Steve Dawson

Putting on your make-up while driving. Okay, raise your hands if you do this. In California, we have a law that was passed last year that you can't drive your car while you are talking on your phone. So, we have a bunch of people with speaker phones in their cars and bluetooth. That's great. But why is there no law against people putting on their make-up while driving. I would think it is much more dangerous.

Think about it. While you are driving and have a phone in your hand, at least you are looking at the road. You may not be concentrating on how your driving or others around you, but you are looking at the road, probably. (How talking on a speaker phone will make you concentrate more on your driving is still a mystery to me) But what in the world are you looking at while putting on your make-up. Most of the people are looking at themselves in the rear view mirror. So at best, you are driving with your peripheral vision out of ONE EYE!! In what world can this be safe. And not only are you watching the road with one eye out of your peripheral, but you are trying not to poke yourself in the eye while putting on your make-up, so you are not concentrating on the road at all!! Who thought this was a good idea. And why is there no law in preventing this???

How many times have you been putting on your make-up and find yourself almost crash into the car ahead of you or swerve into another lane, just to narrowly miss another car. Then tell yourself that you would never do that again, only to find yourself one week later putting on your make-up while driving again.

Let's think people...most of us our not good drivers to begin with, even though most people think they are. Let's not fuel the fire with putting on your make-up while driving. Have a great day!!

I hope this is not offensive to anyone. But, is anyone feeling fat? I started this business about 6 years ago, and I noticed that a lot of the more mature male Realtors were kind of chunky? I thought to myself, why is this? You work for yourself, you create your own hours, no one is the boss of you, (except maybe your wife), so why do you not have time to work out and keep in shape? Well, I have been in the business for a few years, and now I know the answer. I have gained almost 30 lbs. WHAT!!. How can this be?

It's our lifestyle. We have no set schedule. We work at the whim of our clients and jump when they call. We eat when we can, and not very healthy most of the time. We work late into the night, snacking on things and eating dinner at 9:00 pm. You try to go to the gym, but when you are done you have missed 13 calls and have buyers leaving messages saying that they will go to the next Realtor to help them buy that million dollar home. Or you get up at 5:00 am to go work out, and it turns out that you missed your asset manager's call who works out of New York and it's 8:00 am for them, and you just missed that listing that you have been trying to get.

This is why we get fat. We are at the mercy of the buyer, seller and other agents. Or at least this is how I feel. Maybe next week I will get back into the gym, maybe.

I know you have heard it before. But this time it is a must. The REO's are coming. I just spoke with a top exec. at B of A, and they are drowning. We have been told twice this year that the REO's will be dumped onto the market, and twice we have had moratoriums, keeping them under wraps.

One of the reasons was because the government wanted to see if the loan modifications would work, which they did not. A lot of the homeowners who did loan mods are back into default. So, in order to fix this problem, the banks need to unload their assets and deal with the consequences.

The number is not clear, but it is around 90,000 reo's in california alone that the banks are holding onto, and trying to keep under wraps. But come September of 2009, the moratorium is over and we will be flodded.

What this means is the market price will take another dive, one more time. Supply and demand will bring the prices down and a huge rate. Then, after a few years, we will recover and slowly climb our way back up.

Not only is this troubling to hear for most homeowners, but here is more potentially bad news. This exec. mentioned that it would not be out of the question for the interest rates to rise into double digits. If you think about it, that could be very harmful. We would have a large supply of bank owned properties, short sales and a few regular sales, and no buyers buying them because the rates are so high, no one can afford the payment.

Time will tell. We are not out of the woods yet.

Democrats have wasted no time in creating a new bill to change bankruptcy rules with the aim of reducing home foreclosures. Under the proposal, judges could order lenders to forgive some mortgage debt.

The measure would change the law to give homeowners filing for bankruptcy the opportunity to restructure their loans so that they can save their homes from foreclosure.

"The economic turmoil we are experiencing is a direct result of the burst housing bubble," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., who co-sponsored the bill in the House. "Foreclosure is now expected to claim more than 8 million homes by 2012 -- 16% of all mortgages in America. To set our economy on the path to recovery, we need to strengthen our communities by taking steps to stabilize the home mortgage market. Giving homeowners the chance to restructure their loans will help more families avoid foreclosure."

Lawmakers who introduced the Bankruptcy Act of 2009 argue that the effect of the anticipated stimulus package will be greatly diminished unless foreclosures can be reduced. They say it would help break the continuing cycle of foreclosure that threatens neighborhoods and cities across the country.

Rep. Linda Sanchez, said that under the current bankruptcy law, judges can restructure debt on vacation homes, yachts and private jets, but not on primary homes. "There is no reason why average Americans should not have the same legal protection to save their family homes."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, said that under current law, home mortgages are virtually the only debts that cannot be modified in bankruptcy. The proposal, would give homeowners the same advantages corporations have when trying to restructure their debt. Voluntary efforts to modify loans have not produced the desired results.