Colleen Cook's (kcjc) Blog

From "Thinkertoys" by Michael Michalko...Imagine a cage containing five monkeys.  Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it.  Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb toward the banana.  As soon as he touches the stair, spray all the monk...

Locate Farm Area: Choose a manageable size area Select area with a high volume of home sales Compile area sales statistics Walk Your Farm Area: Meet in person 3 times in 6 months Canvas 1-hour each day 30-50 doors Carry property info printout of farm area Document each visit for future reference ...

Chicago Title is making it a priority to help your clients guard against mortgage fraud and identity theft. We are now providing your clients with a complimentary one-year membership to Experian Consumer Directs Credit Check Basic Monitoring.Membership Includes: · One year of automatic daily moni...

 What is a short sale?  A short sale is when a lender accepts a discount on a mortgage to pay-off to avoid a possible foreclosure auction or bankruptcy.  While the property is still being purchased, the Lender's approval of the contract and terms becomes necessary as they must approve the discoun...

THE TAX ADVANTAGES OF HOME OWNERSHIP, DID YOU BUY YOUR HOME LAST YEAR?DEDUCT THE POINTS If you bought a home last year, you may deduct many of the costs associated with your home loan or acquisition mortgage. Did your lender quote an interest rate plus points for the loan? A point equals one perc...

The president signed into law December 20, 2007 bill H.R. 3648 creating temporary tax breaks on indebtedness for some troubled borrowers. Here is a brief summary of the real estate related provisions.3-year Exclusion from Gross Income of Discharged Home Mortgage Indebtedness.The bill amends curre...

Today when you apply for a home mortgage loan, car loan, insurance, credit cards and other loans, your credit information will be run through a system called FICO credit scoring.Usually a lender will use a combination of your credit score with other factors when determining your credit worthiness...

Property taxes are governed by California State law and collected by the county.  The  County Assessor must first assess the value of your property to determine the amount of property tax. Generally, the assessed value is the cash or market value at the time of purchase.  This value increases not...