Companies Fight Back Against Negative Online Reviews ? CBS Miami

MIAMI (CBS4) ? The next time you leave a review online for a company, be warned: you might get a phone call from the business asking you to take it down. Some companies are fighting back against negative critiques and sometimes not in a nice way.

More and more critical consumers have reported that they have received phone calls from companies who monitor their online reviews and have been asked to take down their negative comments but the angry tone has some customers on the defensive.

For Eric Winick, it all began when he left a mixed online review about a restaurant. He raved about the food, but said he grew frustrated that it took an hour to be served.

?I said in the review that they had taken a ridiculously long time to bring the food,? Winick said.

He was even more alarmed when he received an email from the restaurant?s owner which asked him to take it down.

?He said that something along the lines of ?We?re trying to make a go of it in this area, we all have families to feed? and sort of trying to prey on my sympathies a little bit.?

Many businesses around the country are reaching out to customers who leave bad reviews and they are not always trying to make amends. In an extreme example, an Atlanta restaurant launched Facebook and Twitter campaigns identifying a customer who left a bad review and the food fight went viral.

Social media expert Patrick O?Malley said that the effect of the web posts can make or break a company?s reputation.

?A single person can now go home and get on Facebook and tell 500 or 1000 people what they think of your restaurant,? O?Malley said.

The impact is immense. A Harvard Business School study found that even a one star increase on a businesses? rating on the online review site Yelp led to a five to nine percent boost in revenue for independent restaurants.

?In the last few years, it has changed the way we have done business,? said Zalmi Duchman, the founder of FreshDiet.com.

He is among business owners who have requested to remove bad reviews and he explains to customers how damaging negative comments can be. He said sometimes it?s effective.

?We?ve found in the past the faster you react to the customer the better chance you?re going to have to get that customer to remove their negative review because they see you take their comments and their feedback seriously,? Duchman said.

Online review site Urban Spoon said it actually encourages businesses and reviewers to connect and warns customers many companies take what they type very seriously.

?For a small business their business is an extension of who they are. There?s a real emotional connection to that,? Kara Nortman, of Urban Spoon.

For Winick, he responded to the restaurant and indicated that he wouldn?t remove his review. The business apologized for reaching out, but didn?t offer any incentive for him to return and give them another chance.

?I thought it was a waste of time, frankly, on the part of the restaurant to do that,? Winick said.

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Houston museum unveils $85 million dinosaur hall

In a photo made May 15, 2012 Director Pete Larson of the Black Hills Institute of Geologic Research, right, discusses with artist Tomas Schneider how he will use a forklift to hoist a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil skeleton into place in the new Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science Tuesday, May 15, 2012. The exhibit that opens June 2 includes the only Triceratops skin ever found, and a T-rex with three fingers. (AP Photo/Michael Stravato)

In a photo made May 15, 2012 Director Pete Larson of the Black Hills Institute of Geologic Research, right, discusses with artist Tomas Schneider how he will use a forklift to hoist a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil skeleton into place in the new Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science Tuesday, May 15, 2012. The exhibit that opens June 2 includes the only Triceratops skin ever found, and a T-rex with three fingers. (AP Photo/Michael Stravato)

In a photo made May 15, 2012 Diretor Pete Larson of the Black Hills Institute of Geologic Research, back, and artist Tomas Schneider, right, attach a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil head into place in the new Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science Tuesday. The $85 million wing of the museum will have the only Triceratops skin found to date and a unique T-rex fossil with complete hands.(AP Photo/Michael Stravato)

Robert Bakker, the museum's curator of paleontology, talks in the new Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science Tuesday, May 15, 2012. The $85 million wing of the museum that opens June 2 will have the only Triceratops skin found to date and a unique T-rex fossil with complete hands.(AP Photo/Michael Stravato)

In a May 15, 2012 photo paleontologists from the Black Hills Institute of Geologic Research with the help of film industry prop artists install a T-Rex fossil skeleton in the new Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science Tuesday. The $85 million wing of the museum will have the only Triceratops skin found to date and a unique T-rex fossil with complete hands. The exhibit opens June 2. (AP Photo/Michael Stravato)

In a photo made May 15, 2012, paleontologists from the Black Hills Institute of Geologic Research with the help of film industry prop artists install a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil skeleton in the new Hall of Paleontology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science Tuesday, May 15, 2012. The $85 million wing of the museum that opens June 2 will have the only Triceratops skin found to date and a unique T-rex fossil with complete hands. (AP Photo/Michael Stravato)

HOUSTON (AP) ? Pups in her womb, a large eye visible behind the rib cage, one baby stuck in the birth canal: all fossilized evidence that this ancient marine beast, the Ichthyosaur, died in childbirth.

Jurassic Mom's almost certainly painful death is perfectly preserved in a rare fossil skeleton, one of the many unique items that will go on display in the Houston Museum of Natural Science's $85 million dinosaur hall when it opens to the public June 2. The Associated Press got a first peek at the exhibit as the finishing touches were put in place.

Paleontologists and scientists at the museum and the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in Hill City, S.D. have worked tirelessly for three years to collect, clean and preserve artifacts designed to give visitors a look at how life evolved beginning 25 billion years ago.

"You'll actually be able to touch a fossil that's 3.5 billion years old," Robert Bakker, the museum's curator of paleontology, says in a conspiratorial whisper. "A microbe, simpler than bacteria, which had in its DNA the kernel that would flower later on into dinosaurs, mammals, then us. That's the beginning of the safari."

His long white beard and locks bobbing with all-too-obvious excitement, Bakker raises his brows below his cowboy hat as he continues to describe the journey visitors will experience when they enter "The Prehistoric Safari," expected to be among the top six dinosaur exhibits in the United States.

Jack Horner, curator of the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Mont., who acted, along with Bakker, as an adviser on the Jurassic Park movie series, agreed there will be some unique and exclusive items on display in Houston, including Triceratops skin. But he said that to him, an object's value is determined by science and should always be peer-reviewed before being displayed.

"Anybody can have stuff," Horner said, adding that he is curious to see the scientific findings on the items displayed in Houston. "Opinions are cheap."

Bakker says the safari is designed to teach about evolution. Visitors, he explains, will experience the Cambrian explosion, when life went from "literally slime" into "beautiful, elegantly sculptured things, the trilobites, which are gorgeous."

These bizarre, insect-like creatures, which are sometimes horned or sporting antennae, roamed the Earth's seas in the Paleozoic era before the dinosaurs and were one of the most complex living things that existed to that point. At the Houston museum, visitors will be treated to one of the largest displays of trilobite fossils in the world, and Bakker rubs his hands with enthusiasm at the thought of young children pressing their nose to the glass to get a glimpse or reaching a tiny finger out to touch an impossibly old piece of rock.

"Dinosaurs are the jumper cables to the human mind. Kids can't curb their enthusiasm when they're in a hall of dinosaurs and mammoths and mammoth hunters and trilobites and giant fish that could chomp up a shark. These natural objects in motion and context make kids want to read, you can't stop them from reading and thinking," said Bakker, who in the 1970s was one of the first to argue the massive prehistoric beasts were warm-blooded and further challenged scientific thinking in his 1986 book "The Dinosaur Heresies."

For scientists, and the museum community, the exhibit offers unique objects, including the only Triceratops skin found to date, a specimen that showed they had been wrong in believing the horned vegetarians had smooth skin. In fact, it had bristles, Bakker said.

Then there is the museum's skeleton of a T. rex, one of only two with complete hands, two long fingers and one stub, which Bakker believes could be proof this massive, feared predator also had a soft side. The fingers, too small and badly configured, wouldn't have helped in hunting, or even grabbing things, leaving Bakker and other paleontologists to believe they were for tickling, fondling and even falling in love. The fossil also has a piece of its tail missing, likely because it was bitten off by another Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The hall also will house the world's only complete fossil of a snake-type creature from 50 million years ago, said David Temple, the museum's associate curator of paleontology. The snake is related to the constrictor, and the only other fossil of this type disappeared about 60 years ago.

Original sculptures, paintings and murals will depict scenes scientists and paleontologists believe occurred based on the fossil evidence, Temple said. And there are creatures native to Texas, including a Glyptodon, an Ice Age, armadillo-type creature the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, and one of the best preserved fin-backed reptiles that preceded the dinosaurs.

"This is what life was like at the beginning of natural history," Temple said.

___

Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com//RamitMastiAP

Associated Press

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Could Compound in Artificial Sweeteners Worsen Crohn's Disease?

MONDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- The food additive maltodextrin, commonly used in some artificial sweeteners, may worsen Crohn's disease by encouraging the growth of E. coli bacteria in the small intestine, a new study suggests.

However, researchers stressed that the findings are preliminary and the tests were conducted in the lab, not in people, so it's too soon to advise those with the inflammatory bowel disease to avoid maltodextrin.

Maltodextrin is a white powder used in many processed foods as a thickener or a filler, including the artificial sweeteners Splenda and Equal, along with cereal, canned fruits, packaged desserts, instant pudding, sauces and salad dressings. Maltodextrin, typically derived from corn or wheat starch, is also used in some medication coatings.

In the study, researchers placed Equal, Splenda and another sweetener, Stevia, in a dish along with E. coli bacteria taken from people with Crohn's disease. While E. coli is commonly found in the digestive tract of humans, it's usually found in the large intestine, explained senior study author Christine McDonald, assistant staff in the pathobiology department at the Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute. Prior research has found that people with Crohn's tend to have E. coli in their small intestine.

Though the precise role that E. coli plays in Crohn's is unknown, it's thought that the bacteria may contribute to the inflammation that marks the condition.

When grown in the dish with the Equal (which contains aspartame, dextrose and maltodextrin) and the Splenda (which contains sucralose, dextrose and maltodextrin), the E. coli grew stickier, forming a thick biofilm, according to the researchers. The same didn't happen with the Stevia, which is made from the leaves of a South American plant and does not contain maltodextrin.

Researchers then repeated the experiments, culturing E. coli with maltodextrin alone, and the same sticky biofilm formed.

"In the lab, the E. coli becomes stickier, and it sticks to intestinal cells," said McDonald, who conducted the research with graduate student Kourtney Nickerson. "But we haven't tested this in animals to see if there is a particular amount you need to eat to have this effect. It may be that in people who have other risk factors for inflammatory bowel disease, this may tip them over the edge."

The study, which was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, was to be presented Monday at the Digestive Disease Week meeting in San Diego.

Crohn's disease is an inflammation of the digestive tract that can lead to swelling, pain and ulcers. Although the disease can affect any part of the digestive tract from the mouth to the anus, the most common spot is the small intestine.

It's unknown what causes the disease, although it's believed that microbes -- along with genetics and other environmental factors -- play a role, said Dr. Jerrold Turner, an associate chair in the department of pathology at the University of Chicago.

A healthy gut contains a multitude of bacteria that aid in the digestion of food and extraction of nutrients from foods. A healthy intestine has a layer of mucus that keeps the bacteria away from the lining of the intestine itself. Prior studies have found that, in people with Crohn's, the thickness of that mucus layer decreases, meaning there are more bacteria directly on the cells lining the intestine, possibly leading to inflammation, Turner explained.

The sticky biofilm may also mean there are more bacteria on the lining of the intestines, McDonald said.

No specific diet has been shown to prevent or treat Crohn's disease, according to the U.S. National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse. However, the incidence of Crohn's has been rising in the United States in recent decades, leading researchers to suspect that something about the modern American diet is contributing.

In addition, many people with the disease notice that certain foods or types of foods seem to make their symptoms worse.

McDonald said people with Crohn's may want to try avoiding maltodextrin and see if their symptoms improve, but she and Turner both said more needs to be learned before they recommend that people with Crohn's or a susceptibility to Crohn's avoid the additive.

"It's a very interesting and provocative finding, and [it] may tell us something about the bacteria and what is happening in the intestines, but it's really too preliminary to make any recommendations," Turner said.

A group representing the artificial sweetener industry said the finding was too preliminary to prompt any changes in how artificial sweeteners are made or sold.

"This study was done on cells in petri dishes, therefore it is not possible to apply these findings to humans," the Calorie Control Council said in a statement released Monday. "Even the researcher has stated that it is too early to conclude that maltodextrin promotes disease. Further research is needed before any human nutrition recommendations can be made."

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse has more on Crohn's.

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Details Along with Misconceptions of Physical Fitness and Health ...

It?s not always a bad idea to ignore those who ?think? they know it all at the gym. We aren?t saying that everyone at the gym will intentionally give you false information but you can get bad information from those who don?t know as much as they think they do. Just because someone has been working out in the gym a long time does not necessarily make them an authority on the subject just like any other time you might get advice. Use only sources that are credible. This article will offer up some good tips on how to accomplish this task.

You will discover many yoga along with lower back pain merchandise online. Generally, the advertising and marketing affirms in which carrying out pilates can fix low back pain. This specific affirmation might be unreliable along with hazardous, even though yoga exercise may help sometimes.

Pilates can help you with back pain in the event the reason behind the pain sensation is related to muscle tissue. Considering this example, you might need to extend and improve particular muscle tissues with your back or other places. The lower back pain will go absent as you make it happen.

Even so, if the lower back pain is related to your bones and also linked muscle, for instance a spine DVD difficulty; next yoga isn?t admission in your case. In these instances, yoga can in fact trigger significant difficulties.

In terms of tension as well as exercising, the second may help reduce you in the feelings of the former. You may be wondering how exercising or working out can be stressful. Performing fitness using best exercises bikes causes your body to produce a relaxation response. Naturally, may very well not necessarily feel it if you?re operating or sweating in all places during a workout session. Should you be looking for a way to adopt your brain off your current tense lifestyle for quite a while do a little physical exercises. Hormones launched create an all-natural sense of inspiration.

Towards the end of the day it is said that you will be tired however you needs to obtain some exercise accomplished and you will probably feel better. There are certain accounts where we need to call people out on, like your body does have an organic circadian cycle.

Adjustments will come you just have to give it some time. The point is that once you break through your resistance and exercise after work, your body will have more energy to actually do it. There are truths and falsehoods or myths in health and fitness in all areas. You can find them as general statements, or specifically related to certain types of physical exercise. Before you engage in any exercise, do the research first.

James Reynolds can help you about your fitness. You can visit home exercise bike and spinning bike if you want to know more.

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The Sorraia horse. | *A blog for Pets*

Although it is known that the Sorraia horse developed in the southern part of the Iberian peninsula, the breed was isolated and unknown to science until the 20th century.
Despite the lack of documentation, attempts have been made to reconstruct its history.

Paleolithic parietal art images in the region depict equines with a distinct likeness to the Sorraia, with similar zebra-like markings. Analysis of mtDNA has been performed on Mustangs in the western United States that show similar mtDNA patterns between some Mustangs and the Sorraia breed.

Spanish conquistadors took Iberian horses, some of whom closely resembled the modern-day Sorraia, to the Americas in their conquests, probably as pack animals. Similarities between the Sorraia and several North and South American breeds are shown in the dun and grullo coloring and various physical characteristics.

This evidence suggests that the Sorraia, their ancestors, or other horses with similar features, may have had a long history in the Iberian region and a role in the creation of American breeds.
Otherwise, the Sorraia breed was lost to history until 1920, when Portuguese zoologist and paleontologist Dr. Ruy d'Andrade first encountered the Sorraia horse during a hunting trip in the Portuguese lowlands.
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This remnant herd of primitive horses had continued to live a wild existence in these lowlands, which were rather inaccessible and had been used as a hunting preserve by Portuguese royalty until the early 1900s.

At the time of d'Andrade's initial meeting the breed, the horses were ill-regarded by native farmers, although they were considered hardy native fauna that lived off of the uncultivated lands and salt marshes in the local river valleys.

For centuries, peasant farmers of the area would occasionally capture the horses and use them for agricultural work, including threshing grain and herding bulls.

In the 1920s and 1930s, as mechanization became more prevalent, both wild and domesticated breeding stock diminished to almost nothing, and d'Andrade, along with his son Fernando, encouraged the conservation of the breed.

In 1937, d'Andrade began a small herd of his own with five stallions and seven mares from horses obtained near Coruche, Portugal.

All Sorraias currently in captivity descend from these original horses obtained by d'Andrade, and it is believed that the remnant wild herds of the breed died out soon after. These horses were kept in a habitat similar to their native one.

In 1975, two other farms took up the Sorraia's cause and acquired small herds to help with conservation. In 1976, three stallions and three mares were imported to Germany from Portugal to begin a sub-population there.

?In March 2004, a small breeding herd of Sorraia horses was released on the estate of a private land owner who dedicated a portion of his property so that these horses could live completely wild, as did their ancestors.
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The refuge created for them is in the Vale de Zebro region of south western Portugal, one of places so named because this is where the Sorraia's predecessors dwelt.

Two Sorraia stallions were imported to the United States in the early 21st century. In 2006, another Sorraia stallion was imported to Canada where a Sorraia Mustang Preserve has been established on Manitoulin Island in Ontario.

Unrelated to existing preservation efforts which work in conjunction with the Sorraia Mustang Studbook, another project by a consortium of breeders in the United States is attempting to establish a separate network and studbook.

These breeders have gathered Spanish Mustangs that through mtDNA testing show a genetic relationship with the Sorraia and are breeding them according to both genotype and phenotype in an attempt to help preserve what they are calling the "American Sorraia".

Today, the breed is nearly extinct, with fewer than 200 horses existing as of 2007, including around 80 breeding mares.

The Food and Agriculture Organization considers it to be maintaining critical risk status. The first studbook was published in 2004, dedicated to maintaining a written record of the bloodlines of the Sorraia.

Sorraias are present mainly in Portugal, with a small population in Germany. While not bred for a specific use, the Sorraia horses are versatile and have been used in herding bulls, dressage riding and light harness.

The Sorraia is a rare breed of horse indigenous to the portion of the Iberian peninsula known today as Portugal. The Sorraia is known for its primitive features, including a convex profile and dun coloring with primitive markings.

Concerning its origins, a theory has been advanced by some authors that the Sorraia is a descendant of primitive horses belonging to the naturally occurring wild fauna of Southern Iberia.

?Studies are currently ongoing to discover the relationship between the Sorraia and various wild horse types, as well as its relationship with other breeds from the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Africa.

Members of the breed are small, but hardy and well-adapted to harsh conditions. They were occasionally captured and used by native farmers for centuries, and a remnant population of these nearly extinct horses was discovered by a Portuguese zoologist in the early 20th century.

Today, the Sorraia has become the focus of preservation efforts, with European scientists leading the way and enthusiasts from several countries forming projects and establishing herds to assist in the re-establishment of this breed from its current endangered status.

The Sorraia breed stands between 14.1 and 14.3 hands high (57 to 59 inches (145 to 150 cm)), although some individuals are as small as 12.3 hands high (51 inches (130?cm)). The head tends to be large, the profile convex, and the ears long.

The neck is slender and long, the withers high, and the croup slightly sloping. The legs are strong, with long pasterns and well-proportioned hooves. These horses have good endurance and are easy keepers, thriving on relatively little fodder.
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They have a reputation for being independent of temperament, but tractable.
On adult horses, the lay of the hair can create the appearance of stripes or "barring" on the neck and chest. Also due to the lay of the hair, newborn foals can appear to have stripes all over, reminiscent of zebra stripes.

The breed standard refers to this as "hair stroke".
Sorraia are generally dun or a dun variation called grullo. Dun coloring includes primitive markings such as a black dorsal stripe, black tipped ears, horizontal striping on the legs and a dark muzzle area.

The dark muzzle area is in contrast to some other dun-colored horse breeds, who have light-colored muzzle areas and underbellies, possibly due to the presence of pangare genetics. Sorraia horses have bi-colored manes and tails with lighter colored hairs that fringe the outside of the longer growing black hair.

This is a characteristic shared with other predominantly dun-colored breeds, such as the Fjord horse. Purebred Sorraia occasionally have white markings, although they are rare and undesired by the breed's studbook.
source :? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorraia

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Helpful Social Media Marketing Advice For Businesses ...

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Category: Social Media Marketing | Added on: Sunday, May 20th, 2012 | Total: 368 Views

Facebook places can be useful as they allow your followers to use their mobile phones to check in with your page updates. Offer your customers a discount or freebie for mentioning your social media profile to the cashier. You can do the same thing through Foursquare, and reap the same benefits.

Look at what time of the day it is you?re receiving the most responses and re-tweets from your Twitter account. Take advantage of this knowledge, and try to post more frequently during these times. If your message service is automated, you can have your account sent tweets when your followers are usually logged onto their twitter accounts.

Studies have shown that people read more posts during business hours than at any other time during the week. Use tools for automatically updating your blogs around this time each day and make the posts have a focus on certain activities or ideas that will appeal to the working audience.

Think about having contests or sweepstakes on Facebook. People enjoy getting free things and you should take advantage of that simple fact. You can tap into this feeling and generate more interest in your business and its products by putting on contests of your own. A contest can also be a great way to talk up your latest product, getting consumers interested in making purchases.

It is a good idea to use Twitter in the promotion of your business. Using Twitter effectively will create more buzz for your business. Learn about hashtags, keywords, and other aspects of Twitter.

You want to be sure to put a Facebook ?Like? box on your blog, so they do not have to leave your site to do this. By including a ?like? button on your blog, your readers will be able to easily promote your business to their friends and family. What?s more, blogs with convenient features like this tend to get more readers, so long as they aren?t overdone.

You might have noticed that many Facebook ads contain attention-getting images, which are often created by editing photographs. This makes a lot of sense, as a visitor is more likely to wonder what is up with the ad and click it. When someone is drawn to one of your ads they tend to check out your business and from there they may be interested with what you have to offer.

If you post on forums to promote your social media presence, focus on getting along with the forum population. Every poster in the forum is a potential customer for your service or product, and your comments should focus on relevant, truthful information instead of hard-selling. Establish good relationships, and continue to build trust through comments that are friendly and helpful.

It?s important to blog readers that they have the ability to leave comments. It is particularly necessary if this is the only way that the public can communicate with you. Monitor blog comments so that customers don?t get away with posting inappropriate items. Screen and delete comments that are offensive or might be spam.

Hosting contests with good prizes has proven to be a good strategy on Facebook and other social media sites, to help generate more publicity for your company. Due to the way online social networks operate, information about your contest will rapidly spread. Make your contest creative, fun, and relative to your services and products. Perhaps you could have contestants come up with a logo for your next item.

It is important to professionally address criticism and product feedback you receive through social media channels. This can make your or break you in social media marketing. You must also respond to any negative comments you receive online. If you ignore these types of postings, it can leave a bad impression on other site visitors. Conversely, if you deal with the issue raised in a professional manner, your customers might actually trust you more.

A great way to give your business a boost is by using social media marketing techniques. Use these tips to become more comfortable with using social media. The success you gain from your marketing campaign will help to motivate you to expand your campaign to other social media outlets. Social media is a fantastic way to reach a broad range of consumers, while giving your business the boost that it needs to thrive.

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Questions and Answers with Bankrate.com | Marshfield Real Estate

Courtesy of Bankrate.com for The Marshfield Mariner, May 16th, 2012
Question:? There were some recent changes to rules regarding FHA refinances.? What are they?
Answer:? The Federal Housing Administration will put some of its home loans on sale starting in June, offering low-fee refinances for its current borrowers who took out mortgages before June 2009.
Starting June 11th, borrowers can take advantage of the revised streamlined refinancing program by paying a 0.01% mortgage insurance premium at closing and an annual insurance fee of 0.55% of the loan.
Those are significantly lower mortgage fees than borrowers now pay.? Most paid a 1% mortgage insurance premium up front plus 1.10 to 1.15% every year.
For every $100,000 financed, the up-front fee would fall from $1,9000 to just $10, while the annual fee would fall from $1.150 to $550.
To take advantage of the sale, you hae to meet three conditions:
**no late mortgage payments for the past 12 months **your FHA mortgage has an effective date ? typically about a week after closing ? on or before May 31st, 2009. **you have enough cash on hand to pay closing costs
Question:? There was also talk of changes to FHA loan eligibility.? What are those changes?
Answer:? A new rule that was supposed to take effect in April would have disqualified many borrowers with over $1,000 in unresolved debts that are in dispute or in collection.
However, the FHA is taking a second look at that requirement and has delayed its implementation until July at the earliest.
To get an FHA loan, you need two things:? a two-year history of on-time bill payments and two years of steady employment.? Even with these requirements, exceptions are made.
You can also be carrying more debt.
To obtain most non-FHA loans, borrowers must be spending no more than 36% of their pretax income on all debts, including mortgage payments, student loans, credit card bills and auto loans.
With an FHA loan, lenders will allow you to spend up to 41% of your pretax income on debt.? Some lenders will stretch that to 43% for borrowers with an excellent payment history.? Use your own discretion on whether you should stretch your budge to spend that much of your pay on debt payments.
You can apply for FHA-backed refinancing form most banks and mortgage companies.
Follow Len and Leslie Marma of Success! Real Estate on their facebook business page, ?Marshfield Matters? ?? click LIKE to receive real estate info and what?s happening in Marshfield.?

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