Saluting college veterans – Sacramento Press

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Sacramento State has the second-highest veterans and their dependents student population of any California State University and University of California campus. With more than 1,200 veterans and dependents taking classes there, the Student Veterans Organization is one of the highest profile clubs on campus. Its first spring meeting is Monday.

Active since fall 2007, SVO is dedicated to helping veterans and their families in every facet of college life. From class enrollment to complicated government forms, theSVO assists members every step of the way.

“This is my version of a fraternity,” Air Force veteran Dustin McMillan said of the group. “Commonalities we all share, like the military, provides the base to build on.”

A special forum, Veterans Cafe, begins this spring. Every other Monday on the CSUS campus, the cafe will hold workshops for all students. Topics will include health care, jobs and veteran women’s rights. Each cafe session will feature a speaker who is an expert in their field.

“This is an outlet for questions,” said Army veteran and club president Janelle Adams. “This brand new concept is a chance for faculty and students to receive an answers to their questions from the (authoritative) source.”

Veterans Cafe is just one of the semester’s activities. Plans also include a canned food drive benefiting homeless veterans in the community and fund-raisers such as a crab feed and car washes.

SVO also provides leisure activities. In addition to tailgating before every home football game, the club plans to tailgate before River Cats and Stockton Thunder games.

The administration at Sac State also offers programs for veterans and their dependents. The Veteran Advisory Council was designed to develop programs for returning veterans.

“Sac State realizes the growing issues facing veterans today,” said Adams. “With an increase of returning female veterans, sexual assault and other abuse is possible. These are issues theSVO has addressed in the past and we will continue to address in the future.”

Students who are veteran or their dependents are encouraged to join the club, as are students from Los Rios Community College. Though the club promotes veterans’ rights and educates members about state and federal programs, it has other advantages as well.

“I have made so many lifelong friends here,” said Vice-President Ryan Roebuck. “They are my friends, support group and most importantly, family.”

The SVO can be reached through its website.

via sacramentopress.com

Posted via web from Women Veterans Alliance

Coves of Northville MI condo complex

East of Taft just North of 8 Mile, condos are spacious & contemporary with a lovely view of a pond in the center of the complex
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Ice Houses on Walled Lake MI

With beautiful clear, blue skies today, it’s cold but probably perfect for fishing
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RE/MAX and the 2009-2010 Homebuyer Tax Credit

Foreclosures Weigh on Home Appraisals – ABC News

It wasn’t the first time that Katherine Scheri ruined a real estate agent’s day with a low property appraisal.

In this Oct. 1, 2009 photo, appraiser Katherine Scheri notes the coved ceilings, a plus, but the…

(AP)

Scheri, a real estate appraiser, had sized up a three-bedroom, two-bath house in Santa Ana, Calif., for $30,000 less than what the buyers offered to pay. A typical deal-killer for a seller.

The agent urged the lender to force Scheri to consider several other properties that could back up the original $310,000 sale price. Then he tried good old-fashioned guilt, telling Scheri her appraisal was going to ruin the buyers’ shot at the American Dream.

“That’s what he laid on me,” Scheri recalled. “And I said, ‘Don’t you care they could be potentially spending $30,000 too much for a house?”

Across the country, agents and homebuilders are complaining too many appraisals are coming in low, scuttling deals.

The National Association of Realtors says nearly one in four of its members has reported clients losing a sale due to botched appraisals. The National Association of Home Builders, meanwhile, said low appraisals were sinking a quarter of all new home sales and argues it’s not fair to compare distressed properties to brand-new homes.

And that gets to the heart of the problem.

Roughly 40 percent of all home sales this year were foreclosures or short sales, meaning the property sold for less than the mortgage. In some markets, like Las Vegas and Phoenix, they’ve hit more than 50 percent.

Appraisers determine the value of a property by looking at recent sales of comparable homes. They take an apples-to-apples approach, excluding or making adjustments for certain features, such as a swimming pool or finished basement. And generally, a foreclosure isn’t used as a comparison for a standard sale.

But in some areas, appraisers like Scheri contend they are only sizing up homes according to the reality of the market, though they concede its becoming increasingly harder pinpoint what a home is worth.

via abcnews.go.com

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New Years Wish

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