"Amazing CyberTips" and Tricks - The Paul Paterakis Power Team of RE/MAX showcase

The Paul Paterakis Power Team presents Amazing Real Estate CyberTips E-Newsletter, which, in very concise form, will provide you with monthly Cyber tips and tricks along with our pointers to Internet places of special interest to real estate owners, investors and related professionals.

Please click here to access your copy of the March Issue of "Real Estate CyberTips"

www.REcyber.com/cybertips/PowerTeam

This month's special security issue includes the following Tips:

* AN EASY WAY TO KEEP OFF THE SPAM LISTS!
* MANAGE YOUR PASSWORDS - WITH EASE!
* WE KNOW YOU DON'T SPEED - BUT --
* DE- CRAPIFY YOUR NEW COMPUTER!

I hope you enjoy "Real Estate CyberTips". Please let me know at any time if I may be of help with any of your real estate needs.

Kindest Regards,

Paul Paterakis of The Paul Paterakis Power Team
paul@powerteamhomes.com/ 847-366-3455

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"Amazing Real Estate CyberTips" and Tricks - The Paul Paterakis Power Team of RE/MAX showcase

We are pleased to be providing you our special Real Estate CyberTips E-Newsletter, which, in very concise form, will provide you with monthly Cyber tips and tricks along with our pointers to Internet places of special interest to real estate owners, investors and related professionals.

Please click here to access your copy of the February Issue of "Real Estate CyberTips"

www.REcyber.com/cybertips/PowerTeam

This month's special security issue includes the following Tips:

* VIEW TRENDS A NEW FUN WAY!
* PLAY THE MARKET AND NEVER EVER LOSE!
* SAVE HOURS SETTING UP YOUR NEW COMPUTER!
* TAKE THIS PLACE TO HEART!

We hope you enjoy "Real Estate CyberTips". Please let me know at any time if I may be of help with any of your real estate needs.

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Change - PowerteamHomes.com

Change, per Wikipedia, is the process of becoming different. Change can be something really simple like changing your clothes or your hair color or the leaves changing. BUT usually when we think of change – it can bring about anxiety and sometimes, it’s also very exciting.

We all know change is inevitable. If we stop fighting change and accept change- we may be surprised at the outcome. The story below is something I have shared before but it’s been so long, it’s definitely worth repeating. The moral of the story … accept who you are and where you are as it is exactly where you are supposed to be at this moment…enjoy.

The River – excerpt from ‘Peace is Every Step’ by: Thich Nhat Hanh

Once upon a time there was a beautiful river finding her way among the hills, forests, and meadows. She began by being a joyful stream of water, a spring always dancing and singing as she ran down from the top of the mountain. She was very young at the time, and as she came to the lowland she slowed down. She was thinking about going to the ocean. As she grew up, she learned to look beautiful, winding gracefully among the hills and meadows.

One day she noticed the clouds within herself. Clouds of all sorts of colors and forms. She did nothing during these days but chase after clouds. She wanted to possess a cloud, to have one for herself. But clouds float and travel in the sky, and they are always changing their form. Sometimes they look like an overcoat, sometimes like a horse. Because of the
nature of impermanence within the clouds, the river suffered very much. Her pleasure, her joy had become just chasing after clouds, one after another, but despair, anger, and hatred became her life.

Then one day a strong wind came and blew away all the clouds in the sky. The sky became completely empty. Our river thought that life was not worth living, for there were no longer any clouds to chase after. She wanted to die. “If there are no clouds, why should I be alive?” But how can a river take her own life?

That night the river had the opportunity to go back to herself for the first time. She had been running for so long after something outside of herself that she had never seen herself. That night was the first opportunity for her to hear her own crying, the sounds of water crashing against the banks of the river. Because she was able to listen to her own voice, she discovered something quite important. She realized that what she had been looking for was already in herself. She found out that clouds are nothing but water. Clouds are born from water and will return to water. And she found out that she herself is also water.

The next morning when the sun was in the sky, she discovered something beautiful. She saw the blue sky for the first time. She had never noticed it before. She had only been interested in clouds, and she had missed seeing the sky, which is the home of all the clouds. Clouds are impermanent, but the sky is stable. She realized that the immense sky had been within her heart since the very beginning. This great insight brought her peace and happiness. As she saw the vast wonderful blue sky, she knew that her peace and stability would never be lost again.

That afternoon the clouds returned, but this time she did not want to possess any of them. She could see the beauty of each cloud, and she was able to welcome all of them. When a cloud came by, she would greet him or her with loving kindness. When that cloud wanted to go away, she would wave to him or her happily and with loving kindness. She realized that all clouds are her. She didn’t have to choose between the clouds and herself. Peace and harmony existed between her and the clouds.

That evening something wonderful happened. When she opened her heart completely to the evening sky she received the image of the full moon – beautiful, round, like a jewel within herself. She had never imagined that she could receive such a beautiful image. There is a very beautiful poem in Chinese: “The fresh and beautiful is traveling in the utmost empty sky. When the mind-rivers of living beings are free, that image of the beautiful moon will reflect in each of us.”

This was the mind of the river at that moment. She received the image of that beautiful moon within her heart, and water, clouds, and moon took each other’s hands and practiced walking meditation slowly, slowly to the ocean.

There is nothing to chase after. We can go back to ourselves, enjoy our breathing, our smiling, ourselves, and our beautiful environment.

The Foreclosure Freeze: What Happened And What Should We Do About It? - PowerTeamHomes.com

Whether it is the lender, real estate agent or the title company, every player in the real estate market has asked themselves the same question in the last month: How am I at risk when it comes to the halt in foreclosures?

Here is quick overview of what recently went down that led to everyone asking that same question:

Bank of America and other mortgage companies have been under pressure to review their paperwork after employees and contractors said in sworn depositions that because of the enormous volume, they hadn't had time to read the documents, much less check them for accuracy. A Bank of America executive said in a February deposition in Massachusetts that she signed as many as 8,000 foreclosure documents a month without reviewing them. The deposition is similar to others taken from document processors at J.P. Morgan Chase and Ally Financial. The statements were taken by lawyers for homeowners contesting the seizure of their homes. Once this information was caught on by the general public, major lenders such as Bank of America, GMAC, and J.P. Morgan Chase all put moratoriums on foreclosures until their review processes could be completed.

By the end of October, we saw lenders already taking action, determined to get back to business even with state attorney generals investigating their foreclosure practices. For example, Wells Fargo announced that it was planning to submit supplemental affidavits for 55,000 foreclosures pending in the 23 states with judicial review of foreclosure proceedings. Bank of America already reopened over 100,000 foreclosure actions, stating that it had found no major problems in its foreclosure procedures. GMAC Mortgage also moved forward with an unspecified number of foreclosures.

Attorneys for both title companies and real estate brokers have been looking closely into what defenses are available to assure the continued ownership of the property. Some of the best possible defenses include:

• The alleged deficiency in the lender’s foreclosure process may not have harmed the previous owner.
• The foreclosure judgment is a final court order. It is too late for an objection on a technicality of the foreclosure process to be raised by the previous owner.
• Because the new owner purchased in good faith, he or she may be protected under the law.

Fidelity National Title, the underwriter for Republic Title, has already entered into a master indemnity agreement with Bank of America and is working on similar agreements with other lenders. As for RE/MAX Showcase, please make sure that you have your clients sign the Addendum/Disclaimer for all REO/Foreclosure deals. I know the last thing you want is another document that must be explained to your client, but that piece of paper may be a big help to you months after the deal has closed.

Remember, you can’t fix what happened in the past, but you can learn from it and take measures to minimize your liability in future transactions.

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“Playing” with the IRS code to stimulate the economy won’t be easy - PowerTeamHomes.com

The top earning 10% of households pay 73% of all federal income taxes. That’s the exclusive club we are in as tax payers!Consider the fact that a full 47% of U.S. households currently do not pay any income taxes at all. The bottom 40% of nearly half of the taxpayers actually make a profit on federal taxes—they pay no tax and get a check from the government.

New Inductee into the RE/MAX Hall of Fame! - PowerTeamHomes.com

Congratulations! to Paul Paterakis of The Paul Paterakis Power Team -RE/ MAX Showcase of Long Grove, Illinois on being inducted into the RE/MAX Hall of Fame. This is RE/MAX's highest honor given to an agent.

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Exercise is no fun, how about just not sitting? - PowerTeamHomes.com

My friend’s grandmother, born in a small town in Italy, grew up in a family that could not even afford a horse and buggy. She walked to school, church, the library etc. Walking was a way of life. Due to the time involved in walking from place to place and because there were always chores to do around the house, there was very little time for sitting down. If she were alive today she would most definitely wonder why people spend so much time sitting during the day!

According to research from the Cancer Research Center at University of Queensland, prolonged sitting is very bad for our health. Absence of whole body movement is associated with obesity, abnormal glucose metabolism and the metabolic syndrome, researchers looked at breaks in sitting time and how this corresponded with biological markers of metabolic risk such as weight, height, HDL cholesterol, waist circumference and resting blood pressure. This study provides evidence of the importance of avoiding prolonged uninterrupted periods of sedentary or primarily sitting time. They explained that when the large muscles in the legs and buttocks, which are designed to be standing and maintaining posture, are immobilized for long periods of time, there is a failure to activate an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase, which is responsible for reducing the above mentioned risks.

A follow up study by the same researchers found that television viewing time was associated with increased risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. “In addition to the promotion of exercise, chronic disease prevention strategies could focus on reducing sitting time, particularly prolonged television viewing” says Dr. Hunter Yost, M.D. The most serious and well known complication of prolonged sitting is venous thrombo-embolism (VTE), a condition in which blood clots occur and travel through the veins. When a blood clog forms in the deep veins of the legs, thighs or pelvis, it is known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). When this blood clot breaks off from its original location and travels through the venous system, it can become lodged in the arteries leading from the heart to the lungs: a very serious condition.

For the majority of people who don’t want to engage in “formal exercise,” follow my grandmother’s advice who would come to us kids sitting around and after looking right in our eyes…we knew, we better get up and do something. She would send us across the farm to pick up a tomato for her when she had hundreds of them in the next room! Today I fully understand what she was doing and why. As we go through our day to day activities let’s make it a point to get up and walk at least every hour.

Maybe when at our desk and need a form we’ll get up and get it instead of calling staff to email it to us or looking for a quick answer by just calling out to someone across the office. We forget that the body we currently are in is the only one we have: no returns or exchanges; let’s do our part to protect and preserve it any way we can.

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Near Complete Stop to Foreclosures Nationwide - PowerTeamHomes.com

What started out within a few lenders has now turned into a major halt to the nation’s REO and foreclosure business by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Bank of America, GMAC, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and many other large and small lenders.

For HomeSteps a foreclosure program,Properties with Sales Pending: Per Freddie Mac, buyer must be notified,through the buyer’s attorneys and buyer’s agents, that all buyers who are under an executed, approved contract, may keep their contracts in place while the issue is being addressed and resolved. However,should any buyer wish to terminate his or her contract, Agents must work with the assigned closing agent to terminate the contract of sale and promptly return the earnest money deposit.

Buyers must be notified, through the buyer’s agents per Freddie Mac, with which Freddie Mac has only accepted verbal offers but have not executed a written contract, that the property is being taken off the market temporarily to address title related issues. Once the property is available, Agents must notify all listing agents affected, and reach out to the buyer's agents to resubmit their offer, with direction from Freddie Mac.

How did it happen? Some bank employees in multiple unrelated cases
around the country testified in court that they could not “verify the accuracy of every foreclosure” put in front of them as they were receiving between 10,000 and 18,000 cases per month. This brought into question the validity of some completed and ongoing foreclosure actions. If the foreclosure was defective because the lender bringing the foreclosure action did not have the legal authority to foreclose, then the buyer at the sheriff’s sale, along with successive purchasers, could be challenged on the validity of the title they are holding. As Wall Street was “re-packaging” loans prior to the meltdown that started in 2007 the actual“final” owner may or not have had legal title to the promissory note and mortgage therefore creating the gap causing the current issues.

If the mortgage holder who brought the foreclosure action did not have the authority to bring the action or otherwise failed to comply with the requirements of the foreclosure statues, then the court has the power to vacate the foreclosure judgment(s) for an ongoing transaction as well as prior closed ones. Lenders will not resume foreclosures until the flaws in the process are resolved, they need time to confirm that the foreclosure was properly initiated by a legally authorized party and that the due process was completely followed.

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Newest Credit Card Restrictions Take Effect - PowerteamHomes.com

By now, most of us have already noticed that our credit card statements have taken on a more reader friendly look than they have in prior years. Information such as when payments are due, the amount owed, the consequences of making late payments and how much we are paying in fees and interest on different types of accounts are now easier to find. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 was passed by Congress with the intent to protect credit card users from unfair rate hikes and hidden fees. The bulk of this new Act has already taken effect, but the final phase came into force on August 22, 2010.

Here is a breakdown of some of the most important provisions of the law:

• Credit card statements must clearly disclose the following:
1. How long it would take to pay off a credit card balance if the cardholder makes only the minimum payment each month.
2. The total cost in interest and principal payments if a cardholder makes only the minimum payment each month.
3. The late payment deadline and postmark date.
• Credit card companies must give the consumer advance notice of forty-five days prior to significant changes to credit card terms. This includes change of interest rates and the benefits/rewards structure of a credit card.
• Bills must be sent out no later than twenty-one days before the due date.
• Retroactive interest rate increases are banned except when a cardholder is more than sixty days late paying a credit card bill.
• The interest rate cannot be increased within the first twelve months and promotional rates must have a minimum of six months in duration.
• The practice of double-cycle billing is no longer allowed. This is a practice by which credit card companies would use their customers' average daily balance from the current and previous month to calculate finance charges.
• Over credit limit fees are prohibited unless consumers specifically agree to allow the transaction to go through instead of being denied.
• Payments must be considered on-time if the payment is received by 5 p.m. on the due date.
• Credit cards cannot be issued to people under the age of twenty-one unless they have an adult co-signer or show proof that they have the means to repay the debt.

The newest provisions that recently took effect on August 22, 2010 cover the following:

• Credit card companies can no longer charge more than $25 for late payments except in extreme circumstances. A consumer may be charged more than $25 if the credit card company can show a pattern of repeated violations or if a card issuer can show that a higher fee reasonably offsets its own costs in dealing with the violation that spurred the penalty.
• Customers may not be charged for not using their cards.
• Penalty fees cannot exceed the dollar amount incurred by the consumer’s violation that spurred the fee. For example, if a customer is late making a $10 minimum payment, the fee can’t exceed $10. Or, if a customer spends $5 over his or her credit limit, the credit card company may not charge more than $5 as a penalty fee.
• Credit card companies may only charge one fee per infraction.
• If a credit card company increases the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), it must explain to the customer why.
• The credit card company must review the cardholder’s account six months after increasing the interest rate, and return the APR to the previous lower level if the cardholder has been on-time with payment.

These provisions were enacted to put a stop to unfair and deceptive credit card practices, but consumers must also analyze their own financial habits to make sure that they are not building up a credit card balance by paying off their monthly credit card balances and spending only what they can afford.

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