St. Louis Missouri (MO) Small Business Social Media Marketing

Amazing Senior Service Business Booster Ezine
February 26, 2009
 
In this issue:
If you still aren’t sure why getting your “Social Media Marketing” act together online- watch this sureal video that explains the history and FUTURE of the internet. BYE BYE Local NBC/ABC/FOX affiliate, BYE BYE New York Times…..
The list of MUST HAVE website listings and programs.
Newsletters are in the mail yesterday. Let us know how you like the new look!
Are you connected with us? Please connect! FRE…EEEE
UStream TV Broadcasts- watch and use this free tool!
Community Service Presentations- Be the Elder Care STAR in your local community.
Hey Elder Care Marketing Mavens- Twitter- It’s What’s for Dinner.

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Today one of my geeky internet marketing groups that I belong to emailed me the link to a video that half made me sick, and half made me joyful. Life gets easier for us by 2015, and online marketing is ALL that exists except for a few print and yellow pages editions that will survive for seniors, the elite, etc.

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From NRMLA this morning: (For those of you not in the Reverse Mortgage industry, this is good news for seniors who live in areas where the home values are REALLY high. For those of you marketing to the affluent- this is important info for you!)

Mortgagee Letter 2009-07 Raises Limits to $625,500

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published Mortgagee Letter 2009-07, which officially raises the national limit for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages from $417,000 to $625,500 for the balance of 2009.

The new limit took effect on the date of publication, February 24, 2009.

According to the Mortgagee Letter, HUD will allow any loan with a case number assigned prior to the publication of ML 2009-07 to close at either $417,000 or $625,500 until April 30.

Loan limits for the special exception areas of Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Virgin Islands have a potential higher ceiling in 2009 of $1,094,625 (1-unit), $1,401,300 (2-unit) $1,693,875 (3-unit); and $2,105,100 (4-unit). At the present time, no counties in these areas qualify for limits above the national ceiling of $729,750.

If you have any questions, please email me at dhicks@dworbell.com.

Darryl Hicks, Vice President
Communications

Many more senior citizens became eligible to take advantage of the government’s reverse mortgage program this week as the loan limit was raised to $625,500 for the rest of 2009, from the former limit of $417,000. The temporary increase in the HUD Reverse Mortgage program is included in the Stimulus Bill, signed by President Barack Obama, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association (NRMLA).

The NRMLA says the limit will be raised on a temporary basis to 150% of the Freddie Mac Limit for the remainder of 2009, which would put it at $625,500.

HUD normally has different limits for different areas of the country, except in the case of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage.

The following may describe seniors who will be interested in the new higher limits:

● If you have been waiting because your benefit amount would not pay off enough of your existing debt;

● if you had already received a reverse mortgage but were limited in the amount of funds you could receive even though your property was worth considerably more than the current HUD limit; or

● if you find that with the current economic circumstances you must do something to protect your way of life.

For more information on the new limits visit www.reversemortgage.org or www.seniorslivebetter.com

Beautiful home! Great article today in the New York Times. Original link below-

Original Post: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/garden/19colorado.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&8dpc

February 19, 2009
A Colorado Home Is Ready for Its Owners’ Old Age
By JOYCE WADLER
LIVERMORE, Colo.

IF there were a glitzy, razzle-dazzle competition for cheerleading captain of the Aging in Place movement — and given the boomer resistance to anything to do with aging, there certainly should be — Cynthia Leibrock, designer, consultant and Harvard instructor, would be a contender, strutting down the barrier-free, skid-free runway of a well-lighted arena; tossing an easy-grip baton in the air; blinding the judges with a smile and that fascinatingly taut face.

In the marketing minefield of design for aging, Ms. Leibrock knows what many do not: It may be good for you, but if it doesn’t look good, nobody’s interested.

Consider her home, a flashy glass-and-steel structure in the Colorado Rockies, with fabulous gewgaws that homeowners of any age would covet: The high-end kitchen has a Gaggenau magnetic induction cooktop (you won’t burn if you touch it, Ms. Leibrock points out) and a Gaggenau column refrigerator with shallow shelves (older people have diminished olfactory senses, she says, so food needs to be closer). The guest bath has a reflecting pool and a steam shower with a redwood bench; the frankly un-beautiful mechanical lift that gets one in and out of the ample tub is hidden in the ceiling. Should support bars be needed near the toilet someday, the required engineering is concealed behind the wall. No complicated installation is required: snap the tiles off, put the bars on. And they’re good-looking bars, too.

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