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Building A Home: 6 Things Your Builder Will Not Tell You

Buying a newly constructed home should be an enjoyable experience. Sadly, for most consumers, it’s a nightmare that will stay with them the rest of their life. A common statement made by many new homebuyers is that they will never have another home built for them.

Here’s 6 things your builder will probably never tell you.

“We market that our company only uses the finest craftsmen to build our homes when in reality, we use the cheapest trades we can find, which means that many are not skilled and are day laborers.”

Custom and spec homebuilders bid out the work on your home to the lowest bidder. Kinda like the U.S. Government. There is few Custom builders left who do their own work and have their own crews.

“I have a binding contract that will prevent you from suing me should you have major defects in your home after you move in. And better yet, there is little you can do to get me to fix it!”

Read the fine print on your contract. Better yet, have a real estate attorney read it for you and explain to you what legal recourse you have should there be problems after you close. I bet you’ll come out of the attorney’s office amazed at how little rights you have if you sign the builders contract.

“If you’re really smart, you’ll hire your own third party, code certified, home inspector because the public inspectors and even my own inspectors aren’t here with your best interest at heart!”

Builders today search out third party inspectors to perform “Quality Assurance” inspections. Problem is, this is just more marketing hype than anything. In most states, these third party inspectors do not have to be licensed to perform “Construction Inspections”. My inspectors and I find a long list of items that these inspectors either miss or ignore on every new home we inspect. Not once have we found a home that the builders inspector found a majority of the defects.

City and county inspectors are generally about the same as the builders inspector or worse. Many of these inspectors are so piled up with work that they can only spend 15 to 20 minutes in a home. Besides, it is not the City or County’s inspectors job to look for workmanship issues, they are only there looking for health and safety issues and protecting the City and County’s interest. Just like the builders inspectors are there protecting the builders interest, not yours!

If you don’t know a good code certified home inspector ask around or check out the American Society of Home Inspectors at ashi.org

“My sales people and I can tell you anything we want because we’re not regulated by the State”

In many states, you’ll find that the sales people for builders are not licensed with the real estate commission like Real Estate Agents are. This lets them tell you whatever they need to so you’ll buy a home from them. I’ve heard just about sales people promising homebuyers just about anything you can imagine they’d buy from their builder. Buyer beware and get them to put it in writing before you sign the contract!

“Your home is built over a landfill or swamp… maybe both.”

As prime land is filling up with new homes, real estate developers and builders are turning to sub prime land. Here in my market, we have subdivisions sitting on landfills, swamps and former rice patties. None are prime areas for building a home on.

“If you back out of the contract for any reason, we’ll keep your earnest money an upgrade money”

Many people are surprised to find this is true. In Texas most builders will, check with the Attorney General in your state to see if this is legal. Again, the builder or sales people may tell you different, but most contracts have a clause that says you’ll forfeit your earnest money or upgrade money if you back out of the home. Get it in writing what happens if you back out and the steps you must take to get your money back. Don’t think it won’t happen to you because I see it happen all the time.

As each state, county and city is different, you should check with a knowledgeable inspector in your area plus your real estate attorney before purchasing a newly constructed home. Also, GET EVERYTHING FROM THE BUILDER IN WRITING! If he promises you he’ll throw in a few extra outlets in the garage, get him to put it in the contract.

This article may be reprinted, copied and distributed as you see fit as long as it is not altered and the article remains intact, including the resource box below.

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The Financial Education You Never Received

I don’t know about what school was like for you, but when I went through school financial education was pretty much non-existent.

I seem to recall one small class on financial education that covered balancing a cheque book and other basics like that. Other than that though, learning how money works wasn’t a subject we were taught in school.

My Own Financial Education

For over a decade now I’ve been on my own mission of financial education that has included reading books, attending seminars, hiring coaches and working with mentors. It’s through this quest for knowledge that I’ve been able to get a much better understanding of what money actually is, and how our financial systems operate today.

Thanks to the internet there is a never ending supply of information available at your fingertips. The challenge is knowing what’s good and accurate and what isn’t. I have a select number of sources that I follow because of the quality of the information they provide, and there’s no shortage of information about how our banking and financial systems work if you look for it.

The Financial Education You Need Won’t Come From Schools

While a large segment of the population is waking up to the scam that has been perpetrated against us, the vast majority of “sheeple” are still in the dark and have no idea how our money system actually works.

Your Financial Education Begins When You Understand That Every Dollar In Existence Is Created As Debt

Once you understand this simple truth, you realize that interest is an instrument of financial enslavement. The money in circulation has been created out of thin air and circulates in the economy, but the money to pay the interest has never been created so we’re simply playing a game of financial musical chairs and when the music stops someone loses their car or home, and the bank gains the asset.

Why Don’t Schools Teach Financial Education?

I’ve often wondered why financial education isn’t taught in school just like math, English and science. In truth, I think it needs to be a core subject. It’s certainly a skill that we’ll all utilize throughout our lives, and without it we tend to suffer.

Perhaps that’s the reason. If you subscribe to some of the theories out there, the modern education system was designed and funded by the elite over a century ago. At that time the globe was full into the industrial revolution, and there was a high demand for factory workers.

Why not create an “education system” that churns out obedient, well trained workers to man the factories. They’d be used to reporting in at a certain time, asking to use the washrooms, eating and taking breaks when the establishment permits.

Whether you buy into that theory completely or not, I believe there’s certainly some truth there. When you follow the money through the system across the globe, it tends to all point back to the same handful of organizations owned by the same handful of wealthy families.

It’s Time To Take Responsibility For Your Own Financial Education

The truth is nobody cares more about you or your money than you do. Your teachers didn’t, your banker doesn’t, your financial planner doesn’t and nobody else does either.

If you ever want to get a handle on your finances and escape the rat race of financial enslavement, then you have to take ownership of your financial education and know how money works, so you can get it working for you.

One of the best ways I know to attain this education is to seek out books by authors like Robert Kiyosaki, and Peter Schiff, and seek out mentors online and offline. There’s a wealth of knowledge available to you, and it’s your responsibility to seek it out and apply it.

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Five Qualities Ensuring Marketing Strategy Success

Marketing is itself a strategy and so no marketing plan is completely fool-proof. There are some qualities that must be met to be able to consider it effective and this will help in converting customers to make marketing successful. A marketing plan is a frame work that must be followed to transform into a killer strategy. Here are five qualities proving its abilities in the marketing strategy.Focus on the productProduct focus is not simple as it always is focused towards the market. The product varies in demand depending on the age, gender and trend. In case it is about clothing, then women in 50s if they are working would prefer formal, quality and semi formal dresses, while the younger adults may have a different focus on the product. In case you also have shoes to offer, you can help women show how they can look tall and in this way this will include shorter women who would love to gain height, thus your marketing focus widens more effectively.Focus on the marketThe market focus should be defined. It is impossible to please everyone and if you try doing so, you are going to be under severe pressure and eventually result in losses. Focus on the market fashion, but decide first if your focus is with male or female and without fail consider the age factor. By focusing on the market you will see the likes of your target audience. The other factors worth considering are the purchasing power of your audiences. If you find there is a diverse taste, set your goals by dividing, choosing and conquer the market. Have measurable informationAnything to be marketed should be quantifiable and must be ideally in numbers. Include all the details, major and minor as detail information has a crucial role in marketing. A strategy is a must for any good marketing plan to see success. The plan that is the marketing strategy should be measurable to know the ROI. If your business is new, you can have both marketing plans, short and long. They can be interconnected. However, ensure the goals are attainable.Accountability and responsibilityMarketing strategy is about being accountable and this in combination with responsibility alone paves way to success and to attain better results. Marketing plan fails to work in groups than individuals. It is best for each individual to have a specific task and to bring good results. At the same time paying attention to individual’s accountability helps you keep a vigilant eye on their handling of responsibilities. Without fail reprimand the failures and do not forget to reward the achievers. A perfect marketing plan requires absolute involvement that one must be committed to it. Each person should know their job and also should be aware of the outcomes.ReviewsA marketing strategy is a planning process and an effective marketing plan handles everything from tracking performance to setting goals and measuring the units quantifiable. However, regular reviewing and revision is essential. Do not wait until the last day, keep reviewing regularly and change the plans in-between if essential.

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