We recently did a post about the amazing opportunities to be had for speculative builders in the DU/Platt Park area- There is an incredible amount of opportunity to be had in Platt Park (to see the actual statistics: Calling all Lendors Platt Park) And truth be told, we work with quite a few smaller builders who are eager to get back into this market. In fact, we are hearing it every day about how low the interest rates are and the media pushing the idea that we all need to jump back into the real estate market NOW NOW NOW! Truth of  the matter is that there are many of you out there "trying" to get back into this market, but if you don't have the cash, you really don't have much of a chance to jump on these great real estate deals. Case in point- we have a client who has a proven track record of fix-n-flips and new builds in the Platt Park area. He is ready to build on an additional site- he has $400K in the bank and needs to borrow an additional $300K for the construction project.  We have sent him now to 3 commercial lendors (one locally owned and operated) and their response was "Yes we will lend you the $300K but only if you invest $300K in a savings account in our bank". WHAT? So, in other words, my client needs to have the cash to fund his own construction project - so, why would he need a commercial loan? We have run up against the same type of problem with another client looking to fund a much smaller project.  So we are Calling all Lenders who are interested in working with clients in Platt Park! Help! Do we need to just work with hard money lenders? Construction projects (and frankly lack there of) have been reported to be an enormous problem in our current economic statistics in terms of unemployment (CNN money blog this weekend)- and yet our very own lenders are not allowing us to pull ourselves out of this economy.

Some of you recently read my post about the new XCEL Energy 2-tier billing system.  So I thought I would write about easy ways to save money in a tight economy: #1) Start with turning off your AC- this is a HUGE energy waster. #2) However- if you  are like me, and simply can't stand the thought of melting through the summer here is another easy way to save money in a tight economy - STOP USING YOUR DRYER- yes that's right- your dryer is probably costing you about $5.00 every time you put the clothes in there-Actually I just spoke to an engineer who told me that using your dryer is like having all of your lights on all day (in terms of KW hour usage). #3) Yes- most of us turn off all of our lights after leaving a room etc. but have you ever considered unpluggingyour unused items? I am in the process of doing this experiment just to see how many KW hours I can save. The first step is getting out those old power strips from you Christmas boxes or whatever and yes just go on and plug them in- I am starting with all of my computer electronics as well as TVs and video game equipment.  Remember your lights/lamps have an auto shut off so they are not actually drawing poer from your outlets- but items like appliances, computers, electric toothbrushes etc. all draw power from your outlets while not being used.-  I find the kitchen to be a bit difficult as I do have to unplug all of those appliances every day (although once I did this, I realized that I mainly use the coffee maker 5 times a day and other than that it's pretty easy to plug and unplug all the other appliances).  OK- so once you have this step done, just turn off  the power strips daily and voila! Savings! My goal is to see if this will help us save between $50 to $100.00 on my electric bill (my bill last month was a doozie).  I will keep you updated on this one. #4) Other energy bill suckers are water features- yes as lovely as they are water features are like constantly running little motors that really do give you serenity until you get the bill. So if you want another ease way to save money in a tight economy- just unplug that pond, but don't forget to drain it first.