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Blake Dale Ratcliff
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Joined EzineArticles on Aug 9, 2009 1 Easy Step to Fix the Federal Deficit, Social Security, the Economy Without Cutting Benefits!
Finance: Taxes • Published: January 28, 2011
The federal government should incent retirees to go back to work. The gains are huge and diverse. Tax collections would grow, social security outlays would fall, and productivity would jump.
Save a Bundle - Change Your Family Breakfast and Lunch Costs
Finance: Personal Finance • Published: January 17, 2011
Families spend about 50% of their grocery budget on breakfast and lunch. Some simple changes to habits for this area can save up to 90% of this cost. Read on to learn more.
Create Income at Your Home Now!
Home Based Business • Published: November 29, 2010
We've all seen the books and heard the ideas to make cash now! Here are some practical ideas to generate cash, create savings, and improve your financial position immediately.
Change Your Habits and Gain Financial Freedom
Finance: Personal Finance • Published: November 29, 2010
Most have seen books talking about the importance of getting out of debt. Many of these books even offer some really good ideas about how to dig your way out of debt. Many other books offer lots of thoughts on how to gain wealth and financial freedom. Most of the writers who prepare these have learned their lessons the hard way and the advice they offer is valuable. This article plants the seed that is the bookend to these. This article offers an introduction to the practical advice you need to make acting on the ideas in so many of these books possible and begin slashing the useless consumer debt and cash consuming factors in your life away.
Investors, Can We Win With Quick Opportunities Now?
Real Estate: Commercial Property • Published: October 2, 2010
The U.S. is in an unusual position where because of money supply easing, timing on government action, and the relatively steady but weak recovery of the U.S. market offers and opportunity to make quick wins. Investors should move now, because the opportunities could be more scarce a little further out.
What About the Shadow Market?
Real Estate: Investing • Published: October 1, 2010
We see a lot of articles right now about the shadow market. In general, the term shadow market refers to the raft of distressed housing that must be worked off over the next few years. What does this iceberg of supply mean to investors?
Urban Buying Is a Winning Strategy
Real Estate: Buying • Published: September 30, 2010
For the past 60 years, America has moved to the suburbs. Now the rush is over. The trend is reversing toward urban living. How can investors cash in?
Real Estate Capital - An Equity Arbitrage Opportunity Exists With Government Guaranteed Programs
Real Estate: Mortgage Refinance • Published: September 10, 2010
FHA offers a guaranteed loan program to commercial borrowers for properties over $2,400,000 roughly at between 3.5% and 3.75%. At the same time, market rates are between 6.5% and 8%. This offers a true economic opportunity for investors.
The Home Mortgage Interest Tax Write Off Is Under Assault - What Should Investors Do?
Real Estate • Published: September 10, 2010
Home interest write off changes are in the wind. The likely victim is the second home write off. How will this effect consumers and investors.
Real Estate Wealth Often Lies in the Driving Trends
Real Estate: Commercial Property • Published: September 9, 2010
Understanding the trends driving your market can reduce risk, increase profits, and drive value. Are you on top of these factors?
Real Estate Wealth - Mobile Homes Can Be a Great Acquisition With Limited Equity
Real Estate: Buying • Published: September 6, 2010
A large component of getting into real estate investing is figuring our what assets to buy. A good approach may be to team with mobile home park owners to purchase mobile homes from residents who are looking to move out or move on. Mobile homes offer very low residual value. At the same time, rehabbing a mobile home often is a modest investment that yields monthly revenue on a par with similar sized apartments.
Condominiums - A Great Place to Make Your First Real Estate Investment
Real Estate: Condominiums • Published: September 6, 2010
First time investors struggle making their first acquisition. Overcoming the road blocks and achieving the first investment hinges on identifying a path to make the first purchase. Condominiums offer one of the best paths for beginning real estate investments.
Real Estate Investing - Step One to Getting Started
Real Estate: Investing • Published: September 6, 2010
For many, investing in real estate is a daunting task because of the sums of cash involved, concern over resident issues, and much more. The key is an old saying, the elephant was eaten one bit at at time. And perhaps the second key, is which bite to take first. That is what this article is about, what bite you should take first.
Rental-Apartment Marketing - Using Sales Triggers to Increase Renting Results
Real Estate: Leasing Renting • Published: August 31, 2010
In the property management business, we often focus on traffic, apartment marketing web sites, Internet listing services to the exclusion of broader traditional sales approaches. The property management business is not immune to the processes and proven techniques that apply to sales in general. This article focuses on one of those areas - sales triggers. What are sales triggers? Sales triggers are the emotional responses that cause people to make purchasing decisions.
Rental Housing - Headed for the City (Urban Living Is the Trend for the Future)
Real Estate: Investing • Published: August 27, 2010
For the past 70 years, U.S. housing has moved steadily further and further from the city center. This trend is ending. Demographically, most new housing will be for renter prone consumers. Moreover, effects of the crisis in the long term will reduce housing subsidies.
Real Estate Investment Club - Rates Point Away From a Double Dip Recession
Real Estate: Investing • Published: August 25, 2010
Investors are unsure of future trends. American consumers pulled $33 billion out mutual funds last month because of uncertainty. The opportunity and risks are hard to understand. However, the spread between short term and long term bonds suggest a very low probability of a new recession -- less than 20%.
The New Normal for Housing Construction
Real Estate • Published: August 24, 2010
There are many generally reliable sources of data and articles that suggest that U.S. new household needs are about 1,500,000 per year. This assumption developed from the steady growth of new housing between the early 1990s and 2007. Is this true?
100 Rental Market Tips
Real Estate: Property Management • Published: August 23, 2010
Who wouldn't want 100 rental real estate tips? I've provided 101 mainly focused on getting more out of your rental property especially if the property is a rental home.
High Quality Stats Show Multifamily Properties Are the Place to Be for Investment for 2010 to 2020
Real Estate: Commercial Property • Published: August 18, 2010
Recent rental and housing statistics compiled in 2010 show clearly that multifamily and rental investing is the place to putting capital. Information from the Department of Commerce, the University of Utah, the Urban Land Institute, and the Census Bureau provides compelling facts showing that urban center multifamily demand will outstrip supply and demand for multifamily in general will be at all time highs over the next decade. Investors, developers, and professionals in these markets have much to be excited about.
Will the Bottom Fall Out of the Economy and Real Estate Again? No! It Will Not
Real Estate: Investing • Published: August 16, 2010
Double dip recession? Second crash? Are we headed to economic oblivion? This is a question many are asking now. For lots of good reasons, the uncertainty right now is very palpable in the market place.
Maintenance Review - Multiunit Properties Must Have Power Washers, Check Huskie & Rigid Brands
Real Estate: Commercial Property • Published: August 16, 2010
Every property should have a power washer as part of the standard maintenance tool kit. Power washers can make an old unit look fresh and help reveal the real maintenance you need to take care of on your property.
For Many, Investing in Real Estate Is Intimidating Because of the Size of Loan and the Personal Risk
Real Estate: Investing • Published: August 12, 2010
Balancing risk with capacity is a critical component of your investing plan. For many, this can be too much to take on an investment. If you are serious about building a real estate portfolio, you shouldn't let this stand in the way. The key is setting up an investment that will create the right balance of risks.
Value-Price Drivers - Labor, Material, and Conditions Effecting Them Are Value Drivers
Real Estate: Investing • Published: August 6, 2010
Like any product or service, real estate's value is a function of demand. However, unlike pure service products a portion of real estate's value is driven by new construction cost and replacement cost. Construction cost has a labor component and a land component. Depreciation however is strictly labor and materials.
Real Estate Is the Largest Part of the US Economy - How Does the Dollar's Role Impact the Industry?
Real Estate • Published: August 6, 2010
Near the close of World War II, the world's leading nations began developing a global fiscal plan to create a stable post depression era economy. This plan reached fruition at the Bretton Woods conference. The net of this conference was that the U.S. dollar pegged to the gold standard at $35 per ounce would serve as the global reserve currency. Global growth eventually unhooked the gold standard approach and more freedom eventually was allowed for currency value fluctuations. Nevertheless, the key status of the dollar as the reserve currency and International Monetary Fund as a stabilizing capital source were put in place...
Loan Workouts Are Surging - The Debt Markets Are Showing Real Signs of Recovery
Real Estate • Published: August 4, 2010
We've all watched and some have suffered as the commercial market suffered through the markets trough and the very weak lending environment that surrounded it. At last there are signs of returning strength. In the past few weeks CMBS began showing life. $6.3 billion new loans fell into distress in June. This is the smallest monthly increase since October 2008. The peak was April 2009 when the loans falling into distress exceeded $20 billion dollars. This month was only half of the previous month.