Jerri McCombs

I just came across the link for the new Home Affordable Modification Program. It looks like a great program for anyone who is starting to get behind on you mortgage. This link (http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov/eligibility.html ) has a form that lets you fill in answers to questions about your loan and finances, and gives you a general idea of whether you qualify or not. By following the links and information you can get instructions on how to go about the process.

If you think you qualify, here is their checklist of things you need when you go to talk to your loan officer:

CHECKLIST

• Information about the monthly gross (before tax) income of your household, including recent pay stubs if you receive them or documentation of income you receive from other sources.
• Your last two income tax returns.
• Information about your savings and other assets
• Information about your first mortgage, such as your monthly mortgage statement.
• Information about any second mortgage or home equity line of credit on the house.
• Account balances and minimum monthly payments due on all of your credit cards.
• Account balances and monthly payments on all your other debts such as student loans and car loans.
• A letter describing any circumstances that caused your income to be reduced or expenses to be increased (job loss, divorce, illness, etc.) if applicable.

After you have this information, you should call your loan officer and ask to be considered for a Home Affordable Loan Modification. The number of your bank should be on your coupon book for your mortgage payments. If you used a local bank, call the loan officer that processed your loan.

Because this program is new it may take time to get processed through the system. But because of this, if you qualify for this loan modification, there may be time for you. Lenders are making a commitment to delay foreclosures on those who qualify.

If you have already missed one or more mortgage payments - contact your mortgage lender immediately or call 1-888-995-HOPE (4673) to reach a HUD-approved housing counselor.

Best of luck,

______Habitat will get 24 new homes in 2009!_______

Thanks to Home Trust Bank and The Federal Home Loan Bank, the Hendersonville Habitat for Humanity has received $172,800 of grant money. This funding is slated for the goal of building 24 new homes this year in Shuey Knolls in Edneyville, just east of Hendersonville. There are about 20 homes already complete in the development of 103 lots. Affordable homes are needed in this area, where homes values have been soaring in the last decade. Generous funding and volunteers have made this community possible.

For more information on Habitat for Humanity in Hendersonville check these two sights:

http://www.womenbuildhc.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

http://www.habitat.org/cd/frame/frameset.aspx?url=www.habitat-hvl.org

____________Self Directed IRA’S______________

Have you ever wondered if there was a safe place for all that IRA money? Someplace you can plant it that wouldn’t cost you in penalties when removed from a dying IRA Account before you retire? Someplace safe that won’t lose a dime?

I have the answer for you. And it is not a gimmick. It is being done all over the country by savvy investors.

In one easy move you can transfer your money to a Self Directed IRA. What does this mean? It is still a retirement plan. The big difference is that instead of someone else investing where they think your money should go, you direct them to place it where you want it to go.

From Wikipedia: A Self-Directed Individual Retirement Account is an IRA that requires the account owner to make investment decisions and investments on behalf of the retirement plan. IRS regulations require that either a qualified trustee, or custodian hold the IRA assets on behalf of the IRA owner. Generally the trustee/custodian will maintain the assets and all transaction and other records pertaining to them, file required IRS reports, issue client statements, assist in helping clients understand the rules and regulations pertaining to certain prohibited transactions, and perform other administrative duties on behalf of the Self-directed IRA owner for the life of the IRA account. Self-directed IRA accounts are typically not limited to a select group of asset types (e.g., stocks, bonds, and mutual funds), and most truly self-directed IRA custodians will permit their clients to engage in investments in most, if not all, of the IRS permitted investment types (an almost unlimited array of possibilities including foreign real estate). Some of the additional investment options permitted under the regulations include, but are not limited to, real estate, stocks, mortgages, franchises, partnerships, private equity and tax liens. Self-directed IRAs, by allowing a wide range of investment choices, improve the account owner's opportunities to diversify their IRA portfolio(s). Some investments, such as life insurance or collectibles as defined by the Internal Revenue Service, are not permitted in IRAs^[1]. Also, if real estate or any other investment asset held in a self-directed IRA has been employed for personal use, or to gain any other personal benefit (other than a return for the IRA), in the view of the IRS or the Department of Labor, the IRA(s) may become immediately taxable. In addition, if the IRA owner is younger than 59 1/2, the IRA will be subject to an early withdrawal penalty of 10%. It is important, however, to understand that the IRA accountholder is responsible for compliance with all codes and regulations. While a custodian's job is to follow the directions of the accountholder as a non-discretionary trustee, a custodian cannot ensure compliance or give legal or tax advice. Therefore, those interested in self-directed IRAs should seek education offered by an unbiased source.

This biggest advantage is this:

You can direct your IRA to purchase Real Estate! It is true. There are rules for this. For example you cannot buy a home for you to live in. You cannot buy or sell from/to a direct relative. And you cannot take the income from the property.

But you can buy rental properties to generate income into your IRA.

Let me give you an example:

Let’s say you have enough money in your IRA to buy a duplex outright. You transfer your money to a Self Directed IRA, and have the IRA buy the property. Then direct all the rents to the IRA (which you must do). Your IRA will grow back from the rent. And when the time comes to draw from the IRA you can sell the property and will still have the money from the rents.

Here is a possible scenario:

Let us say that you paid $100,000 for the duplex (just to round numbers) from your IRA and then you collect rents from the property for 10 years at $1000 per month into your IRA. You have generated $120,000 in those 10 years from the rents that are growing safely in the IRA and you still have the property, which could continue as income for retirement, or could then cash out upon retirement. At cash out one would hope that in ten years the economy would have recovered and the property would have gained some value, which could put more money in your pocket, in addition to the original investment purchased, plus rents.

Your $100,000 in ten years could turn to $220,000 in value in this case.

Now let us take it a step further. You have the IRA generating $1000 per month and you don’t want that money just sitting there. At first you could be safe and buy something like CD’s to generate safe growth, even though t is small. After a year you may have accrued a slight gain in the $12,000 from rents. After several years you may have accrued enough of a gain that would allow you to buy a small house outright. This in turn could generate more rent.

You can see how this could snowball with the right clear headed thinking. On top of this, by following some rules, you can also take out a loan for a property with the IRA. This gets complicated and talking to the right people is a must. But the possibilities are huge for anyone willing to do a little research.

With a tanking economy and home owners quickly becoming renters this may be a much safer bet then the losing prospect of the stock market.

How is your retirement fund performing?

If you would like more information on this topic or if you would like help locating a property that will perform well, call me today. I can introduce you to business people that will help your money grow.

With all of this talk now about being green, going green, working green, green is somehow becoming over kill. We just need to keep it simple. And we need to do what we can afford. Not everyone can afford to drive a Hybrid car and put solar panels on the roof.

So what can we do to get a start? The best and easiest place to start is with your light bulbs. If you can change out all of the 'old' bulbs with the new efficient ones you can get the easiest start. Don't just run out and buy the bulbs anywhere. You may pay way too much. Look for sales, call around. I found a great deal of four in a box for under $8 and bought enough to do my whole house last year. I think a better buy may exist this year. Look around. These bulbs last 5 times longer and use way less electric to get the lights on.

What is one of the biggest draws on untilities? Heating your water is one. And PLEASE all of you out there who say a hot water heater please stop. It is a water heater. If the water was already hot we would not have to heat it, ok? Wrap your water heater and save big, especially if it is sitting in the cold in your basement or unheated utility room. Along with that wrap the pipes with pipe insulation. It is so easy and cheap concidering the big return you get. With winter just around the corner you need to get on this.

And while you are at it, windows can be a huge loss of heat in the winter or cooling in the summer. Make sure your windows are closing properly and the any cracks are sealed. To better tighten up the window there are all sorts of products to choose from. Spend some time at the hardware store and see what is there. You will be amazed if you have not done this before. And anyone can do this! It's easy-1-2-3...

When you are ready to get new appliances, and certainly not before, do the research an get the most energy efficient models possible. A little research can go a long way. For example look at front load washers. They use less water and spin better to remove water, reducing drying time. Of course reducing dryer use is a huge one. What happened to the solar dryer, that good old clothes line? And don't tell me that the HOA will not allow it.

Then there is recycling. If you live in town it is free, the best kind of thing. But do we all participate to the fullest? Do we participate at all? Sure it is time consuming to seperate out all that stuff. But in the long run it isn't all that complicated and not that big of a hassle. Figure out an easy way that will encourage you to do it and go for it.

Buy Local. This is huge. Support the local farmers and buy from all of those great roadside stands. It tastes better and you get to know the guy who puts the food on your table. Buy from locally owned stores especially if they produce the products they sell locally. It saves the gas to get it here and supports the local economy because those business people spend the money they make here. Where do you think the money goes when you shop at Wal-Mart? Springdale Arkansas is where the home office is for them. How does this help the local economy? If we just think about where we spend our dollars it can help our own home town more than we know.

My Mantra-Reduce and Reuse, and shop local whenever possible.

These are just a few of the things I am training myself to do and live by. What are you doing?