With the Stock Exchanges heading down and job security increasingly less certain, many successful people are looking for ways to make money from home. There are more ways to make money from home than any one person could ever look at, and there are many "schemes" that are "scams". People do not want to get ripped off, but the lure of big money does real people in! If you are looking for a way to provide for your family from home, you do not want to be scammed! You need to properly investigate every opportunity and learn as much as you can about the business as possible before jumping into it.

When I first started my quest towards starting a home business, I spent hundreds of hours on research. I took over a year to look at many different opportunities. I had numerous conversations with some business opportunity "recruiters" and went through endless websites and systems. The more I researched, the more confused I became. I decided that the best thing for me to do is to spend time talking with the people I would be working with until I had a good feel for their honesty and for the viability of the business.

For me, the product wasn't the main thing I was looking for. I wanted an awesome system and a good mentor that would help me be a success. I figured that the best product in the world wouldn't make me money if the system and training were not good for me and my limited technical ability. I wanted to be able to use the internet to make money and I knew I needed help in that endeavor.

I picked the correct business, got trained extremely well, and made over $20,000 within two months of starting my business.

So I avoided getting scammed, but can you? Can you know what work-at-home schemes are not a scam? Firstly, you need to make sure that you can get excited about the business. Excitement can be for the product, the income potential, the system or the training tools, but more than one of those elements need to be present for it to work for you. If there is a great pay plan but the product is a widget that nobody will want, it may be a scam. If there is great pay plan with a great product but there is not a viable system and you don't have a clue how you are going to learn how to market it, it may be a scam or you may have a high chance of failing. A scam is, after all, something or someone that takes your money and your time and gives you nothing that you were hoping for in return.

Secondly, you need to really investigate the company and the people that you are going to be working with. Are they honest? Do they have a track record? Are they well financed? Does it appear that the company is going to be able to make money for a decent amount of time? Learning these facts is more of an art than a science, but you can get a good feel for a company or person by spending time talking to the people and studying the company. You can also learn to use Google or other search engines to learn as much as you can. Use the word "scam" or "review" in a query and then read all you can.

Many people will call a business a scam because they tried it and failed. Occasionally you will find a trend that makes it obvious that a home business opportunity will take much more of your money than you will ever make.

Lastly, many people jump from business to business. They start one, fail, and then move on to the next best thing. When they fail at that business, they move on to fail at another one. Many people will call a business that they failed in a scam when in reality; they were the reason for the failurenot the business plan or the product. To really succeed in a home business, you have to be willing to put in the time to make it a success.

Since most home businesses can be started with a relatively small investment (a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars), it is insane to think that you can be making a huge income quickly without putting in some effort. While many home businesses can be built at your own pace, most take time and have a learning curve.

For me to get to where that I made ten thousand dollars in a week, I had to work many hours per day for weeks. Many nights I was working on my PC through the night. If you don't have that kind of time because you have a day job, you need to realize that it may take a few months to get to the point where you can enjoy a decent income from your efforts. The amazing thing about a home business is that the more you work it, the more efficient you get and the more your efforts become magnified on the internet. If you are marketing online, your name and your product or opportunity will proliferate on the net if you market correctly. If you are marketing a more traditional business such as a network marketing business, as your organization grows, your dividends will increase because more people will be working for your benefit.

With proper research, you can figure out what work-at-home schemes are not a scam. You must realize that every home business takes effort. Your level of success is dependent on how much you want that success and how hard you work at it. If you really work at it and seek out the proper tools and training, you can work from home and be successful.

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Are Short Sales a better deal than Bank owned properties?

Every Monday, I pull up a lot of interesting information from the MLS. And today was no exception. In Hampton Roads, also known as Tidewater, is made up of 5 cities in this report I will focus only on Chesapeake, Virginia Beach Norfolk.

Virginia Beach itself is the fastest growing City in Virginia with over 500,000 households and growing.

The Tidewater real estate market is buffered, unlike many other cities, we have a very strong Navy presence. But, even with this we have our share problems too. Currently The Greater Tidewater area has 274 short sale listings 303 Bank Owned Properties.

The average short sale property in Virginia Beach has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1969 Sqr feet and has an average list price of $292,000. The average List Price per Sqr Ft on the short sale properties is only $144.

The average bank owned property in Virginia Beach also has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and has 1,738 sqr ft with an average list price of $223,000. The average List price per sqr ft on the bank owned property is $130.

During the Month of October 2008, 12 Short Sale properties closed:

Beds Baths List Price Sale Price SP/LP Percent
High 4 3 $799,000 $799,000 103%
Low 2 1 $155,000 $150,000 91%
Average 3 2 $293,496 $288,500 97%
Median 3 2 $247,450 $242,500 97%

From the information above, Average and Median home sold for 3% less than the list price. Most short sales, are priced to sell, usually below the the fair market value.

Looking at Bank Owned properties during the month of October 2008.

Beds Baths List Price Sale Price SP/LP Percent
High 5 4 $679,900 $655,000 115%
Low 2 1 $104,900 $95,000 77%
Average 3 2 $263,714 $247,846 95%
Median 3 2 $239,900 $215,000 96%


Comparing the information between both Short Sale properties and Bank Owned. We see
that the Bank Owned Properties sell for fare less than the Short Sale properties, and at 95% of the list price as well.

First this tells us that the banks get less when they sell properties than do the current owners when a Short Sale is used with a professional real estate agent.

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Hello, If you are reading this, then you realize that unemployment is something that everyone needs to be prepared for now a days.  In the past unemployment was seen as something that sub par workers encountered because their worth to a company wasnt very high.  Times have changed though.  There are hundreds of thousands of good, talented, and valuable employees that have been let go because of strictly financial decisions that companies have made.  Im speaking from personal experience here.
  I worked in the engineering field for over 10 years, the last 5 of those years with the same company.  A company that had not had a layoff in over 8 years in any department.  I was a Project Manager, and I worked in several departments in our company.  I was heading up a software upgrade change, and was in charge of finding the best new software, learning it, and teaching it to the other employees.  I thought my position with the company was pretty secure.  I went on the semi annual fishing weekend trip with several of the other workers and one of the top company partners.  I was involved as I could be with the company, and my bosses.  Then the first round of layoffs came, and the people were laid off, the ones that we all knew were pretty much slacking, and we could probably do without.  We all figured that would be enough to get the company through this slow time.  Then several weeks later, there was another round, and then again several weeks later, I was let go, along with half of our field crews, an engineer, and another office assistant. 
I was making pretty good money, had just bought a house about a year and a half ago, and was able to support my family of 4 with just my income, so my wife could stay home with the kids.  That was all thrown into the blender with a few simple words, Nate, with things the way they are, we are going to have to let you go, we dont think work is going to pick back up for a while, so we had to make this decision.
In the days following, I was pretty sure that I could get another job quickly, as I was highly trained, motivated, and had great recommendations from my previous boss and company.  They even offered to call any place that I was applying, to give me a strong recommendation.  After visiting several dozen other engineering and construction offices, I began to see the trend.  No one was hiring, most were cutting back.  The next several days turned into weeks, and then next several weeks turned into months.  My savings was drained after the first 3 months.  I thought that I had done everything right by having that safety net, and that it would certainly not take me more than 12 weeks to find another job. 
It then got to the point where I just needed to get me by.  I started applying at home improvement stores, department stores, shipping companies, landscaping companies, and got the same response.  You are over qualified, and we dont want to take the time to hire and train you, when we know that you will leave as soon as something else opens up.  What??? I thought.  How can my experience keep me from getting a basic job.  By this time, I was on month 4, and starting to miss payments on my mortgage, my truck, and some other basic bills.  I was on the job hunt daily, filling out every application I could find, then following up on the ones I had already done.  I used all my networking contacts, and had them looking for any openings, and using whatever influence they may have had.  Nothing was panning out.  4 months turned into 5, then into 6.  My creditors were calling every day, at least a dozen times, and my moral was quickly fading.  I began to feel hopeless, and wished there were some way that I could have been prepared for this time of unemployment.  I thought I had done what I was supposed to by saving up 3 months income, and keeping my network contacts up to date, and having a good resume, with great references.  But none of that had gotten me a new job yet.  It ended up taking me over 6 months to get another job, and the financial effects were staggering, and will be long lasting.  My credit score that I had worked so hard all my life to keep high, had dropped, and had bad marks that would take years to restore.  The emotional strain had drained me more than I had thought possible, and my relationship with my family and my friends had suffered because of it.  Things are finally on the road, but it is a steep up hill road, and will be a difficult one to get back up. 
My plea to you is that you seriously consider what would happen to you and your family, if you were to lose your job, your income, your savings, your credit rating, and possibly your home.  Is that something that you would gamble on?  According to national statistics, the average length of unemployment is 4 and a half months, thats on average.  It also says that the more you make increases the length of time it takes to find a new job.  Dont gamble your families financial and emotional future on the chance that you wont be one of the millions of people that will become unemployed in the next year.  Protect your family, give yourself an extra financial help while you search for a new job.  Get an unemployment protection plan, this will give you an additional cash benefit during a period of unemployment.  This could very well be the difference that you need to keep your head above water financially, to keep your moral up during a job search, to keep your bills paid, and your family fed.  This could be the way to keep your savings that you have worked for years to build, to keep your home, your car, and your families financial stability.  A little planning now, can save you years of regret and financial rebuilding.  Get your unemployment protection plan today.

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