Interesting survey on life lessons being taught

I read this interesting press release from Bank of America. Here are a few of the key points.


Today, Bank of America released findings from its Merrill Lynch Affluent Insights Survey™, a report examining the values, financial priorities and concerns of affluent Americans.


When asked what life lesson they believe to be most important to impart onto their children

• (48 percent) of affluent parents cited “financial know-how”
• choosing the right spouse/partner (36 percent)
• choosing the right career path (24 percent)
• staying physically fit (17 percent)

In fact, 57 percent begin discussing financial matters with their children before the age of 12, and 85 percent before the age of 18.


The article continued with additional interesting findings regarding thoughts on retirement, health care and the current economic environment. It is a pretty good read.

Bank of American statement on stopping foreclosure sales.

Bank of America released the following statement on Friday, March 8th regarding their decision to stop foreclosure sales throughout the country.

“Bank of America has extended our review of foreclosure documents to all fifty states. We will stop foreclosure sales until our assessment has been satisfactorily completed. Our ongoing assessment shows the basis for our past foreclosure decisions is accurate. We continue to serve the interests of our customers, investors and communities. Providing solutions for distressed homeowners remains our primary focus.” Link

While the long term impact remains to be seen, initially the stopping of foreclosure sales has placed many homebuyers in a distressed situation with closings postponed and dates extended indefinitely while everyone waits for the lenders involved, including Bank of America to resolve the processing issues. 

Bank of America Mortgage Assistance Phone Numbers

Bank of America has information available online for homeowners who are facing problems paying their mortgage. The Home Loan Assistance page will take you step by step through programs or solutions available depending on your situation.

I found navigating the Home Loan Assistance site to be fairly easy. The message was clear that Bank of America would like to help their customers stay in their home and if that is not possible, the homeowner has options other than foreclosure. Those options include short sale, refinance, forbearance and deed in lieu. According to the site you can call the following numbers to speak about a specific solution.

• Short sale 1.866.880.1232
• Refinance 1.800.720.3758
• Forbearance 1.800.669.0102
• Deed in Lieu 1.800.846.2222

When it comes to short selling your home, Bank of America admits that the process can be time consuming and according to their information a short sale could typically taking as long as 120 days to complete.

Qualified real estate agents can assist you with the short sale process. In order to reduce the time and frustration it is important to hire an agent who understands the short sale process completely. I have the training and the experience to assist with short selling your home. Call me for a free consultation with a member of my Watson Realty Corp. team.  407-304-0255


Related Florida real estate blog posts on Bank of America

Bank of America and short sales

Do you need to negotiate a short sale with Bank of America? If so you may be interested in reading about Bank of America's decision to loosen its policies on short sales.


Related Florida real estate views:

Florida lawyers persistence keeps home owners from foreclosure

HUD hopes to speed up the short sale process

Homes being sold subject to a short sale contingency require lender approval

I went searching for a bank and found a Neopet

You can file this in "odd Google search results".

I searched for bank in Google and was surpised to find a link to the online pet game, neopets as the 3rd result.

If neopets can rank for the keyword bank I am going to open an account and create a real estate pet.


Related Florida real estate views:

Who is viewing Florida real estate?

Orlando Florida. What is being searched? Who is doing the searching?

Blogs dealing with Orlando housing


- Greg Staker - Watson Realty Corp. - 407-304-0255

Bank of America predicts home sales will level off

From a Bank of America US Economic & Financial Forecast:

Home sales are likely to level off later this year, as affordability continues to improve and credit conditions ease somewhat; however, declining home prices are also a key deterrent to housing recovery, leading potential homeowners to postpone purchases. Even after home sales level off, near-record inventories of homes for sale will delay a pickup in construction...

Read entire forecast