It has been almost 1 whole month since I have had a minute to jump on here and post something. I apologize for that. Let’s not worry about that and let’s talk about what is happening in our economy.  The stimulus has been signed and we will all receive some kind of rebate. The Fed is cutting interest rates and giving money to people to spend. Let’s hope they spend it fast so our GDP goes up. Obama and Clinton are still neck in neck, and on the republican side we have McCaine and Huckabee who will not drop out. Today I heard a little bit on what Obama plans to do with the economy… he sounds like a dictator! He is too inexperienced to be president. Hilary Clinton should not be president either because of the same reasons as Obama. McCaine should just stop fooling people and run as a democrat… Huckabee, I don’t know much about but I know that I like him more than the others. He is pretty straight forward and I like that. Well, to the economy now. Prices of homes are dropping more and more… so we haven’t hit bottom yet! Loan limits will be going up in the next 60 days in California, which I think is huge. We just have to wait and see what the banks hits will be to borrowers. Commercial properties in California are taking a huge hit as well. We will soon here if we are in an official recession or not. Interest rates will be lowered again but bonds are tanking which means interest rates on loans will go up. It is a crazy unpredictable market. Unemployment has gone up and is still moving in that direction. This is all pretty depressing. Basically, in a nut shell, our economy is hurting significantly and we are soon going to have a president that will be a HUGE mistake! We are not in good shape as America right now. Tell me what you think.

talkrealmoney.com

Yesterday, January 22, 2008, the feds lowered interest rates by .75%. Three quarters of a point is a huge drop in interest that the fed lends out on. Everyone anticipated a .50% drop. Why did this happen? Well I believe it was for the global market. You see, European markets took a huge hit. Bernanke, our chief Fed, announced the cut a week earlier of the scheduled rate cut in order to help the global markets. Well, it worked minimally. Things went decently (which is better than what we have been seeing) for about a day. All the markets around the world, including ours is declining. Everyone is selling off. That is not good market activity. Therefore, interest rates must come down even more. There is already speculation that the feds will be dropping another 75 basis points (.75%) on interest rates. It sounds like we are in the recession already. Is it to late Mr. Bernanke? I DON”T KNOW! How do you think you will be affected by the interest rate cut? You should really look into it.

takrealmoney.com

So I have been doing a lot of research and talking to many successful to very successful people today. I am trying to get their input for what is happening in our marketplace. With an economy decreasing steadily, it is very easy to strike up a conversation with an old-timer who has been through this before. Almost everyone I speak to has very similar opinions on what is happening. When I ask them what they would do if they were still in the game now, they all have very similar answers. I can proudly say that I am on the same page as them and have been. People might think my ideas are risky, though I know what I am getting into from the economics I study. I analyze to the fullest and am still willing to take risks. That is because the risk is minimized by the knowledge of knowing what is going on. The key is to educate yourself to the fullest if you are serious about making money. It takes time, but it’s worth it! Real estate for instance is more of my niche in expertise. What do you think is the best way to make money right now or start now to make a lot of money down the line? Tell me what you think or what you are doing…

I will share more on what I will be doing soon.

talkrealmoney.com

Our Federal Reserve chief, Ben Bernanke, testified on what vehicles he thinks could help the weak economy improve. He already has the support of the Congress and the Bush Administration to implement some sort of short term economical stimulus. He made it clear that if we use this vehicle of stimulus, it must be implemented very quickly. If we were to have the effects of a stimulus like the one proposed in a growing economy, it can hurt it. Therefore, it must be put in affect quickly. Well, let’s look at how this can really play out. The stimulus plan is to rebate back, through taxes or other avenues, 150 billion dollars to the consumers. The feds want to give us money to spend it basically. I will do the math for you in a minute. It is not a guarantee fix though. All the big dogs (Merrill Lynch, CitiGroup, Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, and CBS just to name a few) are all reporting losses and say that we are in a recession. Bernanke though will never say recession unless we are in one. So if they were to expedite the stimulus plan, we can see it as early as the end of this month. Now, how much money will that put in your pocket and what do they want you to spend it on? There are about 300,000,000 people in the US according to the Gov. Census: http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html. $150,000,000,000/300,000,000 = $500eachWe have a 13-14 trillion dollar economy! Will this stimulus really work? 150,000,000,000/13,000,000,000,000 = 0.0115384615 That is an effect of right over 1% of our economy. Regardless, the Fed still believes that this will help. I suppose something is better than nothing. I suppose we could just let the market take its course though too. Well, what will you use your $500+ for? That’s what I want to know. The Feds want us to put it back into economy. That is, “in things that are domestically produced.” (Bernanke)  Those things will help improve our economy. What will you really spend your rebate on though?

TRM talkrealmoney.com

I loved this little segment from CNBC: “One man’s trashed house is another man’s treasure” ( http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=624366855&play=1) .It is about a man and his wife who thought they could never afford a house in California. In the video, Jeremy Duncan, say’s that when they first looked at the house they wanted, it was $318,000. He took advice from his banking friends and waited for a fall in the housing market. He is fortunate now because he is in escrow for $230,000 for that same property.  I watched it this morning and I thought to myself, this is what I am talking about. I have been entertaining the thought of buying houses as you might have read before. I personally believe that this might be an opportune time to buy. I am already trying to help a friend, whom is a first time homebuyer, find his amazing deal. They are popping up everywhere. The foreclosure market, though increasing drastically, can also be a very profitable opportunity to all those who are renting. Don’t let foreclosures scare you, this can be a dream come true for you. Tell me what you think…

I will start this blog by simply defining a recession and then seeing if that is where we are in the economy as we speak. According to good old Webster, a recession is defined as a period of reduced economic activity. Let’s look into this definition and see what that really means. Unemployment is high at around 5 percent and that means people are going to have less money. When people don’t have money to spend, then there is less market activity. That is a really simplified version of a part of what causes a recession.  You see, that is why Bernanke cut rates and the talk about a higher tax refunds is circulating. Is it to late though? When energy, oil, and health care are going up, and job security is going down, will this not also be a huge factor in people spending money? Absolutely it will. The value of the dollar has fallen more and we are really looking like a weak economy. I am constantly reading about Bernanke and all the other economists predicting a 50/50 chance of a recession in 2008. Some argue it’s already here. What do you think? How long will it last? In definitions of recession, it usually states that it takes 6-12 months if not more to get through. What will this mean for you?I will post a blog soon about how people can make money in a recession. It has been done!TRM Talkrealmoney.com

Wow, I am just amazed at how high Gold is and will be. I can still buy and make money even now at $900.10 USD an ounce! Is this the next big boom? Is this a gold rush in the making? Real Estate was a great boom. Will we ever have that again? I hope that I am young enough to take advantage from both if or better said when they do. Gold is already going there, and buying Real Estate is now and more to come. I don’t believe we are in a full blown buyers market yet. But when we are, it will be substantially beneficial to buy and manage your homes for the next boom in about ten years.(If history in deed repeats itself) Though I am attracted to getting into Gold, I know that a house is far more valuable than Gold. It will probably be like that forever. There really isn’t a reason for me to even elaborate on that. Just think about it. I will never be able to sell Gold to a person that needs shelter! Would you?

You might ask yourself: Is it a smart investment to buy real estate right now?  How secure is this investment as we speak? I have been asked by friends and family if this is the best time to buy? I almost don’t even want to answer these questions. I have been around the block when it comes to knowledge on the housing market. I say that because I have seen the front picture of the boom and the behind the scenes of the boom.  I now see the aftermath! The problem is that I am not a fore-teller of the future. If I was, I would be retired and would have retired by age 21. All jokes aside, the market is struggling. Although, interest rates are still exceptionally low. There is always pros and cons to a current market. So what makes sense when it comes to buying a house? If we look at history, we see a rise and a fall about every 10 years in the housing market. The real question to ask is: Is this the bottom or have we hit the bottom yet? People are debating this as we speak. If a house has gone down in price significantly and it is still worth more than it was 10 years ago, I would say that it was a wise investment. In California, where I reside, this is the case. So if this cycle is to play out like it has in the past, prices drop and they will come back up. The reason why real-estate is so secure is because you can actually see it and touch it. People will also want it one day too. Find the deals, buy them up, and hold on to them. I see these deals come through my office all the time. I know they are out there. (I am in mortgage banking) Think long term not instant profit. That will be one of the key roles in investing in real estate. Just make sure you can afford it…  Put your money on this as I have: What goes up will come down and what’s down will be back up eventually! Its history!

Well here is TRM’s big: HELLO WORLD! TRM is so excited about what is to come… There is so much to talk about. There is just not enough time in the day. There are a few more technical issues to resolve on the administrative side before TRM is fully launched. If you happen to visit in the meantime, WELCOME! You are fortunate because you will be one of the first to profit from here. TRM will fill you in on how really soon. Stand by.