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Now, your daily commute may not be as long, but time spent in cars, trains and buses is time away from work and from family. Drive-time can affect a person’s Quality of Life and it’s one reason why Forbes Magazine’s Best and Worst Commutes is worth reviewing.

Measuring travel time, road congestion and travel delays in the 60 largest metropolitan areas, Forbes ranks city commutes from best-to-worst with Salt Lake City topping the list and Tampa-St. Petersburg finishing it.

The Top 5 Commutes, as compiled by Forbes:

1. Salt Lake City, Utah
2. Buffalo-Niagara Falls, New York
3. Rochester, New York
4. Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin
5. Albany-Schenectady-Troy, New York

The bottom 5 are Tampa-St. Petersburg, Detroit, Atlanta, Orlando, and Dallas-Forth Worth.

Long commutes shouldn’t deter you from moving to a particular city, but the potential commute should be consideration. Before making an offer on your next home, make a rush-hour commute to work from your potential new neighborhood.  Then imagine doing it every day.

You can read the complete Forbes list of Best and Worst Cities for Commuters on its website.

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Please take the time to watch and try to understand!

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Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

1. How to respond to an “insulting offer”
2. How to handle the first purchase offer you receive
3. What do when you can’t leave your home for its Open House
4. What room in the home should be kept the neatest

But, be aware. At the video’s end, there’s a piece of advice that may sound extremely self-serving coming from a real estate professional. Don’t let it turn you off. The video’s overall message is spot-on and the advice is real-world tested.

Selling a home is a process. Make sure to do it properly.

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Dear Investor,

The email you just received titled “My Predictions” was sent out without my approval. It was not my intention to say I told you so – that is not my style. Had I seen this email in advance it would not have been worded in the manner that it was.

I have always believed that my presentation in 2006 in front of the Western Regional Mortgage Bankers Association proves conclusively what Washington, Wall Street, and the main stream media do not want the public to know — that the financial crisis was easily predictable by anyone with a solid understanding of economics.

When I originally posted this presentation to YouTube it was split into eight clips, and not nearly as many people viewed it as I had hoped. Now that I am a YouTube partner I was able to upload the entire presentation into one clip. If you have not had the opportunity to watch it, and you have an hour and fifteen minutes to spare, I think you will find it well worth your time. If you consider when this presentation was made, and the audience I was addressing, it is even more compelling.

Click here to view the video.

I hope that despite its length, this video can widely circulate on the internet. To help achieve this goal, try to forward it to as many people as you can. Hopefully a number of the people who ultimately view it will reside in Connecticut, helping voters conclude that having a senator who warned about the crisis in advance is preferable to having one who played an integral role in creating it.

Best Regards,

Peter Schiff
President and Chief Global Strategist
Euro Pacific Capital

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As reported by foreclosure-tracking company RealtyTrac.com, more than 50 percent of the country’s foreclosure-related actions in August occurred in just four states:

* California : 25.76 percent
* Florida : 17.4 percent
* Michigan : 5.4 percent
* Nevada : 5.0 percent

The rest of the “Top 10″ foreclosure states included Arizona, Illinois, Georgia, Ohio, Texas and New Jersey.

Versus July’s numbers, the U.S. foreclosure rate improved last month. However, the August data is awful in comparison to last year — foreclosures are up nearly 18 percent.

The silver lining? High foreclosure rates are yielding tremendous opportunities for today’s home buyers. Buyers of distressed properties now account for about one-third of all home sales and low mortgage rates and a federal tax credit are spurring sales.

Search the complete August 2009 foreclosure report for yourself, including foreclosure heatmaps and other trends on the RealtyTrac website.

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That leaves you 6 weeks from today to find a home and go under contract.

The First-Time Homebuyer Tax Credit program was passed as part of the 2009 economic stimulus plan. It credits up to $8,000 in tax payments to qualified buyers.

The qualification criteria are as follows:

• Buyer may not have owned a “main home” in the past 36 months
• The home may not be purchased from a parent, spouse, or child
• Adjusted gross income for the household must be below $95,000 for single tax filers and $170,000 for joint tax filers

Furthermore, not everyone who’s qualified will get the full $8,000. The credit can’t exceed 10 percent of a home’s purchase price, for example, and households with income approaching program limits get lesser benefits, too.

Meanwhile, an interesting note about the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit is that it’s a true tax credit and not a deduction. &nbsp. A person or couple claiming the $8,000 credit whose “normal” tax liability is $5,000 would get back $5,000 or whatever had been withheld for federal income taxes plus an additional $3,000 from the US Treasury when their tax return is processed by the IRS.

Review the program’s criteria at your leisure, but don’t wait until October to start looking for homes. If you can’t close by November 30, 2009 for any reason whatsoever, you won’t qualify for the tax credit.

Better to be ahead of the deadline than chasing it.

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And this year, with home sales on the rise and mortgage rates relatively low, early-September figures to be a popular closing date, too.

These points may appear unrelated, but there is an important connection between them.

Like workers in every other industry, employees of the mortgage, title, and real estate industries are just as likely to be taking time off on and around Labor Day.

For buyers with pending contracts, therefore, the closer that early-September closing date gets, the fewer industry folks that will be working to help close on your new house.

The same goes for households in the middle of a refinance.

With less than 4 weeks until Labor Day, you can take steps today to prepare for other people’s time off.  Here’s a few of them:

1. Notify your lender of any planned vacation time between now and your scheduled closing.
2. Purchase a homeowners insurance policy and prepay the first year, effective your closing date. Send proof of payment to your lender.
3. Have Power of Attorney forms lender-approved and signed by all parties, if applicable.
4. Deposit gift monies and/or retirement fund withdrawals into an acceptable bank account, if applicable.
5. Schedule your final walk-through far enough in advance to resolve any issues that may arise
6. Have your funds ready for closing at least 1 day early.

And, perhaps most important, fulfill your mortgage lender’s requests for additional supporting documentation within 24 hours of notice.  This includes requests for updated paystubs, bank statements, and tax returns.

The best reason to handle these tasks in advance is that, by the time Labor Day is around the corner, basic mortgage approval tasks will already take longer to complete — from clearing conditions to sending a wire.  Reduced staff means slower response times.

Stay ahead of the curve and help save yourself from potential headaches down the road.  And, if possible, avoid closing on the Friday before Labor Day and the Tuesday after.

On these days, staffs are the most lean of all.

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