Nashville Short Sale Specialist - Rhonda Burgess

The place to be this Saturday, November 13th is the Handmade Craft and Hobby Sale in Smyrna, TN.  One of the organizers of the fair is my friend Roberta Vanskike.  I know Roberta from her working at the Regions Bank in Smyrna on Sam Ridley Parkway.  Roberta is a wonderful person and she has the most infectious laugh.  I may not be in the mood to laugh when I go to the bank (probably because of the lack of funds I have available), but just a few words and a good laugh from Roberta and all is well in my world!  

The sale will take place from 9 am to 4 pm at: 

Smyrna Church of the Nazarene at 404 Overton Drive in Smyrna.  The church is located behind the K-Mart in Smyrna on Lowry Street.  

Admission is free and the parking is free.  

I've seen some of the quilts that Roberta has made and the quality is top notch.  You will definitely not want to miss this sale.  Come on by and check it out this Saturday, November 13th from 9 am to 4 pm at the Smyrna Church of the Nazarene at 404 Overton Drive in Smyrna, TN. 

I will admit that I had high hopes for the loan modification programs touted over the past 24 months or so. In theory and on paper, a loan modification makes perfect sense. Circumstances in the homeowner/borrower's life have changed to the point where the existing mortgage payment is unaffordable. All too often these days the reason is a job loss or underemployment (working part-time instead of full-time). Small businesses as well as large corporations are shedding positions across the country. Or it may be that the homeowner went through a divorce or lost their spouse or significant other.

In the majority of situations that I run into, the homeowner still has some source of income to work with. If the monthly payment could be adjusted to accommodate their income, it would be a win-win for all sides. The banks would fewer foreclosures to liquidate and the homeowners would remain in their home. The local tax base would remain intact and neighborhoods would not depreciate in value because of the neglected foreclosed properties.

But the loan modification has turned into a source of revenue for many of the banks and lenders. What happens time and time again is that the lenders allow homeowners to enter into "temporary" modification agreements while the homeowner's file is supposed "reviewed". Anybody who has been in the real estate game over the past few years know that these banks and lenders do not even touch a file for months at a time much less do a timely review. Then after the homeowner has been operating in good faith and making these reduced payments, the banks and lenders come back and tell the homeowner they have been denied for the modification and the reduced payments were essentially "in error" and not sufficient. Now the banks and lenders want anywhere from 6-18 months of the difference in the "real" payment and the modification payment, plus late fees, accrued interest and all kinds of other nonsense.

Now the homeowner is facing foreclosure because they acted in good faith by not only making the modified payments but also in paying their taxes which funded the bank bailouts. When the homeowner cannot come up with this lump sum and still cannot afford the original payment that they requested help with, the banks and lenders foreclose on them. The beauty for the banks and lenders in all of this is that the homeowner's balance is now sky high, much more than when they originally started the whole modification process. The banks and lenders then go to the private mortgage insurance companies and the government (HUD and/or VA) for reimbursement on these defaulted loans. You can't tell me that the banks and lenders are not getting a higher mortgage balance reimbursement on these loans with all of these added bogus late fees and penalties and such. Or better yet, the banks and lenders foreclose on the homeowner and then sell the uncollected/charged-off balance to a collection agency who hounds the broken homeowner for the next ten years. Either way, the bank is making money off these higher balances on the backs of the homeowners.

So the average homeowner who is seeking a modification needs to beware that it is likely that 9/10 people will get turned down EVENTUALLY for the modification. But it is what happens to the loan balance in the meantime and after foreclosure where the banks and lenders are creating revenue at the homeowner's expense.

Today I helped a fellow Avon rep with a vendor booth at a fall festival at Beech Elementary School in Hendersonville, TN. The fall festival included children and parents from Beech High School and Beech Elementary School. We were there to promote our Avon businesses as well as participate in the fundraiser for the Beech schools.

There were all kinds of activities all over the school from face painting, a karaoke room, fire truck rides, auctions, a used book sale in the library, and of course the inflatable "jumpy" things. (I don't the exact proper term but you know what I mean.) There were hundreds of excited kids running around all over the place. The festival was a big success and I am sure they raised a sizable amount of money.

What I found most interesting was that with all of these activities going on to occupy a young person's mind, the absolute favorite and most popular, at least from my viewpoint, was the teddy bear maker. There was a lady there with a portable teddy bear stuffer like a mini Build-A-Bear stand. The children could pick which "skin" they wanted and she even had a multitude of different outfits to dress the bear with too. There was always a line at her booth with eager kids begging for a teddy bear.

With all of the activities to do today, a lot of the children simply wanted to make a teddy bear. And those who did purchase a teddy bear showed them off proudly throughout the gym. It was certainly nice to see that in this age of high tech toys and technology that a simple teddy bear reigns supreme.

Teachers at some of the toughest schools in Tennessee are eligible for bonus money up to $10,000. The bonus money will come from a federal grant used to reward highly effective teachers. The state of Tennessee will receive $35 million for the program from the U.S. Department of Education as part of a Teacher Incentive Fund.

Teachers in 22 schools in Metro-Nashville Davidson county will be eligible for the bonus. The high schools involved are Stratford, Whites Creek, Antioch, Glencliff, Maplewood, and McGavock. The middle schools include Margaret Allen, Jere Baxter, Apollo, John Early Paideia, Bailey, Gra-Mar, Antioch, Brick Church, Litton, Wright, and Cameron. The elementary schools include Hattie Cotton, Chadwell, Lakeview, Napier, and Whitsitt.

The bonus money will be distributed over five years to educators in more than 100 schools. The schools targeted generally have high poverty and low student achievement scores. The bonus money can be awarded to the entire staff or individual educators. The state of Tennessee plans on distributing the bonuses starting in 2011 with the amounts ranging from $1,500 to $10,000. The total number of teachers awarded bonuses is estimated to be around 1,800.

Test scores will not be the only factor in determining bonuses. Various surveys and actual observations will be used to determine the "effective" educators.