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251). Is Your Real Estate Agent A Spy? The real estate agent, unless specifically contracted as a buyer's agent, is working for the seller. Buyers usually know this, but they don't think it matters, as long as the agent is helpful. While true to an extent, buyers don't realize that an agent has a real legal responsibility to, and loyalty to the best interests of the seller. It is referr... 252). Hiring Home Contractor Have you ever had a problem with a home contractor? You're not alone. A friend of mine paid over seven thousand dollars to have his roof repaired, only to have it leak the next time it rained. The contractor made excuses, but never did a thing about it - and my friend was an attorney! To make situations like this less likely, avoid the following mi... 253). This Is A Money Making Article Is this a money making article? Watch it make money. It is an article about writing an article that makes money. Once I have written it, I will then give away the article. Maybe it seems like one of the more unusual ways to make money, but it is right in line with the way the internet works. Creating A Money Making Article... 254). Lightweight Backpacking Techniques These lightweight backpacking tips and techniques are options or ideas, not recommendations. I tend towards the extreme side of ultralight backpacking, and if you don't know yourself or your skills, some of these techniques will get you into trouble. A good example of this is the "natural mattress" that allows you to leave your sleepin... 255). Real Estate Market Research Start your real estate market research with the U.S. Census information about a town. You want to invest in a town that is growing, especially if you are investing in income properties. It's getting easier to do this now, with all the information available online. Just go to the official U.S. Census site at www.census.gov. If you call ... 256). How To Be A Spiritual Atheist A spiritual atheist? Perhaps it's a strange concept if you only think spirituality has to mean a belief in a god. Do the two have to be related? Many people think of the historical Buddha as a spiritual person, but most don't know that he never expressed a belief in a god. He even discouraged his followers from such "speculation," preferring that t... 257). Owner Financing - Safety Tips Why offer owner financing when you sell? A higher price, to start with. Add to that a good return on your money, a faster sale, and an easier sale of a "problem property." Good reasons, but how do you do it safely? 1. Ask for a large downpayment. This is the most obvious way to be safe, but not always possible. The point of owner finan... 258). How To Have Stronger Willpower Have you ever wished you had stronger willpower? How can you make yourself stop doing things you don't want to do? There are ways, and the first thing to do is to redefine the concept of willpower. Self Awareness Instead Of Willpower It's hard to resist temptation sometimes, isn't it? That piece of cake calls to you. What'... 259). New Marketing And Promotional Ideas New marketing and promotional ideas! Free! Most are related to internet-based businesses, but even those can usually be adopted in some way to other businesses. Here are half a dozen marketing ideas to get you thinking. A one-hour coupon. Offline businesses that want to increase the traffic to their websites can announce an "internet c... 260). Do You Think Motivational Thoughts? What do motivational thoughts do? They help you take action. This isn't about positive thinking or motivating quotes. Those have their place in shaping your attitude and thinking. However, what motivates each of us is unique, so you need to have your own thoughts - those which are most effective at getting you going. "In the middle of ... 261). How To Have Great Ideas Want to have great ideas? You could try waiting to see if they pop into your head someday, and they honestly might. However, if you want a more systematic method you can use today, here it is in three simple steps: 1. Get knowledge in the area in which you want the ideas. 2. Use idea-generating techniques. 3. ... 262). Hiring A Contractor - 10 Mistakes To Avoid A very smart attorney I know paid $7,000 for a roof repair, only to have the roof leak the next time it rained. The contractor stalled, made excuses, but never did a thing about it. Anyone can have these kinds of problems when having repairs or improvements done, but to make it less likely, avoid the folowing mistakes when hiring a contractor. 263). New Invention Ideas A few more new invention ideas. Read about them, laugh at them if you must, modify them, use them and call them your own if you want. Air conditioning shirt. Backpacking in hot weather, I often stop to wet my shirt in a stream. The evaporative cooling as it dries is wonderful. Now if a shirt had little water "tanks" on the shoulders, a... 264). Imaginary Friends - A Problem Solving Technique Why imaginary friends? Because they may be smarter than you real friends. Well, at least they may give you better, more creative solutions to your problems. If you are like most people, your thinking is often best when you're interacting with a friend. You feed off of each other's ideas and help each other to clarify things. But what a... 265). Cheap Carpet - Carpeting A Room For $20 Do you want cheap carpet that you can easily install yourself? Well, I once carpeted a large bedroom for a total cost of about $12. You read that right, and no, the carpet was not used carpet. I did it with carpet samples. I bought them for 25 cent apiece at a closeout sale, and it took 36 squares of carpet to finish the room. The only... 266). Sleeping Bag Pads Sleeping bag pads are not one of the things you should cut from your list. Backpackers want to reduce their weight, but not even ultralight backpackers want to reduce their comfort. Still, who wants to carry those monstrous old inflatables down the trail? Try some of these lightweight options instead. Make four-ounce sleeping bag pads... 267). Real Estate Negotiation Secrets When you bought your home, you offered less than you were willing to pay, right? That's the most common negotiation technique. For experienced investors, however, that's just one technique among the many more powerful ones. What else can you do? How To Make An Offer 1. Offer an odd amount, like $161,793. This gives the imp... 268). How To Improve Brain Function How to improve brain function? Start with a few questions. Is problem solving easy for you? Do you learn new things quickly? Can you improve your brain function? Your answers to these questions will have an effect on your brain function, because brainpower and psychology are intimately connected. Brain Function and Ex... 269). Six Carpet Care Tips Which is the most important of my carpet care tips? You'll find it at the top of the list below. Use the five other tips as well, and you'll get years more use from your carpet. Top Carpet Care Tips 1. Keep your carpet clean. Sand and dirt act like thousands of little razor blades that cut carpet fibers. Damaged car... 270). The Blame Game - To Play Is To Lose What do you win when you play the blame game? If you could convince others that your parents are to blame for the way you are, what good would it do? If your business failure could be blamed on something that really wasn't your fault, would that help? Can blaming our personal problems on outside factors ever be helpful? Possibly. There... 271). Home Inspection Is there any good reason to do your own home inspection? How about to get a better deal. Every flaw you can find is a negotiating point. You don't have to learn building codes, and you probably should use a professional inspector in any case. The point of learning what to look for is to protect yourself and get a better deal. Home I... 272). Ten Tips For Selling Your House One of the biggest mistakes people make when selling a house, is not understanding real estate value. It doesn't matter at all what you think your home is worth. The value of your home, and any improvements you made, is determined by buyers. What you enjoyed about your house is irrelevant when it's time to sell it. Think in terms of what other peop... 273). Purchase Agreement Clauses That Can Save Your Butt The real estate purchase agreement is more than just a casual offer. The moment you and the seller sign it, it is a legally binding contract. Since you can put what you want in your offer, why not include some of the clauses that smart buyers use to protect themselves and save money? Some suggestions follow. Six Purchase Agreement C... 274). How To Be A Lucky Guy Want to be a lucky guy or gal? There are things you can do to become one. In fact, there are at least a dozen luck "techniques" that you can use. I have been using them for years, and yes, they say I'm a lucky guy. Here are two of the most important things you can do. Lucky Guy Tip - Get Ready For Luck When we bough... 275). Weird Inventions Weird inventions can be profitable. I just saw a report on the news about an automated dog wash at a car wash. Get the car and the dog clean all at once! Of course, ideas for inventions that are just weird and interesting or funny is okay too. By the way, the ideas below are not patented, so feel free to take them, make them, patent them and earn a... 276). Creative Real Estate Financing Methods This is the age of creative real estate financing. Maybe you remember when financing meant you saved up enough to put 20% down on a house, and then got a mortgage loan for the other 80%? You can still do that, but there are many more options now. Here are ten of them. 1. Second mortgage loans from sellers. Many banks will allow you to ... 277). Rock Collecting Trip Rock collecting wasn't part of the plan. Neither was arrowhead hunting. Then we met Felix. He was a Mayan Indian, he told us, whose family had migrated from Mexico. Now he was living in an old RV. He was there to enjoy the hot springs, like us. The Arizona desert has more than just hot springs hidden in it though. We shared meals and c... 278). Self Identity: Who Are You? Self-identity? Who are you really? We identify with many things, but this is just a process in our minds. In fact, this identification causes us to suffer. Your favorite basketball team loses, and you suffer as though YOU lost. Your car is damaged and it feels like YOU are hurt. Somebody attacks who they think you are, and it is as th... 279). Crazy Money Making Ideas Sometimes new money making ideas are immediately usable. However, sometimes you just have to let your imagination run wild and be impractical. This is a way to get that creativity going, and no matter how crazy the ideas may seem at first, there is usually a way to bring them down to earth, as in this first example. Rental Cabins In... 280). How To Set Goals How to set goals? First of all, don't confuse wishes or desires with goals. Often, people want things, situations or accomplishments, and call these goals. Then they're disappointed when they don't get them. Just naming your desires isn't effective goal setting. Good goals have some or all of the following: 1. Good goals are specific. ... 281). Winter Backpacking Tips Winter backpacking can mean your footprints are the only ones out there. That adds to the beauty of the experience, but also to the danger. Alone and in a cold enviroment, it's important to know what to do in an emergency. Learning a few basic cold weather survival skills can save your life. Fire Making Imagine slip... 282). Real Estate Success Real estate success? It happens by way of the many things you repeatedly do right, and it is your habits that ensure they get done. Here are some habits to develop for your real estate investing success. Ask for people's names, and tell them yours. People are your most valuable resource in real estate investing. The more you know, the ... 283). How To Quit Your Job Why should you take my advice on how to quit your job? Because I'm a job-quitting expert, and my expertise has been gained through experience. I've quit many jobs in many industries. In fact, I can think of fifteen jobs that I've quit off the top of my head. The most recent job I quit was at the Post Office. Don't let anyone tell you t... 284). How To Pass A Drug Test Really, if you want to know how to pass a drug test, the simplest solution is to stop doing drugs. I have no moral argument here. They are just plants that scare people and lawmakers. As a practical matter, though, there are so many problems with doing illegal things that it is almost always best to just drop the drugs. I don't use ill... 285). New Years Resolutions - Some New Ideas New years resolutions. You promise yourself you'll quit smoking, lose ten pounds, take that vacation or buy that dream car. Did you know that 93.5% of new years resolutions are never followed through on? Okay, I made up that statistic, but it's believable, isn't it? Time for some new ideas. New Ideas For New Years Resolutions 286). Seller Financing - Why Be The Bank? Why offer seller financing? Let me give you an example. Many years ago I bought a rental property, and then realized I didn't want to be a landlord. So nine months later I sold it for 15% more than I paid, without fixing or improving a thing. The easy terms are what sold it. I took $1000 down, and years later, I still get a payment every month, wit... 287). Renting A Room For Extra Income Renting a room? I wish I had thought of it sooner, but one day many years ago I finally gave it a try. I had a thee-bedroom mobile home on small piece of property, and I soon found that it was easy to rent out not one, but both other bedrooms. I suddenly had thousands of dollars extra each year. Many towns with high rent have a high de... 288). Selling Your House: Ten Tips One of the biggest mistakes people make when selling a house, is not understanding real estate value. It doesn't matter at all what you think your home is worth. The value of your home, and any improvements you made, is determined by buyers. What you enjoyed about your house is irrelevant when it's time to sell it. Think in terms of what other peop... 289). Van Camping Why van camping? It certainly doesn't give you the luxury of life in an RV, but then you don't have the discomfort of sleeping in a tent, either. It's cheap compared to an RV, and you can go places they cannot. That's why we spent more than 25 nights sleeping in our conversion van last year. Van Camping 101 You need... 290). The Best Romantic Vacations - Five Ideas The best romantic vacations are those that bring a couple together. This can mean spending time alone, without friends or family around. It can also mean an opportunity to do things together. Here are five of the best romantic vacations. Beach Vacations Beaches are romantic. The sun, sand, and the sound of the waves... 291). Free Traffic - Seven Ways Free traffic? The other day I saw that someone had been putting post-it stickers with the name of their website on bus stop benches and telephone poles. How many ways can you get free web site traffic? Who knows, but here are seven ways to get you started. 1. Online classified advertisements. Search "free advertising" or "free ads", a... 292). Grocery Coupons And Food Secrets How can grocery coupon cost you more than they save? When is whole wheat not really whole wheat? Why are some frozen foods better for you than fresh foods? Should you buy the small or large bananas? Read on for the answers. Grocery Coupons Coupons are designed to get you to buy something you weren't planning to buy.... 293). Stealing Cars And Other Ways To Make Extra Money I was looking for ways to make extra money, but didn't want the usual jobs. Being just twenty one at the time, I was willing to try almost anything. So when my brother's towing business got a contract to repossess cars, I was ready to be a "repo man." Soon I was prowling in the night with my brother, looking for and legally "stealing" cars. 294). Should You Take A Lie Detector Test? Is the standard lie detector test (also known as the polygraph) reliable? Should you be concerned about taking a polygraph test? Let's start with a true story. The FBI gives agent applicants a lie detector test before hiring them. After 9/11, their polygraph failure rate went to 50%. Did liars suddenly start applying for jobs? No, but... 295). How To Live A Simple Life In many ways, you probably know how to live a simple life, but do you want to? Many want the complexity and constant drama of their lives. This is something we each have to look at honestly. However, some of us really want simplicity, and some would want it if they knew what it felt like to live more simply and at peace. Here are a few ways to get ... 296). Stress And Anxiety Stress and anxiety put people in the hospital every day. It may not be common to go to the doctor to say "I think I have stress," but the National Institutes of Health say that 80% of illnesses are caused by stress, directly or indirectly. Powerful hormones, including adrenalin, are released into your blood when you're stressed and an... 297). Fix And Flip - The Formula Making money with a "fix and flip" property is a great way to make money in real estate. However, it isn't about repairing drywall and planting flowers. It's all about how you do the numbers. People often buy and sell a fixer-upper without a definite plan. They buy a house, fix it up, then add $10,000 or $20,000 onto their costs. They ... 298). Mental Training - A How To Guide Mental training isn't necessarily like physical training. "No pain - no gain" isn't the way it works. Look, you could practice running faster, or just use a car, and if all you want is to get from here to there, the latter makes more sense. Similarly, brain "exercises" will strengthen the functioning of your brain, or you can just use better tools.... 299). Ideas For New Products And Inventions How many new products and inventions can you dream up with in thirty minutes? At least a few if you know the techniques of innovation and creative problem solving. The following are thirty minute's worth, with some notes at how they were arrived at. New Products and Inventions From Old A fast way to invent new thing... 300). IQ Level - Who Cares? What is your IQ level? What is "intelligence quotient anyhow? The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "The ratio of tested mental age to chronological age, usually expressed as a quotient multiplied by 100." More or less, it's a test of intelligence, with 100 as the average score. IQ tests have some problems however. One IQ test... Browse Pages: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] 6 [7]