Online Dating On Valentine's Day

If one modern invention has opened the door to seemingly limitless possibilities of connecting with other people, it would be the Internet.  Since it was invented in 1989, the Internet has never ceased to provide opportunities for people to discover and rediscover so many things.  Aside from paving the way to easy access to almost any sort of information, the Internet has become an avenue to connect people in different parts of the globe, especially during special occasions such as Christmas and Valentine's Day.

Paving The Way For Romantic Relationships

One of the most popular means of connecting people through the Internet is online dating.  Online dating is actually an excellent means of meeting new people, expanding your dating pool, or even getting back on the dating scene, including romantic occasions such as Valentine's Day.

Far from the common misconception of being a desperate act for those people who are quite eager to form romantic relationships during Valentine's Day, online dating has been enjoyed by millions of people across the globe.  For interested singles looking for prospective partners, online dating is a good way to get out of their shell, especially for those who have traumatic experiences in in-person dating.

Today, more and more people are into online dating services during Valentine's Day because of time constraints.  Being preoccupied with other things, people who are into online dating want to maximize their time by meeting people virtually and forming connections with them.  In addition, since online dating doesn’t establish exclusivity to either party, singles that are into it can even look for other interesting people who they can connect with.

A Practical Option

Veering away from the common notion that online dating is creepy and unsafe, online dating today has unveiled a new and refreshing face that has become acceptable to many.  Banking on the concept of a hassle-free and time-saving socialization alternative for people on-the-go, online dating has become a credible and reliable avenue in expanding one’s social pool and connections.

Online dating is considered by many people a practical option on Valentine's Day because it gives the person fewer hassles.  Unlike regular dating which will require one to reserve seats in restaurants or movie theaters, dress properly, look for possible date gifts, and leave behind his/her schedule, online dating on Valentine's Day will give each individual enough time know each other without exclusive commitment.

Aside from saving the hassles of money and time, online dating also gives the person ultimate comfort since all one needs is a computer and a fast Internet connection.  Also, there are fewer restrictions and definitely no dress codes.  Instead of dressing up when you go on a date, you can date online without worrying about your physical appearance.

When you go online on Valentine's Day, you also have more dating options and preferences to choose from.  Since online dating includes so many people across the globe, you have wider reach to as many cultures as possible.  You can also create stronger relationships when you continue communicating with the person on a regular basis.

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Featured Article - October 2010: No National Foreclosure Moratorium Needed to Move Housing Market from Crisis to Calm

By Raphael Bostic, Assistant HUD Secretary for Policy Development and Research

When I accepted the invitation to write a guest column for RealtyTrac in mid-summer, I fully expected to be writing about the continuation of months of improvement in the foreclosure environment and how the Administration was preparing for the next phase of our assault on the greatest crisis the U.S. housing market has seen since the Great Depression.

The experiences of the past few months have borne out this expectation, and we have seen real progress in the housing market.  Foreclosure starts are down by nearly 30 percent from the peaks of a year ago.  In the last 18 months, more than 3.3 million families have received restructured mortgages with more affordable monthly payments, which is more than twice as many foreclosures that have been completed during that time.  And a steady stream of foreclosure completions means that the backlog of distressed properties - the source of a gloomy overhang over housing markets across the nation - is starting to settle out.

Unfortunately, the recent revelations about foreclosure processing - that some banks may be repossessing homes of families improperly - have cast new clouds over this optimistic and hopeful landscape, and these warrant commentary.  The Administration clearly understands the threat this represents, both to general recovery efforts and, more importantly, to homeowners across the country who now fear that banks and servicers might be taking shortcuts that cause them to lose their homes.  That is why the Obama Administration is marshalling the resources of a broad coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies to examine the issue and take appropriate action if wrongdoing is found.

The importance of this is obvious - no one should lose their home as a result of a bank mistake.  Given the problems that have already been found and admitted to by some servicers, the Obama Administration fully supports the voluntary moratoria that are already in place and others should they be deemed necessary.

While voluntary moratoria have been established in many quarters, some have argued for the need to go further and impose a national moratorium to halt all foreclosures by every servicer in every state.  I do not favor this as a pre-emptive action, as it would likely do more harm than good.  Vacant and abandoned homes destroy the value of neighboring properties like almost nothing else, with their negative impacts being more than three times greater than the impacts of occupied homes just entering the foreclosure process.  Halting foreclosures would halt the resolution of these properties, hurting both the neighbors that must endure the continuing negative effects of a foreclosure sign near their homes as well as those who see these properties as opportunities to become homeowners, some for the first time.  And with foreclosed homes making up 25 percent of all home sales in some markets, a full scale moratorium would put a chill on precisely those housing markets that need these distressed properties to be sold and renovated in order to return to stable footing.

So, where does this leave us?  The recently passed Dodd-Frank legislation to reform Wall Street and banking represents a significant improvement to our banking and housing finance systems, and will help enhance stability and market efficiency.

Another way that stability and market efficiency are achieved is through the availability of high quality data and information about the markets themselves.  As you know, the Obama Administration has made data availability and transparency high priorities, with the belief that people make better decisions and judgments when they are armed with good data.  Through this housing crisis, RealtyTrac and other companies like it have been important sources of information about the incidence and prevalence of foreclosures, and have helped spark many conversations about foreclosures and how to heal the market.

**More Articles could be found in our "News and Opinion" section at RealtyTrac.com & also be sure to check out our channel on YouTube, where you'll find many more videos, including "How-To's" & Interviews and Specials:

RealtyTrac Channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/RealtyTrac

RealtyTrac's "News & Opinion" Section: http://www.realtytrac.com/content/

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Making the Most Out of Your Thanksgiving Gathering

Are you hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year? If so, have you thought about making sure your gathering is successful? Unfortunately sometimes when it comes to hosting a gathering such as Thanksgiving, there are many hosts who tend to worry more about their guests than themselves. While it is always important to make sure that your guests are enjoying themselves, why host a gathering if you cannot enjoy it as well?

When it comes to making the most out of your Thanksgiving get together, there are a number of steps you can take to make sure that you, as well as your guests, have a good time. Perhaps, the easiest way to do this is to start planning and preparing early. Early preparation helps make sure everything is in order before your gathering gets underway which likely reduces or eliminates the stress associated with planning such an event. Examining all of your supplies ahead of time will help you notice whether or not something is missing. This eliminates that worry about having to run out for extra supplies just as your gathering is getting underway.

It is a good idea to start preparing your Thanksgiving dinner the day before. Of course there will be some items on the menu, such as the Turkey, that you will want to cook the day of your gathering, but there are other items that you could easily prepare and store in your refrigerator, such as deserts or the cranberry sauce. Limiting the number of tasks you will have to do during your gathering or the day of it will likely make it easier for you and your guests to enjoy the day.

In addition to starting your cooking early, it may also be a good idea to ask your guests to help you. While many hosts do not like to do this as they feel they are intruding, it is quite normal. Each year, a large number of party hosts, in fact, many ask for assistance from their guests. You will also find that many of your family members or close friends would be more than willing to help you with your Thanksgiving dinner whether they come to your home and help you cook or just bring a side dish that they prepared themselves, you will likely benefit from the help. The more help you receive, the less stressed you are likely to be and the less stress you will have, plus the more you should be able to enjoy your get together.

When you invite guests to your Thanksgiving gathering, it may be a good idea to ask them to RSVP either yes or no regarding their invite. This will without a doubt make it easier for you to plan and enjoy your Thanksgiving gathering because by knowing how many guests will attend, you should be able to get everything prepared early and on time. Of course, you will always want to prepare for a few extra guests, but by asking your guests to confirm their presence, your Thanksgiving gathering should be a lot easier to plan and enjoy.

As you can see, there are a number of steps that you can take to make planning and hosting a Thanksgiving get together easy and stress free. As previously mentioned, the less stress you have, the more likely you are to enjoy yourself as well as your guests. Also, whether you ask for assistance from your friends and family or start your preparations early, you should be able to enjoy yourself at your own Thanksgiving gathering.

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Featured Article - September 2010: Favorable Financing on Fannie, Freddie

By Daren Blomquist, Staff Writer

A growing number of delinquencies and foreclosures on government-backed loans - combined with generous incentives for purchasing foreclosed homes owned by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD - means buyers and investors will have plenty of opportunities in the coming months to pick up properties at bargain prices with low down payments and preferred financing.

The two government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) - Fannie and Freddie - are acquiring real estate owned (REO) properties through foreclosure at a significantly faster pace than overall growth in REO activity based on RealtyTrac data from the second quarter.  Fannie Mae took ownership of 68,838 REO properties in the second quarter, an increase of 114 percent from the second quarter of 2009, while Freddie Mac took ownership of 34,662, a 58 percent increase from the previous year.

Overall, REO activity was up 38 percent over the same time period, according to RealtyTrac, and the two GSEs together accounted for 38 percent of the total 269,962 REOs reported by RealtyTrac in the second quarter.  Throw in the 23,435 foreclosed properties acquired by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through Federal Housing Administration-backed loans gone bad, and the three "Fs" accounted for 47 percent of all REO activity in the second quarter.

That's good news for homebuyers and residential real estate investors.

Indeed, both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have acknowledged that these delayed foreclosures will increase in the months ahead. Moreover, Fannie, Freddie and the FHA all reported spiking pre-foreclosure sales, or short sales, over the past year - although the numbers of sales are still relatively low.  FHA reported a 161 percent increase, Fannie a 171 percent increase and Freddie a 179 percent increase.

Favorable Financing

Both the FHA and Fannie Mae have favorable financing for homebuyers and investors.

FHA financing is available on the HUD properties, including programs that benefit borrowers with less- than-ideal credit and require only a 3.5 percent down payment.  In addition, buyers may be able to take advantage of the FHA 203(k) rehab loan program, which allows an owner-occupant borrower to get one loan that covers both the acquisition and rehabilitation of a foreclosed property that is need of repair.

Fannie Mae offers special financing for both buyers and investors for many properties it lists for sale.  The special financing includes down payments as low as 3 percent, no mortgage insurance and no appraisal requirements.

And Fannie Mae and FHA have programs in place to encourage buyers and renters using a local Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP), a federally funded initiative that provides grants to state and local governments, as well as non-profit developers, to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosure properties and offer down payment and closing cost assistance to low- to middle-income homebuyers.

Fannie Mae waives the 5 percent earnest money deposit requirement for individual homebuyers using public funds to purchase a Fannie-Mae owned property. Deposits can be as low as $500. In addition, buyers using NSP programs have 15 extra days for closing and the ability to renegotiate their offer after obtaining an NSP-required appraisal.

**More Articles could be found in our "News and Opinion" section at RealtyTrac.com & also be sure to check out our channel on YouTube, where you'll find many more videos, including "How-To's" & Interviews and Specials:

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Origin of Halloween Costumes

Remember as kids having had a great time donning Halloween costumes we either have made or our parents have bought or rented for us? We got together with the rest of the neighborhood kids and went door to door screaming “trick-or-treat!” like there was no tomorrow, leaving our voices hoarse the next day. Well, we have basically experienced it and now we let our kids practice it, but do we really know the origin of wearing Halloween costumes in the first place? Some of us may already know, but for those who don’t, here’s the story.


The origin of the celebration can be traced back to ancient Celts and the feast called Samhain. This was a festival held during the end of the harvest season and at the start of the Celtic New Year.

According to Celtic beliefs, this was the time of year when the spirits of the dead would go to the surface world and try to posses the bodies of the living for the coming year. To prevent there bodies from being possessed, Celts would light bonfires and dress up in all sorts of morbid costumes to try to discourage the spirits of the dead from entering their bodies.

However, the practice of donning costumes in America can only be traced to as recent as the 1900s. It was only in the 1930s that Halloween costumes began to be mass produced. The usual costumes that people rent or make are those of different monsters including but not limited to vampires, ghosts, ghouls, demons, witches, and skeletons.

Even if it is the night that evil is supposed to surface, “good” costumes are also a common choice among children and adults alike. In fact, princess, fairy, and angel costumes often times make it to the top ten of top Halloween costumes.

Also popular are pop culture costumes which mimicked famous personalities, fictional characters, celebrities including Lady Gaga or even Snookie, and even politicians have an equal share in exposure during Halloween. Women, no thanks to commercial advertising, have also found this a good time to wear sexy outfits to show off their bodies and sexual prowess, but that is another story.

Other costumes that seem to have a following include clowns, nurses (including provocatively portrayed), cats, and that lowly Halloween symbol, the pumpkin. Superhero characters are also fast becoming popular costumes no thanks to the comics and movie fever that have hit the silver screen in recent years. The demand for new and modern costumes have made costume makers busy and costume rentals fully booked.

The fact that Halloween costumes have become so diverse has caused the modern tradition to overshadow the earlier tradition that makes wearing costumes during Halloween different from other dressing up for the originating Celtic feast. That is where the concept of dressing up during Halloween has come to mimic the supernatural, the ghoulish being, or basically the scary stuff.

Nevertheless, who are we to keep traditions from adapting to the modern times? Things will always evolve. That’s just how things naturally work. We can’t simply insist on wearing only scary stuff during Halloween as creativity will play a role in this aspect and people will always crave new things.

So not withstanding the darker origins of wearing Halloween costumes, we and our children and their children will continue to celebrate this day for as long as there are goodies to share and creativity to spare.

With that what would you like to be for Halloween? Adults as well as children can wear costumes for this special day, and if you don’t have the creativity to make a costume, you can still be creative as far a dressing up.

Star Costumes has a variety of costumes available to don the character you or you child would like to be. Check them out here to see what you can be.