It’s Time to Make Your Move

by Michelle Krueger Times Homes Columnist
With two kids in college and a freshman in high school, as much as I would like to take my own advice and buy now - it really isn't the right time for my family to make a move. However, for those people who want or need to make a move in order to take the next step in their lives, what are you waiting for?
When you consider that affordability is the highest it's been in years along with today's historically low interest rates, buying a home now means smaller, more manageable monthly mortgage payments. Plus, you'll be increasing the value of your investment over time simply by paying less interest over the life of your loan.
With attractive pricing and low interest rates to motivate you, it's time to take action - before this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is gone. Whether you're a first time buyer looking to invest in your own future instead of your landlord's, part of a growing family with teenagers and an 80-pound dog living in a home bought back when the kids were starting elementary school and dreaming of a new puppy or a couple looking to spread your own wings and enjoy a little more free time, you can find a great deal on the home of your dreams right now.
While there are many things to consider when it comes to buying your dream home, looking at a few common issues most buyers face is a good place to start.
1. Location, location, location. There's always somewhere we'd rather be living. Personally, I would prefer a beach house over my home in the suburbs and will definitely look back on the great opportunities of today with great regret someday. How about a neighborhood you've had your eye on for a while, maybe something within the boundaries of a specific school district or an easier commute to work? Do you prefer historic homes, established neighborhoods or a brand new home of your very own? Would you love to be more out in the country or closer to restaurants and entertainment venues? Once you narrow down your wants and needs, the next step is to get out there and see what's available. Chances are you will be pleasantly surprised by all your options.
2. What size? Data captured by the US Census indicates that the average size of a new single family home declined for the first time in 2009 after over 30 years of uninterrupted growth. The average size of a home in our country was 1,645 square feet in 1975. That number swelled to 2,520 square feet in 2008. Today, the average is 2,392. The trend for large homes with dedicated special purpose spaces such as exercise rooms, offices, studies and media rooms seems to be waning. Now, people are more concerned with the amount of space they really need. Give it some thought.
3. What style? Today's floor plans offer a wide range of choices with ranch, 1 ½ story and 2 story options, some with no basement, some with full basements including daylight or walkout options and others with partial basements. Homes with open living spaces are great for entertaining, but some people still prefer traditional rooms. Think about how you live your life to determine the style that best fits your needs.
4. Finishes. Whenever a new home is built, there are a myriad of selections that can dramatically affect the bottom line. That's why there are many different grades of homes. In the kitchen alone you'll find a range of countertop and cabinet combinations, not to mention flooring, appliances, plumbing fixtures, hardware, lighting and the overall layout. Homes today also feature more green building materials and high-efficiency systems. Again, think carefully about the things that are must haves versus potential compromises when it comes to your dream home.
5. Landscape. A large, well-manicured yard is great for outdoor living, but it takes a great deal of time and money to keep it attractive and inviting. That's why many buyers opt for less responsibility when it comes to seasonal upkeep, including snow removal, and choose maintenance-free environments.
6. Amenities. Be sure to explore beyond the boundaries of an individual property. Check out the entire neighborhood. Look for parks, shopping, restaurants and other destinations important to you such as schools, movie theaters, the post office, healthcare facilities and highway access. You'll also want to inquire about city services and utility providers, including police and fire protection. These are beneficial to know before you invest in a home.
Taking each of these points into account, consider how long you've been thinking about buying a home. Has it been months . . . or maybe years? Whether it's your first home or you simply want something larger or smaller with less maintenance, find out why it's the best time in recent history to buy a home. Get off the fence and start searching for your dream home today!

Is selling up and buying residential park home in retirement a good idea?

We are finding the garden and cleaning at our three-bed semi more of a burden

 A residential park home will reduce the burden of cleaning and gardening. Photograph: Alamy

Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it's up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday's paper.
This week's question
We are a retired couple, aged 75 and 80, living in a three-bed semi on the state pension and small life savings. Gardening and cleaning the house are becoming a burden. We are thinking of selling up and buying a residential park home to make life easier and so we have enough money to really enjoy our life.
Should we do it?
Source http://www.guardian.co.uk/

WIGAN WILL BE TO SHAUN MALONEY’S TASTE

By Matthew Duun and Paul Joyce

 DEEP-FRIED Mars bars are off the menu, but Wigan manager Roberto Martinez has told club chef Marti Cameron to give new signing Shaun Maloney a welcoming taste of the Premier League by drumming up some good old Scottish cuisine.

Striker Maloney, signed on deadline day, is yet to make his debut but had 18 months south of the border a couple of seasons ago, with Aston Villa.

He admits that homesickness reduced his effectiveness before his return to Celtic, but now he is better equipped – give or take a few home comforts – to make a name for himself in England.

Martinez said: “Homesickness? When you have another eight Scots in your dressing room and the chef is a Scot as well, I don’t think you’ll find any homesickness.

“The chef will tell you he’s a big Latics fan, but deep down he’s a Celtic fan as well. He’s delighted to see ex-Celtic players coming into our dressing room. He makes sure he looks after them and cooks them what they need.

“Does that include haggis? Hopefully not.

“But I don’t think homesickness is going to be an issue at all. Shaun is well settled and getting the keys to a new place today. His sister is in Nottingham and he’s not living far away from Gary Caldwell and some of the Scottish boys. So he is in the perfect dressing room really.”

Maloney can have no better place to start than at Goodison this afternoon, where Everton manager David Moyes has his own player getting to grips with the Premier League after learning a few Spanish lessons the hard way.

As a true Dutchman, Royston Drenthe bleeds orange, but after his time at Real Madrid and a loan spell with Hercules failed to work out, Martinez feels he may have been caught out by some of the fundamentals.

“He refused to play for Hercules as they didn’t pay him for three months so he wanted to make a point, which you can understand,” said Martinez. “But you have to be in a Mediterranean culture to understand that sometimes you are expected to do your job, even though you won’t get paid for three months.”

Goodison Park chairman Bill Kenwright will use his own money to refund any fans who bought replica shirts for the new season with ‘Arteta’ or ‘Beckford’ on the back.

Mikel Arteta and Jermaine Beckford were sold to Arsenal and Leicester City just hours before the transfer window closed last month.

Kenwright said: “I have been contacted by several supporters, a lot with children, who had bought the new shirts with Mikel and Jermaine’s surnames on the back of them.

“Both players left the club quite literally at the very last minute on transfer deadline day. These are unusual circumstances and I simply want to try and play fair by those supporters who have spent hard-earned money on these shirts.”

The deadline for the refund is September 30.

Moyes, meanwhile, has ditched the kid-gloves approach with England Under-21 midfielder Jack Rodwell, 20, and admitted he is now “on his case” to ensure he fulfils his potential.

“What we are saying to Jack is, ‘Come on. Let’s see if you can give us some consistency’,” said Moyes. “Jack is a good player obviously, but he can do better. He did it last week, now we want it every week.

“He knows he has to do it now. He has been doing some extra work, watching a lot of his games to see in what ways what he can improve.”

Finance doesn't stop for stay-at-homes

By Diana Clement

 Whether in or outside the workforce, it's still necessary to plan ahead
New at-home parents are likely to experience a whole range of emotions around their finances, including guilt and worry. It can be a huge psychological hurdle to go from independent earner to being financially dependent. The at-home parent is also saving on childcare costs, which can be huge if both parents are in the workforce. Picture / Getty Images Baby brain isn't a reason to forget about your financial future. Stay-at-home-mums (or dads) who put their finances on the back-burner may be setting themselves up for all sorts of financial problems in the future.
Some common symptoms of this ailment include losing touch with your career, failing to know what is happening with the family finances, letting insurances lapse, or giving up on KiwiSaver.
Financial adviser Joanne Robb of All Matters Money recommends that couples give living on a single income a dry run for three to six months before committing to it. During this time, they should live on one income and save the other, she says. The savings could become a very useful emergency fund.

Article continues below

The next step is to have a financial and career plan. Whether you're in the workforce or outside it, it's still necessary to plan for the future and set goals.
It's a good idea to keep KiwiSaver or other retirement savings going while you're out of the workforce, says Robb. If the couple contributes voluntarily to the at-home partner's KiwiSaver, they will still get the maximum member tax credits from the government.
Also make sure, says Robb, that you research the state aid available to families, such as family assistance and childcare subsidies. These payments can help make life on one income more tolerable.
Chances are if you're going from two incomes to one, your new life will be a culture shock in more ways than learning to change nappies and navigate playgroup politics.
New at-home parents are likely to experience a whole range of emotions around their finances, including guilt and worry. It can be a huge psychological hurdle to go from independent earner to being financially dependent. It's worth remembering that if you've been with your partner for three years, your money is viewed as one big pot by the law, not as his money and her money.
The at-home parent is also saving on childcare costs, which can be huge if both parents are in the workforce.
Budget downsizing can be a hard pill to swallow. The at-home parent can "contribute" to the overall family position by taking charge of budgeting and investing where appropriate to make the money go further. Robb says her own sister wishes she'd followed the All Matters Money spending plan throughout her marriage.
Tracking the family finances is much more difficult than it was in our mothers' or grandmothers' day, when the money came in in cash and good budgeters would divvy it up to cover bills, spending and saving. These days there may be numerous credit cards, direct debits, trust accounts, automatic payments and so on. Good financial management is almost a full-time job in its own right.
Inevitably, most at-home parents either want or need to work part-time. There are jobs that the stay-at-home parent can do from nine to three. Most are low-paid and it may be difficult to contain the work to within school, day-care, or even kindy/playcentre hours.
The parenting forums on Trade Me are full of requests from mothers (and fathers) for ideas for home businesses.
Although people posting on online forums may have good ideas, it's not sensible to base financial decisions on what you read. There are some insightful people on Trade Me's community and other forums, but many more who really don't have the first clue about good personal financial planning.
A lot of stay-at-home parents turn to direct selling of products such as Avon and Tupperware. Manukau mum Linda Taurua recommends Avon.
She earns between 24 per cent and 36 per cent commission on sales, depending on volume. Her Avon income helps with the family finances and the work can be done to fit around the needs of her 8- and 13-year-old children.
There are also plenty of rental properties run very efficiently by at-home parents, which contribute income and long-term capital gain to the family.
One popular money-making venture for at-home parents is launching baby-related businesses, such as Snazzipants cloth nappies and Lola & Ben baby sleeping bags. Some have been financially successful.
There is also a legion of at-home parents selling new and used goods on Trade Me.
One of the big long-term financial issues for at-home parents is losing their confidence in their chosen field of work. Many do not feel comfortable about returning to their former career after a break and may take lower-paid work.
Whatever your previous role, it is possible to keep up "currency" during an absence from the workforce, says Jo Mills, general manager of Career Analysts.
"We see many fabulous people who are feeling fairly shaky about returning to work and the value they can still add.
"The best advice we can give is don't put your career 100 per cent on the back-burner," says Mills. "Every few months, consider what you could be doing to keep your career alive in the time you have, and make it happen."
Mills recommends at-home parents keep up to date with changes in their line of work. "If you only have 10 minutes to read the paper, read the business section. If you have 20 minutes on the internet, avoid Facebook and instead look at LinkedIn to see what discussion groups are in flow.
"If you find something relevant, email a link to your ex co-workers/networks. You will find that they return the favour and will continue to see you as active in your field."
Volunteering is another way to keep your career skills current. That can involve anything from doing the books for a voluntary organisation if you're an accountant to running marketing campaigns for a charity. Joining the board of trustees at a local school can help maintain and develop software and management skills.
This approach widens your networks, which may be useful if or when you return to the workforce.
Not everyone can find the time to work part-time or volunteer, says Mills. "[Instead] consider options that work in with your lifestyle, such as mentoring or coaching others, creating introductions for your networks, submitting articles to your employer's in-house newsletter, adding to blogs, or attending ad-hoc networking events/one-off courses."
A significant proportion of marriages and partnerships involving children fail. With this in mind, it's important that the at-home partner understands the family finances and keeps an eye on bank statements.
Both members of a couple should understand how any family trusts work, and the structure of any property investment or business owned by the family.
When businesses go awry, marriages often fail. Business debt is often secured against the family home and other assets, which means both parties can end up financially destitute in the event of a business failure.
They may not even have a deposit for a new home. This can come as a real shock to the partner who wasn't closely involved in the business.
It's also a good idea to have at least one credit card in your name so you have access to short-term credit should you need it. It will also help maintain a credit record in your own name.
Stay-at-home parents sometimes wrongly assume that they don't need any life insurance cover. "Often I hear [husbands] saying: 'she doesn't need any cover, she's not working'," says Naomi Ballantyne, founder of insurance company Partners Life. Life insurance will also pay out in most circumstances if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Another insurance that is important to at-home parents is critical illness (also called trauma) insurance, says Mark Ennis, AMP's general manager of wealth protection. This insurance pays out if you get a serious illness, such as cancer or multiple sclerosis.
Whether it's death or critical illness cover, the pay-out can be used to pay for childcare, house cleaning, nursing care during the recovery phase or even a last family holiday.
It's not uncommon for the working partner to take time off to look after the children following a death or the diagnosis of a critical illness, says Ennis.

At Home: Move over luxury, consumers want improvements that profit

by: Mercy Hospital

At Home: Marni Jameson finds nothing too shocking in a new report from American Institute of Architects. 

So often I read studies and ask myself: They paid someone to study this? They could have just asked me. For instance, a study from a British (need I say more) insurance company found that the rate of men's car accidents go up with hemlines. I'm floored. Positively floored!
And the National Post recently reported these findings from the Journal of the Obvious: Polygamy makes for unhappy families. That's right. A Malaysian study determined that almost all the children and most of the wives didn't love the arrangement.
Similarly, when I got “an exclusive” look at a just-released report from the American Institute of Architects, nothing in it shocked me.
Apparently, since 2005 the institute has conducted a quarterly House Trends Survey, which gathers the collective perceptions of residential architects and asks them how it's going. I'm not sure how useful this is, except to offer a form of group therapy in exchange for the architects' membership dollars:
Is everyone else's business as bad as mine?
Yes.
A look back over the past few years shows that the business for residential architects has gone from bad to really bad to really really bad, back to bad, and now is between bad and really bad.
Anyone with instincts sharper than a butter knife can tell you it's not good out there. Not for architects, builders, interior designers, real estate agents, homeowners, mortgage lenders or furniture sellers. Or, well, you get the point. Am I missing something?
“What we usually find is that the numbers pretty well reflect what we're seeing in the marketplace,” says Scott Frank, AIA spokesman, making my point exactly.
“So why do you do keep doing the survey, I mean, if you already know?”
“I'd have to ask the economics department.”
Save that sentence. It's pretty much the perfect one to use to end any conversation.
Here's the gist of the AIA's second quarter 2011 findings: Because homeowners are feeling nervous about overextending themselves with home improvement projects, the days of splurging on luxury indulgences such as home theaters and wine cellars are over. Instead homeowners are making improvements that can either help them make money or save money.
“Home theaters used to be huge,” Frank said. “They hit a high water mark in 2006 to 2007. Then the crash came. Since 2010 the home office has emerged as the specialty room of choice. People want rooms that will help them generate income.”
Here are some more findings, which you probably could have guessed, from the latest AIA Home Design Trends Survey:
• Working at home. Home offices have far surpassed home theaters as the favorite specialty room; 36 percent of architects surveyed said it was the most popular special function room they'd been asked to do. Only 8 percent said home theaters were.
• Connecting. As homeowners seek to do more teleworking, anything and everything wireless has gotten hotter: 50 percent of those polled said that was a rising preference, compared to 44 percent last year.
• Outdoor living. Nabbing the No. 2 spot after home offices were outdoor living areas. As Americans replace vacations with staycations, and opt for more informal, home-centered activities, they're putting their money into outdoor spaces with kitchens and fire pits that they can enjoy year round, while possibly raising their home's value for when the market does come back.
• Energy efficiency. Any product that promised energy savings was highly desirable, according to 69 percent of those surveyed. Among items gaining interest were tankless water heaters, better insulation, solar panels, and water saving devices.
• Accessibility. As boomers look for ways to age in place gracefully, more are changing their homes to accommodate that. Downstairs master bedrooms were gaining momentum, said 47 percent surveyed, and so were ramps and elevators.
• Boosting resale. While the demand for new homes, trade-up homes, and second homes was even weaker than last year, room additions or alterations, and remodeled kitchens and baths were stronger.
• Smaller projects. Although new construction is way down, architects are learning to make do with smaller projects. Remodeling, retrofitting and renovation are taking the place of new construction, at least until a new survey tells us otherwise.
Syndicated columnist and speaker Marni Jameson is the author of “House of Havoc” and “The House Always Wins” (Da Capo Press). Contact her through www.marnijameson.com.

Smart marketing makes Mayweather 'Money'

By KEVIN IOLE

LAS VEGAS – Richard Schaefer had had enough of Floyd Mayweather Jr. During a cross-country tour to promote the 2007 fight between Mayweather and Oscar De La Hoya, Schaefer quickly grew irritated of Mayweather's antics.

One day, Mayweather intercepted De La Hoya's lunch. Another time, he swiped the Golden Boy's gym bag. At one point during the cross-country tour, Mayweather brought a chicken with a gold medal around its neck onto stage at a news conference to mock his adversary, who had been unflatteringly dubbed "Chicken" De La Hoya by the great former New York Daily News boxing writer, Michael Katz.
The De La Hoya-Mayweather fight would go on to become the highest-grossing match in history, and Schaefer had more than enough work to keep him busy. Every day, it seemed, Schaefer got a call from De La Hoya complaining about yet another Mayweather prank. Angry, irritated and anxious to get back to work, Schaefer sought out Mayweather.
The one-time Swiss banker angrily confronted the superstar boxer and went nose-to-nose with him, telling Mayweather he didn't appreciate his childish antics.
"It was an ugly conversation and confrontation, really ugly," Schaefer said. "I actually told him, 'If you continue with this behavior, I'm going to send you back to the plane and I'm going to send you home.' He got upset and we were really going at each other hard."
It wasn't long, though, before Schaefer earned a grudging respect for Mayweather's business sense. And a few months after Mayweather and De La Hoya set a pay-per-view record by selling 2.45 million units, Schaefer found himself seated next to Mayweather on a flight to London.
They had a conversation about promoting and marketing. Suddenly, Schaefer's grudging respect turned to admiration. Mayweather, he discovered, was far brighter, more analytic and filled with clever ideas, than he'd ever imagined.
From his earliest days as a professional, Mayweather was adamant he should be marketed primarily to an urban market, and he proved correct. He has turned into the biggest pay-per-view draw in boxing, drawing numbers rivaled only in the sport's history by ex-heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. In his last four fights, he's sold over 6 million pay-per-view units that have generated nearly $400 million.
On Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, he'll meet Victor Ortiz for the World Boxing Council welterweight title in a bout that almost certainly will top 1 million sales and could exceed 1.5 million.
As great as he is as a fighter, however – rival promoter Lou DiBella believes Mayweather may deserve to be ranked in the top 10 all-time – he may even be better as a promoter. He knew he had to expand his audience, so after beating De La Hoya, he appeared on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars." After a win over Ricky Hatton, Mayweather appeared on several WWE telecasts and ultimately was featured in Wrestlemania 24.
DiBella was an HBO executive more than a decade ago when Mayweather not only rejected a lucrative contract offer from the network, but he dismissed it as "slave wages." Almost to a man, the boxing industry was outraged at Mayweather's gall.
DiBella, who had worked long and hard on the deal, was apoplectic. Mayweather was barely into his career and had been offered what at the time was a massive deal, more than $12.5 million for six fights. Even though his father, Floyd Mayweather Sr., urged him to accept it, Mayweather Jr. unhesitatingly said no.
"He called it a slave contract and I got really [angry]," DiBella said. "I told him that if he walked through Times Square with me and a single person recognized him, I'd reopen the negotiation. But here's the amazing part of this story: The kid wasn't happy with the way he was being promoted. He wanted to be promoted in a different way, to a different market. He and [Top Rank's Bob] Arum fought for years over that. He finally got what he wanted. And guess what? He was right.
"The Dancing with the Stars thing worked. The WWE thing worked. And I wasn't raised to throw $100 bills in the air, but you know what? That worked. It got him an awful lot of play. It got him a lot more play than if he'd paid 10 grand that month to a publicist."
Mayweather signed with Arum's Top Rank in 1996 after he won a bronze medal in the Atlanta Olympics. Top Rank was, as now, one of the sport's dominant promoters and tried to push Mayweather as the next Sugar Ray Leonard.

Top Rank had gone to extraordinary success with Leonard in the 1980s, pitching his good looks, a clean-cut persona and dazzling skills. The formula clearly worked.
Mayweather, like Leonard, was an Olympic medalist. He had the same good looks and dazzling skills. But he chafed at being pushed as the second coming of Leonard.
"He had great respect for Sugar Ray Leonard and Muhammad Ali [men Arum promoted], but for as long as I've known him, he always pushed back on attempts to promote him as the next Leonard or the next Ali," said Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather's close friend and the CEO of Mayweather Promotions. "He didn't want to be the second anybody. He wanted to be the first Floyd Mayweather."
Mayweather complained so incessantly about it that in early 2004, a few months after a Nov. 1, 2003, stoppage of Philip N'Dou, his attorney, John Hornewer, flew to Las Vegas to sit down with Arum and Arum's stepson, Todd duBoef.
Hornewer and Ellerbe sat in Arum's Las Vegas office and pitched Mayweather's message: Promote me in the urban community and to the hip hop crowd. Dump the Sugar Ray Leonard campaign.
At the time, Top Rank was making a heavy push to promote to the Hispanic market, particularly in the Southwestern U.S. Arum wasn't doing a lot of business in the urban market because there was a perception among boxing insiders at the time that that audience didn't buy pay-per-view.
Mayweather believed that, given one of its own to root for, they would buy in big numbers. Hornewer said duBoef was open to considering the idea, but Arum was not.
Though Arum would promote Mayweather for more than two additional years, that was the beginning of the end of the relationship between Top Rank and Mayweather. But when Schaefer began promoting Mayweather's fights in 2007, the relationship between them was initially not great.
"When we first did [HBO's boxing reality series] '24/7', we bumped heads," Mayweather said. "He didn't understand me. But we got on a flight to London and we sat next to each other and we talked and talked. He said, 'Floyd, I see things this way.' And I said, 'Well, I see things that way.' We came to understand each other. It's been a great relationship."
Schaefer was amazed by Mayweather's business acumen. Ellerbe said that long before former HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg developed the "24/7" series, Mayweather came to him and proposed a show that was essentially what would become "24/7."
It draws big ratings and has become essential to promoters trying to sell a pay-per-view card. What it has really become is a vehicle for Mayweather to build his brand.
"24/7 is the Floyd Mayweather Show," DiBella said. "When it's not the Floyd Mayweather Show, with all due respect, it's very ordinary. That's fact. 24/7 was invented for him and, truthfully, Mayweather is the star of it. If he did another reality show, it would work. He's a compelling personality. Whatever you think of him, he causes you to react.
Though the reality show was the vehicle that propelled him to stardom and made him a superstar in the general public, he had long since become an icon in the hip-hop community.
Ernesto Shaw, known professionally as DJ Clue, a DJ, rapper and prominent New York City radio personality, said in the hip-hop community, Mayweather is one of the three or four biggest sports figures. Mayweather is right at the level of NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, LeBron James of the Heat and Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, he said.
"He's part of the community and he speaks that language and he knows how to market it," Clue said. "Floyd is flashy and shows that money and the fancy cars and the beautiful girlfriend. He's got Mayweather Records and that helps. But he's always doing something to keep himself relevant within the community.
"He'll be out at the clubs hosting parties, going to strip clubs, that kind of thing. He also aligned himself with 50 Cent and that really helps him, too."
Schaefer said Mayweather is one of the greatest self promoters he's ever seen, but even Ellerbe admits that not all of his stunts work.
Earlier this year, when a federal judge in Las Vegas had ordered him to give a deposition in a defamation lawsuit filed against him by Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather was at a night club in Atlanta where he was videotaped burning a $100 bill.

It raised a huge backlash and Ellerbe said that Mayweather knows it was a mistake.

"First of all, that was the character, 'Money Mayweather,' not the man, Floyd Mayweather, who did that," Ellerbe said. "But if he had it to do all over again, I think it would have come out differently. In the middle of a recession, with people looking for work, struggling and hurting for money like they are, we understand how that looked."
Mayweather can be extraordinarily charitable, and often drives into inner city Las Vegas to feed homeless people. When boxer Genaro Hernandez – The man Mayweather beat in 1998 to win his first world championship – died after a long battle with cancer in June, Mayweather picked up the cost of the funeral. Mayweather, though, didn't publicize it and declined to speak about it. It was Hernandez's brother, Rudy, who told the story.
"That was incredible the kindness he showed our family," Hernandez said.
Doug Stewart, the co-host of the sports talk radio show "2 Live Stews" on 790-AM in Atlanta, has been close to the hip-hop community for many years. He raves about Mayweather's marketing genius and said he clearly has his finger on the pulse of the hip hop world, but Stewart said he fears Mayweather made a critical mistake when he erupted at his father in the opening episode of the current "24/7."
What started as playful banter quickly turned into a nasty confrontation and Mayweather Sr. was escorted out of the gym owned by his son. The elder Mayweather will not attend Saturday's bout, though he said he will buy the pay-per-view.
Stewart wasn't taking sides, but said the ugly scene failed to go over well.
"He has all these crazy theatrics and does so many outlandish things to promote his fights, it proves his genius," Stewart said. "But the one thing that everyone in the black community I've spoken with didn't agree with was the blowup with his Dad on '24/7.' That's the first thing he's done where the feeling, from top to bottom in the black community, was unanimously against him. I know he lost points with me doing that.
"No matter what ill feelings you hold toward your father, at the end of the day, it's still your father and your father deserves respect. It was way over the top. I'm one of the biggest Floyd fans there is. I always defend him and I think he's one of the best ever to do it. But not even I could validate that huge argument with Senior. It was totally, totally uncalled for."
Mayweather's critics, of where there are legion, say that's one of only many things he's done that have been totally uncalled for. Mayweather is facing six separate lawsuits, as well as felony charges from a domestic violence case against the mother of his children, ex-girlfriend Josie Harris.
Mayweather wouldn't comment on his legal cases, but said he's largely misunderstood. He is, he said, only trying to enjoy his life and the perks that come with being one of the greatest boxers ever.
The monster depicted in the lawsuits is alien to him, he says. He doesn't worry about what others choose to do and would prefer if he were offered the same courtesy.
"I never count the next man's money or worry about what he's doing or how he lives," Mayweather said. "Each man lives how he wants to live and takes care of his family. Some people want to live, you know, a real just relaxed life. Me, myself, I'm animated. I'm happy, full of energy. You only got one time here on Earth, so me, if I only got one time, I'm going to have fun.
"When I get to be [cutman] Rafael [Garcia's] age, I still want to have fun. I want to be his age, dancing like he does. I'm energized, I'm happy and that's how I want to live my life, having fun. Money don't make me. I make money, but money don't make me. It doesn't define who I am as a person."
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Money matters

How do council housing heads and arm’s-length management organisation bosses fare in the salary stakes? Lydia Stockdale reveals the results of Inside Housing’s exclusive poll
For the second consecutive year, Inside Housing has gathered together the salaries of the housing heads of the largest stock-owning local authorities and arm’s-length management organisations to find out how things are shaping up for them financially.
We contacted the 10 UK councils with the most homes, the 10 ALMOs that manage the most properties, and also the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, to discover how much their most senior housing professionals earn (see below for the full tables).
On average, salaries for housing heads at local authorities have dropped 7 per cent from 2009/10 to £90,410. Meanwhile for ALMO chief executives, average pay has remained largely the same at £123,431.
‘You would expect the council and ALMO chief executive salaries to reflect the general atmosphere of cuts - for them to have remained static or to have gone down,’ says Alistair McIntosh, chief executive of consultancy HQN.
Lagging behind
The average salary for a council housing head compares relatively modestly with the £156,141 paid on average to housing association chief executives.
This apparent £65,000 pay gap is, as Michael Gelling, chair of the Tenants’ and Residents’ Organisations of England points out, despite council housing bosses having a wider remit. ‘They have extra responsibilities as well as [having to make] savings placed on them by central government,’ he says.
However, a council housing head’s average pay per million turnover - at £813.56 - is more favourable whencompared with some housing association chief executives.
Last year, commentators on the survey made the point that council housing heads receive support from finance and other departments, whereas housing association chief executives control these themselves. However, Mr Gelling’s argument that council bosses are responsible for more than just housing is also valid.
Mary Castles, executive director of housing and social work services at 36,584-home North Lanarkshire Council, is an example of someone with more than one service area under her leadership. She earned a basic salary of £113,250 in 2010/11, a 3 per cent rise from 2009/10.
Derek Muir, meanwhile, is head of housing and neighbourhood services at Fife Council, which owns and manages 30,000 homes. He was paid £86,000 in 2010/11, which is 1 per cent more than he earned in 2009/11, and equates to £2.87 per home.
The head of landlord services at 69,000-home Birmingham Council - a post which was vacant in 2010/11 - would earn between £76,000 and £85,000, which averages out at £1.17 per home.
And back in Scotland at South Lanarkshire Council, Annette Finnan, head of area services, earned between £88,800 and £93,800 in 2010/11 - which is the same as her predecessor earned in 2009/10. The local authority owns and manages 25,500 properties, so her pay equates to an average of £3.58 per home.
As for the NIHE, which owns and manages a whopping 90,188 properties in Northern Ireland and had a turnover of £765 million in 2010/11, its former chief executive Paddy McIntyre, who retired on 31 December 2010, earned the equivalent of £124,414 per year. Stewart Cuddy, who was acting chief executive from January to March 2011, took home the equivalent of £106,229 per year.
New starters receiving less than their predecessors is a trend that is being seen across the housing sector says HQN’s Mr McIntosh. ‘What’s really interesting is that new recruits are taken on at less money,’ he states.
The average 7 per cent drop in local authority housing heads’ pay results from a change in job roles within councils. At Bristol Council, which owns and manages 28,400 homes, for example, the post of director of neighbourhoods has been cut, meaning that now the most senior housing professional at the local authority is director for landlord services.
The role, which is shared by Mary Ryan and Steve Barrett comes with a £81,000 salary which is around 25 per cent lower than the remuneration offered for the previous director of neighbourhoods role, which was between £102,686 to £112,597.
‘We’ve simplified the management structure, with a number of senior posts going,’ explains a spokesperson for Bristol Council.
Stagnant salaries
Moving on to ALMOs and Gwyneth Taylor, policy director at the National Federation of ALMOs, says she’s not surprised that the chief executives’ remuneration has mostly remained static. ‘ALMOs have tended to be asked to freeze salaries,’ she states.
Peter Morton, chief executive of Sheffield Homes, the largest ALMO in terms of the number of homes managed, was paid £128,000 in 2010/11. Sheffield Homes manages 41,712 homes on behalf of Sheffield Council and his salary equates to £3.07 per home.
Mr Morton did not receive a salary increase between 2009/10 and 2010/11. Nor did Eamon McGoldrick, chief executive of Homes for Islington, whose salary banding means he takes home between £122,940 and £133,185 a year; Cathy Deplessis, who was chief executive of Lambeth Living until February this year and earned £125,000; Simon Rogers, chief executive of Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing, who took home £99,507; or Ashley Crumbley, chief executive of Wigan & Leigh Housing, who earned £123,281.
Charlotte Graves, chief executive of 31,500-home Hackney Homes and also corporate director of housing at Hackney Council, is the highest paid ALMO chief executive of those we surveyed.
She earned £136,420 in both 2009/10 and 2010/11. However, with an annual turnover of £115 million she is paid one of the least per million turnover at £1,186.
Paul Field, who has been interim chief executive of 29,042-home Sandwell Homes since July 2010 was paid £109,873 in 2010/11. This is 13 per cent less than the salary his predecessor Brian Oakley was paid for 2009/10 - he took home £126,450.
ALMO chief executives’ pay packets tend to be calculated using local government formulas, which are used to assess degrees of responsibility, explains Ms Taylor.
A spokesperson for the Local Government Association confirms the findings of our survey are a ‘reflection of what is happening across councils’. A lot of local authorities are looking at their executive teams to make savings on salaries, he says. ‘Housing teams are no different.’
Source http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/

Families Learn How to Make Money From Home and From their Kitchens on New Reality Show

by Elizabeth Brennon
The Prepared Housewives group announced today the launch of their new reality dinner show, “Cooking Up Money!” which features moms (and dads) who are making money from their homes and kitchens. “Cooking Up Money!” is a 30 minute internet show that will stream live every Wednesday night at 8 pm (Mountain Time) and shares the Prepared Housewives mission to raise the socioeconomic status of a million homes by helping moms help moms feed and fund their families from the kitchen. The show centers around meeting people who have found a way to work from home so they don’t have to leave their families to go to work during these difficult economic times. The show will be hosted by Cori Dyer, Diamond Donna Root and Kim Power Stilson every Wednesday at 8 pm (Mountain Time) here.
According to Diamond Donna Root, as an entrepreneur and single mother of five kids, feeding and funding her family was something she did as she traveled the globe speaking on personal empowerment and business development.
“The current U.S. economy has impacted all Americans and natural and man made disasters know no race or class,” said Diamond Donna Root, co-founder of Prepared Housewives. “It is imperative for families to be self-reliant today more than ever before.”
Kim Power Stilson, by day a national talk radio show host and 24-hour mother of three, will co-host the reality dinner show to share a message that will help moms feed and fund their families from home.
“Through the Cooking Up Money Reality Dinner Show we can reach out from kitchen to kitchen to share a food message that will keep families fed and keep more moms at home with their families,” said Kim Power Stilson, talk host and Prepared Housewives co-founder. “We will traverse the nation to share a virtual meal while we talk about their successful home based business solutions during the weekly show!”
Cori Dyer, a single mom of three, successful trainer and new co-host, says she has a tremendous amount of compassion for those who struggle financially. She knows because after giving birth to her son she lived in car for the 3 months and didn’t give up on her dreams til she became President of a successful mortgage company.
“In today’s economy many people will find themselves homeless or having to live with family members,” said Cooking Up Money! Co-host Cori Dyer. “It is my hope that by sharing my experiences and what I have learned that I can help others become more financially reliant.”
About the “Cooking Up Money” Reality Dinner Show and the Prepared Housewives: The weekly show features families making money from the kitchen with hosts Cori Dyer, Kim Power Stilson and Diamond Donna Root. Join with the Prepared Housewives mission is to raise the socioeconomic status of a million homes by helping moms help moms feed and fund their families from the kitchen! Join with your favorite moms on the “Cooking Up Money” show every Wednesday night at 8 p.m. Mountain Time for dinner, home-based work solutions and to learn about Prepared Housewives!
Kim Power Stilson co-hosts the “Cooking Up Money” Reality Dinner Show that features families making money from the kitchen with Cori Dyer and Diamond Donna Root. Kim hosts the “Health Wealth & Everything Else!” Global eMedia Talk Radio Show that broadcasts on terrestrial, Internet and SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Kim is an eMedia Strategist with Power Strategies who has helped thousands of business owners promote their products and services online. She is the author of “21st Century Grapevine” and her new –”eMedia for your business”5-Step training series and the co-founder of Power Mom’s “Prepared Housewives” whose mission it is to raise the socioeconomic status of a million homes by helping moms help moms feed and fund their families from the kitchen. Visit http://www.kimpowerstilson.com or contact her kim@powerstrategies.TV or http://www.powerstrategies.TV. http://www.preparedhousewives.com

Students exchange dorm life for home life

By Rachel Williams 

Flash back to a few years ago and the average American college student lived on their school campus. Well, not anymore.
The price to experience the traditional college life has greatly increased since then and families are making changes in order to adjust.
According to a recent Sallie Mae study on "How America Pays For College," students are forgoing the dorm experience to live at home in order to save on financial strain. This includes middle-class and affluent families, who are even shopping around for more affordable colleges and looking to cut extra expenses.
UCF, also known as a large commuter school, is no stranger to these statistics. Approximately 80 percent of students at UCF live off-campus, which includes at home or in a local apartment.
According to the UCF Housing and Residence Life website, the price to live in the most basic dorm was $2,024 per semester in the 2006-2007 academic year. This year, the price for the same basic dorm is $2,420 per semester.
The cost of tuition has also jumped. In the 2006-2007 year, the cost per credit hour for an undergraduate student was $116.40. Currently, tuition is $167.35 per credit hour. These rising prices are forcing students to look for cheaper alternatives, such as their living quarters.
Morgan Casselton, a sophomore hospitality major, is one of many who had to make living adjustments due to financial constraints. Casselton, who once lived in a dorm, is now a resident at The Edge apartments, located just minutes from campus.
"Living off campus in an apartment saves me about $100 per month in rent," Casselton said. "I also benefit from having my own room, bathroom and choosing who my roommates are."
Many students are now going the same route. The sense of independence attracts numerous college students to living on campus. However, that independence is not lost, and Casselton agreed that is a vital experience in college.
Still feeling a sense of independence, but also a sense of contemplation may rest in the minds of many students living directly on campus.
Ryan Winkler, a sophomore business administrations major, said he has debated whether he should live off campus in the future. Winkler currently lives in the Towers, and according to his calculations, he could be saving nearly $4,000 living two minutes away.
Despite the dorm's convenience, Winkler said he is facing the reality that a student loan may be in his future if he continues living directly on campus. If he decides to move, however, he doesn't want to lose his independence.
"I would not live at home because living independently gives you more of a college experience," Winkler said.
For some students, keeping independence by living on their own isn't much of an option. Taylor Reyes, a sophomore biology major, passed up the dorm experience in order to live at home.
"It is just more cost-effective living at home," she said. "Also, I benefit from having home-cooked meals, no roommate issues and I don't need to worry about homesickness."
The average price of living on campus is currently $8,574, give or take depending on the student, according to the UCF Financial Assistance website.
That amount of money may make home-cooked meals look more appetizing than before.
But money aside, it wouldn't be enough for Reyes. Saving money is only one component of why she chose her living situation.
"I would not live on campus ... it would be convenient, but I enjoy staying at home and not having to get adjusted to a new living environment," Reyes said.

Upper Echelon Podcast: Jannie Mouton, chairman and founder of PSG

Jannie Mouton dispels the Stellenbosch mafia myth and talks about his second chance. 

ALEC HOGG:  Upper Echelon is brought to you by Deloitte.  Jannie Mouton, the chairman and founder of the PSG Group is in our Upper Echelon this week and Jannie I know you and I share an admiration for Warren Buffett.  It’s very interesting where he talks about “one should live where the fictional cost of life is lowest” and about a year ago when we had a similar conversation you were telling me that’s one of the reasons as well why you decided to go to Stellenbosch - you can think better.

JANNIE MOUTON:  Yes, it’s a small town - almost like his growing up and spending his own life in Omaha.  You have more time to think and less time sitting in traffic.
ALEC HOGG:  It was interesting talking to Nick Binedell recently from Gibbs who said “the new business power centre of South Africa is Stellenbosch”.  So I guess you're bumping into some fellow mega magnets over there.
JANNIE MOUTON:  That’s over exaggerated - there are a couple of friends - not a mafia - I’d like to put that record straight and it’s not so fantastically for South African business.  We have more time to maybe see one another, socialise a bit and talk about the good things in life.
ALEC HOGG:  How big is your head office?
JANNIE MOUTON:  It’s about 20 people...
ALEC HOGG:  And you’ve got a couple of sons in there as well...
JANNIE MOUTON:  Yes, but keep in mind one of my sons is sitting in Constantia where the asset management operation is and the other one is with me in Stellenbosch.  So it’s not all of the Mouton family sitting in Stellenbosch.  Our head office is profitable - it’s not a burden on the company.
ALEC HOGG:  How do you make money from your head office?
JANNIE MOUTON:  We are paid fees to manage certain companies like Zeder, Paladin and companies like that - they pay us...
ALEC HOGG:  Just to go back a little bit - your story is well known.  Most people listening to or watching this will have read your book - or intended to read your book by now - fabulous book that is - that you started again at 50 after being kicked out by your fellow directors.  If you look back there - not everybody gets a second chance.  What were the key things you’ve done differently the second time around?
JANNIE MOUTON:  You know you’ve had the experience of setting up a company - it was a successful company and then you're asked to leave.  Number one, it is a shock - it’s almost a disgrace - you don’t want to talk about it.  You then realise after a while that only you, yourself would make a difference and you better get going.  You’ve had experience, you know you’ve made mistakes and you learn out of mistakes.  So for me it took time - during that period I did a lot of reading - reading business books - like I discovered Warren Buffett 15 years ago and that made my days.  It’s difficult sitting at home - one day you're the CEO of a company and the next day you're sitting at home and you have to make the best of your life.
ALEC HOGG:  But what have you done differently this time around?
JANNIE MOUTON:  Maybe I am a bit aggressive because even my wife said at one stage, “Jannie the other partners, we were pinned in together can’t be wrong - you must have done something wrong as well”.  And I analysed myself - running a company I may be too aggressive, maybe too driven, maybe too focused and don’t spend enough time to understand the human being and be nice and supportive - thinks like that, I’ve learned.
ALEC HOGG:  Have you got better at it?
JANNIE MOUTON:  I think so.
ALEC HOGG:  How have you worked at that?
JANNIE MOUTON:  My family still don’t think I’m better at it and the advantage is sitting in Stellenbosch with the different operations situated in different places like Capitec is there, PSG Konsult is there and they have the freedom to build on their own companies without me looking over their shoulders, driving them... it’s something I’ve learned.
ALEC HOGG:  I suppose the other opportunity when you start again is to only work with people you like.
JANNIE MOUTON:  That’s also true - if you get the right people and give them the right opportunity in life, they will never disappoint you.  Yes - I’ve written in my book in cases where people have disappointed me - people that I believed in - that happened.  So the biggest choice of investment is actually not the balance sheet, it’s the people behind it.
ALEC HOGG:  You brought up the word balance - do you feel that you’ve been able to balance your life perhaps better, in your second career than your first?
JANNIE MOUTON:  For sure - what you have - the environment is different than in Joburg.  The pace is tremendous, the traffic - you don’t have enough time to think.  In Stellenbosch I’m about five minutes from where I live to where my office is - it’s more relaxed.  You can walk in and think about your company and the group of companies in the future whereas in Joburg - and I think each and every businessman must make a turn in Joburg, or overseas in cities like London to understand the real pressure of business life.
ALEC HOGG:  We know that Warren Buffett spends his days with a clean diary.  He starts reading newspapers in the morning and then gets on to the things that he likes doing - what does your diary look like and what does your day look like?
JANNIE MOUTON:  Mine is more or less the same.  I start off by reading the Afrikaans newspaper at home and then Business Day and Business Report at work and I even have time to do the Sudokus.  But while I’m doing the Sudoku, I’m thinking about what opportunities there are in life or in business - it’s fantastic and I even think at night-time.  You know, somebody once said you know you work during daytime in his company and at night he dreams about things to do.  My life is more or less the same - I can never switch off totally from PSG.
ALEC HOGG:  And from your business?
JANNIE MOUTON:  No - I even like to discuss it with my wife, my children and my family.  I live for PSG.
ALEC HOGG:  What about when you're making a decision on to invest in a company and even take a majority stake in a company, have you got key investment ratios that you punch in, or is it more a people story?
JANNIE MOUTON:  You must get a feeling for the value and we often discuss this - a nice, good growing company - you can buy at a 20 PE but if the company is not growing and the management is not creative, you don’t necessarily buy a bargain at a four or five PE.
ALEC HOGG:  Is that your ratio that you look at - the price to earnings ratio?
JANNIE MOUTON:  You have to look at growth potential - is the company going to grow profits on a good solid way forward, and then you can place a value on it.  Warren Buffett tends to take profits into the future and try to discount it back and then get his own price.  You have to form something like that in your mind - what is the growth potential and then put a value on that.  A balance sheet, PE ratio gives you guidelines for sure.
ALEC HOGG:  If you have a look at some of the businesses that you’ve invested in, Capitec - the growth there has been astonishing.  Curro the growth there is promised to be equally exciting.  If you could maybe look at those two as options, with Capitec did it surprise you on the upside and Curro, are you maybe not being a bit optimistic?
JANNIE MOUTON:  On Capitec there's no doubt that Michiel le Roux, chairman and Riaan Stassen as CEO have done an unbelievable job and they are still doing that, and this company is still growing at a tremendous pace.  We struggled - we had what we call PSG specialised lending where we had a business in payroll deduction and a business buying up all sorts of loan shark companies throughout South Africa.  They were difficult years but we had a dream that there was a market.  Capitec is an unbelievable success story.  Curro - to say something about Curro - it won’t be that profitable for the next couple of years because we invest heavily in new schools and each and every school you build has a kind of J-curve.  The first couple of years there just aren’t enough kids in school to make a profit, but we don’t care, because we’re building a group that one day, when the pace of buying new schools - then the profits will come through.  Curro is an exciting group - education is deep in my heart and I believe we need to make a better South Africa.
ALEC HOGG:  What keeps you “skipping” to work in the mornings?
JANNIE MOUTON:  Our people like the Curros - there are numerous other opportunities, whether it’s in energy.  The PSG Konsult group - if I listen to the radio and read in the papers, PSG Konsult is always prominent there - they have 216 offices now.  But I’m also proud of companies like Kaap Agri, Pioneer - Pioneer went through a tough time with the Competition Commission saga - but it’s wonderful - its people.  You think about what you can do to help those people to run their businesses better.
ALEC HOGG:  And how do you decide on the people that you bring into the group or the people that you in fact that you invest in?
JANNIE MOUTON:  It’s sometimes an operation with people in it and if you believe in them, they will grow with the right people - yes they make mistakes.  I actually wrote about two examples where I under estimated - I didn’t do enough research on the people and that’s important - to learn something in life is not to focus only on the balance sheet, but to look at the people behind the company as well.
ALEC HOGG:  Just to close off with, the one thing that has surprised me is that you haven’t taken the big secret of Warren Buffett’s and that is finding an insurance company so that you can use the float.  That’s what he loves - he loves to have other people’s money that he can invest and make a good return on.  Is that in your future?
JANNIE MOUTON:  As you remember - our first acquisition - almost our first - Channel Life Insurance Company - and I had my hands in the float in 1997 and 1998 when the market was high and helped them to invest.  Then the market came down and I almost burnt my fingers and I realised a lesson.  First of all you must have a good insurance company before you can use the float, and we almost bought an insurance company to create a float.  But that is a secret of his and we don’t have it at the moment and it’s not a priority to get an insurance company.
ALEC HOGG:  Finally, professional managers say that you believe to be in a business for no more than five to seven years.  Clearly that isn’t holding true in your case.  Are you still excited to be like Warren Buffett in that respect - still to be running the group when you're 81?
JANNIE MOUTON:  It’s a wonderful question because he’s my mentor and he is 16 years older than I am, so I think I still have 16 years to go before thinking of retirement...
Source http://www.moneyweb.co.za/

Ooma brings Wi-Fi to 'free' Telo phone system

By: David Carno

The Ooma Telo Air Wi-Fi adapter costs $49.99 and is available now.

(Credit: Ooma) Attention all owners of the Ooma Telo VoIP phone system or anybody considering buying it: you can now go wireless.
The company has taken the wraps off a new $49.99 Telo Air Wi-Fi adapter that allows you to place the Telo anywhere in your home that's within range of your wireless network. That's a big deal for Ooma, because a lot of folks don't want to have to tether the Telo base station to a wireless router that's hidden away in a closet or situated in a less-than-ideal spot in their home.
For those who don't know what the Ooma Telo is, it's a "free" home phone service that uses the Internet to make calls. We say free with quotation marks around it because, the system itself costs money (it carries a list price of $250 but can be found online for less). But aside from that initial investment in the hardware, domestic calling is free and you get very low, Skype-like rates when calling foreign countries.
In case you're wondering how Ooma makes money, it operates on the freemium business model. It offers Ooma Premier, an optional level of service that includes a bunch of advanced features, including the new 911 Notification feature, and costs $9.99 per month. (New customers signing-up for one-year of Ooma Premier service receive a choice of a free number port, Ooma Telo Handset, Ooma Bluetooth adapter, or extended warranty).
While we haven't tested the new Wi-Fi adapter out yet, Ooma says its PureVoice HD technology with advanced voice compression and adaptive redundancy overcomes "any signal degradation within the wireless network." It's also worth noting that once you plug the Wi-Fi adapter into the Telo, you have the option to use the Telo as a wireless bridge.
At the same time as Ooma is releasing the Telo Air Wi-Fi adapter, it's making its $29.99 Bluetooth adapter available as a wireless accessory to all its customers (previously it was available only to Premier subscribers). Ooma says that by adding the Bluetooth adapter to the Telo, you gain "the convenience of answering mobile phone calls on any home phone without worry of poor reception or dropped calls." It has transmission range of up to 30 feet and supports up to seven Bluetooth devices.
We've been meaning to review the Ooma Telo for a while and now that the Wi-Fi adapter is here (and the system has matured with improved technology and bug fixes), we're ready to put it through its paces. Look out for a full review in the coming weeks.

SIMI had plotted to kill Ayodhya judges: PC

by Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Accepting that the two terror attacks in the last two months were a "blot" on government's record, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Thursday, said many homegrown modules are active across the country and several of them have acquired the capacity to make bombs.

Addressing the annual DGPs and IGPs conference organised by the Intelligence Bureau, Chidambaram accepted that the challenge of terrorism was a “formidable challenge” and that the country was facing multiple-threats from various fronts. However, “No country is immune to terror,” he said.

While accepting that “home-grown terror modules are attracted to radical ideology”, Chidambaram said that many of these modules had acquired the “means to make bombs.”

The Home Minister said some of these modules are loosely knit under an organisation called Indian Mujahideen (IM) and many old cadres of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) have transformed themselves into IM cadres.


Importantly, Chidambaram also mentioned:"There are other Indian modules that espouse the cause of right-wing religious fundamentalism or separatism."

The Home Minister pointed out that no country in the world, including the United States, appears to be entirely immune to the threat of terror. The worst-affected were Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said.

"The epicentre of terror is Afghanistan-Pakistan (region). Four out of five major terrorist groups are based in Pakistan and three of them LeT, JeM and HM continue to target India," Chidambaram said.

Stressing on the challenges that lay ahead for the security forces, he enumerated that capacity building required time, money and harnessing the capacity of security apparatus in the country.

Extending “fullest co-operation” to the security forces, he goaded them to take ownership of the counter-terrorism and counter insurgency measures.

With the government and the security forces coming under fire for a spate of terror attacks in the country, the recent being the Delhi High Court blast, the Home Minister humbly accepted that the criticisms were “legitimate”. But he said that since the Mumbai attacks of 2008 more than 50 terror modules had been neutralised including a SIMI plot in Madhya Pradesh in June 2011, to kill the three judges who had delivered the Ayodhya verdict.

On a poetic note he added, “We have a long-distance to travel and years of hard work.” Chidambaram also said that the Centre and the states “must provide more money to the security forces.”

On the issue of left-wing terrorism, Chidambaram maintained something which he has outlined before, that it was the “most-violent” form of aggression, whose goal was, “seizure of power with armed rebellion.”

“CPM (Maoists) is the most violent organisation in the country,” he added. He reiterated that though it was a responsibility of both the Centre and the states to deal with counter-insurgency, the states had to be more vigilant. He lamented that there was no significant decline of violence in states like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Maharashtra.

P Chidambaram also dwelt on other challenges that the country was facing like communal violence and civil protests. Agreeing that the right to protest was a legitimate right, the Home Minister said, “Sometimes they can get violent”.

He cited the examples of stone-pelting in Kashmir and road blockades in North-East. Nonetheless, he emphasised, “the use of non-lethal methods to control civilian violence must become the new operating procedure.” 
Source http://zeenews.india.com/

Another failure in home-rescue programs?

By Jason Jones

According to a report by RE-Fund California Campaign, approximately 1.2 million California homeowners have lost their homes to foreclosure since 2008. Another 800,000 are expected to receive foreclosure notices by 2012.
Despite California’s ongoing housing crisis, home-rescue programs at the state and federal levels have yet to make any significant impact. Enter the Keep Your Home California Program – another prospective failure.
The Keep Your Home California program uses federal funds reserved for the 2008 rescue of the financial system. The program is run by the California Housing Finance Agency, which was created as the state’s affordable housing bank to make low-interest loans for low- and moderate-income Californians.
State officials hope the program will help approximately 95,000 borrowers avoid foreclosure and provide moving assistance to 6,500 people who lose their homes. There are four different programs under “Keep Your Home California.” One offers unemployment mortgage assistance of up to $3,000 per month for six months. This may be valuable for qualifying homeowners if they apply quickly before falling far behind on payments. Another offers help reinstating a delinquent mortgage, providing benefits of up to $15,000 per household. If a homeowner is only one or two months in arrears, this might make a difference. One offers help transitioning after short sales and deed-in-lieu agreements but does not help after foreclosure. As many homeowners have discovered, many short sales become foreclosures solely because the bank fails to accept a short sale offer until after the potential buyer gives up and moves on. The final program offers the promise of principal reduction. This program is easily the most sensational and promising component of Keep Your Home California. Unfortunately, it is also so severely limited in breadth and benefit that it will ultimately be too little to have a meaningful impact.
While I have long thought that a broad-based principal reduction program may be one of the best solutions to the housing crisis, this particular program appears to be another waste of taxpayer dollars. For starters, it targets an extraordinarily narrow group of individuals. To qualify, you must: only own one home; live in your home; you must not have taken money out of the home; you must have family income under $89,900; you must have hardship (but not too much hardship because you still need to be able to afford your payments); your bank must be a participant, which primarily means Bank of America or GMAC; and you must have a loan-to-value worse than 115 percent. If you meet all of these requirements, plus a handful of others, then you may receive some nominal assistance.
The optimistic projections on the program’s official website show 25,000 homes expected to participate, getting roughly $30,000 per home, which the servicer might choose to match. Even a $60,000 principal reduction is only a reduction of less than $300 per month on a 30-year mortgage at 4 percent. So that didn’t really fix anything for the homeowner who just suffered whatever hardship was required to qualify for the program in the first place.
The latest RealtyTrac numbers indicate that more than 56,000 homes in California received foreclosure notices in July 2011 alone. This program doesn’t even amount to a drop in the bucket.
This program is ostensibly in place to keep homeowners in their homes and avoid foreclosures. It doesn’t affect nearly enough people and, for those few who could qualify, it doesn’t make enough of a difference. This is a waste of money and will only serve as a talking point during the re-election campaign for a handful of legislators.
Let’s hope legislators come up with a substantive solution to the housing crisis and create a program that will finally give California homeowners true relief.
Jones is founding partner of Avatar Legal, a business, bankruptcy, trademark and appellate law firm in San Diego.

How to Safely Make Money on Short-Term Rentals

By Kayleigh Kulp 

 Mikey Rox bought his New York City, two-bedroom condo thinking family and friends would keep his new guest room occupied. When they didn't visit, Rox turned it into a money-making venture. 

Rox added a mini-fridge, coffeemaker, DVD player and TV, and listed the room on Craigslist as a short-term rental for tourists. The room was booked immediately. Six months later, AirBnB.com, a short-term rental marketplace for homeowners, asked Rox to list the property on its site and sent professional photographers to shoot it. Now Rox's guest room is consistently occupied for about $88 per night. Most months the room brings in enough money to cover the apartment’s mortgage.

“The pros outweigh the cons. It's an easy way to make extra money especially if you're unemployed,” says Rox, who works from home as a creative professional. “An empty bedroom when people need a place to stay is losing money.”

Microsublets and short-term rentals for vacant primary, vacation and second homes are on the rise since the start of the recession. Renting out unused homes and rooms offer homeowners opportunities to supplement their incomes and rent homes they can't sell. Renting a property for a short term yields higher rates than a long-term lease in the rental market, according to Kelly Hayes-Raitt, who rents out her primary and guest homes to vacationers from two nights to a month.

According to vacation rental website HomeAway, about 21% of its customers listed a property in 2009 after a recent job loss, the inability to sell a home or foreclosure risk. It makes sense: 48% of customers with financed properties can cover 75% of their mortgage by renting it short-term--double the amount from one year ago, according to the company, which saw property listings grew 22% to 527,535 worldwide from 2009 to 2010.

“People are more money conscious and they want a bigger return on investment,” explains Alexis de Belloy, vice president of HomeAway.

Sites like HomeAway.com, VacationRentals.com, VRBO.com, and Craigslist.com have been around a while, but new online ventures such as AirBnB.com and Roomorama.com are also making it possible for homeowners to rent primary space they already pay for and live in. In return, vacationers get cheaper rates than what many hotels offer with access to kitchens and washing machines. AirBnB, which started in 2007, booked half its two million bookings in  the last six months.

But that doesn't mean all homeowners should jump on the rent-out-a-room bandwagon. Shorter lease terms means more time cleaning, vetting tenants and maintaining the property. It also means dealing with demanding and different personalities in your personal space, even if they are gone for most of the day.

 “There are risks to the homeowner that may or may not be worthwhile,” says Manhattan business and real estate attorney Craig Delsack, especially in densely populated cities with stricter codes when it comes to renting out space.

Experts offer the following tips when deciding to rent your place short term:

Make sure it's legal. Rental and property laws vary in cities and states, so make sure you're not in violation. For example, many areas in the Napa and Sonoma valleys prohibit leasing for less than one month.

“Several cities have used ads on websites such as VRBO to catch people doing vacation rentals for less than one month and there have been fines,” says Curtis Van Carter with Coldwell Banker Brokers of the Valley.

Check with the powers that be – and your neighbors. If you own a cooperative or are renting your space, your contract many prohibit subletting, so check with your landlord or board of directors about accepting visitors.

If it's permissible or you own the home, check with your neighbors to make sure transient guests won't cause bad blood, Delsack advises.

Evaluate your liability. “Legal liabilities for the homeowner are pretty great because they don't own it as a business or LLC,' Delsack says. “Do you have enough property insurance or casualty insurance? [Renters] could sue the homeowner. It's kinda risky business. You're playing with fire.”

There’s also the possibility of lost, stolen or damaged property. The experts advise collecting a security deposit for every tenant and to list the space on sites with insurance policies. HomeAway offers a $59 policy for up to $5,000 in damages, and the fee is charged to the traveler. AirBnB.com instituted a free $50,000 insurance policy for homeowners after a renter trashed the home of an AirBnB host this summer.

Don't count on rental income when buying a property. According to data from the National Association of Realtors, 7 out of 10 second home buyers who purchased a home in 2010 said rental income influenced their decision to buy a property. But bookings aren't guaranteed. “Don't change your life for this opportunity if you can't afford the rent on your own,” Rox says.

Talk to other owners. Some rental sites have community pages and forums to allow owners to talk through issues. Don't hesitate to contact other owners in your region to share information about cleaning vendors and tenant experiences.

Do a cost-benefit analysis. Rox says he spends on average 10 hours a week doing activities related to booking his guest room. For Hayes-Raitt, renting out her space is a full-time job because she manages multiple properties.

“It can be time consuming and occasionally frustrating dealing with rude or demanding people,” adds Hayes-Raitt. “By now, I've learned how to screen out those potentially vexing guests.”

“There's a little bit of trial and error,” Rox adds. “You can’t be a weirdo and do this.”

Vet your guests. “List on sites that allow you to get in touch with the tenant directly,” de Belloy warns.  “Creating that dialogue is really the top recommendation.”

Hayes-Raitt agrees that is the best way to secure a security deposit and execute a booking contract: “I refuse to use sites that cloak the names and contact info of potential guests,” she says. For sites that don't, Google potential guests or use online screening services such as E-Renter.com and YourCheckCredit.com.

“Trust your gut. You don't have to rent to anybody,” de Belloy says.

Settling into home, career

By Ron Green Jr.
rgreenjr@charlotteobserver.com

Charlotte's Simpson has transitioned from golf as game to golf as vocation

 When Webb Simpson opened the front door to his south Charlotte home one morning last week, he was still pulling his belt through the loops on his khaki shorts, his hair damp from a morning shower.

There were fresh muffins and bagels on the kitchen counter, a construction project under way in the back of the house and the gentle peace of a few days off from the PGA Tour in the early September air.
It was the fresh start of another day, not unlike the Raleigh native's fast-blooming PGA Tour career.
As the Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs enter their final two weeks starting Thursday at the BMW Championship near Chicago, with 70 players chasing a $10 million prize, Simpson, 26, is the points leader and, based on his play this year, on the short list of best American golfers.
He might not have Dustin Johnson's power, but he has twice as many wins (two) this season.
He might not have Rickie Fowler's flair, but he has locked up a spot on the Presidents Cup team that will represent the United States in Australia in November.
He might not have a PGA Championship trophy like Keegan Bradley does, but Simpson has everyone's attention.
"We all want to look at the guy who hits it 300 yards and does all these exciting things, and Webb doesn't necessarily fit that," Golf Channel analyst Frank Nobilo says.
"But he's a guy you're going to have to beat every week. He has the chops. He's no flash in the pan."
A year of change
One year ago, it was different.
Simpson, a four-time All-American at Wake Forest, was in his second season on the PGA Tour and his first year of married life.
The wide-eyed thrill of his rookie season had been replaced by the grinding reality of golf as a job. It was still fun to be in the desert in the winter or on the range beside Phil Mickelson, but Simpson could feel a game changing into a vocation.
He learned there was something to the notion of a sophomore slump, finding himself facing the year's last few events with no guarantee he would retain his full Tour privileges for 2011.
Born and raised in Raleigh, Simpson moved to Charlotte last summer. His wife, Dowd, was pregnant with their first child and, considering Simpson's busy travel schedule, the couple decided it was best to live in her hometown, near friends and family who could help them with James, their son, who arrived this year.
Sitting on a brown leather sofa in their den, Webb and Dowd take turns holding James.
"This year has been my favorite year. It's almost less fun and more work but I almost enjoy it more for that reason," Simpson says.
"When I get up to go practice, I don't get excited, it's part of the deal, but when I'm playing I'm having more fun because I think I'm getting better. It's more of a grind and less glamorous than I thought (tour life) would be but I feel like we're settling into a good place now."
He will tell you it's a group effort that has brought him to where he is.
Simpson was introduced to the game tagging along behind his father, Sam, when he'd hit balls on the practice range at Landfall Country Club in Wilmington. Back home in Raleigh, Simpson fell under the tutelage of pro Ted Kiegel at Carolina Country Club, where he became good enough to earn an Arnold Palmer scholarship at Wake Forest.
Simpson was close enough to Wake Forest coach Jerry Haas that the coach was part of his wedding party. After long-time friend and caddie William Kane decided to pursue a youth ministry in Savannah, Ga., after last year, Simpson hired veteran caddie Paul Tesori, who has played a big role in his development.
And always, there is Dowd.
"She believes in me more than I do," he says. "The work I've put in this year, I expected great things to come of it, maybe not this fast. But it's fun to see what we've done pay off."
Simpson smiles, something he does a lot these days.
"Any time if he wins or plays really well, he's shocked," Dowd says. "Well what do you expect?
"Of course you can play with Luke Donald and Phil Mickelson. You're just as good."
A date with destiny
You don't have to be a believer in predestination to get the feeling the cosmos was intent on putting Webb Simpson and Dowd Keith together.
Or maybe it was just their friends and family.
Dowd was preparing to return to Wake Forest for her sophomore year in 2004 when a friend, Maggie Simons, mentioned Dowd's future husband would be a freshman in Winston-Salem.
"I didn't want to know anything about him. I didn't want to know what he looked like. I didn't care at all," she says.
Two weeks before school started, Sam Simpson, Webb's father, met Dowd through Simons at a party.
"My dad called me after and said, 'Bud, I met this girl tonight and she's a sophomore at Wake, Maggie's best friend,' " Webb says. "He just went on and on about her. He described what she looked like, how she was. My dad is not a flirt but he loves to talk to my sister's friends and play back and forth with them.
"He said, 'I'll pay you a hundred dollars to take my son out when he comes to school in two weeks to make him feel cool.' Dowd comes back at him and says, 'If he's half as cute as you are, I'll do it for free.' "
Two weeks later, Simpson was spending his first night as a freshman at Wake Forest where the only friends he had were members of the men's golf team. He went with them to a fraternity party.
"We walk in and the first person I see ends up being her," Simpson says. "I say, 'That's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. That has to be the girl my dad was talking about.' "
It was.
Simpson didn't approach Dowd that night. He asked a teammate to ask if her name was Dowd, but the teammate never did. Simpson left the party that night wondering if the blonde girl was the one his father had met.
The next day, Maggie Simons stopped by to see Simpson's dorm room. Dowd Keith was with her.
"I almost fell out of my chair when she came in," he says.
They dated through college but broke up in Simpson's senior year. It was then, he says, that he became more invested in his faith. It's at the center of their relationship today.
When Simpson was trying to win the Wyndham Championship last month in Greensboro, his first PGA Tour victory, he felt nervous on the putting green before the final round. Dowd reminded him of a favorite Bible verse - Psalms 50:15 - and he kept it in mind through the closing 18 holes.
"For me, it's so easy to get caught up in golf being all about me and my success. She told me and it got me back to zero and reminded me of the purpose Dowd and I believe in," Simpson says.
The path to success
Three times before Greensboro, Simpson had very good chances to win this year - at the Transitions Championship in March, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April and the Greenbrier Classic in July. Each provided a lesson, but the near miss at New Orleans drew national attention.
On the 15th hole of the final round, Simpson's ball moved on the green as he addressed it to tap in a putt. It cost him a one-stroke penalty that put him in a playoff won by Bubba Watson. Simpson never wavered in calling the penalty on himself, though he hadn't caused the ball to move.
"I'm a big believer in things happen for a reason," Simpson says. "It didn't really mess with me. It didn't haunt me like other things could. It definitely made me hungrier to get back in that situation."
With caddie Tesori on his bag this year, Simpson has evolved into a relentless contender. He's made the cut in 19 of 22 starts, has two seconds to go with his victories and has nine top-10 finishes. He has no glaring weakness in his game. If there's a flaw, it's been a criticism that he plays too slowly, particularly under pressure.
When he won the Deutsche Bank Championship on Labor Day, it vaulted Simpson to No. 15 in the world and atop the tour money list and points race. It also showed he can close out tournaments.
Simpson made two key putts late in the final round at Greensboro to win, then holed three straight - from 24, 15 and 8 feet - to slip into a playoff and beat Chez Reavie outside Boston. He's been using a belly putter for seven years, predating the tour's new infatuation with the unconventional club.
"I'd been giving him a hard time because he tells me how good a putter he is. I told him I hadn't really seen it," Tesori says. "At Greensboro, he made big putts under the gun at 15 and 16. That was the first time I'd seen him do it when it was really, really tough.
"At Boston, he putted so well it was unbelievable. Those three putts went in at flawless speed. That told me he was pretty calm in that situation."
Golf isn't built on statistics but Simpson's numbers tell the story of his emergence. He leads the tour's all-around statistic - based on every aspect of a player's game - and he ranks among the top five in scoring average in every round. His final-round average - 69.00 - is fourth-best. Nobilo compares his style to that of Curtis Strange and Gary Player, who didn't overpower courses but were solid throughout their games.
"There's no real column to put a guy like him in," Nobilo said. "There's no column for rock or granite."
And now, a chance
Simpson knows the opportunity he has over the next two tournaments. It's impossible to ignore a potential $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup, even though he's already won $5.3 million this year. Another victory could earn him the player of the year award as well.
It's all out there but Simpson might prefer to talk about Dowd's acting career - she's in an upcoming Jeff Foxworthy-produced movie titled "Crackerjack" - or their date nights at Cowfish restaurant. In November, he'll be in Australia playing for the U.S. team in the Presidents Cup alongside Mickelson and Tiger Woods for captain Fred Couples.
Golf, faith and family have led him here. At home on a September morning, it's a beautiful place for Webb Simpson to be.