New England Times

Website Update

Administrator — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 02:54:41 +0000

I integrated better searching into our site. You must try it out.

http://www.nereorganization.com

Real Estate is Dirt Cheap!

Administrator — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:32:13 +0000

We’re in a bad economy. It’s not a secret. Mortgage Rates are at an all-time low. And there is tons of inventory.

In other words, BUY REAL ESTATE!

$149,900 Multi-Family with 2 Car Garage

Brian P. Barbosa

Consumer Debt Is Not Your Friend

Administrator — Thu, 06 May 2010 17:24:40 +0000

Consumer debt is not your friend

Here’s a simple MBA lesson: borrow money to buy things that go up in value. Borrow money if it improves your productivity and makes you more money. Leverage multiplies the power of your business because with leverage, every dollar you make in profit is multiplied.

That’s very different from the consumer version of this lesson: borrow money to buy things that go down in value. This is wrongheaded, short-term and irrational.

A few decades ago, mass marketers had a problem: American consumers had bought all they could buy. It was hard to grow because dispensable income was spoken for. The only way to grow was to steal market share, and that’s difficult. Enter consumer debt.

Why fight for a bigger piece of pie when you can make the whole pie bigger, the marketers think. Charge it, they say. Put it on your card. Pay now, why not, it’s like it’s free, because you don’t have to repay it until later. Why buy a Honda for cash when you can buy a Lexus with credit?

One argument is income shifting: you’re going to make a lot of money later, so borrow now so you can have a nicer car, etc. Then, when money is worth less to you, you can pay it back. This idea is actually reasonably new–fifty years or so–and it’s not borne out by what actually happens. Debt creates stress, stress creates behaviors that don’t lead to happiness…

The other argument is that it’s been around so long, it’s like a trusted friend. Debt seems like fun for a long time, until it’s not. And everyone does it. We’ve been sold very hard on acquisition = happiness, and consumer debt is the engine that permits this. Until it doesn’t.

The thing is, debt has become a marketed product in and of itself. It’s not a free service or a convenience, it’s a massive industry. And that industry works with all the other players in the system to grow, because (at least for now) when they grow, other marketers benefit as well. As soon as you get into serious consumer debt, you work for them, not for you.

It’s simple: when the utility of what you want (however you measure it) is less than the cost of the debt, don’t buy it.

Go read Dave Ramsey’s post: The truth about debt.

Dave has spent his career teaching people a lesson that many marketers are afraid of: debt is expensive, it compounds, it punishes you. Stuff now is rarely better than stuff later, because stuff now costs you forever if you go into debt to purchase it. He’s persistent and persuasive.

It takes discipline to forego pleasure now to avoid a lifetime of pain and fees. Many people, especially when confronted with a blizzard of debt marketing, can’t resist.

Resist. Smart people work at keeping their monthly consumer debt burden to zero. Borrow only for things that go up in value. Easy to say, hard to do. Worth it.

Seth Godin

Email Etiquette

Administrator — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 21:54:45 +0000

8 things I wish everyone knew about email

Change your settings so that email from you has a name, your name, not a blank or some unusual characters, in the from field. (ask a geek or IT person for help if you don’t know how).
Change your settings so that the bottom of every email includes a signature (often called a sig) that includes your name and your organization.
Change your settings so that when you reply to a note, the note you’re replying to is included below what you write (this is called quoting).
Don’t hit reply all. Just don’t. Okay, you can, but read this first.
You can’t recall an email you didn’t mean to send. Some software makes you think you can, but you can’t. Not reliably.
Email lives forever, is easy to spread and can easily show up in discovery for a lawsuit.
Please don’t ask me to save a tree by not printing your email. It doesn’t work, it just annoys the trees.
Send yourself some email at a friend’s computer. Read it. Are the fonts too big or too small? Does it look like a standard email? If it doesn’t look like a standard, does this deviation help you or hurt you? Sometimes, fitting in makes sense, no?

And a bonus tip from Cory Doctorow (who got it from danah boyd). Cory gets more email than you and me combined: When you go on vacation, set up an autoreply that says, “I’m on vacation until x/x/2010. When I get back, I’m going to delete all the email that arrived while I was gone, so if this note is important, please send it to me again after that date.”

by Seth Godin

Beer, Wine, etc.

Administrator — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:21:55 +0000

I have a package store for sale in Middleboro, MA. The owner currently sells beer, wine, lottery, cigarettes, groceries, etc.

This is a business with low startup costs. Asking $59,900

When a Freelancer Changes The Game

Administrator — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:08:59 +0000

Often, businesses hire freelancers (writers, photographers, process consultants, trainers) to solve a specific problem for the lowest possible cost. And a good freelancer at the right price is often the right approach.

Sometimes, though, you spend more and get something great. You seek out and find a linchpin who combines inspiration and professionalism and initiative and pushes back on your quest for average. When you interact with someone like that, you might pay more but you get far more than you paid.

I recently did a photo shoot with my friend Brian, and from the moment I walked into the studio, I discovered that he and his lighting guru were relentlessly pushing to change my perception of what was possible at the same time they were focused on overdelivering on the project. They had little interest in settling on merely doing a good job.

There’s a lot of pressure for freelancers to fit in, conform and comply. It seems easier to generate new business that way. That’s not really true. It’s easier to become an easily-described commodity that way, but the person who’s willing to push themselves out to an edge that matters is on the only path that actually leads to success.

And then it’s up to the client to care enough about the project and in making a difference to have the guts to hire you.

Seth Godin

TV

Administrator — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:54:40 +0000

TV was awesome when there wasn’t a lot of other options. Everybody would watch TV ,and they would have something to talk about the next day. But, now that is not the case. There are much better options.

-Run a store on Ebay
-Write a blog.
-Learn a new language.
-Read a book.
-Play an instrument.
-Social Networking.

Not to mention, I hate commercials!

Brian B

The 4 G’s Of Real Estate:

Administrator — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:25:10 +0000

Here are 4 Real Estate Terms that are Commonly Used:

Real Estate and Mortgage Glossary – Definitions (G)

government loan (mortgage)
: A mortgage that is insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the Rural Housing Service (RHS). Mortgages that are not government loans are classified as conventional loans.

Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae): A government-owned corporation within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Created by Congress on September 1, 1968, GNMA performs the same role as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in providing funds to lenders for making home loans. The difference is that Ginnie Mae provides funds for government loans (FHA and VA)

grantee: The person to whom an interest in real property is conveyed.

grantor: The person conveying an interest in real property.

Source: RealEstateABC.com

Questions about the 4 G’s? Contact New England Real Estate Organization for more Information.

Amortization…Did I hear that on Star Track?

Administrator — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:43:32 +0000

Although it sounds like an other-worldly word, this is actually a common Real Estate Term.

So what does it mean?

amortization:

The loan payment consists of a portion which will be applied to pay the accruing interest on a loan, with the remainder being applied to the principal. Over time, the interest portion decreases as the loan balance decreases, and the amount applied to principal increases so that the loan is paid off (amortized) in the specified time

amortization schedule:

A table which shows how much of each payment will be applied toward principal and how much toward interest over the life of the loan. It also shows the gradual decrease of the loan balance until it reaches zero.

Make sure to contact New England Real Estate Organization with questions regarding “Amortization”.

Escrow: What is that?

Administrator — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 03:28:32 +0000

1. a contract, deed, bond, or other written agreement deposited with a third person, by whom it is to be delivered to the grantee or promisee on the fulfillment of some condition.

2. to place in escrow: The home seller agrees to escrow the sum of $1000 with his attorney.

3. in escrow, in the keeping of a third person for delivery to a given party upon the fulfillment of some condition.

Citation:

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/escrow

Have Questions about Escrow?

Contact New England Real Estate Organization for a fast answer!