Top 8 House-Hunting Mistakes

These mistakes will blow your cool — your budget is likely to follow.

Buying a home is a very emotional process, and allowing those emotions to get the best of you can cause you to make any number of mistakes. Since buying a home has many far-reaching implications, from where you will live to how hard it will be to make ends meet, it’s important to keep your emotions in check and make the most rational decision possible.

There are eight common emotional mistakes that people make when buying a home. Avoiding these pitfalls will help you find the best home-sweet-home.

Mistake 1: Falling in love with a house you can’t afford

Once you’ve fallen in love with a particular home, it’s hard to go back. You start dreaming about how great your life would be if you had all the wonderful things it offered – the lovely, tree-lined streets, the jetted bathtub, the spacious kitchen with professional-grade appliances. However, if you can’t or won’t be able to afford that house, you’re just hurting yourself. To avoid the temptation to get in over your head financially, or the disappointment of feeling like you’re settling for less than you deserve, it’s best to only look at homes in your price range.

Further, start your search at the low end of your price range – if what you find there satisfies you, there’s no need to go higher. Remember, when you buy another $10,000 worth of house, you’re not just paying an extra $10,000 – you’re paying an extra $10,000 plus interest, which might come out to double that amount or more over the life of yourloan. You may be better off putting that money toward another purpose.

Mistake 2: Thinking that a particular house is the only one that will suit you

Unless you are a high-end buyer looking at custom homes, chances are that for any home you find that you like, there are quite a few others that are nearly identical to it. Mostneighborhoods have multiple homes that are the same model. Further, most neighborhoods are full of homes that were all constructed by the same builder, so even if you can’t find an identical model for sale, you can probably find a house with many of the same features. If you’re considering a condo or townhouse, the odds are also in your favor.

Even when you have a long list of must-haves, there are probably several homes out there that can meet your needs. Another house in the same area might be similar enough to meet your needs but be less expensive. Likewise, you could find a similar model with more of the upgrades you’re looking for at a similar price.

Mistake 3: Being so desperate to become a homeowner that you buy a place that doesn’t suit you

When you’ve been looking for a while and you’re not seeing anything you like – or worse, you’re getting outbid on the houses you do want – it’s easy to start thinking that what you really want simply won’t happen. If you move into a house you’ll end up hating, the transaction costs to get rid of it will be costly. You’ll have to pay an agent’s commission (up to 5-6% of the sale price) and you’ll have to pay closing costs for the mortgage on your new house. You’ll also deal with the hassle and expense of moving yet again. If you decide not to move but to try to make the best of what you have, remember that alterations and renovations are expensive, time-consuming and stressful. The best advice is to wait if you have the luxury of time, or to correct your vision for your future to what you actually need, not want.

Mistake 4: Overlooking important flaws in the structure, appearance or location of the house

For any of the three reasons we just discussed, you might be tempted to ignore major problems with the house that will be difficult, expensive or impossible to change. Carefully consider your options before you make a commitment, and consider waiting until something better comes along. New houses come on the market every day.

Mistake 5: Thinking you’re a handyman when you’re not

Don’t buy a fixer-upper that’s more than you can handle in terms of time, money or ability. For example, if you think you can do the work yourself then realize you can’t once you get started, any repairs or upgrades you were planning to make will probably cost twice as much once you factor in the labor – and that may not be in your budget. Not to mention the costs involved to fix anything you may have started and the fees to replace the materials you wasted. Honestly evaluate your abilities, your budget and how soon you need to move before purchasing a property that isn’t move-in ready.

Mistake 6: Putting in an offer before carefully considering all the pros and cons of the property

In a hot market (or even a hot submarket, with dirt-cheap, bank-owned properties during a housing slump) it may be necessary to pull the trigger very quickly if you find a home you like. However, you have to balance the need to make a quick decision with the need to make sure the home will be right for you. Don’t neglect important steps like making sure the neighborhood feels safe at night as well as during the day and investigating possible noise issues like a nearby train. Ideally you’ll be able to take at least a night to sleep on the decision. How well you sleep that night and how you feel about the home in the morning will tell you a lot about whether the decision you’re about to make is the right one. Taking the time to consider the decision also gives you a chance to research how much the property is really worth and offer an appropriate price.

Mistake 7: Being too slow to pull the trigger

It’s a tough balancing act to make sure you make a careful decision yet don’t take too long to make it. Losing out on a property that you were almost ready to make an offer on because someone beat you to it can be heartbreaking. It can also have economic consequences. Let’s say you are self-employed. Perhaps for you more than anyone else, time is money. The more time and energy you have to take out of your normal activities to search for a house, the less time and energy you have available to work. Not dragging out the homebuying process unnecessarily may be the best thing for your business, and the continued success of your business will be essential to paying the mortgage. If you don’t pull the trigger quickly, someone else might, and you’ll have to keep looking. Don’t underestimate how time-consuming and routine-disrupting house shopping can be.

Mistake 8: Offering more than a house is worth

If there’s a lot of competition in your market and you find a place you really like, it’s all too easy to get sucked into a bidding war – or to try to preempt a bidding war by offering a high price in the first place. There are a couple of potential problems with this. First, if the house doesn’t appraise at or above the amount of your offer, the bank won’t give you the loan unless the seller reduces the price or you pay cash for the difference. If this happens, the shortfall on your bid as opposed to your mortgage will have to be paid out of pocket. Second, when you go to sell the house, if market conditions are similar to or worse than they were when you purchased, you may find yourself upside down on the mortgage and unable to sell. Make sure the purchase price for the home you buy is reasonable for both the house and the location by examining comparable sales and getting your agent’sopinion before making an offer.

Conclusion

Even knowing all of these things, it’s still hard to act on them. You may still find yourself making decisions based on emotion during the home-buying process. Slow down, overcome your emotions and, ultimately, make a home-purchase decision that’s good for both your feelings and your finances.

Three Key Lessons From Obama’s China Visit

By TONY KARON – Sat Nov 21, 1:05 pm ET
President Obama’s trip to China yielded precious little Chinese cooperation on the Administration’s key concerns, ranging from currency issues to Iran. That’s a sign of the shifting balance of power between two countries that have been locked in an uneasy embrace for more than three decades. “I underlined to President Obama that given our differences in national conditions, it is only normal that our two sides may disagree on some issues,” said China’s President Hu Jintao. “What is important is to respect and accommodate each other’s core interests and major concerns.”
China’s concerns, of course, have dramatically expanded in recent years, as was emphasized by Beijing’s anxiety over the implication for its own dollar-denominated wealth of U.S. budget deficits. At the same time, Beijing is in no hurry to play the “other” global superpower rule vacated by the Soviet Union two decades ago. (See pictures of Obama visiting Asia.)
Herewith, three key lessons to draw from the visit:

1. China’s Star Has Risen and America’s Has Ebbed, But the U.S. is ‘Too Big to Fail’
As the Washington Post noted, when Bill Clinton visited Beijing a decade ago, the U.S. owed more money toSpain than it did to China. President Obama’s America owes China some $800 billion and counting. China’s economy is humming again, while America’s is likely to remain sluggish for years. The sharp economic downturn, and the failure of the U.S. to impose its will in two very costly ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have shrunk America’s global leverage. Today, far less powerful countries than China routinely decline to follow Washington’s lead. An ironic dividend of capitalism’s Cold War triumph has been the emergence of new power centers in the world economy - Brazil, Russia, India and, of course, China.
Given its economic health and growing influence, Beijing is not simply able to rebuff U.S. demands; it is making its own demands of the U.S., in whose economy much of China’s own wealth is tied up. For example, U.S. officials traveling with President Obama faced detailed questions about how the U.S. planned to pay for health-care reform, with China increasingly alarmed at the ballooning deficit and the gloomy economic outlook. The best thing going for the U.S. in its economic relationship with Beijing – which holds $800 billion in U.S. debt and some $2 trillion in dollar-denominated assets – is that for China, the American economy is simply “too big to fail”.
While the U.S. currently needs Chinese help on a raft of economic and geopolitical issues, Beijing is less dependent on U.S. help, although it balks at any hint out of Washington of protectionist trade policies. While some in Washington will criticize Obama for being too deferential and allowing the Chinese to stage-manage the visit to avoid any domestic discomfort, it is the shift in the real balance of power that has forced the U.S. to change its approach to China.

 

2. China Doesn’t Want to Run the World, But It Has Interests That Differ from America’s
Russia may be engaged in a geopolitical chess game with the U.S. aimed at recovering from the demise of itsgreat power status, but China is different. It pushes back against U.S. initiatives only when those are deemed inimical to its national interests. Iran is a good example. Beijing’s heavy investment in and reliance on Iran’s energy sector make it extremely averse to serious sanctions or strategies that create political turmoil in Tehran. While insisting on compliance with the non-proliferation regime, Beijing does not believe Iran represents an imminent nuclear weapons threat. And its response to North Korea going nuclear suggests that a nuclear armed Iran is something it could live with.
Obama went to China arguing that its emergence as a major power gives it greater responsibility, as a partner to the U.S., in helping run the world and tackle such global challenges as climate change and Iran. Indeed, there was a collective shudder in Europe’s corridors of power at the idea of global leadership being concentrated in a “G2″ partnership between Washington and Beijing. They needn’t have worried. China’s response to Obama could be read as: “Running the world is your gig, we’re focused on running our own country, and ensuring security in our immediate neighborhood. We want harmonious relations with you, but don’t expect us to do anything that we deem harmful to our national interests.” That means no serioussanctions against Iran, regardless of what deals are struck between Washington and Moscow, because China’s national interests require growing Iran’s energy exports. (Read “For His Asia Trip, Obama Has a United Brain Trust”)

 

3. Personal Chemistry Can’t Change the World
The personal trust between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was indispensable in fostering the climate for a rapid, peaceful end to the Cold War. Presidents Clinton, Bush and now Obama have all tried to cultivate personal relationships with their Chinese counterparts in the hope of smoothing a tricky relationship. But the usefulness of personal chemistry in dealing with China has strict limits, for a simple reason: While the President of the United States is, in George W. Bush’s words, “the decider,” his Chinese counterpart is not. He’s not a figurehead, but executive power in Beijing is the preserve of a collective leadership in the form of the nine-man standing committee of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party - in which Hu is obviously the key player. Some observers say this is why the Chinese try to avoid informal one-on-one meetings with their U.S. counterparts, preferring more formal exchanges of talking points cleared with the Politburo. The problem of dealing with opaque foreign leadership structures is a recurring one for the Administration. Obama met with Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev last week to discuss sanctions against Iran, but nothing will happen unless Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is on board. And the Iranians themselves are even more complicated since the traditional balance of power between the government and the clerical leadership has been shaken up by the post-election turmoil. President Obama’s personal charm and charisma may be a national asset when dealing with many countries, but, through no fault of his own, China is not necessarily one of them.

See five things the U.S. and China agree on.

 

See pictures of the making of modern China.

 

View this article on Time.com

Obama’s Brother in Asia!

President Obama; family time

He’s still incredibly busy running the country, but President Obama found a little time this past week to catch up with his half-brother. While visiting Beijing on a diplomatic trip, Mr. Obama set aside a few minutes to talk with Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, who shares the same father as the president. Mr. Ndesandjo made some headlines several months ago when he spoke about growing up with whom he called his “abusive father.” He and the president have rarely seen each other in person. After their latest meeting, Mr. Ndesandjo said he felt overwhelmed and “over the moon” about getting to see his famous sibling. Details of what was discussed were not revealed, but Searches still soared on both men's names, as well as “obama family tree.”

via The Buzz Log – Obama’s Brother, Elizabeth Lambert, and a Special Delivery: Buzz Week in Review – Yahoo! Buzz.

The Buzz Log – Obama’s Brother, Elizabeth Lambert, and a Special Delivery: Buzz Week in Review – Yahoo! Buzz

President Obama & family time

He’s still incredibly busy running the country, but President Obama found a little time this past week to catch up with his half-brother. While visiting Beijing on a diplomatic trip, Mr. Obama set aside a few minutes to talk with Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, who shares the same father as the president. Mr. Ndesandjo made some headlines several months ago when he spoke about growing up with whom he called his “abusive father.” He and the president have rarely seen each other in person. After their latest meeting, Mr. Ndesandjo said he felt overwhelmed and “over the moon” about getting to see his famous sibling. Details of what was discussed weren't revealed, but Searches still soared on both men's names, as well as “obama family tree.”

via The Buzz Log – Obama’s Brother, Elizabeth Lambert, and a Special Delivery: Buzz Week in Review – Yahoo! Buzz.

Report: Obama’s top lawyer to step down

Report: Obama’s top lawyer to step down.

The White House legal counsel, Gregory Craig, intends to announce his resignation on Friday, according to US media outlets.

The New York Times reported that questions have circulated inside the White House about his status for months, but an official said early Friday that Craig had made the decision to resign.

Craig had been at the center of controversial decisions over whether to close the Guantanamo Bay prison as well as revising administration policies on the interrogation and detention of prisoners.

The notorious military detention center has been widely criticized around the world for its harsh interrogations.

President Obama ordered the prison closed when he took office but administration officials have run into numerous legal, political and diplomatic hurdles.

Craig would be replaced by Bob Bauer, a Democratic lawyer in Washington, who has represented Obama for years, the Times said.

Activists protest against ‘Shimon Hitler’ in Brazil

Activists protest against ‘Shimon Hitler’ in Brazil.

Peres depicted as Hitler in protest

Dozens of demonstrators voice strong disapproval of the Israeli President’s visit to Brazil and of Tel Aviv’s crimes against humanity during weeks-long military aggression on the Gaza Strip.

“War criminal, go home” the protesters shouted at Peres as he arrived in Sao Paulo, where he was due to speak at a conference of local industrialists. The protesters waved Lebanese as well as Palestinian flags and carried banners condemning Israel.

Some placards showed Peres beside the Israeli flag with a swastika drawn on it and the president drawn with a mustache similar to that of Adolf Hitler and captioned: “Shimon Hitler”. Other signs showed pictures of Palestinian children killed during ‘Operation Cast Lead’.

More than 1,500 people were killed during three weeks of Israeli land, sea and air assaults in the impoverished Palestinian coastal sliver. The offensive also inflicted $ 1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.

“We are here to protest against the Brazilian government’s hosting of the president of the state that occupies and murders children. We will come to every event where there is an Israeli representative and we will tell everyone that Israel is a state that ruthlessly kills innocent children. This is only the beginning,” one of the protesters said.

There are reports that Peres’ security would be reinforced during his visit to Argentina amid concerns of protests. Thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators are expected to demonstrate around the world’s eighth largest country, including sites where Peres is scheduled to appear.

It now seems that fears of anti-Israel protests during Peres’ visit to South America are being realized sooner than expected.

Bikini vs. Burka: The Debauchery of Women

Bikini vs. Burka: The Debauchery of Women.

 

On my wall, I have a picture of a Muslim woman shrouded in a burka.

Beside it is a picture of an American beauty contestant, wearing nothing but a bikini.

One woman is totally hidden from the public; the other is totally exposed. These two extremes say a great deal about the clash of so-called “civilizations.”

The role of woman is at the heart of any culture. Apart from stealing Arab oil, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are about stripping Muslims of their religion and culture, exchanging the burka for a bikini.

I am not an expert on the condition of Muslim women and I love feminine beauty too much to advocate the burka here. But I am defending some of the values that the burka represents for me.

For me, the burka represents a woman’s consecration to her husband and family. Only they see her.It affirms the privacy, exclusivity and importance of the domestic sphere.

The Muslim woman’s focus is her home, the “nest” where her children are born and reared. She is the “home” maker, the taproot that sustains the spiritual life of the family, nurturing and training her children, providing refuge and support to her husband.

In contrast, the bikinied American beauty queen struts practically naked in front of millions on TV. A feminist, she belongs to herself. In practice, paradoxically, she is public property. She belongs to no one and everyone. She shops her body to the highest bidder. She is auctioning herself all of the time.

In America, the cultural measure of a woman’s value is her sex appeal. (As this asset depreciates quickly, she is neurotically obsessed with appearance and plagued by weight problems.)

As an adolescent, her role model is Britney Spears, a singer whose act approximates a strip tease. From Britney, she learns that she will be loved only if she gives sex. Thus, she learns to “hook up” furtively rather than to demand patient courtship, love and marriage. As a result, dozens of males know her before her husband does. She loses her innocence, which is a part of her charm. She becomes hardened and calculating. Unable to love, she is unfit to receive her husband’s seed.

The feminine personality is founded on the emotional relationship between mother and baby. It is based on nurturing and self-sacrifice. Masculine nature is founded on the relationship between hunter and prey. It is based on aggression and reason.

Feminism deceives women to believe femininity has resulted in “oppression” and they should adopt male behavior instead. The result: a confused and aggressive woman with a large chip on her shoulder, unfit to become a wife or mother.

This is the goal of the NWO social engineers: undermine sexual identity and destroy the family, create social and personal dysfunction, and reduce population. In the “brave new world,” women are not supposed to be mothers and progenitors of the race. They are meant to be neutered, autonomous sex objects.

Liberating women is often given as an excuse for the war in Afghanistan. Liberating them to what? To Britney Spears? To low-rise “see-my-thong” pants? To the mutual masturbation that passes for sexuality in America? If they really cared about women, maybe they’d end the war.

Parenthood is the pinnacle of human development. It is the stage when we finally graduate from self-indulgence and become God’s surrogates: creating and nurturing new life. The New World Order does not want us to reach this level of maturity. Pornography is the substitute for marriage. We are to remain single: stunted, sex-starved and self-obsessed.

We are not meant to have a permanent “private” life. We are meant to remain lonely and isolated, in a state of perpetual courtship, dependent on consumer products for our identity.

This is especially destructive for woman. Her sexual attraction is a function of her fertility. As fertility declines, so does her sex appeal. If a woman devotes her prime years to becoming “independent,” she is not likely to find a permanent mate.

Her long-term personal fulfillment and happiness lies in making marriage and family her first priority.

Feminism is another cruel New World Order hoax that has debauched American women and despoiled Western civilization. It has ruined millions of lives and represents a lethal threat to Islam.

I am not advocating the burka but rather some of the values that it represents, specifically a woman’s consecration to her future husband and family, and the modesty and dignity this entails.

The burka and the bikini represent two extremes. The answer lies somewhere in the middle.

Movies & Film in Michigan – Need work?

Welcome to the Michigan Film Office – The Michigan Film Office.

 

Lots of work for anyone in this field, go check it out!!!

Hotel Reservations (Global Reservation Network) in Hotels Global Source Book

Hotel Reservation (Global Reservation Network)

 

Amadeus Marketing S.A. Salvador de Madariaga, 1 E-28027 Madrid, ES Phone: +34 91 582 0123 Fax: +34 91 582 0180

Galileo Rosemont, 60018, USA Phone: 847-518-4344

HRS (Hotel Reservation Service) Blaubach 32 Koeln/Cologne, OTHER 50676, DE Phone: +49 221 2077-0 Fax: +49 221 2077-666

Lodging.com Parsippany, 07054, USA Phone: 973-496-8658

Neat Group Corporation Englewood, 80110, USA Phone: 281-419-5441

Sabre Inc. 3150 Sabre Dr. Southlake, 76092, USA Phone: 682-605-1000

WizCom International, Ltd. Parsippany, NJ 07054, US Phone: 973-496-3973

WORLDHOTELS Herriotstrasse 1 D-60528 Frankfurt/Main, OTHER , DE Phone: +49 69 66056-0 Fax: +49 69 66056-199

Grote Introduces LightForm, the World`s First Flexible LED Lighting Film at 2009 SEMA Show | Reuters

Grote Introduces LightForm, the World`s First Flexible LED Lighting Film at 2009 SEMA Show

Thinnest, Most Flexible LED Lighting Product on the Planet Enhances Creativity,
Making Amazing Custom Lighting Schemes a Cool New Reality
LAS VEGAS--(Business Wire)--
Grote Industries introduced the first commercially available versions of its new
LightForm flexible LED lighting film technology during a press conference at the
2009 SEMA Show today. 

"At less than 1 millimeter thick, LightForm flexible LED lighting film enables
users to quickly and easily install LED lighting in tight spaces that were
previously inaccessible to vehicle lighting and can even be sewn into fabric,
"said vice president of sales and marketing, John Grote. "Now customizers and
restylers can achieve fantastic interior and exterior LED lighting effects that
were simply unthinkable before today." 

Grote explained that the new commercialized LightForm flexible LED lighting film
is ultra thin and ultra pliable, allowing users to bend lighting around corners,
over contoured areas and into complicated shapes. He noted that LightForm can be
folded, cut to fit while lit and can slide into the narrowest crevices and
between panels and trim. LightForm also enables users to achieve edge lighting
effects that are as bright at one end as they are at the other, and when used
with light diffusing film, eliminates the hotspots and bright points of light
that are so often associated with traditional edge lighting methods. 

Members of the media had their first chance to see an illuminated sheet of the
transparent, paper-thin LightForm, as samples were passed around the afternoon
press conference. Examples of the newly commercialized LightForm strips were
also examined by the audience. 

LightForm flexible LED strips come in power strips and extension strips and each
power strip can illuminate up to two extension strips. 

Each LightForm flexible LED strip measures 10 inches (254 mm) long, 0.5 inches
(127 mm) wide and is less than 1 millimeter thick. LightForm flexible LED strips
are expandable; up to three, 10-inch segments can be connected, providing up to
30 inches (762 mm) of red, amber, green or blue LED lighting. The strips come
with an easy peel-and-stick adhesive backing that sticks to virtually any clean
surface. 

"The marketplace is extremely receptive to this product concept and is ready to
apply it to a wide variety of vehicles," Grote said, citing a recent study of
the restyling market conducted by Grote Industries. "A vast majority of
restylers responded favorably or very favorably to the product, and marine,
motorcycle and trucking uses were singled out in addition to automotive
applications." Grote said that virtually 99 percent of respondents thought that
a significant market exists for LightForm. 

Documents and/or Photos available for this release: 

Press Release as PDF 

LF-InHand-A.jpg - The World`s First Flexible Lighting "Film": At less than 1
millimeter thick, LightForm is a highly advanced, thin-? lm, solid-state
lighting device that enables users to put LED light in tight spaces and unique
places that were previously inaccessible to lighting. 

LF-InHand-B.jpg - LightForm flexible LED lighting film is ultra thin and ultra
pliable and allows you to bend lighting around corners, over contoured areas and
into complicated shapes. 

LF-MustangPSide.jpg - Now customizers and restylers can easily achieve dramatic
new lighting effects because LightForm flexible LED lighting film can create
luminous spaces, dazzling backlit focal points and razor-thin lighting that
boggles the mind. 

LF-Arch.jpg - So thin - you can fit LightForm flexible LED lighting film into
crevices and between panels and trim to achieve edge lighting effects that are
as bright at one end as they are at the other. 

LF-PeelAndStick.jpg - As a highly flexible film of LED lighting, LightForm can
be slid, tucked and squeezed into virtually any location; and its peel-and-stick
adhesive backing allows semi-permanent installation on any clean, dry surface. 

LF-Mustang-FinalIndy.jpg - Because LightForm flexible LED lighting film is water
and weather resistant, you can install it on both the inside and outside of your
vehicle. 

LF-InCup.jpg - LightForm flexible LED lighting film is water and weather
resistant. 

LF-Cut-To-Fit.jpg - You can cut LightForm flexible LED lighting film to precise
measurements even while it`s lit, allowing you to quickly and easily modify
effects during the installation process. 

LF-Logo-Color.jpg 

LF-Logo-BW.jpg 

ByGroteLogo.jpg 

To view supporting documents and/or photos, go to www.enr-corp.com/pressroom and
enter Release ID: 229594

OctaneVTM
Rick Ashley, 317-920-6105
rashley@octanevtm.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009

 

via Grote Introduces LightForm, the World`s First Flexible LED Lighting Film at 2009 SEMA Show | Reuters .