-    Make a list of of your credit cards, and include the amount owed, minimum payment and interest rate for each account. Commit to paying slightly more than the minimum payments every month.

-    Pay as much as you can toward the account with the highest interest rate whenever you have extra funds available.

-    Once that card is paid off, begin paying more on the one with the next highest rate.

-    Repeat the process until you are debt-free.

For more helpful tips, please contact Trustworthy Credit Repair Services LLC:

Call us: (281) 317-0330

E-mail us: www.TrustworthyCredit@Gmail.com

Visit our web site: www.TWCreditRepair.com

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TWCreditRepair 

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1) LATE PAYMENTS! A payment more than 30 days late is one of the most devastating hits your score can take. Plan ahead and try your hardest not to pass this 30 day mark. It can lower your scores up to 100 points almost immediately and in the end cost you thousands of dollars.

2) MAXED OUT! There is a common myth that running up your credit card every month and paying it off is a good idea. WRONG! This actually sends a message to the bureaus and lenders that you are not living within your means and need to max out your cards just to survive - NOT GOOD. The best practice is to use less than 50% (20% is even better) of your available credit each month.

3) NEW CREDIT/HOME LOANS! New lines of credit can damage your credit score, especially multiple lines of credit opened within a short period of time. When in the process of purchasing a home or just prior to applying for a home loan, new lines of credit can damage a person's score to the point of being the difference in getting approved or rejected for the home loan.

Visit our site or call today for professional help on getting your scores raised.

GUARANTEED CREDIT REPAIR STARTING AT $29.95!

http://twcreditrepair.com/

(281) 317-0330

Become Facebook Fans of AskOzzie.com Real Estate Services PLLC or Trustworthy Credit Repair Services LLC

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About the Blogger:

My name is Ozzie Ramirez and I am a local real estate broker in Pearland, Texas. I sell homes in the Greater Houston area, including Katy, Pasadena, Alvin, Friendswood, Humble, Missouri City, Sugarland, and Stafford. Since 2005 I have been helping people repair their credit in preparation for homeownership. I decided to get into credit repair when I realized that my credit was crappy, and I kept getting turned down by mortgage companies. The mortgage companies made me feel like garbage and I knew that I couldn't be the only person that felt this way. I was right. So, I started helping people accomplish their dreams of buying their first home and have been doing it ever since, with great success. I cannot wait to put my team of more than 30 real estate agents/credit repair specialists to work for you.

Enter: THE FAN PAGE!!!!

Fan pages or Group/Business pages can be set up easily and linked directly to your personal Facebook page(meaning that you only have to enter in one password and you get notifications to the same e-mail address).

Creating the fan page is easy. It's the exact same process that you went through for your personal page, but you will have to make sure to use the same e-mail address and password and it will link the two for you.

Now that we have that out of the way, we can begin the marketing aspect.

From day 1 you have to begin loading your page with content. Pictures, events, status updates, links, notes, discussions, etc..... Think about the word Fan. What does that mean? Fan is short for Fanatic. People are fanatics because they have a huge like for something. You have to get them to like your fan page. Think outside the box when doing so. On top of loading your page with helpful content you can think outside the box and begin trying to reach celebrity status. You can have affirmations that inspire people, link to very interesting articles, link to youtube videos, have a trivia question and offer gift certificates for the correct answer, you can promote a tailgate party and Toy/Food drive to get people interested(People love a party, they love football, and they feel guilty if they do not at least try to get involved in good causes). Do something that will really draw good attention and get people talking about your Fan Page. Having tons of fans means you have a huge audience, once you have the audience, then you can grow your brand.

Let's take a step back and work on physically gathering fans.

1) Take all of your personal friends and invite them to be friends of your fan page.

2) Once you have invited all of your friends and many of them have become fans, then you can use the @ symbol to post to multiple walls and reach all of their friends. It's pretty simple. In your status update box type the symbol @, then type in the name of one of your friends/fans. It will automatically bring up that person's pic and name below the box. Click on that box and it will tag them in your status update. Within that ststus update, invite them to invite friends to join your fan page and give them a benefit to becoming a fan(like also posting a link to a youtube video you did for the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit). By using the @ symbol you have posted on their wall for all of their friends and your friends to see with one message.

3) Use external sites to gather fans. You can use many different types of widgets suchas badges, fan boxes, or share buttons to post a link on your blog or web site that will invite people ot become fans on facebook. Whe you are logged in on your fan page look to your left and you will see in blue lettering the words "Promote with a Fan Box". Click on that link. This will take you to a screen of choices. Here is what you have to choose from:

FAN BOX: Below is a fanbox. It has a link where people can click and become a fan, it will show your last status update, and it will show the people that are currently fans. Pretty cool, huh?

SHARE BUTTON: You can also choose a share button. A share button is small, and less intrusive. 

Share 

PAGE BADGE:  Just like the share button, it is just a glorified link. 

If you need help on how to place these widgets on your blog or web page, I am available any time to walk you through these proccesses. If you learned how to use Excel or Word, then you can do this.

Before I go off on a huge rant and keep typing until my fingers bleed I am gonna go ahead and end this blog post. Once I have organized another set of thoughts I will write another post and hopefully have helped at least one person grow their business.

About the Blogger:

Ozzie Ramirez has been in real estate for more since April of 2005 and has won awards based on his character and his production from the Houston Association of REALTORS®. He has served on numerous boards for the Houston Association of REALTORS® and is extremely excited about the future and how Social Media is changing the wayreal estate marketing is done. He loves the way it evens the playing field and give the smaller company a fighting chance to compete with the huge monsters companies in this industry, no matter how big their budgets are.

If you are ever in Pearland, stop by our new office located @ 2506 Francis Dr.  Pearland, TX  77581 or give us a call (281) 648-4440.

What?:

Texans Tailgate and Toy/Food Drive benefitting the Pearland Neighborhood Center.

We will have a drop off station for Toys and Food. We will also be tailgating the Texans Vs. Colts away game with plenty of entertainment for the whole family. Please RSVP if you want a tailgating spot. We will have plenty of Big screen TV's for everyone to watch the game.

When?:

Sunday, November 8th, 2009 from 10am until 5pm

Where?:

2506 Francis Dr.  Pearland, TX  77581

Details:

Printable event flyer: http://www.box.net/shared/oxrkaq52vm

The buying process is a process with many components and plenty of areas where mistakes can be made. From disclosures and contracts to inspections, option periods, closing documents, and mortgage paperwork the home buying process is definitely a process worth having a professional help you with. In the Greater Houston Area there is a very strong Association of REALTORS®, known as the Houston Association of REALTORS®. This group of agents has come together to build one of the strongest associations in the U.S. With an association web site that boasts more than 1.5 billion clicks per month there are billions of reason to use an agent in Houston.

I can go on and on about how HAR.com and the Houston Association of REALTORS® benefits its agents, but today I am going to head in another direction. That direction is new home sales and why a buyer should have a representative. So I have come up with a consolidated list of reasons why a person should use an agent on their new home purchase.

1) Common Misconception:

An agent's commssion will hurt my negotiating a better deal. WRONG. Most credible home builders in the Greater Houston area do not pay agents out out of the same funds that the home sell is negotiated from. Instead, home builders have a separate account set up, usually as a marketing fund, that is used specifically to pay agents. So regardless of how great a negotiator you think you are, wouldn't it be awesome to have a professional represent you in getting an even better deal? So, why not take advantage of a FREE service from a professional that has been a part of more real estate transactions than most people will ever witness.

2) Confusing Real Estate Jargon in Contracts:

Unless you are a lawyer or a person that has read hundreds of real estate contracts, there is always going to be verbiage and addendums to contracts that confuse the average person. With the average sales contract stretching more than 10 pages long, wouldn't it be wise to have an agent that has already read hundreds of contracts that basically say the same thing that this contract does, but can find any fine print that may harm a home buyer? Don't take a chance and assume you understand or act like you do when you do not.

3) Negotiations:

Many New Home Sales Reps have a pre-determined dollar amount in which to negotiate. Typically, the less of that dollar amount they use to close the deal, the better they will look to their superiors, which will probablyu lead to a bigger bonus for that Sales rep. A well educated agent often knows thos pre-determined dolalr amounts or has a general idea of what that magic number is and how to negotiate to get every penny form that builder. TRUE STORY: I was in negotiatios with a New Home Builder for a client of mine and I had a previous relationship with the Sales Rep that we were dealing with. That Sales rep and I had already discussed the pre-determined amount and I had negotiated every penny that anyone could. Somewhere within our negotiations I mentioned to him that I would like to help my buyer with a financial gift after closing from my commission. After I said that he mentioed a special online coupon that is hard to find on the web site that would give me an additional $2,000 cash bonus at closing. He printed the coupon out for me and we applied that money as a gift to my buyer to get them an even better deal. I believe we used it for upgrades and some closing costs. If I had not been aprt of that transaction or anagent had not been involved at all, that money would not have been accessible to the buyer. I would like to think that most people would agree that getting an extra $2,000 just for having a representative is getting the best the builder has to offer. FREE Professional Representation + $2,000 = Make sure to use an agent when buying a New Home!!!

4) Catching Mistakes:

We are all human and we all make mistakes. In a home purchase there are hundreds of people involved, so there are hundreds of opportunities for mistakes. In the building process of a New Home there are contractors, painters, general contractors, framers, masonry experts, roofers, plumbers, electricians, escrow agents, closers, processors, and many more people. Who is going to double check all of these aspects of the building process while the home buyer is at work? An agent's job is to quarterback the whole process to allow the buyer to continue doing their job, while having peace of mind to know that their prucahse will go smoothly and all the loose ends will be tied up. 

Those are just a few of the main reason why buyers should use a real estate agent when purchasing a new home. If that isn't enought to convince you to make the phone call toa  local agent, I don't know what is.

About the Blogger:

As owner of Capital Trust Realty and creator of AskOzzie.com I have learned a lot about how business is affected by the local economy. I appreciate all of the blessings that our local economy has given our company and look forward to growing and servings thousands more clients in the future. If you ever have questions about real estate and do not want to feel pressured, feel free to call, e-mail or stop in to get your questions answered.

Thank you to all of our Pearland and Greater Houston real estate agents and clients for helping our company to grow.

Follow me on twitter: www.Twitter.com/AskOzzie

Become a fan on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FanofOZ

Come check out our new office:

2506 Francis Dr.    Pearland, TX  77581

That secret(not really a secret at all) is Self-evaluation.

Winner's Mentality:

In running a business, in life, and in coaching football(I am a Volunteer Defensive Coordinator for the Mt. Carmel Academy Rebels on Houston, TX) the only person we can truly control is ourselves. So why not start every change in life with ourselves.

Example: As a football coach, if my players are not producing, then it is up to me to find a way to help them to produce. Some coaches will never take any of the blame on themselves and always blame the loss of their team on the heart, dedication, or execution of their players. I believe that, as a coach, before I ever find fault in my players, I must find fault in my methods of coaching these players first. It is my job to make sure that these players have all of the skills and tools necessary to win football games. Sometimes the skills and tools have nothing to do with speed, strength, or shoulder pads. Actually, more often than not, the tool or skill that is lacking is discipline or knowing how to do the little things right.

So, after a loss, the first things I do is self-evaluate. Before I ask myself any other questions, I ask myself, "What am I doing wrong and what can I do better?"

Believe it or not, I lose clients in real estate sometimes. Before I blame all of the reasons why my ex-client is using another REALTOR®, I ask myself, "What did I do wrong and what can I do better to make sure this doesn't happen again?" To take it even further, even when I close a transaction and things go smoothly and my client is ecstatic about the home purchase, I still ask myself, "What can I do better? How can I become more efficient or provide better customer service?" The funny thing about all of this is ths answer is often similar. The answer often has to do with education and communication. "How am I educating my client?", "How am I educating my REALTORS® to help them better service their clients?", "How is my communication?", "How am I coaching each player?", "Are my educationl tools effective?" I believe these are the questions that make the difference between success and failure, the difference between greatness and mediocrity.

Loser's Mentality:

It is very easy to place blame on everyone else and think that everyone is crazy, less intelligent, or just not doing their job right, but will that really solve your problems? To place blame on everyone else and make excuses is the sign of a loser's mentality. Stop making excuses, stop placing blame, and start finding real solutions. Solutions that you can control.

As a leader, it is a challenge to help someone break the habits of a "loser's mentality". One of the wisest sayings I have ever heard is probably one of the most vulgar sayings I have ever heard: "Excuses are like buttholes, we all have them and they all stink." As nasty as it is, there is no truer a statement. The meaning of this saying carries infinite powers if you use it properly. It takes time to adopt this saying and put it into action, but it can and must be done to find success.

Example: You have to say it to yourself in the morning while getting up and getting ready for work so it will motivate you to get out of bed and to work on time. If you wait until you get to work, all you can do is think back and say I should have gotten up earlier or gotten dressed quicker. No excuses, I am late because I did not plan properly. Stop blaiming it on traffic or fake coughing and acting sick.

As a coach, I tell the players that I don't want to hear excuses, I want to see results. 

My very own quote, unless someone else has used it before me and published it:

"Losers make excuses, Winners make it happen."

                                                        -Ozzie Ramirez

About the blogger:

I am about to turn 29 and I just attended my 10 year anniversary. Saw a lot of my old high school friends and we had a great time. Pearland High School class of '99 - Woohoo!!

I love real estate and I love to help people. Both go hand and hand. My office is in Pearland, Texas, but I work pretty mucha anywhere in the Greater Houston area. If you ever have questions about real estate here is wher you can find me:

I went ahead and assumed that since Ashton Koocher(haha) is tweeting and he has half of America following him, that everyone knows what exactly tweeting is all about. My mistake.

So I am gonna break it down and give you some great applicable uses for twitter and some links that will teach you how to catch the twitter bug.

To get started, watch this video:

http://help.twitter.com/portal

After you watch the video, scroll down and read all of the helpful information below to help you begin to understand how to use twitter.com.

Hopefully you read all of that useful informaiton and watched the video. Now you have the basics. If you haven't read this information on twitter.com, then the rest of this blog will end up being confusing, so make sure to read it before finishing this blog.

Here is where the fun begins.

Finding people to follow: 

Twitter is about connecting with people like you. Family, friends, people that have the same passions that you do, people that intrigue/interest you, or people that can use your service or product.

Search for friends, family, maybe even motivational speakers,experts in your industry that you would like to network with or learn from, famous people that intrigue you, such as Oprah, President Obama, @AskOzzie, P Diddy, etc.....

I started following people like P diddy, thinking he would say cool stuff or teach me how to break in to the music industry, but of course neither happened, so I stopped following him. It's that simple. Many people get on and just begin following every person they can because they think it will build their network. That is the worst thing to do. Just because you follw them does not mean they will follow you or ever care about connecting with you.

Afte you have found a basic group of people you want to follow, now you can expand it even more and search topics that interest you. I searched "Pearland" because I live here, work here and my family has been here since the 40's. I also search the "Houston Texans" because they are my favorite sports team and I have season tickets. I follow my favorite athletes on the team to see what they have to say. Mario Williams doesn't tweet much, but I also follow Shaq and sometimes he says funy stuff. Have fun with it, you can always stop following them if they bore you.

Twitter Language 101 - Getting your message out:

Now that you have established a presence in the twitter world, it's time to take it to the next level. Since you only have 140 characters per tweet you must use them wisely. For the Text saavy audience you know that the language of text/tweet is different than the language of e-mail. E-mails are expected to be professional and words are expected to be fully written out. The language of text/tweet is made of shorthand, abbrevations, and substitutions.

Example:

E-mail message: It has been too long. How are you doing? What are your plans for this evening?

Text/Tweet: message: Long time, no C. How r u doin? Plans 2nite?

Get creative, but don't confuse people.

Twitter is also a great place to go ahead and post links. With 140 characters you have to get your message across and then get them to click on your link. Links are a great way to let people see your larger messages without having to write 10 tweets to complete a thought. It works well for tech saavy people because we can link to our blogs, cool news articles, our web sites, etc...

Link Tip: Sometimes you may be tweeting a link that is too large to fit with your message in 140 characters. Go to www.TinyUrl.com. Copy your original link from your web browser(I highlight it, then click Ctrl+C). Then, paste the URL that you copied from the web browser in the designated box on the www.TinyUrl.com page(I use the Ctrl+V to paste). Click the "Make TinyURL!" button and presto-changeo! A new, smaller URL will automatically save itself to your clipboard. Simply paste the new URL into your tweet after your inviting message. Pretty cool, Huh?

Making a connection and having people follow you:

Now I will explain hashtags. If you want a better chance of people finding you based on your tweet content you may want to use hashtags. Example: #Texans is a hashtag. The # sign is what is called the hashtag. Sometimes when I tweet about the Texans my tweet may read: "Great Game today! Super Mario and Brian Cushing lead the #Texans to a victory. Bring on the next victim: #Titans." In that message I placed a hashtag on the #Texans and the #Titans. That way other people will begin using the same hashtags. If others want to chime in on the conversation they can search for our hashtags and tweet about these teams. We may even begin a debate. Some people get pretty serious about their team. If many people tweet about the Texans or Titans and use the hashtag, then it will become a trending topic. Meaning, lots of people are tweeting about the same thing. Hashtags are simply put at the front of words to make them stand out and make them more searchable/connectable.

As you tweet more and interact more, you are putting more tweets out there for people to see what interests you. Other people will begin searching topics and see your tweets. That is a good thing. The more people that read your tweets, the more people that might like what you have to say and begin following you. More followers means more people believe that what you have to say is relevant.

Hopefully this blog post was educational and will help you to begin exploring the world of twitter. Possibly, it could even help your business marketing campaign or simply get you connected with some new or old friends. Whatever you do, do it well.

About the Blogger:

My name is Ozzie ramirez and I am part owner of Capital Trust Realty and AskOzzie.com located in the Pearland and Greater Houston Area. I am a licensed REALTOR® in the state of Texas and I use social media to grow my business.

Follow me on twitter: www.Twitter.com/AskOzzie

Become a fan on Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FanofOZ

Come check out our new office:

2506 Francis Dr.    Pearland, TX  77581

If you follow me on twitter, read my blog, or are a friend of mine on Facebook, then you will see that I like taking shots at bad Social Media Marketing campaigns and educating people on effective usage of these sites.

Just last night I as on Twitter.com and I clicked my saved search of Pearland and read some of the local tweets. Much to my dislike I see local REALTORS® tweeting their new listings. I do not have a problem with that  and I think it is pretty cool thatthey are trying. So, I click on their picture to visit their home page and see what they tweet about and all I see is posted listings. Thta would be cool if they had gathered followers that were interested in seeing every time they listed a property, but they don't. I saw 8 followers. That tells me that nobody cares about their crappy listing tweets.

I will go ahead and pick on a friend of mine, Danny Frank, and say that he is not thislocal bad tweeter. He is actually an example of a good tweeter that uses these Social Media sites better than most. He has followers because he tweets about stuff that he cares about. He tweets about multiple topics to gather more followers, he is consistent, and he links to FB, blogs, and interesting articles. Kudos Mr. Frank. You are an example of how to make yourself more effective in this maze we call Social Media Marketing.

I use different ways to market myself on twitter and I will elaborate on all of that later, but for now, I wanted to share an awesome twitter article that I found this morning that gives some great twitter marketing ideas and proves that this beast called Twitter, is worth adding to your marketing campaigns.

Click this link and read this awesome Forbes.com article about Tweeting tips:

http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/31/top-twitter-tips-entrepreneurs-technology-twitter.html

Thanks for reading and I hope you choose to follow me on twitter and my blogs.....

About the Blogger:

I'm Ozzie Ramirez. I'm very opinionated and clearly a guy that likes to lead more than follow. I love Pearland and Houston and working in Real Estate. I love my beautiful wife and kids. I am a huge fan of the Texans. If youa re ever in the Pearland Area, stop by our newest location @: 2506 Francis Dr.  Pearland, TX  77581. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.

Many buyers listen to the national media and begin to believe everything they hear. STOP! Here in Texas, things aren't as good as they were in 2005 and 2006, but how could the market ever keep up with record breaking sales? Yes, it is a buyer's market. Yes, there are lots of foreclosures. Yes, you can find a pretty good deal. But, realize that in real estate there is nothing set in stone. Every home has a different seller and different circumstances. Some sellers have more equity in their homes, some are negative as far as equity is concerned, banks do want to sell their current foreclosure inventory, but they are not going to just give properties away. Consistently, the Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio markets are at the top of the nations best seller's markets(call us the best fo the worst). But, the best fo the worst means that things aren't nearly as dismal in Texas real estate as they are in the res of the country.

Although, this article was not written by a Texas REALTOR®, it is loaded with truth about buying real estate in any market.

"The declining home values that are plaguing homeowners are just one of the factors creating an opportunity for prospective home buyers.

Standard & Poor's latest Case-Shiller index, which tracks home prices across 20 major U.S. cities, reported that values dropped 19% in January from a year earlier.

Those depressed values, combined with near-record-low mortgage rates and government incentives (an $8,000 first-time home buyers' tax credit included in the stimulus bill), are luring more first-time home buyers into the market. Indeed, a recent Century 21 Real Estate survey found that more than three-quarters (78%) of potential first-time home buyers say now is a good time to buy.

If you agree, be aware that buying a home comes with plenty of potential missteps. Here are 10 all-too-common mistakes first-timers make.

1. Not knowing how much house you can afford.

Many novice home buyers spend a lot of time researching homes - comparing kitchen layouts and backyard square footage - but very little time researching their financing options. One of the first things buyers should do is talk to a qualified lender and get preapproved for a mortgage, says Claire Clark, senior vice president of business development at Prudential California Realty. Without first figuring out how much house you can afford, you risk falling in love with one you can't.

2. Assuming foreclosures are great deals.

Just because the previous owner owed $450,000 on a house before the bank took it over doesn't mean it's worth that much now. Values have slipped significantly, says Jay Michael, partner at Estate Property Group, a Chicago real estate brokerage, so you may not be getting the bargain you think with a foreclosure. Also, most homes owned by lenders or banks have been sitting vacant for months and may have been vandalized. That could require extensive renovation or repair. Weigh the costs of fixing up the property against the savings you'll likely reap by buying a lower-priced foreclosed home.

3. Letting your true feelings show.

No matter how much you've fallen in love with a house, don't let the seller's agent in on it. Otherwise, they will gain the upper hand in negotiations.

4. Failing to find a good buyer's agent.

Landing a mortgage is tough these days. So buyers should rely heavily on knowledgeable agents to help them get their finances in order, says Michael. After all, buyer's agents have a fiduciary responsibility to the buyer exclusively -- and should be looking out for their best interests. Start your search at the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, a nonprofit representing buyers. Or consider using an agent recommended by a relative or friend. Interview each candidate about their experience, if they've worked with first-time buyers before and what kind of service you'll get from them.

5. Underestimating the costs of owning a home.

Whether it's a rusty pipe or a leaky roof, things go wrong and need to be fixed. Many home buyers don't anticipate the additional costs for repair and maintenance, or for an increase in utility costs, says Erin Baehr, CFP and president of Baehr Family Financial. Consider the age of your new home and how well it's been treated by the previous owners in your budget. Be prepared to set aside a small percentage (1% at most) of the home's purchase price annually for repairs and upkeep.

6. Failing to budget for property taxes.

Property taxes - and the likelihood that they'll climb over the course of your time in the house - should be factored into any home-buying budget, says Baehr. To get an idea of how much you'll be paying, call the local assessor's office or talk to people in the neighborhood.

7. Assuming your first offer will get accepted.

As home prices get even more affordable, competition is bound to heat up. "You can't assume you'll walk in there, make the offer and get it," says Clark. Try not to get discouraged if you lose out on the first - or second - house you make an offer on.

8. Skipping the inspection.

Before signing anything, hire a professional inspector, says Justin Lopatin, a mortgage planner with American Street Mortgage Company. The seller isn't likely to tell you there's mold in the basement or the walls are poorly insulated. Lopatin advises buyers to find and hire their own inspector - independently of the realtor - to ensure there's no conflict of interest. (You can find inspection companies in the phone book, or by doing a simple web search with your zip code.)

9. Doing too much too fast.

Some buyers want to make the house their own right away, says Baehr. They overextend themselves on credit to do so, and assume the improvement will pay for itself by increasing the home's value. But that's not always the case - especially in today's market. Instead, buyers need to exhibit patience and make changes over time.

10. Failing to include a contingency clause in the contract.

A mortgage financing contingency clause protects you if, say, you lose your job and the loan falls through or the appraisal price comes in under the purchase price. Should one of these events occur, the buyer gets back the money he used to secure the property. Without the clause, he can lose that money and still be obligated to buy the house, says Lopatin."

To read this article form it's original source, click on this link:

Yahoo! Real Estate News

Original Title: 10 Mistakes First-Time Home Buyers Make

Original Author: By Lisa Scherzer, SmartMoney.com

Written: Apr 10th, 2009

About the Blogger:

Oziel "Ozzie" Ramirez was born and raised in Pearland and has lived his entire life in the Greater Houston area. His birth parents are originally from Mexico, but he was raised by an Irish woman(THE most influential woman in his life, along with his wife and daughter), in Pearland, Texas. His roots run deep in Pearland, due to the fact that his family has called Pearland home since before 1950. His father graduated from Pearland High School in 1963 and attended college at Texas A&M. Ozzie would later graduate from the same high school in 1999. He loves Pearland, he loves the commercial growth of Pearland as well, but still misses the small town feel that Pearland use to have when he was younger. There is nowhere he would rather live or do business than in Texas, The Greater Houston area to be exact.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy the site.

-Ozzie Ramirez-

The Houston TEXANS official 2009 Schedule is released today!! GO TEXANS!!!

Can't wait until the draft on April 25th!!!

We are in a RICH GET RICHER real estate market. What I mean by this is that if you have the finances or if you have good credit in the current market, it is a great time to capitalize. Opportunities to build wealth are everywhere, you just have to know how to make it happen.

Here is my synopsis of what is currently going on in the Pearland and Greater Houston real estate market in the consumer's world:

Thousands of people are headed toward foreclosure and for thousands more it is becoming harder to find financing to make a purchase, by the day. So, we have thousands and thousands of people that are unable to purchase, being cycled over and over again through the rental market. With the number of renters raising at a record level, it is safe to say that supply and demand would allow landlords to raise rental rates and still be able to lease properties quickly without very much downtime between tenants.Cha-ching!!!

People continue to complain about a recession, but notice that in Pearland and the Greater Houston area, apartment complexes and commercial properties are steady popping up. If you do not see what I am talking about, simply drive to the intersection of HWY 288 and FM 518 and drive north towards the beltway or visit Fuqua near the beltway/45 South(right behind AMC 30) and you will see plenty of new apartment units going up. This is the perfect example of the rich getting richer.

For those of us that cannot afford to build whole apartment complexes or commercial buildings, here are a few ways still get your piece of the pie.

1) "Buy Low, Rent Smart, then Sell High when the time is right". Now is the perfect time to find a great deal on a foreclosure, put enough money in it to make it desirable, and rent it out for great profit.

2) Maybe it is a great time to re-finance into a lower interest rate. As long as you plan on staying in your current home long enough to recover whatever closing cost you might incur to re-finance, this could save you thousands over the life of your loan.

3) It may also be a good time to argue your taxes down and save a few bucks on your Homeowner's taxes. It should be easy to lower your tax appraisal with the falling real estate prices.

The way I see it is, if you own a home and are not in danger of losing it, you are rich. Hopefully the tips above can help you to get richer.

Here is my synopsis of what is currently going on in the Pearland and Greater Houston real estate market in the REALTORS® world:

There have been thousands of licensed real estate agents over the past few years that only work in real estate part-time. There are also thousands of real estate agents that have not spent the time necessary to gain the education needed to succeed as a full-time real estate agent. Not to mention, there are thousands of real estate agents that have not been servicing their clients as well as they should and possibly committing unsavory acts that damage their clients in order to close the deal. All of the forementioned agents will realize that their business does not support them and they will need to devote all of their efforts to a better paying full-time endeavor. With this being said, there are other agents that have been working full-time in this industry to become educated in order to better serve their clients and focus on building wonderful lasting relationships with their clients. These are the agents that are resilient and innovative, these agents will flourish in this market, the market that some consider a recession will become a springboard into growing, prosperous business.

Along with running a good business and maintaining a healthy referral base, it is a good time to be innovative. Explore new niche markets, provide new services, connect with credit repair companies, and find a way to get involved with REO properties and serious investors. It is an exciting time to be in real estate. Not only is the economy changing, but so is the consumer and the needs and wants of the consumer.... TAKE ADVANTAGE.

That is my opinion on the current real estate market in both the worlds of the consumer and the real estate professional. My opinion may not be the best opinion, but it is mine and so far it has helped me to head in the right direction, hopefully it can help you too.

Thanks for spending the time to read. Feel free to comment on this BLOG, or you can e-mail or call me direct.

Click here to see pictures from the game!

Ozzie Ramirez ~ REALTOR® ~ Credit Repair Specialist ~ Mortgage ConsultantHAR® REALTOR® Hero of the Month for May, 2008

HAR® - Bay Area Political Affairs/Leadership - 2009

Buying a home can be a lengthy process, but it can also be a very exciting and informative one if you know where to find all of your answers. There are many steps within a real estate transactions where mistakes can be made, so I always suggest picking a licensed REALTOR® to represent, educate, and walk you through the process. Just as it is not a smart idea to go to court without a lawyer to represent you, it is not too smart to purchase or sell real estate without a licensed professional in your corner.

Here are a few helpful tips to use when buying:

 Tip #1: Stop listening to the national media about the real estate market. It is true that home sales are down from recent years, but Pearland and the Greater Houston Real Estate market have not been impacted as severely as the rest of the United States and other major real estate markets. Offering $20,000 below market value may work up north or in California, but that kind of offer will typically not cut it in the Pearland and Greater Houston real estate market. Reasons why: 1) Pearland and the Greater Houston real estate market have held steadily low prices over the years. A home that costs $150,000 in the Greater Houston area could probably sell for $500,000 in the Greater Los Angeles real estate market. $20,000 off of $500,000 is not nearly as detrimental to the seller as $20,000 from $150,000.

Tip # 2: Be patient. Buying a home is typically the single most important purchase of a person's life. I have a saying: "An educated consumer equates to a satisfied consumer." Spending time looking at multiple homes and learning about the home buying process increases the chances of making the right decision and in the end you will be happier with your purchase. When looking at homes, look with a critical eye as well as an emotional eye. As you look at homes, compare the following: the year the home was built, list price, price per square foot, square footage, lot size, number of bathrooms, number of garage spaces, condition and upgrades of the home. As you look at more homes and compare, you will begin to recognize a good deal when you see one.

 Tip # 3: Don't write a contract unless you are willing to pay full price. Don't get me wrong, you always want to try to get the best deal possible and it is best to start lower to make sure you do not leave any money on the table within the negotiation. But.... based on my experience in real estate, the seller is generally willing to give about $5,000 from their list price. $5,000 could be in sales price or in seller's contributions to closing costs. So, go ahead and write your offer for less than full price, but do not get your feelings hurt when the seller is only willing to give about $5,000 from their list price. They may not be trying to drive a hard bargain, they may just not have enough equity to give anymore.

Tip # 4: Hesitation may leave you homeless. After seeing an ample amount of homes and getting a good grasp of the market, you should be able to spot "The HOUSE". The home that you walk in to and finally feel: "This is the one." Realize that you are not the only buyer out there, especially in Pearland and the Greater Houston real estate market. If you are looking for a certain size home for a great price, chances are so are other buyers in that same market. If you have seen 30 homes and "The HOUSE" stands out, you may want to jump on it before one of those other buyers gets that same feeling, but got it the day before. If they saw it yesterday, they are writing an offer today. If you saw it today and wait until tomorrow, you may be too late. When you feel it go for it. Within the contract your REALTOR® should write in an option period(the option period allows the buyer a set amount of time to inspect the property and grants the buyer the unrestricted right to terminate the contract and not lose earnest money).

I hope you have found these tips helpful. Take them and use them wisely. They could save you a lot of money or save you from utter disappointment.