Despite the high operating costs associated with high tech cell phones…which often contain web and text messaging capabilities, people apparently have placed a greater priority on communication than they have on keeping a roof over their heads.
With house foreclosures soaring, the smart homeowner might want to consider redirecting the $150-$300 per month they spend on cell phone bills towards keeping a roof over their heads.
Consider this:
In a typical family of 4 consisting of a Mom, Dad, and two teenagers aged 13 & 15…the monthly cell phone bill could easily be in the $240-$300 range. ( Mom: $60, Dad: $80, Thirteen Year Old: $50, Fifteen Year Old: $50…Plus another $50 in taxes)
That extra $290 could go a long way towards avoiding losing your house to the bank. But not so fast…
According to Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon’s wireless and wireline business haven’t seen any significant impact from the weakening economy.
The sales volume hasn’t shifted, and there hasn’t been a change in momentum, Seidenberg said today on the sidelines of Verizon Wireless’ Open Development Conference. “There’s nothing out of the ordinary,” said Seidenberg. In other words PEOPLE ARE CHOOSING TO PAY THEIR CELL PHONE BILLS INSTEAD OF THEIR MORTGAGES.
Home Depot’s CEO Frank Blake announced earlier this week that his compay will be closing its 11 Landscape Supply stores. This follows the closing of a significant number of its Expo Design Centers.
Blake says that unlike Countrywide who announced plans to lay off 12,000 employees, his company does not plan to make any significant job cuts or reduce the number of its retail stores as a result of the lingering housing slump.
Blake says the company’s focus on customer service means more employees, not fewer, will be needed.
“We’re making investments, notwithstanding the downturn,” Blake said. “I think that’s absolutely the right thing to do for the business. It’s going to lead to long-term success.”
Blake said there are no plans to close any of the company’s more than 2,000 core retail stores. “We’re not going to shut stores to save costs,” Blake said. “We don’t need to.” Read.
Yesterday the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a half-percentage point. This was the first rate cut in the past four years. Toll Brothers CEO Robert Toll said the rate cut may signal that the economy is worse than previously thought and likely doesn’t indicate the U.S. housing market has hit bottom.
“I would have done a quarter instead of a half because it signals we’re in deep doodoo,” said Toll, speaking at the Credit Suisse Homebuilder Conference. He went on to say that the current housing market downturn is worse than the ones we saw between 1980 and 1982 and between 1987 and 1991.
Toll Brothers is the nation’s leading builder of new luxury homes, new home construction, golf communities, retirement communities, resort homes and other high end real estate development. Read.
New Chrysler CEO, Bob Nardelli says that problems in the housing market are hurting car and truck sales, and he wants his company to draft a plan to respond.
With experience in the home building industry as former CEO of Home Improvement retailer Home Depot, Nardelli is probably better qualified than most Auto Industry insiders to make such a correlation.
Nardelli said he can see a connection between housing woes and the automobile market and that Chrysler is trying to anticipate what might await the industry.
“There is a direct coupling there,” Mr. Nardelli said in a speech to the Automotive Press Association, “and some negative spill from housing into the auto industry.” Read.
HomeVestors of America CEO John Hayes has released a free special report entitled “The Seven Secrets of Successful Real Estate Investing” and announced for the first time that he will make the HomeVestors e-mail newsletter and national property listing reports available to all interested real estate investors free of charge.
“In all the years that we’ve been in business, certain real estate investors have been continually successful regardless of the market,” said Hayes. “So we set out to identify the common characteristics that separate the superstars from every other investor in the field.”
HomeVestors has long taken the position that real estate investors have been successful in all economies and the franchise network recently completed the purchase of its 30,000th house in the U.S. The release of these materials come on the heels of this monumental achievement.
For those not familiar with Homevestors, they are the company famous for the “We Buy Ugly Houses” billboards. The company is actually a franchise network…which for around a $40,000 franchise fee provides its members special access to mortgage financing, research and other real estate resources designed to support their real estate investment efforts.
Given the fact that the only people privy to Homevestors’ Inside information have had to pay upwards of $40K to gain access, the release of the “seven secrets” among top performers in the real estate investment industry is a rare public move by CEO John Hayes. “You can take two real estate investors in the same market, in the same neighborhood, even on the same street, and have two very different outcomes depending on who possesses these seven traits,” Hayes said.
So without further ado here are “The Seven Secrets Of Successful Real Estate Investing”"
All successful real estate investors:
1. Expect the unexpected
2. Build a winning team
3. Emphasize selling
4. Never stop buying
5. Have an exit strategy
6. Have an eye on key indicators
7. Have a passion and drive for the business
Roger Staubach has one impressive resume. Try this on for size: Naval Academy Graduate, Heisman Trophy Winner, Naval Officer, Dallas Cowboys Quarterback, Two-time Superbowl Champion, Superbowl MVP winner, Pro Bowler, Founder and CEO of a $450M real estate company, Evangelist for Dallas’ bid to host Superbowl XLV in 2011.
Today Staubach is making the biggest hand-off of his post-football career, passing the day-to-day control as CEO over to longtime company exec Greg O’Brien.
