Foreclosure Heat Map

Roll your mouse around below if you'd like to feel the foreclosure heat in the USA right now.  It's pretty amazing, and it can be read in several ways.  It's sad - I agree.  We think of all the people who have and will loose their homes.  This is true.  I feel for these folks, but I simply ask that for a moment you look at the facts on the flip side, one in particular - there has never been a better time to buy a home as when prices are so deflated, and rates so historically low.  The New York Times reports (in an article published yesterday) that even "The big investors are wooed by what they see as vast opportunity.  There are close to 650,000 foreclosed properties sitting on the books of lenders."  With opportunity on the rise, "An additional 710,000 are in the foreclosure process, and according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, about 3.25 million borrowers are delinquent on their loans and in danger of losing their homes."  So, this also creates a major surge in the rental market.  Naturally families are being forced to move, and find less expensive housing situations.  NY Times continues "With so many families displace from their homes by foreclosure, rental demand is rising," and the case is definitely true here in Jackson, MS.  Rental demand is stronger than ever, and investment properties are now more valuable than they have ever been in our Mississippi economy.


Lastly, you'll see here that this active chart shows which how many foreclosures are in each state.  Thankfully Mississppi isn't at the top of the list, but because of the Perfect Storm created by our economy we are able to reap the benefits of low lending rates and overall depressed housing prices nationwide.  This coupled with the fact that the Wall Street Journal (article from August 2010) labelled Jackson, MS the tenth strongest real estate investment market in the nation means one simple thing - Now is the time to acquire investment properties in Jackson.

Makes you think doesn't it...  We'll if it does - one of the Licensed Real Estate Brokerages that I operate specializes in Asset Acquistion and Property Management.  You can check it out here.  Holler if your interested, or if you need Property Management here in Jackson for houses you've already purchased.

Follow Your Passion

This video was shot last summer in France.  The short clip here on the blog is just a trailer to the full length 40 minute documentary which will go live (free, and available for download) tomorrow 11.11.11 on their adventure blog Sebmontaz.com.

It got me thinking - as it will for you too - are you following your passion?  Am I working at things that stretch me, that push me, that I can be endlessly growing in?  Am I pushing?

Check out the clip and enjoy.

I Believe I can Fly ( flight of the frenchies). Trailer from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.

Google Encrypts Search to Thwart Wi-Fi Hackers | Threat Level | Wired.com

Google Encrypts Search to Thwart Wi-Fi Hackers | Threat Level | Wired.com:

Which raises an important question:

What are you doing to protect your clients?

I know that at JXN Housing (our property management business) we take very seriously the confidentiality of all our clients and customers. Here's just your reminder - be careful, keep good records, and make it clear to your customers and clients that you are diligently protecting them. Remember the seven protected classes, tape them above your PC screen.

Google just gives us a good reminder - We should all be going to great lengths to protect our clients and customers.

Keep a steady look out,

Dallis

'via Blog this'

Google

If you've ever got the opportunity to attend a Google seminar - don't miss it. The Google Adwords seminar here in Nashville has been a mind-bending couple of days, and I can't wait to get home and implement the things I've learned. The power of advertising through Google to not only manage, but maintain and analyze the incoming traffic is a remarkably perceptive set of tools. Think of the power of being able to adjust every detail of how, where, to whom and when you advertise your entire business... Pretty amazing stuff!

A preview of Gmail’s new look - Official Gmail Blog

A preview of Gmail’s new look - Official Gmail Blog

Watch out! A new look is coming to your inbox. If you're a Google Calendar user then you've seen a little preview of what's to come. There are cleaner lines and a "less is more mentality" sifting quietly through Google Think Tank - and I like it. Check out this entry from the official Gmail Blog to find out more.

The Digital Whiteboard of My Mind

Remember Everything?

Have you got so many ideas in your head, and you can't quite get them all out?

I know we've all got our own ways of keeping notes or planning our goals, but if you haven't tried the remarkable (and free) app and web service called Evernote then... you have no idea what you are missing.  It is outstanding.  I think about it as the (digital) whiteboard of my mind.  Think about it like this:

You work in an office that is one room in a series of hallways in an office building.  In your line of work (as an entrepreneur think about all the different things you do everyday) you're always traveling in and out of your office as you not only complete all the task in your day, but plan, and expound, and create, and rabbit-trail, and return to the plan, and think of a new idea...  Some of these offices that you go into in your office building each day are simply required for you to complete your duties, others you go into because you are distracted about as you begin thinking of a new opportunity.  The offices that are necessary are the ones that are part of your daily work day.  The offices that aren't part of your normal routine you end up dropping into because you're interested in what they are doing.  You get distracted because you think it will create a new opportunity.

Now, I've driven the example a little far, but you get the point.  Well, think of all those "stop-ins" (when you drop by somebody's office that isn't exactly what you need to be doing, but you know there is something there), as mind detours.  Now, they are all valuable in there own regards, but they are nonetheless distracting.  And, because they are distracting you're having trouble working through your day, because you keep "entering other offices in your building" to work on something else.

So, here's my convoluted thesis:  Evernote is this in that scenario:  It is as if you painted a whiteboard on to every surface of the hallways in that office building that you work in.  You no longer have to walk into any office that isn't part of your normal work day and you can simply scribble notes on the whiteboard wall right next to that office.  Now, imagine that it is digital, and it keeps them all filed and compatibly reliable in an order all to your own, following you night and day.  Now imagine that it can take pictures, screen images, and record your voice.  You're getting the point...

With Evernote you can let go of everything big that you're working on in your mind and move forward with your daily tasks without loosing anything along the way.  www.evernote.com

Growth

Growth isn't measured by the things accomplished, but rather by the evaluation of those involved and affected by that growth (or failure, depending on how the whole is perceived).  Not just as an entrepreneur, but as an individual I am not doing any of this because this is the "end in itself."

Anytime you can't put your finger on it - you're working at whatever drives you.  

It's impossible to say that we aren't doing this because we aren't seeking the some tangible "ends to a means."  Of course we are.  And, we are working (at whatever we are working at) because we see something in the future.  All of us, are working towards something in all areas of our lives.  It may be "getting better at one thing or another."  It may be a particular deal.  It may be a golf game.  In the end, what I'm working toward isn't here, and as a Christian husband, father, churchman, and business man it is that I'm working toward the Kingdom.  It is full of its test and trials, and as this week draws to a close (in this fraction of reflection) - I welcome them.  I welcome them as growth in all the areas of life, because God is using them for His glory. So, I ask you, what is your "ends to a means?"  What is the intangible thing at the end of the day, or the year, or the career or the end of this life?