Laurie Scalf

As Thanksgiving comes closer, it reminds us to be thankful!

Here are my top five things to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and everyday.

1. I am thankful for my daughter, who has grown up to be quite a smart young woman. She is in College and has a spark for life that I love to see. At age 21 she is trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life and is making great progress in her quest! She is also a very giving person and sometimes helps me with my business.

2. I am thankful for my wonderful husband, who I was lucky enough to meet last fall and marry in March. He is strong, supportive, smart and makes me feel secure in our life and future. He also makes me laugh! He opens the car door for me everytime we are out, drops me at the mall door when it's raining or cold and appreciates the small things in life... says things like "thanks for making dinner!"

3. My parents - parents of 6, they have nerves of steel! Always there when you need them. My Mom loves to help me send out my items of value each month to my clients and my Dad likes to help with any construction project in the neighborhood, if they need it or not! They love it when the family can get together and we do it often, which takes me to my next thing to be thankful for.

4. MY BIG FAT CRAZY FAMILY - With 5 brothers and sisters having a total of 21 children and step-children, most of them grown now, having a Thanksgiving or Christmas party is now well into the 30's on head count. I am thankful for each and every one of them. (Even the ones who think bringing a covered dish means making jello shots!)

5. Most of all I am THANKFUL to be THANKFUL - Every day you have a choice to appreciate your life or to think about the things you don't like or don't have. Be thankful that you get to wake up in the morning. Be thankful for your health and the health of your family, be thankful for your clients and business, be thankful for your home and the food on your table. Be thankful that you can give to the less fortunate.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and Gratitude throughout the year!

It's important to carefully look at your neighborhood activity, before deciding on a price for your house.

What you paid for the house + improvements you have made to the house DOES NOT EQUAL the selling price of your house.

You should seek out a Competitive Market Analysis (otherwise known as a CMA) of your area, take a look at active, expired, pending and sold listings.

The active listings are obviously your competition.

Take a look at the expired listings and be sure you don't follow their lead on price, since you actually want to sell your house, instead of it expiring.

The sold listings is where you should focus when setting your price. List your home no more than 4% higher than the reality you see in this section and you will get an offer far sooner than the average days on the market.

You won't fair better to price it higher, then lower it in a few months to get the same amount you could have sold it for in the beginning. Homes listed above market value, still only sell at market value, but take longer to sell.

The more similar the homes are in an area, the more consistent the selling price will be.

Take a look at price per square foot. This will help you get to your price in an area where homes are not as consistent.

Get rid of YOUR DEBT!

The one we always hear... WHOA on the CREDIT CARDS! I have heard the adage from every direction that if you want to get out of a hole... STOP DIGGING!

STOP DIGGING TIPS!

Carry Cash - give yourself a weekly cash allowance and you'll be more aware of how much you spend. Plus once you run out of money, you're more inclined to stop spending! It's very easy to overspend when you just run a card through a machine!

When only plastic will do.... Use a debit card, instead of a credit card.

LEAVE YOUR CREDIT CARDS AT HOME! One of the easiest ways to stop charging is to not carry the cards with you.

How many cards to you have? Keep a few credit cards with a long standing positive history and close the rest! Having a few good cards will boost your score, but having too many my hurt it. (not to mention leave you tempted to use them!)

LOWER YOUR RATES

Once your spending is under control, move on to reducing your interest rates!

There are so many credit cards out there, they are forced to be competitive. Call them and negotiate your rates. Explain to them that you plan to transfer the balances to another card unless your rate is lowered. Usually card holders with good credit can lower their rate, sometimes substantially!

Transfer it! Move the balance to the card with the lowest rate! Look for offers with low introductory rates, like zero interest for 6 months, etc. Do your best to pay this card off, with 100% of every payment coming right off your balance you will be making serious progress... BUT MARK YOUR CALENDAR! If you still have a balance when the 6 months is up, move it again to the lowest rate possible!

REDUCE your Debt!!

Start getting rid of that debt! Develop a strategy and make it happen!

Break it down - Make a list of each credit card you have, it's balance, minimum payment and interest rate.

I've read lots of strategies on which debt to pay first! It makes sense to me to pay the minimum on all your cards and put your "determination to make larger payments" on the card that has the highest interest rate!

Another strategy that I've heard is to divide the minimum payment by the outstanding balance on all your cards and pay the highest number first. Then move on to the next highest number.

Example -

Card Balance Minimum Payment How many payments

Do you have left?

Balance divided by

Monthly minimum

Sears - 1,200 38.00 31

Visa - 700 60.00 12

Discover- 4,000 100.00 40

In this case you would pay the "extra money" to the visa account until that one is gone, then move on to the Sears account. Once you have the Visa card paid off, add that payment to the Sears card and so on!

Once you start seeing the progress, it becomes addictive to see more progress!

Repeat this process until you are DEBT FREE!

Then you can start thinking further ahead! Start thinking about investing and planning!