DFW Relocation

A Tribute to Michael Jackson: EARLY YEARS 1958: Born Aug. 29 in Gary, Ind. He is the seventh child of Joseph and Katherine Esther Jackson. 1969: In Los Angeles, the Jackson 5 debut as Motown's newest act. In December, the group's single "I Want You Back" hits No. 1 on the Billboard Top 40 Chart. 1970: Jackson 5 hits "ABC, "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There" all reach No. 1 on Billboard charts. 1972: First No. 1 solo hit "Ben," a song about a movie rat. 1974: Introduces a dance step called the robot on "Soul Train." The step sweeps the country. 1978: Played "The Scarecrow" in the movie musical "The Wiz," alongside Diana Ross, Richard Pryor and Nipsey Russell. 1979: Jackson's "Off the Wall" solo album catapults him to superstar status. KING OF POP 1982: "Thriller" is released, eventually ...

Deadline for First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit Looms First time home buyers: Are you still at the computer, doing endless "research" on how to snag the $8000 TAX CREDIT for buying a house this year? Does the November 30th deadline seem like a million years away as you think about fireworks (not turkey leftovers)? First time home buyers: Get your butts in gear. NOW. This is the wrong time to claim you only get motivated when a deadline looms . This is the wrong time to tell everyone you are a "last minute kinda person" who pulls an all nighter when you have a term paper, and shops for Christmas presents on December 24th. Here's why: Buying a house takes longer than you think. There are 8000 reasons you DO NOT want to miss this deadline. Let's back things up. Do you think OTHER first time home buyers might wait until the last minute? Lenders could very likely experience an overwhelming amount of applications this fall. With applications already taking 45 days, i...

... It's Kind of a BIG DEAL! All of us are being bombarded with advice, seminars, etc. about the importance of having a presence on the important social media platforms. Great advice.... not very helpful, though, without also giving some advice about developing a strategy for using your presence on all of these sites! When I first started posting our team's profile and information on sites like: ACTIVE RAIN, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND MYSPACE... I wasn't quite certain how I was going to use these profiles to market our business and to generate buzz, interest and leads. In hind site... I now realize that developing the STRATEGY is the first step that you should take in this effort... not the last! You must use the strategy that you develop to generate the keywords, titles & the content that you write for your profiles on all of these social media sites. It is much harder to do this in reverse, because you waste a lot of time rewriting and optimizing after the fact if you do...

The addition of an event calendar can add a lot of value to your website or blog. This is especially true for those real estate agents who maintain a community based site. Posting information on events such as farmers' markets, garage sales, club meetings and city recreation programs to a calendar makes your website community resource. A resource worth bookmarking, Twittering or sharing on Facebook. Best of all, updating a calendar is easier than writing an entire blog post. Here are 4 ways to add an event calendar to your Wordpress website or blog: 1. Calendar Calendar is a Wordpress plugin developed by Kieran O'Shea that looked like it was going to be abandoned. Fortunately, Kieran has picked up where he left off and just released an update. This plugin creates an AJAX enabled calendar that is highly customizable. Events are managed directly from the Wordpress admin. Color coded categories can be used to differentiate types of events. A sidebar widget allows for upcoming ev...

Do you ever wonder if you are making the right decisions about health Insurance ? Here are some things to consider: If you are a business owner, self-employed or an employee of a company that is not offering medical coverage though your employer, you may have to undertake the frustrating, daunting and time consuming task of purchasing health insurance on your own. If this is the case, there are certain things that you can do become an informed consumer so you can ensure that you are purchasing the type of health insurance coverage you really need at a price you can afford. When you purchase a health insurance plan, it is important that you balance four important variables : wants, needs, risk and cost , before you spend your money. Although you may "want" a health plan that offers you 100% coverage and a $5 Copay for prescription medications, you may not "need" this type of health plan if you are healthy, take no medications and do not have any significant heal...

Funny Photo of the Day AND, It's a two seater . WHAT A DEAL !!! : ) Looking for a GREAT DEAL ? Visit http://www.robertjrussell.com Technorati : dallas real estate , flower mound homes , lawn furniture , realtor.com Del.icio.us : dallas real estate , flower mound homes , lawn furniture , realtor.com Zooomr : dallas real estate , flower mound homes , lawn furniture , realtor.com Flickr : dallas real estate , flower mound homes , lawn furniture , realtor.com

For Sale in Lewisville! Great 3 bedroom home with all upgrades, extended patios in back,extended driveway suitable for boat or RV,new privacy fence,very spacious kitchen open to big living area with fireplace.Extra parking or boat stg in rear. Photos do not show justice to the landscaping,front & back,so you need to come see this one. Upgrades Galore! Directions: from Edmonds, take Bellaire south to Holly Oak on left, walnut on corner lot When you walk in the front door you will take 4 steps and find out that this is the House! Bring everyone with you to see your new home http://www.justsnooping.com/tours/2530565/ Technorati : 706 Walnut Dr , Homes in Lewisville , Lewisville , Lewisville Home for Sale , Lewisville Real Estate Del.icio.us : 706 Walnut Dr , Homes in Lewisville , Lewisville , Lewisville Home for Sale , Lewisville Real Estate Zooomr : 706 Walnut Dr , Homes in Lewisville , Lewisville , Lewisville Home for Sale , Lewisville Real Estate Flickr : 706 Walnu...

A weekly compilation from Aetna of health care-related developments in Washington, D.C. and state legislatures across the country Week of June 8, 2009 President Obama once again jumped into the Congressional health care reform process last week when he met with key Senators on health care and then sent Senators Kennedy and Baucus a letter outlining his priorities for health care reform. In the letter, the President says he is open to an individual coverage requirement, as long as the poor are excluded from the mandate. His position is very similar to that adopted by Aetna several years ago. But if some were energized by the letter, others were disappointed. President Obama calls for any reform package to include a public health insurance option alongside private plans, an idea that many Republicans strongly oppose. Based on the response of some to the letter last week, the process this summer (see below) could become a contentious one. The President has asked the House and Senate to fi...

CHECKING THE CREDIT BUREAU REPORTING SYSTEM Do you know that 80% of credit reports have errors? This is no surprise when the 3 major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Trans Union) are actually competitors and get paid when a creditor reports to them. In a business standpoint it costs $ for the credit bureaus to review, investigate and correct credit reports. If they had it their way they could care less to spend the money, time or resources to do the work. However, thank goodness the LAW is on the side of the consumers. Many times the credit bureaus will send "form letters" to consumers stating that there is a "brisk credit repair business" by companies that charge between $50 and $1,000 to dispute negative items the consumer could do themselves. Also, many times they send letters stating they received a "suspicious request" and will not honor any more disputes received in this manner. "YAWN"...same old tactics playing the same game I say. Ye...

Cha-ching! 2 safer ways to buy great homes at deep discounts If you possess patience and persistence, REOs and short sales are good ways to score incredible deals. But do some research and know what you're getting into before you give one of these methods a try. By Kiplinger's more on www.robertjrussell.com Home prices may not have hit bottom quite yet, but they are finally low enough to draw bargain hunters. The national median home price has fallen 26% since its peak in early 2006, according to Fiserv Lending Solutions, a home-price research firm. Sales are especially brisk where prices have dropped sharply and foreclosures are rampant - in California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida - partly because foreclosures put pressure on traditional sellers to cut their prices, too. Nationwide, nearly half of all sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 were "distressed" - mainly foreclosures, but also sales by homeowners selling for less than they owe on their mortgage - according ...

Barack Obama will soon send Hillary Clinton packing back to the Senate. Once she's gone, he needs to borrow one of the key tenets of her health care plan. She's right about health insurance: It needs to be mandatory. The Massachusetts Remedy That's not just a Democratic idea. Mitt Romney came to the same conclusion. As governor of Massachusetts, he implemented one of the most innovative state-level health care reforms. A key piece of that reform is mandatory health coverage. Obviously, many people can't afford health insurance -- that's the reason they don't have it in the first place. But Romney's plan in Massachusetts provided government subsidies to make insurance more affordable for low-income residents. Any sensible program at the federal level would do the same. That would leave no excuses: Everyone would have to have some kind of health insurance -- through an employer, through Medicaid or Medicare, or through some other approved plan. In the Massachu...

Even if you work with an agent, you will want to do your homework on pricing, and comps play the biggest role in setting a price. Using Zillow, you can find and compare comps on a map. For most addresses, Zillow has compiled a list of 50 comparable transactions based on available data. But this data is just the beginning. Once you have a list of recently sold homes that have something in common with the one you're looking at, your own knowledge of homes in the area is the best tool you have, whether you are buying a home or selling one. Here are 4 tips for choosing the best comps from a list: Location, Location, Location Select comps as close to your address as possible. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. For example, a comp within a block or two of yours might not be a good comp because it sits higher on the hill, and has phenomenal views, or it's closer to a main arterial or freeway. Likewise, a house similar to yours could be a mile away, but still is part of t...