Is It Fraud to Pay Your Lender?

If you've not already heard the recording, you soon will.  The media is jumping all over this as another reason why the big bad banks are so bad.  A recording of the conversation between a lender representative and a Realtor who is trying to work out a Short Sale for her client is raising flags in many groups.

How is making a payment to the lender that you owe money a "side deal" or fraud?

What if the lender said, "Make 2 or 3 payment on the loan, since you haven't made a payment on in the last 6 months, and we'll release the lien."

The 1st is protecting their net by stating they will only allow so much to the second. For all they care, the 2nd could require the the lien be paid in full, but the 2nd can get no more than a certain amount at the closing. If anything on the HUD shows more money going to the 2nd, the first will not release the lien and require the money be given to them.

The 2nd lender doesn't care where the money comes from, they just don't want to get screwed anymore than they already are. If they can double what they get, by getting $2,000 or $6,000, everyone wins. (Even though the lien may be $50,000).  Seller gets to short sell their house, the agent gets paid and a buyer is in their new home.

The 2nd will get nothing if it forecloses, but nobody gets anything at that point except the 1st who gets a house they never wanted in the first place. Realtor loses, seller loses, buyer loses, economy loses.

Is it fraud to make a payment on your loan?  Isn't that what buyers agreed to do in the first place?

I've heard many Realtors lately saying that they understand the value in hiring a negotiator to deal with the lenders. The best, most experienced negotiators can be found at
ManageMyShortSale.  Their goal is to get everyone paid as much as possible.

Off Topic But Could Be Beneficial for You: Hard Drive Recovery

This problem is no one's problem until it happens to you.  And you don't want it to happen to you!  
Redundancy - when you have a file saved in multiple places is a good thing!  The 1 TB Western Digital Hard Drive I use to store all my photos and videos doesn't know where any of my files are!  It says the space is still used, but my folders appear to be empty.  It is like the files slowly disappeared one day. One minute I could see them, 20 minutes later they are gone.
I have gotten a "Windows delayed write failed. Windows was unable to save all the data for the file K:\$Mft."

When I check the properties of the drive it shows the drive is used - 391 GB, with 450 GB free. The blue lights on the front go round and round - they don't stop. I hear the fan running - it doesn't shut off.


So began the quest to recover my files.  I called the Western Digital recommended place and it was a minimum of $700, but could be $2,700!  No Way!  I don't want to dish that out.  So I searched for recovery software.  I found some for $70, and some for $140.  All have a free trial to scan the drive to see what can be recovered.

• Soft Ambulance - the website was down last night, so they didn't get my business $140
  
• Easeus.com - Didn't find any files $70
  
• Recover My Files - found 10,000 files i didn't' need and no preview.  $70
• HDD Recovery Pro - found over 100,000 files that I'm recovering now. $140
  

I don't know for sure if HDD Recovery Pro found everything since it is still copying files, but it did find more.  It cost 2 times more than RecoverMyFiles, but well worth it to me.
 
My problem was not a simple "opps, I deleted a file" or "I shouldn't have formatted the disk."  Still don't know what the problem is, not sure if I'll ever know.

I bought the HP SimpleSave 1 TB USB 2.0 Desktop External Hard Drive HPBAAD0010HBK-NHSN (Gloss Black).  Easy to back up my files, which I did for my c drive immediately.  My recovered files are being put onto that new drive, too.

I turned my drive off for a few days to stop any more deterioration that might be happening.   It's been running 24 hours now to scan & recover data and so far, so good.  I was hoping the files would magically show up again on the drive, but no such luck.  In fact at times I can't even see the folders!

Moral of my story:  Back up files.  Not just in one place, in at least 2 places.  Cloud computing is a good place for redundancy, too! 

Maintaining Focus

I just wrapped up reading Donald Trump's Think Big & Kick Ass!
While this book has very little that is new information, it does provide the contents in an easy to read, straight forward, no nonsense manner that everyone can enjoy and learn from.  If you have already learned these, are you implementing them?  Daily?  Weekly?  Once a Year?

I found the most important topic that Mr. Trump discusses is focus.  It takes just a little more effort than an ordinary person gives to make yourself extra-ordinary.  How do you do that?  Maintaining focus on your goals and tasks will lead you to success.

According to Donald Trump, comedian Tim Allen's 3 lists to maintain focus,includes:

1. Lifetime Goals
2. Annual Tasks to Reach Lifetime Goals
3. Daily Tasks to Reach Lifetime Goals

So how do you maintain discipline to stay focused to reach those goals?  The daily tasks that you have should be motivating you to get up in the morning and achieve some progress in your quest to reach the goals.

Many times our goals are big, and when looked at as one big goal, can seem impossible.  Or it may seem possible, but takes so long that you lose focus and therefore quit before you complete your goal.  The trick is to break down your goal into easily achievable tasks that give you daily or weekly success, thereby motivating you to continue on your quest.

Next time:  How to break down your goal into easily achievable tasks.

People Buy You, Not What You Are Selling

Ever wonder why some people always seem to have luck and others don't?  They get the promotions, the girls (or guys), the good projects, best tables at restaurants, free tickets, etc.

One reason could be the way they present themselves.  Take stock of what you are doing:

• How do you stand?  
• How do you project your voice?  
• How do you walk?  
• How do you dress? 
• How do you shake hands?
• Do you ask for what you want?

Do you have the confidence to stand, walk and talk for success?  Your posture and voice should say, "I get what I want because you want to give it to me."

Having a purpose and something to believe in help build the confidence.  What ever it is that you are doing today for a job is your job because it is what you chose to do.  If you are not happy, choose a way to enjoy what you are doing.  If you are not getting the promotions, maybe it is because you are not doing your job with enough passion to make your supervisors think you could do a more important job well enough.  You have to show that you are successful at whatever you do.  People like to be around other successful people.  Be successful at your current job, feel the purpose and be happy in the moment.

I love going to Chick Fil-A because the young people working there are trained to be so polite.  It seems like they love their job.  If I had a job opening, I would want to look for the person there that seems to  love their job most because they appear to love their work. They are trainable and like working and that is what I would need in an employee.

Basic Sales 101

We moved back to CA in September.  My husband is an agent and wanted to find other agents to work with him.  He had meetings with several agents who were all BROKE.  In a tough sitation. Not making any money and needing a paycheck.  My husband is a hard worker and knows the basics of sales.  He suggested going back to basics and door knocking.  He offered going with them to help.

We've not heard back from those agents.  Those agents are looking for a 9-5 job and accepting government assistance but they were not willing to go knock on a few doors.  Not even to try it for a week.

I guess the easy times have spoiled the agents who got in at the height of good times.  They never had to shake the bushes to get a paycheck, and a big check at that.

I love hearing stories of seasoned professionals going back to basics.  It's like the stories we have heard successful business people say:  "If I lost all my money I'd have it back fast, because of the knowledge I have and work ethic I live by."  And you can bring that to the level of The Secret as well.  The mentality of successful business people are at a level that can bounce them back, bigger and stronger if they choose.

Keep your nose to the grindstone and work steady.

How to Find Success This New Year

"I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve.” -Anthony Robbins

I just finished Trumps' "Think Big and Kick Ass" and while I've heard it all before, read it all before and been to those pump you up seminars before, you have to keep reading it and hearing it to keep it at the forefront of your thinking. How do you stay committed when life pulls you in so many directions every day?

• Planning
• Routine
• Habits
• Time Delegation
  
• Accountability
• Deadlines

Every day is a new chance to get back on track, to see what has been accomplished and assess what needs to be done to continue on the planned task.  For me it is easier if I end the day with an organized, visual account of:

1. Completed items
2. Uncompleted items
3. Next days tasks
4. Questions that arose during the day
5. Roadblocks to progress
6. Solutions to the roadblocks
   

This list at the end of the day also helps motivate me to get up in the morning - I know what I need to get done to be successful, and success each day is what motivates me and keeps my attitude positive.  The successes don't have to be large, which is why the planning is so important.  Each part of your plan that you execute and complete is a success.  It takes the small accomplishments to reach the large end result.  Overnight successes never really happen overnight.

I think I've learned enough about myself now to know where it is that I need to focus to accomplish those things that are most important and that generate income.  While we can all listen to what the trainers and coaches say, they are just providing tools that we can use to get us where we want to go.  It is up to each of us to implement what we learn and use the tools in ways that help us in our businesses and personal lives.

Find your way to stay focused this year!