Three Important Questions

What are the advantages in buying property in and around Lake Michigan? What sets Lake Michigan real estate deals apart from similar transactions in other parts of the country? Why should you prefer moving to this area to other destinations in the country? It is advisable to find answers to these questions before finalizing your real estate transaction.
Three basic questions will help you determine whether you decision to buy Lake Michigan real estate is a good one or a bad one.
What Is So Special About Lake Michigan?
Imagine waking up in the morning to fresh air, a pleasant lake breeze, and the view of the sunrays glimmering on the huge expanse of Lake Michigan. Imagine doing this every day for the rest of your life. Can you think of any other location in the country that offers affordable real estate deals with such fantastic benefits?
Just because you are living on the lakeshore does not mean you will have to compromise with your lifestyle. Urban centers in and around this lake are at par with the biggest and most developed urban centers in the country. Lake Michigan offers easy access to basic infrastructure, job opportunities, amenities needed for a happy life and good educational facilities for children. Of course, the sun, the sand and the view shall become a part of your daily routine for the rest of your life.
Can I Afford It?
What is the point of a comfortable and pleasant lifestyle if it is beyond your reach? Seeking a good life at the cost of financial stability does not make sense. The average sale price of homes in Holland near Lake Michigan is around $86,000 and the average mortgage debt for those living in this region works out to $110,000. Can you afford this? If yes, then you can confidently proceed ahead with your search for property in this region.
Of course, the house you like may cost more or may even cost less. However, the figures mentioned above should give you a general idea of what you may have to spend to convert your dream into reality.
What About Future Prospects For My Investment?
Every property purchase is a major financial decision. You may not wish to sell your house ever again but circumstances may arise where you may be forced to do so. In such a scenario, you cannot afford to ignore the future prospects of the real estate market in this region.
The average sale price in and around Lake Michigan is beginning to increase after consistently falling for the past five years. This is good news because you will be entering the market at the beginning of the upswing. Time your purchase right and you can enjoy fantastic returns on your investment.
There are many other factors that you should consider when buying property near Lake Michigan. Hence, do not hesitate to contact real estate professionals for expert advice covering all aspects and facets of your transaction. The Internet will be a good place to begin your search for such a professional.

Where Is the $26 Billion

You may recall some news back in February regarding a $26 billion settlement that was supposed to provide relief to nearly two million American homeowners.
Despite the warnings, outrage, and in some cases pleading, some of the biggest voices in the consumer advocacy community touted the settlement as a victory for homeowners and their rights.
At the time, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said, "The banks broke the law by railroading homeowners through the foreclosure process. Today's settlement provides compensation for foreclosure victims without requiring individuals to waive their legal claims. While banks must be made to pay more to help homeowners, the settlement includes needed principal write-downs so homeowners can stay in their homes."
Alys Cohen of the National Consumer Law Center said it would move the ball forward and that it was a game changer. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who headed up the whole process, said "This agreement is the only way we're going to get to substantial principal reduction."
NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous was quoted as saying "this monumental settlement is a strong step towards assisting the millions of current and former homeowners that were exploited, discriminated against and taken advantage of by major mortgage servicing banks. The principal reductions, refinancing and other relief will provide desperately needed relief."
These are some pretty big names congratulating themselves on a job well done. Unfortunately, the actual results of the settlement have not lived up to the hype.
The Social Science Research Network released a study last month that was a collaborative effort of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the government's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Ohio State University, Columbia Business School, and the University of Chicago measure the impact of HAMP, Obama's Home Affordable Modification Program.
According to the report, nearly 800,000 homeowners could have avoided foreclosure had the banks done a better job of modifying the loans. Unfortunately, the HAMP program included a principal forbearance element that was rejected by the banks. So, was it that HAMP was ineffective at resolving the mortgage crisis, or that the banks refused to let the program succeed? With the increased incentives for principal reductions and the National Mortgage Settlement, it seems clear that the latter was the culprit for the program's shortcomings.
So what about the $26 billion? In some cases, the banks are dragging their heels. The Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight released its first report on August 29, 2012. According to the report, Bank of America, the bank responsible for the biggest portion of the agreement, had yet to modify a single mortgage.
The other four banks covered by the settlement, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc., reported that they had completed 7,093 modifications of first-lien mortgages worth a total of $749 million. JPMorgan Chase completed the most such modifications with $367 million.
The figures are similar across the nation. At least 60 percent of the money is supposed to go to homeowner relief. But the bulk of the funds are going for short sales and deed-in-lieu workouts, which basically defeats the purpose of the funds, which was to keep homeowners in their homes. Worse yet, the settlement money that was to be used to provide relief for homeowners is in some case being used by some state officials to fill budget holes, coffers, and tax shortfalls.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the latest to jump on the "we have free money and screw homeowners" band wagon, wanted to divert $75 million earmarked for New Jersey homeowners to offset tax breaks for the state's wealthiest residents, according to NJ.com.
In Texas, $125 million went straight to the general fund. Missouri will use its $40 million to soften cuts to higher education. Indiana is spending more than half its allotment to pay energy bills for low-income families, while Virginia will use most of its $67 million to help with revenue. Georgia plans use its $99 million to lure companies to the state.
So, as it turns out, the settlement money will not reach the intended recipients and we have yet another case of our both big banks and government working in concert to put on appearances that they are trying to help America's homeowners, while the funds are spent for purposes for which they were not intended.

Hot And Heavy Marketing

If you're serious about promoting your business and its products, you should definitely implement social marketing. Yet, to do it right, you have to have the right education about the topic. The tips that follow will help you start your journey towards being a social media marketing guru! When posting from your social media accounts, you should strive to come across as humble and approachable. Your company might be big, but if you have a big ego, your social media campaign will be a big failure. Your power is limited to your clientele and subscribers still paying attention to you. Without your customers, your brand is nothing more than a name. It's important to respond to customer comments, complaints and reviews on social media sites as soon as possible. Keep your responses brief, professional and helpful, but respond as soon as you can so you'll get a good reputation. A quick response can have a significant impact on the success or failure of any social media marketing promotion. Your rapid response is especially valuable when dealing with unflattering comments or reviews. If you leave these posts alone, you could potentially harm your reputation. However, a fast and proper response can actually make you look good, because it shows you care.
TIP! Before you launch your campaign, experiment with different techniques you may want to use. Testing should continue this way after launch, as well.
Social media marketing is a huge craze, but like any other craze, just blindly following the fad won't get you anywhere. You should understand how social media marketing can help you and how you can deal with problems that come along with it. If you plan out your strategy and take advantage of the opportunity, it can only increase your chances for success. If formatting isn't a strong point for you, consider using a list style for your social media posts. By using a list format, you will be able to present your points quickly and concisely in order of importance. Because a large portion of social networking users are in younger age groups, concise and relevant information may be your best bet. Use social media marketing to provide information about your business. Posting pictures of fundraising events are a great way to increase this visibility. Take photos at your workplace and share good news about your employees. Use anything that conveys a good image of your company.
TIP! Make sure that you enable any following features on your social network of choice. Many individuals these days incorporate social media into their lifestyle, so allowing them easy access to your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn profile is a surefire method of letting them have your content delivered to them when you post.
Converse with your customers. Receiving feedback from your customer is great, but it's up to you to respond back to them to open the door to discussion. Take your responses to the next level by opening a dialogue with your customers. Be open and willing to listen, and this will help make your company more successful. Various surveys have proven that social media is used most heavily on weekdays and during standard office hours for employees. These tools automatically update any social media sites you have so that they post within the time-frames where viewership is the highest and you can create them whenever you're free. If you are a blogger, use the "retweet" button for every blog post. By placing this button on top of each post, it becomes simple for your readers to easily share this blog through Twitter. This technique greatly expands the potential reach of your marketing messages.
TIP! Use a sweepstakes or other prize drawing to help build a following for your pages. To do this, you would want to require that a user has to enter their email or like your content, etc, in order to enter into the contest.
Think about what kind of relationship you want with your customers. For building up sales, keep bells and whistles to a minimum, and use social media for advertisements. If you wish to have a conversation with your customers to get on their level, try starting by saying hello. The customers will respond and you can go from there. Put up new tweets as often as you can so that your subscribers don't forget about you. Twitter is about volume: you will still need to post quality content but you also need to post it often. A good trick is to always keep it short and sweet. This way, you can split one main topic into a few different tweets. You can keep a discount code hidden until the end of a video by using YouTube's annotation feature. Since you can choose when the annotation shows up, folks have to watch your video all the way through to find the code.
TIP! With Facebook, it is very easy to gain followers of your content and give them the opportunity to share it. Because of the new Timeline feature and other cool Facebook features, a user's actions are shared on their page where their friends will see it.
As was discussed earlier, marketing with social media can benefit your company in a number of different ways. Use the tips you find most useful, every person's approach to social marketing is different.