Athens Area Foreclosures; Buying from Banks vs “Bob”

Non-Foreclosure Sales Statistics (565 listings) – 10-Jul-08 to 10-Jul-09 Athens GA
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$0	$949,000	$198,234	$162,000	$112,002,260
Selling Price	$18,000	$920,000	$189,124	$157,500	$106,854,904
List/Sold(%)	68.42%	122.18%	95.27%	96.22%	–

Foreclosure Sales Statistics (93 Listings) 10-Jul-08 to 10-Jul-09 Athens GA
	Low	High	Average	Median	Total
List Price	$11,900	$395,000	$112,861	$99,900	$10,496,050
Selling Price	$9,200	$330,000	$104,376	$97,000	$9,706,922
List/Sold(%)	60.26%	116.67%	92.84%	94.09%	–

It is truly amazing to me how just because a listing is branded with the words FORECLOSURE and BANK OWNED, that the media has painted, successfully too I might add, this pictures that everyone buying a bank owned home is getting a steal.

You hear of these urban legends that someone told you about how “Uncle Billy” bought a house for 50% of  its’ value!  To begin with, these fishing stories are all wrong.  The premise, whether or not the particulars of the transaction are conveyed correctly, that “Uncle Billy” bought a home for less than full value cannot happen.  Value or worth is what a party agrees to pay for a home.  Not what the tax appraisal or a real estate agent says the house is worth.

If you paid $500,000 for your home, just because it has a tax appraisal of $900,000, doesn’t mean you could turn around and sell it for that much tomorrow.    A home, your comic book collection, etc…is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it today.  The reason there is perceived value in foreclosures is that idea that it “was worth” “X” amount more than I paid for it.  Again, this thought goes back to “list price” or some phantom appraisal that was created for another party’s benefit.

Now with all of this said, please let the madness stop!!  Regular homeowners just like you are trying to sell property too.  They would love to have someone look at their homes.  I have wondered recently if I put a sign rider on top of my real estate company sign that said FORECLOSURE RESALE, BANK OWNED, COME BEAT US UP, BLOOD IN THE WATER if a particular home would get shown more.

I am thinking so……

What the facts are however is that when you look at homes sold in Athens during the past twelve months that were non-foreclosure sales and you look at what Sellers got for their homes versus List Price the average Athens home seller walked away on an average and median basis with 95.27% and 96.22% respectively.  How about bank owned foreclosures sales? They brought the bank an average and median price of 92.84% and 94.09% respectively off List Price.  Banks aren’t giving away houses on the whole! Not in our market.

Now sure, bank owned foreclosure sales are providing a “little” bonus to buyers from these figures, but not the perceived 20%-50% that most people think they are getting in a foreclosure purchase.  Does this 2 percent discount for buying a foreclosure make up for buying a home with no Seller Disclosure, no Warranties, and a home that is sold to you in an As-Is condition?  I would contend no.  The risk is too great for what small discounts are actually obtained in our market on the average.

The purpose of this post is to point out the frustration when I see a listing that is priced right for an owner, we will call him “Bob,”  and in “Bob’s” area last month roughly 85% of homes sold or under contract were bank owned foreclosures.  That is stiff competition!  The sad thing is that of the homes that sold in his area (price range) which were bank owned sales, one was a multiple offer home that got bid up to 120% of List Price while on the other the buyer paid roughly 95% of List.

These homes in our area are not the bargains they are in FL, CA, NV, and other areas of the nation so the next time you go house hunting, put yourself in that seller’s shoes and consider a home that might be owned by a “Bob” and not a Bank.  “Bob” might appreciate it and who knows, you might need a considerate buyer, like yourself, one day when you resale!

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

all photos courtesy of the Athens Convention and Visitor’s Bureau

Got Staging Savvy?

Okay Athens, GA, do you have Staging Savvy?  Here is a 10 question quiz to give you an idea of whether or not you can make the grade!

Remember that when you are staging to sell;

• Depersonalize the space by removing family photos, trophies, posters, etc.

• Clear high-traffic areas of excess furnishings to maximize feeling of space

• Highlight key features in each room, and make sure they are not obscured by plants or furnishings

References;

Clutter-free helps sell homes

Home-staging cheat sheet

“Honey, stop the car!” The importance of curb appeal

14 ways to make the most of your curb appeal

Preparing your home for sale: steps to spruce up your property

De-clutter, pre-pack and reflow

Appealing to eyes and ears of buyers

Make homes welcoming: Ten low-cost ideas to increase salability

For the record, I got 10 out of 10!

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

Okay, Okay, Athens, GA Housing is Low Risk, according to the Realtor

“Okay, Okay, Athens, GA Housing is Low Risk, according to the Realtor.”  I have had this said of my optimism quite frequently in the past year.  I sell Real Estate, even capitalize the words like they are some deity, so I am biased.  Well here comes PMI to the rescue.  You know PMI.  You might even pay them each month for the security and benefit of your mortgage company.

PMI (private mortgage insurance) combines their risk management expertise and financial strength to serve as support of the mortgage finance system.  This support protects lenders in the event of borrower default.  Theoretically speaking, through protecting mortgage lenders from credit losses, PMI helps to ensure mortgages are available to all qualified homebuyers.

For those of you getting ready to buy your first home, in many cases when you cannot put down 20 percent on a home, lenders may permit a smaller down payment and purchase mortgage insurance, which you as the borrower in turn pay as part of your monthly payment.  Special rules and conditions may apply for first time home buyers not to have this additional cost during this period of recession in order to stimulate the housing sector.  Ask your lender if this applies to you.

What I want to focus on in this column however is how PMI applies research, analytics, risk management, and loss mitigation to assist lenders faced with potential foreclosures.

In Athens, GA on the most recent report, PMI Proprietary Market Research shows on page three that the Athens market is LOW per the index rank.  The study shows that based upon where you buy a home, the pricing for that PMI premium you pay each month is dependent on how risky they feel your market is at the present.  For example, Athens had an index value as of Q1 ‘09 of 27.8.  Other cities around the state of Georgia were Macon, GA at 57.6,  Gainesville 63.2, Atlanta 80.7, Savannah 83.3, and Dalton 97.2. 

Dalton was the highest Georgia city in terms of the risk of borrower default.  Any cities over 70 were HIGH risk.  99.9 was the highest rating a city could obtain.

This report shows not only risk ratings, but appreciation in recent quarters, affordability, and unemployment.  For example, Atlanta had an unemployment rate in the 12.3 percent as compared to Athens at 6.9 percent.  The affordability index for Savannah is at 114.8 as compared to Athens at 121.37.  This means that Athens is comparatively more affordable a market than Savannah as of Q1 ‘09.

This is a great tool and should offer encouragement and direction for homeowners in the Greater Athens area, but also to people looking to relocate to Georgia.

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

all photos courtesy of the Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau

What Home Buyers are Searching for In Athens, GA

Top Search Terms www.AthensGaProperties.com for 7 days ending
2009-07-02 to Today
Search	%
best cities to raise a family	22%
first time home buyer tax credit co-borr	8%
georgia first time home buyer credit	6%
properties facebook	6%
first time home borrower plan expansion	5%
first time home buyer credit for co-buye	5%
foreclosed homes in athens, ga	5%
ga first time home buyer tax credit	5%
lakes near athens ga	5%
lane creek ga	5%
first time home buyer tax credit georgia	3%
top cities to raise a family	3%
mortgage rate trends july 7, 2009	3%
lane creek golf club homes for sale	3%
beechwood hills houses for sale in athen	3%

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

Show Me the Money

The Federal Housing Administration has added another component to the temporary $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit. Qualified FHA buyers now have the option of monetizing the funds. Through short-term bridge loans, buyers can access the money immediately instead of amending their 2008 tax return or waiting to file in 2009.

These buyers then have the option of adding it to their FHA-required 3.5 percent down payment, covering closing costs or buying down their interest rate. Realtors® believe this will meaningfully impact home sales and values.

A Bird in the Hand…

Now that buyers can use the $8,000 tax credit immediately, the question many have had is whether we have had a pickup in buyer activity. Are consumers aware of the tax credit? Do they understand the term ‘first-time buyer’ applies to anyone who hasn’t owned a home in three years?

The answer to-date  is that they are aware, but the $8,000 is not motivating.  It is not enough, and the deadline to qualify is still too far off to have this be motivation to buy when there is still concern about housing prices and whether or not they will continue to correct or fall.  Couple this with current discussions in the Congress about the expansion of this credit also have just begun to stagnate activity more as people wait and wonder what additional benefits they might receive by possible future changes.

In addition to increasing the credit from $8,000 to $15,000, additional details are as follows;

• Extending the tax credit deadline into the middle of 2010.

• Making the benefit available to all home buyers

• A tax credit to $3,000 for borrowers who refinance.

These changes, I am told by buyers and real estate professionals alike, can add true stimulus or motivation when it comes to not only first time home buyers, but also”step up” buyers that were mysteriously missing in May.  It is too bad the Republican Senator from Georgia, Johnny Isakson, came up with this idea in February, the concept passed the Senate, and had the House kill it where it stood.  Now the controlling party can take credit I suppose.  We could have had this stimulus 6-8 months ago, but it like many other good ideas got squashed because of political reasons.

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

Athens GA Homes and Market Trends; June ‘09

According to powerhouse Trulia.com, there are 2,086 homes in Athens  for sale on Trulia.  This includes 187 homes in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process.  Good news in the recent week is that distressed properties for sale as a percentage of total inventory fell to 8.9 percent.  On inventory listed through Trulia, they report an average list price in Athens of $223,644 for the week ending Jul 01, unchanged from the previous week.

The Athens MLS shows for the past month that average and median sales prices are $155,576 and $140,500 respectively while the average DOM (days on market) was at 188 days which is up more than 10 percent as compared to June of 2008.  Average and median sales prices in June of 2008 were $182,017 and $156,000 respectively.  This does not mean that prices have fallen per se.  It does mean that what’s selling are homes that are priced most attractively.  Add to this the high volume of first time home buyers and the absence of “step up” buyers from this year’s market, and it is no wonder that homes in the $100k’s are moving.  In June of 2008 roughly 33 percent of all homes sold in Athens were over $200,000.  In June of this year, only 14 percent.

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

Photo courtesy Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Top 20 Banking Websites

The following report shows websites for the industry ‘Business and Finance – Banks and Financial Institutions‘, ranked by Visits for the week ending 06/27/2009.

Rank	Website	Visits
1.	Bank of America Online Banking	7.30%
2.	Bank of America	5.89%
3.	Chase Online	5.22%
4.	Wells Fargo – Online Banking	4.27%
5.	Chase Banking	4.16%
6.	Wells Fargo	3.35%
7.	Wachovia Online Services	3.19%
8.	Citi – Account Online	2.00%
9.	Capital One Online Banking	1.83%
10.	Washington Mutual – Personal Banking Online	1.68%
11.	Discover Card	1.56%
12.	Wachovia	1.52%
13.	Fidelity Investments	1.51%
14.	HSBC Credit Card	1.00%
15.	SunTrust Banks	1.00%
16.	American Express	0.96%
17.	US Bank Internet Banking	0.95%
18.	Regions Bank	0.94%
19.	BB&T – Branch Banking & Trust Company	0.92%
20.	Capital One USA	0.91%

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

Patience is a Virtue for Athens and Oconee, GA Sellers

Report Generated For: 4/3/2009 – 7/3/2009

Athens MLS Area: 07:South Oconee Co., 08:Watkinsville/Oconee Co., 09:West Oconee Co.

Home Sales Price                          #            Mkt Share         Avg DOM

200,000 – 249,999                        11            13%                        217

250,000 – 299,999                          6              7%                        189

300,000 – 399,999                        12            14%                        236

400,000 – 499,999                        12            14%                        334

500,000 – 749,999                          4              5%                        423

The biggest battle we face, and you could call it that some days, is that of trying to keep the frustration level down for home sellers. The information, provided via the Athens MLS reveals that 47 percent of homes sold in Oconee County, where the average sales price was $287,000 during this time frame, was under $200,000!

How does this compare to Athens-Clarke?

Athens MLS Area: 01:West Athens/Clarke Co., 02:North Athens/Clarke Co., 03:East Athens/Clarke Co., 04:East Athens/Clarke Co., 05:West Athens/Clarke Co., 06:Five Points/University

Home Sales Price                           #        Mkt Share           Avg DOM

200,000 – 249,999                        19            8%                        301

250,000 – 299,999                        12            5%                        206

300,000 – 399,999                        16            7%                        310

400,000 – 499,999                          3            2%                        311

500,000 – 749,999                          4            1%                        91

In Athens-Clarke you see a noticeable drop in sales as we go above $200,000 over the past 90 days.  What is telling is that 77 percent of all sales in the county are under $200,000!  This tells me two things.  One is that first time homebuyers are dominating the market.  Secondly it confirms what the industry is seeing in that there are fewer of the desperately needed “step up” buyers this year than in past years.   For 7 sellers out of 10, they had their homes on the market a skyrocketing 300+ days!

Time on Market Analysis Athens-Clarke and Oconee
For Units Sold
Days	Residential	Other	Total
0 – 30	6	0	6
31 – 60	40	0	40
61 – 90	51	1	52
91- 120	42	0	42
121+	177	2	179

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

Real Estate Web Leaders and the Changing of the Guard

As I sip my fourth cup of coffee this morning, I am looking at the new Hitwise.com figures today on leading Real Estate Websites.  Through June 27th, for the preceding week there were not a lot of changes to the Top 5.  Please keep in mind that roughly 30 percent of all traffic on the Web to “Business and Finance – Real Estate,” ranked by numbers of visits, goes to the Top 10 Web sites on the Hitwise Top 20.  The Top 5 Web sites comprise roughly 20 percent of all visits by themselves!

• Realtor.com 8.01 percent
• Yahoo Real Estate 3.92 percent
• Zillow 3.33 percent
• ZipRealty 2.81 percent
• Trulia.com 2.13 percent

What’s interesting is that if you compare sites that have a large T.V. advertising budget, such as ReMax, Coldwell Banker, and Century 21, they fall 7th, 12th, and 15th respectively.   Large T.V. dollars don’t translate to top rankings on visits by consumers.

The question remains, are you getting the right exposure on your property for sale in the Greater Athens area?  If you have Coldwell Banker, for example, but don’t have Trulia, Zillow, or Yahoo Real Estate, are you settling for less than 2 percent of the market share of visitors who might find your home online?

Conversely, if you have C21 or Remax, who is paying for that big advertising budget?  That nice Remax balloon has got to stay up in the air?  Who pays for that?  Their customers?

It might amaze you, but I read constantly (daily) how the old brokerage models for real estate are dead.  While they put a new skin on their website or come out with a new smart phone app (when everyone is going iPhone), the old business model with their outdated structure of high overhead is going away.

This is why I made the change to Keller Williams a year ago.  A company that understands how to keep costs down and let the agents set their own deals.  Not have a broker/owner who tells them what they must charge buyers and sellers in terms of commission.

In the past year, according to the Athens MLS, Keller Williams, which has only been in Athens, GA for five years now as a company, has picked up more business than ReMax Top Performers, Athens Classic Properties, and trails Prudential, which has been in Athens for more than 20 years, by seven properties on the association activity report.  Doing more with less.  Keller Williams doesn’t spend a lot of money promoting the brand or office via the traditional dying media such as the Real Estate Book because each agent promotes themselves.

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

Athens Georgia Homes, Facebook, and Life After People

Okay, okay, I hate to admit it, but I dearly enjoy Facebook.  While they say the average adult spends four (4) hours each day online, and the world is crashing down around us, updating my status and seeing what my friends and contacts are doing is in a word, “fun.”  Maybe I have found the answer to the question everyone is asking regarding the current History channel T.V. show “Life After People.”  They never tell you where the people go, just that without us the world is falling apart and decaying.

So now we know! All the people are on Facebook!

In any event, I have established a Fan Page at Facebook.  Not regarding me, like many business owners have done which to me seems a little bit too egotistical, but for Athens GA Homes.  I think that anyone who is a buyer, seller, and most importantly a homeowner in Athens, GA can be a fan of Athens GA Homes! Become a fan at  www.facebook.com/Athens.Georgia.Homes or click the logo and it will take you there as well!

If you have a chance please take a look.  We have 117 members in a little more than a week.  I have blog feeds from this blog hitting the wall daily, videos regarding Athens, daily articles from the press regarding real estate ownership facts and issues.  Thinking about refinancing and not knowing where rates are this week?  Mortgage rate information is at your fingertips from Zillow, and of course there are homes for sale.

On this Page you will find a link to the Georgia MLS, the largest MLS in the southest, where you can not only look up Athens, GA homes for sale, but also see every home for sale in the surrounding Athens area!  Looking for property on a particular side of town? Use this link with MapTracks to find where you want to live, not just what you want to consider buying!

Become a fan and I think you will see a smart, well thought out page full of ideas and information for your reference!

Athens GA Homes and Market Trends; Foreclosure Segment

As of June 24, 2009, there were 2,128 homes in Athens, GA on Trulia.com, including 239 homes (11.2 percent) in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process. Median list price for homes for sale in the Greater Athens, GA area was $223,587, down $2,455 from the previous week.

Other segments of the Greater Athens MSA of homes in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process.

• Watkinsville 7.2 percent
• Bogart 7.9 percent
• Jefferson 17 percent
• Winder 52 percent
• Bishop 5.2 percent
• Danielsville 16.2 percent
• Statham 30.5 percent

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

Mortgage Rates Flat in Recent Week

Freddie Mac announced the release of the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey in which the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 5.42 percent for the week ending June 25, 2009, up from last week when it averaged 5.38 percent. This may not be the sub-5 percent rates that were spoiling consumers of late, but last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.45 percent.

The 15-year fixed rate mortgage this past week averaged 4.87 percent, down from last week when it averaged 4.89 percent. Last summer, the 15-year FRM averaged 6.04 percent.

“Mixed economic reports on the state of the housing market helped hold mortgage rates fairly flat this week,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “Existing home sales rose for the second consecutive month in May by 2.4 percent, slightly less than the market consensus forecast; however the median sales price was 16.8 percent below that of the same time last year, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). In contrast, new home sales fell 0.6 percent and the median sales price was only 3.4 percent lower than May 2008.

On a more positive note, the inventory of unsold homes has lessened from a year ago, which may help cushion further house price declines. The number of existing homes for sale was 15.3 percent below that of May 2008, and new homes for sale fell by 35.9 percent. In addition, distressed properties accounted for only about one-third of existing home sales in May, down from over a half in March, according to the NAR.”

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

A Jumbo Problem…in Housing

The jumbo mortgage market has been severely restricted, with soaring interest rates and limited availability, and these
problems are affecting the entire housing market. According to insights from NAR research, sales of homes priced above $750,000 have stalled and inventory has climbed from 18.7 months in 2007 to 41.1 months in 2009.

While mortgage rates on conforming loans up to $417,000 are near 50-year lows, jumbo loans currently carry unusually high interest rates. In many cases, wary lenders with overly stringent credit standards add to the problem by treating jumbo loan applicants with high credit scores and sizeable down payments as higher risks than buyers in the conforming market who have lower credit scores and less money available.

Jumbo Loans for Median Homes

Many people assume jumbo loans are for the wealthy, but in some areas of the country these loans are for median priced homes. As a  Realtor®, from my perspective the jumbo loan market has thankfully only affected high end local real estate activity.  Therefore the jumbo market has not impacted the general buyer in their home search in our market where the median priced home is $153,000.

Sales are down in terms of shear numbers, to be sure, but where our overall market is off year to date roughly 42 percent compared to this same time frame a year ago, sales of jumbo homes have decreased from 59 sales last year to 25 thus far in 2009 for a 58 percent decrease.

When will the turn around come for the jumbo home sales?   When jumbo mortgage products are not priced out of the market.

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town!

Top 20 Real Estate Websites

The following report shows websites for the industry ‘Business and Finance – Real Estate‘, ranked by Visits for the weekending 06/20/2009. Rank Website Visits 1. Realtor.com 7.44% 2. Yahoo! Real Estate 3.98% 3. Zillow 3.26% 4. ZipRealty 2.88% 5. Trulia.com 2.12% 6. Rent.com 1.95% 7. ServiceMagic 1.85% 8. HUD 1.72% 9. Homegain 1.69% 10. RE/MAX Real Estate 1.66% 11. Homes.com 1.61% 12. Coldwell Banker Real Estate 1.33% 13. Century 21 Real Estate 1.17% 14. Apartments.com 1.11% 15. RealtyTrac 0.96% 16. Listingbook Services 0.94% 17. MSN Real Estate 0.94% 18. MyNewPlace 0.93% 19. mlsfinder.com 0.88% 20. Apartment Guide 0.85%

If you are a buyer in our market, these are probably the best buying conditions in 30 years!  If you would like to search the Athens MLS with MapTracks please take a look at listings in our “Classic City” today!  On this web MLS search solution you can search every listing on the Georgia MLS for the Greater Athens area or in your Georgia town! All Credits for Data to Hitwise.

Athens GA Properties, Social Vibe, Children’s Miracle Network and You!

Children’s Miracle Network is in the business of creating miracles! Children’s Miracle Network is a non-profit that raises funds for more than 170 children’s hospitals. From countless individuals, organizations, and media partners team with Children’s Miracle Network hospitals to help sick and kids in local communities. Donations create miracles by funding medical care, research, and education that saves and improves the lives of more than 15 million kids annually.

This year alone, Children’s Miracle Network hospitals will provide charity care worth billions, yet these children’s hospitals depend on this support.

The SocialVibe.com credo, ” We believe that empowering people to leverage their influence online can create positive impact for themselves, their brands, and their communities.   Our site allows you to Get Sponsored by your favorite brands on your social profiles while earning points for the reward of your choice.  We believe that making a real difference is possible without making a real difference to your bank account.  So we’ve built just the tool to allow you to earn the donation instead of giving one.  The tool is called The Badge and we know it has the power to make real world change, for you or for others”

You will notice the Children’s Miracle Network badge on my site.  Through SocialVibe and my sponsor, Sprint, all you have to do is click the button, rate a brief Sprint video, and a contribution will be made.  It’s that simple.  Thanks for your support!