the happiest country in the world in our ratings,” Inglehart said in an audio statement released by the National Science Foundation, which paid for the analysis. “

Denmark is prosperous — not the richest country in the world but it is prosperous.”

Puerto Rico and

Colombia also rank highly, along with

Northern Ireland,

Iceland,

Switzerland,

Ireland, the

Netherlands,

Canada and

Sweden.

“Though by no means the happiest country in the world, from a global perspective the United States looks pretty good,” Inglehart said. “The country is not only prosperous; it ranks relatively high in gender equality, tolerance of ethnic and social diversity and has high levels of political freedom.” The survey, first done in 1981, has kept to two simple questions:“Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?” And, “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?” Writing in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, Ingelhart’s team said they have surveyed 350,000 people. “Ultimately, the most important determinant of happiness is the extent to which people have free choice in how to live their lives,” Inglehart said. The question is - what makes ordinary person happy, is it money, if yes, how much? Is it the number of children, if yes, how many, and why? Is it the number of wives, if yes, how many are allowed in each country? If being employed, how many jobs and how well is your life balanced? Is it being famous and rich? If yes, to whom are you famous of and about? Does freedom make people happy? Well, your thoughts are welcome.

Categories : Cultural Issues, General Interest

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New Naturalization Test:

Posted by betty Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 1:03 pm | Comments (2)

Culled from uscis website:

Redesigned (New) Naturalization Test In the interest of creating a more standardized, fair, and meaningful naturalization process, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently completed a multi-year redesign of the naturalization test. The revised test, with an emphasis on the fundamental concepts of American democracy and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, will help encourage citizenship applicants to learn and identify with the basic values we all share as Americans. Redesign Process

The major aim of the redesign process is to ensure that naturalization applicants have uniform, consistent testing experiences nationwide, and that the civics test can effectively assess whether applicants have a meaningful understanding of U.S. government and history. Following a basic

U.S. history and civics curriculum, the redesigned test will serve as an important instrument to encourage civic learning and patriotism among prospective citizens. To accomplish these goals, USCIS initially piloted a new test–with an overhauled English reading and writing section, as well as new history and government questions–in ten sites across the country. The feedback from this pilot was then used to finalize testing procedures, English reading and writing prompts, and a list of 100 new history and government questions. To ensure the pilot accounted for a representative sample of candidates with a variety of education levels, the test was also piloted at adult education sites nationwide. The resulting redesigned test was publicly introduced on September 27, 2007. Naturalization applicants will begin taking the revised test on October 1, 2008.

Which Test Do I Take? USCIS will begin administering the redesigned (new) naturalization test on October 1, 2008. Use the chart below to determine if you will take the current or redesigned (new) test.

Date Form N-400 Filed*	Date of Initial Exam	Test to be Taken	If Applicant Fails Initial Exam, Re-test to be Taken
Before October 1, 2008	Before October 1, 2008	Current Test	Current Test
Before October 1, 2008	On or After October 1, 2008 up until October 1, 2009	Applicant’s Choice of -Current Test or -Redesigned (New) Test	The same version of the test as the one taken during the initial examination
On or After October 1, 2008	On or After October 1, 2008	Redesigned (New) Test	Redesigned (New) Test
At Any Time (i.e. Before, On or After October 1, 2008)	On or After October 1, 2009	Redesigned (New) Test	Redesigned (New) Test

*The Application for Naturalization, Form N-400, is properly filed with USCIS on the date it is received by the appropriate USCIS Office with signature, correct fee, and the form is completed according to instructions.

Redesigned (New) Naturalization Test: Vocabulary List for the English Reading Test (165KB PDF)Redesigned (New) Naturalization Test: Vocabulary List for the English Writing Test (167KB PDF)Redesigned (New) Naturalization Test: Civics (History and Government) Questions (336KB PDF)Redesigned (New) Naturalization Test: Civics (History and Government) Questions (Spanish Version) (332KB PDF)Redesigned (New) Naturalization Test: Civics (History and Government) Questions (Chinese Version) (363KB PDF)Civics Flash Cards for the New Naturalization Test (7523KB PDF)
A useful study tool for teachers and students.Civics Flash Cards for the New Naturalization Test (reversed colors) (7084KB PDF)Redesigned (New) Naturalization Test Informational Brochure (493KB PDF)Scoring Guidelines for the English Portion of the Naturalization Test (40KB PDF)

Naturalization Test Redesign Project: Civics Item Selection Analysis (5664KB PDF)

for more info go to http://www.uscis.gov

Categories : General Interest, Immigration Laws & Regulations

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Remembering Sep 11

Posted by betty Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 9:08 am | Comments (0)

Betty Odak, Editor

Today marks a remarkable sad day in the US history- 7 yrs ago. Our prayers and sympathy to the families of Sept 11 victims. May we learn to be thankful and grateful to each passing day!

Categories : General Interest

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