February 6, 2012

Buy Florida Bargains

You’ve probably been hearing all about the serious mess in the U.S. real estate market due to the sub prime mortgage debacle.  Thousands and thousands of people are losing their homes. There are new home subdivisions sitting vacant completely built and ready to go.
 
If you have ever considered escaping Canadian winters and I am sure we all have especially after this past winter with it’s 5 months of snow; this may be your time to consider buying a Florida getaway.
 
Given a 10 year time frame from now to say 2018 this will most likely be your best price opportunity ever. If you can see yourself doing  business on the patio in shorts and a  polo shirt with a cool drink in your hand greeting your business associates or family and friends then it’s time to learn about Florida real estate.
 
What stops most people from making a move is not knowing about the buying and closing process and the tax implications.  Buying, getting a mortgage, Income Tax, Death Tax, and Property Tax.
 
So  ( for the blog) if you are interested in investing in Florida Real Estate. Here’s a great source of articles and info on getting involved with Florida Real Estate.

http://www.torontoshome.com/buyfloridarealestate.html

Here on these next few pages you will find most of the info you need to get started with real estate in Florida. 
 
Always remember to get proper Legal Advise from lawyers who deal in cross border real estate and planning.  Also a knowledgable tax advisor is appropriate. Do not construe the information here as legal or tax advise.  Also Florida Laws and Revenue Canada can change their minds whenever it suits them so you should make sure you get current advise at the time of your real estate purchase, not relying on this. 
 
We have simply put this together from workshops and information sessions we have attended with a view to simplifying the process for you and removing some of the fear of the unknown.
 
With Canadian real estate at an all time high it is hard for investors to make numbers work on properties here. So if you are an investor this may be a great opportunity for you to build up your portfolio as well.

Popularity: 95% [?]

Curing Everything That Ails You.

 Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in one of my favourite local cafes out here in King township where I call home when I picked up a flyer for a talk given by a Dr. who had written the book Dead Drs. Don’t Lie.  Seems he has sold 83 million copies of this book.

 The title is based on the premise that Dr.’s generally die at the average age of 56 years old. And most of the population takes their advise… makes you wonder doesn’t it.   You can probably guess that Dr. Wolloch doesn’t like Docs.  I was okay with that as  neither do I.

 Needles to say I attended his lecture. Dr. Wolloch of course is a master of self promotion . I Don’t say that negatively as that is a necessary quality to do well in this day and age I just point it out as a prelude to the information he imparted which of course ultimately promoted his line of nutritional products… funny how they don’t mention these types of things on their flyers. But there is no free lunch and we all know it.

 Dr. Wolloch is a Dr. and therefore having a natural distrust of them because of my past experiences I automatically distrust him as well. LOL  Doctoring is big business and  they are all looking to make big money out of our hides.  At least this one wants to do it without cutting me.   

So enough of this and lets get on with what he had to say.  First off I would say that he has a remarkable knowledge of the roots of diseases which is unheard of in western doctors as they only deal in symptomology.   Dr. Wolloch fully understands that nutrition is at the root of all disease issues and discussed at length the differences in other cultures particularly cultures such as the Hunzas and other remote groups who have record lifetime lengths and yet have very few to none of our modern advantages in food and equipment. 

In fact Dr. Wolloch discussed a rather life shifting concept that many of our health problems occurred when we switched from cooking with wood to cooking with gas, propane and electricity. This is  because we stopped getting the wood ash in our foods which naturally occurred by using wood as a cooking fuel.  Plus it was traditional to add a little wood ash into many foods as they were being made. 
 
Wood ash is full of minerals and today we are mostly mineral depleted and cannot get it in our food as it is no longer in the soils in our countries. You will find old traditional gardeners will take wood ash from their fireplaces and dig it into their gardens.  So if you have a fireplace this is something you might want to start to do.  Your vegetables will have more minerals in them.

This  switch in cooking methods about 1910.  I have often noted that our older generations (my grandparents for instance) seem to be much healther and much stronger than I.  They would never get sick while us younger folk would get plagued with colds and flews in the winter months. 

  Although we are living longer there are endless joint replacement and parts replacement surgeries going on.  Demonstrating that our bones are depleted of necessary nutrients.  

I have a ladies group here in King Township. It seems that parts replacement surgery is all the rage in our group. Particularly knees… New knees are the new fashion statement.  It’s like a mark that you have joined some club or something.  Doesn’t matter if they only last a few years now you are at an age where you are allowed to be in the club and voice your complaints.   The problem is that replacing the knees doesn’t stop the disease it is a temporary remedy and the disease rages on in the body.   Personally I run from this whole mindset as it  speaks to me of the  I am getting ready to die mindset which I eschew.  It also is a mark of our Canadian health care system.

People here think they have free medicine and they don’t realize we are one of the most heavily taxed nations in the world and what the reasons behind that are.   So no one wants to go out and buy a bottle of minerals and vitamins and take them.  They run to the doctor who here in Canada will talk about nothing other than surgeries as this is how they make their money. 

Even if they knew and understood good nutrition they wouldn’t make thousands of dollars giving out this advice.
It wouldn’t pay for their golf membership or their new luxury car. 

 So enter Dr. Wolloch a medical Dr. who started out as a veterinarian went back to school and became an MD with 12 successful books on the market and a networking marketing company to boot selling a complete line of what looks to be very high quality vitamins and minerals all geared to fit together neatly and many in liquid form which is much easier to get down the throat.

I walked out with $275.00 worth of products and a commitment to try this series for 4 months and see what effect it has on my bone to bone knees.  The good Dr. promised me knew cartilage growth for my achy knees in 90 days.  So the cynical me bit. He must have said  something right because I can usually smell a rat.    I am also used to dealing with the eccentric geniuses out there in the health field.  There are several  in North America  and they are not quacks. 

One is David  Slater at Healers Who Share. www.healerswhoshare.com.  What David can do with common diseases is positively scary to the health business and if he didn’t stay very low key I swear they would  do something  to get rid of him.  Am I paranoid… He seems to think the same thing.

 If your disease has been diagnosed as hopeless you may as well give David a crack at it and if you can actually follow the program in my experience you will succeed 90% of the time. 

Last year my most loveable little cat of 14 years got a brain tumour and could barely walk down the hall without falling down.  The vet said it was hopeless just put him down. 

  I got in touch with one of David’s consultants who did a reading (not physicic) and gave me a short list of items required.  Within 30 days I had a cat walking almost straight again.  It is one year this month and I am thankful for a happy healthy little animal  who seems to love me even more than ever for my efforts on his behalf.    So I will be Dr. Wolloch’s guinea pig… As soon as I have a link for their product I will post it here in the product section.  I will also post results as they come.  So check back in 30-60 days for news on this one.   By the way I also found a site refuting Doc. Wallachs claims and here is the link http://nutra-smart.net/al.htm#doctors .  While I think the Doc is very busy being larger than life and wouldn’t care for anyone who doesn’t agree with him, I also find folks taking a complete opposite view to be too extreme as well.  Somewhere in the middle will be the truth I am sure. 

Popularity: 62% [?]

Serendipity and the Law Of Attraction

What are you looking at Mr Squirrel?

Serendipity from www.answers.com =  The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident. 

Funny thing has been happening lately.  My web associate Bruce Hughbanks in Texas of  a product currently known as  Blog Matrix Pro.  Bruce sold the original  Word Press Mass Installer to J.P. Shoefell and now it has been renamed.

Anyway Bruce,  really liked my visioning and goal setting system.  He was reading some private label products at the time and I said “Bruce, I have a much better system, let me show you mine”. After which he convinced me I should write it up.  At the 45 page point it had turned into a product. Which is where the serendipity and the universe kicked in.

All of a sudden everywhere I went friends and associates started handing me goal setting materials that they had worked with over the years.  Someone gave me a Dan Sullivan CD to listen to then our real estate broker who is just a pro coach handed us a few more sheets of paper from another source and so on.

Then I bumped into a Jack Canfield Book on Law of Attraction at Costco… yes I do tend to bump into books. As I read and listened I realized that they all agreed with my own thinking but some of them had clarified certain elements of language that I had been struggling with a little bit.

So I am about to dip back into my work and expand upon it taking it deeper.  Maybe this is actually meant to be a book and not just a Workbook.  

But the point here is … this is how the Law of Attraction works. What I focused on is exactly what I have drawn towards me. The end result will just make my final book better.

Have a very attractive day.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Jack Canfield’s Key To Living the Law of Attraction

Ever since the movie “The Secret” came out everyone has been buzzing about the Law of Attraction and numerous books have been written on the subject.  Everyone seems to want to cash in on the phenomenon.

   In this vane I was walking through our local Costco the other week checking out the book table and found a little tome written by Jack Canfield on the subject.  It is a quick read  but quite concise and describes how to live the Attraction Law much better than most.  So I would recommend grabbing a copy.  (As an aside here Costco has a very good book buyer and frankly my yearly savings alone on books are worth the price of the card.) 

One however gets the sense that one of the primary purposes of the book is to get you to Jack’s  website to purchase his tools for working with the Law of Attraction which of course are priced a bit steeply and totally unnecessary.  You can just go to Homesense or even Wal Mart and pick up a couple of Journals for $5.-$6.00 a piece to create your vision book and your gratitude journal.“

  Working with the gratitude journal and vision board or vision book will also be included in my new course on  Vision, Values and Achieving Your Goals which will be available on this site in a few weeks time so watch out for them.

Popularity: 46% [?]

Sharpening The Saw

One of the most important aspects of creating wealth is taking time off. Although my time is fully blocked and scheduled one of the biggest blocks is the area called Free time.  That’s not rest time or time for  me to re-coop, it’s time for me to have fun or sit and think.  Unstructured to myself with no one calling on me for obligatory functions.   Most of my best New Ideas generate from this time.

In keeping with that I was having a conversation yesterday with a colleague and client who started to wax on rhapsoically about the notion of a Yoga retreat in India.  I of course went into one of my rants about the minimum 20 hour journey to get there.

I am not the best of world travellers and have long decided that if it takes more than 12 hours to do it I either have to be staying for a month or I have to cruise there with my laptop in my cabin with internet connection so I can write.  Otherwise forget it.

I pointed my associate in the direction of some great Yoga retreats right here on the North American Side of the Planet.  Sivananda has a Yoga ranch in the Catskills in New York and an excellent retreat on Paradise Island in the Bahamas right down the beach from Club Med.  I remember some folks sneaking down the beach late at night for a little drinking and dancing.  Don’t tell the Yogi’s however.  

You can find Sivananda at  Yoga Retreat  that link is for their ranch in New York  and this one will get you to their International Locations.  Another beautiful retreat centre in the northern hemisphere on 360 acres of rolling land with it’s own lake is Kripalu.  There are many more you can find at google.  However these two groups have been around for eons and are extremely reliable in terms of context and quality offered. 

They can be booked by plane or a long leisurley train ride if you have the time .

My associate rushed off to book a more local adventure.

Popularity: 41% [?]

Eat Pray Love

A highly recommended Oprah book that all my friends are raving about… Divided into three sections.. The writer lives in Italy for several months after an unpleasant divorce, to learn how to eat.  Then in India to learn how to pray.  Lastly she winds up in Bali, ostensibly to learn how to love.

Curious book… I found this writer rather winey and weak willed. The book picked up speed for me when she finally arrives in Bali.  The 3rd part I thoroughly enjoyed.  The first 2 were rather over the top with pettines wining and complaining. 

Lots of cultural interest here so still worth the read.  I give it a 3 stars out of five.

Popularity: 44% [?]

The Next Time

you feel like GOD can’t use you, just remember…

Noah was a drunk
Abraham was too old
Isaac was a daydreamer
Jacob was a liar
Leah was ugly
Joseph was abused
Moses had a stuttering problem
Gideon was afraid
Rahab was a harlot
Elijah was suicidal
Isaiah preached naked
Naomi was a widow
Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
Jeremiah and Timothy were too young
David had an affair and was a murderer
Job went bankrupt
Peter denied Christ
The Disciples fell asleep while praying
Martha worried about everything
The Samaritan woman was divorced, more than once
Zaccheus was too small
Paul was too religious
Timothy had an ulcer, and
Lazarus was dead!

And don’t you forget – Jesus Helped All Of Them!

Popularity: 43% [?]

Clearing Out The Clutter

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Something’s going on out there. I have been noticing books in the stores and articles in newspapers, magazines and on the internet about people clearing out, cutting back and living simpler lives.

Having spent many years in real estate one of the things I am used to is walking in on people’s very cluttered lives.
I have often wondered how they can function with papers and hobbies absolutely piled high on every table, side table, the floor , in fact
every square inch of space.

We insist on making people de-clutter before listing a home for sale and the result for them is usually one of great relief plus the home looks great.

It seems to me that the stuff we own ends up owning us. That a larger house or better car & more stuff can’t guarantee us more happiness. In North America we appear to be having an orgy of consumption with everything disposable and quickly replaceable filling our homes and our landfills to overflowing.

Our homes are storage units rather than living spaces. We are threatened with all sorts of imaginary disasters such as SARS, Y2K, mad cow disease, avian flue and the list just goes on.

The movement I see afoot tells me that people are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with it all. Many not knowing where to start with simplifying there lives.

To do this you must make a clear and simple choice. To work now to simplify and get balance back into your life. When stuff starts taking away from the quality of our lives, our home and our relationships it’s time for change.

It all starts in your home which is your foundation for your life. If you can hardly move around in it for “stuff” you can’t enter the world on a daily basis with a clear head. You need to be able to see the floor beneath you. The table needs to be clear. You need to be able to think, breathe and rest easily so that you can love and create well.

What you buy, what you value, your possessions are all a reflection of who you are. They affect your life, your relationships, career and future aspirations.

So start today to think about clearing out anything that does not enhance your life today or add to your future goals. Get some boxes or order a garbage bin for your driveway. Two years ago I did this exact thing, ordered what they call a half bin for the drive which a big garbage truck planted in my driveway. I spent a month filling it to the brim and then had them hall it all away.

The thing to ask of each item you want rid of is “ Does this contribute to the life I am hoping to achieve, or is it getting in the way of my vision.” This question does presume you have sat down and worked out your vision, your goals for your life and how you want things to look in the end. If your items aren’t helping you to meet those goals consider saying goodbye to them.

On a final note the English architect William Morris wrote that you shouldn’t have anything in your home that is not functional or beautiful… I would add to that “ or that you don’t love”.

Clutter can steal your life as it insidiously enters your home. Make it a rule of thumb that if you have not used something for a year to let it go. It won’t be a one step process you will have to purge and purge again but being able to think clearly, sleep well and love well will make it all worthwhile.
For a step by step guide on how to de-clutter and get control of your life again
Click Here!
And good luck with your journey

Aeriol Nicols

Popularity: 41% [?]

When To Get Medical Attention

The Mayo Clinic has developed a list of symptons of serious conditions that should not be ignored.

A list of 10 Health Signs that Should Not Be Ignored

1/ Shortness of breath – If your having trouble catching your breath, gasping or wheezing, and you haven’t been doing any strenuous exercise it’s time to see a doctor.
Breathing difficulties could be caused by asthma, heart problems, anxiety & panic attacks, blood clots, pneumonia and other serious conditions.

2/ Flashes of light- can be a signal of retinal detachment and could cause you to lose your vision sometimes within hours. Those little flashes may not be floaters.
This sudden onset of sensation may signal your retina is detaching. You may need immediate care to save your eye.

3/ Unexpected Weight Loss – The body doesn’t lose weight unless it is provoked, either by a reduction of calories, exercise or a medical ailment. If you have lost 5% of your body weight or more in a month or more than 10% over six – 12 months then it is time to check if something else is going on. Stomach cancer or hypothyroidism (overactive thyroid)are possilibilites. Also liver disease or disorders that interfere with the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from food can be responsible.

4/ Persistent fever – Often a sign the body is fighting a bug. Could be urinary tract infection for example. Persistent low grade fever can be cause by certain types of cancer even tuberculosis. Drug reactions can cause fevers. If you have a low grade fever lasting for more than 2 weeks, see a doctor.

5/ Unexplained Bowel Habit Changes. Bowel habits alter with diet, age and travel. There are certain changes that can signal other issues. The Mayo Clinic suggests that if you have severe diarrhea lasting more than 2 days, mild diarrhea lasting more than a week, or constipation lasting over 2 weeks or consistent unexplained bowel urges to get checked out. Bloody diarrhea, black or tar-coloured stool should also be brought to a doctor’s attention.

Causes can be infection, bacteria viruses or colon cancer.

6/ Changes in mental status. If your mental acuity or behavior shifts such as you become confused in your thinking, disorientated, hallucinate or your behavior changes to unusually aggressive then it is time to check with your doctor.
These can be cause by stroke head injury, infection , low blood sugar or reactions to medication

7/ Severe Headaches or New headaches especially in anyone over the age of 50.
Most migraine sufferers or people with tension headaches develop them earlier in life. So new types of headache particularly after age 50 should be taken seriously Dr. Hanson of the Mayo says.

Sudden sever headaches or those accompanied by fever, stiff neck rash, mental confusion, seizure, weakness, numbness or speech problems could be signs of a stroke, meningitis an aneurysm, bleeding on the brain after head trauma or blood vessel inflammation.

Don’t use a wait and see approach on these. With a head and brain issue appropriate drugs may need to be issued within hours in order to avoid sever damage.

8/ Short term loss of Vision, Movement or Speech Control
These can be signs of a stroke or transient ischemic attacks or mini-strokes. If you are having TIA’s you can be at risk of having a stroke and you need medical care.

If you develop sudden weakness or numbness of the legs, arms or face on one side, sudden dimness, blurring, loss of vision , trouble talking or understanding speech, a sudden big headache, sudden dizziness, unsteadiness or fall or any combination of these the Mayo says you should see a doctor immediately.

9/ Feeling Full After Eating a Small Amount.
Feeling full sooner than normal or having persistent nausea or vomiting are signs that you should see your doctor. These can be signs of several types of cancers- stomach, ovarian, pancreatic or of a gastrointestinal disorder.

10/An inflamed joint
Hot red or swollen joints can signal serious infection. You may need emergency care to save the join & to keep bacteria from spreading around your body. It could also be gout or arthritis.

For any of the above the Mayo Clinic recommends you seek medical attention. Of any investment that you can make in your life your health is by far the most important one.

Popularity: 75% [?]

Do You Search For Sameness or Can You Deal With Difference

Recently I have been looking for a new financial advisor to assist me with my portfolio.
I have been meeting with several people to try and clarify what I want and to ascertain who might do the best job for me. I look after my own real estate investments but find it challenging to watch it all.

I met with one lady at our local coffee shop. She had been highly recommended to me. It was very intersting to note her reaction when she discovered that we think very differently and that I didn’t just automatically agree with all of her assumptions. She quickly told me that I wouldn’t be a good client for her because we thought too differently.

Of course I was sitting there looking for exactly that. Someone who thought very differently from me. I was rather surprised given that she appeared to be a very good salesperson, but she could not account for difference or adjust to it quickly. A fatal flaw in the sales & client relationship game. Before listening carefully she was ready to cut me off because she didn’t have the training to see the value in the difference in personalities and money thinking.

There are many ways to achieve a goal and what matters is having the same core Values and a similar Vision. When dealing with successful people or anyone for that matter it’s important to make allowances for how other people operate or achieve their plans.

A great tool for learning this is the DISC profile. I am registered with Keller Williams Real Estate and the DISC is a profiling tool that we use regularly. There is no right or wrong, there is just who you are and how you fit into a group, team, or corporate structure.

Being a very high “D” or “Driver” I used to wonder why other people didn’t seem to get much done. An indepth understanding of the Disc really helped me to clarify how different types of people function and gave me much more insight into personalities and what to look for to build my team. There are several type of DISC profiling tools available but just doing your own and your partners DISC can help you to learn to interact with each other better. They are easy to locate on the web.

So, to keep this blog post short the end result is the young lady I met with is now putting a plan together for me to review. Maybe she decided she could be missing out on a good customer after all. We will find out in a few weeks time whether we can work together.

Popularity: 44% [?]