Today's Cheat Sheet is brought to you by Web Success Agency:
http://websuccessagency.com/
First review of TC housing numbers shows huge improvement:
Bottom Line: Monday I shared the information (courtesy of the Treu Group) that Palm Beach County Real-Estate has appreciated 25% year over year on average. So what about the
I don’t have complete information for all
The housing recovery is red hot along the East coast of
Update on HARP 2.0 and refi opportunity:
Bottom Line: It’s been a year since the HARP 2.0 program was born. It was a good year for more than 700,000 home owners who were able to take advantage of it.
When the info regarding HARP 2.0 was announced – I was optimistic that this was a program that was worth exploring for underwater home owners. I also was encouraging you to look into a HARP refi if you were trapped in an underwater situation with a high interest rate. So was it worthwhile?
As mentioned above more than 700,000 did successfully refi under HARP 2.0 and the program is still available for those who do want to refi and are underwater. If you plan to stay in your home for years to come and have a mortgage that’s at a 4.5% or higher mortgage rate – you’d likely be well served to inquire about the HARP refi.
Evidence of the foreclosure process speeding up – implications:
Bottom Line: My final real-estate related story of the day pertains to foreclosures. After the settlement early in the year with the biggest banks (over the mess of years gone by), it was clear that the foreclosure process was set to speed up.
Banks certainly have sped up the process. In the most recent foreclosure numbers we’re seeing a sharp increase in redeemed properties by banks. Foreclosure levels are running 22% higher and the avg. length of a foreclosure start to finish is about 5 months shorter than a year ago. Those numbers are likely to continue to increase as the housing recovery continues to gain momentum. When I break out the numbers locally – it appears as though the average length of time for a foreclosure, start to finish, is about 19 months (down from over two years). Local courts have a stated goal to bring that number down to less than one year.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100282975
Amazon launches an affordable child friendly TV/movie streaming service:
Bottom Line: So the new line of the Kindle Fire tablets aren’t my first choice. If you have young children – they just became more attractive.
Amazon has been making slow, steady progress rolling out its Prime streaming TV/movie service this year. They have added a service available only on the newer line of Fire tablets that’s affordable and I think you’re kids will love.
Amazon has a new child friendly streaming service that will enable your child to stream unlimited content on their Fire for only $3 per month. This could be a great Christmas idea for your child that’s interested a tablet this year. For more info click the link below:
http://gizmodo.com/5965781/amazons-new-3-kid+friendly-subscription-service
The new busiest shopping day of the year?:
Bottom Line: Would you believe that Thanksgiving Day has over taken Black Friday as the busiest shopping day of the year? It appears as though that’s actually the case.
Despite the complaints by many that Thanksgiving Day is being taken over by the retailers with their “Black Friday” specials on Thanksgiving Day. We’re into it. In fact 30% of the shopping that took place over the four day holiday weekend (Thursday – Sunday), 30% of all of the shopping took place on Thanksgiving. This will not be good news for those who were trying to stop retailers opening on Thanksgiving. If anything the hours will be expanded next year.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/05/us-usa-retail-holiday-poll-idUSBRE8B41BU20121205
iRadio not close to coming to market:
Bottom Line: The rumor regarding the “Pandora killer” (iRadio) from Apple isn’t going anywhere for now. Apple still isn’t near a contract with the music industry on the ability to stream music product a la a Pandora or iHeartRadio. We’re more likely to have the elusive Apple TV (an actual TV) before a streaming music service from Apple – and that’s just fine because with iHeart what else could you ever need (wink)…
http://bgr.com/2012/12/05/apple-streaming-radio-rumor/
Another sign that the tide is changing… Most popular tech ad of the year:
Bottom Line: Not only was the most popular technology ad of the year not an Apple ad… It was one of the Samsung ads mocking Apple. In fact… Three of the top four tech ads this year were Samsung ads.
