1. House Affordabilty Measures (housingtracker.net)
2. The Inequality of House Prices (businessweek.com)
3. Foreclosures double in Boston (business.bostonherald.com)
4. Reno area house prices continue to fall (lasvegassun.com)
5. November housing prices down across many markets (money.cnn.com)
6. Rising foreclosures fuel fraudulent help (msnbc.msn.com)
7. Pundit Pile-on: NAR’s David Lerah (bigpicture.typepad.com)
8. How bad are brokers? Yes, that bad. (nytimes.com)
9. Beware: “Affiliated Business” or Illegal Kickbacks? (franklyrealty.blogspot.com)
10. The Mother of All Bubbles (counterpunch.org)
11. Vacant Houses on the Market Hit Record 2.1 Million (seekingalpha.com)
12. ARMs could clobber homeowners (centralvalleybusinesstimes.com)
13. Interest Rate Roundup: Empty houses everywhere (interestrateroundup.blogspot.com)
14. Homeland Insecurity? (contraryinvestor.com)
15. House foreclosures surge 42 percent in 2006 (money.cnn.com)
16. What Realtors don’t want you to know about Long Island Housing (libubble.atspace.com)

1. Housing Fetish (jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com)
2. More than miles splits two sides of Colorado (longmontfyi.com)
3. 2006 Foreclosure Petitions Increase 70 Percent in Massachusetts (dsnews.com)
4. Foreclosures soaring in New York area (nypost.com)
5. 10 million loans could go into default over 18 months (community.eons.com)
6. Number of empty houses for sale surges 34% (marketwatch.com)
7. Vacancies Soar / Lending Standards Rise (Mish)
8. Wachovia closes subprime mortgage unit (biz.yahoo.com)
9. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae portfolios are under scrutiny (signonsandiego.com)
10. Low-End of Luxury-House Sector Shows Some Signs of Chill (realestatejournal.com)
11. Convicted con artist shows how system flaws could allow him to steal your house (usatoday.com)
12. Bring on the housing slump (latimes.com)
13. $650,000 Vanishes - Will The Press Remain Quiet? (smhbn.blogspot.com)
14. The silicon valley housing report (financialsense.com)
15. SEC begins formal probe of KB Home (news.moneycentral.msn.com)
16. Economists change rate-cut tune (usatoday.com)

In an earlier post I mentioned that i would deliver the rest of my talking points from my address to the Tulane MBA Program for Entrepreneurship … and here they are:

1. “Lose your ego and laugh all the way to the bank” – I first heard this from Marshall Sylver and at first I didn’t really get it … but once I did it made a lot of sense. What this means to me is that if I find myself saying “What does THAT guy know? I’ve been investing in foreclosures for over 7 years” then I need to step back and lose the ego real quick because THAT guy may have something very powerful to share. If I keep my nose up in the air I will miss the opportunity to learn from someone and that would be a huge waste. So make sure that you keep your ears and mind open to new ideas because they might come from someone who your ego would have passed right up!
2. “It is easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission” – I can attribute this one to Ron LeGrand (that sucker is full of these types of sayings). Plain and simple, this one means don’t be afraid to make decisions. If you make a decision and take action it is a lot easier than to wait on someone to come along and tell you it is ok to take that risk, make that offer or whatever else you aren’t taking action on. Remember, the action man (or woman) gets paid!
3. “If you think education is expensive, just think how much ignorance will cost you” – in other words, never be afraid to invest in your education. It’s a funny thing I have noticed about those people who spend the most on their educations: they are the ones who are making the most money. Now I know there are a few exceptions to that saying (know any seminar junkies?), but the key distinction is applying what you learn … Remember, the action man (or woman) gets paid!
4. never underestimate the power of focus – When I quit trying to manage 3 to 4 projects at once and focused on finishing one before I started another, I saw my results and my INCOME jump almost immediately. If you are like me, you have a whiteboard or notebook full of awesome “To-Dos”. I have at least 15 projects waiting in queue in my office right now. But I have only a couple in my “In Process” section. That way all of my energy and focus will go into FINISHING. Because nobody gets paid until the project gets finished. So if you have more than one or two projects in process right now I would recommend you prioritize them, then focus all of your efforts on completing the project that had the highest priority. Once you FINISH that one, then work your way on down the line. Seems like common sense, but I personally know many top level business owners (and their entire staffs) are running around like chickens with their heads cut off because they have too damn many projects going on at once.

1. I bought a house and now I’m crying every day (salon.com)
2. Stricter Standards Sought for Lenders, Brokers (washingtonpost.com)
3. High-risk lending may come back to bite (heraldnet.com)
4. Wall Street’s big bet on risky mortgages souring fast (nytimes.com)
5. When owners lower price 25%, house sells (news-press.com)
6. Double Trouble for Bay Area: Foreclosures Up, House Values Expected to See Record Decrease (efinancedirectory.com)
7. Subprime’s grip slips in Orange County (ocregister.com)
8. Housing defaults, foreclosures rise in Fresno (fresnobee.com)
9. CA notices of default skyrocketing (photos1.blogger.com)
10. Mass. housing market ends worst year in decade (boston.com)
11. Is It More Frugal to Rent or Own Your House? (frugalliving.about.com)
12. Rising Interest Rates Bode Ill For Housing (bayarearealestatebubble.blogspot.com)
13. Houseowners Face Foreclosure: ARMs Adjusting Skyward In 2007 (efinancedirectory.com)
14. Housing Glut Gives Buyers Upper Hand (realestatejournal.com)
15. House-related goods sector feels housing market’s pain (chron.com)
16. Builder has “yet to see any meaningful evidence of a sustainable recovery in the housing market” (ajc.com)
17. There is no evidence of a bottom in the housing market (financialsense.com)
18. Are you a failed flipper going under? Get it on film… (actualreality.tv)
19. Meet the women of the richest and poorest communities in America (lifestyle.msn.com)

1. Realtors’ economist David Lereah saw bottom in first quarter, second quarter … (marketwatch.com)
2. Existing House Sales are Fantastic, According to the National Association of Realtors Anyway (seekingalpha.com)
3. Inside Bay Area - More houseowners in foreclosure (insidebayarea.com)
4. Record number of Detroit area houseowners in trouble as economy flounders (freep.com)
5. Texas takes dubious honor in year-end foreclosure report (bizjournals.com)
6. More Than 1.2 Million Foreclosures Reported in US in 2006 (biz.yahoo.com)
7. U.S. banks move earlier to curb foreclosures (dailyreportonline.com)
8. 50-year mortgages: low payments, low equity (Page 1 of 3) (bankrate.com)
9. Builders trade lower after report says existing home sales slowed in Dec. (marketwatch.com)
10. Real estate haircuts (realestatehaircuts.blogspot.com)
11. And There Were Echoes Throughout the House (wallstreetexaminer.com)
12. Mortgage Lenders Network USA is suspended in R.I. (pbn.com)
13. Centex expects more write-offs and job cuts (dallasnews.com)
14. Builder names new development “Millstone” without thinking about it (shelby-homes.com)

Greetings from a very cold New Orleans!

Ever since I moved back to New Orleans in October, I have been focused on not only rebuilding the city, but on rebuilding EasyHUD.com so that it would be THE best online resource for Foreclosure Investors … and we are starting to see the results of all of our hard work. Yesterday, we broke one of our own records for most visitors in one day: 1152! That means 1,152 unique foreclosure investors came to EasyHUD.com (or the blog or forums) looking for a solution to their foreclosure related problem. If you were one of those visitors, congratulations on being a part of this “historic” moment!

Thanks EasyHUD Community Members

*************************************
Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past 12 months, you know that 2007 has been
declared ‘The Year of the Foreclosure Investor’. Why? Because we are in the middle of the PERFECT STORM for foreclosures! Is YOUR business structured in a way that you will be able to take advantage of the flood of deals that are starting to hit Foreclosure Investors in EVERY market? Get YOUR business up to speed NOW! Listen to or Download the Call HERE:

http://www.EasyHUD.com/call/bizbuilder

**************************************
On our Insider Interview las night (Wed 24 Jan) we were focused On teaching you the things you MUST do if you want to see growth in your business in 2007. And our guest is an Underground Foreclosure Guru who knows what he is talking about. This guy has created a easy-to-follow system that allows him to close almost 100 transactions PER YEAR, but the best part is:

1. He NEVER goes to a closing …
2. He vacations at least one week out of every month …
3. He ONLY talks to extremely motivated sellers …
4. And he pays LESS than his competition for every house he buys!

Do you think you could learn something from this foreclosure investing genius? I know I DID, so listen to this exclusive 1 hour interview or Download the Call HERE:
http://www.EasyHUD.com/call/bizbuilder

1. California foreclosures increasing fast (centralvalleybusinesstimes.com)
2. Default notices in California double in 4th quarter (sfgate.com)
3. Notice of mortgage defaults surge in SF Bay Area (contracostatimes.com)
4. More Californians at risk of losing houses (latimes.com)
5. Orange County Residents in a “Fantasy Gap” (oc-fliptrack.com)
6. Athens, GA is overbuilt (onlineathens.com)
7. FL developer pushes costs for half-built subdivision onto residents (heraldtribune.com)
8. Another Reason I Know the Housing Bottom’s Not In (fool.com)
9. Low bids take glow off property auction (news-press.com)
10. When the U.S. housing bubble bursts, it will not burst gently (newstarget.com)
11. Housing bubble bloodbath (piggington.com)
12. Can the Fed Prevent Deflation? Does it want to? (bullnotbull.com)
13. Realtors: The Last to Know (themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com)
14. Blogging for Property Sales (nytimes.com)
15. House loan demand drops as interest rates rise (usatoday.com)
16. Centex, builders adjust to housing’s reality (marketwatch.com)

In a previous post I mentioned that I had sought out the dean of the School of Entrepreneurship at Tulane (John Elstrott, PhD) about seeing if there was an opportunity for the students to lend some of their knowledge to the future success of EasyHUD and all of my business endeavors. As a result of that initial conversation with Dr Elstrott, he invited me to attend a session of class and address them on the topic of “What it Means to be an Entrepreneur” … according to me.

Me and Dr John Elstrott, Dean of the Tulane School of Entrepreneurship

Well, yesterday at 400pm CST I had the opportunity to do just that! I am not used to speaking in front of groups and was a little nervous at first, but I have been an entrepreneur all of my life so once I started talking I was on a roll. The students seemed to be interested in foreclosure investing and how I have used EasyHUD to build a community of foreclosure investors online and I was impressed with the questions (these were MBA students after all).

I guess I ran my mouth too much because I ran out of time, so for those students that might make it to the EasyHUD blog (and anyone else who might be interested), here is some of what you missed:

1. Enjoy the Journey- If you don’t get jazzed by your what you day-to-day and only focus on the pot of gold at the end of this deal or that project, you will find that being in business for yourself kinda sucks. You have to make sure that each day when you get up you are excited about what small (or large) victory you will accomplish today. Who will you get to say “Yes” to your offer today? How many homeowners will your marketing drive to you today? Remembering this each day has been HUGE in my career satisfaction and overall quality of life!

2. Spend 50 Minutes Sharpening the Ax- I once read the Abraham Lincoln said that if he had 1 hour to cut down a tree, he would spend 50 minutes sharpening the ax. I found that to be a wonderful demonstration on the importance of careful planning. As an entrepreneur, if you want to grow your business it is crucial that you know WHERE you want to go and HOW you are going to get there. Once you know these 2 things, the rest just kinda falls into place as long as you show up each day and follow the HOW part of the equation. SO, my advice would be to make sure you have a very clear HOW before you start moving towards the WHERE … you’ll reach your target soooo much faster and with fewer headaches!

3. If it is to be, it’s up to me- I first heard this saying at a MLM meeting when I was 19 years old, and it has helped me through tough times in my business. What this means to me is that if I want to be successful in any endeavor, I can’t wait on someone else or blame anyone else, because my success is ultimately MY responsibility … not the homeowner’s, not my staff’s, not the banks’.

I will post some more tomorrow. Comments? Post them below!

1. Down Year for Sacramento Real Estate (rocklintoday.com)
2. Bay Area House Sales Down 22 Percent (efinancedirectory.com)
3. No. of Realtors at all-time high in CA (presstelegram.com)
4. AZ Introduces Mortgage Fraud Legislation (azleg.gov)
5. AZ bill would ease prosecution of mortgage fraud (azstarnet.com)
6. CO Lawmakers try to curb mortgage fraud (rockymountainnews.com)
7. Texas title insurance rates cut by 3.2 percent, but but insurers still have 90% profit margin (tdi.state.tx.us)
8. Mass. housing market in record-low slump (sanantonio.bizjournals.com)
9. Connect the Dots: ARMS and Greenspan (atlanticfreepress.com)
10. Gold, M3, and Willingness to Lend (Mish)
11. Thousands face loss of houses (news.enquirer.com)
12. Big People, Little People, and the Foreclosure Game (smhbn.blogspot.com)
13. Mortgage Lender Network’s Job Cuts Made Permanent (courant.com)
14. FDIC’s Supervisory Policy on Predatory Lending (fdic.gov)
15. Retirees up against debt (usatoday.com)