Yahoo News Agrees with me! Or should I say I agree with them?

Finally a news agency is "seeing" what I have been. We're in a recession in certain geographic areas. The Yahoo News Article pretty much sums it up. (There's a link on my website to this article.)

What does this mean to you? Maybe something, hopefully nothing!

If you live in an area that you feel is in a recession, regardless if one has been officially called, take steps immediately to mediate your future losses. I have guides to surviving and thriving in a recession on my website at www.noexcusebudget.com

If your area has not been hit beef up your emergency fund just in case it does hit your area. Best case scenario you won't need the extra money and you just increased your savings. Worst case scenario you are prepared.

There are lots of ways to take advantage of a down economy... start thinking now.

As a Real Estate Professional and someone who is passionate about personal finance I also recognize that a persons house is very important to them (duh) and that there can be ways to avoid foreclosure. So along with the change to the No Excuse Budget to reflect the new economy we are all facing, I'm going to be adding a whole section on saving your house, and surviving a foreclosure. It's not a pretty subject but it needs to be discussed. Those crippled in the fear of financial troubles need an advocate and I'll be offering help with loan modifications, shortage sales and deed in lieu of foreclosure and foreclosure.

A special thanks to everyone that emailed me their stories of financial success and links to their bloggs... it'll make the No Excuse Budget even better! I can't wait to unveil the new website in the near future!

As I go about my day to day life I find myself constantly being reminded about the down turn in our economy. I never want to be the person that is constantly screaming "the sky is falling", but at the same time I feel like I owe it to the people who are facing the really tough times to know that they are not alone and that there is a problem. On the other hand I want to take my lead from Paul Revere and warn everyone that the recession could be coming to their area (if it's not already there) and that there is still time to save themselves.

Yesterday I had another "ah ha" moment when the local San Diego news said that 1 out of every 74 homes was in some sort of foreclosure. That is crazy!
The reality is that we are far from the end of this. My best guess is that we have another 2-3 years, at least, of the down market. I've said it before, banks need to get more realistic. Homeowners that can and want to stay in their homes should be given any and all assistance to make this happen. This is absolutely necessary. Banks can't even keep up with all the short sale, loan modification and deed in lou of requests. They can't even keep up on all the bank owned properties they have. If the goal is to get the housing market back on a normal healthy track than these foreclosures need to stop, and soon. We don't need another boom like we saw a few years ago, we just need people to be able to sell their homes when they need to move, first time buyers need affordable housing and move up buyers that can afford a larger payment need loans available to them.

This whole mess has humbled me. It can happen to anyone. Even if you have the best safety net and plan B, life can come at you hard. As I get older I realize that everything I thought I new I didn't really know and I also learn that I have alot to learn.

I'm trying to spend as much time on updating my website to reflect the economy and housing market which leaves little to no time on blogging. I really enjoy the blogging so I'll be back!

Hope you all are doing well! Has anyone received their simulus checks yet? How are you going to use it?