Cruz Family 5 Christmas!!!!

Alex with his first Harley Davidson!!

Everyone crowding the baby!! Grandma has to have him first.

Andrew on his First Horse.
Pictures below of our 5 Christmas... Crazy..

Franklin Cruz Speaks at Pierce Middle School Nov 2008

Have you ever had a marching band, color guard and 500 kids scream your name? Well, I did and honestly am very humble to even have the opportunity to be allowed to come and speak to those fantastic kids. I believe kids our the future, so train them right.

Respectfully and Sincerely,

Franklin Andrew Cruz

"They even give me a wonderful certificate"

Thank you Pierce Middle School!!

For Booking info:
Email: Info@franklincruz.com
Ph: 813.221.4457

Flip that House Tampa

This is a property that we are converting from a NOTHING house to a beautiful 4br/ 2ba HOME. Estimated time of completion 60days. Can we do it?? Tell me what you think?

Andrew is Born!!

*Franklin "Andrew" Cruz II*

Born 11 Oct 08 at 2:45am weight: 7pds 2ounce

and 19inches Long...

SECRETS TO PROBATES BY Franklin Cruz

The secrets to Probates.. Would you like to learn how to buy and negotiate with a home that is FREE and CLEAR…? Do you think I’m joking? We’ll I’m not! Probate deals have been a secret to some of the WEALTHIEST real estate Investors in the WORLD… Why is this a big secret?

Nobody wants to tell you exactly how to do something that can cause you to change the face of your financial situation for generations to come. That would be insane! BUT, I am going to unlock a couple of secrets just for you- for FREE!!! Well… not exactly free I want you to do me a favor.. I want you to finally take yourself serious and do something with your FINANCIAL LIFE…Remember there is ONLY DO or DON’T DO-Can’t is a BAD WORD!! So here are my two tips.. .You can find out the rest of the tips at the event!!

Tip#1: Go to the courthouse and pick up a probate list. Go through the list and find properties that meet your criteria.

Example: What area would you like buy in? aka “Farming”

Tip#2: Now it’s time make contact! Start sending letters/postcards. Here is some advice: I prefer postcards because they are cheap.. 4x6 card is only 27 cents to send out.. But, anything bigger than that would be the full price of the stamp… and now it’s almost 50 cents… So right there you just saved 50% of your advertising expenses.

Tip#3 Remember in advertising every little bit counts… and you need to squeeze that penny till President Lincoln Cries… The postcard should read the following:

Dear _________.......(oh wait! You have to find out the rest at the event!!!!)

Tip#4: will be revealed at www.PitchFreeRealEstate.com

Tip#5: will be revealed at www.PitchFreeRealEstate.com

Tip#6: will be revealed at www.PitchFreeRealEstate.com

Tip#7: will be revealed at www.PitchFreeRealEstate.com

Remember the only one stopping yourself from being successful is YOU!!

Check out this great video of the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWAOshvu1LY

New PICS 4-D Franklin Andrew Cruz II

Can you believe he is still inside the Belly..
Coming Soon Oct 08

Franklin Andrew Cruz II

Important Short Sale Info"New Doc Stamps on all Short Sales"

"Please Click on the documents to View Image"

FHA Approved Housing Bill

By DAVE CARPENTER, AP Business Writer Tue Jul 29, 11:02 PM ET

Questions and answers about the Hope for Homeowners Act of 2008, passed by Congress last weekend to try to steer as many as 400,000 struggling homeowners away from foreclosure:

Q: What exactly will the legislation do?

A: It will allow those who qualify to cancel their old mortgage loans and replace them with 30-year fixed-rate loans for up to 90 percent of the home's current value. The FHA will insure a total of $300 billion of the loans over a three-year period.

But the decision on whether to write such a loan remains up to banks, which would have to be willing to take a loss on the existing loans in exchange for avoiding an often-costly foreclosure.

Q: Who is eligible?

A: Eligible borrowers must have spent more than 31 percent of their monthly incomes on their mortgages as of March 1, 2008. The troubled loan must have originated no later than Jan. 1, 2008, and be on the borrower's primary residence. And the borrower's income must be verified.

Q: When does the program start?

A: It takes effect Oct. 1 and runs through September 2011, although the FHA isn't likely to have it operating at full capacity until next year.

Q: Since lenders can pick and choose which loans to refinance, how can consumers determine if theirs will be selected?

A: Check with the bank or financial company servicing your mortgage, but it may be weeks before they make decisions concerning the new guidelines and assess individual loans.

Even then, keep expectations limited.

"Servicers are going to be reluctant to take the government up on their offer," predicted Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "The earliest they'll start taking them up on it is early next year. And even then it's likely to be modest."

Q: Is there anything a homeowner can do to improve chances of benefiting from the program, such as crunching numbers to make a case for the bank?

A: Not really. The best step is to keep up your payments as best you can.

Q: But doesn't this provide an incentive to NOT pay your mortgage, if you're barely keeping ahead of bills and are underwater on your house, so you can qualify?

A: No. If your situation deteriorates enough, the bank may reject any possible new loan.

"Turning yourself into a financial basket case is not going to work," said Dan Seiver, a finance professor at San Diego State University. "If you turn into a complete deadbeat, the servicer is going to just foreclose and dump it."

Q: So what should I be doing now besides trying to keep up with payments?

A: Talk to a local credit counselor and call the toll-free hot line of the Hope Now alliance — an industry group trying to coordinate a response to the mortgage crisis — at 1-888-995-HOPE. It is available 24 hours a day to provide mortgage counseling in multiple languages.

Mary Thomason, director of resource development for The Impact Group of Atlanta, a housing counseling group, also suggests tracking expenses and income closely in order to be able to forecast your cash flow for the next six months and give yourself better control of your finances.

Q: If the banks and lenders refuse to write these loans, then what?

A: Public and political pressure may prompt them to participate. If not, and more people continue to lose their homes, Zandi says the next White House administration subject them to additional regulations or investigations if they remain unwilling to take on the risks.

Q: What happens if I'm able to sell my home after I refinance?

A: If you sell during the next five years, you must agree to share 50 percent of any profits from the resale with the government. What's more, homeowners can only retain equity gains based on a sliding scale. The homeowner would have zero equity from a sale in the first year, with the amount rising 10 percent in each succeeding year and capping at 50 percent from a sale in year five and thereafter.

The equity must be repaid because the maximum amount on the new loans will be capped at 90 percent of the current market value, which automatically gives the previously troubled homeowner 10 percent equity in the home.

Q: Where can consumers find more detailed information about the plan?

A: There is a six-page summary of the housing act at

http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/HousingandEconomicRecoveryActSummary.pdf

and the FHA's Web site at http://www.fha.gov is a place to watch for updated information. The entire 694-page bill is at http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/financialsvcs_dem/hr3221_bill_text.pdf

TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS BILL???

Tell me the TRUTH???

Please answer the following questions honestly

1. What do you think of the Current Real Estate Market?
2. How can someone help you with right now??
3. What Important New Projects can I help you with??
   

Best 'Out of Office' Automatic Email Replies

1. I am currently out of the office at a job interview and will reply to

you if I fail to get the position. Please be prepared for my mood.


2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the
office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at
all.


3. Sorry to have missed you, but I'm at the doctor's having my brain and
heart removed so I can be promoted to our management team.



4. I will be unable to delete all the emails you send me until I return
from vacation. Please be patient, and your mail will be deleted in the
order it was received.



5. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for
the first 10 words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.



6. The email server is unable to verify your server connection. Your
message has not been delivered. Please restart your computer and try
sending again. (The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see
who did this over and over and over...)



7. Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system.
You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in
approximately 19 weeks.



8. Hi, I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your
PC for my response.



9. I've run away to join a different circus.

7 Powerful Time Management Tips

7 Powerful Time Management Tips

(by Prof. Paul J. Cline)

Learn to Speed Read – I can't begin to tell you how much time learning to speed read and save me over the years. It must be in the thousands of hours by now. I used a quick and simple system which only took me about 15 minutes a day for just 12 days (eight days for the basic training and four additional days for advanced training). I did this through a program called EyeQ (about $200, but $250 will get you 10 licenses!), which I found to be fun, quick and easy. You should easily double or triple your reading speed with this program, some people can even go 10 times faster.

Take Only Productive Action – One of the largest time wasters is people's unwillingness to review the day, month and year to get a full evaluation of how productive they been and see where they are time could be more productively spent. This simple process of self-evaluation can give you back years of time that would have otherwise been wasted. Don't put it off do it today!

Before You Start The Day – Plan The Day! – Study show that by simply planning out the day on paper you will typically save 25% of the time that you would have spent that day. This is a huge amount of time savings for something that typically takes 5-10 minutes. This planning will also make sure that you have all the necessary resources available to you that you will need during the day.

Networking – Its been known for a long time that people typically progress in life in direct proportion to the number of people who know them and like them. By gathering a larger network of friends and associates you can increase your resources exponentially, saving you a huge amount of time and money. Just remember, it is important to be a good friend to your network by seeing how you can help them before you ask them for help.

Voice Recognition Software - I love voice-recognition! You don't actually think I'm typing this article by hand do you? Voice recognition software is now at the stage where it can easily type 80-100 words per minute accurately versus 25 words per minute doing a quick hunt and peck. Windows actually includes the software for free as part of their package. I do recommend that you max out your computers RAM to keep this and all your programs moving quickly.

Get Mentors - Most people can pinpoint a small handful of people who account for most of the success they've had in their lives. For most people this is only about two to four people in a lifetime. How much farther ahead would you be if you had 5-6 powerful mentors currently, and ultimately utilized about a hundred over the course of your lifetime? Most people that are currently doing great, have great mentors. Mentors can save your huge amount of time and money, while supplying you with valuable networks and resources.

Train Your Staff in Time Management - I'm not sure how most companies miss this, but training staff in time management is one of the best (if not the best) return on investments a company can make. What would your company profits look like if all your staff suddenly became 15-50% more efficient? Most companies can get their staff trained in time management for $30 or less per person. If the average staff person only makes $15 per hour, the company would only have to save 4 hours per year in labor to double their money. Typically good time management training will save the company 200 or more hours per employee per year. How's that for return on investment? The question then becomes: Is your staff trained? If not, what are you waiting for?

Paul J. Cline MA CAGS CAP Ed.D (ABD) is a Trainer / Seminar Leader, University Professor, Author and local expert on Time Management. Paul is the founder of Advanced Training Seminars, providing seminars, consulting and coaching based in St. Petersburg, Florida (727) 204-0779. Email: paulcline7@yahoo.com - Visit our website at: www.advancedtrainingseminars.com - Check out our selection of FREE Articles and Useful Links & Resources.

WE'RE having a BOY!!!!

Click on the pictures to enlarge

We're Having a BOY!!

I can't believe it !!! If you look close you can see his hands, feet and face....

Real Estate is my passion, but fatherhood and being a husband is absolutely the best...................

Even better than when I came back from the Iraqi War in 2003.........

And yes we already have a name :

stay tuned......

Truth about Real Estate Investing.....

When I first started in this business of Real Estate Investing, I was no different than so many others who also wanted to step forward into real estate investing. I watched an infomercial and thought the free seminar it offered was just the item. Off I went to check out the free seminar and after spending 2500 dollars at the free seminar, I was ready and willing to be an investor! As you probably already know, my first big leap produced a sour deal. You see, a free seminar and 2500 dollars for a “how to” book and a “guideline” to finding properties simply is not enough to prepare a guy in the military on how to correctly invest in real estate.

I wised up and realized that what I really needed was some decent networking with other people in the business. Of course, this was a lesson I learned from another program also advertised on TV. Off I went to join the club mentorship program – for only 500 dollars a month!
(A healthy bit of cash for a person on US Army Sergeant’s pay).
After 5 months in the program and another 2500 dollars wasted, (Sorry I mean invested) I truly changed gears. The mentorship clubbing approach hadn’t made me any smarter and so many of the questions I had when I started the program, were still left unanswered. But there was some good that did come out of it. I made connections with people who were both in and around the club program and who knew of people who had mentored others.

That paid off. I met five men in the business, all who were willing to teach me in exchange for my willingness to work with them and for them. We’ll call them David, Noah, Moses, Sampson, and Solomon. There was no pay to me in the form of cash from any of them, but the knowledge I gained I have used to help build my net worth ever since. Most people would have chosen one of the five, but I wanted to learn as much as possible and from as many different perspectives as possible. And this is the way I did it:

I woke up at 3:30am to go the base and worked until 1:30pm and then worked for one of my mentors from 3pm till about 10pm Monday thru Saturday. One mentor in particular took the most interest in me. Even though he had a bad reputation in the area I worked for him. (I considered even this to be something I had to understand – what gave one a bad reputation and how valid was the label? I had to find out for myself. I learned all the trades in real estate through these guys. I worked at a Mortgage Brokerage Office, a Title Company, a Real Estate Attorney’s office, a Real Estate Appraiser, and Real estate broker. All during my mentoring stage, I learned so much and I pushed myself to learn something new Every Single Day. I truly believe that it is the push that makes you a player. That is the only way to truly be successful. And while I was learning from them, I truly believe they were learning from me. Long story short—
Sometimes you have to pay your DUES. First!!

To sum it all up, a “free seminar” fits in the category of anything that is too good to be true is not TRUE!

Save your money, find a mentor and be willing to pay your dues while you really learn the ropes. You will never regret the experience you gain from this.

I really hope this can help someone....

Respectfully,

Franklin Cruz

www.FrankinCruz.com

www.CruzTradeMarks.com