Conventional Streamline Refinance

Phil Jensen Mortgage Director AmeriFirst Financial Phone: 602-642-8393 Phil@JensenTeam.com Arizona Mortgage Experts Best Arizona Home Search Conventional Streamline Refinance

In This Issue           Last Week in Review: The Fed made headlines, plus inflation is heating up! Forecast for the Week: Some key reports on housing, plus the Fed’s favorite gauge of inflation and news from Europe could move the markets. View: Ever feel like you ramble when you leave voicemails? Check out these tips for surefire ways to leave effective messages.           Last Week in Review           When the Fed talks, people listen. And last week, the Fed made headlines when Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo called for the Fed to engage in another round of Mortgage Bond purchases…or in other words, another round of Quantitative Easing (QE3). Read on to find out what this could mean for the housing market and home loan rates. In order to really have an impact on housing, the Fed would have to announce something significant to get people to buy a home. Why? Because even now, with rates at historically low levels and incredible affordability levels, the sales pace in housing is tepid, due to structural problems in the labor market, which the Fed can't fix. In fact, there is a lot to consider before the Fed starts expanding their balance sheet, and the biggest concern is rising inflation. Contrary to what the Fed has said about it moderating, year-over-year inflation is on the rise. The headline Producer Price Index (PPI) rose by a whopping 0.8% in the month of September, elevating year-over-year wholesale prices by a hot 6.9%. Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September rose by 0.3%, and while this was inline with estimates it pushed the year-over-year number to 3.9%. This is significant because the year-over-year figure was just 1.6% in January. Remember, inflation is the arch enemy of Bonds and home loan rates. The concept is very simple: If inflation rises, investors in Bonds demand a higher yield to offset the lost buying power inflation imposes on a fixed payment. And as home loan rates are tied to Mortgage Bonds, this would mean home loan rates move higher. And let’s not forget the ongoing drama out of Europe. French and German leaders will hold two summits in the span of four days to come up with a resolution to the European debt crisis. Whichever way this news goes could have a real effect on the markets, including Bonds and home loan rates. With all the news to come this week, it’s still important to remember that now remains a great time to purchase or refinance a home, as home loan rates are still near historic lows. Let me know if I can answer any questions at all for you or your clients.           Forecast for the Week           Look for some key reports on the housing market, which come after last week’s better-than-expected Housing Starts and the softer numbers from Existing Home Sales. New Home Sales are set to be delivered on Wednesday. That number has been hovering near record lows, so the markets will be anxious to see if there’s any indication of an improvement. Also this week, Pending Home Sales will be released Thursday. Also on Thursday, Initial Jobless Claims will be released as usual. Plus, the first reading on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the 3rd quarter will be released. Overall, the estimates don’t appear as if the economy is hitting on all cylinders yet. The markets will see how the American people are holding up in this economy with Consumer Confidence and Consumer Sentiment on Tuesday and Friday, respectively. Ending the week, Friday’s Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), the Fed’s favored inflation measure, is sure to garner some attention. In addition to those reports, keep an eye on the news. One story that could gain some attention is news that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Obama administration will submit proposals to Congress to help the housing market for those homeowners who are underwater. Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result. As you can see in the chart below, Bonds and home loan rates stayed in a tight range last week. I’ll be watching closely to see how the markets react to Fed Governor Tarullo’s call for QE3, the news out of Europe, and the economic reports of the week. Chart: Fannie Mae 3.5% Mortgage Bond (Friday Oct 21, 2011)           The Mortgage Market Guide View...                   Don’t Say Another Word! 5 Secrets to Leaving More Effective Voice Messages People are busy. That means, even with the wide variety of technical products developed to keep us in touch, it’s sometimes hard to get a hold of people. In those instances, we find ourselves transported back to the tried-and-true technology of the 1980s—that is, leaving a message after the beep. Same Old, Same Old While the technology has changed from tapes to megabytes, the basic concept of a voice message remains the same. You talk; it records; people listen. Sadly, that’s not the only thing that’s the same. Many people still don’t know how to leave a message that provides information but also establishes a compelling reason for the listener to call back. Use These Tips Today! The following tips can help you be more effective and get better results with voice messages:

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Good News at Home and Abroad Impact Home Loan Rates

Phil Jensen Mortgage Director AmeriFirst Financial Phone: 480-682-6613 Phil@JensenTeam.com www.JensenTeam.com www.BestArizonaHomeSearch.com

In This Issue           Last Week in Review: Good news at home and abroad impacted the markets and home loan rates last week. Find out how. Forecast for the Week: Earnings season is in full swing, plus look for big news on manufacturing, housing, and inflation. View: Wondering about the outlook for the housing and mortgage markets in 2012? Be sure to read the article below.           Last Week in Review           “It’s a small world after all.” And that proved especially true last week, as our markets were impacted by news at home and news from overseas. Here are the highlights. First, there was some good news on the economic front in the U.S. as Retail Sales for September rose by 1.1%, above the 0.6% expected and the highest increase in seven months. Remember good economic news typically benefits Stocks at the expense of Bonds (including Mortgage Bonds, to which home loan rates are tied), as investors move their money from the safety of Bonds into Stocks to try and take advantage of gains. And good news here wasn’t the only thing that pressured Bonds and home loan rates last week. The European Central Bank (ECB) said they will announce a plan by early November for addressing the Greek debt crisis and make recapitalizing their banks a priority. As part of this plan, the International Monetary Fund is going to dedicate more resources to help the European debt crisis. A lot of money is needed to make investors feel confident that the debt crisis will be contained, so investors saw this as positive news. So what does this mean for Bonds and home loan rates? Should the overall present optimistic tone continue, Bonds and home loan rates could face additional pressure. However, if there is pessimistic or uncertain news, investors may return to the safe haven of Bonds, meaning home loan rates could benefit. We did see a little of this trend last week when there was word that China's exports came in lower than expectations, which brought concern that global growth could continue to slow. Either way, the volatility is sure to continue so the most important thing to remember is that now is still a great time to purchase or refinance a home, as home loan rates remain near historic lows. Let me know if I can answer any questions at all for you or your clients.           Forecast for the Week           Manufacturing, inflation, and housing reports dominate the news this week: The manufacturing sector accounts for one-quarter of the economy, so it’s especially important during the current economic situation. This week, the New York State Empire Manufacturing Index as well as Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization will be released on Monday. Later in the week, the Philadelphia Fed Index will be reported on Thursday. Inflation news from the Producer Price Index (PPI) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be delivered on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. The last report on consumer inflation was a bit hotter than expected, so Bond market players will be closely watching those reports. Housing Starts will be reported on Wednesday and on Thursday Existing Home Sales will be delivered. The weekly Initial Jobless Claims report will be released on Thursday. As of last week’s report, they continue to remain above the 400,000 level. Plus, earnings season is in full swing this week. Some big names reporting earnings are Citigroup, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Apple, and AT&T. If the reports come in better than expected, it could push investing dollars over to the Equity markets. Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result. As you can see in the chart below, Bonds and home loan rates faced pressure last week but remained above a key technical level. I’ll be watching the markets closely this week to see what happens. Chart: Fannie Mae 3.5% Mortgage Bond (Friday Oct 14, 2011)           The Mortgage Market Guide View...                   The Housing and Mortgage Markets in 2012 Last week, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) released its outlook for the housing and mortgage markets in 2012. Overall, the news is mixed, but there’s some good news to glean out of it. Here are three positive elements in the MBA forecast that you should know about: 1. Home Sales Steady Before Slight Increase The MBA expects total existing home sales will stay around the 4.9 million unit pace for 2011 and 2012. But in 2013, the MBA expects home sales to increase slightly to 5.2 million units, as the broader economy recovers. New home sales are expected to be similar to the overall trend. As the MBA stated in its release: “The recovery in the new home sales will have a comparably slow start…but will show some meaningful increases in 2013.” 2. Slight Growth in Home Purchases Despite an expected decrease in refinances, the MBA forecasts some slight growth in the number of mortgages for home purchases. Specifically, the MBA anticipates home loans for purchases to increase to $412 Billion in 2012, which would be up from the anticipated 2011 total of $400 Billion. Better still, the MBA expects home loans for purchases to jump significantly to $700 Billion in 2013 as the economy, home sales, and home prices are all anticipated to pick up. 3. Rates to Remain Low Overall, fixed home loan rates are expected to remain low by historical standards. The MBA expects rates to end 2011 around a 4.5 percent average, and then possibly dropping slightly to 4.4 percent at some point in 2012. But by 2013, the MBA expects rates to climb back up to 4.9 percent – w

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Weekly Newsletter

Phil Jensen Mortgage Director AmeriFirst Financial Phone: 602-692-7445 Phil@JensenTeam.com Lowest Arizona Mortgage Rates Phoenix Homes For Sale

In This Issue           Last Week in Review: There was plenty of news for both optimists and pessimists last week. Find out what that meant for home loan rates. Forecast for the Week: Big job news is ahead, but will it be positive or negative? View: Changes are coming from Fannie and Freddie in 2012. Get the scoop below!           Last Week in Review           “Both optimists and pessimist contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane, and the pessimist—the parachute.” G.B. Stern. And last week, we saw sentiment on the economy go from pessimistic, to optimistic, and back to pessimistic—all within a week! Here are the highlights of what happened. On the optimistic side, several economic reports were better than expected. For example, New Home Sales for August were up 6.1% from a year earlier and the Case-Shiller Home Price Index rose in July from June in the 10 and 20 city survey, and was the fourth monthly gain in a row. What’s more, there was some positive news from overseas. European leaders are designing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that would issue Bonds and purchase European debt to try to contain the malaise in that region. Plus, Germany voted in support for the expansion of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which will be used to help Euro member countries access capital. This is optimistic news, as it shows Germany is doing whatever it can to help debt laden countries avoid default and potentially threaten the Euro union. While this mix of news was great for our economy and the global economy, the result was a "risk on trade" where investors fled the safe haven trade of Bonds and moved into Stocks to try and take advantage of gains. And since home loan rates are tied to Mortgage Bonds, when Bonds worsen home loan rates worsen as well. That’s what we saw happen in the early and middle part of last week. But some pessimism crept back into the markets late last week as China's Manufacturing PMI contracted for a third consecutive month. There is growing fear that a slowdown in China could affect the already fragile global economy. This is a developing story and one I will be watching closely because if China’s economy does meaningfully slow, it will likely take Stocks down another level and help Bonds and home loan rates. Also creating some pessimism late in the week: Personal Income was lower than expected, and seeing earnings contract is not a good sign for the economy. The bottom line is that now is a great time to purchase or refinance a home, as home loan rates remain near historic lows. Let me know if I can answer any questions at all for you or your clients.           Forecast for the Week           Can the U.S. job market get back on its feet? We’ll find out this week, along with more manufacturing news: On Monday, the ISM Index will be delivered, and it’s probably the most closely watched manufacturing report out there. Jump ahead to Wednesday to see the first labor market reading of the week with the release of the ADP Employment Report. Weekly Jobless Claims will be released as usual on Thursday. Last week's drop below 400,000 was welcomed by investors, but the Labor Department said the numbers were somewhat impacted by seasonal adjustment factors. Last but not least is Friday's Jobs Report, which includes Hourly Earnings, Average Workweek, Unemployment Rate and the closely watched Non-farm Payrolls Report. In August, there were zero jobs created, which was a major blow to the psyche of the investment world. So the markets will be watching this report closely. Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result. As you can see in the chart below, Bonds and home loan rates were able to remain above a key trading level. I’ll be watching closely to see which way sentiment impacts the markets this week. Chart: Fannie Mae 3.5% Mortgage Bond (Friday Sep 30, 2011)           The Mortgage Market Guide View...                   Fannie and Freddie to Increase Fees… But What Does It Mean? Starting in 2012, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are expected to increase their fees, which could impact homebuyers depending on the risk of their loan or the location of their home. Here’s what you need to know – including what’s really happening and what it means to homebuyers. What fee is being increased? First, it’s important to remember that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not actually make home loans. Instead, they provide financing to lenders by purchasing mortgages from those lenders. Then, Fannie and Freddie either keep those mortgages on their books or they package them (in the form of securities) for sale to investors. That means, Fannie and Freddie don’t actually charge direct fees to homebuyers. But they do charge fees to lenders when they purchase home loans from those lenders. The lenders, in turn, build those fees into the home loans they offer. So the bottom line is that any increase in the fee that Fannie and Freddie charge lenders will essentially be passed on to consumers. However, the fees likely won’t be increased the same amount across the board. For example, Fannie and Freddie may charge higher fees when purchasing riskier loans or they may vary the fees based on which part of the country the home is located in (taking into account things like the foreclosure rate of the location). Why is this happening? Fannie and Freddie were seized by the government three years ago to help protect them from failing. That’s important because Fannie and Freddie (along with other government agencies) actually guarantee about 9 out of every 10 new home loans—and with the challenges that the housing market has seen recently, those guarantees have been extremely important. However, Fannie and Freddie have also cost the taxpayers more than $140 Billion. So Fannie and Freddie will gradually increase their guarantee fees next year and reduce the size of the home loans they purchase in an effort to: 1. Save tax

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Weekly Newsletter

In This Issue Last Week in Review: The Fed met, and inserted a “twist” into things. Forecast for the Week: A full week of economic reports is ahead, including news on inflation, the state of the economy, consumer confidence, and more. View: No one wants to get a bad rap, especially online. Check out Part 2 of our series on improving your online persona. Last Week in Review "Twist and shout." The Fed inserted a “twist” into the market last week, but only time will tell if their decision will be cause for shouting. Read on to learn what the Fed did, and what this could mean for home loan rates. The week began with speculation that the Fed would announce “Operation Twist” after its two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. What is Operation Twist? Essentially, Operation Twist is where the Fed sells its holdings of short-term securities and Notes and then purchases longer-term Notes and Bonds in order to try and lower longer term rates even further. And Operation Twist is exactly what the Fed announced, but their announcement came with some key surprises: First, the Fed’s statement was more strongly worded than expected, as the Fed said that there remains “significant” risks to the downside for the US economy. Second, the funding for Operation Twist was larger than expected, coming in at $400 Billion. Third, the Fed said they will reinvest principal payments on their current holdings of agency debt back into Mortgage Backed Securities…which led to a huge rally in the Bond Market Wednesday, while Stocks took a nose dive. So what does all of this mean for home loan rates? The Fed’s statement has heightened pessimism, fear, and concern...and normally those sentiments help Bonds (including Mortgage Bonds, to which home loan rates are tied) improve as investors seek a safe haven for their money. But it’s important to understand that even if Bonds improve, home loan rates may not improve much further. Why? It is basic supply and demand: lenders’ pipelines have been overflowing with people wanting to refinance or purchase a home and take advantage of the historically low rates we’ve seen. This level of volume flowing into the system has already created a backlog of work for lenders, which means they may not pass along all the gains we are seeing in the Bond Market onto their rate sheets. The bottom line is that home loan rates remain near historic lows, and now is a great time to purchase or refinance a home. Let me know if I can answer any questions at all for you or your clients. Forecast for the Week Economic data will impact trading throughout the week by giving investors a broad look at the economy: Housing will be first up with New Home Sales on Monday. Last week's housing data was mixed with lower than expected Housing Starts but Existing Home Sales came in on the positive side. Pending Sales will also be reported on Thursday. The week will also give us a read on how consumers are feeling in this weakening economy. Consumer Confidence will be released on Tuesday and Consumer Sentiment will be delivered on Friday. Weekly Initial Jobless claims will also be closely watched on Thursday. The job markets continue to be a drag on the economy as each week over 400,000 people are claiming unemployment benefits. The big news this week will be the government's report on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which will be released Thursday. With the economy slowing, GDP will be on the radar screen for signs of recessionary numbers. Also important will be Wednesday’s Durable Goods Orders, which gives us an update on consumer and business buying behavior on big-ticket items. Investors will also be closely watching the inflation figures within the Core Personal Consumption Expenditure, which is the Fed's favorite gauge of inflation and will be reported on Friday. In addition to those reports, investors will be closely watching the movements in the Stock Market after last week's plunge. The big questions will be: How low can Stocks go? And, are we in a bear market or just a correction phase? Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result. As you can see in the chart below, Bonds rallied last week, though they did give back some of their gains on Friday. I’ll be watching both Stocks and Bonds closely this week to see which way the markets move. Chart: Fannie Mae 3.5% Mortgage Bond (Friday Sep 23, 2011) The Mortgage Market Guide View... What Does the Internet Say About You? Part 2: Simple Steps to Improve Your Online Persona Your online persona is a lot like a credit score. It’s already out there whether you check it or not. And other people can review it at any time. The similarities don’t end there. Like a credit score, you can review your online persona and work to improve it…so when people like potential clients look at it, they’ll see what you want them to see. Step One: Evaluate Your Online Persona In order to know what your online persona looks like, you have to actually check it. So start by opening your web browser to a search website such as Google.com, Yahoo.com, Ask.com, AltaVista.com, Lycos.com, or Microsoft’s new Bing.com. Then simply type in your name and hit search. Scan through the first two or three pages to see what items are coming up most often, and make note of any negative news that you’d like to get removed. You can also do more specific searches. For example, you can type your name in parentheses along with your email address, the name of your college, your job title, a hobby, or even other people’s names. For example, you could type “your name + friend’s name” or “your name + college name.” You may be surprised what you find with some of these specific searches. Once you’ve searched your name on one site, open another and do the same thing. You’ll probably find a number of similarities, so you only need to check a few different sites to get an idea of what the Internet says about you. Remember to take specific notes about false or unflattering information. You’ll want to write down what it is, where it appears, and why it shouldn’t be there. Finally, don’t forget to search for videos and images! After all, one of your friends may have posted photos and tagged you in the photo without you realizing it. You can use some of the same sites listed above—only this time, click the video or image search button before you search for your name. Step Two: Remove Anything Negative Like your credit score, if you find information on the Internet that is inaccurate or inappropriate, your first step should be to try to get it removed. This is where those diligent notes from step one will come in handy. First, if you found something unflattering that you actually posted in the past, remove it yourself. For example, if you posted pictures or stories on an old blog, go back and remove them. In addition, take the time to go through any websites or social networking sites where you control the information. Maybe you have a blog, website, or social networking site that features pictures and text that you post. Go back through the information to make sure you still want people to see or read it. If not, remove it immediately…even if it didn’t show up in the search you conducted. Second, if you found information on other websites that you think should be removed, contact them right away. Start with the websites that have the worst (most egregious or most inaccurate) information. Using a polite but firm tone, explain what content you found on their site, why it’s a problem, and then specifically ask them to remove that information from their site. Be as specific as possible. If the information is false, say that. If the information is private and used without permission, say that. You may even want to include a link to the material to make sure they can quickly find the problematic information that you’re asking them to remove. It’s a Marathon…Not a Sprint Remember, the Internet has a long memory. So it may take some time for those negative elements to stop showing up in searches. But by removing them, you can help make sure that even if they do show up in a search, people won’t be able to actually view the detailed information when they try to click the link. When you combine the steps above with the process of adding new more professional content to your website, blog or social media sites, you’ll be able to continually improve your online persona! Economic Calendar for the Week of September 26 - September 30 Date ET Economic Report For Estimate Actual Prior Impact Mon. September 26 10:00 New Home S

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Inflation Heats Up

Last Week in Review: Inflation is heating up, but what does that mean for home loan rates? Forecast for the Week: Several pieces of housing news will hit the wires, plus the Fed meets. View: No one wants to get a bad rap, especially online. Check out these tips for building your brand on the web. Last Week in Review "Inflation, all we've never wanted." The Go-Go's may have sang about vacation being all we've ever wanted in the 1980's, but if we were to re-write the lyrics about last week, we could sing about inflation. Read on to learn why this matters. We saw a double dose of inflation news last week and while the Producer Price Index (which measures inflation at the wholesale level) remained unchanged in August, the year-over-year Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) jumped up to hit the upper-end of the Fed's threshold of 2%. So why is this significant? The concept is very simple: If inflation rises, investors in Bonds demand a higher yield to offset the lost buying power inflation imposes on a fixed payment. And as home loan rates are tied to Mortgage Bonds, this would mean home loan rates move higher. What’s more, in light of last week’s higher consumer inflation reading, the Misery Index—which is the Unemployment Rate (9.1%) plus the level of year-over-year headline Consumer Price Index (3.8%)—is at a disconcerting 12.9, which is the highest in nearly 30 years. Our great country needs a whopping dose of certainty, clarity and confidence...and in the absence of it, this index will continue to rise. Remember: Once inflation starts to emerge it can manifest rather quickly. Future inflation readings will be closely watched to see if a trend higher is emerging, and last week’s elevated number will certainly heat up the debate surrounding more stimulus, as more money into the system fuels inflation further. If inflation heats up even more, the Fed will likely back off their "low rates until mid-2013" mandate. Inflation really does change everything, and I will continue to follow this story closely and keep you informed. The bottom line is that home loan rates remain near historic lows, and now is still a great time to purchase or refinance a home. If I can answer any questions at all for you or your clients, call or email me anytime. Forecast for the Week This week we’ll see less economic data than last week's litany of reports…but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some big news to watch! Housing Starts for August will be delivered on Tuesday and are at extremely low levels given the current environment. The July reading was down 1.5% from June…but it was actually up 10% from a year ago in July 2010. Building Permits, a sign of future construction, will also be released on Tuesday. More housing news follows Wednesday with the Existing Home Sales Report. Also on Tuesday and Wednesday is the regularly scheduled Federal Open Market Committee meeting. With inflation heating up, it will be important to see what the Fed has to say. Weekly Initial Jobless Claims will be reported on Thursday as usual, and they continue to remain above 400,000 rising to 428,000 last week. Remember: Weak economic news normally causes money to flow out of Stocks and into Bonds, helping Bonds and home loan rates improve, while strong economic news normally has the opposite result. As you can see in the chart below, Bonds and home loan rates did not react well to last week’s inflation news. I’ll be keeping a close eye on what happens this week. Chart: Fannie Mae 3.5% Mortgage Bond (Friday Sep 16, 2011) The Mortgage Market Guide View... What Does the Internet Say About You? Part 1: Building Your Brand Online Managing your online persona is all about building your brand. That means taking a proactive role in determining how people see you when they search for you on the Internet. Here are a few simple ways you can take control of your online persona: Create a Profile: One of the easiest ways to make sure positive attributes, qualifications and accomplishments stand out on the Internet is to create a profile that features those aspects. A profile only takes a matter of minutes to create and can help boost positive information about you higher in an Internet search. One of the best profiles to start with is a Google profile. Once you create a Google profile, your name, occupation, location and a photo (if you upload one) will appear on the first page of Google when your name is searched. Participate in Social Networking: You’ve no doubt heard about popular social networking sites like Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com, as well as micro-blogging sites like Twitter.com and online photo sites like Flickr.com. These sites offer you fun, interactive ways to connect with potential clients, peers, and of course family. In addition, they are great for improving your online persona because they often climb near the top of searches. That said, there are few things to keep in mind. First, you need to “participate” not just “join.” The more information you include in your profile and the more you participate, the more useful these sites will be in building your brand. Second, when you do participate make sure it’s relevant. Your status updates don’t have to be all business and no play; it’s okay to have a balance of your personal and professional life on these sites. But make sure that you keep it appropriate. That means keeping slang to a minimum and avoiding inappropriate words, humor, photos or stories. Finally, make sure you take advantage of other online communities or discussion threads hosted by professional organizations. Not only will your peers and potential clients get to know you on those sites, but your posts will often find their way into your search results. But remember: make sure you only join online groups or communities that reflect the positive image you’re trying to portray. Before joining any group or discussion thread, ask yourself if you’d feel comfortable discussing your membership in that group during a meeting with a client. Start a Blog or Website: One of the most productive ways to control your online persona is to create new content on a blog or website that highlights or reflects your expertise. A blog or website not only gives you the space necessary to regular write about your areas of expertise, but they can also rank high in Internet searches if the content is updated regularly. While this step may seem a bit overwhelming at first, a number of providers such as Wordpress.com or Blogger.com make it fast and convenient. You don’t need to know how to program html or JavaScript. They do all the work for you. All you have to do is sign-in and post. So what should you post? Use your imagination. But remember to take the pressure off yourself – after all, you don’t have to write a professional white paper in every post. Maybe you want to post about the top three things you learned at a professional conference and include a link to the conference website. Maybe you just received an award or professional certification… write about that and put a link to the site that awarded it. As long as you’re not divulging trade secrets, write about what you do, what you know, and what your job growth goals are for the future. Interlink Your Sites: Once you’ve created a few online profiles, started participating in social network sites, and developed a quality blog with a few posts, it’s time to make sure people notice. That means promoting each of these sites in other sites by linking to them. So, on your Facebook page, you should include links to your Twitter account and your blog or website. On your blog or website, create a Contact Information page that includes links to your online profiles, Facebook page, Twitter account, and so on. On your profile pages, include links to your blog and social networking sites. It sounds a bit repetitive, if not overkill. But it’s not. It’s important. Why? The simple reason is that links are factored into Internet searches. When someone does a search of your name on the Internet, the sites that typically rank the highest have the most sites linking to them. That means, the more sites that link to your blog, the better chance you have of it hitting the first page of search results. And that’s the ultimate goal here…getting the positive information that you create to rise to the top, so people see the online persona that you’ve strategically developed and that you want them to see. Economic Calendar for the Week of September 19 - September 23 Date ET Economic Report For Estimate Actual Prior Impact Tue. September 20 08:30 Housing Starts Aug 575K   604K Moderate

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