MEETING MINUTES
Friday, April 10, 2009
Volume 16; Issue 15

Acknowledgements & Announcements

Follow-up to last week's meeting...Dave Lathrop challenged everyone that has plans to reward themselves this weekend to enjoy it.  If you don't have plans, commit to rewarding yourself somehow this weekend.  We'll check in with you next Friday to see how you did.

• Ralph Cunningham became an Arizona terrorist.  He treated himself by attending a tea party and had a very good time.
• Chris Curran - Not as exciting as tea-bagging - But, my son and I went to Erin's shop and got a skateboard.   We have also flown kites a couple of times this week.  Spent more time with my kids.  Pretty cool.
• Steve Chilton was singing in the rain at the Broadway Palm dinner theatre.
• Joe Zingale "tried" to hike Camelback.  Fear took over.
• Greg Stewart enjoyed the Gardens.
• Dave Crissman had fun playing with Dennis Johnson planting trees.  He got to play with big machines!
• Erin did happy hour & dinner with some of the MABE gang yesterday.
• Denver Johnson reported a failure.  He intended on going to happy hour but fell asleep instead.
• Dave Lathrop went to a Diamondback's games and worked on his level of anxiety.
• Phyllis Prater is doing something fun.  She is going to Tucson for a sorority reunion.  The best part...they didn't age well!

Thank you to Chris Curran...The group honored Chris Curran with a plaque for his service as president of MABE.  He was inspiring and outstanding.

Any experiences with Social Networking to report...

• Dave Lathrop got his first lead from Facebook this week.  An old friend found him and it turned into a lead.
• Nick Mawrenko is talking to more people about it.  He has been told that social networks are the future of sales.  You might not see direct results but it is important to learn more about it.  You can pay people to do it for you.
• Erin La Grassa joined a bunch of skateboard groups on LinkedIn and made a great contact in the industry.
  
  Nick Mawrenko knows an expert that can come in and answer our questions about Social Networking.

Spoofing Attack...  [From Wikipedia] In the context of network security, a spoofing attack is a situation in which one person or program successfully masquerades as another by falsifying data and thereby gaining an illegitimate advantage.

• Never ever, ever give out personal information unless YOU initiate the call.
• If you click on a link and the address has numbers instead of a name, beware! 
  
  Greg Stewart knows a man that can come in and talk about security and protecting yourself and your business.

New Meeting Location...  Through a connection that Bob Busch had, we learned that Shalimar has an opening on Friday mornings.  We met with a rep that has been their for 20 years.  It is a good location and a fair price.  We also checked into Dobson Ranch as they are back in the breakfast business.  We were concerned about stability there.  After looking at the different alternatives, the board decided to move to Shalimar.  Skip & Jan's has been kind to us and perhaps we can have some social events - happy hours - here in the future.  Plan on leaving a few minutes early that first day to Shalimar as it can be difficult to find if you are not familiar with the location.

Joe Hesch - The Big "L" on Your Forehead

[Open discussion, Q&A]

Business has been pretty good...just different.  Everything is back to the way it was in the mid-90's.  It is very difficult for people to get financing these days.  Especially if you are self-employed.  You have a bid "L" on your forehead.

Streamline - You see more on FHA loans.  It is not difficult to lower your interest rate if you have a good credit score and are current on payments.

Loan Modifications - The biggest thing you have to prove is a hardship.  You need to put your pride aside.  If you need it, get it.  The most common scenario, your house is worth less than what owe and you have a hardship.  The trigger is to get you down to 31% of your income going to your mortgage payment.  The first thing they will do is lower your principal and interest as far as they can.  The next step is to extend the terms.  The final step is principal reduction.  Most lenders are not doing this last step as of yet.  These are not permanent terms.  They are usually 2-5 years and then return the original terms.

Is it practical to invest in real estate right now?  If you have the cash, there are crazy steals out there right now.  Typically, on investment property, you need 20% down and documentation.  Is the interest rate different on investment property vs. primary property?  The answer is no...but there are adjustments depending on your scenario.  You can get the lower rate if you want to pay the points. 

If you are in a crunch, the second mortgage is the last pay.  They can hurt your credit but they can't foreclose.   Arizona has an anti-deficiency law (there are qualifications - HUD statement reading "Cash to borrower"...not good). 

Countrywide is probably the easiest to work with when refinancing.

Should I cash out my retirement to pay down my mortgage, significantly reducing my monthly payment?  There are tax implications.  Joe is the last person to talk to.  The order...CPA, financial planner, then Joe. 

I still believe in the market.  Personally, I would rather put an extra dollar in the market than put it into my mortgage.  I don't care if I own my home free and clear at 41. 

Another personal opinion...As long as the interest rate you earn in savings is higher than your mortgage rate, you are better off.  If you are putting extra money into your mortgage right now, you lose control of it (but you will make the mortgage company very happy). 

Morals and lawsuits...a discussion for another day!