Transfer Smart

A troublesome duo.

The Federal National Mortgage Association, aka ‘Fannie Mae,’ not to be confused with the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, aka “Freddie Mac,’ has taken $32 billion from Bank of America (BA) in a settlement of home mortgage ownership.

A year and two months ago, BA paid $1.3 billion to Fannie Mae to settle all disputes from property and mortgage issues. BA acquired 20% of Fannie Mae’s mortgages when they purchased Countrywide Lending.

Together they hold 50% of the country’s total mortgages and 90% of new mortgages taken out in the last three years.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were para-government agencies that were fully taken over by the Fed in 2008 as losses on unpaid loans pushed them both towards bankruptcy. They received a total of $190 billion.

$32 Billion of that was paid by Bank of America. Many homeless have used hotels or resorts in order to get by, usually coming at a much higher cost than home ownership. But with the bottom of the loan industry bottoming out, it took people who shouldn’t have qualified for loans with it.

In the end, no company received more money in the 2008 Federal bailout era than Fannie Mae.

Countrywide and subsequently BA have come under fire recently for racist practices at the former. Their $25 billion settlement not only cost the money financially but in respect and prestige.

York Beach, Maine.

The DoubleTree Hotel in Maine’s biggest city will offer timeshare suites as part of their renovations. While Maine isn’t usually looked at as a hotbed of tourist activity, and therefore usually passed over by timeshare shelling resorts, the head of Hilton sees potential in the market.

“DoubleTree by Hilton now welcomes our loyal business and leisure customers to stay with us in Maine, with the opening of the newly renovated DoubleTree by Hilton Portland Maine. This newest New England DoubleTree by Hilton hotel location extends our commitment to welcoming the world’s travelers in key destinations and providing a comfortable, amenity-rich hotel experience for visitors and residents alike to work and play,” says Rob Palleschi, spokesman for DoubleTree by Hilton.

The New England DoubleTree has upgraded its restaurants, amount of rooms, and expanded its offered services in order to make the place more of a resort and less of a hotel. It already had a premium location, two miles from the Portland Airport and directly across the street from the Maine Mall.

El Chaltén

While we at Transfer Smart never recommend timeshares, but Argentina is such a beautiful place it may be one where a traveler could get swept up in the moment and purchase one. Yikes! After doing careful research, I’ve found what I think are the best beach, restaurant, nightclub and nature sighting. Because we all like specifics, right?

For beach choice go to the Mar Del Plata. It’s called “Argentina’s Miami.” A massive, vibrant, sexy crowd, world-class shopping and even some nature (seal sightings!) make this a can’t-miss.

Argentina’s most famous food product is its steak, or bife. They cook it with coarse salt and fire. That’s all. Pair a parilla completa with a red Gestos wine and you’ll be in heaven. Visit the world-renowned El Viejo Almacenz in Rio for five star dining and authentic live musica.

The tango is the first drink that comes to mind when you think of Argentina, Not the samba. That would be that rival country to the north that speaks Portuguese. Its passion hasn’t escaped the youth culture, and can be found in the biggest nightclubs of Buenos Aires. According to the Buenos Airés Nightlife Guide, the best nightclub is the Fiesta Bubamara. Locals, students and foreigners enjoy electronic music influenced by European DJ’s. The crowd is friendly and it stays open till 6AM on the weekends.

The nature sighting is a pretty easy one. The Foz do Iguacu, or Iguazu Falls, is one of the world’s longest and most spectacular waterfalls. On the Argentinian side, you can touch the water; on the Brazilian side you get the better view. If you’re in the far south of the country, check out the glaciers. People forget that the southernmost part of Argentina is less than 100 miles from Antartica!

Gold has always been a wise investment.

With the recent release of Mitt Romney’s tax information, the disclosure that he has $100 million available in his Individual Retirement Account (IRA) was surprising to some. But prodigious investors saving for the future are looking at IRA’s in a whole new light and exploring the many options they offer.

IRAs began in 1974 as an act of Congress. There are several different types all with different tax benefits. For example, the SIMPLE IRA requires an employer to match employee contributions dollar for dollar, similar to a 401K. The Roth IRA, started in 1997, will have no tax impact on the user. All monies invested here will not be subject to taxes.

IRAs can have a diversified portfolio. Investments in land, business or charities can all be a part. What is illegal is using your IRA before it matures or before you turn 59.5 years old. For example, using a timeshare that’s in your IRA; using a hotel room that your IRA has stock in; or taking a vacation in a rental car from a company that’s listed in your IRA. Financial advisors issue these warnings to prospective buyers:

Keep your paper work. There are articles of organization, investor agreements and a secretary of state certificate. The IRS audits IRA’s once a year, and the custodian keeps these audits on file.

Learn your tax rules. Any prohibited transaction can render your entire IRA taxable and also subject you to a 10% penalty if you’re under 59.5 years old. As I wrote earlier, don’t self-deal, which includes buying, selling or leasing an asset to or from your IRA, such as a timeshare.

Know your providers. There are the state-regulated banks and private ones. They also tend to charge higher fees than 401K providers.

The asset-backed securities index for national timeshares reported a rise in delinquent timeshare debt over the last six months of fiscal year 2011. Total delinquencies in third quarter 2011 were 3.56% and rose to 3.82. Defaults in third quarter 2011 were at 0.62% and rose to 0.75% during the fall.

This information is courtesy of Fitchratings.com. They say despite these declines in the market, timeshare resorts are still sound investments and remain stable. Delinquencies and defaults were similar to fiscal year 2010. Timeshare loan delinquencies are at their historical norms. They had reached all-time highs during 2008 and 2009, mostly due to the economic and housing recession cutting into the vacation budgets of many families.

The world’s largest Legoland, LEGOLAND Florida, is offering new deals and promotions to entice people to visit them this summer. At 150 acres, it is the world’s largest Legoland, and since it opened in October of last year it’s also the newest. As 2012 will be their first full summer, they want to make a big splash for their inaugural busy season.

Much like a G-rated movie, the park is marketed to kids and their families. On May 26th they will open their Water Park, and new rollercoasters will also open over the summer. There are 50 rides already, with different ones aimed at adults, big kids and small children. The Duplo brand is obviously aimed at the smallest children.

Adults will like the “Island in the Sky” ride, where a rotating platform rises 150 feet into the air and gives you a view of central Florida from 15 stories up. They should also enjoy much of Florida’s first theme park, Cypress Gardens, as many acres of it were preserved. The teenage crowd may enjoy videogames at home however, as very few rides are aimed towards them. Of course the big draw for all is all the inspired ideas one can do with Legos. The Studio City store has a life-sized Lego Darth Vader in front of it, and there are Lego recreations of Tampa and New York’s skylines. There aren’t any plans for a Legoland Resort or Timeshare business yet but we’ll keep you updated.

One-Day adult passes are $75 and kids/seniors are $65, but buying online will take $7 off those prices. Further discounts can be found by buying in groups of 15 or annually.

Legoland Florida‎
1 Legoland Way,
Winter Haven, Florida 33884

Popular social networking website Twitter prepares to sell up to two years’ information on all users to two different data mining sites. They will look at the links posted, pictures and words of all users and use that information to advertise to them better and, as some critics have said, use it to figure out how people think. Even the location of users over the two years will be sold.

Gnip Inc and Datasift Inc will be the two benefactors. In turn, those companies will organize the information and then sell it to the highest bidder, or bidders, whomever they like. Gnip will be able to access tweets from the last 30 days; Datasift from the last two years. They will group together subjects and preferences and use this to sell to different age and location groups.

This is how it works. Best Buy can see what consumers are saying about it’s employees in Texas, and cut that into different age groups/responses. Or Ford can see what people in Miami are saying about their new F-150. Timeshare owners (or resort or hotel guests or vacationers of any kind) will have any comments they’ve made about hotels and timeshares sold to resorts who can use that info to change customer service or even sales tactics. The possibilities are endless.

The Twitter Bird, Making Money Off Of You.

Of course, this can lead to skewered information. For all of its fame, the majority of the world is NOT on Twitter. (I am, but it’s for my company).

While the sale of years of Tweets may be unbearable or at least scary for some, there’s not much they can do legally. Like the Associated Press using a quote from an athlete or the President, once a quote is public domain it can be used by anyone or any corporation. Publicly published tweets are public domain.

Kirkwood Mountain Resort, one of the largest ski resorts in California, was purchased by Vail Resorts of Colorado for $18 million.

Vail Resorts already owns the Northstar California and Heavenly Mountain Resorts. They are looking at numerous other properties around the western United States in order to further expand their business. Effective immediately, pass holders at Northstar and Heavenly Mountain will be able to use the Kirkwood facilities. It will be the smallest of Vail Resort’s ski resort properties. A limited number of rooms at Kirkwood are dedicated to timeshares. Kirkwood is about 35 miles south of Lake Tahoe.

OwnAmerica, a collection of real estate experts, has launched an ongoing online survey asking people about their experiences investing, which investments are the smartest, and which ones yield the highest returns.

81.6% of respondents who have invested in real estate said they made money, and the same amount expect real estate values will “definitely” appreciate over the next 10 years.

The survey represents a trend that investors are fed up with Wall Street stocks and now believe in something much more tangible. Their past experience and future outlook backs up their claims. One thing proposed as an investment but is actually a huge waste of money are timeshares. Here at Transfer Smart, we believe people should spend their money the way they want to, and not continue to waste money on poor investments like timeshares.

“The unique nature of this market today has created a perfect scenario for investors — dropping prices and rising rents,” says Gregory Rand, OwnAmerica CEO. “As a result, there are hundreds of cities and towns across the U.S. that have become positive cash flow markets, meaning the rents exceed the costs to own. Investors can buy, earn double digit returns just on the rent and gain the appreciation when it comes.”

As of this writing the survey was still open and can be found here.

Timeshare Mega Media and Marketing Group, an illegitimate “company,” that claimed to resale timeshares, now has four more people going to prison. Eric Friedman, Alvaro Rodriguez, Hernando Osorio and Joseph Ackermann are all charged with defrauding customers and violating FTC rules regarding the Do Not Call registry.

Since last year, nineteen former employees of TMMMG have been charged and sentenced by the FBI, all receiving prison terms ranging from five to thirty-three months. Investigators say the company made $5 million in one year, and some individual clients paid up to $10,000 to earn what they thought was a way out of their timeshare deeds.

Prosecutors say there were never any buyers and they are now in the process of getting the company to award restitution to the many people they defrauded.