Are You A Spectator in Life – Or a Participant?

Obviously, there is a risk associated with all investments but a home is much more than an investment.  If you are buying a home strictly to make money than you need to look at things differently.  However, if part of the reason you are considering a new home is for a better school district for your children, or to be closer to loved ones or for a better overall quality of life then you have to think about the cost of not making the investment.

It is true that you can lose money in real estate – as in almost all investments.  However, it is also true that folks who sit on the sidelines and wait for the perfect day to invest, or the perfect day to take that trip or the perfect day to ask that special someone on a date sometimes find that the perfect day never comes and they spend their lives being spectators – not participants.

I feel pretty strongly that in Ridgewood you can have both – a solid, long-term investment and a place to create some great memories.  Click here to see how Ridgewood Real Estate has fared in the past one, five and ten-year periods.

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About Al Donohue

Hope for Haley

Please consider attending two upcoming local events planned to benefit ten-year-old Haley Tyrrell. Haley was recently diagnosed with osteosarcoma – a rare type of bone cancer. She is undergoing chemotherapy and recently underwent surgery to have her right leg amputated.  Click here to read Haley’s Story in Her Own Words.

Hoops 4 Haley

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the “Hoops for Haley” free-throw fundraiser will be held between 2 and 6 p.m. in the Bethlehem Lutheran Church Gymnasium, located at 155 Linwood Avenue in Ridgewood. The event is open to boys and girls in third through 12th grades.

Registration is required and can be completed by sending an e-mail to merrickbb@yahoo.com with the participant’s name, grade, school, phone number and estimated time of arrival. Please type “Hoops for Haley” in the subject line. Upon registering, request a sponsor form that can be used to collect donations, which may be either a fixed amount or a total based on the number of free throws a participant makes.

More information is available online at www.hope4haley.org or by calling 201-444-2785.

Hope 4 Haley Brunch at Winberie’s to benefit Haley Tyrrell

All net proceeds will go directly to the Tyrrell family to help defray medical costs, including the prosthetics Haley will need as a result of her recent leg amputation. Visit http://hopeforhaleybrunch.myevent.com  to learn more about this event and to make reservations. Tickets will only be sold online and in advance, so please sign up today!

If you cannot attend the event but would like to make a donation, please visit the Web site and select an “Additional Donation” ticket option under “Reservations”

When: January 30, 2010
Where: Winberie’s Restaurant. 30 Oak Street. Ridgewood, NJ

Questions? Contact Doug or Melinda Cronk at (201) 444-5528

Happy New Year from the Ridgewood Front Porch

I wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year and share a few interesting New Years Quotes.  My personal favorite quote of all time is “Adversity Introduces Us To Ourselves“. 

This is not specifically a New Years quote, but given the difficult times we are all facing, it seems to be an appropriate quote to remember as we head into 2009.  It is very easy to act a certain way during good times but it is during the most troubling and difficult times in our lives that we really find out what we are made off.  I am not sure who to attribute this quote to but the first time I heard it was during a Speech by President Bush right after 9/11 and I will never forget it.

Below are 5 great New Years specific quotes.

Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man.
–Benjamin Franklin

The only way to spend New Year’s Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears.
–W.H. Auden

Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle age is when you’re forced to.
–Bill Vaughan

Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account.
–Oscar Wilde

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
–Oprah Winfrey

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I am a Geek, a Self-Improvement Junkie and an Eternal Optimist…

I read every business, real estate, motivational, self-help and success oriented book I can get my hands on and I take some flak for it from family and friends.  However, there are certain threads that run through almost all self-improvement books and these are the ones we should really pay attention to.  One of the most common themes is that “you become what you focus on”.

If you focus on the positive, and associate with positive people, you will be happy, successful and yes…positive.  And, of course, the opposite is also true.  Every great motivational and self-improvement speaker/writer covers some variation of this theme including some of my favorite authors such as  Dale Carnegie, Stephen R. Covey, Peter Drucker, Brian Tracy, Napoleon Hill and the one name I get the most flak for – Anthony Robbins.  Say what you like, his stuff is excellent.

Anyway, in these challenging times it may be a bit tougher to find positive things to focus on but, believe it or not, wonderful things are happening every day here in Ridgewood and all over thew world.

For example, today is Halloween, and we had a beautiful day here in Ridgewood. The leaves were falling, the weather was beautiful, my two boys had a great time trick-or-treating and it was great to see our little street (Colonial Road) packed with smiling children running around in there scary costumes.  I also got in a car accident this week and my basement flooded last week – but I choose to focus on the great time my boys had today and all the smiling faces that came to my door.  It’s a much better way to live.  I’ll get my car fixed and the basement will be fine – these things are not worth focusing on.

To help you get started focusing on the positive things in life, check out the list of 10 Things That Are Going Right from Kiplinger’s:

No. 1: Oil Loses Its Swagger

With the U.S. and global economy hurting, oil prices have dropped 50% in just three months, from $147 a barrel in July to the $70 range. Remember $80-$100 fill-ups at the pump? The national average for a gallon of gasoline is down to $3.00, from $4.11 in March, and should stay in the $3.00-$3.50 range through next year. Prices for home heating oil and natural gas are also headed lower this winter than last.

No. 2: A Tipping Point For the Auto Industry

After years of talk and false starts, finally, all the major car makers are furiously developing hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles that could lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Meanwhile, desperate dealers are offering unheard-of incentives on new, gas-fired models. For example, Toyota is offering $1,000 cash back and 0% financing on the 2009 Camry, the most popular car in America. Don’t drive much? If you’ve always wanted an SUV or truck, the discounting on some models is extraordinary.

No. 3: Interest Rates Are Low and Headed Lower

The prime rate is at 4.5%, which is driving down interest rates on home-equity lines of credit and some consumer loans. The interest rate on a traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is averaging 6.5%, the highest it’s been since the summer of ‘07, but still not too far from the historic low of 5.8% reached in ‘03-05 and ‘63-65. And although credit-card companies are cutting personal spending limits, rates are dropping, too. The average rate on credit-card purchases fell to 11.89% in the first week of October, down from 12.13% in September, according to LowCards.com.

No. 4: Homes Are More Affordable

Real estate, which was overpriced during the housing bubble, has returned to earth. That’s especially good news for first-time home buyers who were priced out of the market. While scare stories persist of credit drying up, the reality is more a return to traditional lending standards that had been thrown overboard-recklessly in many cases-by lenders. That means to qualify you usually need a 20% down payment, sufficient annual income, good credit and a tolerable load of debt. Read the rest of this entry »