The following article explains and enlightens about how lenders and the IRS are dealing with debts after short sales or foreclosures:

What You Need to Know about Cancellation of Mortgage Debt

More Information on Avoiding Foreclosure & Homeowners Options

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After the new California carbon monoxide meter law took effect in July 2011, scammers found a new way to make money. 

To avoid being the scammers’ next victim I recomend to read the following article in Tracy Press : “Safety Requirement May Be Scam Opportunity”

Carbon monoxide meters are available in most major warehouses and stores like Walmart, Costco, Orchard Supply and many others and cost no more than  $25 to $40.

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• Fire officials warn of carbon monoxide detector scam (latimesblogs.latimes.com)

home with the tax credit:

Tax Credit & Tax Refund

 Realty World Corral Hollow Real Estate and Property Management is investing a lot of time, money and effort every year to make this event a memorable one for many Tracy residents.  

Once again Sue Langdon and Jennifer West as owners, its agents and property management staff, are working feverishly to “deck the halls” to be ready just in time for Santa’s visit this weekend. Preparations are well on their way: candles lit, presents wrapped, and the Christmas tree has already been decorated and lighted; the holiday spirit is here. We welcome children of all ages!

Welcome to all of our returning customers who are back year after year to have their children and now also their grandchildren to be photographed with Santa.

Every family with children will have pictures taken with Santa Claus, kids receive a bag filled with goodies from Santa Claus and will automatically enter in a drawing for a bicycle, all this at no cost.

Families are encouraged to enter in a drawing to take home a decorated Christmas tree at the end of the day.

Refreshments: cookies and soft drinks – and while waiting for a visit with Santa, movies for the kids will be provided. Pictures will be ready for pickup the same day.

Date: December 11^th, 2010

Time: 10:00am – 2:00pm

Location: 104 W. 10^th Street, Tracy, CA 95376

Please contact me for more detailed information: eva@evabradley.com, 209-914-0683

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Today is Staint Nicholas Day in Europe.

In European countries December 6th is a much anticipated day by children: Saint Nickolas Day. On this special day, St. Nick surprises children with treats if they behaved well during the year. Those who were naughty, receive coal and sticks from St. Nicholas’ helper, Knecht Ruprecht.

On the evening of December 5th, children of all ages shine their shoes and then place them on the window sill. During that night, St. Nicholas makes a stop at each house. On the morning of December 6th, the children awake with excitement to see their treats.

When I was a young child, my sisters, my brother, and I always did a very thorough job cleaning our boots. My father always checked each one to see if it was acceptable for St. Nick’s visit.

The presents were placed in the shoes or boots in a small see-through bag that contained a few pieces of nuts, an orange (which was a rarity those days) and some small pieces of chocolates or lollypops. We were poor, so my siblings and I appreciated it very much. Not only because of the goodies, but because we knew that Christmas Eve would be extra special that year. The belief is that St. Nicholas and the Angels share the list of naughty and nice children. Therefore, getting treats from St. Nick instead of coals and sticks also meant that on Christmas Eve the Angels would not only bring the Christmas tree, but a present sent from Heaven as well.

I raised my own children with this same magical tradition and story. I am very pleased to see that they are passing it on to their own children, my grandchildren. It is not the big and expensive toys that make Christmas special. Small inexpensive things with the right magical story can make life long memories that they will cherish and pass down to their own children. That is worth a lot more and those memories are priceless.

Happy St. Nicholas Day to all!

Related articles

• Remembering Celebrations of St. Nicholas Day (blogcritics.org)
• Weird Christmas Traditions Around The World (socyberty.com)

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There is a desperate need for bone marrow donors to save the lives of people suffering from leukemia and other life-threatening illnesses. 

Please join the National Donor Registry for this Marrow Drive to help several local cancer patients to have life saving Bone Marrow Transplant.

It is a painless procedure and no blood involved – it is a simple check SWAB. 

For more detailed information on Bone Marrow Transplant and the Registry of Bone Marrow Transplant please visit www.projectmarrow.org

 Tracy Bone Marrow Drive

Friday, November 12, 2010

12pm-6pm

104 W 10^th Street, Downtown Tracy

Inside Realty World Corral Hollow Real Estate

Be a Hero!

Have questions or concerns?  Please call Mitra Behnam at 209-740-2764

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• Why You Should Join the Bone Marrow Registry (self.com)

Toys “R” Us released its annual list of hot holiday toys. The retailer selected three dozen toys it expects will be popular this year, and named 15 of those as the hottest of the bunch…..Read full article.

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• 100 Days til Christmas Countdown & Free Planning Resources (forthemommas.com)

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According to the BBB Better Business Bureau article: “The housing market in the United States may not be thriving, but business is booming for foreclosure rescue and loan modification scammers.” Don’t be a victim of a scam – if you think that an offer to help with foreclosure or loan modification issues sound to good to be true, seek help or ask for a second opinion from a legitimate source. Read more…. 

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Mortgage Interest. For most homeowners, the bulk of your mortgage payment is going towards interest – and that’s a big tax break for you! The mortgage interest on your primary residence is fully tax deductible, unless, of course your loan is more than $1 million.

You can also deduct late payment charges as home mortgage interest as long as the payment was not late due to a specific service received in connection with your home loan. Also, if you pay off your mortgage early and incur a prepayment penalty, you can deduct that penalty as home mortgage interest (subject to the same requirements for late payments).

Property Taxes. Your property taxes – the annual taxes based on the assessed value of your property – can also be deducted. Your mortgage interest statement may list the amount of real estate taxes you paid if your taxes and homeowners’ insurance went into an escrow account when you closed on your mortgage. You can also review your cancelled checks to determine your total real estate tax deduction.

Loan Points. Any points you paid to get a better rate on a home loan, are tax deductible in the year you made the purchase as long as:

• The loan is secured by your primary residence and it was used to buy, improve or build the home.
• Paying points is an established business practice in your area;
• The points are computed as a percentage of the loan principal;
• The points are clearly defined on the buyer’s settlement statement; and
• You put cash into your home purchase in an amount at least equal to the points you were charged.  

Loan Points on a Refi. The points you paid on a refinanced loan may also be tax deductible, however in most cases, the points must be deducted over the life of the new loan. So if you paid $2,000 in points to refinance a 30-year mortgage, you can deduct $5.56 per monthly payment, or a total of $66.72 if you made 12 payments in one year on the new loan.

Interest on a Home Equity Loan. The interest on a home equity loan may be tax deductible up to $100,000. However, if your home equity loan, when combined with your first mortgage amount, increases the debt on your home to an amount more than the property’s actual value, you’ll face deductibility limits. In these cases, the IRS allows you to deduct the smaller of interest on a $100,000 loan or your home’s value less the amount of your existing mortgage.

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Changing your passwords to log on to your computer or access critical stored information gets you in the habit of having a different one every so often. At the same time, it reduces the chance that someone else will be able to “break in” to your computer files or online information. Experts caution though that you should n’t “sequence” your passwords to make them easier to remember. If someone gets hold of an old password of yours, “green03,” and it doesn’t work, it won’t take long for your average computer hacker to guess the new password is “green04″ or “green05.”

It’s a good idea to have different passwords for different things. This can be hard to do in practice because there are so many things needing passwords. Experts say having a couple different passwords can be helpful. Use one for less important things like your log on to the New York Times online or an Internet message board, and another, more complex one for more important things like your online banking or the place you store sensitive business documents on your hard drive.

Try to vary your passwords by using things that aren’t easy to guess or find out, like your Social Sec urity number, your birthday, or child’s name. Another good idea, experts say, is including both letters and numerals in passwords. A good way to do this is to substitute numbers that look most like the vowels for a, e, i and o. “A” can be “4″, “E” can be “3″, “I” can be “1″ and “O” can be “0″. A password for an “agent” might be “4g3nt.” These letter/number combinations are harder to guess but also, harder for a hacker to remember if they somehow are able to see them very briefly.

Whatever you do to make it easy for you to remember your passwords but hard for others to guess, consider changing your passwords when you change your clocks, detector batteries and replace any broken sprinkler heads. You may be very glad you did!

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