Facts on the Cost of Health CareIntroductionBy several measures, health care spending continues to rise at the fastest rate in our history.In 2005 (the latest year data are available), total national health expenditures rose 6.9 percent -- two times the rate of inflation. Total spending was $2 TRILLION in 2005, or $6,700 per person. Total health care spending represented 16 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).U.S. health care spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade reaching $4 TRILLION in 2015, or 20 percent of GDP.In 2006, employer health insurance premiums increased by 7.7 percent - two times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $11,500. The annual premium for single cov... 09/08/2007

 Umbrella insurance is designed to give one added liability protection above and beyond the limits on homeowners, auto, and watercraft personal insurance policies. With an umbrella policy, depending on the insurance company, one can add an additional 1-5 million in liability protection. This protection is designed to "kick-in" when the liability on other current policies has been exhausted. Liability insurance is the portion of a homeowners or auto policy that pays for expenses such as the injured persons medical bills, rehabilitative therapy, and lost wages due to the negligence of the at fault person. The liability portion of an insurance policy also covers a legal defense representative if the negligence would happen to land the at fault person in the court room. After adding up all ... 09/08/2007

  Some people believe that having life insurance -- planning for their death -- will bring misfortune to their lives, and would rather not have any at all. Unfortunately, too many people don't realize the importance of life insurance until it's too late.Life insurance protects those who depend on your paycheck, such as your wife, children and quite possibly, your parents. If you die prematurely, life insurance can provide ongoing income to your dependents, until they are able to live comfortably without it. It can also provide emergency support for legal, medical and funeral costs, should family savings not be sufficient to cover them. who needs life insurance?A single individual -- or someone who's one-half of a two-income, no-dependents household -- won't likely need an abundance of l... 09/07/2007

 Life insurance may sound like something you only have to think about when you get older, but there are a variety of benefits to buying life insurance early on in your working career. Even if you don't have a family that is dependent on you, or if you feel that your employer's life insurance policy is adequate for your needs, there are many reasons why you should consider taking out your own life insurance policy. If your employer provides you with a life insurance policy, you shouldn't necessarily rely on it. While many companies may offer life insurance as one of the key benefits of a job, the figure often doesn't cover enough to be of adequate benefit to your family - especially in the event of your death. For instance, many firms may offer life insurance that is one or two times the... 09/07/2007

 Purchasing auto insurance shouldn't be a difficult decision. As your Farmers® agent, I will help you understand the ins-and-outs of auto insurance so you can choose the right type of coverage to meet your needs.As a Farmers customer, you'll not only receive the personal care and service of my agency, but also our award-winning HelpPoint® claims service. Whenever you have a claim to report, simply call (800) HelpPoint - (800) 435-7764 - 24 hours a day, seven days a week to speak to a knowledgeable Farmers representative.Plus, Farmers has competitive discounts. Our multi-line discount* is just one way to save on the cost of auto insurance by also having your homeowners and Life insurance with Farmers. Ask me about other discounts you may qualify for. Remember, there is more to insurance ... 09/07/2007

Farmers is dedicated to being the right choice for auto insurance, home (homeowners and renters), life insurance, business insurance, umbrellas, boat and recreational vehicle insurance, and a whole lot more. As your personal, local Farmers agent, you have my commitment that I'll help you develop the coverage that's right for your life - at a price that's great value for your insurance dollar. No insurance company offers more discounts than we do, and our industry-leading HelpPoint® claims service means you can count on us to be there when you need us. Anytime, day or night, just one call to (800) 435-7764 will help you restore your world to order - fast! Give me a call and I'll give you more information on all the many products and discounts my Farmers agency offers, whether it's auto i... 09/07/2007

THE CAMPBELL AGENCYFarmers Insurance Group816-285-9483                                                   Kansas City Metro Home Rates!!                                                                                           Deductible$500$1000Dwelling Value   $100,000$590$512$125,000$697$608$150,000$795$694$175,000$886$774$200,000$845$737$225,000$917$804$250,000$986$865$275,000$1,051$924$300,000$1,115$980    The above rates are an estimate only. For an accurate quote by the next business day contactChris Campbell@ 816-285-9483 or 913-488-4299    * Rates do not include any discounts that may apply!!              Discounts that are available:* Auto/Home =   20%* Life/Home =    5%* Alarm     =   10%* Many more available!! 09/07/2007

 Most people buy insurance because they have to have it.  I ask all of my prospective clients "Why did you pick this coverage and these liability limits?"  The number one answer is my agent did it for me over the phone, or the lizard helped me do it online.  I am getting used to hearing it but it still amazes me.  The most important part of your insurance program is your liability limits, if you bang up a car it can be fixed, a leaky roof while a headache is not a financial death sentence.  But on the other hand if you are driving a car and run a stop light and seriously injure or even kill someone, that is when your insurance can save your financial security and future earnings.   Example:  You injure a hardworking family man that has a stay at home wife and 3 school age children.  He ... 09/07/2007

You MUST HAVE A Real Estate License To Manage Property In KC, Unless... The following is reprinted from  BBQCapital.  To read all three posts please visit today.  Okay. Let's put an end to the question of whether or not you need a real estate license in the State of Missouri in order to hold yourself out as a property manager.As I said in an earlier post today I called the Missouri Real Estate Commission at 573.751.2628 and left a message concerning this whole issue. A few minutes ago Joe Dinkler with MOREC called me back and said that I can quote him. But since I don't have a tape recorder or a photographic memory, I'll summarize.(By the way, the photo above is probably a little harsh.)In order to offer for rent, rent or hold any kind of rents in the State of Missouri you must be a lic... 09/07/2007

Yesterday evening over at my BBQ Capitalblog I wrote a piece called Property Management In Kansas City.  And while I'm not going to recap the entire post here I am going to say that I'm having a heck of a challenge finding a good property manager that is LICENSED to do business in the state of Missouri.It seems a great many of the people doing business in Missouri as property managers are doing so unaware that they are supposed to hold current real estate license.  How does the state of Missouri allow these people to continue in business?  They advertise.  They manage.  They put signs out.  They probably work with the Kansas City or Independence Housing Authorities.  So how does this work?My other frustration is that I do know of a couple property management companies that operate legal... 09/06/2007

People ask me all the time about Kansas City."So is it in Kansas?  I've heard it's in Missouri."Where are the Chiefs and Royals?In fact, I just received a comment from Bill Roberts as follows;Chris, I was hoping that you were going to talk about real estate in KC or even that little town in Kansas you call home. No such luck. All you want to do is add to the congestion in the sky. Is that airport you are pushing in Kansas? I heard that Kansas City, Missouri didn't even have an airport. They use one in the next state over. Is that true?Bill Roberts While the words are not always exactly the same...the confusion is.  Kansas City is at the front door of fly-over country and we know it.  So I'm going to try and clear this up a little bit for you and have a little fun at the same time.  As w... 09/03/2007

QUALITY GUN AUCTION &SAFE COMPANY LIQUIDATION AUCTION.PONTOON BOAT - ENCLOSED TRAILER 2003 HYUNDAI ELANTRA - 1995 DODGE DAKOTA Saturday September 8th - 10:00amIn conjunction with the court ordered liquidation of KC Safe Company formerly located in Lenexa Kansas, we will also be conducting a large firearm and sporting auction at our facility located at: 8253 Wornall Rd. Kansas City, MO 64114. Rifles, Shotguns, Revolvers, Pistols, Gun Safes/Cabinets/Cases, Fire/Burglary Rated Safes, Fire Rated File Cabinets, Personal Security Safes, Wall Safes, Vault Door, Depository Safes, Media Storage SafesFirearm Manufacturers:Winchester, Remington, Smith & Wesson, Colt, Browning, Beretta, Glock, Sig Sauer, Ruger, Cobra, Kel-Tec, Savage, Marlin, Mossberg, MoreSafe Manufacturers:FireKing, Browning, Pho... 08/30/2007

One of my Kansas City real estate investors owns an investment property that is turning on him.  And not turning for the good.  So this is a lesson post.  A "what to watch out for" post, if you will.This investor bought a home that needed quite a bit of rehab.  Since there wasn't quite enough margin to rehab and sell he decided to rehab and rent-option the property.  There had been a water leak in the house so they redid the drywall, fixed the roof and the guttering and installed a sump pump in the crawl space.Now he's getting a reappearance of mold on the living room walls.  (Not as bad as the photograph...yet!!!)  That stinks.What to do now?  Well he really cannot let the mold continue to grow unabated.  And to bring in a professional mold remediation team is going to cost big bucks. ... 08/27/2007

Kansas City's Irish Festival will take place once again this year at Crown Center on August 31st thru September 2nd.It's a grand ole' time with everything Irish:  music, food, dancing, clothing, jewelry, decor.From the size of the crowd you'd think everyone who's Irish in Kansas City attends!  This year plans to be bigger and better.Here's what they are saying about it on their website:New for Irish Fest '07: Expanded festival groundsKansas City Irish Fest will expand out of Crown Center's Festival Plaza into the streets of Grand Ave. This new space makes room for another main stage, the Boulevard stage, to accommodate the festival's remarkable list of internationally and locally-known performers.Celebrate the Fest's fifth with $5 off admission Kansas City Irish Fest is offering a speci... 08/23/2007

So I'm out pre-viewing properties yesterday afternoon in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City. A property I was most particularly interested in was a 2 bedroom, 1 bath and 1 car detached garage being offered at just under $60,000. That's way under market and I wanted to know why.When I get there the owners are home and are gracious and show me around. While it's not much to some people's standards they seemed very proud of their home. Nice, quiet folks. I mean them absolutely no disrespect.After viewing the inside of the home I said I'd like to walk around the outside. The husband volunteers to unlock the garage for me. While waiting for him to unlock the garage I notice the open crawl space door with what looks like tons of trash in it.Now for those of you unfamiliar with a crawl spac... 08/23/2007

 See, I can tell who watches the national news and/or cable news networks. They are constantly asking me about the real estate bubble bursting and how bad is the market? Here I have actual proof of the Great Kansas City Housing Bubble Burst of 2007. From today's Kansas City Star they report that sales are down on data reported for April - June compared with last year...Check out these numbers if you want further proof!!!! Florida - down 41.3% Nevada - down 37.5% Arizona - down 23.4% Maryland - down 21.1% California - down 19.8% Kansas City area - down 0.7% I don't know about you but I was staggered by our numbers. I've been wrong. We are in a huge crisis here in the Kansas City area. Sell. Sell NOW! Slash prices by 15%-20%. But just get out! Live on the streets if you have to. But don't... 08/16/2007

Customer Service for Hard Money Loan Programs You're going to be or already are busy looking for investment opportunities and juggling the logistics of renovating your properties. That's why we strive to provide the highest level of customer service in the industry. Our regional loan officers go to great lengths to give personalized service to our customers and assist them in more than just the lending of money. You will have someone in your area to answer questions, guide you along in the process, and make sure your investment experience is rewarding. By employing our own licensed General Contractors, we are able to streamline the escrow draw process so you can manage your cash flow better! Ty Simmons, Senior Loan Officer, (913) 999-6006Kansas City Market 08/10/2007

 We all learned from a young age the importance of sharing. But now I want to talk to you about sharing in a matter than can be profitable to you and me. I'm talking about Equity Sharing for Kansas City real estate investing purposes.This blog is blessed with readers from around the country. The readers are usually very interested in real estate investing in particular and have a passing curiosity or serious interest in Kansas City. And I'm fully aware that the reason some readers have never pulled the trigger on a Kansas City investment property is because they are wary of the "hassle" owning an investment property a number of miles from their home.In short, they don't yet trust their ability to find the right property or the right property manager and they don't want to have to come i... 08/08/2007

I was reading Bryant Tutas blog http://../../blogsview/165445/American-Home-Mortgage-what so there has been quite a bit of discussion on what happened to AHM and I haven't seen a description here of what actually happened.  So I thought I would try. This is pretty much how Barry Habib described it in his MMG minutes on Friday.Investor means Wall Street, Lender is the funding source (my relationship with AHM was a wholesale lender so they were funding my loans and paying me the originator).The way a mortgage lender gets paid is like this.  To keep this easy lets assume we have a client that needs a $100,000 loan.  If we deliver it at a rate of 6.75% the investor (remember wall street) will pay $101,000 for that loan at that rate.  So what that says is that 6.75% is a little better return... 08/05/2007

Rental property in the Kansas City area can come in all shapes and sizes.  The great thing about this market is that rental properties can be;- Apartments.- Fourplexes.- Triplexes.- Duplexes.- Single Family Homes.Now, if you are reading this and you are a California based real estate investor (or Maryland or New Jersey or Washington for that matter) you probably had to read "Singe Family Homes" twice.Yes.  You can afford to own a single family home in the Kansas City area as an income producing property.  The sweet spot for SFH rental property is between $140,000 and $225,000.  At least for Johnson County, Kansas.  Within that price range you can expect rents to run .65% to .7% of the true market value.  Duplexes should run in the .75% to .81% of true market value.  Within the borders o... 08/01/2007