LOWER cost of living for Altamonte Springs Real Estate Owners

If the presence of inflation causes mortgage rates to rise, then the absence of inflation should cause mortgage rates to fall. And, in most markets that’s true.

Today, it’s not.

Despite a deep, month-over-month dip in consumer prices not seen since 1947, Altamonte Springs mortgage rates not steady by any stretch of the imagination… they are still as volatile as ever!

The main reason why rates are fluctuating so, is that the Cost of Living didn’t just ease last month — it plunged.

In fact…

Check out the rest at:

LOWER cost of living for Altamonte Springs Real Estate Owners

(Image courtesy: The Wall Street Journal Online)

Finally! The Urgency Longwood Real Estate Buyers Need…

So you wanna deal on Longwood Real Estate. I completely understand… I do to, in fact with the gloom they are painting for retail this Christmas [and Yes, iI am one of the ones still willing to CALL it Christmas] I have thought about scooping up a deal on one of those super-duper flat-screens… but I digress. Back to your needs… not mine. =0)

When it comes to housing info, there are always 2 questions to think about:

1. How does this impact Longwood real estate buyers?
2. How does this impact Longwood real estate sellers?

Since these are commonly on opposite sides of the see-saw, housing data is rarely negative or positive on a universal level — one group of us is going to see a benefit.

Today, it’s home sellers. [Sorry buyers, the longer you sit on the sidelines, the greater the chances you are going to miss it. For those seeking Orlando FHA loans… that may be even more pronounced as the guidelines become more restrictive next year with higher down payment requirements and lower loan limits.]

Can I take a tangent here for a sec?

I recently…

Read Chris’s RANT at:

Finally! The Urgency Longwood Real Estate Buyers Need…

(Image courtesy: The Wall Street Journal)

Chris Brown All Around Good Guy Trinity Mortgage 153 Parliament Loop #1001 Lake Mary, Florida, 32746	Work: 407 377 0500 x 210 Chris@OrlMtgPro.com www.OrlandoMortgagePro.com
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Are Florida’s Foreclosure Deals Good for Second Homes?

Foreclosure – especially in Florida is a hot topic among the press lately and it is interesting to see a staggering number of the sales in today’s market are comprised of foreclosures and/or short sales… especially in South Florida.  It’s hard to turn on the TV or open up a paper without seeing a sensationalized story about it.

But what’s even more interesting about the foreclosure situation is that they appear to be consolidated in certain areas of the country.  Of the four primary states… two of those were head and shoulders above the others.  [Woo hoo… we never do anything half baked here in FL!]  Okay, sorry, that wasn’t funny.

Drum roll please:  California, Florida, Arizona, and Nevada take the cake.  Something worthy of note about these states is that they share some similar characteristics:

1. They all have relative [no pun intended] popularity with retirees
2. Popular with real estate investors
3. They have had large home value jumps during this decade

This creates some extraordinary opportunities for folks looking to buy a second home in Florida.

Everyone else… yeah… they are normal.  the other 46 states account for the remaining 48.8% of foreclosures, or a mere 1.06% average per state of October’s foreclosures.

Now, this isn’t meant to make light of the impact of these foreclosures on the economy — nope. Foreclosures…

Read the rest of this kick-butt article:

Are Florida’s Foreclosure Deals Good for Second Homes?

Mortgage Chili Blog – Last Weeks Leftovers…

Mortgage markets bucked the curve last week and decided to be, well, volatile! At least there was a change, huh? Good Grief. After opening with a solid performance that drove rates down, mid and late-week fears of a global recession reversed that path as Mortgage-backed securities broke back below the 200 day moving average…that is bad for rates. This was an unexpected outcome for the week considering that:

1. The dollar advanced 5 percent, making bonds “worth more”
2. Oil dropped by 11%, helping to spur consumer spending
3. LIBOR dipped a bit, signaling a credit ‘thawing’ [does that even make sense?]

Each of the above factors would typically help generate new demand for mortgage bonds, pressuring mortgage rates lower. But, Ta-daaaa…

Read more: Mortgage Chili Blog – Last Weeks Leftovers…

(Image courtesy: Wall Street Journal)

Chris the Implementer

Orlando Mortgages | Orlando FHA Loans

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How do I SHORT REFINANCE my ARM Mortgage into an FHA Loan?

ARMs have been strained,

………………………….. ARMs have been twisted.

Since Lehman failed you may find that…

your ARM as around your own neck?.

Ugh… for current home owners with soon-to-adjust adjustable rate mortgages [ARM], the recent financial market upheaval worldwide may lead to a personal catch-22.

This is mainly because most conforming ARMs made after 2003 are based on an index called “LIBOR” [London Interbank Offered Rate… this is the rate that banks charge one another] and LIBOR is up an uncharacteristic 2 percent since September. Ooof.

Historically, LIBOR has tracked the U.S. treasury market, plus about 1/2-percent. This suggests that banks are only slightly less likely to default versus the U.S. government. That communicated that banks, at thte time were only fractionally less likely to default than the US Govt.

Well guess what?

Banks aren’t that confident in one another anymore. Oops. Now you have seen a diverging trend between the two indices. Wow, that makes me feel smart! [Breathe Chris, breathe….]

Today, that spread is around 4.500%.

The LIBOR spike is hurting homeowners with ARMs because adjusted rates on conforming mortgages are often calculated by adding a margin of between 2.250% and 2.750% to the current 12-mo. LIBOR rate.

The big group at risk? You guessed it…sub-prime mortgages, their margins are even more steeperer. [There’s my awesome grammar again! Smart felling from before… it’s gone now.]

In general, ARMs are not bad in and of themselves, so be weary of News anchors that try to pass off they know what they are talking about… they are just reading this 10 minutes before their broadcast and know likely less than you do if you have a good mortgage professional.

Your mortgage professional, the good ones at least, likely explained that ARMs are typically lower rates because you are taking some of the risk yourself. Unfortunately, current market conditions are worse than could have been imagined 3-5 years ago. If you still have 18 months or more on your ARM, you are in a better position than those with less than that, but to be sure, if you have any questions, call or email your loan officer, or a CMPS like me, to talk about how LIBOR may impact your adjusted mortgage rate and payment.

For many of us… I personally have an ARM as well, it’s less expensive to refinance into a new home loan that to just let the adjustment happen… especially if you can qualify for an FHA loan.

Orlando Short Refinances are a relatively new phenomenon and all the chips haven’t fallen yet as to how these are going to shake out… that being said, they may be an alternative to the ugly process of a short sale. [Which is anything BUT short!] It is important that you know that I am staying on the cutting edge along with a couple other high-profile loan officers from around the country. To get in on the front end of the wave, Apply for a FHA Short Refinance here.

(Image courtesy: Wall Street Journal Online)

WAKE UP! Smart buyers are jumping in… with both feet!

“You buy when there’s blood in the streets”

–Baron Rothschild

With the simple statement, Buy-Low, Sell High… what should people be doing now? Um, isn’t it obvious? To the smart, forward thinkers it is…

Real estate buyers are jumping back into the Orlando housing market and taking advantage of Orlando mortgage rates.

Each month, The National Association of REALTORS^® [NAR] tracks homes that are under contract [to sell], but haven’t closed yet… hence a “pending sale.” It also publishes a monthly report to show the statistical data.

This report is important because it’s purpose is to predict future home sales activity. [I love simple logic.] History shows us that 80% of homes under contract will “close” within sixty days, and the vast majority of the remaining will close within 120 days.

If Pending Home Sales are up, it’s believed, actual home sales will be up, too.

Cause, meet Effect.

Effect, meet Cause.

In August, Pending Home Sales jumped 7% nationally. This returns us to levels not seen in over a year.

The report’s strength leads us to believe that buyers are returning to the housing market when added to the trend that started in March. This is reallyyyyy good news for sellers because more buyers on the hunt means more demand for homes which, in turn, leads to higher sales prices… or at least stabilized prices.

The Pending Homes report is not a faultless predictor, however.

For one, it’s not measuring an actual sale — just the expectation of one. It also does not include new construction… only existing properties.

Bottom line, the strong change in the trend in August tells us that home buyers are re-engaging at a ramped-up pace and finding that “now” is the time to buy real estate.

When buyer demand rises, the real estate market, as a whole, isn’t usually very far behind.

Written by Chris Brown, an Orlando Loan Officer. For more information about purchase loans or refinances on primary residences or investment properties, please contact me directly @ 407-377-0500 x 210.

(Image courtesy: The Wall Street Journal Online)

The FED rate cut and… okay, I’ll say it… apocalypse

Sooooo, [I thought i would start with something other than ‘okay…’ LOL] The FED made an “emergency rate cut” yesterday, dropping the Fed Funds Rate by one half-percent to 1.500%. What you care about, is the PRIME rate dropped to 4.500%… this is what HELOCs and credit card rates are based on… yeah I know… good news, right? I mean, the move is meant to stimulate the U.S. economy… isn’t it?

When the Federal Reserve changes the Fed Funds Rate, it often takes 9 months for the changes to work their way through the economy so this is not an immediate realization of change, but apparently the FED felt it had to do it and do it quick. Emergency meetings are relatively rare.

On a broad scale, therefore, we won’t know if the cut truly “worked” until thew summer of next year.

But, as it relates to ‘we the people’ in general, the rate cut spurred two instantaneous changes.

1. Credit cards and HELOCs will be more affordable as I stated before,
2. but the second change is that mortgage rates are rising.

The Fed’s moves have sparked optimism in some corners of Wall St. and money is now flowing into the stock market at the expense of bonds… or is it the other way around. My gosh, my head is spinning… and I watch this intently every day. You better sit down.

As always, mortgage markets and mortgage rates remain in turmoil. Therefore, rates are subject to change… uh… a lot… anddddd frequently. Did I mention frequently? If you see a rate and payment you like, be ready to commit to it because it likely won’t last long. Have the nerve to PULL THE TRIGGER!

(Image courtesy: USA Today)

The Over/ Under on the BIG GAME

While I am a big college football fan, as I know many of you are… this is not about football… and as my veins bleed Orange and Blue [cough] Go Gators [cough], the players in this ‘game’ have colors of their own.

The question is… who are the players?

Is it the Green Tycoons of Wall St vs. The “White-robed” Senators

[I use the color selection quite loosely.]

Or is it the  more simply the

Reds of Washington vs. their across the aisle rivals, the Blues of Washington?

Now that the Bailout Bill has passed and will soon be less of a front-page-news item, there is likely going to be many MORE articles as to who/what is to blame for all of this mess we find ourselves in.  The ‘righteous’ in Washington D.C. are saying that the free markets are to blame and that it was pure greed that drove us to the brink.  Well, like so many times that the stakes are big, the loudest seem to be the ones that need to looked at just a little deeper.

Is that the case?  Did ‘runaway free markets’ cause this?  Well the over/ under is more aptly called the over regulation/ under regulation argument.  Someone whom I personally follow as a forward thinker in the industry, Brian Brady, wrote a post on BloodHound Blog, Deregulation is the New Regulation.  Brian, I believe, summed it up quite succinctly in three bullet points.

1. Borrowers that can’t meet Prime…
2. When gov’t regulates private industry…
3. When you move down the…

Read the article here

In light of the already-heated political climate, I will not make this a political post and the only names I will point out are: Barney Frank, and Chris Dodd, both Senators.  Do your own research to determine their influence.

At the end of the day, I continue to remain bullish on America.  Americans have been down, but we have never been out… current circumstances notwithstanding.

We will survive.

“No” Vote on bailout… what happened to Orlando Mortgage Rates

On Sept 29th, the U.S. House of Representatives whooped up on the the $700 billion “Bailout Bill”, surprising Wall Street and the rest of the world for that matter.

The Dow responded by falling an astonishing 777.68 points — its largest one-day loss in all U.S. history.  The media, in prime fashion, did a great job in over reporting that… but guess what they missed? [Gee, have they over-reported anything else…say…over the last 3 years!! LOL… sorry pet-peeve of mind and how they scare consumers, but I digress.]

What they missed, however, is how the “No” vote created a terrific opportunity for Orlando mortgage rate shoppers.

Throughout the day Monday,money fled the tanking stock market and most of it ended up getting parked in the relative safety of government-backed bonds which includes, of course, the mortgage bonds. This phenom is called, “Flight to Quality”. This rising demand for mortgage bonds caused rates to fall.

To investors, both institutional and on street level, the stock market represented extreme risk and bond markets represented comparative safety… Translation: Rates get better.  Media seemed to miss that…. huh.  So, when market sentiment changes, as it did on Monday, Wall Street players often shift their dollars from one place to the other. This is why Monday’s stock sell-off was good news for Orlando mortgage rate shoppers — the added demand for “safe” securities drove down rates.

Mortgage rates were about about an eighth-percent less Monday.

Now, Tuesday, mortgage rates are opened flat, Then it got u.g.l.y.. Mortgage Backed Securities fell [fell is bad for rates, btw] back to where they were in the beginning of September… erasing the benefits gained.  In today’s volatile market, you need to be able to move quick… or that rate you saw…WILL be gone.

If the new-look bill is viewed as favorable to U.S. businesses without harming taxpayers, expect stock markets to improve and mortgage rates to rise. If the bill fails to accomplish that goal, however, expect mortgage rates to improve.

Quick sidebar… re-looks at this kinda stuff make me nervous.  When has a Bill that didn;t get enough votes, get smaller, in order to get more people on-board?  Never… they add more pork to it to convince other to vote.  Ughhhh.

Other Articles of Interest:

$7500 Tax Credit

Is DPA… DOA?

Lowering your rate EVERYTIME rates go down…

“WaMu went down… Woo hoo, I don’t have to make payments anymore!” Uh, not so fast!…

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Well, we knew one of the ‘big, big dogs’ was gunna get eaten… and as of Thursday, the guessing game was over. Federal regulators seized Washington Mutual as it became the3rd lender of real interest to close its doors since July, joining IndyMac and Lehman Brothers.

In 2007, these three institutions covered about 10 percent of the mortgage market and now that they have closed shop what they have successfully done is…

…confuse American homeowners. [Or is it just me?]

The most prevalent question:

If my mortgage company fails, do I still have to make my payments?

Well, wouldn’t THAT be nice. We could all just look for the weakest company and all do business with them. Unfortunately that utopia doesn’t exist. If a mortgage company has financial problems [seized, bankrupt, or is otherwise closed] it doesn’t change the terms of the bank’s mortgages whatsoever — possibly just the mailing address.

This is because a mortgage (and its associated note) is a legal contract between the lender and the “lendee” [that’s you], signed on the date of closing. It is binding and cannot be altered by either party. The only way to “end” the contract is to satisfy the contract.

This can happen by:

• Selling the home and the mortgage is paid
• Refinancing the home and the mortgage is paid
• The loan is paid down to $0

So, if a mortgage lender fails, none of the above occurs… so the contract is still in force. So i recommend making those payments…they are still due.

This means that a homeowner will still make the same mortgage payments for the same mortgage but to a different company. Follow me?

To reduce confusion around transactions like this, the government puts two safeguards in place.

1. First, the govt requires the former lender to send a 15-day advance notice of the change to the homeowner.
2. Second, it requires the new lender to do the same.

In other words, the onus is ultimately on the homeowner to open and read their mail, and make the appropriate changes.

SPECIAL NOTE: IF you pay your Orlando Mortgages online, make sure you address this with your online bill pay as well… you likely won’t get notified if you’re sending payments to the wrong place and that may be a headache in the making!

Buyers: Are they their OWN WORST ENEMY?

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Woo Hoo… the August Existing Home Sales report was released Wednesday, showing a decline in the number of homes sold nationwide, and a reduction in the median sales price.

LEAVE IT TO THE MEDIA:

I can’t say that I am surprised, though, the mainstream media… playing on their love for the “sensational” spun these statistics as a big negative.

Are they driving an agenda, or do they simply NOT GET IT?

Sure… the slow down in home sales wasn’t a good thing, but it wasn’t terrible, either — sales were actually up in half of the regions around the country.

And, if I can get on my soapbox for a sec… citing “median sales price” is somewhat pointless because median sales price only measures the price point at which half the homes sold for more, and half sold for less. Woopie!

What does matter [I am glad you asked] =0) The third statistic in the report is what deserves as much — maybe more — attention that the others.

According to yesterday’s press release, the national home supply is decreasing.

This is sweet news for those selling their homes… even those selling Orlando Real Estate.

In this report, the National Association of REALTORS [NAR] said that the country’s existing supply of homes for sale fell by 7 percent in August.

At the current pace of sales, that represents a 10.4-month supply, which is down .5 down from July. I don’t have my mortgage calculator handy, but I think that is 5%, is it not?

The POINT: A reduced supply of homes for sale, everything else remaining equal, home prices go up!

This is Supply and Demand in its purest form.

The one thing that is seems economists and experts can agree on, is that reducing the housing supply is one of the most important elements to a sustainable housing recovery. And let there be no doubt… we have seen several indications that this is happening, like…uh… builders not building as much.

Bottom Line:

This is refereshing news for home sellers because a reduction in housing supply tends to lead to higher prices.

(Images courtesy: The Wall Street Journal Online)

Mortgage Chili: Gas Prices and Mortgage – The relationship…

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Crude oil prices jumped $25 at one point Monday, ending the day up by 16 percent.

This is an unwelcome development for home buyers because the same market forces that pushed up oil prices had a similar impact on mortgage rates.

It all comes down to the U.S. dollar.

Because both crude oil and mortgage-backed bonds are denominated in dollars, the fate of both instruments has been closely tied to the greenback lately. [I know, i know…. “What Chris?!”]

Well, with respect to the mortgage market, when the dollar has been strengthening, rates have tended to fall.  And, when the dollar has been weakening, mortgage rates have tended to rise.

Yesterday, the U.S. dollar had its worst one-day performance against the Euro in history so it only follows that conforming mortgage rates spiked.  Across the board, they added about a quarter-percent.

Add this quarter percent to the run-up from last week and conforming mortgage rates are now close to 0.750% higher than where they were last Monday, further evidence that how quickly the market can move.

(Image courtesy: GasBuddy.com)

WHO Benefitted from the huge market declines last week?

Yesterday, the stock market suffered its largest one-day point loss since September 17, 2001, and its sixth-largest point loss in history.

Not everyone got punished, however.  Two groups of people, in particular, welcomed yesterday’s losses:

1. Home buyers out shopping for a mortgage
2. Homeowners that snoozed through last week’s mortgage rate drop

See, as the stock market dropped yesterday, investors anxiously moved their money away from risky investments like stocks and into the safe haven of government-backed debt.

This includes mortgage-backed debt, of course.

As traders poured into bonds, bond prices rose.  They did so beginning at Market Open, all the way into Market Close. And, because mortgage rates move in the opposite direction of mortgage bonds prices, mortgage rates fell Monday.  A lot.

Today, the Federal Open Market Committee meets, adjourning from its scheduled conference at 2:15 P.M. ET.  In the Fed’s press release, among other things, markets expect Ben Bernanke & Co. to address the financial system’s stability — or lack thereof — that helped to fuel Monday’s selling action.

If markets find the Fed sympathetic, expect stock markets to rally, and mortgage rates to rise.

All Real Estate is Local. Well, is it?

With the shrinking of our world through the technology of the ‘virtual’ world, the walls of ‘local’ seem to be widening.

………………But are they really?

Uh, I think not. 

In a world of constant change, there is great solice in knowing that some things, namely human things, don’t change.  All real estate, is still local; and the advent of places on-line that attempt to make the world smaller only magnifies that point. [Oh, it does Chris, how?]

I am glad you asked. 

Because Information is EVERYWHERE! 

We are bombarded from sun up to sun down [or even longer…] from when we:

• wake up,
• drive to work,
• all day and
• all night

                            …until our exhausted mind tries to ‘sort it all out’ as we lay in bed looking at the ceiling… trying to go to sleep.

Have you been there?

In the heaps of information, how do we sort out the wisdom? 

Ads scream, wisdom whispers.

And when it comes to real estate, nothing through technology has proven better wisdom than local human intelligence and discernment.

Janet Guilbault, a Mortgage Professional in CA, wrote an excellent blog entitled, Real Estate is Local: The Top Ten Reasons To Use A LOCAL Mortgage Broker. I think she nailed it.  It doesn’t just go for the mortgage end, but all aspects of the purchase or refinance as well.

Her top 10 reasons sited are:

1. Teamwork

2. Understanding Values

3. Local Testimonials

4. The office is a place in your community, not just a web address.

5. The people are a face and a neighbor, not just an email address.

6. Ability to hand-carry documents and provide wet signatures… quickly. [Don’t underestimate this one.]

7. An advocate that will be there at the time of closing.

8. A resource after the loan closes, not gone with the wind.

9. They have an vested interest in performing well and delivering on their promises

10. Local contacts at all levels of the real estate transaction.

Granted, these are “Chris Brown” paraphrases, but the point is the same.

AT THE END OF THE DAY, local advocates will always be a greater resource than some distant 800#… how many of those folks now facing foreclosure and losing their homes do you think were seduced by the ‘best deal’ from some far-off 800#-call-center drop outs!? [Sorry, got a little worked up there!] Forgive me!

Devoted to Central Florida in all that I do,

Chris

Top 10 FREE Websites I can’t live without and you shouldn’t have to…

Here is a priceless blog through a new friend in the area, Mary McKnight – at real estate seo.

Alright, it’s the weekend and I totally don’t feel like talking geek, SEO,
blogging or real estate.  So, here are some of the things I have found on the
web that I couldn’t imagine living without.  These things either greatly
entertain me or make my life/job easier and I think you should know about them
too.  Oh yeah, these tools are also totally free, which rocks, ’cause I’m
cheap.

1.      Hulu.com – watch streaming TV
shows and movies for free

Hulu is
just cool.  Watch your favorite TV shows and movies online for free.  Totally
legal (because none of us would ever violate a copyright by using the torrents.)
because they sponsor to usage of the copyright with ads!  I use this all the
time to entertain my son.

Prefer to Download Movies?

Speaking of the torrents, thePirateBay.org is my favorite, closely
followed by seedpeer.com.  For the uninitiated –
Torrents are peer to peer networks (meaning my machine and your machine can
search each other) where you can download movies, images, software, music etc. 

Because I go old school from time to time, I also like eMule (although it freaks me out it
is written in Visual C++ which basically means that it s held together with
rocket science theory, Miracle Whip and scotch tape.)

2.      Actionext.com – create and listen to free music play lists

Actionext.com Killer site that allows
you to search for songs, listen to them and create playlists.  It also has an
open wiki-like tool where you can get lyrics to the songs you are listening to. 
I love being able to find the songs, build the playlist, share the lists (see
the embedded widget on the left of my blog – totally annoying, right?  Another
reason you should NEVER have music playing when a visitor lands on your site!!!)
and even read the lyrics in one place.

Want to share music socially and see other’s playlists?

Other music search and playlist sites you might like: 8tracks (another
playlist site), Tagoo.ru (terrific site for finding hard to find
songs online – lets you search and download from other people’s machine’s).

Try Blip.fm if you want to share
music and fid other people that like the same kind music you like.  It’s life
streaming for music – you can even connect it to your twitter account so you can
share your music with all your followers.

 

3.      Jing – record screencasts with voice overs and capture images from your desktop and share online

LOVE THIS.  I can record screen casts with audio and publish them to the
web.  Very easy to use and high quality!  Think of Jing as a supplement to all
your chat discussions, email threads, forum posts and blog entries. It sits
nicely on your desktop, ready to capture and share your stuff at a moment’s
notice. Simply select an area of your screen, capture it as an image or record
it as a video, and then click Share. Jing conveniently places a URL to your
content which you can paste into any of your conversations.

Download Jing now!

4.      Skype – make free phone calls, conference calls and even video calls

We all love something for nothing. With Skype’s free
software – by the way, it works seamlessly with your internet connection – you
can chat away with free Skype-to-Skype
calls and never worry about cost, time or distance. Share the
love and get your friends to download Skype so you can talk, chat
or make video calls for nothing. You can also make local, long distance and
international calls to phones and cell
phones at great rates too. Additional
features include instant
messaging, file
transfer and video
conferencing.

Check it out and SKYPE me at REBlogGirl or simply search for Mary McKnight on Skype!  Click te logo below to download Skype.

5.      Audacity

Do you want to import, export, edit, mix, record, add sound effects or
analyze voice, music, sounds, etc?  Then Audacity is the program you need. 

Download it for free from Source Forge at:

Audacity
at Source Forge

Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS
X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems. You can use Audacity to:

• Record live audio.
• Convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs.
• Edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files.
• Cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together.
• Change the speed or pitch of a recording.
• And more! See the complete list of
  features.

Other Stuff I Just Love!

6.   Txt2day.com – free text messaging

Txt2day.com is the premier free manual messaging website.  Send Free
Text Messages. Add text messages to your MySpace. Works with most cell phone
providers. Stop Paying For Texting!  I use this all the time because when I text from my phone I make too many typos and I am usually sitting at the computer anyway.

 

7.   Eyejot.com – record and send video to friends and family via email

Eyejot is a video messaging platform in which there is
NO software to download.  You record the message and the
receipient of the message is notified via email that they have
a new video message.   It offers everyone the ability to create and receive
video messages in a self-contained, spam-free environment. With no client to
install, you can start using Eyejot immediately with any browser, on any
platform. It even features built-in support for iTunes^TM (and
iPods^TM), mobile devices and social networks like
MySpace^TM. Watch Eyejot video
examples.

8.      Twirl – Funky desktop Twitter ap you can use to

Couldn’t keep my Twitter conversations updated without this nifty little
desktop widget! twhirl is a desktop client for
the Twitter
microblogging service. Most of the features available on the Twitter website are
accessible through twhirl, too. Plus, a lot of usability enhancements have been
added.

If you have an iphone- Twinkle is the way to go!

9.      Spamyourenemies.com – I can’t help myself – this is just fun to do when somone pisses you off

Spamyourenemies.com – If you are not that technical or not really that pissed off, this a great solution to a little immediate revenge.  Doesn’t really hurt anything, just fills their inbox with a whole bunch of weird spam.  Of course, if the person you are spammng is more technical than your average lab rat, their spam filters will catch this before it annoys them, but it still gives you that sense of justice and self satisfaction you need in those moments of ire. 

NOTE TO ALL – If you have ever been spammed, it wasn’t me.  This is just where I direct people that come to me and ask me to do something evil to their main competition’s website.  I’m a sociologist- I understand that if I don’t give a suitable answer and they can’t get immediate satisfaction, they may go to somone who would link bomb another site.  I find this to be a reasonable compromise for all parties when therapy is not an option.

10.  Rememebr the milk – Online to do lists!

The old-fashioned to-do list, which lets the brain concentrate on the
task at hand rather than on others in the future, remains one of the
world’s best productivity tools. These fresh new sites let you keep
track of your obligations and prompt you to keep up the pace.

RememberTheMilk
reinvents the to-do list in a snazzy interface that lets you make lists
in configurable categories, all laid out on the front page as tabs.
Adding to-dos is easy, though adding deadlines, notes, and time
estimates is unintuitive.

You can add to-dos using natural
language such as “Call Ted next Thursday,” sync with your calendar via
the widely supported iCalendar format, and set tasks such as “Pay
credit card bill” to recur. RememberTheMilk sends reminders through
instant message, e-mail, text message, or a combination of these. You
can also upload tasks via a special e-mail address that the site gives
you.

It’s a tremendously well-rounded free product, with neither more nor less than you need to get and stay organized.