One option that an Arizona homeowner may have if they are delinquent in payments and facing potential foreclosure is to short sell their home. A short sale means working with their real estate professional and their lender to try and get the payoff balance reduced so that the seller does not have to bring money to the closing table. These are complex transactions and homeowners should consult a real estate professional and seek appropriate legal and tax advice in such transactions. There are many options available. Homeowners in this situation are strongly encouraged to explore all potential options including all of the following:

1. Talk to your lender. There are many lenders who have created forbearance (forgiving part of the back payments and interest) or loan modification programs (to alter the interest rate or payments). Find out what your lender is willing to do before you decide to sell your home.

2. Rent the home. It may be possible for you to rent the home without resorting to the sale of it.

3. Contact the Pima County Community & Economic Development Department’s Foreclosure Prevention Coalition. They hold foreclosure prevention workshops, have a number of resources and may be able to help you keep your home. They even have a very detailed workbook called the “Arizona Foreclosure Information Workbook”

4. Consider bringing money to the closing table as the seller to pay your loan off in full.

5. Talk to a bankruptcy lawyer about the potential of filing for bankruptcy protection.

6. Surrender a Deed in Lieu to your lender in exchange for them releasing you from the liability.

7. Contact HomeOwner Assistance Organizations that offer help to distressed homeonwers. Here are a few of them:

• Hope Now
• Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America
• Work It Out

8. Call the Arizona Foreclosure Help Line at 1-877-448-1211 for over the phone counseling.

These many only be a partial list of your options. Nothing in this post is meant to be construed as legal or tax advice and as with all complex homeownership issues you should always contact appropriate legal and tax professionals before taking action.

“Glimmer” has found its place as one of the most influential books I have ever read. I now believe that the subtitle “How design can transform your life, and maybe even the world” isn’t overreaching at all. Warren Berger will make you think about everything you do in a whole new light. Contained in the book is a whole new way of looking at the way we do things, from getting through the day, to selling products and services, to interacting with our clients. I wrote so many notes and margins on the sides and blank spaces in this book that it will take me a lifetime to implement and that’s sort of Berger’s point.

Business today needs massive shifts in the way we do things. This book will help you:

• Understand the importance of design and its underlying principles
• Design everything you do through the eyes of consumers and end users
• Refuel creativity and innovation
• Overcome barriers and create breakthroughs in your thinking
• Redesign you, your business and your life

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Stuffed full of amazing insights, ideas and concepts. We need this to get to the next level.

You can find outt even more about Warren Berger and his thinking by visiting his site.

There is also a Glimmer Site which applies all of this thinking to selling, advertising, the marketing of various products and services.

Glimmer will help you understand that we do not live in an age of information overload, we live in an age of data overload. Raw data is what we are swamped with. For that data to rise to the level of information – for it to be informative – it must be organized, simplified, clarified and well, in a word, designed.

1. Use a Title That Attracts Attention and Creates Interest

People read posts based on their title and whether or not it means anything to them. We know that “How To” is the most common search that people make on the internet. he more interesting and helpful that your title appears to those who see it, the more readership that your blog is likely to receive.

2. Create Items of Value

Think about what the people you want to interact with really need. Your post should scream, “Hey, here’s some great stuff I thought of and I want to share it with you!” “Wait until you see this information I have found!” “I couldn’t wait to share this information, resource or idea with you.” So if you are sharing useful information, get that into the title.

3. Make Them Practical & Useful

Practicality and usefulness. If you create things that people can actually use then the power of your blog will increase exponentially. What is more important is that if the readers find it useful then you systematically increase the likelihood that they will pass the information along to others to whom it would be helpful. Getting the information viral is what takes blogs into the stratosphere.

4. Give Them Longevity

Ask yourself will I will be able to use this information again in the future. Anything that you do repetitively ought to be a possible concept or topic for a blog. It can preserve the continuity of what you say and pay back huge time efficiency if down the road when the topic comes up or you need to pass the information along you can simply send them or link them to your blog post on that topic. You will be amazed at how much more efficient blogs can make you with your time.

5. Link and Refer People to Them Often

You have to promote your blog. That is another reason why your posts should be helpful, useful information that you are proud to share. Provide people with the links to them at every opportunity. You can send the links to in emails, post them to twitter, facebook, linked in and your other social media sites.

6. Include  Links, Links and More Links

• “Nine Signs of Effective Blog Posts” by Darren Rouse on ProBlogger
• “Writing Effective Blog Posts” by Chris Brogan
• “Five Simple Ways to Open Your Blog Post With A Bang” by Brian Clark on CopyBlogger
• “Five Quick Steps to Effective Blog Writing” by Top Hosting Center
• “Writing Effective – Attention Getting Titles & Headlines on Your Blog” by Lorelle at WordPress

7. Get Consistent & Persistent About Key Words

Most blogging sites give you an opportunity to set key words for your blog posts. Use them. Keywords are your new marketing angels. Be consistent about certain words to create your image. Internet search engines pick up key words and they also pick up the accumulated use of key words with certain companies or people. The more you use the same key words over and over again the more  you or your company will become associated with those particular words or phrases.

8. Get It Simple. Write in Outlines.

People don’t generally read long text passages on the internet. They scan. Organize your blog into a few easy points. A numbered set of rules or tips. Use white space in between and use bullet points when you can. Write in short, simple sentences and paragraphs. The more you make the information easy to scan and digest the more well received your blog posts are likely to be.

9. Ask Questions / Create a Dialogue

We don’t know what it is about questions on the internet, but people feel compelled to answer them. So ask questions, pose inquiries. You can do it the title. You can do it in the post itself. It all acts to create the act of engagement which is the real beauty of blog posts anyhow. You know you are on the right track when you can get commentary going.

10. Invite Guests to Blog With You

Invite others to comment. Invite the experts and people you respect to guest author a blog for your site. Collaboration breeds interaction. So what is your favorite or best blog tip you would like to share? We will be using this post as a training tool. Would you please help us educate our students and clients by making a comment about the best blogging tip you know?