AZ Real Estate By Jenn

2010-02-01T15:12:00.001-07:00

3646 W. Brown, Phoenix AZ, 85051 http://ping.fm/Mw336

2010-01-29T19:34:00.001-07:00

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2010-01-28T07:03:00.001-07:00

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2010-01-22T06:16:00.001-07:00

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2010-01-20T10:23:00.001-07:00

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2010-01-19T14:09:00.001-07:00

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2010-01-19T09:07:00.001-07:00

The great benefit of a life founded on principle is that it permits self-direction and self-government. The law that governs one's conduct is within; external rules are secondary or supplementary. This affords maximum liberty in professional life and in life generally--not maximum license, but maximum liberty. When principles guide choices, few rules are needed.

D. Todd Christofferson, "Confirm Thy Soul in Self-Control", Life in the Law, 2004, 73

2010-01-19T09:04:00.001-07:00

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2010-01-18T11:58:00.001-07:00

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2010-01-15T14:18:00.001-07:00

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E + R = O (Events + Responses = Outcome)

2009-02-27T06:33:00.002-07:00

Success Strategies from Jack Canfield

The Formula that Changes EVERYTHINGby Jack Canfield
It seems that everywhere you turn these days, you hear people talking about the economy.
What’s interesting is that some people are scared to death about it, while others couldn’t be happier. While I don’t claim to be an economist, I do know one important fact. The economy is the same for everyone, it’s how you respond to it that determines how you feel about it.
It’s yet another example of what I’ve been teaching for years. . .

E + R = O (Events + Responses = Outcome)

The basic idea is that every outcome you experience in life (whether it's success or failure, wealth or poverty, wellness or illness, intimacy or estrangement, joy or frustration) is the result of how you have responded to an earlier event (or events) in your life.
If you don't like the outcomes you are currently experiencing, there are two basic choices you can make:

1.) You can blame the event (E) for your lack of results (O).
In other words, you can blame the economy, the weather, the lack of money, lack of education, racism, gender bias, the current administration in Washington, your wife or husband, your boss's attitude, the lack of support, and so on. If you're a golfer, you've probably even blamed your clubs! No doubt all these factors exist, but if they were the deciding factor, nobody would ever succeed. For every reason it's not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circumstances and succeeded. It's not the external conditions and circumstances that stop you -- it's you! We think limiting thoughts and engage in self-defeating behaviors. We defend our self-destructive habits (such as drinking and smoking) with indefensible logic. We ignore useful feedback, fail to continuously educate ourselves and learn new skills, waste time on the trivial aspects of our lives, engage in idle gossip, eat unhealthy food, fail to exercise, spend more than we make, fail to tell the truth, don't ask for what we want, and then wonder why our lives aren't working.

2.) You can instead simply change your responses (R) to the events (E) until you get the outcomes (O) you want. You can change your thinking, change your communication, change the pictures and you hold in your head (your images of the world) and you can change your behavior (the things you do.) That's all you really have any control over anyway. Unfortunately, most of us are so run by our habits that we never change our behavior. We get stick in out conditioned responses-to our spouses and children, to our colleagues at work, to our customers and our clients, to our students, and to the world at large. You have to gain control of your thoughts, your images, your dreams and daydreams, and your behavior. Everything you think, say, and do needs to become intentional and aligned with your purpose, your values, and your goals.
If you don't like your outcomes, change your responses.

Here's an example of how this works:
Do you remember the Northridge earthquake in 1994? I do! I lived through it in Los Angeles. Two days later I watched as CNN interviewed people commuting to work, The earthquake had damaged one of the main freeways leading into the city. Traffic was at a standstill, and what was normally a 1-hour drive had become a 2-3 hour drive. The CNN reporter knocked on the window of one of the cars stuck in traffic and asked the driver how he was doing. He responded, angrily, "I hate California. First there were fires, then floods, and now an earthquake! No matter what time I leave in the morning, I'm late for work. I can't believe it!" Then the Reporter knocked on the window of the car behind him and asked the driver the same question. This driver was all smiles. He replied "It's no problem. I left my house at five am. I don't think under the circumstances my boss can ask for more than that. I have lots of music and Spanish-language tapes with me. I've got my cell phone. Coffee in a thermos, my lunch-I even have a book to read. I'm fine." Now, if the earthquake or the traffic were really the deciding variables, then everyone should have been angry. But everyone wasn't. It was their individual response to the traffic that gave them their particular outcome. It was thinking negative thoughts or positive thoughts, leaving the house prepared or leaving the house unprepared that made the difference. It was all a matter of attitude and behavior that created their completely different experiences.

If we all experience the same EVENT, the OUTCOME you get will be totally dependent upon your RESPONSE to the situation. If you want to take control of how you respond to life, you’ll start noticing that your outcomes will be more along the lines of what you have always hoped. Remember, you control your destiny so make it a fantastic one!

Jack Canfield, America’s Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

Be Kind In This Crazy Economy!

2009-02-19T10:03:00.004-07:00

This crazy economy amazes me more every day. I mean, really, you just never know what the new headline will read. The media frenzy is all gloom and doom and it is so difficult not to fall into the trap. No matter what, please try to remember this important point: THE SKY IS NOT FALLING! Please try to keep things in perspective. Everyone is having their own difficult time and now is when everyone needs to band together to support one another. Do something kind for someone that you don't know. Volunteer your time. Help someone in need that does not ask for it. Smile big at someone who is frowning and say hello. Leave an anonymous donation. Think positive! I just went to an amazing positive thinking seminar and learned that something like 85% of our daily thoughts are negative. Can you imagine if everyone in the world made a conscious effort to change that awful statistic? What a wonderful world it would be!

Senate Passes Stimulus Bill, Real Estate Industry Reacts

2009-02-11T13:02:00.003-07:00

NAHB estimates that the $15,000 tax credit would boost home sales by almost 500,000
RISMEDIA, February 11, 2009-(MCT/RISMedia)-The Senate, with only scant Republican support, passed an $838 billion economic-stimulus plan Tuesday that would provide significant tax breaks for new car and home buyers but sharply trim billions in aid that states have been seeking. The vote was 61-37.

The House of Representatives passed similar legislation last month, and a negotiating committee of top congressional tax and budget experts plans to begin reconciling differences immediately.
Their goal is to produce legislation that costs no more than $838 billion -the House version was $819 billion - by the end of the week, so that President Barack Obama can sign it on Monday, Presidents Day.

The Senate vote came on a historic day, as the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department unveiled details of their effort to bolster the banking industry and credit markets and Obama took his stimulus campaign to Fort Myers, Fla., which has been rocked by the mortgage foreclosure crisis.

At the Capitol, the drama now shifts to the negotiators, and the final Senate debate Tuesday illustrated the difficulties that they face. Part of the problem is political, as the vote reinforced the notion that despite Obama’s efforts at bipartisanship, the legislation is very much a Democratic bill. Democrats hailed the bill as historic and necessary. “Every generation must face up to its own challenge. This economic emergency is ours,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. “Let us pass this bill and rise to the economic challenge of our generation.” Most Republicans, however, dismissed the measure as loaded with spending that would do little to stimulate the economy. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, noted that the bill costs “$1 billion per page.” Republicans railed against such inclusions as $200 million to consolidate the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, $100 million for grants to small shipyards and about $1 billion to improve parks. “In every version of the stimulus we’ve seen, wasteful spending has attracted the most attention,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “But even more worrisome to many is the permanent expansion of government programs.” Republicans, though, control only 178 of the House’s 435 seats and 41 of the 100 Senate seats, giving them little say in the final product.

More crucial will be the three Republican senators who became the only Republicans in either house of Congress to vote for a stimulus bill, Maine’s Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter. They agreed to join the Democrats after winning agreement to cut about $110 billion from the original Democratic-authored Senate package last week.
They’ve signaled that they’re reluctant to see those cuts restored, however, which could prove a problem for House Democrats. Collins, for instance, has made it clear to the White House that, as she put it, if the bill ends up with “a lot of the unnecessary expenditures crammed back in it” and less tax relief, “the Democrats will lose my vote.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has called some of the Senate cuts “very damaging,” suggesting that negotiations will be rough.
NAHB: $15,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit Will Get U.S. Economy Back on Track.

In a statement released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the organization applauded Senate passage of economic stimulus legislation. “The enhanced $15,000 tax credit offers a powerful incentive for home buyers to get off the sidelines and represents the best opportunity for economic recovery,” said NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Okla. “Congress must make sure that the full $15,000 tax credit remains in the final stimulus plan.” The bipartisan amendment to the stimulus package, offered by Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and approved by unanimous voice vote, would create a $15,000 home buyer tax credit available to all purchasers of a principle residence for one year after its date of enactment. The tax credit would not have to be repaid and buyers could claim it against their 2008 and/or 2009 tax returns. The $15,000 home buyer tax credit would replace and sunset a much narrower tax credit that was enacted last year. Available only to first-time home buyers, the current $7,500 tax credit works like an interest-free loan that must be repaid over a 15-year period. It is set to expire on July 1.

Extending and expanding the home buyer tax credit will spark the activity the economy needs to stop shedding jobs and begin creating them, said Robson. “Increasing demand for housing will create jobs and help reduce excess inventory, stabilize home values, mitigate foreclosures, bolster consumer confidence and set the stage for a broader economic recovery,” said Robson.
NAHB estimates that the $15,000 tax credit would boost home sales by almost 500,000, create more than 255,000 jobs, generate $12.3 billion in wages and salaries and increase federal, state and local tax revenue by $8.7 billion. The Senate bill also includes several other provisions that will help small businesses and bolster the housing market.

The legislation would:
- Increase bonus depreciation and Section 179 small business expensing;
- Allow a five-year carry back for net operating losses;
- Provide $2 billion in gap financing for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program and accelerate credit claims for LIHTC investors;
- Provide up to a 10-year deferral for income taxes arising due to cancelled or restructured business debt;
- Extend the New Markets Tax Credit; and
- Provide an Alternative Minimum Tax patch for 2009.

To lead the economy back to higher ground, Robson said that House and Senate conferees must ensure the $15,000 home buyer tax credit remains intact and is part of the final legislative package. “The $15,000 housing tax credit has strong support on Main Street and will start working the day the bill is signed into law,” he said. “It offers the best chance to revive housing and the U.S. economy.” ‘Treasury’s New Plan Is Right on Target’ The Real Estate Roundtable also enthusiastically supported the sweeping efforts aimed at removing illiquid assets weighing down the nation’s financial institutions and threatening the economy.

“The Obama Administration’s comprehensive approach to stabilize financial markets by bringing liquidity back to the economy through responsible fiscal policy is right on target,” said Real Estate Roundtable CEO Jeffrey DeBoer. The plan announced by Treasury Secretary Geithner dramatically expands the Fed’s Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) to include new commercial real estate securities. “The Treasury’s announcement today is an extremely positive step toward reconnecting the credit markets for the huge commercial real estate sector. Extending the Term Asset Backed Securities Loan Facility to newly originated AAA securities backed by commercial real estate loans is a prudent and common sense reform that will have direct, positive effects for the economy. One especially important element of the plan is how it would attract private capital, which is essential to strengthening the economy and minimizing the impact on the taxpayer,” said DeBoer.

He added, “Treasury is pursuing the right strategy now to help avoid a potential foreclosure disaster in the commercial real estate sector, which is a cornerstone of the economy. With hundreds of billions of commercial real estate mortgages maturing this year alone and no functioning credit market, many people are concerned that borrowers will technically default. Left unchecked, this could have extremely negative implications for local communities, jobs, and investors.” Real estate directly and indirectly generates economic activity equivalent to about 20 percent of GDP. It creates some 9 million jobs and generates millions of dollars in federal, regional and local tax revenue. Credit to commercial real estate markets from many sources has been paralyzed and needs to be revived. “How and when the slide in property values is abated depends a great deal on policy actions in Washington, and we should pay careful attention to the details to make sure we get this crucial part of the plan right and the program can reach its full potential. Today’s announcement, coupled with the job creating stimulus bill being debated on Capitol Hill, starts to chart a path out of the current downward economic spiral. Additional steps may be necessary, but the essential foundation for restoring a credit market is now being laid,” said DeBoer.

Breaking It Down by State:
States took the biggest hit in the Senate package, as members halved the House’s $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, aimed at helping states pay education bills, and eliminated a $20 billion school construction fund. The Senate offers more generous tax breaks, notably $70 billion to help some taxpayers avoid the alternative minimum tax this year, a tax credit of $15,000 or 10 percent of the purchase price of a new home and a tax break for new car buyers.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., conceded that the AMT fix probably will stay in the final bill- it has long had broad support- but the fate of the car and home tax breaks is uncertain. States and education groups also are lobbying fiercely to get money restored.
Looming over the deliberations is uneasiness about whether the bill will prod the economy significantly. A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Senate measure found that it would add $214 billion to the projected $1.2 trillion fiscal 2009 deficit, and add another $441.2 billion next year.

© 2009, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

$15,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit, Questions & Answers

2009-02-10T08:04:00.007-07:00

One of the most talked about new proposals to hit the home buying industry has been that of a $15,000 home buyer tax credit. This credit was part of added amendment to the Senate's version of currently proposed economic stimulus package. This new provision would provide a tax credit of as much as $15,000 or 10 percent of the home's purchase price, whichever is less, to anyone buying a primary residence during a one-year period beginning on the date of enactment. Here is what we know so far about this proposal.

DO HOME OWNERS WHO BOUGHT HOMES ALREADY AND QUALIFIED FOR THE $7,500 TAX CREDIT, QUALIFY FOR THIS $15,000 CREDIT AS WELL? - Most likely the answer is no, because the effective date of the new amendment is effective date the new provision will be enacted. This means that if you already purchased a home, you will probably not qualify for the new program.

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN TO THE EXISTING $7,500 TAX CREDIT? - The current $7,500 new home buyer tax credit will be replaced by the proposed $15,000 credit and this new provision applies to all home purchases. So essentially, no one will be able to take the $7,500 tax credit any longer once the new credit is enacted.

WILL THIS ACTUALLY PASS? -We should know this answer very soon as it is a component of the new version of the economic stimulus package. The House of Representatives has already passed its version of the stimulus bill, and the White House is putting pressure on the Senate to do the same. However, there are still hurdles to go through to pass the $900 billion package. However, chances are that if and when a version of this stimulus package is passed, this new home buyer tax credit will remain in the bill and passed into law.

DOES THE NEW CREDIT HAVE TO BE PAYED BACK LIKE THE CURRENT CREDIT? - In the case of the new $15,000 home buyer tax credit, it will not have to be paid back. This will be in contrast from the current $7,500 first-time home buyer credit, which was essentially an interest free loan.

WHAT TYPES OF RESTRICTIONS ARE ON THE NEW HOME BUYER TAX CREDIT? - The new tax credit would be limited to primary residences, but will not come with an income restriction. In addition, you must occupy the home for at least two years as your primary residence and will apply to any home, meaning a condo, a house, foreclosed, new or previously owned property.

WHAT IS THE TAX LIABILITY RESTRICTION? - One potential drawback to the $15,000 tax credit for lower income families is that the tax credit will also correlate to your amount of tax liability. Your tax liability is the amount of taxes paid out to the government, after your deductions. For example, if you had $9,000 withheld from your paycheck for the entire year and received a $1,000 refund at the end of year from the government, your tax liability would be $8,000 and you would be able to only receive that amount back from the tax credit. However, you could also split the credit over two years, meaning you could take the additional $7,000 in left over credit the following year if you had that much tax liability the following year.

IF I PURCHASE A HOME IN 2009 CAN I TAKE THIS CREDIT FOR MY 2008 TAXES? -You will be able to take the credit toward your 2008 taxes, even if you purchase the home in 2009.

This information was provided by Strategic Mortgage.

My First Day Of Blogging

2009-02-09T16:59:00.006-07:00

Well folks, here it is. My Blogging debut. Hopefully it can only get better from here! Today, especially being a Monday, was actually quite productive and I look forward to an even better week. Please keep checking out my Blog for links to some great finance and AZ real estate sites and articles. Keep a positive outlook and a smile on your face :)

Know Your Numbers

2009-02-09T14:36:00.003-07:00