EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR MINORITY STUDENTS

Education is the key to success, it is important to be qualified for the type of career you want to pursue. If money is an obstacle to furthering your education, then here is an opportunity; you must act quickly.

Wake Forest University has an opportunity for minority students to attend its MBA program for FREE, and so far, the response has been very poor. Please pass along this opportunity to your friends, families, and networks to see if there is an interest. This is a great school and a tremendous opportunity to attend a top graduate school. See details below. The contact person is: Derrick S. Boone, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Marketing Room 3139 Worrell Professional Center Babcock Graduate School of Management Wake Forest University 1834 Wake Forest Drive Winston-Salem , NC 27109-8758 derrick.boone@mba.wfu.edu http://mba.wfu.edu/ Telephone - 336.758.4475 Fax - 336.758.4514 I wanted to let you know about a great opportunity here at Wake Forest where you can get a FREE education and get PAID while you're doing it. Our Dean of the Schools of Business is the former CEO of PepsiCo and very committed to diversity. He's gone around to his CEO friends, who have agreed to donate a bunch of money to pay tuition and fees, provide a stipend and a job to diverse students. The details are below. The problem is, response to the program has been dismal! As a faculty member, I would be embarrassed for him to have to tell his CEO friends, "thanks so much for your donation, but unfortunately I have to give it back because we couldn't find any students who wanted it." Don't worry about whether or not you have taken the GMAT, etc. All you need to do at this point is JUST APPLY. In business, you have to act when the opportunity is presented and that is now. The Master of Art in Management program is designed specifically for liberal arts majors only. The MA degree program is a 10-month intense study of the basic functional areas of business. After graduation and working for approximately two years, all MA graduates are eligible to apply to Wake Forest as part of the MA/MBA joint degree program and get the MBA in one year. The new dean, Steve Reinemund, has created a new scholarship for diverse students pursuing the MA degree called the Corporate Fellowship. The Corporate Fellowship provides full tuition and a $21,000 stipend to cover living expenses. Additionally, each Corporate Fellow will participate in a practicum. The practicum has two components, educational and professional development. Each student will be assigned a mentor that is a high level executive with his or her sponsor corporation. The mentor will oversee an educational project covering four of the functional areas of business using their own corporation as the ! subject. The student will visit the corporation 3 - 4 times during the program to present his/her results of their research project. Additionally, the "professional development" component of the fellowship provides career coaching and leadership development for the students. The goal for the corporation is to be able to groom and hopefully hire a top candidate from a diverse background for their organization. Of course, there is no obligation that the students accept any offer of employment. Still, the student benefits, even if their sponsor corporation does not ultimately hire them in that they have the MA degree and the type of experience that will make them more marketable.

MAN BITES DOG

MAN BITES DOG

That's an interesting title. Man Bites Dog is actually the name of a card game that my husband and I play when entertaining guest at our home. The object of the game is to make headlines from the cards you are dealt. Hey they sounds like blogging and real estate. In real estate you are dealt cards; you have to make things happen with what you have. Now this article is not about a man actually biting a dog, but how animals are bitten, so to speak, by abandonment.

In real estate we owe our fiduciary to our client and his family, we are to be honest, confidential and to protect from harms way as far as any real estate transactions we are, or will, or were involved in. Does that also apply to the four (4) legged member of that household? Of course there is no confidentiality, or honesty involved, but what about protect?

Hmmmm, protect, what does that mean? Let's suppose you list a property on a short sale that is due to foreclose in the very near future. The Seller advises you that they are moving out of state and the home will be vacant by the end of the week.

Few days later you enter the home to access the condition, and who meets you at the door? FLUFFY!

Fluffy is hungry, dehydrated and scared. He is so thirsty that when he "meows", his voice cracks as a result of a parched throat. SO WHAT WOULD YOU DO? a) Immediately shut the door and pretend you didn't know; b) Take Fluffy home with you; c) Call the Seller and give him a piece of your mind; d) Call the Shelter to pick up the cat?

Thousands upon thousands of animals are abandoned each year, and the numbers will get higher as the foreclosure rates increase. As a real estate practitioner, I feel that we have responsibilities to our client, the customer, and the extended family; yes even their animals.

If you find that the family leaves their pets, it can be as a result of one or two reasons; 1) They could not find the animal at the time they left - (surely they would ask you to watch out for the pet or 2) Abandonment - they had no intention of taking the animals.

We are fortunate that here in the Phoenix, metro area, there are several agencies to help distressed animals. For dogs: http://www.valleydogs.org/ and for other animals http://www.animalrescuecenter.org/ . If you find you are looking in the big brown eyes of Fido, or Fluffy - don't become the Man Bites Dog headline - be a rescurer!

I have homes for sale throughout the Valley whose pets have found loving homes, please visit my website: http://www.homes4saleaz.com/ to give your pet a new home.

HOUSING PRICES ARE LOW IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA

HOUSING PRICES ARE LOW IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA

Why are housing so low in Phoenix, Arizona? I am asked this question over and over again from people who live in other parts of the United States, and abroad. "Why are the prices of the houses in Phoenix, Arizona so low? I say they are not low, they are normal! Yes, I said normal. I am not losing my mind, I am perfectly sane. Phoenix has always had wonderful pricing on homes, that is why we have grown by leaps and bounds in terms of our population. Affordable homes, in a warm climate, with beautiful winters, gorgeous blues skies and mountains galore is what keeps people flocking to the twenty-one (21) cities affiliated with the Phoenix metro area.

Greed, inflation, ignorance, and the old theory of supply and demand is what drove the home prices through the roof. As a result of these acts, Phoenix sadly carries the title of being one of the top foreclosure capitals of the USA. Yes, Phoenix, Arizona is on the map as a state that has the second highest rate in foreclosures.

How did this happen? Well, there are many theories as to why we are in this dilemma, here are a few:

1) The Investors Did It; they depleted the inventory by purchasing four, five, six homes in new home subdivisions which spurred a bidding war between the Investor and the Local Home Buyers; the "old supply and demand" theory, prices go up when inventory goes down,

2) The "Out of Towners Did it; they saw that housing prices were so low that they purchased all the inventory which caused a bidding war between the Out of Towners, Investors and the Local Home Buyers; again, the "old supply and demand" theory, prices go up when inventory goes down,

3) The Lenders Did it; they financed homes for people who could not afford the houses that were over priced due to the bidding wars between the Out of Towners, the Investors and the Local Home Buyers; again, the "old supply and demand" theory, prices go up when inventory goes down,

4) The Appraiser Did It; they were in cahoots with the Lenders who gave the pricing guidelines for the houses that the "Out of Towners, the Investors and the Local Home Buyer purchased,

5) The REALTORS Did it; because they sold the homes to the Out of Towners, Investors, and the Local Home Buyer who got the money from the Lenders at the prices that the Appraiser set as the pricing guidelines ..... and on and on, and on.

The facts are cloudy as to WHY it happened, but IT DID happen, and we are now paying the price - or are we?

If you look at what the housing prices were in 2004 at the time before the housing boom, we are pretty much where we would have been in pricing if we had stayed on a normal course of inflation and equity building. Exception are short sales which are considerably lower than most bank owned or seller owned properties on the market for sale today.

The challenge lies in home owners owing more to the mortgage companies than what the homes are current being valued in terms of sales. Most homeowners are upside down on their mortgages; owe more on the home than what similar homes are selling for in a community.

Additionally, a great number of homes that are currently in foreclosure were financed with subprime loans where rates have adjusted to record breaking heights with more adjusting to be levied between now and 2011. When those loans adjust, the mortgage payments will be unapproachable by the homeowner, subsequently he will lose the home adding to more unsold inventory.

Oh by the way, the Investor couldn't make money on the homes, so he dumped the homes back in the market, or abandoned them completely. And a home buyer today who is looking to purchase a home, is ..... well, he is sitting pretty.

He is sitting pretty because today, he can buy a home for almost half the price that the original buyer purchased it for during the housing boom. Additionally, a buyer can catch a better deal if the Seller convinces the mortgage company to accept a lower pay off on the home. This type of procedure is known as a "short sale", which can help the new buyer save even more money on the purchase of a home.

Example of a Short Sale Pricing





6BR, 4 BA, 3735sf, built 2005, Original Purchase Price $224,160, on sale for $84,500. Pricing is subject to Lender Approval on a Short Sale.

So in answer to your question as to why HOUSING PRICES ARE LOW IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA, it can be explained in one word

F-O-R-E-C-L-O-S-U-R-E-S.

IT'S IN MY BONES

Often times I stand in front of my mirror to see if I could catch a glimpse of my ancestors as though their reflection would suddenly appear in the background behind my image. Of course I can see my physical resemblances of my parents, grandparents, and siblings, but what about the originals whose shoulders I stand on today who gave their lives to elevate me. What do they look like, what were their values, and accomplishments.

TRAIL BLAZER

In looking at my family history, I find many accomplishments from as early as the 1800's, where my Great Uncle James Carroll Napier co-founded the first savings and loan in Tennessee, which is now the Citizens Bank in Tennessee.

Did you know, that there were five African- Americans whose signatures appeared on U.S. Currency? Here is the best part, my great uncle James Carroll Napier was one of them! The other three were Blanche K. Bruce, Judson W. Lyons, and William T. Vernon and the only female Azie Taylor Morton. These distinguished African Americans served as Registers of the Treasury. Today the $2.00 Silver Certificate where my Great Uncle's signature appears is a rare collectors items worth $1999.

Great Uncle James Carroll Napier
















My great grandmother S0phie Napier Watkins was the niece of James Carroll Napier and was the Cook at the Helen Keller estate, during Helen's youth. Because of the perseverance of my cousin Thomas McKnight she is now being honored by having her picture posted at the "cooks" house at the Keller museum in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Today when I have the opportunity to watch the movie "The Miracle Worker", staring Pattie Duke and Ann Sullivan, I still cry because I am able to visualize their presence there. My great grandfather, Sophie's husband was a preacher, a self sustaining black man in Alabama - imagine that!




(See article)http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20081013/ARTICLES/810130317/0/NEWS#



Sometimes when speaking with my peers, the conversation would always come around to heritage. Some people would say they were part Irish, or German, part this, part that, and I would respond by saying I am part "everything". I started out African and finished African American. What that means is I am all nationalities; I come from many, and yet know of a few. However the few I do know have touched the lives of others through their works, and their tenacity to excel in adverse conditions.





They were cooks, bankers, preachers, and maybe even Kings of their beloved Africa. They suffered much, achieved more, and left a resounding message to their decedents that all things are possible, never give up, and make your own dreams come true.

I live by that credo when working with my clients in real estate, I believe in honesty, hard work and integrity and never giving up. So when I look in the mirror, I do see their reflection in everything I do, because after all it is in my blood, it is my heritage, and is a legacy I will not let die because .......

IT'S IN MY BONES.












































































































































http://www.usrarecurrency.com/1899$2SilverCertificateFR253CGACU64SnE57082746.htm