Diana Perez, B.S., Realtor®

See how and why the National Association of Realtors was founded. This video refers to how villages became towns, and how those towns became cities. Also, how the real estate profession became a part of America to protect the consumer. Topics also include on the beginning of the mortgage industry, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), and many other related topics.

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Family Event: Bring yourself, your family and kids to Hollywood for the Spring Marshmallow Drop Event which will be held on the following dates:

• Saturday, March 15, 2008 starting at @9:00 AM ending @ 12:00 Noon

The Spring Marshmallow Drop Event will feature:

• 30,000 marshmallows dropped from a helicopter
• A visit from the Easter Bunny
• Storytelling
• Balloon Art
• Puppet Show
• Games & Prizes
• Egg Hunt @ 10-AM for ages 3-5
• Marshmallow Drop @ 10:30 AM for ages 6-12
• Free Event
• Call (954) 921-3404 for more details

Location: Boggs East Field
2310 N. 23rd Avenue (Sheridan Street & 23rd Avenue)

Adults must accompany children

As a proud home owner, you wake up everyday and probably go to work or work from home. No matter what your home status is, you work hard and pay for your mortgage every month.

As time goes by you realize that your taxes are too high and are having are hard time keeping up with not just your tax payments but your mortgage payments as well. On top of that you may have daycare payments, hospital bills, credit card payments, car loans, car and/or health insurance, food, entertainment, I don't need to tell you, you know what your bills are.

One day you wake and you realize the inevitable (or so you think): You cannot keep up with the mortgage payments anymore and so you fall behind on them and you default. You get a letter from your banking institution and it black and white it tells you that your home is being foreclosed.

So your heart starts to pound, fast, you are anxious, nervous, afraid. probably chewing and/or biting your nails off. What is going to happen to my credit? You can't sleep at night. You toss and turn and wonder, what is going to happen next? Me, my family? My Home? You live day by day hoping for a miracle. And much to your amazement hope arrives; In the mail.

You wake one day and you receive tons of letters from banking and financing institutions coming to your rescue and so you are tempted to call the company that has the best written literature that captivated your desperation and boom!, you call, make an appointment and ...

Wait! Stop! Facing foreclosure and not sure what to do? Indecisive? Don't know where to go? Can't sleep at night? Worried about your credit? Who do you call? What do you do? What to do? What not to do?

Facing foreclosure has marked a pattern amongst us that could have been avoided if there it was not for greedy mortgage and/or real estate professionals. (That does not make up for the rest of the good ones, like me). But now that the damage is done, is it really over? Now what?

"It's not over till it's over. We have a while to go before real estate foreclosures start to clean up", says Mario Irigoyen of www.mandmbuyinghouses.com, expert in foreclosures and short sales. "That could be good or bad news depending on an individual basis but until then there are still solutions out there that help homeowner's with their rights when facing foreclosure. Instead of acting on emotion, stop and think if what you are doing is the right thing to do. Do not sign any papers unless you seek legal advise"

In the meantime, while the country awaits for better times we hear from the media of arrests being made and real estate scams popping in every corner of the continent.

Homeowner's are advised to take note in these scams in real estate foreclosure's.

Below are You Tube Videos on Foreclosure Scams provided by CNN News and www.MiCasaMiDinero.com . I found these videos to be very informative and educative.

Homeowners: There is still hope!

Driving to the Downtown Hollywood District, not having anything particular thing to do, I decide to break away from work and the computer and go for that coffee break that the blood in my veins calls for. Hello, my name is Diana Perez and I am a caffeine-aholic.

As always, when I approach 21^st Avenue in my hometown‘s downtown, I look to the left and to the right and ponder, what am I going to do here today? Is it going to be Universe Café, or Mama Mia, or Chocolada (I have been craving for chocolate cake for a while and fighting the temptation).

Delving in the thought of sipping on a vanilla flavored latte, I notice a sign that reads:

Real Estate Coffee Paradise - Browse through listings while drinking your favorite flavored drink.

All right, this place does not exist but in South Norwalk, Conn., "Lisa Jones, founder of Real Estate Lounge in South Norwalk, Conn.," "...is taking an entrepreneurial approach to marketing properties...in a coffee bar/lounge-like environment".

Neat huh? I am wondering what the law is in Hollywood as far as incorporating a real estate office/coffee house together. Is our websites not effective anymore for listings? Sounds like a very good idea.

Imagine customers drinking coffee while they watch a platform TV with virtual tours of your offices listings and then some. Not only that but having local businesses advertise on the television screen which will help pay for operating expenses and/or cover the real estate office's advertising itself.

Lisa Jones says that it is a "Concierge lifestyle...[and] looking for ways to entice and engage the public". Now that's what I call innovation and entrepreneurialism!

Source: National Association of Realtors - News and Events New Listings With Your Decaf? (Link to the original article by clicking image).

And for the Realtor's who are marketing/advertising aficionados, according to the NAR, Byyers Want Info. Below are some interesting articles available from the National Association of Realtors.

DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR WESITE - FOR FREE
Free sells!

ONE DAY ONLY SALES SEAL THE DEAL
Interesting approach to marketing

DOGGIE TREATS
Are you a pet lover like me?

MARKET REALITIES DRIVE PRACTITIONERS TO NEW SPECIALTIES
As long as you stay in the business?

THE SECRET TO INTERNET MARKETING: AN IRRESTIBLE OFFER
Another 'Secret' to go by

MARKETING VS. ADVERTISING
There is a difference. I am using this for my case project in my marketing class this month. Thanks NAR!

CUT OUT THE MIDDLEMAN - 10 BEST PLACES FOR STARTING A SMALL BUSINESS
Miami/Ft Lauderdale ranks at #3

TURNING LEADS INTO CLOSED DEAL
- Here is your chance to use the principles of

I know that I have provided a few links but I thought that the links will serve the purpose for the article. Now back to my vanilla flavored latte...

Laws of Attraction, The Secret, Positive Thinking are all paradigms of mindfully constructed magnetisms that we pull to ourselves from the universe ONLY when we are in the NOW and in a POSITIVE MODE.

Seems like there has been a lot of posts lately on the subject and it serves to remind us that life is not just about working and blogging but that we are creatures of humanity looking for our face on this earth.

I read in an environmental magazine a few months ago a full two page article on The Secret which is taped to the wall of my cubicle at the office where I work. Can't remember the name of the magazine but in one of the The Secret's princeple's, it tells how to create a collage of the things that are most important to us, (better health, financial freedom, happier lives, pregnancy, a lover), that we would want to have in our lives believing that it will be given and manifested to us (keeping in mind that we wish for things that will be good for us with all good intentions). It's all about energy, good energy.

Also, you are supposed to look at the collage and contemplate on it believing that you have already acquired the things that you are concentrating and/or meditating on. A one dollar bill has an added six zeros on it. We'll see what happens with that but I have to believe that at least PROSPERITY, VICTORY, TRIUMPH and SUCCESS is already knocking on my door welcoming and embracing it. Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Israel: Get ready 'cause here I go!

I have been so positive lately that my son asked me three times in the past two weeks to give him the numbers for Cash 3 and guess what? They came out! All of the numbers were backwards (he played them straight and box but think about it, what is going on? Have I taped into a mystical sensory vibe? If so, I like it! Already this is getting too deep but imagine THE POWER OF THE MIND!

You have to THINK, TALK, WALK, and ACT positive (although sometimes difficult to achive in times of distress but our strenghts cancel our weaknessess) in able for these magnitudes and positive energy forces that are irrefutable to our level of existence manifest in our lives. We have the power to create in our MIND, BODY and SPIRIT what we CHOOSE to on a moment to moment basis. WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE SET OUR MINDS TO DO. It works!

Being mindfully aware of each captive momentum in our lives creates a sense of BELONGING and BEING. We are too busy WORKING, GIVING, and DOING. What we need to do is take some time off to RELAX (take that hot bath, it not only soothes your mind but your muscles as well), RECEIVE (we are so busy giving to those in need, our family, spouses, coworkers that we don't feel that we deserve to receive anything from anyone), and BE (we are so busy DOING that we forget to BE ourselves and who we are as a human being).

Below are some of my favorite books in which Shakti Gawain "The Path of Transformation" is one of my personal favorites. Her words flow with each other and are soothing for the soul and her books blew me away. I have read some very good books on self-help, spirituality, and personal development but I have given my books away and never got them back but it's okay, as long as someone else reads them. I hope that they are passing them along to others as well.

Resources: Tips on positve thinking

Although personally for me The Bible is the best book to read, (Jesus also teaches us to be mindful at all times), the following books are just examples to help guide us in the right direction as I am sure that there has been many well written books on the precise topic of the LAWS OF ATTRACTION. It works!