Trina

In BOICE MAIL this week...

"Pic" of the week:


This image captivated viewers when it began circulating on the Internet in August 2004.
Snopes has been unable to find information about the origins of this picture. www.snopes.com/photo/arts/footprint.asp

Headline Mortgage News:

Where does your state rank in Mortgage Fraud? MARI Releases its “Ninth Periodic Case Report” to the MBA. See this report in the Mortgage Fraud Blog: http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/maris_ninth_periodic_report/

Florida took the top position, followed by California and Michigan. Georgia, the perennial #1 state in mortgage fraud has slipped to a distant fourth. For a PDF of the 23 page report, click here: http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com/images/uploads/MBA9thCaseRpt.pdf

“The Upside of Subprime” With all the bad news, economist Susan Lee reminds us there’s a good side to subprime lending. American Public Media article: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/2007/05/15/PM200705156.html

Too much inventory – Number of listings continues to rise a the sagging housing market tries to find its footing. CNN Money article looks at what a difference a year makes: http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/16/real_estate/home_inventory_growing/index.htm?postversion=2007051718

Is anyone’s home going up in value? Yes, there are still some markets where prices are expected to rise. This CNN Money articles tells you the top 5 and bottom 5 of our nation’s 100 biggest markets: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/real_estate/0704/gallery.fastest_and_slowest_growers/10.html

Thought for the Week:

“Be kind. Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” John Watson

This is a rare photograph of a Freddie Mac investigator questioning a loan officer on some suspected flip transactions he obtained financing for (see the above link to the MARI "9th Periodic Case Report")

How to keep more of your own paycheck

Years ago my wife created a big spreadsheet for all the grocery stores around town, trying to decide which store was the least expensive. Of course, the price of items changed from week to week, making one store the better deal one week and a different store less expensive the next, depending on sales. One thing she noticed was that some of the best deals to be had consistently were found at the big warehouse clubs. Her favorite is Costco. A study by the Economic Research Service at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture shows that you save a substantial amount of money shopping at warehouse clubs and Wal-Mart Supercenters. Hey, anywhere you can buy tires and cool whip is quite a store.

The study was done over a five-year period, and, on the same quantity of an item, you will save from 5 to 20 percent. As a result, those stores represent about a third of grocery store spending these days. Costo even pays cash back at the end of the year up to 2% of purchases. Alternatively, regular supermarkets use "high-low" pricing, where some items are extremely cheap and others are marked up significantly. The supermarkets tout the low, sale items in advertisements to lure you in, but they hope you'll buy the higher-priced ones when you're there. The only bad thing about the big clubhouses is you have to be able to resist some of that great stuff and be able to control impulse buying.

And now, for this week's fun freebies!

Coolmax 2.5” USB Hard Drive Enclosure - $0.00 after Rebate
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=204317207&adid=17654&dcaid=17654

Kasperskey Internet Security 6.0 – free after rebate at Buy.com go to: http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202693446&adid=17653&dcaid=17653


We have several birthdays coming up in our family soon and found this great web site that lists all of the restaurants in your area that will give you a free meal or dessert on your birthday. Check out http://tinyurl.com/3po8s

Bluebell Ice Cream company will also give you a free half gallon of ice cream on your birthday by going to www.bluebell.com/Registration.aspx

Free Wedding Songs CD when You Registerhttp://www.theknot.com/may_locations.html

Free One Year Subscription to Marriage Todayhttp://www.marriagetoday.org/site/PageServerpagename=magazine_subscribe

Create a Free Wedding Websitehttp://www.mywedding.com/main/couple_sites.html



And finally, Appraise That!

This is actually a bed and breakfast located on the big island, Hawaii above Waiohinu Village, close to Volcanoes National Park and Kailua and Hilo. Unique architecture, indeed. See the view from this deck in the addtional photo below. http://unusuallife.com/2006/04/02/hawaii-honeymoon-hobbit-house/

Brought to you by:

885 Woodstock Road, Suite 430-305
Roswell, GA 30075
Office# 770-926-5284
Fax# 866-870-0930
order at: http://www.hotlynk.net/
http://www.highspeedhighstandards.com/

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