To avoid the sticker shock of relocating, moving Americans can use the results of movecentral.coms annual moving survey to plan their spending. The new survey finds that movers spend $9,400 on purchases during the three-month relocation period, while renters spend $3,700.
Conducted by movecentral.com and Boston-based Atlantic Marketing Research, the survey polled 22,000 relocating Americans and yielded an average response rate of 4.1% percent. movecentral.com president and CEO Rick Libby presents the results as spending guidelines for relocating Americans to follow throughout the 90 day relocation process.
"Most people dont realize how much theyll spend during the course of a move," says Libby. "Our survey reveals how and where people spend their money, making it easier for them to plan a budget that anticipates surprises."
The survey found the following:
# During 1998 and 1999, 42 million Americans moved, spending $102 billion on move-related goods.
# Homeowners spent an average of $9,400 on purchases; renters spent $3,700.
# 15% of homeowners and 12% of renters stated that they bought a computer within the 8 weeks surrounding their move; homeowners spent an average of $2,160, and renters spent $1,340.
# 12% of all moving homeowners bought a car; 66% of these carbuyers made the purchase within four weeks after moving.
# 57% of owners and 37% of renters bought furniture within the 12 weeks surrounding their move; owners spent an average of $3,500 and renters spent $1,220.
# 35% of owners and 40% of renters bought bedding; of these individuals, 72% did so within three after their move. Owners spent an average of $420 and renters $240.
# 55% of moving homeowners purchase at least one appliance when they move, and 57% of homeowners buy furniture.
# 12% of all respondents with Internet access researched moving companies on the web; 8% researched real estate sites, 7% researched appliances/furnishings and 2% researched electronics, computers and banking services.
# 6% of movers using the Internet for research actually made online purchases; those buying goods and services spent an average of $600.

About The Author

Since 1989 Dan The Roommate Man has helped 1000s of people find roommates. Need help Contact him at 800-487-8050 or www.roommateexpress.com
info@roommateexpress.com

How To Raise Your Fees
There comes a time when it is inevitable that you must raise your fees in order to maintain both your profit margin and income level. You will find that the greatest resistance to this comes from your oldest clients.
There appears to be a direct correlation between the length of time a client is with you and the amount of outrage they show to your rate increase. This article will discuss the types of clients and how they usually react.
Keep in mind, no matter how you raise fees, how you approach telling clients or amount of lead time you give them, you will lose some clients. This is a given. I have found over the years that a very high percentage of clients lost are those that Im not crazy about working with anyway. Its worked out, for me anyway, that these former clients who complained the most about your fee increase, were responsible for 85-90% of the aggravation I encountered.
Clients are attracted to you for a variety of reasons. We would all like to think that it is because of our brilliant promotional pieces, our award winning designs, outstanding service, etc. The reality is that many clients are using your services strictly because of price. I refer to these clients as price loyal. They are loyal to whomever has the lowest price. This type of client is not particularly sensitive to quality of work or level of service you provide. They go strictly with the lowest price and if you have the opportunity to examine how they run their business, your see it operates on this principle. For me anyway, this type of client is no loss.
There is a second type of price conscious client that is concerned with the quality and type of service being provided to them. You may lose this type of client with a price increase, but youll find that they will be very apologetic about it. These clients truly can not afford the higher rates. They are usually a dream to work with, and I hate to lose them. In this situation, I will try a number of ways to keep them.
Your newer clients usually react in a more neutral manner to a rate increase. They havent been with you long enough to get a true baseline on your fee structures. You stand a very good chance of keeping these clients if the reasons for the rate increase are explained to them and not just dropped on them.
I find that I lose about 5-6% of my clients when I raise my fees. Usually, I suffer no income loss because my higher rates absorb their loss. Remember, the bottom line is you are selling your time, you must make the most efficient and profitable use of it. If your rates stay around market level, you should have little or no trouble finding new clients.
Copyright 2003, DeFiore Enterprises

About The Author

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 17 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site Subscribe to our FREE "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, its like having your own personal coach: mailto:subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com

coaches@homebusinesssolutions.com

One of the fastest ways to develop, build, and grow your own list of subscribers is to develop a "mini" course with an incredibly compelling promise.
I have personally used "mini" courses to build lists of several thousand subscribers in as little as a week.
A "mini" course is simply a series of e-mails where you teach people a specific skill, set of skills, or reveal other information they really want to know.
In the process of providing this focused, valuable information, you prove to your subscribers that you are THE expert in a particular area - and, you also encourage people to pay you to get even BETTER information from ebooks and information products youve either written or recommend.
An example of a "mini" course offer Ive used with great success is the free mini course at www.7dayebook.com that appears in the exit pop up window when you leave the site. The promise of this "mini" course is strong and compelling. Heres what it says...

FREE eBook Mini-Course
"How to Write and Profit from your own eBook...
while youre still young enough to enjoy it!"

All the registration page asks for is first name and email address... and this mini-course has generated thousands of subscribers!
So heres the basic formula in a nutshell: Strong promise+ low risk+ high perceived reward= Subscribers
Now, if youd like to build your own list of rabid subscribers, here are 5 sure-fire tips for creating a mini- course that truly kicks butt!
Tip #1 - The Promise
If you want to launch a successful mini-course, target an audience with a specific need and then make them the biggest possible promise you can deliver on.
People are pressed for time and rarely see as much value in something they get for free as opposed to something they pay a lot of money for.
Add to this the fact that the Internet gets more and more crowded everyday and you can see that the best offers are the ones that grab peoples attention by making a benefit- driven promise they cant resist.
Even though you offer your mini-course for free, you still must SELL people on WHY they should pay you with their time and attention.
Example: If you want to do a mini-course on real estate investing, look for the biggest and best promise you can make for people.
Lets look at these various promises for identical mini- course content:
Good: How to make a fortune in foreclosures.
Better: How to find and buy a profitable foreclosure within 2 weeks.
Best: How to find and buy a profitable foreclosure property in your area within 2 weeks - using none of your own money!
** The promise you make has everything to do with whether or not people sign up. IMPORTANT: After they sign up, make sure you deliver on the promise.
Tip #2 - Dont reinvent the wheel
Look for existing content - your own or other peoples - you can adapt directly or indirectly into the mini-course.
Hey, I understand youre busy... Im busy too!
Why would you want to spend 2 days coming up with all the content for your mini-course if you already have past information you can adapt!
If you dont have any existing material, then find someone else who has written an article and use that for part of your mini-course - with their permission of course.
Youd be surprised at all the pieces of the puzzle that are out there independently which you could combine into a great mini-course without nearly the mountain of effort you might expect.
Tip #3 - Give yourself lots of chances to make money
One way to build more value into your mini-course and make sure people hang onto your messages instead of deleting them is to put lots of quality links into your mini-course.
This allows people to get additional information on specific aspects of the mini-course.
Some of those links can be to free resources, others to resources where you earn an affiliate commission, and still others to your own products and services.
The more links you have that actually contribute to your students learning the subject of your mini-course and fulfilling the promise you made to get them to sign up, the better your chances of them clicking those links.
If you create lessons people save for future reference because they have great links in them, youll make more money!
For an example look no further than your "in-box"! Almost everybody has email messages theyve saved from other people because they contain links to sites you want to use now or access in the future.
Tip #4 - Build anticipation for the next message
If youre going to take the time to put together the mini- course, wouldnt it be great of the majority of people who subscribed actually read your messages!
If you want to launch a successful mini-course, youve got to rise ABOVE the noise of all the other email messages people receive every single day.
One way to do this is to always end each lesson with a small "ad" or excitement builder for the next message. You do this by really playing up a big benefit theyll receive as a result of reading the next message you promise to send them.
Heres an example:
"The next and final installment in this mini-course will give you five tips for how to get 10,000 visitors to your website without spending a dime on pay-per-click traffic! So stay tuned for the next lesson in 2 days..."
Its a simple, yet very powerful way to build anticipation for the next message into EVERY message you send.
This simple step helps make them look forward to the next message so it gets read... not trashed!
Tip #5 - Tell them what they dont know!
If youre using the mini-course to promote a product that covers a much "bigger picture" of the topic as a whole, constantly remind people that the mini-course is just a "tiny piece" of the whole product.
Remind them of what else they need to know and tell them if they buy the product then theyll get this benefit, and that benefit, and even more specific information.
Remember, you didnt publish this mini-course to practice your typing skills! You are in this to make money, to get subscribers, and to make sales!
Once you deliver quality content that gives people a real taste of whats in store when they actually purchase, then its time to close the sale... you deserve it!

About The Author

Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use fr^e articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links...
Need MORE TRAFFIC to your website or affiliate links "Turn Words Into Traffic" reveals the secrets for driving Thousands of NEW visitors to your website or affiliate links... without spending a dime on advertising! Click Here> http://www.turnwordsintotraffic.com

I would like to introduce you to the Blaine family. A typical family with typical problems in todays world.
Tom, 39 is the head of the human resources department of the local school district. His good friend, the business manager, is embezzling money. He has to fire him and hire a replacement. The secretary messed up payroll. And he is seeing a teacher, a women he is attracted to.
His wife Amy, 38 is a secretary in a large real estate company. She finds a lump in her breast. She is worried about the kids and their money problems. Her oldest daughter was in a car accident, and is laid up with a broken leg.
Eddie, 16, flunked his written drivers test and an English test. His friends want him to smoke. Some friends want him to sell drugs, so he can make money to buy some things for his girl friend. He got suspended from the basketball team for fighting. He wants to go all the way with his girl friend. Then he sees another guy with his girl.
Before you know it, Tom and Amy are called on an emergency. Eddie got Toms gun and went after his girl and new boy friend. In a stand off by police, Eddie shoots the boy friend.
Is this all too familiar Does it happen in our society All too often. Can it be prevented Yes, it can if you know what to look for. How does stress reveal itself It can be seen in Tom, Amy, and Eddie. How can you tell And how do you know when someone is capable of violent behavior.
It is all revealed in a new dynamic report "Predict & Prevent Violence." For more information about this report go to; http://www.words4-u.com/violence.html. Kathy Thompson helps people succeed in life and business with her FREE weekly ezine "Face Up To It - You Can." For a sample copy, send a blank email; express2success@demandmail. Contact Kathy at writing4u@words4-u.com

About The Author

With 8 years of teaching and 15 years in Toastmasters, Kathy Thompson really enjoys writing and speaking. She has a B. S. in Business Communications and has taught her programs around the country at various businesses and Adult Education Centers.
She writes and speaks about Health, Personal Communications writing & speaking, and her unique specialty of "Face Reading" has brought her plenty of media attention.
Kathys goal is to help you be all you can be and reach your potential. Reach her at: writing4u@words4-u.com

http://www.words4-u.com

Our Freelance Writing Needs Defined
We must make freelance niche types fit our needs, wants, values and lifestyles, and we also must make ourselves fit freelance niche types. Of our waking hours, we work more than we do anything else. I keep this in mind when college students come to me concerned about what to do for a living, and I tell them because I want them happy to do what they love. I also tell them because I believe in the truth to do what they are good at.
The same goes for freelance writers. If we are talented, we have a chance. If we have a severe work ethic we have a better chance. And if we are devoted enough and relentless enough and

Every year, people resolve that THIS New Year will be different: "This will be the year that I write that book, start that new venture, double my income, take more time off to spend with my family," and the list goes on and on. However, when people think about pursuing their dreams, they often squash the idea because it doesnt seem practical.
Does this sound familiar You have a dream, but are afraid that if you pursue it, you would risk giving up what you already have. It is easy to put it off to a later date -- a time when there will be more money, more time and/or when the kids have graduated from college. However, there is never a time when everything in your life is perfect for carrying out your goals. Dont wait for everything to be lined up. Once you actually commit to your dream, things will begin to fall into place. Know that is possible to live out your fondest dreams AND make a great living!
After supporting thousands of people across the globe in making their personal and professional dreams a reality, I have found the following strategies to be most effective:
First, design your life around your priorities. Many people try to fit their dreams into their life and complain there are not enough hours in the day to make it happen. If you want your dream to become a reality, make it a priority. For example, Stacy Allison, the first American woman to climb Mt. Everest chose to live just outside of Zion National Park so she could climb rock cliffs in her own backyard. Climbing was her priority for many years and she made choices in alignment with that.
Second, handle the basics food, clothing and shelter then reach for fulfillment and self-actualization. If you cant stand your job any longer or have been forced out and you need a source of income, get a low-stress interim job to pay the bills while your pursue your dream.
Visualize every step of your dream and watch the magic unfold. For example, an experiment conducted by Australian Psychologist Alan Richardson found a 23 percent performance improvement among subjects who visualized every day for 20 days.
Mary Youngblood went from welfare mom to Grammy award winner. Mary visualized herself out of welfare. She did this by writing a short story about a young welfare mother. It was her story, basically, and how she was discovered having great talent and was able to get herself up and out of welfare. She pictured it happening in her head and then took action in alignment with that picture.
Laser in on one idea, business or income stream at a time. One of the mistakes people make is diversifying too quickly. This is true whether you are trying to build multiple streams of income or are just working on several different ideas at one time. The key is getting the first stream or idea up and running and having systems in place so it will keep running without you before going on to the next unrelated stream.
This is one of my biggest lessons as it is for many entrepreneurs and creative people. When I was writing, "I Cant Believe I Get Paid To Do This!," I was also looking for real estate investments, which was a new venture for me. I wasnt making much progress on either front. When I put the real estate to the side and committed to finishing the book, it happened quite easily.
And last but not least, develop your resilience muscle by bouncing back from setbacks. You will very likely have setbacks along the way. Dont get stopped by these bumps in the road; learn from them.

About The Author

Stacey Mayo is a certified career coach and author of "I Cant Believe I Get Paid To Do This! Remarkable People Reveal 26 Proven Strategies For Making Your Dreams a Reality," which shares insights into the experiences of millionaires and other remarkable people who have achieved high levels of success. For more information, log on to www.igetpaidtodothis.com.

In a previous article, we wrote why we believe that Lease Purchasing is the perfect home-based business, here we want to briefly touch on some of the actual aspects of operating such a business, the pluses and minuses and why Lease Purchasing represents a win-win situation for the seller, the tenant/buyer and just as importantly, you, as the business owner.
One of your goals in operating a Lease Purchase business is to contract for property that you then move to the tenant/buyer. There are a number of unique strategies that can be employed to reach this end.
You can lease purchase the property and then sub-lease to a tenant/buyer. In this strategy, you are taking on the responsibility for all payments to the seller. However, it also affords you great profit potential. You can collect money up front as option consideration, you receive the positive cash flow and you can make additional money at the end if the option is exercised. For those of you not familiar with the term positive cash flow, this is the difference between what the tenant/buyer pays you and what you pay to the original seller. This is also known as a sandwich lease purchase.
Another unique strategy is called the co-operative assignment. Here, you contract for a property and assign or sell that contract to a tenant/buyer, with the approval of the seller. In other words, the owner/seller has final approval over who goes into the home.
Another way of doing business is the straight assignment. Here, you contract for a property and assign or sell that contract to a tenant/buyer. This method does not require a sellers approval.
You can also take a pure option on a property which allows you to purchase the home at a future date with set terms. This option can then be sold to another investor.
As you can see, there are a number of unique strategies that can be employed in this business. We have touched on just some of them to give you an idea of the type of income Lease Purchasing can generate for you.
After youve gained experience in the business, you can start consulting with sellers and tenant/buyers. There are many reasons you may want to consult with a seller rather than get directly involved in the deal. The property may be to distant to work conveniently, there may not be enough money in it for you to receive what you need, or the seller may prefer to do it him or herself.
When you consult with a seller, you are providing the proper contract, a marketing plan and supporting material. We also provide a period of time for follow-up questions.
You can also consult with tenant/buyers. You may want to do this with those individuals who have limited funds available to get into a rent to own home. There are also occasions where people just prefer to do their own house hunting.
Weve really just touched on the various ways to generate income with a Lease Purchase business. Lease Purchasing allows you to develop multiple income streams. By utilizing all of the income generating strategies available to you, you can build a very solid financial base for yourself.
Weve covered many of the pluses of Lease Purchasing as a business, but wed be less than honest not to point out some of the minuses.
If youre the type of individual who has poor attention to detail, this may not be for you. You need to be able to keep good records of whom you spoke to and do business with.
Also, if youre an impatient type and dont like to do "hand holding", again this may not be for you. There are many deals where you will need to be able to walk the participants through and provide constant reinforcement to them.
Although the risk level in this business is minimal, there are some risks involved. You may contract for a property and not move it for example. If youre adverse to any risk, re-think Lease Purchasing as a business for you.
In our opinion, Lease Purchasing provides a truly win-win scenario for all parties. You get to help a seller who has a problem, you provide a nice home in a nice area for the tenant/buyer that they can get into today and buy tomorrow and finally, you are generating a wonderful income for yourself. This is a business that can be operated anywhere there are free property rights.
Believe us when we say that Lease Purchasing is the best business we will ever own. Its that good!
Copyright 2002, DeFiore Enterprises.

About The Author

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site Subscribe to our FREE "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, its like having your own personal coach: mailto:subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com
coaches@homebusinesssolutions.com

If you are thinking about buying a second home, you are not alone. A 1995 survey by the American Resort Development Association found that 60 percent of households surveyed feel they have a likely chance of purchasing a recreational property in the next ten years, a figure that rose 30% from the survey in 1990. The average age for the majority of vacation home buyers ranges from 40-50 years old. Qualifying as the baby boomer generation, this group of second home buyers consists of 80.5 million people out of the U.S. population of more than 260 million. Demand for vacation homes is rising as a result of consumers

Are you a realtor with curb appeal or are you more of a fixer-upper needful of updating
How you present yourself to colleagues, buyers and sellers, from the very first moment, will influence your sales records as well as the confidence and satisfaction your new clients feel. Even if you

Are you profiting from O.P.P. If not, why not
We know many of you have the desire and dream of running your own home-based business. But, like so many people, youre not sure where or how to start.
Youre not sure what type of business you should look for. Youre not sure if you could do it. Youre not sure if you really can achieve the financial freedom you want for yourself and your family.
Youre confused by all the get rich quick scams you see all around you. You cant pick up a newspaper or get on the web without falling over an ad telling you that yes, you too, can be a millionaire by next Tuesday if you just buy my Secret Formula.
Youd happily make the investment of time, money and energy, if only you could find a business that was legitimate. Youre smart enough to know that any business worth having takes effort and requires time to grow.
But what to do
Well, let us ask again. Are you profiting from O.P.P. If not, why not
What would you do if you found a business that:

could generate multiple streams of income
would work in any area of the country
could be worked both in your local area and nationally
could be worked both on and off the web
would allow you to build your long term net worth
and, can be started either in your spare time or part time

Would you possibly think you should take a serious look at this business
Well ask one more time. Are you profiting from O.P.P. If not, why not
OK, we know you really cant answer this question yet. Why, because we havent told you what O.P.P. is.
We can tell you the business we described above is real and it revolves around the O.P.P. principle.
We can hear you now, enough already. What is O.P.P.
Very simply put, O.P.P. is Other Peoples Property.
Yes, you can build a great business and make a wonderful income, all from your home office, using Other Peoples Property.
And no, we are not suggesting you break into your neighbors homes, steal their belongings and sell them.
What we are talking about is a wonderful business that allows you to generate immediate cash flow and also build your long term net worth.
So, what is this wonderful business. Lease Purchasing.
Lease Purchasing is a specialized niche in the field of Creative Real Estate, which allows you to control property without the trouble of ownership; and profit from this. Lease Purchasing affords wonderful benefits and opportunities to those who would like to operate a home-based business.
Every year, thousands of people get started building their fortunes in Real Estate. It is well documented that Real Estate is the worlds greatest wealth builder.
The niche of Lease Purchasing grants you the ability to reach your financial freedom, with O.P.P., Other Peoples Property. All it takes is the desire to succeed, some time investment on your part and some specialized knowledge.
What are the benefits to the business owner

Little start-up capital needed.
Little or no credit needed.
Wonderful cash flow can be generated immediately.
Excellent and realistic first year income can be achieved.
Business can be started simply, no major equipment to buy.
Business can be operated full time, part time or in your spare time.
Best of all, the business can be operated from your own home office

As you can see, Lease Purchasing comes very close to being the Perfect Home-Based Business. A realistic first year income is $50,000 to $75,000 for someone working full time. You can add $20,000 to $30,000 to your present income on a part time basis.
In an upcoming article well show you the many ways How You Can Profit From O.P.P.
Dont you think you owe it to yourself to explore the potential of O.P.P.
What are you waiting for
Copyright 2000, DeFiore Enterprises

About The Author

Interested in having your own successful, home based creative real estate investing business Chuck and Sue have been helping folks start successful home based businesses for over 19 years, and we can help you too! To see how, visit http://www.homebusinesssolutions.com for the latest FREE tips and tricks, educational products and coaching in creative real estate investing and home based businesses. No time to visit the site Subscribe to our "how to" Home Business Solutions Digest, its like having your own personal coach: mailto:subscribeHBS@homebusinesssolutions.com
coaches@homebusinesssolutions.com