Cleveland, OH, United States (AHN) – Some U.S. banks have started to demolish foreclosed properties and are even paying for the cost, which saves the financial institutions from maintenance, taxes and real estate marketing expenses.

In some areas, the properties that were demolished became community parks, church extensions and parking lots.

In Ohio, the company that is charged with razing the foreclosed homes is the Cuyahoga County Land Reutilization Corporation, which was created by a 2009 state law and tasked with creating land banks.

Other states such as New York, Georgia and Philadelphia are using the Ohio model to put up similar organizations.

Lenders and mortgage firms are also donating properties to land banks. Bank of America and Well Fargo said they will donate over 100 properties to land banks. JPMorgan Chase has made regular donations and Fannie Mae donates about 30 properties monthly.

While disposing of unwanted properties on their hands, the banks are also battling lawsuits over securities fraud claims filed by states and municipalities despite the lenders having settled some of the complaints.

Bank of America and JPMorgan are negotiating an agreement with state attorneys general and federal officials that would fund loan modifications for homeowners and set requirements on how the banks should conduct foreclosures.

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New York Governor David A. Paterson also announced legislation that would ban advance fees paid to loan mod shops with the exception of attorney’s offices while Schumer’s amended bill will force loan mod shops to follow federal registration or licensing requirements and adhere to guidelines on truth in lending laws, fees, and marketing. The allowance for the continuing collection of advance fees by attorney’s offices should serve at least as an implied endorsement of their work in the loan modification industry.

Both bills seek to eliminate the shoddy and misleading marketing tactics often employed by loan mod shops that lure struggling homeowners into a loan modification process with guarantees of principle reductions, ultra-low interest rates, and other unsubstantiated claims. These shops often spend the bulk of their time and effort on marketing and collecting fees but then spend little or no time on the loans they have been hired to modify. Both Schumer’s and Paterson’s bills are aimed at the shops that are taking advantage of homeowners by promising undeliverable results and then, simply, not delivering. The anger and vitriol on the issue comes from the fact that those homeowners not only lose the money that they paid in fees, they are often subject to foreclosure if they have fallen too far behind on their payments during the loan modification process. Another issue with the loan mod shops is that one out of every two homeowners that get their loans modified with them fall back into default within six months. Including homeowners that negotiate directly with their lenders, Fitch Ratings expects those default rates to approach 70% of all modified loans by the end of 2009

Schumer’s and Paterson’s bills, allowing for advance fees to attorney firms and disallowing them for all others, acknowledge the superior work done by the law firms in the area of loan modifications. While statistics are hard to come by, it is estimated that attorney driven loan modifications are two to three times more successful at keeping homeowners out of foreclosure than the loan mod shops and do it yourselfers. The reason for the huge performance gap is that attorney driven loan modifications result in greater concessions from the lenders, lowering mortgage obligations to a point where the payments fit into the homeowners’ budgets, allowing them to stay current on those payments. The loan mod shops and do it yourselfers, on the other hand, are much more likely to accept offers from their lenders for modifications that are not sustainable for the short term, let alone the life of the mortgage.

“We always tell the client to always make a mortgage payment if you possibly can,” said Kisha Wright, with the Long Island Housing Partnership.

The pair spent almost eight months reviewing different business models, disqualifying one after another. Then they looked at cooperatives. Brodsky and Bleier are founders of two of the estimated 300 purchasing cooperatives in the United States—a sector which serves roughly 50,000 independent business owner-members.

“The co-op was the ultimate choice to bring (buying) scale to local ownership while honoring their differences and valuing their independence. It also allowed us to leverage our efforts to serve their best interests,” says Brodsky, chairman and co-CEO of CCA Global Partners. “By comparison, other business structures didn’t endure.”

Entrepreneurs across the American business landscape—from furniture dealers to funeral service providers—are using co-op power to level the playing field between family-owned enterprises and mega-retailers.

Purchasing co-op owner-members are joining together to increase the competitiveness of their independently owned businesses. By pooling their buying power to acquire inventory and services, they lower operating costs, better respond to competition, and improve their businesses’ overall performance.

Conquering the world

By virtually every business standard, CCA has more than endured. It has exploded. Starting with 13 members, the cooperative has grown to 650 owners who operate 3,600 independent stores around the world. The company reported sales exceeding $10 billion last year and has never experienced an unprofitable quarter in its 24 years of existence.  Sales have jumped 325 percent in the past eight years.

“If you give a smart entrepreneur the best tools, he can outplay the big guys. He needs to buy better, brand better, have the best training, best hiring and best marketing,” he adds. Today’s CCA members engage in the flooring, mortgage banking, lighting and bicycling industries. Considered together, CCA’s flooring affiliates represent the largest group of retailers in the world.

Competing effectively

Reading about the success of co-ops like CCA inspired Bleier, who needed to find a way for his family-owned Able Distributors to effectively compete with “the big boys like Home Depot.” He reversed the negative trend by becoming a founding member of Blue Hawk Cooperative in 2005, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based co-op with 200 members—mostly family-owned companies—that own 871 distribution locations in 50 states.

Like typical purchasing co-ops, Blue Hawk offers its members centralized, cost-saving buying plus warehousing, marketing, merchandising and financial reporting—services that give members like Bleier the ability to compete in the marketplace. But competing is not enough, says Lance Rantala, the co-op’s chief executive officer.

“Our plan is to have each Blue Hawk member-owner grow their combined market share by 10 percent,” he says, explaining how partnerships with manufacturers and contractors help build a healthy and profitable business environment for all participants.

Blue Hawk members like the control they enjoy as owners. The co-op business model provides a welcome contrast to buying groups—a common inventory procurement option for independent HVACR distributors—which the members neither own nor govern.

Furniture First’s membership is by invitation only. Prospective members of the Harrisburg, Pa. headquartered co-op undergo an intense evaluation process, complete a 16-page application that includes a detailed credit history. Hartman believes the rigorous process is necessary to determine which retailers will make the best members.

Beyond Buying

Though collective buying of goods and services is at the core of every Purchasing cooperative, today’s member-owners want— and need—more to succeed. Their co-ops are obliging by offering industry-specific support to enhance almost every facet of business management.

From the beginning, CCA has provided its member-owners with “a better level” of services, marketing, training and merchandising. The co-op offers an extensive selection of online training courses for the employees of member stores. To date, employees have completed almost 300,000 courses.

Blue Hawk members benefit from “extras” such as improved marketing channels, public relations, lobbying efforts, educational and training programs, networking opportunities, sharing business best practices and technology support.

Across the purchasing co-op universe, many consider peer-to-peer networking a bonus of membership. Most co-ops hold membership conferences annually, giving members opportunities for face-to-face discussions, and provide online networking tools to help members share ideas and information.

Surviving Tough Times

Small business is risky business these days. A distressed national economy is not favorable for smaller enterprises, which account for about 99 percent of the country’s business. “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen it,” Furniture First’s Hartman says about the rising costs and shrinking profits for independent businesses.

Though they can’t deliver miracles, purchasing cooperatives can provide relief to beleaguered small businesses—sometimes in unexpected ways. For instance, a new movement that brings together retailers by common location rather than business sector is gaining steam.

Knowing firsthand the power of purchasing cooperatives, CCA’s Brodsky believes these independent business owners are learning one of the most important realities of co-op life: There is strength in numbers. “In troubled times, you don’t want to be alone. That’s the worst,” he says. “Join a co-op because it gives you all the support and tools to compete.”

Sidebar: How to Start a Purchasing Coop

Whether they sell homebuilding supplies or hamburgers, savvy independent business owners are finding that working cooperatively is the key to surviving and thriving. Rosemary Mahoney, chief executive officer and cooperative developer for Lovingston, Va.-based MainStreet Cooperative Group, offers these start-up tips to entrepreneurs interested in cooperative development:

1. Find friends. Every cooperative begins with a group of like-minded people. Determine if the perceived threat or opportunity you have identified is shared by other independents. Work to form a core of organizers who are respected by other independent business owners as well as vendors. Not getting the right members at the start is a mistake that can lead to failure.

2. Explore the options. Before making plans to organize your own purchasing cooperative, determine whether any other cooperatives are
already serving your sector. If so, can you join that cooperative?

3. Crunch the numbers. Estimate the total amount of your sector’s business volume that is handled by independents. Is this amount of volume significant to your suppliers? Do your suppliers need independent businesses in the sector? The ability to convince vendors to support a start-up cooperative is essential to its success. You must be able to prove that your co-op can deliver a significant amount of volume and bring value to the vendor.

4. Do your homework. Find one or two cooperatives in similar industries and talk with their management and some members to learn more about how cooperatives work. You’ll be surprised at how many cooperators are willing to talk to those seeking more information.

5. Lay a strong foundation. If you decide to go forward in establishing a purchasing cooperative, be sure to work with an attorney who understands this business model. Also, raise enough capital to hire a chief executive officer who is both an industry expert and well respected by vendors and potential members. Trying to self-manage a co-op is a mistake. Most entrepreneurs are too busy running their own business to successfully and simultaneously manage the day-to-day operations of a co-op.

Search engine optimization is as important as creating a website for a company. This is because, without proper optimization, a website can’t create a position of its own. Creating a website means, generating proper content for visitors, and optimizing a website means creating a popularizing a website in web-market.
Marketing online isn’t as difficult as it may sound. Internet marketers wouldn’t be bragging of how much great a job it is if it was all that difficult and annoying. Patience is also needed, and for some, expenses are incurred. But in general online marketing is just a simple and easy task. The main point of internet marketing is to generate traffic and lead visitors and customers to your site. Your site’s visibility will be the key factor for you to attract customers and make sales.

Online marketing strategies have this purpose in mind. Let us count the simple ways of marketing online:. To achieve greater visibility in the web, you have to have a high ranking in the search engines, building links is vital. Search engine spiders crawl across the web to look for the number of links you have and use it as one of the important bases on ranking your website.

The more you know and understand about online marketing, the more flexible you will become, and the more successful you will be. Some of the tools and resources you need to understand include, pay per click advertising, free traffic exchanges, ezine advertising, lead capture pages, and auto responders. As many network marketers have already discovered, you can grow a very successful network marketing/ mlm organization online. Of course, proper evaluation of your network marketing company and knowledge of online marketing tools and resources will give you a substantial edge over the competition. Online competition can be tough, but with a little research and effort you can find great success.

Marketing online is presented to sales forces at conference all over the globe, sales forces starts selling marketing online to their clients and help develop email marketing plans, consult on building social networking identities, and design engaging web sites – all part of the online marketing initiative that is critical to every business. Social sites taking over the way people market their business. It is critical to grab these types of marketing methods and employ them within your own business. An effective web marketing strategy allows individuals to do this readily. Still another avenue, email marketing is extremely beneficial but risky if used improperly. No business wants labeled as a spammer, but email is too powerful to overlook as a means of growing a business. Being compliant is essential and takes a full understanding of the legislation surrounding email marketing. Once understood, any business will benefit from the use of an effective campaign that drives visitors back to the website repeatedly.
Using some of these techniques that come across as pushy. Your website should constantly be adding new information and content so users will return again and again. Keep adding to and improving your site from the day you launch it.
While search marketing is high impact and high value, it’s not the only game in town.

The real goal of marketing online is to promote your site over and over until hundreds of thousands of people have visited it. Marketing online with viral strategies is hit and miss. The large online communities make it a viable strategy, but there are a lot of people trying to do it.
This is targeted communication via the internet to promote your business and direct traffic to your website. These promotions may take the form of a search engine optimisation (seo) strategy, an affiliate marketing program, targeted email and e-newsletter campaigns, or links and advertisements from websites, blogs, online message boards and newsletters.

Companies are in the business to make money and increase their bottom line. The internet has opened a new horizon in marketing online that until just a few years ago didn’t even exist.
And the best part is all you need to start is a PC and an internet connection, and you can perfectly understand why I say that you have to (and can allow yourself to) start thinking about simplicity, flexibility and profitability.

Learn how you can start a really small business with an unlimited

potential for growth that can make you money fast at:

http://www.auto-pilot-income.info

Dale Dupree

Copywrite 2009

Add to that the fact that all you need to start is a PC and an internet connection, and you can completely understand why I say that you have to (and can allow yourself to) start thinking about simplicity, flexibility and profitability.

Learn effective ways to start a profitable business with little or no money now at: http://www.auto-pilot-income.info/

Dale Dupree

2009

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/wealth-building-articles/affiliate-marketing-and-affiliate-advertising-online-from-home-1397288.html

photo credit: liber

With the uncertain economic climate, a conventional lending institution can be a difficult road that is laden with endless red tape while leaving you at the mercy of the loan decision makers.

The answer to the dilemma is private lending and if you play your cards right, you can have unlimited access to funds for your real estate ventures for a long time to come, without ever filling out a loan application or enduring credit and employment verification.

Use a Private Lending Credibility Kit

Always use a private lending credibility kit to attract lenders. Although this seems like a given, you would be surprised at the number of real estate investors who skip this step. By simply using a kit, you are already going to be ahead of the game and when it comes to standing out among your competitors.

Organize Your Credibility Kit

A well organized kit stands out. Instead of just picking up the phone and hoping to strike a deal with a private lender, take that time to organize your kit. Not only will this demonstrate professionalism, it will provide the private lender with easy access to your information and accomplishments.

In addition, the private lender will have something in hand to refer back to repeatedly when making a decision, as opposed to a phone call where they can hang up and forget about you the next minute. A well organized credibility kit will also encourage the private lender to review it because they can easily find the information they need.

Make Your Credibility Kit Stand Out

Uniqueness and Ingenuity – Every section of your kit should speak to your uniqueness and ingenuity, offering benefits that no other competitor has yet to offer. The unique benefits should be mentioned in your cover letter, your bio, your marketing section, and your references.

Market, Market, and then Market Again

Market Yourself – Use the information in the private lending credibility kit to market yourself.

Distribute – Distribute your private lending credibility kit to potential private lenders and remember that massive action produces massive results.

Display – Display your private lending kit on your website and during presentations when you are pitching your real estate ventures.

Talk – Talk to everyone and anyone you can who would potentially be interested in your real estate venture. Talk about your credibility kit and everything you have to offer. Word-of-mouth will eventually get private lenders coming to you and requesting to review your information.

Network – Attend real estate conferences and exhibitions armed with your private lending credibility kit and get it in front of as many eyes as you can. If it is well organized with strong marketing materials, private lenders will be knocking at your door and soon you will have all of the funding that you need to become successful in real estate.

I invite you to learn more about Private Lending Credibility Kits and get FREE instant access to a 60 minute audio and 20-page eBook titled “Discover the Secrets of How to Fund Your Real Estate Deals with Private Lenders!” by going to http://www.realestatewealthtoday.com/PLS-Vol1-Sales.html

Mike Lautensack is a full-time real estate entrepreneur in Philadelphia, PA and creator of the Private Lending Presentation Kit. This powerful done-for-you kit is loaded with tools and techniques to attract and develop a consistent stream of private investors into your real estate business. To learn more about this kit and receive your FREE Real Estate Wealth Newsletter go to Private Lending Kit