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News Flash!  HUD has decided to spring forward by approving bonuses for selling agents in Georgia and Florida!  This incentive is designed to jump start the spring selling season and help buyers and sellers take advantage of the record low interest rates available now.

There are a few conditions that must be met. Before the selling agent earns the bonus, contracts on properties located in Florida and Georgia must close within 30 days of execution.  Preliminary bids must be submitted on or after April 1, 2011.  The words “Broker Bonus” must be written or typed at the top of the signed Sales Contract, and if the property is mortgaged, a loan commitment letter from a financial institution must be received with the contract.  Cash buyers must provide a certification letter from a financial institution stating sufficient funds are available.  The selling agent must complete and sign the HUD Notification regarding the broker bonus sales initiative.

Both states are making progress at coming back from the housing crisis.  With housing prices and interest rates down, affordability is at an all time high.

Properties sold with a sales price of $25,000 to $75,000 will earn the selling agent a bonus of $500, while sales prices between $75,001 to $150,000 will earn a bonus of $750. Those sales at $150,001 and above sales prices will earn a $1,000 bonus.

Visit our website for more information about buying and selling HUD homes.

At 48 years old, Lougue Samby is a mother who provides food for 11 extended family members every day.  Supporting a large family anywhere is a challenge—but in rural Sevare (in Mali, West Africa), the challenges are even greater.  Lougue has struggled with feeding her family by giving them limited amounts of lunch and dinner, but the children were often sick with illness and hunger.  Like others in her village, she turned to friends and family for help with money, but they could not always help.

Lougue had never contributed to her family income, but started down the path towards a better life when a Credit with Education program was introduced in her village.  By joining with other women to form a Credit Association and take out a small business loan, she became an active businesswoman and her family’s future grew brighter.  The education she received taught her how to run a small business and how to use her profits from that business to improve the health and nutrition of her children.

Lougue

With her loan, Lougue started selling beans to others in the area and today has added charcoal, wood, peanuts and more to her stock.  For the first time in her life as an income-earner, she is able to buy important items such as soap and food so that her family can stay healthy.  She can also pay school fees and purchase supplies so that her children can gain an education.  In addition, Lougue saves money in case of an emergency or if unforeseen expenses arise.

Through Freedom from Hunger’s programs, Lougue and the women of her community understand that they are not alone in their problems, support each other to pay back the loans, save money, make profits from their businesses, and encourage one another in safe health practices.  “If you need money, it’s not difficult to pay back the loans and have a successful business selling things.  I love my business and I’m good at it.”  In addition, she passes the lessons she learns on to others in her community and to her children for truly lasting change.

Freedom from Hunger, with just 42 staff worldwide and 112 in-country partners, reaches millions of women just like Lougue around the world to help them earn more and learn more.  To donate, or to learn more about Freedom from Hunger and the lives affected by this great charity, click here.

YOU can vote for Freedom from Hunger to receive a portion of charitable contribution to commemorate First Preston’s 23^rd year in business.

The world is experiencing a global housing crisis.  According to the United Nations, about 1.6 billion people live in substandard housing and 100 million are homeless. Every week more than a million people are born in, or move to, cities in the developing world.  Nearly one-third of the global urban population lives in slums. In the United States, 95 million people need safe, decent and affordable housing.

Founded in 1976, Habitat for Humanity is a global leader in addressing the issues of housing. Started in a small interracial community outside of Americus, Georgia, today Habitat and its tens of thousands volunteers work with thousands of low-income families to build affordable housing which is much more than a roof over someone’s head. In the clean, decent and safe housing Habitat builds, families create a stable environment in which to raise their children, their sense of dignity and pride grow and educational and job prospects increase. Equally important, a family’s health, physical safety and security improve. Thousands of local Habitat affiliates work in communities around the world to select and support homeowners, organize volunteers and coordinate the building of homes. Habitat is not a giveaway program.  In addition to a down payment and monthly mortgage payments, homeowners invest hundreds of hours of their own labor into building their Habitat house and the homes of other Habitat families.  Habitat houses are sold to partner families at no profit and financed with no-profit loans provided by local Habitat affiliates. The monthly mortgage payments are used to build more Habitat houses.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA, USA (6/16/09)-During the 2009 Americorps Build-a-Thon, 500 Habitat for Humanity Americorps members and alumni helped 20 families build houses in the community hardest hit by the Iowa floods of 2008. © Habitat for Humanity International *

Habitat has build over 400,000 houses across the world, sheltering more than 2 million people in 3,000 communities worldwide. To donate, or learn more about Habitat for Humanity, click here.

YOU can vote for Habitat for Humanity International to receive a portion of our charitable contribution to commemorate First Preston’s 23^rd birthday.

After watching a news report of a severely injured Service Member who had returned from Iraq, John Gonsalves thought to himself “What now?  What happens to this person now?”  He searched for an organization that he assumed was already in place where he could donate his building expertise for a few weeks.  When he found out none existed, he quit his contractor job and started Homes for Our Troops.

Founded in 2004, Homes for Our Troops is committed to helping those who have selflessly given to our country and have serious disabilities and injuries since September 11, 2001. They coordinate donations of labor, materials and money to build homes for these servicemen and servicewomen so they can live independently and with maximum freedom of movement.

Through donations of money, building materials, and labor, Homes for Our Troops works directly with the Servicemen and Servicewomen to provide a home to an injured veteran at no cost.  Most of the projects undertaken are brand new homes.

MSG Daniel Robles explores his new home built by Homes for Our Troops

In some cases, the Veteran already owns a home, so Homes for Our Troops renovates the home with all of the necessary special adaptations to accommodate their injury or need, providing the maximum freedom of movement and the ability to live more independently.

Homes for Our Troops reaches thousands of Servicemen and Servicewomen across the United States to give back for the sacrifices they have made.  To donate, or learn more about Freedom from Hunger and the lives affected by this great charity, click here.