PENT-UP NEED

A psychologist developed a sure-fire test for mental proficiency. He would ask a patient/client what he/she would rather use to empty a bathtub: a spoon, a teacup or a bucket. Almost everybody would answer "the bucket, of course!" And that answer revealed the patient's proclivity toward alzheimers or some other mental inadequacy.

The right answer is "none of the above......you pull the plug".

Lot's of folks are "stopped up" right now, and they're trying to "spoon" their way. With disposable cash, there's really only a couple of things to do with it.......the best of which is purchasing real estate. What else is there that you can use for living, for your safety, and for your livelihood. Right now it's by far the best place for money that may not be worth anything later. You don't have to pull the plug; just pull the trigger on a real estate purchase, and secure your future.

FORECLOSURES AND SHORT SALES

If you've never considered what happens in a short sale or a foreclosure sale (other than the fact that "deals" are rarely acquired), let me just go over a few facts for you:

1) The FDIC guarantees 80% of the mortgaged amount that the big banks that ultimately hold your mortgages have purchased.

2) When you buy a property with a foreclosure bid, or on a short sale, you will pay an amount that will make the bank money - always! They are not losing money in order to get out of the property.

3) The banks that have finally bought these mortgages have bought them at a sizeable discount, and the FDIC (backed by the Federal Reserve) will guarantee them 80%, so whatever you pay them to buy a foreclosed property is, at least partially, profit to them.

4) For example: with a mortgage of $450,000 on a property in forclosure, the bank that holds the mortgage in foreclosure (or accepts a short sale offer), will make upwards of $100,000 even if it sells way short of the mortgaged amount!

So, even if you think you're getting a good deal, or even if you think you "got to" that big bank, you're just fooling yourself; and you're probably not getting a deal at all. Plus the fact that you never know what you're getting when you buy one of these properties.

And just think about the rest of us who will have to foot the bill when the Fed PAYS THE BANK A BIG PROFIT in order to sell that property to you.