West Brom have been known as a yo-yo club in recent years given their inability to stay in the Barclays Premier League for a sustained period of time and the ease in which they return to the top tier from the Coca-Cola Championship. And they are doing nothing to shirk off that tag this season as Roberto Di Matteo is masterminding yet another promotion to the Premier League and they did their cause no harm last week with a 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. That win sees them dominate the Actim Team of the Week with no less than five players in there. Scott Carson, Jerome Thomas, Graham Dorrans, Chris Brunt and Simon Cox all contributed to the win and have been rewarded accordingly.

Darius Henderson will have been a popular name in the Blackwell household after the striker’s exploits in the 3-2 win over Bristol City eased some of the pressure on Blades boss Kevin. The former Watford man bagged a hat-trick at Ashton Gate to seal the points, and it included an injury-time winner after Sheffield United had squandered a 2-0 lead. His performance in sealing United’s first away win in six games sees Henderson as the leading points scorer of the week with an impressive 65 points. That haul also sees him climb 34 places and he now sits just 11th in the overall index. That is the fourth best individual tally of the season, with Michael Chopra still leading the way with 88.

Nose bleeds may have been rife in Newcastle this season as fans come to terms with a place towards the top end of a table for the first time in some considerable years and Kevin Nolan may be suffering a similar problem as he continues to top the overall index. He has been an outstanding performer for Chris Hughton’s men this term and sits 64 points clear of Cardiff midfielder Peter Whittingham in second placed. Middlesbrough’s Adam Johnson, Watford’s Danny Graham and Coventry’s Leon Best make up the top five.

Crystal Palace players may be having a difficult time of it after it emerged their wages have been delayed, but they put in an impressive performance to beat Watford 3-0 to extend their unbeaten run to six games. That win saw highly-rated Victor Moses and Danny Butterfield make the Team of the Week, which is made up with the five Baggies players, Newcastle’s Fabricio Coloccini, Nottingham Forest’s Wes Morgan and Coventry’s Richard Wood completing the select XI.

The Championship often gets a reputation for it’s all-action physical nature where the ethos of most teams is to get the ball from the defence to attack as quickly as possible. There are a few exceptions to the rule, with Swansea, Doncaster, Scunthorpe and West Brom all playing an entertaining brand of passing football. And there are players who do not just hoof the ball at the earliest opportunity to prove this. Derby’s Robbie Savage leads the way with 279 completed passes and he is closely followed by Nottingham Forest’s Paul McKenna, who has 250 to his name.

Another thing that cannot be levelled at the Championship is that is does not provide a stamping ground for home grown players to ply their trade at a decent level. There are inevitably plenty of foreigners in the league with players hailing from Sierra Leone, Brazil, Congo, Jamaica and Chile. However, all but four of the top 40 ranked players hail from either England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales or the Republic of Ireland.

View the latest Actim Index >

Darren Pratley was the toast of Swansea after his match-winning double in the South Wales against Cardiff last weekend. The former Fulham midfielder showed why Swans boss Paul Sousa rates his so highly, opening his goalscoring account for the season with two clinical finishes and scoring 53 points in the Actim Championship Index in the process. The Londoner has only made seven appearances for the in-form Swans due to injury, but he looked to be getting back to his best as the Bluebirds’ wings were clipped by a Swansea side who are unbeaten in 10 Championship games. Pratley’s exploits ensured he moved up a whopping 112 places in the Actim Index and although he is way down in 194th place overall, the combative midfielder is certainly one to watch.

Blackpool defender Alex Baptiste was a major mover in the Actim Index as the Tangerines thrashed Scunthorpe 4-1 to move up to fifth in the Championship table. Boss Ian Holloway put his faith in Baptiste to be a rock at the heart of his defence and the big centre-half has not let him down.The former Mansfield man scored his third goal of the season against the Iron and bagged 45 points for the week to move up 21 places to 16th in the Index. As well as chipping in with a few goals, the 23-year-old has been solid at the back, winning 52 tackles and making 21 interceptions. Baptiste was joined in the Actim team of the week by team-mates Ian Evatt and Charlie Adam, who were also on the scoresheet against Nigel Adkins’ side.

Rob Hulse was Derby’s hero as they secured a much-needed victory against Coventry on Friday night and the striker matched Baptiste’s tally of 45 Actim points for the week. The former Sheffield United frontman produced two clinical finishes as the Rams came from behind to beat Chris Coleman’s side and it would be no surprise to see him shoot up the Actim Index. Hulse has been one of a host of Derby players in the treatment room this season, but he looked to be nearing full fitness against the Sky Blues and his 45-point haul was his biggest of the season. The other striker included in the Actim team of the week was Rory Fallon after his striker gave Plymouth a 2-1 win over Doncaster which moved them out of the bottom three. The former Swansea man moved up 64 places to 107th in the Index after registering 36 points for Paul Sturrock’s Pilgrims.

Kevin Nolan still leads the way in the Actim Championship Index after playing his part in Newcastle’s 3-1 win over Peterborough. The former Bolton man is 31 points ahead of Cardiff midfielder Peter Whittingham after adding another 19 points to make his overall tally 335 points. Nolan has seven goals and three assists to his name this season and has completed 180 passes for the Championship leaders. QPR’s flying winger Wayne Routledge is a new addition to the top 10 in the Index, moving up five places to seventh. Routledge has more assists than any other player in the Championship, setting up eight goals for Jim Magilton’s side.

Newcastle’s Steve Harper remains the leading goalkeeper in the Actim Championship Index. The 34-year-old Magpies custodian has made 81 saves for Chris Hughton’s side and he moved up one place this week to 13th place. Scott Carson is the next highest keeper but the West Brom number one is 15 places and 21 points behind Harper. But it was Crystal Palace keeper Julian Speroni who made the team of the week after another impressive display in the 1-0 win over Middlesbrough. The Argentine was recently hailed by Palace boss Neil Warnock as the best keeper in the country and he was once against outstanding against Boro. Speroni is 58th in the Index and moved up 44 places this week after picking up 24 points against Gordon Strachan’s side.

Jay Simpson is a striker in form at the moment and the on-loan QPR man is making strides in the Championship Index. The Arsenal youngster has scored four goals in his last six games for Rangers and was on target in the 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday. Simpson escalated 26 places in the Index to 27th following his performance against the Owls and scored 31 points at Hillsborough. He has now notched seven goals for the Hoops and is developing into a key performer for the Londoners, who look to be a good bet for a play-off place.

View the latest Actim Index >

Of course this list changes almost on a daily basis along with the bank guidelines on how they will including individuals, pools, regions, price points, etc.  And I might ADD that it’s imperative to have a track record with their internal department heads close the deal.  That’s where “Amber and Scott” come in! 

American Bank of Texas
Arrowhead Bank
BAC Home Loan
Banco Popular
Chase Home Finance
Countrywide
Everhome Mtg
Flagstar Bank
HSBC Bank USA
Indymac
Lehman Holding
LaSalle Bank
Litton Loan Servicing
Midfirst Bank
National City
Nationstar Mortgage
PHH Mtg Corp
Saxon Mtg
Suntrust Mortgage
Wachovia
Wells Fargo Bank
Wells Fargo Financial

We had an investor inquire about when was the best time to approach homeowners facing financial difficulties to see about working with them to help solve their “hiccup” by listing their home for short sale.

Stage 1 Delinquency on Mortgage:

This is where the homeowner starts to be late on their mortgage payments.  You can purchase lists from credit bureaus of 30, 60,90 day lates and start targeting them with marketing.  What is the upside? Less competition from other agents and investors because you obtain the client info early before the Notice of Default (NOD) or Liz Pendence is filed with the county and others have access.

The downside?  It’s almost to early in the process.  They have more time to think about short sale and consider mortgage mod.  Once a note goes 90 days late, it becomes a lot easier to negotiate on the purchase of the note with a bigger discount.  While there is less competition, the homeowners often have their head stuck in the sand and refrain from doing anything for the most part.  It would be good to talk to them first and start a relationship with them.  Because in phase 2, they will feel a sense of urgency.  This is my second favorite stage for short sale listings.                     

Stage 2 NOD/Derogatory filing with County – Filed within 90-180 days of first delinquent payment in most states with County Recorder’s Office

Upside: Client is more desperate therefore realistic and likely to agree to short sale listing.  Downside: we are not getting them as early in the process, we may be competing with more realtors and we have less time to close the short sale.  Obviously there is more competition, but if you can target them in stage one and follow back up after the NOD/Liz Pendence is filed, you can often capture a nice percentage.  At this stage the note should be discounted around 70% or greater depending on how long it takes to foreclose.  This is where the majority of business takes place because the homeowner is now getting proded constantly by the bank with letters and calls.  This is my favorite phase for short sale listings due to the fact that homeowners know that they must act now or face loosing their home.

Stage 3 Auction/ Tustee Sale Date filing with County

Upside: Client is even more desperate in this stage than Stage 2 therefore realistic and likely to agree to short sale listing.  Downside: We are not getting them late in the process and either may be competing with more realtors or have very little time to close the short sale.

With the foreclosures taking place the first Tuesday of every month here in Texas (and filings must be filed at least 21 days prior to the auction) this does produce a much higher “call to action” amongst the clients.  Depending on the state’s foreclosure laws (months to foreclose), if you are able to get the auction delayed through a short sale, TRS (temporary restraining order) or BK filing, this can add a minimum of 3 more months to the process which can often motivate the bank to sell the notes with steaper discounts.  The positive side is that as long as OTC can get a signed offer, Authorization form, and a estimated HUD-1 to the bank several days before the auction, most banks will delay the auction to negotiate the short sale as they don’t want to take the property back (which automatically provides more time to buy the note).  I’ve gotten foreclosures saved minutes before auction on the courthouse steps.  This can be done, but it is stressful and time consuming for all parties involved to get that extension.

We are living proof that it does.  This is a service that we offer to our clients as part of the “list to close” package.  Our goal is to make Realtors and Investors more efficient and productive!

Features of text message marketing service- BENEFITS TO THE SELLER

•1)    They get more exposure to the home because Realtor/Investor is getting the leads to at least walk through the house.  We all know that the more people that see the house, the faster they will sell the house and the more they will get for it. 

•2)    They get a Realtor/Investor with a leg up on technology, the best.  Prospective buyers are actually tracked where they couldn’t possibly be with flyers that are grabbed with no phone call to the listing agent.  The Realtor /Investor can use in conjunction with the flyer by putting text instructions on the flyer if the seller insists on paper fliers as well. 

•3)    The homeowner and the Realtor/Investor can even add the text instructions to their email signature all other personal info to get more hits.

   Instant property Information and pictures
sent to Your buyer’s cell phone!
**Call capture technology**

The Powerful Little Lead-Boosting Tool I Bet Nobody Has Ever Told You About

What kind of tool am I talking about?

It’s a tool that will allow you to never again wonder how to get all the leads you need (and get them in the least expensive way possible)…track every penny spent on advertising…warm up your prospects before you even talk to them…and even allow you to make an immediate profit in less than 30 days.

You might even work less. A lot less. Live a balanced life and have a successful real estate career.

The Secret to Positioning Yourself in the High Income Zone

After working with agents for nearly ten years, I’ve found that most agents do work hard. They work very hard-in fact, too hard.

But rarely do agents position themselves to be in the ‘high-income zone.’ Winners stay ahead of their competitors. Listings are competitive. Sellers want to know what you can do to sell their home faster than the other real estate agents. When a new listing tool is available for your seller’s property the sellers want it. Staying ahead of your competition is the key to success!

How do you do that?

By using technology that reaches prospects FIRST-before your competition. Then, once you’ve reached them, use a little clever psychology to compel those prospects to respond.

In the process two things happen.

First, by reaching the prospect first, you gain a 3 out of 4 advantage over your competition automatically. See, according to a recent NAR survey, 74% of prospects do business with the first agent who contacts them. So it’s a clear advantage for you to be the first agent a prospect talks to…agreed?

Then second, it completely eliminates any Do-Not-Call list issues. When a prospect calls you, you can call them back as many times as you like within the next 90 days, regardless of whether they’re on the national Do-Not-Call list or not.

So you kill two birds with one stone. It’s a powerful one-two punch.

What’s the key to delivering that one-two punch?

ANSWER: By shifting all of your marketing to “Instant property information and property pictures” offer. (This is the psychological part.) Instant home information and pictures of property delivered to their cell phone. This is also stored on the cell phone, with your contact information.

Features of text messaging service for listings- BENEFITS TO THE REALTOR

Where else can you invest 10-15 hours and earn $4,000 to $6,000 or more?

A recent study showed the average listing took just over 10 hours of actual time spent with client from point of contact to closing-for buyers it was a little over 15 hours.

Work smarter not harder.

So many real estate agents market for sale by owners and spend THOUSANDS on print advertising. The industry is overwhelmed with competition duplicating efforts. Every minute you spend “prospecting” you could be making three to five times as much money with about 1/100th the stress! Prospecting is the biggest, most painful, least profitable, burn-yourself-out task each of you have done! That’s why there are so many real estate casualties. The turn-over rate for new agents in real estate is over 50% per year! Work smarter not harder. No more getting phone calls from your seller asking where their flyers went, who called on their house, and when you’re coming out to refill l the boxes! And the Realtor is “going green”! 

Stay ahead of your competitors. Chances are if you are reading this your competition is too. Get to the buyers first with instant text messaging. You will get a copy of the cell phone caller id and they will receive a description of the property, pictures and your contact information.

Sell More Homes Faster

Can you imagine how many buyers will want more property information and to see more pictures as they flip through a local real-estate magazine?

•1.  Sign up and register your property listings online.

•2.  Type in up to 160 characters description of your property.

•3.  Upload your pictures ( not all carriers will support pictures)

•4.  Add the Text code to your listing sign and on your print advertising too. Now you will receive email notifications of the caller id of each text sent to an interested homebuyer.

Now the buyer may access listings the same way they do on the broker’s website or MLS, but now the home buyer is mobile. Buyers can drive neighborhoods and shop for homes from their car or while they stand in front of any home for sale.

Don’t forget the value of using text messging service with your print advertisements too.

Buyers send a text message to text messaging service with a property code. Within seconds, the search results are sent to the consumer’s cell phone along with the property details including address, price, beds and baths.

Now you can…Convert More Leads with legitimate phone numbers!

Buying paper (or in this day and age defaulted paper) has its own sets of rules which is similar to but different when it comes to evaluating property.  Obviously, when you are looking at buying a property as an investment you have to know and evaluate what the property is worth and how that compares to what you can buy it for and how that determines your exit strategy to get rid of it.  Your exit strategies as an investor can be a multitude of ways that will sometimes change depending on your market, purchase price, and financing.   You can either sell the property conventionally, sell it with owner financing, lease option it, rent it, or wholesale it out to another investor.  I preach over and over to my investment students and clients that they need to have their exit strategies in mind before they ever make an offer on a piece of real estate and the same goes for purchasing defaulted paper.

The #1  cardinal rule for buying paper is that you never want to buy a note on a property that you don’t ever want to end up owning!  When you buy the note, your not technically buying the property, your buying the debt and controlling the property and any equity by holding the mortgage.  You only want to buy first liens on real estate as this gives you the key to the city when it comes to foreclosing, short sales, or taking the property back.  You should always determine the value of the property and how that compares to the face value of the note (or what is currently owed on the note).   How do you determine value?  Get your realtor to pull recent comparables on the property.  Don’t rely on Zillow, tax values, or the homeowner’s opinion of the property.  Often times the bank or lender will give you a BPO (Broker Price Opinion) of what they determine value of the property to be.  This is often way off as well.  There is nothing better for value than getting comps because not only will they give you a market value of the property, but it will also show you days on market, what’s moving, and if your paying to much or getting a bargain. 

The second rule is to look at the note itself.  Is it current? Is it in default? If it is in default, how many months is the homeowner behind?  What’s the interest rate?  What’s owed?  These are all viable questions to consider.  If the note is current, you have to expect that the bank is looking to get top dollar (95% or greater of what ever the balance is) unless values in the market have fallen dramatically like they have in Michigan and Florida to name a few.  If the note is in default, the more months that the home owner is behind on, the less valuable that recievable or note becomes.  Let me give you an example.

If the homewner is consistently late but doesn’t fall over 30 days past due, this discounts the note down to 95-90%.  Once they become one to two months behind, this drops the value down to 75-80%.  Beyond three months and the value drops dramatically!  This is why banks WILL sell their defaulted notes.  They would rather get something now for their paper instead of foreclosing and having to try and sell the property to a new buyer.  Banks are in the business of lending and not owning real estate and each bad loan costs the bank 8-10 times that amount in new loans and lending capabilities.  Banks hate owning properties with a passion and that is why they would rather sell a note off at a discount, write off the loss now, instead of having it drag on an unknown amount of months by foreclosing, fixing up the property if needed, listing the property, and waiting for a buyer. 

Once you’ve determined the value of the note based on its default status (don’t get me wrong in that can sometimes be a guessing game and there is no hard or fast rule), you will want to look at the interest rate of the note.  This kind of plays into your note exit strategy (which is a bit different than just buying the property) and if you are planning on foreclosing or trying to work out an agreement with the home owner by offering to modify the loan.  If you do plan on keeping the home owner in the property and reducing their payment, interest rate, and/or principle (and I caution you against doing this!) you will want to determine what your yield will be.  Sounds like its time for another example.

Let’s say that a homeowner owes $100,000 and has a 30 year loan at 8% interest.  The monthly principle and interest payment is $733.76 a month.  For argument sake, the homeowner can’t continue to make these payments (maybe they’ve lost a job, got sick or were just irresponsible) so they stop and the note goes into default.  Several months goes by and the bank agrees to sell you the investor the note at $50,000.  This doesn’t mean that the homeowner doesn’t still owe $100,000 (plus late fees, back payments, attorney fees, etc), it just means you bought the debt at 50%.  In this example, let’s say you’ve contacted the homeowner and found that while they couldn’t afford the $733 a month, they can now comfortably afford $500 a month.  So you adjust the loan payment to $500, effectively reducing their rate on what they owe to 4.39%!  What homeowner wouldn’t be happy with this!  While this sounds great for the homeowner, it gets even better for you, the investor.  Now while you bought debt at half off, you are now recieving payments of $500 a month on a note that you only paid $50,000 for.  If you calculate this for yield to you, this equals a 11.63% rate of return on what you paid for the note!  Now if the homeowner continues to pay on the note and then refinances you out in 24 months, your yield grows to an amazing 44% over that two year span and would be over 88% if the homeowner could qualify for a refinance in 12 months!  Do your eyes light up like mine do!  (If you are looking to learn more about how the heck I calculated these figures, email me and I will send you a financial calculator manual)

Now that strategy only works if you keep them in the property.  Unfortunately, most people just refuse or can’t make a decent payment and have given up and are ready to walk away.   This is where knowing your area, or rule #3 comes into play.  As most realtors will say about a piece of property, it’s all about location, location, location!  What you offer up for a note also has to do with location, location, location!  If the property is in a strong market like Texas, you have to expect to pay a higher price like 60-70% of the note or value of the property (whichever is less) because the bank realizes that’s what the market will yield.  If you are in a market like Detroit, the banks are happy at getting pennies on the dollar for the notes.  If the property is located in a bad side of town, expect to pay less than if it is in a hot selling area.  These items are why it’s so important to have a quality realtor on your team pulling comps and giving you a run down on your market.  If you don’t, you run the risk of buying yourself a bad note and a bad investment.

While I mentioned that you should only be buying first liens, it is important to know what kind of junior liens are also on the property.  If there is a second lien in place, you probably won’t want to take the property back from the homeowner with a deed in lieu as this doesn’t wipe out those junior liens.  You would either want to foreclose or suggest the homeowner sell the property on a short sale.  Second lien holders are often happy getting 10% or less of their loan amount in a short sale as they realize it is up to the senior lien holder (hopefully that’s you) to determine what the second will get.  If you do buy a first lien with junior liens, and you have a ready and willing buyer lined up to accept your short sale offer, give the second lien holder a competitive offer to speed the closing process of the short sale up faster.  In real estate, the longer you own the property or have your money out, the less yield you can expect.  The idea is to get in and get out.  Hogs get slaughtered and pigs stay lean so don’t be to greedy. The last thing you want is your buyer walking out on your short sale offer and have to spend more time marketing the property for sale. 

If you are unable to short sale the property as the lien holder and have to foreclose or deed in lieu, make sure you have one or multiple exit strategies (like we discussed earlier) ready to roll.  I often recommend fire selling the property to another investor for cash and moving on to the next deal.  If you are trying to sell a $100,000 property to an end buyer at $90,000 and it takes you six months to do this, when you could have wholesaled it at $75,000 in 30 days, and then done three other deals in the time it took you to do one deal, what makes more sense!  $25,000 in 30 days on your $50,000 investment yields you a 6,000% annual rate of return when holding out for more money only makes you 160% annual return.  Numbers don’t lie!

So in retrospect, I hope that this is clearer than mud in how you should evaluate buying a note on a piece of property.  What you can do with it or what you should offer for it is truly fuzzy math until you have an acceptable offer that the bank is willing to work with.  Remember the first rule, though!  Never buy a note on a property you don’t want to end up owning because that property just might end up owning you!  Happy Hunting!

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=179414,00.html

Page Last Reviewed or Updated: May 19, 2009

From our database of secondary market contacts, we were able to communicate with the Defaulted Note Manager.  We inquired about what protocol works best with their lending guidelines.  The result was that they prefer “one-offs”, which means purchasing ONLY individual notes, not pools.  Outlined procedures included submitting a spreadsheet (or tape as they say it) with loan number, property address, borrower name, and offer price for their review.  Something else that they require before discussing each specific case is a nondisclosure/noncompete.  All of the above is quite status quo.  Once they accept the offer, they will send us a contract for the note purchase, along with an updated title policy, electronic and hard copy of the actual note, payment history, notes about the file, etc.  At that point, we review what they have submitted to our team, Open to Close, we sign off and schedule a wire transfer of funds.  According to this institution, this whole process takes up 3 weeks.  This bank notifies the homeowner in writing that the note has been sold and that future payments are to be made to the new note holder.  The banking institution handles the recording details and the specific assignment of collateral.  And, we are now the “bank”!

I spent this last weekend teaching at a commercial real estate bootcamp in Dallas, Texas that had over 60 real estate investors from all across the country.  I would have to say that at least 25% of the crowd were licensed realtors.   While my role during the conference was to speak on raising private funds along with utilizing social media to expand one’s business, I was given time along side my good friend, Bob Leonetti, to discuss growing one’s business by outsourcing.  I’ve found over time that many realtors and investors are often “one man band” control freaks who are constantly struggling to take their business to the next level.  Their biggest problem is themselves!

The reason I feel like I’m able to discuss this is that I suffered from the same disorder early in my real estate career.  I handled my own marketing, phone calls, paperwork, and day to day activities that I often would run out of time to complete.  I was unable to effectively complete any one task because I kept getting side tracked.   I was unable to convert my leads into deals and would often find myself extremely frustrated at my ineptitude. 

Luckily for me I changed.  I re-read several books that made me take a step back and take inventory of my life.  Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber are two books that helped change my life and business for the better.  The key points to keep in mind in these two books is that Kiyosaki discusses how self employed individuals are not business owner’s unless they can truly step away from their business and it continue to run on its own.  Most investors and realtors that I know don’t have a team of people or haven’t given up the control to allow others to empower themselves to run the business.   This is so true in real estate where the amount of paperwork, listings, showing, finding buyers, rehab, finding sellers, funding and marketing can choke an elephant, let alone a single individual. 

The E-Myth discusses how we as Entrepreneurs wear three hats (the Technician, the Innovator/Entrepreneur, and the Manager)  in our businesses and how we struggle to accomodate all three without failing.  This is why so many small businesses fail within the first year. 

So here I was, speaking (almost pleading) with the students to take the steps to help take them to the next level by either hiring an assistant, employing a virtual assistant, or finding someone that they could outsource their paperwork, short sale negotiations, social networking and other items that were not income producing or the most effective use of their time.   Unfortunately, the questions that arose from the class for the most part were short sighted and proved that they were control freaks! 

To be successful in this business, you need a team of professionals and a staff to make life easier on you.  While yes, you could probably do a better job on most things, you have to realize that someone else’s 80% to your 100% is good enough to get the job done effectively.  Your investment team should be made up of a knowledgable realtor, title company, mortgage broker, hard money lender, private lenders, bird dogs, and at least one personal assistant.   If short sales are part of your business, then a team of experienced negotiators should also be added to your team. 

If your a realtor, the team should be the same except you should probably add several investors to your “mastermind team” to help with contract offers and buying short sales and any REO’s that you might have as a listing.  For the most part, your team should all be compensated from you closing transactions except for your assistants.  This is where hiring a virtual assistant or listing to close or contract to close company can help you maximize your time and energy so that you avoid the pitfalls that others walk willingly into!  My mindset is that if I can find someone else to do something that I don’t enjoy, I’ll pay for it!  As entrepreneurs, our best time is marketing, networking, and finding deals! 

If you suffer from being unable (we know unwilling is a better explanation) to delegate or outsource, find yourself an accountability partner or successful professional or coach who will be honest with you about your business or personal short comings.  This is so huge for you to make the turn from one man band to orchestra!  I only harp on this because I’ve experienced this first hand.  Focus on the “Big Rocks” in your life and business and outsource the rest.  Focus on generating revenue and finding more business and let your staff and team handle the rest of the details. 

I haven’t always been the greatest at being honest with myself and my business.  Luckily I’m honest enough (and darn lucky) to accept what my accountability partner and best friend has to tell me about what I’m doing right and wrong in my business.  While it’s a constant work in progress, it’s refreshing to have someone on your team who will “tell it like it is” whether you want to hear it or not. 

I’m a 10,000 foot view kind of guy and I can see the fruits of my labors and accountable “tweaks” that someone is suggesting that I make.   In the last 120 days I’ve narrowed down my business from juggling five activities to being lazer focused on two items and outsourcing the rest (where I still make money).  I would wish this type of constructive criticism for all investors and realtors out there.  If you don’t have someone in your life who can help you with this, find someone successful whom you respect or hire someone to come in and give you an honest opinion.  You will find that it will be the best money or time you’ve ever spent to improve your business.  Go from being the plate spinner at the circus and breaking plates to being the ring leader and controlling the entire show!  My personal thanks goes out to Amber Gunn for inspiring me and helping me gain back my “lazer” focus.

Is anyone double dipping on short sales and buying notes?  If not, they should!  So, how do you that?  Listen closely.

I’m a broker.  I have a short sale listing.  Clearly, they have missed payments if I’m advertising it’s a short sale, at least 99% of the time.  It was a 500k home until about a year ago.  Now’s it’s a home worth 400k.  Unfortunately, the owner still owes 500k.  They are 100k upside down or in the hole.  So, I have it listed, and we get an approved short sale from the lender at 350k.  All the while, I’m talking to the secondary market about their “non-performing” note and secure the purchase of the note at 250k.  Now, I’m the bank!  And I tell the buyer’s agent that the “new bank” still wants to honor their short sale of 350k.  It never goes back on the market for me to flip, and the Joe the homeowner never has a short sale filed as a “settlement” on their credit!  The buyer’s agent gets their commission, and my gross is the 100k spread and my commission!  Everybody wins! 

Now, you can do this with any short sale listing.  99 times out of a 100, they have missed payments which makes this a perfect candidate for short paper/note purchase because it’s non-performing.  Group short sale listings in your market together to create mini-pools to get a bigger bang for your buck and pay both the listing agent and buyer’s agent their commissions to close your deals.  All the agents will be working with you in no time!

For more info, contact www.myopentoclose.com.

Are there really deals out there that I can make money when I don’t have a lot of it? You bet there is! Wholesaling, taking over properties subject to, and options are great ways for new investors or those with limited funds to break into real estate with little to zero money out of pocket.

I just flipped a REO worth $70k that I got under contract for $26K and sold in 2 days to another investor for $35K That’s $9K in profit. Wholesaling is about as simple as it gets. All you have to do is find a property that is well below value, get it under contract and assign the contract to another investor who is also going to make money.

You might have to come out of pocket earnest money and option money but this can often be limited as well (Usually $500-$1000 for earnest and $100 for option money). I also just partnered with another investor to take down a property that the home owner’s deeded over to us. She provided the 3 months in back payments from her self directed IRA and we are going to rent it, or sell it with owner financing and split the profit 50/50. That should be monthly cash flow of around $200 a month to me and several thousand in cash from a down payment on the wrap!

This is usually know as taking a property over “subject to” existing financing staying in place. Basically, I end up owning a property where the mortgage of the previous owner stays in place. I make the monthly payments or I more preferably find a renter or someone to buy the property with owner financing or a lease option tenant where I can get a nice down payment and monthly cashflow. You usually have to come out of pocket to make up back payments, but sometimes in divorce or probate situations, you can often step into a subject to with no money. My buddy, Jason Schubert, just picked up a nice sub to for $2. He could have picked it up for $1, but he didn’t have four quarters to pay the divorcing husband and ex wife $50 cents each so he upped his price to a dollar each. What a nice guy! He’s picking up the property with $40,000 in equity and he’s already flipped it to a end buyer for $18,000 in down payment. That’s a pretty good return for $2 bucks!

Options are another way to sell property with little money out of pocket ($100) or non-exclusive options ($10) are another great way to negotiate a price with the seller, and sell the property above what ever your option price is. All an option is that you have a predetermined price for the property and have a speciifc amount of time to perform (could be week, months, or years). This is in effect a contract except the seller has the right often to accept a higher offer on non-exclusive options as you aren’t tying the property up exclusively. I once tied up over $6 million dollars in San Diego Beachfront Condos for $10 on a non-exclusive option agreement. That was a fun deal!

As you can see, if you utilize these effective options to start your real estate investment career, you can often compile a nice chunk or pile of cash doing options, sub to’s, and wholesale deals that will allow you to make the jump into rehabbing or more monetary intesive investing. What ever you chose to do, go out there and find you some deals! The more you network and talk to other investors, the more deals will wind up in your lap! Happy Investing!

While there are so many “gurus” teaching on subjects like lead systems, social media to get business, automation software,  and how to do short sales and loan mod via ebooks…  Where is the company that just does it for you?  Yes, it is beneficial to have the knowledge, and I highly recommend it, but what about leverage?  Is anyone teaching leverage?  I know that my time is definitely worth more than $7-10/hr.  Is yours?  So, I, the Amber of “askamberandscott”, told Scott today that our real titles should be efficiency and productivity consultants for real estate/REALTORS (Amber) and investors (Scott).

For example, when REALTORS work with Open to Close, we increase their business by a minimum of 20% in the first 6 months of working with us.  HOW???  Well, not only do we provide technology tools that automate and streamline a REALTOR’s business, but our team also performs the data entry and interacts with those tools without the real estate agent ever having to touch it.  Yes!  We implement systems and share knowledge, AND our team does the work for them!  Software and ebooks on systems and contract to close and short sales and loan mods are plentiful.  We take that knowledge and apply it with our manpower and allow real estate professionals to leverage their time!  Outsourcing is a beautiful thing, and it really can give you your life back!

Mr. Carson teaches his students how to invest, but he actually practices what he preaches by investing WITH his students.  In his one on one scenarios, he actually spends 4-5 days with a student to live and breath investing and raising private money until the student has achieved it on his own and is ready to leave the nest.  And how does Scott raise private money and find deals???  Well, he is the internet and web 2.0 specialist!  He uses blogs, social media, press releases, articles, etc. to achieve his goals.  And while he does teach this, he actually offers a service that DOES IT FOR YOU!  So, not only do you now have the knowledge, but you’re not spending your time doing data entry!  You’re using your precious time to analyze deals, network, etc.  Talk about priceless! 

The reason that we work together so well is because we are incredibly like-minded.  Our mission is to create systems, share knowledge, and to provide a team that will DO your $10/hour tasks.  PRICELESS

Buying The Note From The Bank

Many individual are very familiar with what is currently going on in the current real estate market with the number of foreclosures and home owners in trouble.  Financial hiccups can happen to anyone and unfortunately as a society; the United States is a highly UN-educated group of people when it comes to finances.   As an investor, having the knowledge and education on what options are available to homeowners is only useful if you actually put it to work.   While many investors, realtors, and homeowners are familiar with a short sale transaction where the property is sold at a loss the bank with the institution taking a loss on the underlying note and or asset, most people don’t realize that banks have been doing something very similar since the beginning of banking.

What I’m talking about is also called a short paper transaction or buying the note from the lender.  Banks have been selling their notes to other banks.  If you have ever bought a house and closed with one specific lender, I’m willing to bet that you at some point received a letter stating that your mortgage company has changed.   

The great thing is that this can also take place on an individual basis as well where an individual like Nancy Notebuyer, calls up Wells Fargo and buys a specific mortgage.  Nancy at that point then becomes the actual bank and holds the mortgage or “paper”.   Payments from the home owner are then made to Nancy and she has all the rights that the bank had.  This can be very attractive in times where the homeowner starts to default on their mortgage.  Nancy could modify the terms of the loan (change interest rate, defer payments, reduce principle, or even perform a friendly foreclosure or accept a deed in lieu of foreclosure where the homeowner just hands over the keys and walks away). 

What’s extremely attractive to an investor is that there is very little paperwork involved with buying the note, unlike short sales!  Where short sales can drag on for months and sometimes years (I know of one situation that took 60 months to close), the difficult thing is just finding the right department inside of the bank to have them approve the sale of a single note.  

This department is often referred to as the secondary marketing manager, warehouse line manager, or non-performing note department.   This department is almost always separate from the loss mitigation department and short sale department and can often be in different states or cities than the traditional customer service and servicing departments.  Tracking down the right department can often take numerous phone calls and transfers.  But once you get a hold of the right person, all that is usually needed is an official offer on the note, proof of funds, and a quick closing date.  

While the loss mitigation office of the bank is constantly trying to collect payments to get their loans back in a performing status, the secondary marketing department is trying to get rid of bad debt so that it does not affect their ability to lend as a bank or institution.  Some banks only prefer to sell notes off in bundles or “pools”.  If this is the case and you have one specific note that you are talking about, the institution will often pull similar notes into the pool by geographic, type, loan size, and property type to make the pool that much more attractive and saleable. 

So what does this mean to you as an investor or a home owner in this situation?  As an investor, you will need a source of cash and have your due diligence done on a property and be able to close quickly.  As a homeowner, you have some options as well. 

I always suggest to the home owner that they need to have the property listed for sale with an experienced real estate agent!  Honestly, your agents are the most important part of a real estate team and if you as an investor or home owner don’t take care of your agents or go behind their back, you deserve everything bad that happens to you!  Anyway, have your agent list the property for short sale and start actively marketing the property and working with loss mitigation to get the property discounted.  The home owner needs to stop making payment on the note for 60-90 days for a short paper transaction to work because the bank will not usually sell off a performing asset.  Once the note becomes defaulted, the bank will then look to sell off the note at substantial discounts.   The further the note goes into default, the bigger the discount for the investor.  The key is having the agent keep the property out of foreclosure by working the short sale side as this is critical in states like Texas where there is such a short foreclosure timeline (21 to 51 days).

Let me give you a couple examples of what can happen.  You have Amber Agent, Harry Homeowner, Bob Buyer, and Nancy Notebuyer.   Harry comes to Amber to help him sell his home that he is behind payments on, upside down on just needs to walk away.  Amber starts to negotiate a short sale but gives Nancy Notebuyer a call because she knows that Nancy can buy the note from the bank. 

While Nancy is calling the bank, Bob shows up as a potential buyer for the home so he submits an offer to Amber to buy the home on a short sale.   Let’s say that Harry’s home was originally worth $500,000 (which is what he owes) but it is now only worth $400,000, so he is upside down on his payments.  Bob has made an offer to buy the property with an offer of $350,000, which is what he considers a fair price. 

While Amber is hammering the bank to get them to reduce what they will accept and keep the property off of the foreclosure steps, Nancy is getting the bank to accept her offer of 50% of the UNPAID BALANCE of the note.  In this case she would be offering $250,000 on the $500,000 note.   Let’s say the bank accepts Nancy’s offer.  Nancy wires the money to the bank, and the bank assigns the note and collateral to Nancy.   Nancy has just become the bank! 

Harry Homeowner and Amber Agent are notified that their mortgage has been sold to another lender.  Nancy Notebuyer can do a multitude of things at this point.  She can approve the existing short sale offer of $350,000 from Bob Buyer and gross a quick $100,000, paying closing costs, realtor’s commission and anything else the bank would OR would not normally pay.  She could even give some money back to Harry Homeowner for move out expenses or part of the profit if they are friends.  

If the offer from Bob were to fall out or not be able to close, Nancy could either take the property back in a friendly foreclosure where Harry just turns over the keys and walks away after deeding the property back to Nancy.  Nancy would then be responsible for listing the property for sale and trying to sell it above what she paid for the note to make a profit.   She would be basically selling her own REO or Real Estate Owned property. 

If Harry was suddenly able to afford the home again, Nancy could restructure the loan or do a loan modification on the property, take what was owed in back payments and modify the loan.  Once Harry started to pay on time for 12 to 24 months, he could go get a refinance on the property.  Hopefully, values would have gone back up again at that point so that he could refinance the full note of $500,000, but if they didn’t Nancy could still approve a refinance for $350,000 or whatever the value was as long as it was still profitable and greater than what she initially paid to purchase the note (in this case $250,000). 

As you can see, there are several ways to work a short paper or note purchasing transaction.  The easy part is AFTER getting the bank to say yes to your offer.   For an ideal discount for the investor to buy the note, the mortgage needs to be at least 60-90 days late, otherwise the lender will still want premium pricing for the note.   In markets like Texas and California, banks will go as low as around 60-70% based on the market being better than in places like Florida (20-40%) and Michigan (10%).  Obviously, there is some negotiation with the bank and the more you buy, the bigger the discount.  These percentages are just based on some previous negotiations but can change as the market change.

Six Things That Seperate Investors From Retail Buyers
Real estate investors are a different type of real estate buyer than most real estate agents are used to dealing with. While agents are taught to deal with retail, home buyers, real estate investors are looking for specific deals and profit margin. Many realtors will often not take the time to learn what goes into being a real estate investor along with the differences involved in representing investors. For those realtors that do take the time to understand investors, it is a very benefitial relationship.

#1 Purchase Price  What most realtors immediately struggle with is that most investors will not offer more than 70% of maket value or retail price or less depending on the condition of the property. This is true of short sales, REO (bank foreclosures), and other properties that they have obtain financing for. If the property needs any type of work, the investor will reduce their offering price to reflect that along with holding costs. The basic purchase price formula that the majority of investors live buy is retail price multiplied by 70% (mostly 65% in today’s market), minus repairs and holding costs. Realtors are used to dealing with home owners looking to purchase their primary residence and whom are willing to pay 90-95% of retail. This is just not the case with investors.

#2 Financing  What’s most important these days is getting deals closed. Investors make a lot of cash offers that are closed with short term loans from private investors and “hard money” lenders. Investors make cash offers knowing that they have this type of short term and short close funding available to them.  While this short term financing can be considered expensive at 8-18%, investors realize that this is short term financing and the fact that they would rather get the deal done and loose a little bit on the short end versus not getting the deal done at all. 

#3 Exit Strategies  Investors may realize their profit when they purchase the property, but they can’t touch it until their exit strategy has kicked in.  Instead of simply listing the property on the MLS for a conventional sale with conventional financing.  Successful investors have a multitude of exit strategies to take advantage of where the housing market it.  These exit strategies range from a traditional sale, to owner financing, lease optioning, renting, and wholesaling the deal for quick cash.  Realtors that are open minded are huge assets to investors, but those that are not are more of a liability than they are worth.  Investors are open to realtor learning more about what they are looking to do, and being flexible with multiple exit strategies is a huge key to being successful.

#4 Outside the Box Thinking  While we discussed exit strategies that might seem a bit different, it isn’t quite the Ouside of the Box Thinking that most investors are known for.  Investors are often able to come up with non-conventional solutions to problems.  Unfortunately, most realtors are to set in their mindset to accept a subject to, owner financing, or short sale offer and their client often suffers as they are to stubborn to accept a viable solution to their clients’ problem.  Unfortunately, most realtors will assume an idea is illegal when the idea is completely legal, viable, and their clients are protected with legal documents.

#5 Quantity  This alone should have realtors scrambling to work with investors on a regular basis.  Most realtors are scrambling to attract new buyers that will buy one property on average every five to seven years.  Successful investors are buying multiple properties every year if not every month.  While investors may ask their realtor to submit twenty plus contracts each week on REO’s or short sales to close on one deal.  Unfortunately, realtors would rather spend their time running buyers all over town instead of spending time with a guaranteed buyer who can close and also who is patient. Why chase five buyers for five deals or work with one buyer to buy all five.  I think the answer is obvious here.

#6 Multiple Deal Streams  Investors will often work with multiple realtors to ensure that there is always a steady flow of deals coming in.  Most realtors would prefer that the investors work with just on realtor, but unfortunately, most realtors specialize only in one area of the city, one type of deal, or a specific price range and are not cross trained or knowledgable with every type of transaction that the investor will close up on.  Your traditional realtor will often get their feelings hurt when they find out their investor is getting deals from other realtors.  What they don’t realize is that if they took the time to learn how to invest, this would almost guarantee that investors would take the time to turn more of their business over to them as their main realtor.  Unfortunately, realtors are often comfortable with what they know and have done instead of taking the time to expand their business and learn something new. 

The biggest hurdle that most investors face is finding intelligent, open minded, and flexible realtors.  Realtors and investors often need a period of mutual training and getting used to working with each other and what is the best for business.  Those realtors that take the time to learn what the investor truly needs can be a huge asset and a way to seperate themselves from the competition.  This seperation can also lead to the realtor making more money than they are used to by chasing conventional home buyers.

Scott Carson, Investor

Join us this weekend at Genesse Park for Seafair’s Chevrolet Cup and the KeyBank Air Show. There will be plenty of great food, live music and fireworks! Visit the Boeing/United Way tent to learn how you can take the lead in improving the community by volunteering your time and talents.

Scott Carson, the president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, is taking on a very important volunteer role—United Way of King County campaign chair. We’re excited to have Scott leading our campaign and to continue our longstanding partnership with The Boeing Company.

We hope to see you this Seafair weekend at the Boeing/United tent in Genesse Park. Hydroplane racing legend Chip Hanauer will be signing autographs and you may score some cool giveaways. Check out the Seafair Web site for ticket information, schedules and more details.

This is the sixth of a series of posts from the EAD media day and the Paris Air Show….

There are always bits and pieces picked up at these things that don’t fit anywhere else.

• We asked several reporters, “What is the headline coming out of this show?” We were universially greeted by long pauses. That, in itself, is the headline
• What was the best airplane demonstration? To us, it wasn’t the A380 (seen it in action four or five times now) or the military stuff (too loud, not into it anyway). It was the Breitling Lockheed Super Constellation.
• 

• What really light up Scott Carson’s face? Talking piston airplanes.
• One industry official who sells airplanes believes rising oil prices has come a year too soon.
• For 787 fans, the media was notified this week that registration to attend the first flight will begin next week. It’s widely believed that first flight will be the 24th, 25th or 26th. But Boeing traditionally has done first flights on Saturday to allow employees to participate. That would be the 27th.
• We were in the Boeing media center writing up the report from the tanker briefing, along with other reporters, including Dominic Gates of The Seattle Times. Gates overheard to people from FedEx talking who said they (FDX) had just ordered 15 777s. Given the dearth of orders, this would have been Big News indeed. Dominic shot out of his chair to talk to the people. Alas, they were talking of the previously announced orders. The two were FDX pilots and they were asking Boeing to tour the brand new Air France 777F on display outside the media center.
• For 747-8 fans: Boeing lowered its 20-year forecast on the Very Large Aircraft (VLA) from 980 to 740, virtually all coming out of VLA freighters. We asked Boeing’s Randy Tinseth was this does for the business case of the 747-8F. “Not a thing,” he said. Boeing now assumes there will be no VLA-F competition (read: no A380F). That airplane is dead, in Boeing’s view.

We’ll add more to this as we clear our mind from the travel fog….

Nada como a boa e velha concorrência. A resposta da Embraer tem que ser contundente. A do governo brasileiro, DEVE. Vamos esperar, e torcer para pararmos de mandar dinheiro para FMI e Argentina e investir no fortalecimento de nossa indústria.

Daniel Pinheiro

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Russos lançam primeiro jato comercial desde o fim da União Soviética

Avião da fabricante russa Sukhoi vai concorrer diretamente com os da Embraer

Por John Bowker

Portal EXAME

PARIS (Reuters) – A fabricante russa de aviões Sukhoi lançou o primeiro avião comercial do país desde a queda da União Soviética, além de revelar uma nova encomenda de 1 bilhão de dólares e previsões de novos pedidos, apesar da retração da indústria aeronáutica em meio à crise econômica global.

A Sukhoi anunciou durante a feira de aviação Paris Air Show que fechou um acordo de 1 bilhão de dólares para vender 30 aviões civis Superjet 100 à húngara Malev, e afirmou que há mais por vir.

O Superjet 100 concorre diretamente com os aviões da família de E-Jets da Embraer, que tem jatos de 70 a 118 lugares.

O diretor-geral da Sukhoi, Mikhail Pogosyan, disse à jornalistas que espera receber 150 encomendas firmes até dezembro, um aumento considerável em comparação com os menos de 100 que eram estimados para até o final do ano antes da Paris Air Show.

“Quando fizemos as previsões, tínhamos em mente a crise financeira. Agora, é muito importante elevarmos a cadência de produção para o começo (do processo de) recuperação do mercado”, disse ele, acrescentando que espera que o avião venda bem durante os próximos 15 anos.

O jato decolou para seu primeiro voo em público imediatamente após a fala de Pogosyan.

O Superjet 100 é o único novo avião comercial em exibição na Paris Air Show, maior feira de aviação do mundo.

O sucesso do lançamento contrasta com os longos adiamentos dos novos aviões comerciais das gigantes da indústria Boeing e Airbus –especialmente no caso da Boeing com o 787 Dreamliner.

Pogosyan foi gracioso com seus concorrentes, apesar de ter-lhes roubado a cena, afirmando que o chefe de aviões comerciais da Boeing, Scott Carson, havia feito uma visita ao avião Superjet 100 mais cedo.

“Estivemos trabalhando com a Boeing há muitos anos, e estamos tristes que o 787 não esteja aqui. Mas desejamos a eles sucesso –não ficamos felizes quando outros estão infelizes”, disse.

Também nesta segunda-feira, em entrevista coletiva, o executivo da Boeing disse que espera uma retomada no crescimento do mercado de aviação comercial em meados de 2010.

O Superjet, desenvolvido em conjunto com a italiana Finmeccanica pode levar de 70 a 100 passageiros. Mas o diretor-geral da Sukhoi afirmou que pensa em desenvolver uma nova versão para concorrer com aviões maiores.

“Estamos considerando uma versão maior”, disse.

A também russa Irkut informou no início desta segunda-feira que planeja construir 1.000 de seus próprios aviões comerciais. É esperado que o avião MC-21, com apenas um corredor, faça seu primeiro voo em 2014, e a empresa –que faz parte de uma organização russa maior, a United Aircraft Corporation (UAC)– estima que as entregas comecem em 2016.

O projeto da Irkut conta com investimento de 3 bilhões de dólares do governo russo.

L’avionneur européen Airbus a annoncé son premier grand contrat de l’année, tandis que son rival américain Boeing a prédit des jours meilleurs en 2010, au premier jour du Salon du Bourget, assombri par la crise. Sous pression depuis le crash de l’A330 Rio-Paris, qui l’a obligé à monter au créneau pour défendre la fiabilité de ses avions, Airbus a pu cette fois briller avec une bonne nouvelle: Qatar Airways, une des grandes compagnies du Golfe, a acheté 24 moyen-courriers de la famille des A320 pour 1,9 milliard de dollars. Boeing n’a rendu publique aucune nouvelle commande. En cette période de crise, Airbus et Boeing soulignent toutefois à l’envi que la question n’est pas de gagner de nouveaux contrats, mais de sécuriser les anciens. Cette 48e édition du Bourget permettra de “mieux comprendre où on en est dans la crise”, a prévenu Louis Gallois, patron d’EADS, maison mère d’Airbus.

          Louis Gallois, patron d’EADS

“Nous n’espérons pas enregistrer un même niveau de commandes” que lors de la dernière édition il y a deux ans, qui s’était soldée par une moisson record. “les clients sont très prudents”, a-t-il indiqué. Quant à son rival américain, Boeing, traditionnellement moins enclin à faire de grandes annonces de commandes aux salons, il a dit espérer des jours meilleurs à la mi-2010. “Il n’y a pas de certitude, mais nous avons l’impression qu’il y a des raisons d’espérer que la reprise va commencer l’an prochain”, a déclaré Scott Carson, Pdg de la branche aviation commerciale de Boeing. Victimes de la crise économique, de la grippe porcine, les compagnies aériennes -les clientes- ont vu leur trafic baisser, a-t-il rappelé. Et la récente remontée des prix du pétrole risque de peser sur leurs comptes. M. Carson a “l’impression que l’on a touché le fond” en terme de recul du trafic dans le fret et le trafic passagers international. Airbus pourrait engranger près de 80 commandes, voire une centaine au Salon du Bourget. Cette semaine va être en tous les cas “signée au salon une lettre d’intention  pour l’achat de deux long-courriers A350 et seize moyen-courriers A321 par Vietnam Airlines”, a déclaré NGuyen Sy Hung, président du conseil d’administration de cette compagnie.

   L’intérieur de l’A 350 Airbus

Reste que pour enregistrer 300 commandes d’avions en 2009, comme il le prévoit, Airbus doit faire le plein au Salon du  Bourget: sur les cinq premiers mois de l’année, il n’en a engrangé que 32 brutes. Boeing ne fait jamais de prévisions en terme de commandes. Mais il avait déjà prévenu qu’elles seraient moins nombreuses que ses livraisons, qui oscilleront entre 480 et 485 en 2009, selon ses prévisions. Côté spectacle, M. Carson a balayé tout espoir d’assister cette semaine, pendant le Salon du  Bourget, au très attendu premier vol d’essai du nouveau long-courrier de Boeing, le 787 “Dreamliner”, prévu aux Etats-Unis, tout en réaffirmant qu’il aurait lieu d’ici la fin juin 2009.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief Scott Carson says a little regulation could be a very helpful thing when it comes to fighting global warming.

In a Op/Ed piece printed earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal, the Cougar-in-Chief — my favorite WSU regent — suggested that the International Civil Aviation Administration should take the lead in setting a global standard for airliner fuel efficiency, in much the same way that it previously mandated standards for jet noise and nitrogen oxide emissions.

The standards should be imposed on jet-makers, like Boeing and Airbus,  because such a standard would be “straightforward and easier to implement than a standard for aircraft operators,” Carson wrote. “And it would help ensure that we continue to see the kind of technological and environmental breakthroughs we pioneered with the 787.”

You can read more about it in one of my recent posts at BNet.com, where I’ve also got the link to the Op/Ed piece in its entirety.

What you missed while trying to explain to your wife why finding new prime numbers is cool…

• Need a summer job before you go to college? Try MLS referee.
• Lazio has until the end of the month to sign Mauro Zarate to a long-term deal.
• West Brom keeper Scott Carson says that it’s not him who sucks, it’s the constantly revolving defense.
• If Michael Ballack is really driven by failure, does that mean that he can never succeed? Because I’d kind of like that.

Thomas Sorenson is developing into a very sad man. Okay, when Stoke play Villa, he is bound to be asked questions. But he is bleating on about his treatment last season yet again.

You know what? If I was an international goalkeeper and found myself third in line behind Scott Carson and Stuart Taylor, I might be a bit miffed too. But honestly, Thomas Sorenson is not good enough for the level Villa want to be at, and had to go. Maybe it happened twelve months too soon, but I would still argue that point in all honesty, as Carson was very good for Villa until THAT night he represented England against Croatia.

In his latest outburst, he said:

“If I just sat down and cried I wouldn’t be where I am today. My main aim was to look ahead…”

“The mission isn’t over. It has been about proving my ability and helping the team. I haven’t shaken Martin O’Neill’s hand since I left and I don’t think I will again. That is behind me now. I am just happy to be playing again…”

“I am happy to have proven a point but I won’t have proven the big point until we are safe.” (source: Goal.com)

Well first of all, I don’t think he has proved any point. Secondly, why even bring Martin O’Neill into a conversation about Stoke City vs Newcastle United?

How very sad and pathetic.

Of all the positions on the field, there is one more than the others that any manager would like to fill and forget about: goalkeeper. Consistency is a big plus between the sticks, it gives the team a defensive referent who is on the pitch game after game and allows the player to gain in confidence as he becomes comfortable in a high-stress role. Goalkeepers rarely get carded — at least they do so a lot less than outfield players — so needing to sub for them usually has more to do with injury than suspension.

An undecided goalkeeper position, however, can generate doubts across the team, especially on the defensive end. Nothing gives defenders more confidence that a solid goalkeeper, and nothing bothers them more than not knowing who’s behind them.

One team suffering greatly from indecision at this key position is England. David James has gotten by far the most time in goal but has never been able to generate any confidence either with teammates or any of the last 3 coaching staffs. Scott Carson’s appearances in between have been, if anything, even worse. England’s No. 1 at the last World Cup, Paul Robinson, isn’t even in the picture anymore, having completely lost the faith of coaches and fans.

Based on what I’ve seen, the three keepers for England should be Robert Green, Chris Kirkland and Ben Foster. If Foster got regular playing time for Manchester United he might jump to the top of the list. Another possibility is Joe Hart, who I hope will be elsewhere next season if Manchester City won’t give him a shot.

I actually back Chris Kirkland for No. 1. But he’s so injury-prone that you know you can’t depend on him to be there.  And I prefer all four of those over David James (and definitely over Scott Carson).

The Spanish option

Many people have suggested that a solution to the problem might be nationalizing Arsenal’s Spanish goalkeeper Manuel Almunia. I just don’t see him as adding that much quality over and above those four. He might represent a very slight upgrade and probably a bit more consistency, but do you really want to make such a significant move (bringing a completely non-English player into the England squad) over “just a bit more”?

And yes, I’m aware that non-English players have played for England before, but even John Barnes wasn’t too far off from being English. At least his native language is English.

Spain has three top-notch keepers in Casillas, Pepe Reina and Diego López, and can probably find 1 or 2 more if those three are catastrophically lost (such as Andrés Palop at Sevilla and José Manuel Pinto at Barcelona, whenever he finally replaces the carcass of Victor Valdés in goal). I don’t see Almunia getting a sniff.

It really speaks to Spain’s wealth of options at goal. I’d definitely select any one of their three keepers as No. 1 in England.

The best solution to this problem may still come with Ben Foster taking over for Edwin van der Sar at Manchester United.