Hiking is an excellent form of exercise. What you need to consider when going for a hike.

Vingo running app offers the runner an immersive experience for indoor running.

Boxing is a sport that with proper precautions, preparation will help build stamina, strength, agility.

Getting enough rest and recovery time after each exercise workout to prevent injury, optimize performance.

7 helpful tips to improve your exercise workout and to keep you motivated to reach your fitness goals

Expert tips to improve and perfect your various paddleboarding techniques and skills.

Regardless of activity or sport, young athletes are vulnerable to overworking their bodies and dropping the ball on recovery.

Muscle dysmorphia is a condition that may affects teen boys and young men. It is characterized by an obsessive focus on muscle size and appearance.

Supplements provide an additional way for your body to get the essential nutrients that it needs to improve your health.

Discover different exercise activities like longboarding to improve your mental health and physical health.

Alternative outdoor sports to consider doing to stay active and help you stay in shape.

Here is what you should know beforehand about taking the keto diet.

You may feel tempted to skip warming up before your workout, but don’t give in. It’s time to learn five reasons why you should warm up before you exercise.

Attain your fitness objectives for long-term success: set specific and realistic goals, create a plan, find a workout routine that works for you, incorporate strength training, focus on nutrition, stay consistent, get support and rest and recover.

Tips on seeking help from a medical specialist for mood disorders without being afraid of being judged or stigmatized.

The pelvic floor is a muscle group that is difficult to exercise. If you want to strengthen yours, try the exercises we have put together here.

Bones are as valuable as muscles, and to improve your body’s bone strength and overall health, you should incorporate a few habits into your daily routine.

What to consider when designing and creating your custom and ideal home gym that will meet your fitness goals and motivate you to exercise from the comfort of your own home.

From setting goals to following race day etiquette, this guide prepares newcomers for their first competitive swim meet, ensuring a splash-making debut.

Being out on the green can be great for your brain, as well as your body. Learn about the five ways that golf can help improve your mental health.

Mental health and physical health have a lot of links, and there are many ways to improve both this year, from making dietary changes to playing a team sport.

Wellness is dependent on breathing clean and healthy air. Clear the unhealthy air in your home with the best methods of ventilation and air purification.

You can improve your bowling score with a few simple game-changing techniques. Learn those and so much more in this brief guide designed for the alley.

Your basement can be more than just a storage space. Learn how to transform it into a personalized home gym with these simple steps and tips.

Ayurveda is rich in self-care practices and medicinal rituals and Abhyanga massage is one of those modalities gaining popularity. Learn what it is here.

Knowing the steps to take when injuried at the gym and having the support of a qualified personal injury lawyer can ensure that your rights are protected and you receive the proper injury compensation.

Yoga provides a deep route to healing and change, nourishing the mind, body, and soul. Embracing yoga philosophy, incorporating yoga therapy into your life, exploring the mind-body connection, and mastering the power of breath, you can tap into yoga's transforming potential and build a deeper feeling of well-being and vigor.

Motivation and a positive mindset are key towards starting any fitness program, exercise workout or sports activity. Here are some inspirational ideas to help you get started on your fitness journey and help you to stay committed to your fitness workouts.

A business coach such as those you will find at Abundance Global is an experienced professional who can assist you run your organization successfully towards reaching specific goals in an organized and secure way. Business coaches often serve as consultants to organizations, helping to design the strategy and create a more business-like atmosphere. Business coaches … Continue reading Finding the right business coach for you

The post Finding the right business coach for you appeared first on VSMA | Legal Matters | The Law | Confirm Them | Law Firms.

Online Reputation Management (ORM) is a multi-faceted concept which is aimed at building a positive online public opinion of an organization, brand, or individual. This form of reputation management essentially includes addressing any customer feedback or adverse content that can damage the brand, developing and maintaining positive online content, and using proactive strategies to address … Continue reading Online Reputation Management – a way to look after your brand in 2021

The post Online Reputation Management – a way to look after your brand in 2021 appeared first on VSMA | Legal Matters | The Law | Confirm Them | Law Firms.

Tomorrow’s Nobody @ TomorrowsNobody.com

Warmer temperatures and the sunny disposition of spring welcome Mother Nature’s best-dressed and most talented performers: her birds. If you’re lucky, they will migrate to your yard bringing endless hours of entertainment in song, dance and color, seeking only food,...

The Best Computer - The advantages and disadvantages of building your own cheap computer vs. purchasing a pre-built system.

Computer Cleaning Tips to enhance the performance of your peripherals

Cheap Computer Guide - Learn how to set up and use your new computer system.

Some of the best cheap Computer resources links to related websites.

Prevent Static Electricity from damaging your delicate computer components

by Mike Carraway, Access Realty, Birmingham, AL

A LOT of sellers want to price their home above the market value and they do it for a variety of reasons...

Some say they want to have "negotiating room". Some say, "we can always come down later". And others say, "we just want to see what we can get - you know - test the market."

Theses are all good reasons from a seller's point of view. They aren't, however, from a property marketing standpoint. When you put a property on the market, you want to generate the highest traffic and demand in the shortest time possible and all of these so called reasons to overprice just hinder and impede the marketing process.

Danger #1

Pricing a home above the market value usually results in people going elsewhere and buying. They may love your home but if you have a similar product in your market for a lower price, they'll buy it - not yours. In effect, you have missed your buyer and now you will have to wait and attract another one at a later date.

Danger #2

Traffic and lots of it is what sells a home. Without human bodies walking through your home, it doesn't matter if it's the best deal around or the most beautiful in your neighborhood - it still won't sell. In order to get the most traffic possible in the shortest time, the price must be right from the very beginning. If the home is priced very near what you actually think it will sell for, you will get the most traffic - and offers.

Danger #3

Your home will sit on the market while YOUR buyers go buy other homes. You will have lower traffic due to the higher price and fewer people will be exposed to it. What happens when you finally decide to lower the price? People see the price reduction and it causes a couple of thoughts...

1) I wonder how much further down they will come?
2) I wonder if something is wrong with it?
3) I wonder how long it's been for sale?

Just these three will cause you more suffering from low offers and constant questions about whether you will carry part of the financing or not. You will soon grow tired of it.

The best way to avoid ALL of these problems, especially in a buyers market as we are in right now, is to price your home AT the market. Not a little over but right at the market value.

Want a secret? Price your home slightly UNDER the market value. You will have people fighting over it and will probably receive multiple offers. When you do - you can actually start a bidding war of sorts over your home and may even realize MORE than the market value.

by Mike Carraway, Broker, Access Realty, Birmingham, AL 800-840-0165

The internet is all the rage when it comes to real estate. According to the National Association of Realtors, when a buyer starts thinking of buying, the first place they turn is the internet. Just 10 years ago - it was getting in the car and driving around.

With gasoline prices approaching $3 a gallon, more and more people will search online first before they do any driving.

So - if you are an agent or a seller, how do you get your property noticed online?

Let's talk about being an agent first. If you are with a national franchise and/or your company is affiliated with the local board of Realtors, there is a good chance that your listings will get streamed to Realtor.com. Relator.com is the #1 property search engine in the world and just keeps getting bigger and better. The site is ranked by Alexa.com as the #8 site - in the WORLD. That's pretty big. Real estate agents already have this site in their favor.

As a home seller, you do not have such an advantage. You can either buy into one of the FSBO (For Sale By Owner) products out there that will put your home on the internet for you, or you can put up your own site and sales page for your home. Of course, if someone is searching for a home in your area, and your site doesn't come up on the first page or two of the major search engines, no one will ever see it.

With people shopping more online and doing less driving around, it puts todays home sellers (those selling without an agent) at a pretty big disadvantage. If they would list their home with an agent whose company has a popular internet presence, their home would sell a lot faster because of the increased exposure.

Our company site is such a site. If you go to Google and search on "Birmingham Alabama Homes for Sale", you will see that the Access Realty site comes in at #3 or #4 on the first page. That's a huge advantage for anyone who wants to sell a home in Birmingham.

One other way to sell a home is to generate a large roster of interested buyers. This can be accomplished online by setting up what are called mini-sites designed to capture llists of people who are currently in the market for a home. This works great for real estate agents but may not work so well with a seller of just one home. You can get more information on these mini-sites and how to accomplish this HERE. As I said before, this type of buyer generation works extremely well these days because almost everyone shops online before getting in the car and driving around looking for homes.

Almost any source you looki at will tel you that between 80% and 90% of For Sale By Owners will eventually list their home with a real estate agent. There are a myriad of reasons why this happens but it all boils down to this: agents have the inside track on attracting buyer traffic to the home. They also do it full time so that even when the seller is gone to work, the house is still "for sale" and can be shown.

So, if you find yourself thinking of hiring an agent, which one should you hire?

First of all, consider paying the highest price for a good agent. Interview several of them and then ask them to cut their fee. The one that refuses to is probably your best bet. Why? When it comes to selling your home and getting your proce, you want an agent who is NOT a noodle...someone with a little back bone. If they won't cut their fee and they promise a higher level of service and service quality, then they will also negotiate the hardest in the trenches when people are trying to cut your price on your home.

Second: if the agent you call doesn't answer their phone or call back within a half hour - stop trying to get them. If they don't answer or call back when you try to call them for an interview, what makes you think they will answer calls from buyers for your home?

Lastly, when you are doing the interview and listening to the agent's marketing plan, look for the things that are different. If you talk to 2 agents and they pretty much do the same things... a sign, MLS, and a few ads... keep talking to more agents. What you are looking for is the agent who has a unique approach or ads value by adding unique tools. Agents that use the talking house transmitter or a 24 hour hotline system are some examples. If the agent you hire isn't doing extra things to make your home stand out in the marketplace, you are just going to get the same ole, same ole. Look for something different.

I guess it's now official. The real estate bubble has burst. When the inventory figures for homes show they are going up nationwide AND it's in the national media, you can be sure that it's already been happening for a few months now. The NY Times and Jouranl and just about every other news outlet decided today that it was a story - so I guess it's official.

Those of us in the real estate business have known it for the last 3 months and we could have told you so. We have sales figures and "time on market" statistics that can back up our claims. We have been telling successful sellers what's happening and how to price their homes accordingly. Now - 3 months later, the media is catching on.

The story is that the supply of homes on the market is rising and the number of buyers isn't. What that means to you is that your home will sit on the market longer without selling. In fact, two of the articles I've read state simply that it would take over 6 months to sell all the homes currently for sale. What they leave out is that more homes come on the market every day, further increasing the glut.

As the number of homes on the market increases, it takes further price reductions to get some of those homes to sell quicker, which, in turn, lowers the reflected market price of all homes. Sellers will wait and wait and then lower their price - too late. What they don't realize is that they are chasing the market down.

The market price of their home goes down and then they lower their price just above the market price and wait. While they wait, the market price goes down further, putting them farther and farther away from the market value, until they lower the price again.

So, as a seller, what should you do right now?

Simple, lower your price to a point that is BELOW the current market value. Ask your agent to take some time and do a good market analysis to get a feel for what your home is worth right now. Then, price it below that number. If you do this, you will have hungry and willing buyers lining up to make offers on your home... but only for a short time in a falling market. If you wait too long, and the market coninues to drop, then you will be priced above the market again and have to reassess the situation.

The smart thing to do is price your home low and let the market come to you, rather than chasing the market down. One strategy results in buyers, the other results in foreclosures. But you have to decide which strategy to persue.

The Veterans Housing Act allows the Department of Veterans Affairs to guarantee a home or mobile home loan. While eligibility is still determined by VA, the benefits vary depending on when you served in the military and the type of service. While those currently or previously on active duty are allowed benefits after serving anywhere between 90 days to 24 months, depending on the year, reservist and national guard members never called to duty, will need to contact VA to determine eligibility.



While most consumers feel VA gives a borrower a loan, VA only guarantees loans in case of default. Loan approvals are made on their behalf by approved lenders. VA does require all homes be appraised by a VA roster appraiser and there are only special circumstances in which VA reviews a loan for credit determination.



VA Home financing allows 100% financing, 4% seller contribution, limits what a borrower can pay in the form of closing costs, provides excellent interest rates and does not require perfect credit. A VA loan will consider approval for a borrower with no credit. It is by far the best loan program available, and it is only for veterans.

Because of the change in real estate market conditions, more sellers are competing for fewer buyers. So once again, it seemed important to challenge a long-standing "myth" of real estate.

"The initial listing price isn't that important because the price can always be adjusted down later."

Many homeowners believe this.
It is a myth.
Not true.

If most buyers first viewed your house because of a newspaper ad, a magazine, the internet, brochures, or the sign in your front yard, the initial listing price probably would not make a difference. The house would always be "new" to those seeing it.

But most buyers do NOT come to your house because of various types of advertising. That is the another myth.

Sure, buyers call on an ad, they often LOOK at that house, but not always. Once they talk to an agent, they may discover it isn't what they need (or want) at all.

However, they ARE talking to an agent. That agent knows the current inventory and will know of other property that DOES fit their needs.

Those are the properties that buyers look at, and THIS is how most buyers end up looking at your house, too. Because of other agents, not because of your ad.

Hardly anyone buys the house in the ad.

As a result, you need to get other agents interested in your property, and this is where your listing agent comes in...and why a good listing agent is extremely important. The listing agent gets buyer's agents looking at your home.

Those agents have clients who called in on other properties.

Buyer's agents are not swayed by advertising. They look at the needs of the client, where the client wants to live, location, condition, and other details of the property...
And most importantly....
...price.

If your house is overpriced, agents are going to show similar homes that are priced more attractively. Your listing will get passed over.
Agents pay MOST attention to homes newly on the market. There are fewer NEW listings than current listings. It is easier to keep an eye out for what is NEW, compared to the vast number of current listings.

New listings are on the "hot" sheet circulated in real estate offices. The MLS computer identifies new listings. Your listing agent may hire a service to distribute fliers to all the buyer's agents. There are office previews and MLS tours to showcase new listings. A lot of attention is focused on what is NEW.

With agent's looking at newly listed homes so aggressively, a properly priced home gets attention.

An overpriced home gets passed over.

You may be thinking, "But I'm willing to negotiate!"

Buyers aren't thinking in advance about how much you are willing to negotiate. They are comparing your asking price to other asking prices.

Plus, when your house is new on the market, you may not be willing to negotiate as much as you will later, once you've realized your error. Keep in mind that statistics show, quite often, the first offer is the best offer.

So what happens if you overprice in the beginning and get more realistic later?

You don't have all those important Buyer's Agents looking at your listing because it is NEW. A price reduction later in the listing cycle often gets overlooked. It is just one of many listings, not one of a few new listings.

As time passes, you could actually become desperate to sell because you've accepted a new job or because you have already bought a new home.

That is a recipe for receiving lowball offers, so you could end up selling for less than if you had priced the home correctly in the first place.

Agents know this stuff, but many sellers still mistakenly believe they should "price it high" because they can lower the price later, if necessary.

That is not the best strategy.

One-third of Americans over 12 listen to podcasts. But just as the business gets booming, are there already too many podcasts?

complete article

YouTube might not be the first platform people think of when they’re looking for podcasts, but a growing number of top creators are proving YouTube is a bonafide podcast network.

Several YouTubers — including Logan Paul, Marques Brownlee, and Emma Chamberlain — have launched podcasts in the last year. They are all available through traditional audio platforms, like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, but many also offer video versions that live on dedicated YouTube channels where they’ve become incredibly popular.

complete article

To be a well-rounded business owner today, one must master not only business and finance, but other areas like mental and physical health, family, spirituality and sustainability. And as we approach the next decade, it seems like every self-proclaimed successful entrepreneur has a new weekly podcast offering guidance on these and other topics. So how do you sort through the fluff to find real, honest, useful advice that will help you on your own path?

20 Podcasts That Will Help You Grow in 2020

Last month, the Pulitzer Prize Board announced that there will now be a Pulitzer for audio reporting, further proving that podcasting has become an unignorable cultural force. In the announcement, Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy explained that the renaissance of audio journalism in recent years has given rise to an extraordinary array of non-fiction storytelling.

Investigative podcasts are exploding. Here are six great ones to get you started.

As 2019 moves to a close, Spotify is giving its yearly version of the personalized Spotify Wrapped, as well as a unique one that showcases your listening records through the last decade.

That indicates your Wrapped will add the songs, artists, albums, and podcasts you found on Spotify in 2019, plus the artists you streamed across the past decade, by a My Decade Wrapped option.

Spotify Wrapped extends to add your favorite music from the decade, plus podcaster metrics

Podcast listeners make for an interesting audience segment for B2B brands. According to recent reports on podcasting, 74% of podcast listeners want to learn new things, and they are more likely to be active on social media and follow companies. That means podcasts pose a unique opportunity to generate qualified leads and brand advocates.

complete article

The decision to implement a private podcast is a critical first step to improving your business communication, but there are a number of other important decisions you have to make before the show becomes a reality. In this article, we’ll focus on one unavoidable decision: what type of equipment should you buy?

The answer, perhaps unsatisfyingly, is that it depends. However, here are the questions you should be asking yourself as you begin the search for podcasting gear.

complete article