Upload your photos to the www.Locr.com community directly from within iPhoto. Download page www.cdfinder.de Simply select one or several photos, or even just an entire album in iPhoto. Then use the File menu and select Export. In the Export window, you may need to switch it to Locr. Now enter your name and password, and store them in the keychain for faster access. With the photo settings, you can set what privacy they will have, and how large the photos will be when are uploaded to the server. You can also place your photos in a Locr album. Either type in a new name, or use the tool menu to get a list of your existing Locr albums, and all iPhoto album names. Hit Export, and the Plugin will start uploading your photos. If your photos have geotags, these tags will of course be used. Even if you have set the place in iPhoto, this mighty Plugin will send that data to the Locr server as well. After the upload, the Plugin will present your own personal Locr page to you, or give you an opportunity to add a new geotag to all untagged photos. Also, the Locr plugin will write the URL of your uploaded photos into the information field of iPhoto. CDFinder www.cdfinder.de is a Digital Asset Manager for Macintosh and Windows http The software catalogs any type of data (photos, movies, songs, documents), on any device (hard disk, CD, DVD, Blu-ray, USB sticks, server volumes, iPods, etc.) and offers powerful Find features to quickly locate your data. The extensive support of metadata ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NMtyhyA1Yk&hl=en
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Time To Sell
We all know it's the American Dream to own a home. Ever since WWII ended and millions of US Servicemen came home, got married and found a place to live, the ideal situation was that they'd buy a small home to raise that family. NorthEast builders came up with the idea of "developments" and places like Levit town were born, where thousands upon thousands of smallish homes were built on 50 by 100 lots. It was the first "housing boom." Well, the tradition of owning one's home runs deep in our psyches, but the question becomes this: Is buying a house in this particular day and age really wiser than renting? Don't laugh, you might be surprised at the answer.
There are two particularly attractive reasons to own your own home. One is that it might appreciate in value and your "net worth" becomes greater. The other is that you can write off the interest payments and the taxes that you pay your municipalities. Okay, those are definite pluses. On top of that you get to make the house the way you want it. If you want to punch a hole in the wall, you do it. There is a lot to be said for the personal freedom of doing what you want.
On the other hand, a house is just as much a liability as it is an asset. Each month the mortgage is coming in, the taxes are going up, you have to insure it, and then there are repairs to consider. But, much more importantly, we have to consider the "timing" issue involved in housing. What do I mean by that? Well we've seen an incredible rise in housing over the past three years, spurred by low interest rates, looser standards and of course the stock market melt down of 2000 - 2002.
Let's suppose you were to buy your average 250K dollar home up in the North East. ( or you just happen to already own one) Let's suppose you put down 10% and mortgaged the rest. Okay, so you coughed up 25 grand, and are mortgaging 225 grand at 5.5%. Your mortgage payment is 1,327 dollars a month for 30 years. Toss about 5 grand worth of taxes on top of that, and you are probably at 1700 per month. If you were to hold that mortgage for all 30 years, you would pay 234,906 dollars in interest.
What did you get for your 234K in interest rates? Well you got to write down your income taxes. But you don't get 234 grand "back" you just don't have to pay taxes on the income that would amount to 234 grand. (over the life of the loan) If you held that house for 30 years, how much do you think you put in it for repairs? New appliances, hot water heaters, two roofs, repave the driveway, cut the lawn, removed trees, replaced the windows, etc etc etc? A ton. No one can even put a price on it. But, for our little exercise let's just say that in 30 years you paid 30 grand in repairs. So, we've paid 264K above the homes 250 K dollar price tag. Oops. Taxes. Lets say that your property taxes are 5 grand a year. In 30 years, guess what? There's another 150K dollars. Insurance? Say 500 a year, there's 15 more grand. Water and sewer? Another 10 to 12 grand.
Without going silly, we see that a 250K dollar house is going to cost us about 664,000 when we finally light that last mortgage payment on fire. So, even if the house doubles in price and "then some" , and you can sell it for that amount, you didn't "make" a penny did you? Nope. The only way you make out on this scenario is if it's worth more than 664K grand 30 years from now. But we have a problem don't we? What's that? Well if a house is 250K right this second, and interest rates are at 40 year lows, you can bet that the house is already as expensive as it's ever been. Are interest rates going to be below 5.5% in 30 years? Probably not ( although we have no idea) In other words, who's to say that housing is going to double in 30 years? No one knows, it's a gamble. But worse..even if you sell it for 664K grand, you still have to live somewhere. Not only didn't you actually make any money, you have to move somewhere and pay money there too.
The fact of the matter is that real estate has been a tremendous performer, but I tend to think it's run it's course. Would I be against someone selling at the present, taking their huge profits and renting for a few years just to see if housing falls? Not at all. In fact, if you read these numbers over and over, it might just sway you to consider it. There is no doubt that sometime in 05 rates are going up. When rates go up, prices fall, but this time it's even going to be worse. So many people are going to be trapped because of refinancing that they are going to "walk away". Foreclosures will soar. It could get ugly.
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Thursday, May 27, 2010
Meet the Real Phil Mickelson
I have been a fan of Phil Mickelson's for a very long time. He's one of those golfers that I've pulled for for years and have always assumed he was a nice guy considering how polite and nice he seems on television. Back in 2004, I was at the Masters on Sunday when he won his first Masters title. My wife and I were positioned to the left of the tee on #10, and after Phil teed off, he walked down the left side of the fairway passing directly by us.
We both smiled and gave him a "Go Phil", and he did something that many professional athletes don't do, he smiled, tipped his hat and said, "Thank you and thanks for coming out." That may not sound like much, but try that same scenario with many other professional athletes while they're in the heat of the battle, and you're more likely to get ignored, glared at, or at best, a quick nod.
But, one nice "thank you" does not necessarily mean that the real Phil Mickelson is a nice guy. It means he's polite and respects the fact that the fans are as much a part of a golf tournament as he is.
What does make him a nice guy is a story I read in a recent edition of Golf World magazine. The title of the article was, "Conrad Dobler's Favorite Golfer." Unless you are a die-hard historian of professional football, you probably have never heard of Dobler... Neither had I until I read this article. Conrad was once called the "dirtiest player in the NFL".
Because NFL players of the distant past did not make that much money, and the NFL's disability plan doesn't amount to much, Conrad lives a nice, but not too extravagant lifestyle considering he's had numerous surgeries on both knees. But, Conrad's entire life changed back on July 4, 2001. He and his wife Joy and their six children were relaxing while waiting for friends to come over for the holiday. His wife Joy was in their hammock and accidentally fell out of the hammock and couldn't feel anything. She's been a quadriplegic ever since. After numerous surgeries, doctor visits, etc., Conrad has had to downsize and sell almost all of his assets to keep the family afloat while paying for Joy's rehabilitation.
Enter Phil Mickelson. Phil's lawyer, Glenn Cohen, called Conrad up one day and told him that Phil had become aware of his situation and wanted to pay for his daughter Holli's college education. Conrad couldn't believe it because he had never met Phil and still hasn't to this day. Conrad asked Cohen why Phil was doing this, and his response was, "Because he can."
Phil does stay in touch with Holli who is now a sophomore at Miami of Ohio. She waits tables and has a heavy load of classes and currently has a 3.8 GPA. The first year, Phil sent $20,000, and he has promised cost of living increases every year promising $22,000 and then $24,000.
This random act of kindness by Phil has changed the lives of more than just Holli. It has made Conrad a better person, and it's given Joy the will to walk again. She's already made great strides and hopes to one day get out of the wheelchair for good. Phil has invited the entire family to the Memorial Tournament in May, and the family can't wait to meet him in person. As Joy says, "If there's anything he's missing in his life, it's a set of wings. He's an angel. And if I can when I see him for the first time, I'm going to go up and give him a big hug."
BECAUSE HE CAN! That is the real Phil Mickelson.
To me, this story embodies what it means to be successful. Being successful means having the ability to help others "because you can." There are so many people who could help others, but they choose not to. I'd like to challenge you to look for areas in your everyday life where you can perform a random act of kindness. You'll be surprised how many situations come up where you can help....
Good luck and make it a great day!
J. Anthony has been writing and blogging online for over five years. He primarily focuses on the positive things in life through his blog, PositivePelham.com as well as the not so serious aspects of life with his blog FunnyVideooftheDay.net
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Is Now a Good Time to Sell Your Home?
With home prices rising to higher and higher levels, more and more homeowners have been wondering if the time is right to take the appreciation in their current homes and get out before the market begins to cool off. While there is no way to tell when the housing market is at its top, the housing mania we have seen does have some troubling similarities to the dot.com boom that typified the late nineties.
No doubt the housing boom has some viability to it, and unlike a stock a house represents a real item, of real value. In addition, the boom in housing has been fueled by record low interest rates, and by many new mortgage products, including interest only mortgages and negative amortization loans.
These new mortgage products are part of what many people perceive as the inherent danger of the current housing market. In many hot parts of the country, like California, so-called interest only mortgages in which homebuyers pay only the interest due on the loans for a number of years, represent up to half of all new mortgage loans. The downside of these loans happens, of course, after the initial interest only period has ended. For many such loans, that day of reckoning is fast approaching, and it remains to be seen what kind of effect this will have on the market.
Over the past few years, there has not really been a bad time to sell a house. The overall trend has been, and continues to be, up. What seems to be changing is the rate of price appreciation. While up until recently waiting only a couple of months could mean getting an extra 10% or 20% for the home, the rate of appreciation seems to have slowed for some of the hotter markets around the country.
Housing marketing is cooling gradually
At the beginning of the year, the National Association of Realtors issued a forecast predicting that the market will normalize during 2006. While in 2005 the average appreciation rate for existing homes came in at 13%, with large segments of the market seeing far greater gains, that trend is not expected to continue. While the National Association of Realtors expects the market for new and existing homes to remain strong, it also foresees a price appreciation of a more modest 5%.
What this means is that while the long predicted bursting of the housing bubble has not happened (and many experts believe it will not occur), there are definitely indications that the easy money has already been made.
Harder to sell now
Other sign that the optimum time to sell a home may be past is the fact that inventories of unsold homes are on the rise, with the fastest rise seen in some of the hottest real estate markets. For instance, the inventory of unsold homes in the suburbs of Boston has raised by more than 50% since January 2005, according to the MLS Property Information Network, Massachusetts.
In past few years, sellers of even marginal properties were often able to realize more than the asking price, due to the frequent bidding wars that often broke out in the hot market. These days buyers will have greater room to negotiate, and to ask sellers for concessions such as help with closing costs. While the market is in no way dead or even in serious decline, it does seem to be becoming more of a buyer's market.
Moreover, many home owners may realize they can't even afford to sell after they do the math. There are costs involved in selling a house, this including loan payoff, real estate commission, closing cost, property tax, attorney cost and all these costs add up. Nevertheless, the common reason that home owners can't afford to sell is because they borrowed too much. (Find out what are the costs of selling a house here before you put your house on market!)
So, is this a good time to sell your home?
The run up in home prices over the past few years have left many homeowners, especially those living in hot markets, with tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential profits. The idea to cash in the house and make a tidy profit while hoping the market to cool with the intention to find some bargains later is a high stakes bet. Unless you're ' house flipping', otherwise it probably makes more sense for current homeowner, who is benefiting from a low mortgage rate, to stay where they are.
Real estate market has a cyclical trend with ups and downs. To cash out now so you can buy again in twelve or eighteen months later is similar to stock day trading. It is not an excellent idea to speculate for most people as they're not dealing with just money but with a real asset with real value. Most importantly, it is where the family is living in. And if home owner sells their house now, they just have to buy another house that's just as equally expensive if not more!
However, the move to sell now and make a profit is perhaps less risky proposition for those homeowners who are seeking to downsize their lifestyle or who are near their retirement, to move to a less expensive area. For example from New York City, to a less pricey market, such as Atlanta.
The key challenge in a hot market, even for homeowners with substantial gains, is finding a suitable property at an affordable price. Many homeowners have found that buying a smaller home is a good way to lock in the gain on an appreciated home, as is moving to a less expensive housing market. There are plenty of affordable housing markets left around the country. And those people moving to these areas are often quite surprised at how far their housing dollars can go.
Furthermore, there is always the rental market. In most of the hottest housing markets around the country, rental price appreciation has not kept pace with the rise in housing prices, meaning that many former homeowners are opting to rent for a year or two while they wait for home prices to stabilize. This can certainly be a good strategy, and it can leave smart homeowners with a great deal more home for their money in the long run.
Andrew is the web owner of "Home Selling Tips: How to buy and sell house fast", a website that provides informational guide on home buying, home selling, home mortgage loan, real estate investment and more. You can visit his website at: http://www.buy-and-sell-house-fast.com
This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
What Are 1-877 Numbers?
Want to know more about 877 numbers? The biggest misconception about 1-877 numbers is that if you call the same number with 1-800, you will get the same company. However this is not the case at all. Toll free numbers with different area codes are for totally separate businesses.
What is so confusing sometimes is when various companies choose the same vanity number, but with different prefixes including 866, 877, 800 or 888. You might think you are calling an attorney in your city, but if you dial the wrong prefix, you can get a totally different person across the country.
Like their 800 cousins, 877 numbers are completely free for the customer to dial. Along with that they provide many benefits to the end user, like ease of use, affordability and sense of professionalism.
Let's back up a bit to find out more on these friendly digits. Toll free numbers actually date back as early as the 1960s, but their purpose was widely different than today's. The toll free number was initially created as a way to cut back on using phone operators. The process was also created to offer customers more options rather than collect calling.
Along with that, they were normally controlled by the major phone companies. It wasn't until the 1990s that the FCC helped consumers have more leverage in this area and keep their 800 numbers even if they changed phone services.
Later, 800 numbers associated with vanity phrases became widely popular. This newfound recognition fostered the need for more 800 prefixes. That's when additional area codes like 877 (circa 1998) came on the scene.
As businesses and the global economy grew, the need for more area codes was never as urgent. What's more, longer vanity characters were in demand too. The newer toll free prefixes such as 866 and 877 became highly sought for their wide-ranging and longer vanity selections.
Some of the digits in the area codes can be swapped for alphabetical letters, while standard 800 numbers cannot. For example, with an 877 or 866 area code you can have the vanity number 1-US-RENOVATIONS.
Vanity numbers even with the 1-877 toll free prefix appeal to marketers. First of all, they offer more vanity options, which become etched in consumers' minds more so than numeric value phone numbers. Plus, like any toll free number, they are easier to call, have branding benefits, and can increase response rates.
A toll free number with an 877 area code is yours forever. Even if you move, you can still keep the same exact number. The same holds true for the other prefixes too. In the old days, a business that moved usually lost customers.
Even today, communicating your new information proves challenging. You can send out as many "we moved" reminders or emails and still get missed calls. E-mail can get snatched by spam filters and anything that even resembles "junk mail" in your regular mailbox usually gets tossed. So classically, people have viewed 800 numbers as an asset.
All in all, today an 877 number is like any other toll free line, but you can get more vanity choices.
Custom Toll Free helps companies and individuals navigate the confusing world of premium toll free vanity numbers.
Our service allows you to search the available pool and look up premium vanity numbers, and then negotiates on your behalf to get dramatically better return on your investments in marketing and advertising through the use of toll free 800, 866 and 877 numbers.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Georgetown Apartments For Rent - St. Louis, MO
St. Louis apartments - Georgetown apartments for rent in St. Louis, MO. Get into the swing of things! Discover one of the St. Louis areas premier apartment communities: Georgetown Apartments. In the heart of the metropolitan area, our location ranks with the best. Clayton, I-170, I-44, I-40, I-270, I-55 and I-64 all converge within ten minutes of our door. Georgetown Apartments is convenient to schools, shopping, entertainment centers, places of worship, and hospitals. From classic architecture and stately grounds outside, to contemporary comfort inside, it is no surprise that Georgetown Apartments has been the address of discriminating St. Louis for over 35 years. Quality makes all the difference at Georgetown Apartments. Georgetown quality is apparent throughout our spacious garden apartments and town homes. Thirteen distinctive floorplans include amenities unheard of in conventional apartments. For easy living, every unit features a private entrance, a patio or balcony, central air and heating, a frost-free refrigerator, and each apartment is cable ready. To complement your lifestyle, many apartments also feature modern kitchens in different styles, track or recessed lighting, French doors, and brass chandeliers. These modern additions enhance Georgetown Apartments original quality construction. Georgetown Apartments unique architecture surrounded by lush greenery is another asset of a well established community that is not found in new construction. No matter where ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3LAzh3YR_o&hl=en
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3LAzh3YR_o&hl=en
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