Every lottery player has often dreamed what they would do with their winnings if they were fortunate enough to win a large jackpot. The prospect of suddenly having millions of dollars makes the most rational mind indulge in flights of fancy. All lottery players at one time or another have dreamed of expensive cars, huge mansions, luxury vacations, and all the things that a lot of money can buy.
As it turns out, for some, winning the lottery has brought nothing but broken dreams and disappointment. Most lottery winners are not adept at money management and in many instances some players find themselves in a financial mess. Take the case of William Post of Pennsylvania. In 1988 Mr. Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery. Mr. Post found himself the subject of lawsuits and as if that wasn’t enough his brother was arrested for trying to hire a hit man to kill him so he could inherit his new found wealth. Mr. Post also made several bad business investments and within a year found himself a million dollars in debt. Said Mr. Post, “I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare.” Mr. Post now finds himself living on $450 a month from Social Security and food stamps.
One of the more well known cases is that of Jack Whittacker who won a $315 million Powerball jackpot in the West Virginia lottery. Mr. Whittacker chose the cash payout option and received a check for $113.4 million after taxes. Mr. Whittacker started out with good intentions donating money to several church based charities and set up a foundation to provide food and clothing to low income West Virginia residents. A month after winning Mr. Whittacker was arrested for drunk driving. His problems spiraled out of control very quickly. Mr. Whittacker spent over $100,000 at a strip club and while at the club thieves broke into his car stealing $545,000 in cash. Thieves then broke into Mr. Whittacker’s car another time stealing $200,000 in cash. None of the money in either incident was ever recovered. Mr. Whittacker was the target of numerous lawsuits most of which were settled out of court.
After winning the lottery jackpot, Mr. Whittacker’s life quickly spiraled out of control. He became the subject of numerous lawsuits and thieves emptied his bank accounts. For example, Mr. Whittacker was sued by an Atlantic City casino for gambling debts and was sued for wrongful death in the case of a drug overdose that occurred at his home. Mr. Whittacker has stated that he wishes he had never bought that fatal lottery ticket.
Many who win the various lotteries are not sophisticated when it comes to finances and find themselves in financial trouble fairly quickly. Says Susan Bradley author of the book Sudden Money: Managing a Financial Windfall, “People who are not used to having money are fragile and vulnerable, and there are plenty of people out there who are willing to prey on that vulnerability - even friends and family.”
Winning the lottery need not be all doom and gloom. There have been some winners who have managed their new found wealth well and many have managed to invest their winnings in such a way that they and their families will be secure for generations. Brad Duke, who took an $85 million dollar payout after winning a $220 million dollar Powerball jackpot in 2005, is an example of a winner who has used his new fortune to provide for his family’s long term security. Instead of immediately spending his winnings Mr. Duke quickly assembled a team of financial advisors with the goal of becoming a billionaire in mind. Here is how Mr. Duke has spent his money so far.
$35 million: Aggressive investments like oil and gas and real estate $1.3 million: A family foundation $63,000: A trip to Tahiti with 17 friends $125,000: Mortgage retired on his 1,400 square-foot house $18,000: Student-loan repayment $65,000: New bicycles, including a $12,000 BMC road bike $14,500: A used black VW Jetta $12,000: Annual gift to each family member
Obviously Mr. Duke has not indulged in the frivolous spending that seems to be the hallmark of many lottery winners. He has carefully planned his investments with long term goals in mind.
These examples represent different reactions to sudden wealth. Most of us have at some time or another fantasized about winning the Powerball or the Mega Million and what we would do with all that money. Some of us see winning the lottery as a chance to indulge is pleasures and luxuries, while others see it as an opportunity for long term security for ourselves and our families. The question is, if you were to win the lottery, which would you choose?
You may now increase your chances of achieving your dream by playing several state lotteries online from the comfort of your own home. Simply log onto your official state website. These sites explain how to purchase tickets, and often times tickets can be purchased online so you can play most state lotteries from the comfort of your own home. You can also refer to official state websites for custom lottery news. Many sites offer lottery number generators to help make your lottery number picking easier for you. If you would like to purchase your tickets in person, you can also visit a local lottery terminal. You can also log onto Lucky Lotto for all your lottery needs. This site offers the player the opportunity to play most state lotteries from the comfort of their own home. Make sure to visit LuckyLotto for all of your custom lottery news and check out our new LuckyLotto lucky lottery number generator! No matter how you choose to purchase your tickets, or which tickets you choose to buy, you’re bound to have some fun!
Abigail Adams works as a freelance writer for the online lottery information site LuckyLotto in Pennsylvania. Visit LuckyLotto.com for all your lottery needs.
Which game is the best game to play to be financially successful? Is it the Powerball? Is it the Megamillions? Or, is it the Pick 4 Lottery with the right Strategy?
The secret lotto winning algorithm is discovered and now is available for any lotto player in the world. Try the Lotto Blackbook system today and win the lotto, if you don’t win double your money back guarantee!
The popularity of the Mega Millions Lottery game can be attributed to a simple fact: The jackpots are higher and they climb much faster! Because it is a multi-state game, the jackpots and other prizes are much higher than single state games. The Mega Millions jackpot starts at $12 million and other prizes range from $2 all the way up to $250,000. In fact, more people play Mega Millions than any other multi-state game.
Did you have a ticket for the Mega Millions. The winning numbers were: 4 - 14 - 29 - 54 - 56 and the mega ball was 40. This morning I found out nobody won the $99 million dollars. The new Mega Millions jackpot is estimated to be $112,000,000.
Despite the fact that lotteries provide a great source of government revenue for state programs, especially education, and a great amount of fun, there are 8 states that currently do not have state lotteries. The states that currently do not have lotteries are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Mississippi, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. It is evident why most of these states continue to resist implementing a state lottery.
Did it ever cross your mind concerning the meaning to gain money? Obviously, the main cause for doing such is as a result of your family. Nonetheless, as you begin to obtain cash, you’ll perhaps crave for a good deal more.
We are all aware that the Internet is utilized by many to look for methods to make money. Several of these individuals are first timers without hint on what to carry out.
In the world of the internet, everything travels at the speed of light. This is why it is common to find people raving about one thing right now and then something else the next.
At The Phone Casino mobile casino games can be played on your phone which include mobile poker, mobile slots and mobile roulette and people can also play smart phone casino games such as smart phone slots, smart phone roulette, smart phone blackjack and smart phone poker.
Though you might not ever end up winning the jackpot, the Idaho lottery is still a lot of fun to play. There are a variety of different games to choose from, including scratch-off and drawing games. The most popular and most lucrative Idaho lottery game is the Powerball lottery. It is a drawing game, and it pays out the largest jackpot of any Idaho lottery game.
The popularity of the Mega Millions Lottery game can be attributed to a simple fact: The jackpots are higher and they climb much faster! Because it is a multi-state game, the jackpots and other prizes are much higher than single state games. The Mega Millions jackpot starts at $12 million and other prizes range from $2 all the way up to $250,000. In fact, more people play Mega Millions than any other multi-state game.
If you are looking for a fun way to spend a few extra dollars, the Ohio lottery is a great way to do it. There are almost nine thousand Ohio lottery retailers in the state where you can purchase tickets for a variety of different games. Other than prizes, the largest use of funds generated by the Ohio lottery is to help fund education within the state, so every time you purchase a lottery ticket, you are helping a good cause.
Though the odds are not necessarily in your favor, there is always a possibility that you can hit the jackpot with Maryland Mega Millions. Even though your odds are not great, you still have just as much of a chance at winning per ticket than anyone else. The Maryland Mega Millions lottery game involves choosing six different numbers. Five of these numbers must range from one to fifty-six, and the sixth number, the Mega Ball number, must fall between one and forty-six.
The New Jersey lottery offers several exciting games, providing fun for every lottery player. Whether you buy one ticket or ten, you’re guaranteed to have a good time. And even if you don’t win a prize, the funds generated by the New Jersey lottery help fund education and the Department of Human Services, so you’re not only having fun, you’re helping a good cause.
Abigail Adams works as a freelance writer for the online lottery information site LuckyLotto in Pennsylvania. Visit LuckyLotto.com for all your lottery needs.
There is a time line and structure associated with the short sale process which should be carefully documented and kept track of. Here is an example of what we do from beginning to end: The Jones family has decided to sell their home as a short sale.
First thing we do is meet in the office to review and provide our documentation (or if out of area email / mail all the pertinent documentation). PS -I will send another blog with all documentation needed to successfully perform a short sale.
We get all the signed docs and information back from the seller.
We immediately provide the “Release Form” to your lender which allows us to talk and negotiate on your behalf. The release form traditionally will take 72 hours to get into their system in which we relentlessly follow up to ensure they have it. For without it, we cannot move forward.
We aggressively market your home and get it into contract with a qualified purchaser.
We then submit the FULL package to the lender and ensure the bank is not missing any items. This is extremely important. Most of the time items lost or missing when the package is sent to the lender (which it happens all the time - Keep in mind we are not the only file. They are receiving hundreds of short sale files daily).
We follow up every day (up to 3 times a day) until we know they have a full package in their system. If the package is not complete and we do not follow up, they put the file in the what we call “neglected pile” - Will do not let this happen. Please note: If you are currently represented by a real estate professional that may not know what they are doing, please tell them to read these blogs.
When we know they have the full package, we follow up a minimum of 2 times per week until the assign us a negotiator.
Depending on the bank, they will order a BPO (Broker’s Price Opinion - For valuations purposes) before or after a negotiator is assigned.
Depending on the bank, they may have additional in-house addenda / forms to be signed off on.
They may also ask for updated bank statements, pay stubs, etc depending on how long it has been since submission / on the market.
Once they have everything and we have a negotiator they either accept or counter offer.
Once agreed they provide an approval of a settlement amount short of what is owed. It then goes to the title company to close out and have buyer and seller sign off on all the closing documentation.
Short Sale Secrets Clip 2
Learn how to short sale real estate. Bill Twyford and Dwan Bent-Twyford define short sales, outline the structure of deals, and explain the relationship with the banks you need to get those deals done. A.D. Kessler’s Real Estate Roundtable #354 Clip 2 from www.cremag.com.
(01:10)
Learn how to: Bill and Dwan Twyford discuss the details of the short sale and offer many other options for investors to use when assisting the homeowner in the beginning stages of foreclosure. A.D. Kessler’s Real Estate Roundtable #357 Clip 3 from Creative Real Estate Magazine at www.cremag.com. (01:04)
Want to Know Your Options if You’re in Foreclosure in South Carolina? A Short Sale May be Your Best Alternative to Stop Foreclosure or Bankruptcy! Well if you live in Charleston, Mount Pleasant, Daniel Island, Isle of Palms, Sullivan’s Island, Folly Beach, Greenville, Hilton Head, Beaufort, Myrtle Beach, or Columbia, SC there IS someone who can help you. SC Homes is an investment company and can handle your short sale for you, because they are the short sale specialists and experts.
Short Sales are frustrating. This is a fact. After helping hundreds of real estate agents analyze and close their short sale deals, WHB Solutions has always asked why, without our help, they would avoid short sales. Many of the answers that come back were consistent with what all real estate professionals have been experiencing with short sales. The main difference in why they decided to pursue short sales was because they discovered WHB Solutions.
Many real estate agents simply take the first short sale listing that comes their way, and if the transaction fails, will make a decision to not waste their time on future transactions. Others will take a few transactions, and when a low percentage of these close, they will realize the amount of time wasted, and also may decide to not work on any more short sale transactions.
This article is meant to assist real estate agents & sellers in recognizing: 1. Legal & Tax Issues sellers are exposed to through a short sale.
2. The legal liabilities agents may expose themselves to when representing short sale sellers. How did I come up with this idea?
One of the major differences in a short sale is that we are faced with a deadline to sell the property. If the property does not sell by the deadline, the property will be foreclosed, and title will transfer back to the lender. It is critical that we understand the timeline of each and every short sale listing that we take.
In this article we wanted to share some insight into how the HAFA program is being processed by Saxon. When we spoke with Saxon’s Short Sale Department, it was clear that the process is still very new to them as they have yet to work through a short sale to closing. What we did gather from Saxon is the current process with closing HAFA transactions. We wouldn’t be surprised if Saxon makes changes in the future to improve HAFA transactions.
Turning in a file that is 100% complete is a demonstration of keeping your word and your commitment to the lenders. Where can we find the definition of a complete file, especially when different lenders have different requirements? Is it possible to submit too much information? Can a file be marked as complete, only to be labeled incomplete at a different stage in the short sale processing timeline?
Being notified of pending house foreclosure is a gut-wrenching experience. No one wants to have their home repossessed by the bank, but in order to stop foreclosure homeowners must become highly proactive in talking with their mortgage lender.
Florida real estate schools require to comply with the requirements with the Florida Real Estate Commission in order for their students to be able to apply for a license. You will find a number of categories of courses which are offered to people thinking about a real estate career: courses for becoming a real estate sales person, courses for real estate brokers, courses for the renewal with the license and courses to get the instructor permit.
The tremendous increase of activity in sales of new homes in Montgomery at the start of the year sparked off talks of another property boom to hit Texas in general.
As soon as you begin earning for a living, it looks one of the most common feelings to start out investing in real estate. This is simply not always appropriate, but it is straightforward the location where the system is coming from.
With the availability of MLS on the internet, the real estate business has changed significantly over the last years. Various Listings Service was only obtainable to real property brokers, agents along with identical company categories.
Running a beachfront property in Colorado’s much more elegant vacation resort communities, such as La Jolla California, will be a great idea for a good investment for your retirement living.
MLS real estate listings consist of very comprehensive data bank of properties for sale with info collected and inserted by real estate brokers and agents. People has restricted entry to MLS listings, as mainly agents and their brokers in addition to professional affiliates can use this info.
To this day, you can still find plenty of issues and various suggestions when a single women will be considering investment on the real estate. There are plenty of regarding queries such as what if you get wedded. Just about the most requested query on this concern is, are you just wasting time and funds with this real estate investment simply to be uprooted later on.
What happens if the realtor prices a short sale property too low? Can it kill the deal? This article goes through on actual scenario of what can happen if the short sale price is too low and what lessons to learn from it.
Can a short sale still happen if there are two mortgages on it? How are the proceeds split and who decides who gets what? Learn more on how to deal with multiple mortgage companies when working a short sale property.
With a glut of inventory on the market, how can you make sure your home sells as a short sale. Learn some tips and ideas to help your home stand out or both the investor and first-time home buyer.
HAFA - Will this assist us in selling short sales? In my opinion for some banks and negotiators, yes. It seems as if the reponse time is getting better, bank negotiators are becoming more lenient and friendly and ultimatiely working for a common goal.
When selling a short sale, it is imperative that your real estate broker / agent fully discloses to the buyer that the property is a short sale. This article discusses some what’s included in a short sale contract addendum.
Please note - We are not trying to bring down the public or persuade individuals that a short sale is their only way out. However, I think it is important for many to know that some options will not work and sometime government entities should just not be relied on. It is on the public to seek out education and the right professionals to assist them.
Watch out for changes in seller contributions in the approval letter from a lender. We had a $12,000 seller contribution removed by a lender in their acceptance letter.
Dean O’Dell of Seven Gables highlights the need for distressed sellers to find the right real estate professional when they have to sell their home through a short sale. The right professional can help the seller dampen the negative long term consequences on their credit. Stacey Sloan at Fidelity National Title interviewed Dean at Neuport 17 on June 10, 2008.
Successful teams cannot exist without accountability–high performance and accountability go hand-in-hand.
Accountability starts with understanding the truth and continues with the thoughts, words, and actions of everyone involved in your organization. In my book, Winning with Accountability: The Secret Language of High-Performing Organizations, I explain how accountability is the key to long-term, sustained organizational success. To create a high-accountability culture, an organization must be able to identify accountability gaps.
Execution fails when accountability–the process and language of transferring strategies into reality–is missing. If you have ever experienced a failure in a relationship or project, you may have found that, in hindsight, clear outcomes may not have been properly communicated to all of the players, thus there were accountability gaps.
Identify Accountability Gaps
High-accountability cultures are something you can see.
To illustrate this, let’s take a professional basketball player, a star of the NBA who, at one time in his career, declared, “I’m not a role model. Parents should be role models.”
We’re not using his name here because that was a goofy thing for any star athlete to say. Because, despite what he thought, there were thousands of children admiring that NBA star, wearing his jersey number, and shooting baskets until dark to become just like him. In the context of accountability, even though he was a top scorer and exciting to watch on the court, you could see that athlete wasn’t a star in the Culture of Accountability.
Now, let’s turn the dial to 1993 and the confrontation at the Mt. Carmel Complex of the Branch Davidians led by David Koresh in Waco, Texas.
On April 19, 1993, Attorney General Janet Reno gave the FBI permission to flush the Davidians out of their residence, using tanks to smash holes in the walls of the building and then spraying tear gas into the residence. Agents then fired more than 350 “ferret” grenades into the building, but none of the Davidians obeyed the FBI’s command to exit the residence. A fire then broke out and 76 Davidians, including 27 children, perished.
As word of the confrontation and resulting deaths made the evening news, Janet Reno stepped up to the microphone at a White House press conference. “I made the decision,” she said. “I’m accountable. The buck stops with me.” Her words were notable–and noticeable–because you rarely hear politicians speak this way. At that time, she was the first female U.S. attorney general and fairly new to her job. Yet, in the face of a tragic and controversial situation, she stepped forward and was accountable. You could see that Janet Reno was exhibiting an accountability culture that was the model for her entire organization.
So, what does a high-accountability culture look like? Accountability cultures do not happen overnight. The culture evolves from one person or event to the next. One common denominator is that in accountability cultures everyone holds each other accountable for their commitments in a positive and productive manner.
As mentioned earlier, if you had ever had a relationship or a project fail, chances are high that failure occurred because specificity was missing at the front end and expectations weren’t clear. That relationship or that project failed because there were “accountability gaps.”
Accountability gaps are like potholes in a road. The gaps are holes that need to be filled quickly with specificity before greater damage is done. Just like potholes in the road need to be filled quickly with paving materials before the holes become so large that they damage the cars on the road, an “accountability gap” exists when specificity is missing.
Let’s take poor Max, who was hired by a large company. His boss told him, “Max, we’re glad to have you on the team, and as long as you do a good job, your employment with us is solid.” Unfortunately, his boss didn’t tell Max, specifically, what a good job looked like (count this as one pothole). When Max headed the team for a major project, the boss said, “Get that final report to me as soon as you can.” Once again, did that mean tomorrow or next week? Max did his best but the report was several days tardy in his boss’s eyes (another pothole).
By the time Max was fired, his tenure was rutted with potholes, lacking specificity and becoming deeper and causing more damage as the weeks and months went by.
Max failed because there was specificity missing in every expectation and assignment. Nothing was clearly stated at the front end… and when there’s no specificity on the front end, Max was set up to fail.
But, let’s not throw Max’s boss under the bus just yet. Max made a big mistake, as well. He “assumed” he knew what the boss meant when he was told to “do a good job” and to get the report completed “as soon as you can.” Assumptions dig deep potholes and are great contributors to accountability gaps leading to a failed project or relationship… and these lead to bad feelings, which become a vicious cycle of dysfunction.
Accountability is a two-way street. If you complete a task that was not specific and someone is disappointed in your work, you are the one who is considered unreliable. You’re past the point of no return. It’s too late for expectations. It’s a “gotcha” of the worst kind in every sense.
It is the role of both the sender and the receiver of the information to make sure all the potholes are filled before the task begins.
Use Specific Language
Avoid vague language such as “ASAP,” “I’ll get right on it,” “I’ll do my best,” or “I’ll turn it in by the end of the day.” These types of ambiguities are all part of the Glossary of Failure… and every one of these vague phrases increases the chances of relationship or project failure.
Like the three most important rules of real estate are “location, location, location,” the three most important rules in creating an accountability culture are “specificity, specificity, specificity.”
Practice making commitments, using the Language of Accountability by saying, “I will do it on ‘X’ date at ‘X’ time.” Rather than saying, “We’ll have the project completed by the end of the day,” tell your counterpart, “I’ll have it wrapped up by Tuesday, June 13th at 10 a.m., your time.”
Using the Language of Specificity will increase accountability and strengthen the accountability culture within your organization.
State It Once
A Culture of Accountability also helps eliminate redundancy.
Focusing solely on a problem and not on the solution wastes resources on redundancy. Everyone knows what the problem is… your energy and resources need to be focused on solving the problem. It may be productive to voice the problem once, but then it is time to move the momentum toward a solution to improve your position. Redundancy is not in many job descriptions.
A good example of the momentum of leadership would be a conversation like this:
Manager: “I’ve noticed Phil isn’t coming through with his assignments on time… and it’s getting to be a real problem for me.”
You: “I’ve also noticed that, too. What’s causing it? Where have we failed to set specific timelines and expectations?”
In pointing out that the failure may be on leadership’s shoulders, you’re looking into the mirror to find solutions.
State the problem once, eliminate redundancy, and move toward the solution.
Reverse the Momentum
Language momentum can be reversed… from any person in the organization.
Here’s an example:
In 1975, a movie about a mammoth killer shark was filmed. The title–Jaws.
After this shark has eaten a few tourists, a town meeting is called where the mayor, the chief of police, the city council and some influential business owners are all in attendance.
Many see no other option but to close the local beaches to fend off any more attacks and more bad publicity. However, businesses in the community want to leave them open. This is the “high” season for tourists and closing the beaches now will bankrupt most of the community.
The argument goes back and forth between the two factions for several minutes. No ground is gained and neither of the two sides is willing to give an inch or find a compromise. The meeting is at a stalemate. The upper echelon of the town’s organizational chart is stuck in the problem. The arguing is getting louder and louder.
Then, the gut-wrenching sound of nails being dragged down the blackboard interrupts the argument. Suddenly the room is silent and necks are craned to see a simple fisherman sitting at the back of the room near the blackboard. When he has the room’s attention, he quietly offers, “I can kill that fish for $6,000.”
That pronouncement, made by the somewhat obscure and low-profile fisherman (who was probably not on anybody’s org chart), changed the entire momentum of the meeting… and also changed the direction and focus of an entire town. The simple fisherman had taken on the leadership role, and from that point forward, the town’s momentum had shifted to assembling the team that would kill that shark!
That’s the way it can work in any situation. It’s the leader’s job to reverse the momentum of negative interactions– and anyone can be the leader regardless of their position on the organizational chart. You can reverse the momentum by applying your skills and energy toward a new, positive outcome. When a conversation is in the past (with celebrations as an exception) you are probably focused on a “problem” or, perhaps, assigning blame. However, by changing the momentum and focusing the dialogue on the future, you are now working on a “plan.”
In short, you have the power to identify Accountability Gaps during interactions and fill them with Specificity. You have the power to identify when an interaction is “going negative” and reverse the momentum so that everyone involved in the interaction benefits!
To find out how well you and your organization are doing at preventing Accountability Gaps, take the free Accountability Assessment.
Excerpted from Henry Evans’ book, Winning with Accountability: The Secret Language of High Performing Organizations (Cornerstone Leadership Institute, 2008).
Henry is co-founder and Managing Partner for Dynamic Results, LLC, providing coaching and consulting solutions to companies and individuals. He provides performance coaching to independent executives, as well as those in national organizations, helping each achieve their desired goals. He applies the knowledge and experience gleaned from numerous successes and a failure in his own career, augmented by the knowledge gained in working with his executive clients every day. http://www.dynamicresults.com
Questions and Answers
Ask our experts your Leadership related questions here…200 Characters left
In Chapter 3 of 7, Oregon winemaker Patty Green finds full overlap between her professional and personal pursuits. As a result, employee accountability and fit become even more important. She highlights the importance of employee and employer relationships and how this played into all Torii Mor employees following her to Patricia Green Cellars along with her farming partners. (01:43)
One of the best ways of limiting what your children are able to do on the Internet or on the computer is to limit their options. This can be done easily by creating a special User Account for each child. (02:22)
Windows makes it possible to have multiple user accounts. This is great because each user can have their own private files, sounds, wallpaper and other settings. Here’s how to create a new user account. (01:09)
Effective leadership across an organization is crucial for company success. Leadership surveys and employee surveys are highly effective tools for assessing and strengthening leadership.
Leaders often waste tremendous amounts of time with unacceptable behaviors of employees or peers. It is unnecessary. Effective leaders can enroll their entire team to remove these behaviors by using respect and choice and not threats or bribes.
Good, bad or indifferent; your “Boss,” or direct supervisor, is the one person who probably has the greatest impact on your work life. While the good ones excel at creating opportunities for growth and development, the bad ones have a way of mismanaging people right out the door.
Leadership in business involves having a clear vision of the direction you want your company to move in and then being able to communicate that vision to inspire others to make it happen. Getting derailed from this purpose or becoming bogged down in the day-to-day details of the business often leads to mediocre leadership. There are many different styles of leadership, but good leaders have in common certain ways of thinking.
Talent Management is still the most popular management orthodoxy today even though, when fully embraced, it creates tremendous waste. One would think smart leaders would question its efficacy after Enron and now even GE have had a downfall while using talent management to create sustainable success. Systems thinking and self-management are more effective that Talent management for long-term results.
This is how you can fashion a good team meeting, avoid making these things up. Leadership coaching experts speak about the constant change in the corporate world, and these ways have changed the team meetings are something.
If you have ever experienced a failure in a relationship or project, you may have found that, in hindsight, clear outcomes may not have been properly communicated to all of the players, thus there were accountability gaps. Successful teams cannot exist without accountability. It starts with understanding the truth and continues with the thoughts, words, and actions of everyone involved in your organization. Accountability is the key to long-term, sustained organizational success.
Use language in an intentional way to create a high-accountability culture. Learn to avoid the glossary of failure and instead use the language of accountability. The appropriate language will elevate performance and improve your communication efficiency.
Henry is co-founder and Managing Partner for Dynamic Results, LLC, providing coaching and consulting solutions to companies and individuals. He provides performance coaching to independent executives, as well as those in national organizations, helping each achieve their desired goals. He applies the knowledge and experience gleaned from numerous successes and a failure in his own career, augmented by the knowledge gained in working with his executive clients every day. http://www.dynamicresults.com
We have spent a lot of time talking with our users over the past year about what works (and perhaps more importantly, what doesn’t work!) when managing your short sale pipeline. One of the key differences between successful investors and agents and ones that struggle (and a key factor in improving your successful closing rates) is quite simply putting yourself in all involved parties shoes and finding common ground. You need to think about the motivations of the bank or lender, the homeowner, the real estate agent, the buyer(s), and any 2nd lienholders that drive the decision making process. Understanding how these motivations conflict with each other will help you find common ground to get deals closed.
Let’s run through them one by one!
The Bank or Lender (Primary Lienholder)
This is it – the big kahuna. The bank has the keys to the castle, so don’t underestimate their motivations when it comes to a short sale transaction. The bank’s short sale decision making process is driven by a single factor – money. Remember – the bank’s ideal situation is that you continue to make your payments on the agreed-upon schedule. This ensures that they make the interest on the loan and get the balance paid in full.
Let’s circle back to motivation. What motivates the bank to accept a short sale offer? If you guessed $$ Money $$, you are right! It’s a bit of an inverse situation though – banks get into loans expecting to be repaid the principal balance plus interest. In this case, you are asking them to take less money – and the only way that is going to work is by demonstrating that the alternative is even MORE less money. In other words, the burden of proof is on you to motivate the bank to accept your offer by proving to them that their financial position will be worse if they do not accept the short sale. This is typically done by carefully explaining to the bank what the outcome will look like if they go all the way to foreclosure, and then additionally proving that foreclosure is imminent.
So, let’s recap on how to motivate the bank -
Prove that foreclosure is a more financially damaging than a short sale and back it up with evidence! (See screenshot below) Prove that foreclosure is imminent and cannot be prevented and back it up with evidence! ( A good short sale hardship letter helps)
The Homeowner
The homeowner is in a different situation. They are falling behind on their payments, are hopelessly underwater, and it appears to them there is no way out!
Similar to how the bank is mitigating their losses in a short sale, the homeowner also wants to mitigate the damage to themselves and their families. The motivating factor for a homeowner to pursue a short sale is getting themselves out of a bad situation that is going to get worse. The interesting thing about a short sale from a homeowner’s perspective is that, unlike a typical home sale transaction, the homeowner / seller really does not care any more about the sale price of the house. This is because they are already underwater – and to them, getting out of $50,000 or $75,000 really isn’t significant – it is the getting out that is significant.
The only time that changes is when the lender is looking for the homeowner to assume a deficiency judgment. In that case, the homeowner will still be motivated to minimize the loss, since they will be responsible for it after the sale completes.
Use the homeowner’s motivation to get out of their situation to get them to play their part in the transaction – including providing necessary supporting documents about their financial situation and a good, strong hardship letter. It is best if you can negotiate away any deficiency judgment (HAFA properties will automatically have no deficiency) to keep the motivation of the homeowner strictly on leaving the property – but recognizes this directly conflicts with the bank’s motivation – money. Our recommendation in this scenario is to try to work for the homeowner’s benefit – carrying a deficiency without having any asset to back it up is not a fun situation to be in.
The Realtor
Like any real estate transaction, realtors want to close the deal and make commissions (under the guidelines of NAR or other realtor ethics codes). It’s their job, after all!
A motivating factor for agents is most certainly the time involved in a transaction. Time is money, and many real estate agents despise working with short sales because (yes, it is true) they take more effort than a standard transaction. Being in the middle of a real estate transaction is enough work, now you have to throw in the multi-month bank approval process and due diligence phase and deal with additional red tape, for the same commission.
Motivating realtors, then, can be done by improving their processes or saving them time. If you are the real estate agent, then your motivation should also be to save more time. If a particular home nets you a commission check of $2000, and it took you 30 hours to make it happen, vs. 60 hours for a similar check on a short sale, you worked for half the rate on the short sale! ($66 an hour vs. $33 an hour, respectively).
How do we improve time? By building efficiencies and work flows into the process, especially for repetitive tasks. Short sale software like Short Sale Artisan is certainly one way to improve efficiencies. So is a simple spreadsheet. Another one is simply making win-win situations right off the bat by reading blogs like this and understanding how to meet the motivations of the parties involved in a transaction to improve both rate of a successful close as well as reduce the effort needed for each transaction.
Another motivating factor for agents is simply business. They just want business – quantity is important! Even if agents do not like short sales, the bottom line is being a successful agent in today’s market depends on understanding and working the short sale process successfully. If you want to have a good pipeline of work going, then you need to include short sales in your portfolio.
The Buyer
The buyer’s motivation is the same in a short sale transaction as a normal transaction – it is all about getting the best price! Whether the buyer is an investor looking to eventually flip the property or a family looking for a place to live, the price is what matters. Many buyers are attracted to short sales and are motivated to work through one despite the onerous timelines and red tape simply because they often represent a good deal.
We again have a conflict here – the conflict that in a normal transaction exists between the Buyer and the Seller, in a short sale transaction is between the Buyer and the Lender. In a short sale, the buyer still wants the lowest price possible, but this time the lender, not the seller, wants the highest price.
Like any other real estate transaction, keeping a buyer motivated depends on their needs. For a family, it might be demonstrating a property to be a good family home, in a good neighborhood, or demonstrating a great value. For an investor, it might be demonstrating the ability to improve the value of the property and resell it at a future point in time, or keep it and rent it out. In any case, there is really nothing unique with the motivations of an end buyer in a short sale transaction to differentiate from your typical transaction.
The 2nd Lienholder or Subordinate Lender
The second lienholder, if there is one, has the exact same motivation as the first lender – money. So the same rules apply. The only additional wrinkle with the 2nd lender is that their “loss” in a short sale is typically much more than the first lenders. For example, a second lienholder may have a principal balance of $25,000 and only expect to recieve $1000 at closing – a measly 4% of the principal balance in such an example.
This is why the case needs to be ironclad that foreclosure is imminent (in which case, the 2nd lienholder would get nothing). The bottom line though: if there is any doubt as to the validity of the hardship, a $1000 check may not be enough to keep the lender motivated to accept the terms of the short sale arrangement. So it is doubly important to make your case well to these parties!
Keep the motivations of everyone in mind
The bottom line: when handling a transaction, you are effectively juggling the motivations of all parties involved in the short sale transaction. Keep that in mind when you are dealing with individuals, and you will close more deals and be able to find common ground when disputes occur quicker. Flexibility and some political posturing apply!
What are your thoughts on motivations and how to use them to inspire success? Post in the comments!
About Short Sale Artisan Nick Reuter is the owner of Short Sale Artisan, a web-based short sale platform that helps agents and investors on top of their workflow by quickly and easily calculating offers, generating documents, finding new leads, secure financing, and much more.
Visit Short Sale Artisan today and view our demo video for more information! You can also subscribe to our Art of Short Sales Blog for the best short sales news and information!
The financial hazards brought about by the contemporary economic downturn resulted to so many changes and trends in many industries including the real estate sector. The difficulties encountered in dealing with the continuous impacts of the recession paved the way for home owners to resort to massive home loss and giving up their valuable properties to short sale and foreclosure. The former is rather more preferred by home owners due to its lesser impact on their credit score shown in their credit reports.
What does short sale means and how does it affect the economy in the world of real estate as well the home owner who deals with it? Short sale is a settlement in this industry where the home owner decides to put up his property on the market for purpose of selling. The mechanics however states that the value or worth of the property is much lesser than the exact amount of the mortgage loan that the home owner owes to the mortgage provider of lender. In the process of putting a property for short sale, the owner needs to follow certain steps and methods in order to properly complete and validate his transactions.
It is then necessary that you hire someone who has sufficient knowledge in facilitating the short sale process from start to finish such as a real estate agent who is more knowledgeable in dealing with short sale issues. There are innumerable real estate professionals you can find through online sources and referrals from family and friends who have actual experience on their services. There are certain other dilemma you need to face and are bound to encounter hence make sure that the professional you hired can help your through the process and ensure successful results in the future.
What you need to do is to present your offer to the mortgage provider or lender and propose the property for short sale venture. Since you are selling the property in a much lower price than the outstanding balance you owe to the lender, most lenders are quite negative or not supportive with this kind of venture. In fact, established mortgage providers and banks have their own loss mitigation department that is in charge of short sale cases and issues. Through the help of your agent, you may present your proposal to the loss mitigation department for assessment and approval. Remember that there are already fixed standards used as criteria in determining if the property is qualified for short sale. However, if you have a good agent, you can creatively work your way in assuring that your offer will definitely pass through.
An imminent problem you may encounter is when the lender disagrees with your presented value or delays the process of short sale. When this happens, you may suffer losing a prospective buyer of the property even if you already have one because any transaction incurred without due approval by the lender is not considered valid.
More and more home owners experiencing financial difficulties are considering short sale especially as a rather more graceful exit in terms of losing their property. It is also a good alternative if you do not want to further taint your credit history for your future investments.
Short sales have the potential of being long, complicated and frustrating. However, if you take the time to plan and focus on the steps you need to take to make it successful then a short sale can end up being a great deal of all parties involved. One of the most important things to remember when going into a short sale is to be patient. It can take sixty to ninety days to get a short sale going, but if the right deal comes around it can be well worth the wait. Before you decide to go ahead with a short sale whether you are the buyer, lender, or property owner, always make sure you have expert assistance so that everything runs smoothly. Short sales can be tricky especially if you are not familiar with buying and selling property.
Step one to a successful short sale is contacting the lender. This should be done as soon as possible because it can take a lengthy amount of time to get the lenders approval. Quite often a lender will not even look at your case until you have an offer to negotiate. It is still important to contact the lender first thing, to make sure you know exactly what they will require before looking at your sale. Sometimes they will have a list for you of all the forms they will need to look at your short sale, and to negotiate a decision. Since this process can take awhile it is smart to have everything ready to go when the time comes to present your short sale to the lender.
Step two to a successful short sale is marketing. Market your property, and find some potential buyers. This can be tricky because the sale must still be approved by the lender. This can act for or against you in marketing. Some buyers will not want to wait for the lenders approval, but some will be enticed by the possibility of a great deal and want to wait it out. The best way to market your property is to work on pricing, staging. Staging includes making the home look attractive to the potential buyers, highlighting the best attributes of the property and making it look better than the competing properties around it. Pricing can be tricky, use the help of a professional to make sure you choose the right asking price to attract buyers without giving your property away.
Step three to a successful short sale is negotiating the agreement. This can take a little while because it is sometimes hard to find a buyer willing to wait the for the lender and pay the asking price. Usually short sale properties sell for less than the typical home in a given market. This can be because of the long wait included in a short sale, and usually because the owner of the property is usually in danger of foreclosure. Most likely the owner wants to get rid of the house as quickly as possible so the price goes down to speed up the process. Once you find a buyer and negotiate an agreement it is time to move onto step four.
Step four to a successful short sale is putting a package together for the lender. This just means getting together all of the paperwork the lender requires. If you completed step one, then this should be quick and painless. It will make for a much quicker interaction with the lender if you have everything ready to go before you talk with them.
Step five to a successful short sale is to call your lender. Find out how the lender wants all of your information sent, and make sure they get it. Usually it is smart to both mail and e-mail the package to the lender, just to make sure that nothing is lost. At this point you wait…hopefully not for too long. You can bet on a counter proposal, usually the lender does not take the first proposal. Make you as the realtor you are warning your buyers of this ahead of time. Once you can reached a negotiation with the lender, then the sale can be completed.
A successful short sale package begins with calling the lender who owns the loan or mortgage. Stipulations and requirements for these types of sales vary from bank to bank. The only way to know what is required of you is to make a phone call to the lending institution. Make sure you talk to the supervisor who is responsible for the final decision in the application process, not the “delinquent payment” department. It may take a few phone calls, but by talking to the person in charge you will be better informed about the entire sale process.
A letter of authorization is usually required to begin the process. The letter stipulates that the lender can talk directly with your real estate or closing agent, lawyer, or title company without you being present. This letter should include the address of the property, reference to the loan number, your name, current date, and your agent’s and/or lawyer’s name and contact information. While this letter is not required by law, it will simplify the process for the lending institution, thus making it more likely that they will approve the sale.
A typical short sale package includes a preliminary net sheet, a letter of hardship, proof of current income and assets, copies of the last three months of bank statements, a CMA (comparative market analysis), and, once the sale is finalized, a copy of the purchase agreement. A preliminary net sheet lists the expected sale price of the property minus the closing costs, realtor fees, unpaid loan balances, outstanding payments due, including late fees, and any accrued taxes that may be owed on the property. A realtor can usually prepare this sheet for you.
A letter of hardship is a letter that describes why you have fallen behind on your payments and why the sale of the property will be less than the amount owed on the mortgage or loan. This letter should by as truthful and heartfelt as possible, and should be written by you. In it explain why you have fallen behind on your payments. This could include unexpected medical expenses, a death of a wage earner, or a lost job due to layoffs or cutbacks. Most financial institutions look down on excuses that relate to being fired from a job, unexpected legal fees due to lawsuits, or divorce settlements. Remember that banks do not like to receive partial payment on an outstanding loan. You have to convince them that you need the help.
Proof of income and assets is a declaration of your current financial status. This should current income levels, backed up by back paycheck stubs and bank statements, any other properties or assets of value that you may own, any stocks or bonds you may own, or any number of other things that a bank may classify as collateral. Banks vary greatly on what they require to be included. Therefore, you will need to contact the lending institution to find out the details. Remember you want to be as honest and accurate as possible. Finally, a comparative market analysis will help prove that you cannot sell the property for the value of the loan. This analysis includes recent property values and impending market sales, and can be prepared by your realtor. Collect these documents and letters to create a successful short sale package.
You Can Stuff $7,000 Into Your Bank Account In Just 7 Days Thanks To A Renegade Real Estate Investor Willing To Expose Secrets Of The Greedy Gurus. Visit http://www.misuniversity.com
Regardless of whether you are a home owner attempting to get out from under a crushing mortgage payment, or a Realtor attempting to assist that home owner, you’ll need to understand all the steps necessary to get a short sale accomplished.
The short sale process can be long and complicated. The following steps are the most common steps required by most lenders to facilitate a short sale. The length of time to obtain an approval on a short sale request has risen significantly over the past twelve months. Some lenders are actively telling us that they need ninety days to review a short sale request.
One of the challenges of putting a short sale together, whether you are a property owner or a Realtor, is that many buyers are unwilling to wait sixty or ninety days to find out whether or not they’ve been able to purchase a home. There are many properties on the market for sale for a buyer to choose from without having to wait, so we have to entice a buyer to hang in on the transaction.
An additional complication occurs when the home owner has more than one mortgage against the property. There may be a second mortgage that the home owner took out at the time of purchase, or there may be a home equity loan or line of credit the owner used to make some improvement, or any other lien against the property.
Requesting a short sale, in a nut shell, is finding a buyer, negotiating an offer on the home, contacting the lender, obtaining all the documents the lender requires for approval, and then staying in contact with the lender until they approve, deny or counter your proposal.
As I stress in every article I write about short sales, have an expert assist you with this process. Seek the advice of an attorney, Realtor, accountant and any other professional you might require to insure the process is done correctly, and to insure you’re making the appropriate decision for your situation.
Step 1: Contact Your Lender for Information
Most lenders will not approve a short sale until there is an actual offer to negotiate. Banks and mortgage services are typically understaffed and very busy trying to work out situations with other clients who already have offers on their properties. They don’t have the time and resources to analyze every possibility.
However, since short sale approvals are taking considerable periods of time, it makes sense to find out who you need to speak with and what the lender requires the owner or Realtor to supply. In most cases, the lender has a “short sale” package that includes a list of all the forms the lender requires.
Step 2: Market Your Property and Find a Buyer
Marketing a property that requires a short sale may also be a challenge for several reasons. First, you must notify any potential buyers that any offer must be approved by your lender. This will scare some buyers away from your home because they don’t want to wait for someone else to approve the sale. This will attract some investors who believe they can “steal” the home, because they’ve seen on late night television that banks will accept almost any offer. This is simply not true. Although they may get a very good price, they are not likely to “steal” the home in the current environment.
The components of marketing any property successfully include pricing, staging and marketing. Staging is simply presenting your property in the best possible light in order to attract buyers to offer on your property rather than competing properties. Pricing entails carefully selecting the correct asking price in order to attract potential buyers. There are methods to selecting correct price positions based on recent sales and competing properties for sale.
Step 3: Negotiating an Agreement
The typical home requiring a short sale sells for a bit less than other properties. The primary reason for this anomaly is that the buyer must have a reason to go through the pain of purchasing a home through a short sale. Historically, short sale properties sold to investors because they were the few with the fortitude to wait weeks to months to find out whether or not the sale would actually go through.
Imagine the stress of moving to a new home and perhaps a new school district. Consider the stress on your family. Now add to that stress the idea that unlike most real estate transactions, where a buyer knows within a day or two whether or not the owner will accept the offer, the buyer may have to wait several months for an answer. Worse, if the lender accepts the buyers offer, the buyer needs to be prepared to settle and move quickly.
Most buyers who are selling another home need to plan their move very carefully. They can’t rely on the hope that this transaction will settle. They need to be out of their home by a certain date and need a place to move. If they have a sixty day window to move from their home and they won’t find out a response about the short sale from the lender for forty-five days, that gives them little or no time to find another home should this transaction fall through.
Because short sale transactions are typically limited to investors and those who do not “have” to move by a certain date, the pool of potential buyers is smaller than for that of other homes. Enticing buyers to purchase a short sale home over one that doesn’t have the same challenges often requires some consideration in price.
If you’re an owner is this situation, you may be offended at selling your property slightly below market, but please consider that the lender won’t allow you to receive any proceeds anyway, so you’re not taking that direct loss.
An added complication is that many of the owners of homes requiring a short sale are in default on their mortgage or at risk of default. That means that the owner may have to get the home sold more quickly than the typical home in the area. If the Sheriff is locking the doors and auctioning the home in ninety days and the typical market time in a slow market in your area is six months, you need to be priced below the market in order to attract buyers to your property first.
Step 4: Put Together a Short Sale Package for Your Lender
Hopefully, by the time you receive an offer on your property, you’ll already have the full short sale package and you’ll have started filling it out. It is imperative to get this package to the lender as quickly as possible and then to follow up with the lender to make sure they received it and that they are processing it.
Whether you are the home owner, negotiating with the lender directly, or a Realtor or attorney attempting to work on behalf of the home owner, there is a lot of information that needs to be provided to the lender. Some of the information will have to be filled out by the home owner, because it directly involves the home owner’s financial situation. Some of the forms are better prepared by a Realtor, title insurance agent or attorney.
Although every lender is slightly different, the typical documents required in a short sale package include:
1. A Cover Letter
2. An authorization for the Realtor or attorney to speak with the lender
3. Seller’s Hardship Letter
4. Hardship Documentation - Copies of documentation related to owner’s hardship
5. Seller’s Financial Statement or Income, Expense and Asset Worksheet
6. W-2 forms for past two years
7. Two months pay stubs
8. Two to three months bank statements
9. Repair estimate for any necessary repairs to property
10. Agreement of Sale or Contract to purchase the property
11. Realtor’s competitive market analysis
12. Photos of the home (interior and exterior)
13. Seller Net Sheet
14. Payoff statements from any other lenders or liens against the property
15. Preliminary HUD 1 settlement sheet
Other forms that the lender may ask for include:
1. Title search of the property
2. Special forms
Step 5: Start Calling the Lender!
Remember that there are many people in the same situation across the nation. Lenders are swamped with phone calls and packages. When you complete the package, call and email the lender to determine the best method to get the package to the lender. My suggestion is to send it to them in two forms.
If the lender tells you they’d like the physical package by mail, then I would express the package in order to insure the package gets to the lender quickly and in order to insure it is delivered and can be tracked by who signed for it. I would additionally scan the entire package and email it to the same person to whom you expressed the package.
My goal is to insure they have the package and can begin working on it. If the lender asks the information to be faxed, which some are now doing, I would again both fax it and email it.
Expect a Counter Proposal
Hopefully the lender will simply accept the short sale proposal as written and allow the sale to be consummated. Don’t be surprised if the lender refuses the initial offer and makes a counter proposal. Should this happen, you may have to go back to the buyer and ask for more money in order to settle the transaction.
If you are a Realtor, you should be preparing your buyers to understand that this is a negotiation. The lender may accept the deal, or may counter.
Getting to Settlement
As with any transaction, title insurance must be ordered and settlement must be scheduled. In instances where an owner may be behind on their mortgage or may be considering a short sale, a wise move for either the Realtor or home owner would be to contact an attorney, title agent or escrow company to run a preliminary title search of the property. Make sure there are no other liens against the property.
Once a lender agrees to accept a short payoff, the owner needs to be ready to move quickly to complete the transaction.
Loren Keim Author of “How to Sell Your Home in Any Market” Author of “The Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate” Author of “Short Sales: Step by Step”
Loren Keim is a national authority on real estate and the housing market. Keim is the author of several best selling how-to books about real estate, including How to Sell Your Home in Any Market, The Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate and Real Estate Prospecting: The Ultimate Resource, and training systems for Realtors. Keim is also the editor-in-chief of Real Estate Investment Digest and Pennsylvania Farm & Ranch Magazine, and is a real estate broker and president of Century 21 Keim Realtors in Pennsylvania.
As an authority on the housing and real estate market, Keim performs an economic analysis and housing projections for Lehigh University’s Goodman Center in Bethlehem, PA. Keim has appeared on television and radio programs to talk about the housing market and the recent real estate crisis, and has been a speaker at national conventions.
Keim’s publication, Real Estate Investment Digest, is read by tens of thousands of investors across the United States. Keim writes blogs for BrokerAgentSocial and ActiveRain.
Entries (RSS)