With Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, in only a few months, some are rightfully worrying that the games presence may cause car insurance to raise across the province.  They are bracing for higher crash costs during the Olympics which would, in turn, eventually cause drivers to pay a higher premium.  Experts are estimating collisions to rise by at least 30 percent.  It is already difficult enough with snowstorms, now you have to factor in all of the drivers and tourists that are unfamiliar with these driving conditions.  Most would agree that this would be a small price to pay in order to bring such a huge event to the province as it is well known that the Olympics bring in the money and can help the local economy enormously.  Others would say that the province is fine and they don’t need the prices of necessities going up.  Either way, it is something that will have to be dealt with when the time comes, because it is definitely coming.  There is no stopping the Olympics!

Even though there is much debate surrounding the idea, it looks as though the Obama administration will be committing up to $35 billion to help the struggling state and local housing agencies to continue offering mortgages.  The government has been inching their way into the housing market for quite some time now and this would really be establishing their presence in the effort to recover the market.  Insiders are saying that this plan could be announced within the next few days.  The money would go towards relieving pressure on government-operated housing finance agencies that are having trouble with their funding.  It is incredibly difficult right now to provide mortgages to many because of the struggling market, and especially for those who have lost jobs or lost their homes.  This plan could be potentially very harmful to taxpayers when the housing agencies fail to pay their debt obligations.  In order to prevent this from happening, the Treasury plans to charge fees to agencies that want to sell new long-term bonds to the government based on their individual risk factors.  It does not sound all that bad, but you have to remember where this money is coming from.  Should federal funds really be going to this?  Towards low to moderate income homeowners?  Or should it be going towards commercial real estate or maybe even small businesses?  We have so many troubled areas right now, and while the housing market is most certainly one of them, we have to consider where we need the money most in order to rebuild, not just to band-aid.

A poll created by a Facebook user has been garnering national attention.  The poll asked whether or not you think Obama should be assassinated.  The three possible answers included “yes”, “no”, “maybe”, and “if he cuts my health care”.  The poll was quickly removed from facebook after company officials became aware.  As of yesterday, the U.S. Secret Service has been investigating this online survey stating that they take these “things” very seriously.  The application that allows users to create their own polls was disabled to all users across the world yesterday simply because of this poll.  Whether or not this person was joking around is unclear, but let’s be honest, this was not a smart decision because everyone knows how seriously these hypotheticals can be, especially with our first African American President.  Although, this person probably did not think that anyone outside of his or her circle of friends would see it.  Be careful about what you put out on the Internet because if the settings are not private, you send it to the world.  Today, anything public can go viral, so don’t get yourself into trouble..especially with the government!

We hear about them in the news everyday, so why has it become so difficult to find these foreclosed homes in order to make a deal.  Banks prefer that “Bank Owned” signs no longer be posted on properties.  With “foreclosure” no longer obvious in front of homes, the odds of finding one of them while driving down the street are becoming slimmer.  I’m sure most of you are now aware that while foreclosures are incredibly unfortunate, they can be an important opportunity for a real estate investor.  So, now what do you do to take advantage of these opportunities?  Well, now it will take a little extra work.  For example, there are now specific websites that will find properties for you, but they are an investment in themselves.  There is a monthly fee to utilize these sites that are quickly gaining popularity.  Another helpful tip is to try and work with local real estate agents, they will be able to help you out, but will most likely not know of all foreclosures.  You also want to remember that foreclosures are not always a smart investment, you need to be able to evaluate your deal and be smart about it.  So do your research, and utilize your skills in order make some awesome deals and thrive even in this economy!

Check out this great article that has some tips on how to find foreclosures, and much more.

People have become obsessed with twitter, for some it is hard to even take a step without tweeting something about it.  Twitter is everywhere, even on television.  The entertainment shows do segments on tweets (mostly celebrity tweets) alone.  It is so funny that single tweets are now able to be newsworthy.  With all of this attention, you have to assume that Twitter is bringing in the bucks, right?  Well, it’s hard to say, but what we can now say is that the business world values twitter just as much (if not more) than their faithful users.  Twitter Inc. was recently reported to be valued at $1 billion.  The company’s founders were given $100 million to finance operations for this internet phenomenon that has yet to generate substantial revenue.  This investment gives the founders a huge incentive to think of ways to start producing meaningful revenue.  Twitter is attempting to see how far they can make it on their own, without corporate partners.  They have already rejected a multi million dollar buyout from Facebook Inc.  Google Inc., and Microsoft Corp  were said to have been trying to do the same last year.  Hopefully Twitter’s founders won’t let all of this attention go to their heads because we have all seen that social networking sites can easily be a come and go situation.  Not long ago MySpace was the biggest thing on the Internet, it’s fading away because newer more exciting sites have come along.  There are few things on the Internet that are around forever.  With more than 54 million users worldwide on Twitter, it seems as though they are still growing.  Let’s hope for their sake, they don’t hold off on some awesome business deals while the iron is still hot.

CLICK HERE to follow JT on Twitter.

Today, the world’s most powerful leaders will meet in an effort to plan out recession recovery.  President Obama will be hosting this summit in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, which consists of 20 World leaders.  The agenda is huge and all eyes are on them.  One of the biggest issues they will be discussing is how to even out the enormous imbalances between export powerhouses like China and the U.S.  The summit, which lasts two days, will also touch on other global problems such as climate change, and the lopsided global growth.  This is the third G20 gathering since the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which is of course what incited the recession to o global.  One of the biggest U.S. concerns to be addressed is for coordinated policies to be created that would reduce the World’s reliance on U.S. consumers.  the U.S. consumer cannot be relied upon in order to drive other countries growth because Americans are saving more.  We will see how this summit goes, but we must keep in mind the many distraction at hand.  Among these distractions; President Obama has a full plate with his determination to reform the healthcare system, and then there is German Chancellor Angela Markel, who is looking towards and election this Sunday, just to name a couple.  Of course, World leaders will always habe many issues on their plate, but we will just have to wait and see what will come of this enormously important summit.

For all things G20, Click HERE.

If you have not registered yet, please do so NOW. Space is very limited, but the education is not. Trust me, this event has no fluff; it is crucial education for your investing career. Canada’s post recession market is ready for you to THRIVE! This event is going to be great, and here are only a few things you will be learning.

* Start and grow a business in today’s post recession market.

* How to evaluate Canadian and US real estate deals in less than 3 minutes.

* How to brand yourself and your business.

* Learn how to network like and with multi-millionaires.

* Learn how I bought and sold and over 500 properties without using any of my own money.

* Learn how to use social networking (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Myspace and Google) to get more deals, exposure and larger profits.

* Learn also how Apple computer became one of the best businesses in the world and see how you can apply it to your business and life.

*Learn how to find real estate partners to fund your deals and how private money does not work.

I will personally be there to teach you, hands on. As a native Canadian, it is so important to me that YOU succeed in the market in order to make Canada thrive! So invest 8 hours of your life to change it forever! Also you will learn about my students and the success they are having as we speak! Please don’t miss out on this opportunity. I can’t wait to see you there!

Hurry and Register HERE

It seems as though President Obama thinks he is still on the campaign trail. With over 114 interviews while in office (only 7 months), you have to start to wonder, will people still tune in when the President is on? The overexposure might make it easy to brush off a presidential appearance, “Oh, he’s on again”. The President appearing on television is usually rare, and exciting. It might be justified if he was talking about different important news, but really he is just giving us the same message during every appearance. Tonight he will appear again on CBS’s “Late Night with David Letterman”. We have seen what he has to say about health reform and that will most likely be the topic of the interview. President Obama has now set the record for presidential television appearances; he has actually doubled it. Previously, former President Bill Clinton held that record at 41 television appearances; let’s also keep in mind that this is during his entire time in office. It is certainly a new strategy, but is it a good one? Many believe he is just wearing out the message. What do you think about President Obama’s media blitz?

Well, their currency is on top on the United States’ anyway. Yesterday, the loonie traded at $1.0652 per U.S. Dollar. This is the strongest rise for the Canadian dollar since October.. This rise has garnered speculation that the nation’s central bank will intervene to weaken the Canadian dollar. It is unlikely though, the central bank has not done transactions in foreign-exchange markets to affect the currency’s value since 1998. It has remained this way even when the dollar set record highs and lows against the loonie. The only reason to do this would be because a stronger Canadian dollar makes the nation’s exports more expensive. If it happens, it will be announced on the Canadian Central Bank website. Again, highly doubtful, but we will see what happens. Way to go Canada!

Mr puppy watching JT teach at the partnering class. You got to love the lobster costume!