Month: July 2017

John Deere Classic – Great Golf in the Quad Cities

John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run is the largest sporting event in the Quad Cities. It is held annually since 1971 and is an official PGA tour event. Professional golfers from around the world visit the Quad Cities for top golf. Hundreds of volunteers help out for successful completion of the event and the golfing event also sponsors the Birdies for Charity fundraising.

TPC Deere Run in Silvis, IL is a top golf course in the area to host the annual John Deere Classic. The premium event is a summer special which hosts professional golfers from around the world. The sporting event is a huge boost for local economy.

Hundreds of volunteers help organize the event. Local city leaders, school groups, employees of John Deere Manufacturing company, charities, and so on get together for this event. Birdies for Charity is one of the largest fundraising event that supports local charities during the John Deere Classic.

The prize money for the winner this year is $1 million. Some of the recent past winners include Steve Stricker, Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson, Ryan Moore, Brian Harman, and so on.

John Deere Classic is excited to host several local golfers who have roots back in the Quad Cities area. Organizations can sponsor the event by advance registration. Volunteer opportunities exist for different committees. Advance signup is recommended for volunteering. Volunteers can win special prizes and event freebies.

Birdies for charities is a fund raising for charities who meet certain specifications. Matching amount can be won from the earnings of the event. Official food vendors are assigned every year for concessions.

Spectators are expected to follow certain guidelines during the event. Sharp knifes and firearms are prohibited at the event. Having a course map handy is essential. Following a group or staying in your stand are two methods of watching the tournament. Autographs can be sought out at a pre-approved time early in the week. Security guards are present at the gates to maintain the safety. Emergency medical services are planned for any situations.

John Deere Classic allows some special provisions in some years and some years end up with a tie. Regardless of the outcome, the entire event is planned, organized, and implemented with top standards. The golf event is a festival time for Quad Cities and is a must see.

New Construction Quad Cities

Quad cities is the bursting market with opportunities. With booming development in between Chicago and Des Moines, QC is the top favorite for many. The lack of custom homes is a challenge in the area and the demand for new construction homes is rising rapidly. Realtors and builders are working along with property seekers to accomplish the new construction homes in Quad Cities. If you are a first time home builder, you are prone to many challenges. Here are some insights.

Quad Cities

Quad Cities may first look like typical MidWest area where nothing ever happens. 🙂 However, QC is developing rapidly and everyone is having hard time to cope up. John Deere, Alcoa,  and local school districts, are some of the major employers in the area. Greater Quad  Cities is also seeing  many new manufacturing, construction, highways, bridges, and small business developments.  Prospective home owners in the QC are seeing shortage of new homes. Some are surprised to find the cost of living in the Quad Cities same as cities such as Dallas, TX or Columbus, Ohio. Some big city home owners are amazed to see the quality of the homes we get in our area when compared to the price they put in the big cities.

New Construction

Home is one of the largest investments and many of us have a very careful approach for a new construction property. Buying an existing property with established facilities and landscaping is a popular choice. Due to the shortage in the Quad Cities, many opt for a new construction which turns out to quite daunting to some. 🙂

  1. Budgeting: Home owners must have a clear budget on the new construction based on the family income. Down payment, mortgage, property tax, HOA fees if any, and home improvement costs must be considered before starting out for a new home. Expect to cross the budget during the complete construction process. 🙂
  2. Area and Builder: Choosing the lot according to your preferences such as proximity to work and school districts is crucial. Next step is choosing a builder who can complete your dream home. Select a new construction builder or a general contractor who specialize in custom homes. It is better to choose the builder with appropriate permits and insurance. Some builders offer to take the construction loan for you or others may direct you to the banks that offer construction loans. Anyway, you end up paying the construction loan interest. 🙂
  3. Contract: A contract need to be signed after reviewing the estimations. You can choose to have a realtor based on the builder. Some avoid realtors to escape the cost of seven percent. Most builders in the QC charge a builder commission fee from ten to fifteen percent. Your negotiation skills may come in handy at this time. Other components are charged same by most builders depending upon who they subcontract. It may be essential to add change clauses and late delivery clauses.
  4. Design: Expect one or two months to finalize the design. Some initial idea is needed as how much square footage the home is going to be after leaving the required offsets. Type of vault, Room sizes, bathroom placements, media room, and any customized options need to be brainstormed at this time. Owners may not be surprised that the design keeps on changing as the construction progresses. 🙂
  5. Selections: Home owners are required to select many aspects of the house. The basics such as foundation or drywall material will be common in the area. Some external selections such as roofing or siding may be mandatory depending on the HOA or city rules. Crucial selections that have huge impact on the final cost include flooring, cabinets, electrical fixtures, landscaping, plumbing fixtures, appliances, paint colors, and so on. You can upgrade to advanced options or select the basic ones provided by the builder. It may seem confusing and daunting, but it is required to look up the options and check out the samples and reviews before finalizing. It will be like a selection marathon where as soon as you are done with selecting one item, you will be presented with more options to finalize another! 🙂 You will always skeptical about how the total cost is going to change if you choose a particular selection.
  6. Waiting: This is the most killing aspect of new construction homes. Expect delays as the new construction is extremely dependent on weather and labor. Rains are the show stoppers for all exterior work. Any high end work is dependent on the availability of the labor. If one of the subcontractors who committed has any emergency, that task will be delayed. This is true with big and small builders alike. Phased out tours are planned for big builders and small builders let you visit every day.
  7. Locking the mortgage rate: You are required to lock the mortgage rate before 30, 60, or 90 days of your closing. Banks and financial institutions do allow some time to lock and if any delays occur, you need to notify the bank so they can extend the rate lock for another 30 days for a charge. Banks also do require you to finalize a home insurance provider before processing the loan pre-approval. Skip this step if you are paying cash. 🙂
  8. Appraisal: Banks send for a neutral appraisal before processing the mortgage. The appraisal is a mandatory process which will decide how much that property can be valued for. The entire appraisal depends on many factors such as similar homes sold in the area during past six months or the facilities such as wood flooring or deck.
  9. Inspection: The property needs to pass several inspections from city and HOA. Those approvals are necessary and also assure that the property is being built in a safe and acceptable manner. Any recommendations must be completed before closing. An Occupancy Certificate will be issued if all the requirements are met. A Temporary Occupancy Certificate may be issued which must be corrected later.
  10. Closing: A final walk thru before closing is suggested with all the involved parties. Check every light, tap, door, and so on to note any discrepancies that need to be fixed. Your banker and realtor will prepare all the necessary documents required at the time of closing. All documents can be shared electronically and signed on the closing day. You are required to pay the down payment and closing charges at this time. If you have opted for a for-sale-by-owner, you both can hire individual lawyers who can take care of the paper work. It is your responsibility to check for the accuracy of the paperwork as the lawyers do tend to have mistakes in their forms.
  11. Post-moving checks: Once you move in your new home, keep checking the house interior and exterior for any issues. Within the one year warranty that is common in the Quad Cities, you can ask for any faults or bad installations. Note down the warranty period on the appliances and HVAC so you can seek out the fixes. Minor cracks in flooring, walls, paints, and so on can be fixed.

New construction homes are definitely a thrill to enjoy but do expect some out of pocket expenses every month. You will be tempted to make changes with the change in seasons. Peer pressure in terms of improvement and buyer remorse  when property bills arrive are common side effects. An extra fan, an upgrade in the doors, added landscaping, and so on will be needed in the first year or every year. 🙂 Let me know any other tips for new construction homes in the Quad Cities.

Lilly Singh a.k.a Superwoman

Lilly Singh also known as Superwoman on YouTube is one of the fastest growing YouTube star earning millions of dollars through her YouTube channels and shows. Once suffered with severe depression, Lilly Singh now is the hardest working female YouTuber to achieve stardom and fame. Superwoman won many awards such as People’s Choice awards and Teen Choice awards. She is also known for her philanthropic efforts and was recently chosen as the Global Goodwill Ambassador for United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Lilly Singh

Lilly Singh was born in Canada and her roots trace back to India. She studied Psychology but choose YouTube videos as a career due to the popularity of her videos. Her perspective and opinions resounded with billions of viewers around the world and won millions of subscribers. Superwoman also is a writer, vlogger, actress, singer,  motivational speaker, and comedian. She plays the roles of her parents to represent the contrasting views of older generation. Her ethnic diversity also brings in immigrant perspective in to the videos.  She puts out her life so much in the videos and I think no one in her life can escape from the YouTube channels. 🙂

As the fame and earnings improved, Lilly Singh works harder to achieve more. Competency and talent made her collaborate with other YouTubers and celebrities. Lilly Singh’s encouraging speeches around the world tours are famous. Lilly Singh encourages people to break barriers and not limit due to fear of what other people will think.

Working Always Like a Superwoman

Planned events and non-stop work has contributed to Lilly Singh’s success. Being a female top earner through YouTube channel is a rare achievement.  She continues to work to maintain the excitement in her vlogs and channels. Breaking all the barriers in terms of gender, nationality, roots, opportunities, mental health issues, and ideas have led to more views and fame.

Lilly Singh’s book How to be a Bawse explains the tips to overcome difficulties in life to achieve success. Lilly Singh was also criticized for some of her work nevertheless she continues to work learning from the mistakes.  Social media such as the Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and so on are also a part of the YouTuber’s success. Her smartphone app Unicorn Island helps connect with fans during tours.

Lilly Singh is a strong supporter of female empowerment and girl child education. Lilly Singh partnered with different organizations for fundraising. As a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, Lilly travels around the world to promote awareness and help solve issues.

As a successful business woman Lilly welcomes new ideas and challenges in the world of entertainment.  The recent Game of Thrones White Walker video is an example of Lilly’s hard work. You can reach out to Superwoman on YouTube if you want her to discuss any issue or topic. 🙂

 

 

The Death of Crypto Currency

Investors were all frenzy earlier this year with the enormous growth of the Crypto Currency such as the Bitcoin and Ethereum. Working on the blockchain methodology and peer-to-peer payment systems, the Crypto were attractive as an alternate currency. The lack of fees for local and international transactions proved to be a rebellious way of paying. However, the software fork updates this month has made the Crypto Currency loose billions of dollars.

Crypto Currency

Crypto Currency is a term widely used for digital currency or virtual currency which is independent of any bank or financial institutions or country. It is just a process of continuous verification of transactions through software and hardware code. For every verified piece or block of code, a unit of digital currency is issued. Some Crypto Currency such as the Bitcoin and Ethereum have become the official currencies in some parts of the world. Organizations and regular stores have started accepting the Crypto Currency as a means of payment. Individuals with appropriate technology set up are able to mine the Crypto Currency in their homes. Some opt for pool mining, some investors set money in exchanges, while some buy the stocks reserved for the Crypto.

Crypto Currency can be bought with real-time currency worldwide. Several exchanges such as GDAX and Coinbase have made buying the Crypto Currency easier. In some parts of the world, Crypto ATM’s are made available for users with which they can buy the digital currency. There are fees for the transactions on the exchanges. Anonymity of users and transactions are possible in the Crypto networks. High security of the software and hardware have led to billions of transactions. Users may see a delay between when the time of order and the processing of orders due to the continuous verification.

All exchanges follow minimum Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering policies. Since the network is driven by software and users themselves, the investments are not secure. Recent software glitches made users loose money due to the issues. The exchanges do not guarantee the money lost in the wallets. Also, during the software updates or forks, the money may be lost which cannot be recovered.

Investment

This year, the IRS has exempted transactions in Bitcoin up to $20, 000 in Coinbase. New regulations are being developed worldwide for regulating Crypto Currency. Billions of users are investing in the Crypto Currency due to the rapid growth. Bitcoin has risen from around $100 to up to $4000 since its inception in 2009. Similarly, Ether which is preferred by the organizations also seen a huge growth from about $8 to around $403 this year.  Early investors have seen growth up to 400 per cent. Short term investors have lost some amount due to the volatility of the Crypto Currency.

The network users and miners have started to have disagreements on how the transactions were processed. Some believe that the transaction processing can be outsourced to third parties for faster processing. Some say that all transaction processing must be within the network. Several updates of the software fork SegWit have been introduced in to the system. Investors do withdraw their money during the updates as the software may be unpredictable. In the past, users of MtGox, a popular exchange, lost all their money due to the difficulties in the exchange. All exchanges lock the withdrawals during the software updates.

With every update and the differences in the system, investors are suspicious about the Crypto Currency network. Some believe that after the network is stabilized, the Crypto will reign. Some are getting in to panic mode and avoiding Crypto altogether. Finally, the Crypto Currency has huge scope to grow as it fell rapidly this year. Users can invest while it is in low and hope it will rise again from death.  Let me know your experiences with the new found luck – Crypto Currency. 🙂