Finding a job in a recession takes more than just a resume, Attorney and Law Blogger Roy Oppenheim tells viewers tonight on CBS 4 Neighbors to Neighbors. what it takes to get hired in South Florida.
Pouring through hundreds of qualified resumes, emails and messages, Oppenheim tells how to get noticed when the economic odds are against you. Connections, relationships, networks, training, books and internships are all part of reinventing yourself when at the mercy of the economy.
Oppenheim is not only a partner in Oppenheim Law but is a principal of Weston Title & Escrow, Inc. and sees it all when it comes to employment do’s and don’ts.
Maybe its is just me, but what I am seeing over and over again during these turbulent economic times is a general sense ofa lack of personal responsibility. It is truly becoming a sign of the times and until we figure out how to properly correct it, our very foundation will be continuously questioned if not threatened.
The examples are now running amuck.
AIDS at the VA
First we hear this pastweek about the VA literally spreading AIDS in a VA hospital in Miami and elsewhere by not properly cleaning certain “sensitive” equipment used in colonoscopies. Hello!! Are they STUPID? Would we ever hear of such an idiotic situation at a private facility where the Dr. and his partners would lose their license and be sued to the moon if this happened? No! Of course not, but at the VA no one will ever be held personally accountable.
In fact if the person who received AIDS is still on active duty he may not even be allowed to sue the VA. But even if the innocent victims do sue, who will actually be paying the damages: you and me the taxpayer. Not the manager of the facility, or the person responsible for cleaning the tubes. Certainly the President won’t ask the Secretary of the VA to step down because it wasn’t “his fault.” Well whose fault was it is the real question and how do we create a system that prevents these kinds of unbelievable mistakes? I am not sure but the list continues.
While I have been so busy in court defending foreclosures I hardly took notice that our staff at Weston Title have been getting busy! We have now more South Florida real estate closings in the office than we have had in at least 6 months!
In fact, the Wall Street Journal reported that 18 percent of all U.S. households will refinance in 2009. That is a whopping 72 percent increase from last year or almost $2 trillion! Interest on these loans will average about 4.7 percent – rates I have not seen in my entire career nor has anyone since the 1950s!
So let our homeowner self-bailout begin! I always said it would be South Florida’s new home buyers and the folks who had maintained good credit that would lead us back to normalcy. But, don’t kid yourself… without the stimulus package the lenders would still be on life support. Now at least we are all seeing and feeling less of a chill as the spring thaw begins. So start shopping around for what will likely be the best mortgage deal you will likely see in your lifetime!
Interested in buying or selling a home in South Florida? Take advantage of these low South Florida morgage rates and contact us at Weston Title for more information.
As the economy continues to worsen and confidence generally erodes as reflected in part by the Dow Jones Index dropping 25 percent since the beginning of 2009, the question arises: is there indeed a magic bullet to turn the world economy around?
Some have suggested that Wall Street’s exportation of toxic mortgage-backed securities to investors throughout the world was “evil genius” if in fact it was a plan to create the equivalent of a Trojan horse by destroying the rest of the world’s economy. Of course, the problem with that theory is that we took our own economy down in the process. In order to undo the damage and pain that we have inflicted, America needs to unwind or rewind the process. It is hard to envision how to do that unless we dust off our history books and look at what FDR did in a similar situation.
During the depression housing prices had dropped 30 percent. 50 percent of all homeowners were in default and a vast majority of homes were underwater, meaning that there was no equity or negative equity in such homes. This situation is similar to ours now, where rational homeowners have no incentive to keep paying their mortgages. In fact, right now in Florida, a whopping 20 percent of all mortgages are at least 30 days behind, which means that the foreclosure rate will likely double. Our government has to realize that eventually, a tipping point will occur. Even the homeowners, who may be under water but are still paying their mortgages, have to ask why they are the only chumps on the block still paying. When we get to that point in our social and economic fabric it may get so torn that it will be difficult for us to re-stitch it. (more…)
The President made it abundantly clear last night that one of the bailout’s fundamental purposes is to help troubled homeowners who need to refinance their homes, thereby preventing foreclosure. Yet one of the most popular Google searches yesterday concerned one’s ability to delay or stave off a foreclosure by demanding the foreclosing bank produce the original Note.
In fact the other day in the same chamber where the President spoke, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur from Ohio begged residents throughout the US to not just walk away from their foreclosed homes, but to fight and hire a “good lawyer” that can go up against the Wall Street attorneys! The video is circulating the internet like wildfire and the related search terms have hit the top of the Google Chart. See the video for yourself.
I was flawed to see a Congresswoman advocating our hypothesis or thesis on the floor of the United States Congress! Nothing feels better than a little positive reinforcement. The issue of lost notes and lost mortgages is a fundamental constitutional issue concerning due process and jurisdiction.
So as President Obama tries to tackle energy independence, education and healthcare… all at once, the public is trying to figure out how to keep their families from losing their homes to foreclosure since the President has little to offer those folks in the stimulus package for now. So… it is for the time being up to the lawyers to fight this battle. As the President noted, as Americans, we are up to the challenge.
Ok… so as more folks go into foreclosure (I always have to put this in… LOL) and the news of bailout salary caps trickles or more likely barrels through the Ivy League Halls, we are already seeing some pleasant “surprises” or anticipated consequential behavior. The top minds at our top schools, and our true national treasure, may actually choose livelihoods that make them happy and improve the quality of lives for America and the rest of the world.
Until now, as reported in the New York Times yesterday if you adjusted academic performance and compared graduating students from Harvard for the past 50 years, those that went on to Wall Street made a whopping 300% more than their counter-parts! Well those days are officially over! So now, maybe we can and will deploy these top minds into the real business of America: making her stronger, leaner, and better. I know I am not alone here… even the President of Harvard, Drew Faust, just last year admonished the graduating class to follow their passions and dreams and not their wallets. Ironically, those that heeded her wise advice will likely stand better in this new post 20th Century economy… where small, creative and passionate may truly be beautiful.
The Opp-Guide is a teen-run nonprofit offering community service ideas for local teens. It’s Web site, which is similar to Zagat or Yelp, encourages South Florida teens to get involved in their communities in hopes that their community service experience fulfills more than just a school requirement.
As the only winner in Florida, The Opp-Guide hopes to use this award money to expand its Spanish Web site and to allow for outreach to other communities.
If you know a teenager looking for community service ideas, I encourage you to refer them to the Opp-Guide.
