Archive for August 2005

Here are some helpful tips to improve your credit score!

  1. First and most important, find out what is being reported about you. There are 3 major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union).
  2. Check the back of each report you receive, you’ll find an explanation of the codes used in the file. Study these codes so that you’ll know which accounts you need to concentrate on most while you’re performing each step of the credit repair process.
  3. The first items to search for are what are known as “charge-offs”. This means that the creditor has given up on trying to collect the debt and they have written it off as a loss. You can not repair your credit without getting these items removed from your credit reports.
  4. Contact each creditor that has charged off a loan asking for re-instatement.
  5. Next, search for late payment entries. These are usually pretty easy to clear up. Just contact the creditors and explain why you had difficulty making your payments on time. Ask the creditors to remove the late payment entries after you have made timely payments for a period of time, say 90 days. Most will.
  6. Judgments will need to be removed next. You’ll have to pay off these loans in full in order to do so. Contact the lender and make arrangements to pay off the amount due with an arrangement (in writing) that the judgment will be removed and the account reported as closed after full payment is made.

MT-SI Cedarcrest High School Tolo 2005


"A Red Carpet Affair"


Just as the cobbler's kids have no shoes the photographer has no current family photos so this will have to do. Can't wait to see everyone at the reunion. Joy and Roy Baunsgard with boys, Troy 3.5 yrs, and Macoy 6 months.

MT SI Class Reunion Meeting

Hi Everyone, Save the date on your calendar for the next Class reunion meeting. Monday, August 22nd at 7:00pm at the Mount Si Golf Course Restaraunt for dinner and to view the facility and get some ideas, We got over half of our mailings back as "return to sender" so we have some work to do. I am working on a list so that we can start searching for the lost souls. As always please let me know if you have any current information on anyone.
More to come.
Thanks for your time and help.
JOY

MT SI Jeff Emanuel family


I live in Livermore, CA now. I moved here from Corvallis after I quit HP about 4 years ago. I'm a supervisor for a quality control and Inspection company. Our main business is in inspecting automobile parts prior to their getting installed on vehicles to prevent recalls and such.
I know I didn't graduate with you guys, but I lived in North Bend for alonger portion of my life than anywhere else, even to this day. I went to the graduation ceremonies in 85 with my friend Darryl Martin and watched ya'll graduate. My graduation was a week or two later down here in CA.

Here's a recent photo of me and my family. My wife, Sandi, and I got married in March of 1989. We are still married and we have two children, Brigette and Ryan (R.J.). Please post it for me. I'll look for you at the reunion.Thanks for offering the use of your web site.
Jeff

MT-SI Memories

It's hard to believe it has been ten years already. I am looking forward to seeing everyone once again.



It just happened that in the process of cleaning up that I found some old photos.








Please fell free to e-mail me any old or new photos of yourself and or your family.












I will gladly post them on my Blog. I believe this will be easier, and fun for everyone.


Also it will not cost anyone money to view the photos or to post anything here.
Please Email photos to lonnie@snyderrus.com
Well I'm not sure about anyone else but I most definitely have to go on a diet.

Take care everyone and hope to hear from you soon.

Lonnie

Real-estate commissions evolving with market

By Elizabeth Rhodes
Seattle Times staff reporter
Q: How was the 6 percent commission paid by home sellers to real-estate agents established? It seems that with prices continuing to skyrocket, the commission doesn't really align with anything. For example, when I bought my house three years ago, the seller paid $20,000 in commissions. If I were to sell it now I'd pay about $27,000. Surely the cost of agents doing business hasn't jumped 35 percent in three years.
A: There's been an evolution in real-estate commissions over the years, said Dick Fulton, the Northwest Multiple Listing Service 2005 chairman of the board and a broker for Coldwell Banker Bain's Lake Union office.
In the 1920s, for example, a Washington real-estate association recommended a 5 percent commission to be paid by the seller. Years later, the federal government said that the use of an industry-wide commission schedule amounted to illegal price-fixing.
For the past 25 years or so, commissions have been in the 5 to 7 percent range. In recent years, discount brokerages have cropped up that charge a lesser percentage or a flat fee, usually several hundred dollars.
"The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission preclude any discussion between real-estate companies on the fees they charge," Fulton said. "It must be an independent decision."
In setting their fees, real-estate companies consider "their own business model based on their expenses, profits and what's in the best interest of their clients and agents," Fulton said. The level of services also plays a big role in setting commissions.
Discount firms, for example, often don't advertise homes beyond putting them on the Internet, do not hold open houses, and don't act as an intermediary in negotiations between buyer and seller. Full-service firms, by contrast, may do all that and hold "brokers open houses" — complete with a buffet lunch — to attract other agents who may have buyers at the ready.
All this means that sellers considering working with a particular agent need to be fully informed about which services they need, which will be provided and which won't because they can vary widely. And commissions are negotiable.
According to a national real-estate-industry survey Fulton cited, the average increase in expenses for large real-estate companies has gone up 33.5 percent a year from 2000 to 2004.
"The primary contributors to that were rent increases, salary increases for support staff, Web site development and Internet tools," Fulton said.
By comparison the Everett-Seattle-Tacoma Consumer Price Index rose 9.4 percent between March 2002 and April 2004.
Fulton added one more telling detail: It's easy to think that agents representing sellers don't have to do much in the kind of sizzling market we have now, where attractive, well-priced, well-located homes sell almost instantly.
But that's not true, Fulton said, citing a home on Seattle's Queen Anne Hill that received 24 offers.
"The expertise involved today in helping a seller navigate through a multiple-offer situation is very demanding," Fulton said.
Ultimately that home sold for tens of thousands over the asking price.

2006 Harleys revealed



Harley has revealed its 2006 model line up with a new version of the V-Rod and updates for the Dyna range.
The VRSCD Night Rod includes a ‘black denim’ paint option, blacked-out controls, mirrors and shocks and a blacked-out polished engine.
There are new slotted disc wheels, too.
The FXDI35 is a 35th anniversary Super Clide with wide bars a Fat Bob fuel tank (with dual filler caps) loads of chrome and the No1 logo just like the first model, 35 years ago.
For more on the 2006 Harleys follow the links below.

Click here for more pictures and specs of the Night Rod from Harley’s own site.
Click here for more pictures and specs of the FXDI 35th Anniversary Super Glide from Harley’s site.

Wireless connection lost : solution, fix

My father is in town visiting this week. So we pulled out our laptops to look at our favorite Blogs and to let him get caught up on his e-mail. After 5 to 15 minutes he would lose his wireless connection.
After searching this problem on Google I noticed a few things.

1. Reading through the 25 to 30 reports no one responded with a fix.
2. Everyone had different computers and routers.
3. Everyone was using Windows XP.

As I was checking my router settings and my father's laptop to make sure everything was correct I noticed my laptop never lost connection. the only difference between the two was that my father was letting windows configure his wireless settings.
Once I unchecked that box everything was fine. If you do not have another program to manage your wireless settings you will need to check the box and then uncheck it to remain connected.

So for those of you who need help getting there, here we go :
1. Click on your wireless network connection somewhere along the bottom right of your screen.
2. Click on Status.
3. Click on properties.
4. Click on wireless networks.
5. Uncheck the box at the top that says use Windows to configure my wireless network settings.

Again if you don't have another program managing your wireless settings you will need to check that box and then once you are hooked up to the network just uncheck the box to stay connected.

Hope this helps everyone out there.



Lets go for a ride.

10 Ways to Make Your Home Irresistible at an Open House

1. Put fresh or silk flowers in principal rooms for a touch of color.

2. Add a new shower curtain, fresh towels, and new guest soaps to every bath.

3. Set out potpourri or fresh baked goods for a homey smell.

4. Set the table with pretty dishes and candles.

5. Buy a fresh doormat with a clever saying.

6. Take one or two major pieces of furniture out of every room to create a sense of spaciousness.

7. Put away kitchen appliances and personal bathroom items to give the illusion of more counter space.

8. Lay a fire in the fireplace. Or put a basket of flowers there if it’s not in use.

9. Depersonalize the rooms by putting away family photos, mementos, and distinctive artwork.

10. Turn on the sprinklers for 30 minutes to make the lawn sparkle.

Buying a home directly from the owner will save on the cost of the house, right?

Wrong! The "for-sale-by-owner" sellers are doing their own marketing to save the commission a professional real estate agent would charge. So what is left for you to save? In fact, you might end up paying more if the house is overpriced. Beware of these costly pitfalls:
Confusion

You end up dealing, in many cases, with an untrained novice who is not familiar with real estate law or the real estate code of ethics. Something might be overlooked that will cost you money later.

Additional legal costs
You will need a lawyer to draw up your sales contract, which should include safeguards for you that an experienced agent would typically suggest, such as making the contract contingent on a home inspection and approval of your mortgage loan.

You will have to be your own negotiator
Also, without agents involved, you would have to conduct your own negotiations on the contract and make sure all the details are taken care of before closing.

As a professional with the answers to your home-buying questions, I can make your search for a new home less confusing. Call or e-mail me, or click on "Comments" and ask your own questions.

What is a contingency?



A contingency is a condition on the sale put into the contract by either the buyer or seller to protect against specific eventualities.
Examples of common contingencies are: a requirement that the buyer obtain financing or sell the current home; the seller has a home inspection done; or the seller must repair certain items before settlement. Contingencies can be removed by an addendum to the contract, or they can expire if a time limit is specified in the contract.



Do you have more questions? Are there other terms you don't understand? Fell free to contact me. Just post it in the Comments & I will get that info for you.