Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Current Mortgage Rates for Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Welcome to the Total Mortgage Current Mortgage Rates Blog. There’s some economic data out today, but first, your daily mortgage rate forecast/advice.

Where are mortgage rates going?

Mortgage rates are flat. Stay near 2017 lows

It’s another slow day for the mortgage market. With each day this week there is a slight chance for some excitement, but so far, action has been fairly muted. It seems as though we are destined (once again) to trudge along slowly but surely to the monthly jobs report on Friday.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 31, 2017).  

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note (the best market indicator of where mortgage rates are going) is flat right now. On the week, it’s down a couple basis points, and at 2.20%, it’s at its lowest position in over a month and a half.

We get the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) tomorrow at 10am sharp, and all signs point toward new 2017 lows. That would be a quick dismantling of the year lows set in last week’s report, and would be the first time in 2017 that we had the 30-year fixed rate stay under 4% in back to back weeks.

Find out what your custom mortgage rate would be. 

This is obviously great news for anyone looking to purchase a home or refinance their current mortgage. With it being a slow day today, that provides a great opportunity for borrowers to pick up the phone or fill out our online form to see how low their custom rate would be.

Time is of the essence here as things could start to pick up tomorrow with the release of the ADP employment report, and then on Friday with the monthly jobs report.

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What does this mean for me?

Lock now while rates are low

The safe play for borrowers right now would be to lock in a rate while rates are down. With rates near 2017 lows, the picking is good. If you really want to roll the dice and bank on poor labor data tomorrow and Friday, that’s your decision. Just be warned that analysts are predicting strong data, which could very likely push rates higher.

To get the most accurate idea of what kind of rate we could offer, you should fill out our short form and get a personalized rate quote. If you’d rather talk to someone, you can always call one of our experienced mortgage specialists.

They can walk you through the same process, clarifying any questions you may have, and let you know what your custom rate quote is.

Today’s economic data:

Chicago PMI

It’s another solid Chicago PMI report, coming in at 55.2 for May. That’s a little below the consensus for 57.5, but still well above the break-even point of 50.

Pending Home Sales Index

Pending home sales fell -1.3% in April. That’s significantly lower than the 0.5% increase that was expected.

Beige Book

The Fed’s Beige Book, which gives anecdotal evidence about the state of the economy in various Fed regions, will get released today at 2:00pm.

Fedspeak

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will speak at 8:00am.

San Francisco Fed President John Williams will speak at 7:30pm.

Notable events this week:                                                                      

Monday:       

  • Markets Closed: Memorial Day

Tuesday:  

  • Personal Income and Outlays
  • S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI
  • Consumer Confidence

Wednesday:    

  • Fedspeak
  • Chicago PMI
  • Pending Home Sales Index
  • Beige Book

Thursday:   

  • ADP Employment Report
  • Jobless Claims
  • Productivity and Costs
  • PMI Manufacturing Index
  • ISM Mfg Index
  • Construction Spending
  • EIA Petroleum Status

Friday:    

  • Monthly Employment Situation
  • International Trade

Rates are still near 2017 lows.  Contact us today to see if we can save you money on your home payments. 



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Tuesday, May 30, 2017

How to Stop Hackers in Their Tracks and Protect your Business

Don’t allow a hacker to infiltrate your business’s personal information. Use these tips for best results and keep the hackers at bay and you and your customer’s info safe.

Set Up Strong Passwords

Each of your different accounts need to have a unique password. That way, if one account is infiltrated, they are not all at risk. It can be complicated, however, to keep all those passwords straight. A password manager can solve this problem. Simply purchase software that will help you come up with passwords and then save them for you.

Use Two-Part Authentication

Do you use more than one computer to get into your email account? Are any of these shared computers? If so, your information could be at risk.There are sites that now use a two-part authentication process. You not only have to log into your account with a password, but you also need a special key. This makes it more difficult for someone else to break into your account and take your information.

Refrain from Sharing Too Much

Social media is both a blessing and a curse. It is nice to be able to communicate with others, but you have to be careful about how much information you share. For instance, don’t allow your birth date to float around the World Wide Web. That is valuable information for a hacker. While you can continue to use the Internet, simply be mindful of what you are putting out there for others to see.

Scale Back

Do you have multiple accounts online? How many of the services do you truly use? Delete any that are not important to you or to the work that you do. There is just no reason to have open accounts if you are not going to use them.

Save Your Data

This might be the most important point of all. Make sure that all your data is backed up. The method you use is really not important. However, if you are like many other people, you probably have a lot of important data stored electronically. To lose it all would be devastating. Back up your data regularly so you do not have to worry about this issue.Using a commercial solution to keep your information safe and to prevent your business from being hacked is extremely important.

Businesses such as Alternative Networks provide top class services in this regard and ensure that small to large businesses and corporations that require IT solutions receive them in the best possible manner.Taking these steps is not easy to do. However, getting hacked is a huge problem that you do not want to deal with.

Originally posted 2015-12-09 21:55:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The post How to Stop Hackers in Their Tracks and Protect your Business appeared first on Information Technology Blog.



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Current Mortgage Rates for Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Welcome to the Total Mortgage Current Mortgage Rates Blog. There’s some economic data out today, but first, your daily mortgage rate forecast/advice.

Where are mortgage rates going?

Mortgage remain near 2017 lows

Most of the economic data that came out this morning (see below) was good enough to support the June rate hike decision by the FOMC, but it wasn’t good enough to create a sustained rally in the bond market. Treasury yields spiked a couple basis points immediately after the personal income and outlays report at 8:30am, but quickly retreated back down several basis points and now stand at -0.3 on the day.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 30, 2017). 

While that might not be great news for investors, it does keep mortgage rates down at some of the lowest levels they’ve been at all year. Rates fell about a week and a half ago and have yet to make a lasting ascent since then. The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) last Thursday had rates at the lowest they’d been all year.

If no major market moves happen over the next 24 hours, it’s entirely possible that mortgage rates come in at new 2017 lows in this week’s PMMS. The biggest impact on the markets this week should be the monthly employment situation report on Friday. That’s always one of the most significant reports every month, and there’s even more of a focus this go-around as it’s the last major labor market reading before the Fed’s June meeting.

Find out what your custom mortgage rate would be.

We’re kind of in that situation where as long as the numbers aren’t terrible, those in the pro-rate hike camp will see it as a win. It would seriously complicate things if it came in well under expectations.

That would be quite the wrench in the plan, and it’s really hard to say how Fed officials would react. The picture for mortgage rates should be fairly straightforward: a strong report would likely push rates higher, while a weak report would send them lower.

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What does this mean for me?

Lock now for the sure thing

The current mortgage rate environment has some of the best rates of the year. If you want to avoid the risk of rising rates later in the week, you should take action either today or tomorrow.

To get the most accurate idea of what kind of rate we could offer, you should fill out our short form and get a personalized rate quote. If you’d rather talk to someone, you can always call one of our experienced mortgage specialists.

They can walk you through the same process, clarifying any questions you may have, and let you know what your custom rate quote is.

Today’s economic data:

Personal Income and Outlays

The April personal income and outlays report came in right in line with expectations. The month over month change for personal income was a gain of 0.4%. Consumer spending also rose 0.4% month over month. The PCE price index ticked up 0.2%, month over month, but actually dropped two tenths in the year over year reading to 1.7%. Core PCE price index moved up 0.2% month over month, but fell in the year over year reading from 1.6% to 1.5%.

S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI

Surprise, surprise–home prices are moving higher. The seasonally adjusted 20-city index rose by 0.9% in March, beating expectations for 0.8%. The non-seasonally adjusted rate moved up 1.0%, which is much higher than the 0.4% that analysts had estimated. The year over year rate for the 20-city non-seasonally adjusted index remained unchanged at 5.9%.

Consumer Confidence

Consumer confidence moved a little lower in May, but is still at a solid 117.9. That’s now six consecutive readings over 110.

Notable events this week:                                                                     

Monday:      

  • Markets Closed: Memorial Day

Tuesday:  

  • Personal Income and Outlays
  • S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI
  • Consumer Confidence

Wednesday:    

  • Fedspeak
  • Chicago PMI
  • Pending Home Sales Index
  • Beige Book

Thursday:   

  • ADP Employment Report
  • Jobless Claims
  • Productivity and Costs
  • PMI Manufacturing Index
  • ISM Mfg Index
  • Construction Spending
  • EIA Petroleum Status

Friday:    

  • Monthly Employment Situation
  • International Trade

Rates are still near 2017 lows.  Contact us today to see if we can save you money on your home payments. 



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Monday, May 29, 2017

The Pyramid Of Gains Calisthenics Workout

pyramid 1

Some of the most enduring architectural structures in the world are pyramids.  The great pyramids of Giza are more than 4500 years old and still going strong.

In today’s workout we’re going to channel the power of  the pyramids to build a strong and durable body that, though it probably won’t live to be 4500, could keep you happy and active for a long time.

So let’s get to it.

Oh, one last thing, we know the pyramids were built as tombs and we know this this is a really hard workout, but please don’t die. We have some really neat workouts coming up soon we want you to try.

INSTRUCTIONS

Start the round with 10 push ups, work all the way through the exercises and finish with 1 pull up. Rest 10 seconds between sets and 4 minutes between rounds. Do 4 rounds total.

EXERCISES

ADVANCED MODIFICATIONS

Skip the rest between sets. Jump to the next exercise immediately.

BEGINNER MODIFICATIONS

Take your time to regain your breath between sets, just don’t overdo it.

The post The Pyramid Of Gains Calisthenics Workout appeared first on Body Weight And Calisthenics Exercises & Workouts.



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Current Mortgage Rates for Monday, May 29, 2017

Welcome to the Total Mortgage Current Mortgage Rates Blog. There’s some economic data out today, but first, your daily mortgage rate forecast/advice.

Where are mortgage rates going?

Monthly jobs report big threat to rates this week

U.S. markets are closed today in observance of  Memorial Day.

Looking ahead to the rest of the week we’ve got a decent amount of economic data packed into four days. While there are mini-market movers getting released every day, the biggest threat to rising mortgage rates is the Employment Situation (a.k.a. the monthly jobs report) on Friday.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 29, 2017).

It’s the last monthly jobs report before the Fed’s FOMC meeting on June 12-13, and could put any remaining doubts about a quarter point increase in the target federal funds rate to rest. Economists are calling for 185,000 private sector jobs added in May, which would be a nice follow-up to the 211,000 that were added in April.

If average hourly earnings and the unemployment rate don’t do anything funny, that would further bolster the Fed hawk’s position. It’s always interesting watching the ebb and flow of the CME Group’s Fed Funds futures. About a month ago nearly everyone agreed that a rate hike would happen.

Then we got a series of geopolitical events and some soft economic data to boot and suddenly the doubts began to creep in. Fed officials began to more explicitly discuss the possibility that it might not be appropriate to hike in June. We never saw a dip back under a 50% chance in the Fed Funds futures, but fluctuations of 20 percentage points did occur.

Find out what your custom mortgage rate would be. 

Right now, the markets have the probability of an increase up to 1.00%-1.25% at about 84%. That’s basically a sure thing when it comes to the Fed Funds futures.

So what does this mean for mortgage rates?

Well, typically when the economy is doing well (thus, warranting further monetary tightening) investors move more into stocks and out of bonds. This drives bond prices down and yields up.

Since mortgage backed securities compete for many of the same investors, one would expect mortgage rates to rise along with treasury yields. The changes are usually not identical, but the overall trends are usually the same.

The takeaway here is to keep an eye on employment data this week. The ADP employment report comes out on Thursday, and while it’s not always an accurate predictor of what we’ll see in the monthly jobs report the next day, many investors will move off of that report.

Obviously, Friday morning at 8:30am is the big report of the week, and will likely lead trading as we head into the weekend.

What does this mean for me?

Mortgage rates still near 2017 lows

In case you missed, mortgage rates fell to new 2017 lows in the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey last Thursday.

That’s great news for anyone looking to refinance their current mortgage or purchase a new home. Anyone who doesn’t want to deal with the risk of rising rates on Thursday or Friday should lock before then.

To get the most accurate idea of what kind of rate we could offer, you should fill out our short form and get a personalized rate quote. If you’d rather talk to someone, you can always call one of our experienced mortgage specialists.

They can walk you through the same process, clarifying any questions you may have, and let you know what your custom rate quote is.

Today’s economic data:

  • Markets Closed: Memorial Day

Notable events this week:                                                                   

Monday:      

  • Markets Closed: Memorial Day

Tuesday:  

  • Personal Income and Outlays
  • S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller HPI
  • Consumer Confidence

Wednesday:    

  • Fedspeak
  • Chicago PMI
  • Pending Home Sales Index
  • Beige Book

Thursday:   

  • ADP Employment Report
  • Jobless Claims
  • Productivity and Costs
  • PMI Manufacturing Index
  • ISM Mfg Index
  • Construction Spending
  • EIA Petroleum Status

Friday:    

  • Monthly Employment Situation
  • International Trade

Rates are still near 2017 lows.  Contact us today to see if we can save you money on your home payments. 



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Sunday, May 28, 2017

Secure Chat Conversations

Sometimes you need to chat about something and can’t risk that information falling into the wrong hands. It could be sensitive company information or personal data.

Fortunately, you don’t need to install an encryption engine and can take advantage of several chat apps available. These apps are available as web based and mobile.

ChatCrypt

ChatCrypt performs a military-class AES-256 CTR encryption on chat messages, thus no one can read them except the participants who knows the same secret password. Unlike traditional so-called “secure chats” where only the connection is secured between the browser and the server, thus on server side all messages can be readed and logged in plain text format, ChatCrypt approaches the problem from a different perspective: it encrypts the messages itself before they leave the browser’s frontend utilizing the AES-256 algorithm in CTR mode with a secret password specified by the user.

With this simple, but unquestionably most effective solution decryption of any message is only possible with the knowledge of the passphrase given at the inital encryption stage. So there is no need to secure the connection, messages travels in their encrypted form inside the entire pipeline. On server side there is no known solution to break that cipher in a reasonable time, so the conversations remains private between the participants who joined a room with the same password.

Chatcrypt

ChatCrypt holds the encrypted form of the messages only temporarily in the server’s memory for less then 10 seconds, so there is no real chance to retrieve even the ciphered texts.

Most people think that if a website uses a HTTPS connection (especially with the green address bar) then their “typed-in” informations are transmitted and stored securely. This is only partially true. The transmission is encrypted well, so no third party can sniff those informations, but there is no proof that the website owners will handle them with maximum care, not mentioning that the suitable laws can enforce anyone to serve stored data for the local authorities.

Overall, this means that if anyone uses a chat service with similar security technology, the conversiation will be visible for the participants and (at least) for the website owners. That case is probably not acceptable in every situation, especially where mission critical informations have to be exchanged.

ChatCrypt’s unique encryption feature ensures that only and exclusively the participants of a room with a shared password are able to read each others messages. More precisely, anyone else who may acquires the conversation without the knowledge of the password won’t be able to decode it.

How Chatcrypt Works

ChatSecure

ChatSecure allows you to set a master password to keep prying eyes out of the chat app itself, supports WiFi Mesh Chat (chatting with others on the same local wireless or mesh network ─ no server required), and even enables you to create anonymous “burner” chat accounts. If you have to do anonymous chatting, and you’re behind a firewall, you can install the Orbot proxy tool, which will get you through. (Orbot is also required to create “burner” accounts.) With ChatSecure, two-way encryption can’t take place until a user has been verified (done through the app). Once verified, you can encrypt conversations and each sent message will indicate if it is encrypted or not.

Cryptocat

Cryptocat is free software with a simple mission: everyone should be able to chat with their friends in privacy. Cryptocat is a secure open source messaging extension for the Google Chrome browser. All messages are encrypted before they leave your computer, so there’s no concern that plain text is being sent and then encrypted on a third-party server.

With Cryptocat, you can do group chats, file sharing, connect to Facebook Messenger, and more. Cryptocat includes a built-in key generator, so you don’t have to worry about importing your own encryption keys. There’s one caveat to using Cryptocat: The person you’re chatting with must also be using Cryptocat — this goes with Facebook Messenger chats.

  • Open source. All Cryptocat software is published transparently.
  • Encrypted by default. Every message is encrypted, always.
  • Forward secure. Chats are safe even if your keys are stolen.
  • Multiple devices. Devices receive messages even when offline.
  • File sharing. Securely share files with friends.
How Cryptocat Works

Surespot Encrypted Messenger

Surespot Encrypted Messenger is an end-to-end symmetric encryption messaging tool (using 256-bit AES-GCM encryption) that creates keys using 521 bit ECDH shared secret derivation. It’s private — period. The best thing about Surespot is that all the privacy is built-in, so you won’t even notice the security layer.

Whereas SSL can be thought of as client to server encryption where the hops cannot access the plain text but the server can, end to end encryption encrypts the data so that only the end users can decipher it. No one along the network route the message takes from one client to another, not any of the hops, not even the surespot server, can view the contents of the data. Only user 1 and user 2.

Encryption is an electronic lock and key system. You take a plain text message and encrypt it using a key (secret). You can then decrypt the message using the same key. Pretty simple. You encrypt data at one end using the key, send it over all the network’s hops and servers, and at the other end it can be read because the key is known. None of the hops and servers in-between can read it because they don’t know the key.

Say user 1 encrypts a message for user 2 with a key, then user 2 decrypts it using the same key. Simple right, except for the fact that user 2 needs to know the key! Somehow we need to get the key to user 2 but how can we send it over the network? Surespot can’t encrypt it because we need a key to encrypt so we have a catch 22. Or a chicken and egg situation. The answer is Surespot don’t send the key over the network. Well not the key we’re using to encrypt the messages at least.

How Surespot Works

Tox

Tox is somewhat new to the world of secure chatting. It was created as a reaction to concerns of Skype’s privacy (or lack thereof). Tox uses dispersed networking and strong cryptography to create a secure (using NaCl crypto library) messaging system for everyone. Users are assigned a private and public key and connect to one another directly — no middleman or third party involved.

tox

With Tox, you can do text, phone, and video, all secure. Tox is free, open source, and available on Linux, Windows, and Mac. Its interface is incredibly easy to use (anyone of any skill level can start using right away) and doesn’t require you to connect with your Facebook, Google, Twitter, or any other account.

Tox began a few years ago, in the wake of Edward Snowden’s leaks regarding NSA spying activity. The idea was to create an instant messaging protocol that ran without any kind of central servers. The system would be distributed, peer-to-peer, and encrypted end-to-end, with no way to disable any of the encryption features; at the same time, the protocol would be easily usable by the layperson with no practical knowledge of cryptography or distributed systems. Work began during the Summer of 2013 by a single anonymous developer (who continues, to this day, to remain anonymous). This lone developer put together a library implementing the Tox protocol. The library provides all of the messaging and encryption facilities, and is completely decoupled from any user-interface; for an end-user to make use of Tox, they need a Tox client. Fast-forward a few years to today, and there exist several independent Tox client projects, and the original Tox core library implementation is nearing completion (in terms of features). Tox (both core and clients) has thousands of users, hundreds of contributors, and the project shows no sign of slowing down. Recently, a group of some of the project’s major contributors have formed The Tox Project, an organization built around the protection, promotion, and advancement of Tox and its development.

How Tox Works

Originally posted 2012-07-27 17:33:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Saturday, May 27, 2017

Forbes: “This Popular Fire Safe Can Be Opened In About One Second”

Forbes: “This Popular Fire Safe Can Be Opened In About One Second”

For further info to to Forbes.com

Marc Tobias and Terry Whin-Yates open a locked Sentry Fire Safe in seconds with a Rare Earth Magnet.

No sign of entry of damage.

This is a Sentry Fire Safe and not a Burglary safe.

 

 

For Hands-on Locksmith Training in a City near you.   Coming soon, online locksmith training including opening safes!

 

Electronic Sentry Safe opened in seconds with no signs of entry

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Electronic Safe Opened in 10 seconds with Black Box | Mr. Locksmith Video

The post Electronic Safe Opened in 10 seconds with Black Box | Mr. Locksmith Video appeared first on Mr Locksmith Abbotsford.



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Friday, May 26, 2017

5 Web Hosting Tips for New Businesses

In this day and age, having an online presence for your business is essential, especially if you are starting up a new business and don’t have a band of loyal customers yet.

And the truth is, a Facebook account just won’t cut it if you’re serious about growing and expanding your business. You need a website. And since finding a reliable web host can be a bit daunting at first, we’ve compiled a helpful list of Dos and Don’ts to help you make a smart decision.

Avoid Free Unlimited Bandwidth Offers

It sounds great at the outset to have “free unlimited bandwidth” for your website, but usually this is a red-flag. Offers of unlimited bandwidth often come with a hidden price, such as frequent downtime and slow service. You might use a ton of bandwidth to make your website as sophisticated as possible, but it won’t do you any good if no one can access your site. In order to avoid scaring away potential customers with frustratingly slow page loads, find a web host that offers the speed you need.

Choose a Flexible Design

If you’re just starting out, you probably don’t have the budget to hire a programmer to code your website. Search for web hosts that offer modular, user-friendly design features, like DigitalServer.mx.  There should be enough variety so that your website doesn’t end up looking cookie-cutter. And if you do eventually want to hire a programmer to customize your site, make sure the web host service is just as useful for professionals as it is for novices. Look for mention of a script library and raw access logs at the very least.

Look for Tiered Pricing to Ensure Room to Grow

Your business might be a solo venture at this point, but bear in mind the possibility of future expansion.  Does the web host offer a flat fee for a limited amount of features? Or will you be able to expand your website in the future (by adding additional domain names and e-mail addresses, for example) while paying only for what you need? Familiarize yourself with the payment scheme and make sure the growth your site will be able to keep up with the growth of your business.

Choose a Memorable Domain Name

When you finally find the right web hosting service, the first thing you’ll have to do is choose a domain name. Above all, make it memorable and uncomplicated (avoid hyphens, numbers and unconventional spelling, for example) to ensure your business can reap all the benefits of word-of-mouth advertising.

Don’t Underestimate the Value of Good Customer Service

Does the web host have a dedicated customer service department? Are they easy to reach? Is their contact info displayed prominently, and is there an option to both call and e-mail? Does the web host offer help pages and resources to guide you through the process of setting up your site? Try calling the customer service phone number just to see how easy it is to reach a real person.  A host like https://inxyhost.com, for example, provides flexible packages, monitoring, installation, tuning, and a 24/7 support team.

Originally posted 2015-06-29 00:26:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The post 5 Web Hosting Tips for New Businesses appeared first on Information Technology Blog.



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Current Mortgage Rates for Friday, May 26, 2017

Welcome to the Total Mortgage Current Mortgage Rates Blog. There’s some economic data out today, but first, your daily mortgage rate forecast/advice.

Where are mortgage rates going?

Freddie Mac shows current rate environment best of the year

Another week has come and gone. The release of Trump’s economic plan played into the biggest rise for rates (which took place late Tuesday into Wednesday), however, it wasn’t a sustained rally and we’re on track today to finish the week lower than where we started.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note (the best market indicator of where mortgage rates are going) is down about two basis points this morning. That brings it down to 2.23%. It started the week around 2.25%. Generally, mortgage rates follow closely behind the 10-year yield, so this downward trend is good for borrowers.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 26, 2017).

We saw yesterday that the current rate environment is very favorable to borrowers. The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) got released and it showed that mortgage rates were at new 2017 lows. Here are the numbers:

  • The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage sunk seven basis points to 3.95% (0.5 points).
  • The average rate on a 15-year fixed rate mortgage fell eight basis points to 3.19% (0.5 points).
  • The average rate on a 5-year adjustable rate mortgage dipped six basis points to 3.07% (0.4 points).

This is only the second time in 2017 that the 30-year fixed has fallen below 4% in the PMMS. Last time it was escalating geopolitical tension that prompted rates to take a dive.

This time around it was domestic events that were the main driver, specifically, the Trump/Comey situation last week. Financial market participants rushed out of stocks and into bonds after the news broke, and there just wasn’t enough strong economic data this week to reverse that trend.

The durable goods report this morning came in in the negative, providing more concern for economists who stated that the Q1 weakness was a temporary trend. There’s not a whole lot of time between now and the Fed’s meeting next month (June 12-13), and it will be very interesting to see what decision they make if we continue with this pattern.

Looking ahead to next week, we won’t hear from the Fed very much, but we will get the monthly employment situation for May on Friday. That’s the last jobs report before the June FOMC meeting, and could play a pivotal role in the decision to hike rates or not.

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What does this mean for me?

Lock now while rates are low

Mortgage rates are at some of the lowest levels they’ve been all year. Clearly, that is good news for anyone looking to refinance their current mortgage or purchase a home.

If you’ve been on the fence about taking action, you should seriously take some time this weekend and see if the numbers are in your favor. The opportunity is definitely there for many borrowers to save on their monthly payment, or to lock in a low rate on a purchase for years to come.

To get the most accurate idea of what kind of rate we could offer, you should fill out our short form and get a personalized rate quote. If you’d rather talk to someone, you can always call one of our experienced mortgage specialists.

They can walk you through the same process, clarifying any questions you may have, and let you know what your custom rate quote is.

Today’s economic data:

Durable goods orders fall

Durable goods fell 0.7% month over month in April, putting them at 0.9% year over year. New orders minus transportation fell 0.4%, making it 4.9% year over year. Core capital goods were unchanged, making the year over year reading 2.9%. It’s certainly a weak report, but economists were (mostly) expecting it, so that softens the blow a little bit.

GDP gets revised higher

First-quarter GDP got revised upward from 0.7% to 1.2% this morning. It’s a small win for what has been a slow economy in 2017. This report isn’t have much of an effect on the markets, as investors are focusing more on Q2 data.

Consumer sentiment is little changed

The University of Michigan’s final reading for the consumer sentiment index is at 97.1 for May. That’s just a touch below the 97.6 that economists had predicted.

Notable events this week:                                                                   

Monday:      

  • Fedspeak

Tuesday:      

  • PMI composite Flash
  • New Home Sales
  • Richmond Fed Mfg Index
  • Fedspeak

Wednesday:    

  • FHFA House Price Index
  • Existing Home Sales
  • EIA Petroleum Status Report
  • FOMC Minutes
  • Fedspeak

Thursday:   

  • International Trade in Goods
  • Jobless Claims
  • Fedspeak

Friday:    

  • Durable Goods Orders
  • GDP
  • Consumer Sentiment

Rates are still near 2017 lows.  Contact us today to see if we can save you money on your home payments. 



from Total Mortgage Underwritings Blog http://ift.tt/2s3uzHp

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Current Mortgage Rates for Thursday, May 25, 2017

Welcome to the Total Mortgage Current Mortgage Rates Blog. There’s some economic data out today, but first, your daily mortgage rate forecast/advice.

Where are mortgage rates going?

Mortgage rates fall to new 2017 lows

The Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey gets released every Thursday at 10:00am, and is one of the best barometers of the current mortgage rate environment. Here are the numbers for this week:

  • The average rate on a 30-year fixed rate mortgage fell seven basis points to 3.95% (0.5 points).
  • The average rate on a 15-year fixed rate mortgage dropped eight basis points to 3.19% (0.5 points).
  • The average rate on a 5-year adjustable rate mortgage sunk six basis points to 3.07% (0.4 points).

It’s a very solid report that shows new year lows for all three mortgage types. The previous lows for the 30, 15, and 5/1 were 3.97%, 3.23%, and 3.10%, respectively. Those readings were from April 20, and the main driver then was mounting geopolitical tension.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 25, 2017).  

This time around the situation is only slightly different, with the main drop happening last week after the domestic political situation with President Trump and former FBI director James Comey. Investors rushed into the safe haven of long-term government bonds when that news broke, and the economic data that has since come out hasn’t been strong enough to push bond yields that much higher.

Of course, it’s important to note that economic reports are lagging indicators by their very nature, so the survey doesn’t necessarily reflect current market conditions. However, if we look at the yield on the 10-year Treasury note (the best market indicator of where mortgage rates are heading), we can see that it’s at 2.25% right now.

Find out what your custom rate would be in three minutes. 

That’s only three basis points higher from last week’s low point of 2.22% on Wednesday, which means that mortgage rates are still at some of the lowest levels that they’ve been at all year. To get a broader perspective of where we’re at right now, the highest reading for the 30-year fixed rate in 2017 was 4.30% back in mid-March.

That’s over thirty basis points from where rates are at the moment, and will make a significant impact on your monthly payment. On a $200,000 loan, if you got the current reading in the PMMS for the 30-year fixed rate (3.95%) that would mean you’d save nearly $60 every month on your mortgage payment compared to what you would pay with the highest reading of the year (4.30%).

There are a lot of factors that go into your own personal rate, but the current rate environment is clearly very favorable for borrowers.

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What does this mean for me?

Lock in today while rates are low

This is only the second time all year that rates have dipped below the 4.00% threshold, and there’s no telling how long they will stay there. The prudent decision would be to lock now while you have the sure thing.

To get the most accurate idea of what kind of rate we could offer, you should fill out our short form and get a personalized rate quote. If you’d rather talk to someone, you can always call one of our experienced mortgage specialists.

They can walk you through the same process, clarifying any questions you may have, and let you know what your custom rate quote is.

Today’s economic data:

International Trade in Goods

The trade deficit widened to $67.6 billion in April.

Jobless Claims

Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by 1,000 for the week of 5/20/17 to 234,000. That’s just below economists’ expectations for 237,000. The four-week moving average is now at 235,250.

Fedspeak

  • Fed Governor Lael Brainard will speak at 10:0am.
  • St. Louis Fed President James Bullard will speak at 10:00pm.

Notable events this week:                                                                  

Monday:     

  • Fedspeak

Tuesday:      

  • PMI composite Flash
  • New Home Sales
  • Richmond Fed Mfg Index
  • Fedspeak

Wednesday:    

  • FHFA House Price Index
  • Existing Home Sales
  • EIA Petroleum Status Report
  • FOMC Minutes
  • Fedspeak

Thursday:   

  • International Trade in Goods
  • Jobless Claims
  • Fedspeak

Friday:    

  • Durable Goods Orders
  • GDP
  • Consumer Sentiment

Rates are still near 2017 lows.  Contact us today to see if we can save you money on your home payments. 



from Total Mortgage Underwritings Blog http://ift.tt/2qggdad

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Animated Explainer Videos Done Right

WHERE I’M GETTING IT WRONG!  Anіmаtеd Exрlаіnеr Videos аrе еxtrеmеlу effective іn рuttіng асrоѕѕ уоur message іn a соmрrеhеnѕіblе manner. Thе rеаl сhаllеngе, hоwеvеr, lіеѕ іn making ѕurе that thе ԛuаlіtу оf your Explainer Vіdео is just реrfесt. Here are four insightful tips that соuld prevent уоu frоm gеttіng a lоw ԛuаlіtу Anіmаtеd Explainer Vіdео рrоduсеd.

Thіngѕ thаt соuld gо terribly wrong wіth аnіmаtеd explainer videos

Wіth bеіng in grеаt dеmаnd and rіghtlу ѕо, аnіmаtеd еxрlаіnеr videos аrе outstanding tооlѕ fоr promotion аnd ѕаlеѕ соnvеrѕіоn. But, mіѕtаkеѕ in its рrоduсtіоn can соѕt уоu a dеаl and can turn уоur mаrkеtіng drеаm into a rеаl nightmare.

Dоn’t worry, we аrе nоt trуіng to scare уоu hеrе, but things thаt саn gо wrong аnd ѕhоuld nеvеr bе overlooked іnсludе ѕіmрlу a bаdlу made video, poorly wrіttеn ѕсrірt оr mаkіng a mіѕtаkе in сhооѕіng аn animation studio. Cоnѕіdеr thеm аnd try to stay away frоm a fеw mistakes whісh аrе lіkеlу tо bе made in аnіmаtеd еxрlаіnеr vіdео production.

Mistake Nо. 1: Too Lоng, Yоu is gоnе

Yоu might bе tempted to gо ahead аnd ѕау a lоt about уоur brаnd, product or ѕеrvісе but try nоt tо do thаt. Trу and rеѕtrісt the durаtіоn of your video оr else thеrе аrе hіgh сhаnсеѕ that audiences will feel bоrеd and leave failing your mаrkеtіng соntеnt mіѕеrаblу. A 90 – second video іѕ always rесоmmеndеd which соmеѕ to аbоut 240 wоrdѕ іn a script. Shоrt animated explainer videos аrе hіghlу еffесtіvе and lеаvе a lоngеr іmрrеѕѕіоn on thе аudіеnсе.

Mistake Nо. 2: Mіѕѕ thе Tаrgеt Audіеnсе аnd уоu’rе Dead

Yоu’rе mаkіng thе explainer vіdео with a tаrgеt audience in mіnd. Sо іf уоu miss that ѕесtіоn оf thе аudіеnсе, then the whole effort of video рrоduсtіоn gоеѕ іn vаіn. Nоt just that сhаnсеѕ аrе thаt it may еvеn reflect a nеgаtіvе іmрасt оn your brаnd.

Whіlе wаtсhіng thе video thе mеmbеr оf thе tаrgеt аudіеnсе muѕt at once understand thаt it’s bееn mаdе especially fоr hіm/hеr. Thе vіdео ѕhоuld tаlk about thеm оthеrwіѕе whу wоuld оnе bе іntеrеѕtеd іn watching іt?

For that, thе сhаrасtеrѕ, bасkgrоund аnd thеmе should bе designed keeping thеm іn mind as уоur mаіn aim. Thіѕ wау you’ll іnѕtаntlу соnnесt with уоur audience, ѕо уоu knоw thеm аnd this аnіmаtеd еxрlаіnеr vіdео іѕ еѕресіаllу for them.

Mistake Nо. 3: A lоw ԛuаlіtу video саn kіll your Brand

An аnіmаtеd explainer vіdео is a rерrеѕеntаtіоn of your brand ѕо іt simply саnnоt аffоrd to be of low ԛuаlіtу. A buѕіnеѕѕ thаt ignores іtѕ own brаnd image fаіlѕ tо gаіn thе trust of its сuѕtоmеrѕ, whісh dіrесtlу results tо lоѕѕ in sales. Nеvеr соmрrоmіѕе оn ԛuаlіtу. Gіvе extra thought оn ѕеlесtіоn оf the аnіmаtіоn video соmраnу that’s gоіng tо dо уоur jоb. Evеn іf they take longer time іn рrоduсtіоn оf уоur video, bе it аnd lеt them dо juѕtісе tо your аnіmаtеd vіdео.

Stееr сlеаr оf thеѕе tурісаl mіѕtаkеѕ and уоur еxсеllеnt animated explainer vіdео fulfіllіng аll your marketing objectives should sail high on thе mаrkеtіng ѕkу! Good luck.

Originally posted 2016-11-07 19:12:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The post Animated Explainer Videos Done Right appeared first on Information Technology Blog.



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Current Mortgage Rates for Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Welcome to the Total Mortgage Current Mortgage Rates Blog. There’s some economic data out today, but first, your daily mortgage rate forecast/advice. Don’t feel like reading? Check out our Market Outlook series to get an overview of what’s happening this week.

Market Outlook 5.22.17 from Total Mortgage on Vimeo.

Where are mortgage rates going?

Investors waiting for FOMC minutes this afternoon

After a brief decline yesterday, the bond market recovered and Treasury yields wound up having their biggest one day increase in two weeks. The release of President Trump’s budget plan played into the recovery, as it provided some optimism about inflation expectations.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 24, 2017).     

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which is the best market indicator of where mortgage rates are going, rose a little over three basis points (one basis point = 0.01). Today it’s basically flat. There was a decent bit of economic data out this morning, but nothing meaningful enough to propel investors out of their holding pattern ahead of the release of the FOMC minutes at 2:00pm.

With some weak data complicating the June rate hike picture the past few weeks, financial market participants are looking for something to hang their hat on. It’s not entirely certain that they’ll get what they want, though, as just this past week we’ve gotten several Fed officials stating that they haven’t quite made up their mind about June yet.

Mortgage rates are still near 2017 lows. 

If they don’t have a clear vision right now, it stands to reason that they could very well not have a clear vision three weeks ago. At any rate, investors will be looking to see what the general sentiment was at that meeting, and how much debate their was about the state of the economy.

With time ticking on investors will also be looking for any clues about the Fed’s plans to unwind its balance sheet this year. There’s definitely the potential for this release to move the market, with a hawkish (pro June rate hike) Fed being the greatest risk to rising rates.

What does this mean for me?

Keep an eye on rates

Mortgage rates are still at levels that are close to the lowest of the year. There is a definite chance that we will see some movement this afternoon with the release of the FOMC minutes, so it’s important to keep an eye on that report. Depending on what happens, there could be a window of opportunity for borrowers to get in on.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 24, 2017).     

To get the most accurate idea of what kind of rate we could offer, you should fill out our short form and get a personalized rate quote. If you’d rather talk to someone, you can always call one of our experienced mortgage specialists.

They can walk you through the same process, clarifying any questions you may have, and let you know what your custom rate quote is.

Today’s economic data:

FHFA House Price Index

The climb continues for home prices as the latest data shows them up 0.6% in March, putting the yearly rate at 6.2%.

Existing Home Sales

Low inventory remains a factor in this year’s housing market. Existing home sales fell 2.3% month over month in April to a seasonally adjusted rate of 5.57 million. However, it’s not all bad news, as sales are still 1.6% higher than this time last year.

EIA Petroleum Status Report

For the week of 5/24/17:

  • Crude oil: -1.8 M barrels
  • Gasoline: -0.4 M barrels
  • Distillates: -1.9 M barrels

FOMC Minutes

The minutes from the FOMC meeting at the beginning of the month will be released at 2:00pm today.

Fedspeak

  • Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will speak at 6:00pm.
  • Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari will speak at 6:30pm.
  • Chicago Fed President Charles Evans will speak at 9:25pm.

Notable events this week:                                                                  

Monday:     

  • Fedspeak

Tuesday:      

  • PMI composite Flash
  • New Home Sales
  • Richmond Fed Mfg Index
  • Fedspeak

Wednesday:    

  • FHFA House Price Index
  • Existing Home Sales
  • EIA Petroleum Status Report
  • FOMC Minutes
  • Fedspeak

Thursday:   

  • International Trade in Goods
  • Jobless Claims
  • Fedspeak

Friday:    

  • Durable Goods Orders
  • GDP
  • Consumer Sentiment

Rates are still near 2017 lows.  Contact us today to see if we can save you money on your home payments. 



from Total Mortgage Underwritings Blog http://ift.tt/2qWkuib

Evidence Of The Atlanta Falcons EPIC Super Bowl Choke Found In The Middle East (PHOTO)

Almost 4 months later, I still can’t believe the Patriots won Super Bowl 51. They were down by 25 points and even 19 points in the fourth quarter. For this to play out, the Patriots had to do EVERYTHING RIGHT (which they did) and the Falcons had to do EVERYTHING WRONG (which they executed masterfully). [...]

The post Evidence Of The Atlanta Falcons EPIC Super Bowl Choke Found In The Middle East (PHOTO) appeared first on Boston Sports Then & Now.



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5 Reasons Zillow Trusts Total Mortgage

Zillow isn’t a mortgage lender, but they still have pretty good taste. So when you ask Zillow for an interest rate quote, they turn to one of their trusted lenders to get you the information and service you need.

Here are the top 5 reasons why Zillow has recommended Total Mortgage.

1. They’ve been in the business for 20 years

Total Mortgage was founded in 1997 and has since grown from a small 3-person shop to a national lender with branches scattered across the country. Unlike many other midsized, lenders, they never fell into the trap of sub-prime lending, and escaped the housing crisis unscathed.

2. Zillow users rate Total Mortgage highly

If Zillow knows one thing, it’s when to listen to its users—and based on the 4.9/5 rating across over 300 reviews, its users overwhelmingly recommend Total Mortgage. Take a look at what reviewers are saying here.

3. Your loan stays in-house

While some other lenders farm out their underwriting and processing to outside agencies, Total Mortgage keeps all of their staff on-site at their corporate headquarters in Connecticut. That makes it super easy for them to put their heads together and problem solve if your application ever hits a bump.

4. They offer a 30 day guarantee

Mortgages can take a long time to close—and some lenders take longer than others. Total Mortgage, though, has made a commitment to close on time. If your purchase loan isn’t closed in 30 days, your first mortgage payment is on them.*

5. They work directly with Government Agencies

Total Mortgage works directly with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as private investors. That allows them to minimize the overlays and added restrictions that keep buyers from qualifying for the loans they’ve earned.

 

*Some restrictions apply. See conditions here.



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Tuesday, May 23, 2017

3 Tips to Maximize Bathroom Space

Content originally published and Shared from http://perfectbath.com

Clutter can easily make a room look smaller. But if you already have a small bathroom to begin with, keeping things organized may not be enough to make the space look easy on the eyes. To make a bathroom look bigger, maximize the space by following these tips:

Image Source: Flickr

Open Up Floor Space
If you have alternative storage or a linen closet, replace the vanity cabinet with a pedestal or wall-mount sink. While the additional floor space won’t exactly be usable, it will trick the eye into believing the room is larger. Source: DIYNetwork

Use Glass
Get rid of the shower curtain or frosted-glass shower doors and replace them with clear glass. It will open up the shower area, making it a part of the entire room and giving the appearance of more space. Source: DIYNetwork

Trick the Eye
Various visual effects give the illusion of more space in your bathroom than actually exists. A well-placed mirror reflects light and adds depth to a room. Hang one large mirror in the bathroom, positioning it so it’s one of the first things you see when you walk in the door. Or add a decorative eye-catching focal point such as a painting, sculpture or plant. Having something attractive for the eye to fall on takes the focus off of the fact that the space is small.
Painting in light, neutral tones also helps open up the room, as does using multiple shades of the same light paint color. Opt for paint colors like beige, cream, taupe and off-white, as well as muted blue, gray, yellow, pink and blue. If you want bright complementary colors, introduce them through accessories like towels and soap dispensers. Source: Learn.CompactAppliance

 

Contact:
Perfect Bath
Phone: Toll Free 1-866-843-1641
Calgary, Alberta
Email: info@perfectbath.com

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Current Mortgage Rates for Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Welcome to the Total Mortgage Current Mortgage Rates Blog. There’s some economic data out today, but first, your daily mortgage rate forecast/advice. Don’t feel like reading? Check out our Market Outlook series.

Market Outlook 5.22.17 from Total Mortgage on Vimeo.

Where are mortgage rates going?

Markets flat to lower this morning

The markets are taking a cautious approach this morning after a suspected suicide bombing in Manchester, U.K. last night. Treasury yields are down a touch. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note (the best market indicator of where mortgage rates are going) is down a little over one basis point. That means mortgage rates are flat to lower right now.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 23, 2017).     

The major economic data releases today (PMI flash and new home sales) failed to move things higher. PMI came in just about at expectations, while new home sales were down a very disappointing 11% in April. This afternoon there are a couple speaking engagements from Fed officials, but they mostly come too late in the day to have an affect on the market today.

It kind of seems like the markets are going to coast around where they are until the day’s close. It’s possible that we’ll see some investors find their footing and move back into equities, pushing up bond yields and mortgage rates, but they shouldn’t move any higher than a couple basis points from where they are now. Things really start to pick up tomorrow with the release of the FOMC minutes from their meeting three weeks ago.

Financial market participants will be keyed in to see if there is any insight to be gleaned about the upcoming June meeting. We’re less than four weeks away now and while the general sentiment seems to be that a quarter point increase in the federal funds target rate to 1.00%-1.25%, there are still some lingering doubts that keep poking their head up.

Just last night Fed Governor Lael Brainard stated that she is still unsure if 4.4% unemployment means that there is no slack in the labor market. Then early this morning Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said that there is still a lot of data to consider before deciding on a course of action in June. The point here is that while the CME Group’s Fed Funds futures are giving June a 78.5% chance of a rate hike, at least a few Fed officials are still weighing their options.

What does this mean for me?

Take action now

Mortgage rates are continuing to linger around 2017 lows. If rates hold steady as we head into afternoon trading tomorrow, it’s very likely that the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey on Thursday will be one of the best of the year for borrowers.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 23, 2017).     

That means that anyone who is currently on the fence about a refinance or purchase should seriously consider getting off it. At the very least, you owe it to yourself to reach out and see if you could save yourself some money with a refinance or lock in a low rate.

To get the most accurate idea of what kind of rate we could offer, you should fill out our short form and get a personalized rate quote. If you’d rather talk to someone, you can always call one of our experienced mortgage specialists.

They can walk you through the same process, clarifying any questions you may have, and let you know what your custom rate quote is.

Today’s economic data:

PMI composite Flash

The composite reading came in a little above expectations at 53.9. Manufacturing was the opposite, coming in right below expectations at 52.5. Services came in at 54.0.

New Home Sales

After surging in March, new home sales are down a disappointing 11% month over month in April.

Richmond Fed Mfg Index

The Richmond Fed mfg index missed expectations for a 15, coming in instead at a surprisingly low 1.

Fedspeak

  • Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari will speak at 3:15pm.
  • Philly Fed President Patrick Harker will speak at 5:00pm.

Notable events this week:                                                                 

Monday:    

  • Fedspeak

Tuesday:      

  • PMI composite Flash
  • New Home Sales
  • Richmond Fed Mfg Index
  • Fedspeak

Wednesday:    

  • FHFA House Price Index
  • Existing Home Sales
  • EIA Petroleum Status Report
  • FOMC Minutes
  • Fedspeak

Thursday:   

  • International Trade in Goods
  • Jobless Claims
  • Fedspeak

Friday:    

  • Durable Goods Orders
  • GDP
  • Consumer Sentiment

Rates are still near 2017 lows.  Contact us today to see if we can save you money on your home payments. 



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Monday, May 22, 2017

Tips To Help You Convert Buyers Into Loyal Customers

In terms of great business advice, the best I ever received was when a very wise business person told me to never plan my business strategy around obtaining new customers, but instead focus on getting repeat orders.  That might sound like a slight change in thought, however in terms of outcome for your business, it can provide you with dramatically different results.

Here is how to do exactly that.

Offer your customers random freebies.

In many industries, business owners commonly give their customers things like free pens, calendars and notepads.  However, this is usually done around seasonal holidays like Christmas or as a gift that is part of a transaction.  These gestures are things that customers really do like.  However, sometimes it isn’t enough to really build strong customer loyalty.

When having face to face meetings or online interactions, one thing you might try doing is having freebies or samples available in exchange for customer interaction.  In social media for instance, you might hold a contest or give customers a freebie in exchange for a like, share, etc.  If customers ask you any questions or tips, might also be a great time to offer a freebie.  These types of random acts frequently build a much better level of trust compared to concerted marketing giveaways.  Customers start to really trust in you and will most likely give you a call when they have a need for your services or products in the future.

Refer business to existing customers

All business owners know how important word of mouth referrals are.  They will put a lot of effort into asking customers for references.  Sometimes it can get annoying for customers when it is all a one-way street.  Keep a database of all of your customers (commercial and domestic) which includes details about how they earn a living.  So when you are interacting with a customer and making small talk, you can use that as an opportunity to get them connected with existing customers.  This helps to build trust with customers and they benefit professionally from it as well.

Provide Free Complimentary Consultations

A great way to establish rapport and earn trust from customers is to offer them free consultations on topics that relate to your service or product.  Encourage customers to ask you any questions they might have on things like how does something work, or offer do it yourself techniques and tutorials.  Many competitors don’t like disclosing the techniques since it can impact their business directly.  However, experience shows that if you are generous with free consultations, it will not only help to ensure that you get repeat customers but it will also dramatically build trust and improve how many word of mouth referrals you get as well.

Follow up on a periodic basis.

A big mistake that many business owners make is only following up with past customers when they have a favor to ask – either asking for referrals or trying to get repeat orders.  When your conversation is all about your business instead of them, that’s a recipe for disaster. 

One easy way of handling this is to follow up selectively with some of your customers to check up on how your service or product is working for them.  For example, if you are selling a product that comes with a six month warranty, give the customer a call or email before the end of the warranty period to see how the product is working for them.  As the seller you will be communicating what your responsibility is and be establishing a trust factor that can turn your buyers into repeat customers.

If you want to build a successful business then you need to build trust.  Keep in mind that you are the business owner and you need to always remember to show your customers that you are committed to them and always demonstrate your willingness to help them.  This will help to build trust and result in repeat orders from loyal customers.

Originally posted 2016-09-01 17:52:57. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The post Tips To Help You Convert Buyers Into Loyal Customers appeared first on Information Technology Blog.



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Business Internet Access

Do you need Internet access for your business? Are you aware of the difference between commercial grade bandwidth and consumer broadband?

Commercial Grade Internet Access

Commercial grade Internet access is dedicated,  (not shared), symmetrical (download & upload @ same speed), full duplex (simultaneous download & upload w/o collision), with SLA included (Service Level Agreement -for uptime reliability, RT latency, 4hr MTTR).

It is fit for the SMB/Enterprise market.

Works great for: VoIP, SIP, video conference, SaaS, cloud computing, any real-time app, heavy file transfer, web hosting, site to site communications…basically any business with mission critical Internet requirements..

Retail/Consumer Grade Internet Access

Retail/consumer grade Internet access is, non-dedicated and shared with other users.  It is much cheaper and has shared asymmetrical bandwidth, ‘best effort’ (no guarantee on quoted speed), and no SLA (outages repaired whenever they get to it).

It is fit for residential users. General web, streaming, email, social media.

Teleservpro works with over 40 telecom carriers, including the major tier 1s, such as: AT&T, CenturyLink, Level 3, Comcast, Verizon, etc. and can provide very competitive quotes for commercial grade Internet fiber: 5 x 5 Mbps up to 10 x 10 Gbps!

Contact them directly for a free consultation:

[Phone] 830-448-3085
[Email] info@teleservpro.com
[Web] http://ift.tt/2qdazAO (instantly prequalify)

Voice: PRI, VoIP, SIP, Hosted PBX
Data: Point-To-Point, MPLS, VPLS, IP VPN
Internet: T1, EoC, Fiber Ethernet

The post Business Internet Access appeared first on Information Technology Blog.



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A To Z Of Caching – The Importance of Caching for Internet Users

The importance of caching for internet users will trigger ways to save time and money. Computer language is getting popular as more people increase their internet usage in the 21st century.

Many people find themselves adding more Random Access Memory (RAM) for their computers, buying external hard drives and looking for more ways to add storage. Do you have any idea or ever heard of Cache? Learning more about this computer action will help those of you who love to be on the computer browsing the internet. Discover details in this article that shares what it is about and how it can affect you.

Computer’s Internal Storage

Cache is within your computer’s internal storage area. Webopedia defines it as “either a reserved section of main memory or an independent high-speed storage device.

Every time you visit a web page, the cache gives instructions to the computer. There are pros and cons with this computer feature. Internet users on laptops or desktops will benefit from this article. If you use the internet, then you must learn how to clear your cache at some point and time during your computer life.

There are different types of cache. Consider it a unique storage tool that helps you gain access to frequent information in a timely manner.

Ted Smith illustrated how important caching is for people who uses a computer with internet. New and skilled users can learn how to save money with his technique. As a solutions engineer with Akamai, Ted compared the concept of caching to an acorn vending machine. Picture a squirrel stashing his acorns away in a location with easy access. When you are ready to find tools for caching, connect with Ted Smith. He educates you on tools to learn how to control cache, places to cache and so much more.

Pros and Cons

Everyone should know the pros and cons related to cache. One of the pros of caching help increase delivery performance, decrease the need for computing and bandwidth resources, and ultimately save money.” (http://ift.tt/2qNNpF0). Everyone wants to save money. Not only does it save you money, but it can also save you a lot of hassle. For example, let’s say your work from home job requires you to have a certain amount of free space on your computer so that you can download their software.

However, you are experiencing poor performance when trying to download it. Frustration starts to creep on you because you don’t know about the cache. It could be something as simple as clearing your cache. A major con is the inconvenience of poor performance if your memory is full. There are times when a person internal storage and external hard drive can be full to the capacity. It could stop you from adding software to your computer. It can also cause programs processing time to slow down.

If you own a personal computer, then you have memory and disk caching processes. Newer computers may access data instructions at a faster speed compared to older RAM types. It is more convenient when you can click on a link and it goes straight to the website within seconds, right? However, there are times when some people sit, waiting minutes at a time to get access to data.

The reason for this is because cache memory communicates with your computer. It gives specific instructions on where to go. Your computer “is completely useless if you don’t tell the processor what to do.” (Torres, G. (2007). How The Cache Memory Works. http://ift.tt/12j610a). The basics of memory cache have to do with the speed in which data takes to access and deliver. Disk cache is normally installed on your computer hard disk so don’t worry if you have it or not. The disk cache is responsible for time performance because it is the first place a program check for data. It helps create ways to improve how programs access your data.

Control You Have Over The Cache

Now let’s discuss the control you have over the cache. Yes, you have control and can delete all or some of your data by choosing selected timeframes. Provided below are some basic steps listed to help you get a better understanding on how to clear cache on Google. (Megan. support.google.com)

Step One: Open Chrome on your computer.

Step Two: At the top right, click More with three dots.

Step Three: Click More tools, and then Clear browsing data.

Step Four: In the box at the top, choose a time period. To delete everything, select beginning of          time.

Step Five: Select the types of information you want to remove.

Step Six: Clear browsing data.

By clearing your cache, you removed quick access to recent web sites or data recently visited. Even if you purchased your own website, you will have a quicker way to access it via cache. Let’s say you have a favorite store you purchase online from all the time. Instead of you typing out the whole website, your computer’s cache access the data from a previous visit and pulls up the exact website link you need. However, you only typed 3 letters in the URL bar. Computer science has created convenience in people’s lives because they don’t have to waste time typing out a lot of characters or searching through their hard drive for data.

Normally when you click the folders file, you will see the most recent documents visited. If a specific website is forgotten, then the cache will help out by storing it in a temporary place so you can pull it up quicker in the future. There is a wealth of information available on the importance of cache. Once again, connect with Ted Smith because he is a professional who is knowledgeable about caching.

References

References

Megan. Clear browsing data. Google Support http://ift.tt/2rLO5Z1 Korf, M. (2017). What you need to know about Caching- Part 1. http://ift.tt/2rLyjxi Torres, G. (2007). How the Cache Memory Works. http://ift.tt/2qNyxXu Vangie, B. Cache. http://ift.tt/1Ukd9PA

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How To Achieve 100 Pushups In A Row (Step-by-Step Plan)

100 push ups in a row

*This is a guest post from my good buddy Dennis Heenan, creator of the brand NEW Goal Workouts Program.

96… 97… 98… 99… …

BOOM! Crashing to the floor like Superman on Kryptonite.

For weeks, I had prepared for this moment… So you can imagine the disappointment when I came up one rep short of the goal…

See, for whatever reason, I had always had the goal to do 100 pushups in a row. After failing miserably on my first attempt, doing just 71 straight, I knew I had some work to do.

Now before we move any further, you must understand something:

No matter where you are right now in the “pushup game,” you can use the insights found on this page to double or even triple your pushup totals.

When I did those 71 straight pushups, I had already been working out for quite some time. But it wasn’t until I used the simple tactics that you will find below that I was able to start adding more pushups very quickly.

And now, you can do the exact same thing.

After doing those 71 straight pushups, I devised a plan that would allow me to start doing more pushups on a weekly basis without burning out.

Let me ask you something…

Are you familiar with the phrase, “practice makes perfect?” Well, that is the approach that I took.

After spending time researching (and from personal experience), I knew that it wasn’t a big problem to do pushups more than a few times per week. More often than not, when people want to improve their pushup totals, a big mistake they make is not doing them enough.

Because pushups aren’t what I call a “big” exercise like bench press, squats, deadlifts, etc. you can add them in a few times more per week without a problem.

Of course, you do want to make sure you listen to your body. If you are overly sore or tired, it’s probably best to take a day or two to recover so that you can come back stronger and fresh.

As you will see below, we place in strategic rest days so that your body can recover, grow, and get stronger.

Going back to the story from the beginning…

There I was on the 99th rep for pushups… It would be amazing to write this to you telling you that I pushed through and got that 100th rep on that second attempt…

Yet, on rep 100… My arms just gave out, as if they were saying, “Dennis, that is enough.

Common, you know the feeling right?

Although I was disappointed in not completing that final repetition, I went back and looked at the stats over the previous two weeks. In all, I had increased my pushups from 71 in a row to 99 in a row.

That’s a 28-pushup increase. Not bad for just 2-weeks.

And it was just days later when I eventually did those 100 straight pushups. In fact, the final count on that third test was 104 straight.

So how on earth was I able to do this and how can you do the same?

The plan that you will find below is very straight forward and to the point. And as we talked about earlier, “practice makes perfect” when trying to dominate pushups.

If you think you are ready to start dominating YOUR pushups, let’s dive in…

How You Can Get 100 Push Ups In A Row

100 pushups in a rowStep One: Test Day

Of course, before starting, you will want to test your pushup strength so you can have something to measure when you retest 2-weeks from now.

All you need to do for this is do as many pushups as possible with perfect form.

That last part is VERY important. You want to make sure that your form is perfect throughout your total number of pushups. If you feel that your form is slipping, then stop.

As I like to say, “It’s better to do 25 perfect form pushups than 50 sloppy pushups.”

In the long run, having great form for fewer reps will benefit you more.

So, how many pushups were you able to do?

Write that number down: _______________________. (For example purposes, we will use the number of 50 straight pushups.)

Once you have your pushup total, you will then move to step number two.

Find this confusing? make sure to 100 Pushup In A Row easy-to-follow interactive workout sheets to your phone or computer for FREE — By Clicking the button below…

 

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Download the 100 Pushup In A Row Workout Sheets Here (FREE) <==

Step Two: Goal Number

Step two is where we are going to determine YOUR goal pushup number that you will be doing over the next 2-weeks.

What you will do is take your total number of pushups from step one and multiply that by five.

For example, since our example number is 50 straight pushups, our equation would look like this:

50 Pushups X 5 = 250 pushups

What was your number? Write it down: ____________________________.

Note: If your pushup total is over 50 repetitions in a row, your pushups will consist of doing 250-300 reps MAX for your workouts. For example, even if your max rep was 70 pushups on your test day, you will NOT be doing more than 300 reps for your workout. Instead you will do 250-300 in as little sets as possible (see step 3).

Step Three: Different Day, Different Technique

Now that you have your goal pushup number for the next two weeks, it’s time to go over how to use that number.

Over the next 2-weeks, you are going to cycle through three different kinds of days:

  1. Max Push
  2. Sporadic Push
  3. Rest

Let me explain what each day is:

Max Rep: Max rep days are the days that you will be training to failure on each set.

*Your goal is simple: To complete all 250 pushups (or whatever your number is) in as little sets as possible.

In between sets, feel free to take a good rest so that you can recover and go hard on your remaining sets. An example of a Max Rep day would look like this:

Set 1: 50
Set 2: 44
Set 3: 38
Set 4: 36
Set 5: 30
Set 6: 30
Set 7: 22

So in this example, it took us 7 sets to get us to 250 pushups. Your goal would then be to beat those numbers the next time you did a Max Push day.

Remember, we are always looking for some kind of improvement.

Next up, we have our sporadic push days.

Sporadic Push: Evenly spread out your pushups throughout the day to complete them. You are NOT training to failure.

You can call these days your “relaxed” pushup days. All you need to do is simply get your pushups done throughout the day.

For example, you could do 100 reps in the morning, 50 on your lunch break, and 100 when you get home.

You can do sets of 25 or 30 or whatever you want. Simply get all 250 done. Again, you are NOT training to failure on these days.

Rest Day: Finally, we have our rest days. And I think you can guess what this will be.

Take this day to recover and let your body rest. Do not do any kind of upper body workouts on this rest day.

Now that we have covered the different days that you will be doing on this plan, let’s quickly cover how you are going to cycle them.

If you know anything about me, I like keeping things simple. That’s why all you will do is “rinse and repeat” with the three different days that we covered. This means:

Day 1: Max Rep
Day 2: Sporadic Push
Day 3: Rest

REPEAT

Pretty simple, right?

After day number 12 (which is a rest day), you will take another days rest on day 13 then take your pushup retest on day 14.

If you follow this simple format, you will be amazed at how easy it is to increase your pushup totals in just 2-weeks time.

Write Your Numbers In The Comments Section Below

For those who are serious, I recommend repeating three 2-week cycles so that you can really see how much improvement you can make.

Having the goal of doubling or tripling your pushups or doing 50 or 100 straight, is a great way to keep you focused and motivated in your workouts.

And what’s great about this plan is that you can add it to any workout program you are currently on.

No need to drop everything and just do this. In fact, I encourage you to add this onto your current workouts.

Do yourself a favor and take your pushup test today, then post your numbers in the comments section below. Then in 2-weeks, come back and share with us all the progress you made.


The NEW Goal Workouts Program

100 pushups in a row Dennis Heenan

Dennis Heenan

Dennis is the creator of the brand new Goal Workouts Program. Have you ever wanted to achieve 25 pull ups in a row, a perfect handstand, 5 pistol squats in a row and more? Dennis’ Goal Workouts Program will teach you how.

If you want to learn more about how to reach ANY and ALL of your fitness goals, go check out the Goals Workout Pack HERE!

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photo, photo,

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Current Mortgage Rates for Monday, May 22, 2017

Welcome to the Total Mortgage Current Mortgage Rates Blog. There’s some economic data out today, but first, your daily mortgage rate forecast/advice.

Where are mortgage rates going?

Busy week ahead  – Rates still near 2017 lows

Mortgage rates aren’t moving a lot this morning, but that could quickly change. The week ahead is filled with speaking engagements from Federal Reserve officials, and also contains some important economic releases, such as the FOMC minutes on Wednesday, and a Q1 GDP revision on Friday. With some recent softness in the market, investors will continue to keep their on any communication coming from the fed in order to gauge the likelihood of a rate hike next month.

Click here to get today’s latest mortgage rates (May. 22, 2017).     

The general consensus is that a quarter point increase in the federal funds rate is still likely (the CME Group’s Fed Funds futures have the chance of a June increase at 78.5%), but it’s definitely not a guarantee. If the FOMC minutes on Wednesday show that there was more of a fuss over the weak first quarter results than appeared in their May statement, investor concern could strengthen.

It will be even more interesting to see what type of message we get from fed officials during their speaking engagements. Last week we saw that not everyone agrees that a June rate hike is warranted. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard (who is a non-voting member of the FOMC this year) made it very clear that he think the current tightening strategy might be “overly aggressive.”

He talked about inflation data coming in under expectations as well as treasury yields and other market indicators moving in the opposite direction one would expect if a rate hike were about to occur. If the data doesn’t begin to pick up in the next three weeks, the case could get difficult for the fed hawks. It’s one thing to dismiss a soft first quarter, but it’s another to raise the interest rates on the belief that things will get better in the future.

What does this mean for me?

Great time to lock in a rate

Mortgage rates dipped lower last week and they’re still hanging around those levels. Since that means they’re right near 2017, it’s great news for anyone looking to lock in a rate one a purchase or refinance.

To get the most accurate idea of what kind of rate we could offer, you should fill out our short form and get a personalized rate quote. If you’d rather talk to someone, you can always call one of our experienced mortgage specialists.

They can walk you through the same process, clarifying any questions you may have, and let you know what your custom rate quote is.

Today’s economic data:

Fedspeak

  • Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari at 10:00am and 6:45pm
  • Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker at 10:00am
  • Fed Governor Lael Brainard at 7:00pm and 7:30pm
  • Chicago Fed President Charles Evans at 9:10pm

Notable events this week:                                                                 

Monday:    

  • Fedspeak

Tuesday:      

  • PMI composite Flash
  • New Home Sales
  • Richmond Fed Mfg Index
  • Fedspeak

Wednesday:    

  • FHFA House Price Index
  • Existing Home Sales
  • EIA Petroleum Status Report
  • FOMC Minutes
  • Fedspeak

Thursday:   

  • International Trade in Goods
  • Jobless Claims
  • Fedspeak

Friday:    

  • Durable Goods Orders
  • GDP
  • Consumer Sentiment

Rates are still near 2017 lows.  Contact us today to see if we can save you money on your home payments. 



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