States with highest number of ID Theft

An interesting tidbit, according to the Federal Trade Commission, the highest number of ID thefts goes to California with 43,389 thefts last year. Second runner up was Texas with 26,454 reported cases.

3rd, 4th and 5th place are;

• New York 17,680
• Florida 16,062
• Illinois 11,138

Reminder: double check your credit report before - house hunting. It can save a lot of headache if proplems are found before beginning the loan application process. If you do find a discrepency, talk to your agent. He should have valuable information about repairing credit problems. For a free credit repair kit, please contact me via e-mail at john.wall1@century21.com.

Long Beach, Realty Report for September 22, 2005

Realty Report for Long Beach, September 22, 2005. Six closed sales
today, with prices ranging from 264,000 to 430,000. These were smaller
houses and condos in the 700 square foot range to 1200. Typically 2 or
3 bedrooms and one or two baths.



For August 22, 2005 through today, there were around 266 closings of
single family houses (not condos) the prices are across the board at
205,000 to 3,000,000+.  I thought that interesting because we're
hearing that condos are becoming the only affordable housing for new
buyers but according to the hot sheets, SFR's are turning over in
greater numbers.  With creative financing and buyers who are open
to a little compromise and flexible in there desires, it is very
possible to purchase a single family home even on a shoe-string budget.



If you would like an analysis of your buying potential here in Long
Beach, Please give me a call. I'd be happy to prepare a comprehensive
report and go over home-buying options with you. I can be reached by
calling 562-433-1914 or e-mail at
John.Wall1@Century21.com.

How to get rid of telemarketers and Junk Mail

I know almost everyone is tired of telemarketers and mass mailers. When
I came across these steps to discourage this invasion into our lives, I
just had to share it with you... [Caveat, these will only work if lots
of people decide to do it - and this isn't another invitation to join
the FTC's Do Not Call
List (which you should do also)]



When a telemarker calls you, politely say "Hold, On Please..." Than put
your phone down and walk away. Don't hang up. If we do this - Time
spent on each call (at the telemarker's expense of course) would sky
rocket while, sales plummet. Thereby making telemarketing a waste of
time... Literally.



When you get a call and there is noone on the other end, repeatedly and
rapidly press the # sign on your phone. This will confuse the computer
system that is calling you. Note, this is not a telemarketing call -
Its an automated call that allows a computer to log when you actually
answer the phone so a real live salesperson can call you later.



When you get ads with your utility bills (like I always do) return them
with your payment. Its only polite to return that which you won't use,
right?



Don't just throw away "junk mail". Most of it comes with a business
reply envelope for which the sender pays when you use it. So why
deprive them of the same great deals that are offered to you? Pack
those reply envelopes and mail them right back. But don't just return
the same ads. Why not do a public service? Who knows, you credit card
company might be looking for a cheap set golf clubs and Dominoes would
love to get a few orders from the bank right?



Do this, and do it often soon it will become so expensive for companies
to inundate us, they'll stop. Also, as pointed out in a recent article
from a trade magazine, the post office claims it needs to continue to
raise postage rates because of the lost business to e-mail... Utilizing
those business reply envelopes keeps the post office busy and the
marketers paying effectively eliminated the need to raise the price of
a stamp again!





Cheers-



John Wall

Century 21 Results

562-433-1914