Is ETR Teaching You the Wrong Words?
- WEALTHY: 3,800 houses for less than $1,000? (Kam Weiler)
- HEALTHY: Escape from the “all-or-nothing” trap
- WISE: Samuel Johnson on language
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Less isn’t always more (Michael Masterson)
- A holiday tradition you might want to start (Jessica Kurrle)
- Add “tutelary” to your vocabulary
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Foreclosures Can Mean Big Money
By Kam Weiler
The word “foreclosure” can conjure up images of houses selling for mere pennies on the dollar. But how much of a discount are foreclosure buyers really getting?
In a study of 2005 foreclosure sale prices in more than 600 counties nationwide, First American Real Estate Solutions found that foreclosed properties sold an average of about 15 percent less than comparable homes in the same area. Not bad, but not any better than a sharp buyer can do on the open market.
And what about states where real estate has been white-hot, such as Arizona, California, and Virginia? In these highly competitive markets, foreclosed properties sold for within just five percent of full market value.
So do those super-cheap deals you hear about on late-night infomercials actually exist?
In short - yes. These ultra-bargains happen about 3,800 times per year in the U.S.
At least that’s how many foreclosed homes sold nationwide for $1,000 or less in the first 10 months of 2006, according to First American Real Estate Solutions.
Before you get out your checkbook, there are a couple of things to be aware of. For starters, there are additional risks in foreclosure purchases. You may not even be given the opportunity to see the inside of the house, let alone inspect it. Another consideration: These sales are happening in places like Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh, where dying industry has left behind a surplus of what once was middle-class housing in neighborhoods now known for crime and bad schools.
That doesn’t mean these aren’t good deals. It’s simply a reminder that no matter how little you pay for a property, you can still get a bad deal.
Whenever you buy investment property, in particular when dealing with the added risks of a foreclosure, you should do proper due diligence. Know the average price per square foot of the area, the rental value, repair costs, and after-repair value of the home. If you objectively evaluate foreclosure properties, you stand to make a fortune. If you don’t do your due diligence, you could find yourself back at foreclosure … on the losing side of the deal.
[Ed. Note: Kam Weiler is a contributing editor for Main Street Millionaire, ETR’s real estate investment success program.]
"Language is the dress of thought."
- Samuel Johnson
Is ETR Teaching You the Wrong Words?
By Michael Masterson
We got a nice letter from a bright man the other day that I wanted to share with you. It’s about our Word to the Wise column. Bill Lampton, Ph.D., (author of The Complete Communicator: Change Your Communication, Change Your Life!) writes:
"Although I believe that the vocabulary-building word definitions you provide daily can help people with their reading, I urge Early to Rise editors to point out that you are not encouraging people to use these obscure words in their speaking - either informal conversations or professional presentations - or writing.”
In the communication seminars I direct internationally, I remind participants of James Michener’s advice in his autobiography, The World Is My Home. Michener said the writer’s challenge is not to use big words, but to accomplish extraordinary things through ordinary words.”
I read an article Bill wrote on the topic, and I enjoyed it. (You can find it at businessknowhow.com/growth/words.htm.)It began with a personal anecdote. While taking a walk, he came upon a sign that said:
Experimental Turf Area
Please Avoid Pedestrian Traffic on Turf
What is wrong with the simple and straightforward “Keep Off the Grass,” Bill wanted to know? And he’s right. Using multi-syllabic words just because they are available is unwise. More often than not, it will get you into trouble.
Bill notes that in The World Is My Home, James Michener said that he followed “the pattern of Ernest Hemingway, who achieved a striking style with short, familiar words."
I like Hemingway too. He may even be the most influential prose stylist of the 20th century.
But there are other styles that I like almost as well. Think of the elevated beauty of Thomas Jefferson’s prose, the dense complexity of Faulkner, Joyce, or, for a contemporary example, Cormack McCarthy.
When I teach copywriting to beginners, I stress the importance of working with a smaller vocabulary. But I dispense with that sort of advice when I speak to experienced copywriters who understand what good writing is.
When I talk to editors about writing well, I tell them “Good writing is good thinking expressed cleanly.”
And I mean it. But good writing can, and should, be more than clean. It should be exact. And powerful. And suggestive.
And sometimes the simple, one- or two-syllable, words can’t do that. Sometimes the right word is “taciturn” or “desultory” or “recalcitrant.”
That’s why we include them in Early to Rise. Because we believe these are words that can, if used wisely, make your writing and speaking stronger and brighter.
It’s not enough to simply recognize these good, rich words. Writers – if they want to be great writers – need to use them. And speech givers, too – they need to be able to say them at the right time.
See how some of our most beloved authors (though admittedly in a time when the prose style was more complex than in the post-Hemmingway era) sprinkled their prose with so-called “big” words:
- Mark Twain, writing in The Atlantic: "He took a great liking to this Rev. Mr. Peters, and talked with him a great deal: told him yarns, gave him toothsome scraps of personal history, and wove a glittering streak of profanity through his garrulous fabric that was refreshing to a spirit weary of the dull neutralities of undecorated speech."
- John Stuart Mill in his famous essay "On Liberty": "Men’s opinions, accordingly, on what is laudable or blamable, are affected by all the multifarious causes which influence their wishes in regard to the conduct of others, and which are as numerous as those which determine their wishes on any other subject."
- George Eliot in The Mill on the Floss: "He was often observed peeping through the bars of a gate and making minatory gestures with his small forefinger while he scolded the sheep with an inarticulate burr, intended to strike terror into their astonished minds."
- Robert Louis Stevenson in The Master of Ballantrae: "You would naturally not think so flat a rogue could cozen you. But have a care! These half idiots have a sort of cunning, as the skunk has its stench."
ETR readers should feel assured that Judith Strauss, ETR’s senior editor (and my personal editor for 20 years), selects only the sort of words that we actually use in ETR and that our readers might actually use in their writing or speaking … now and then.
Bill Lampton is right in saying that in most cases the simplest word is the best - but he’s wrong to offer, as he does in his article, a substitute list for dumbing down diction:
Some examples from his list:
- Instead of fortuitous, use lucky.
- Instead of prevarication, use lie.
- Instead of optimal, use ideal.
- Instead of feasible, use possible.
- Instead of peruse, use read.
- Instead of interrogate, use question.
- Instead of altercation, use argument.
- Instead of surrogate, use substitute.
Here are my suggestions:
1. Expand your vocabulary with words that you might one day use.
2. Trust ETR to provide such words.
3. Learn these words both passively (so you recognize them when you read them or hear them) and actively (so you can use them when you want to).
4. And, finally, use big words when they do a better job than their little counterparts.
Of course, just because you learn these wonderful words doesn’t mean you’ll ever have a chance to use them. As Bill points out, Somerset Maugham started a notebook when he decided to become a writer, jotting down words with nice sounds … big, impressive words. Yet in reviewing his notebook years later, Maugham realized he had never used a single word from it.
[Ed. Note: Statistics prove that people with bigger vocabularies earn more money. Not to mention that a broad vocabulary can help you read and speak better. With ETR’s Vocabulary Builder program, you can improve your mind as well as the way others perceive you. This new vocabulary-building program is in the works right now. To get on our exclusive "hotlist" and be one of the first to find out all the details of this brand-new program, please register here: There’s absolutely no obligation and we’ll let you know as soon as it is available. Pick up a copy of this brand-new program, and you’ll be sounding - and feeling - more intelligent in no time!]
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The Brand-New You Starts TODAY!
By Jon Herring
If you are not already eating healthfully and exercising regularly, you might be saying to yourself, “Come January, I’m gonna …”
Well enough of the “I’m gonnas.” Why not start today?
Instead of rolling (literally!) into January overweight and depressed about your appearance, why not give yourself the gift of a fit, trim body? If you even suspect that you will resolve to “lose weight” or “get in shape” in 2007, don’t wait. Do it now!
When I made my own health transformation, I started about this time of year. I knew there would be distractions and temptations and times when I would go overboard. And I realized that a few overindulgences here and there were not going to make or break my efforts. But I did my best to avoid the “all-or-nothing” trap. During the holiday season, too many people think, “Well, I already blew it… I’ll just binge my way through the rest of the year and get serious on January first.” But all that will do is ensure that you will have a tougher time come January!
You have to begin making small changes and developing the habits you know are necessary to achieve your health goals. What’s the most important habit you can develop? I believe it is to exercise consistently. If you intend to “start” exercising in January, you will be far more likely to continue if you start today.
[Ed. Note: Need a little help keeping your fitness goals in check - and meeting all your other goals for next year? ETR’s 2007 Total Success Achievement Program could be just what you’re looking for.]
The Worst Thing About the Holidays: Spreading Yourself Too Thin
By Jessica Kurrle, ETR’s Marketing Department
The only thing I don’t like about the holidays is all the running around my husband and I inevitably do. The holidays are wonderful for hanging out with family and friends and having some good times. But driving from my Mom’s to my Dad’s and finally my husband’s parents’ houses on Christmas Day is hectic … to say the least. There isn’t much time to spend at each location, and I am always sad when we have to leave one place to go to another.
However, there is one holiday ritual/tradition that I really enjoy. In lieu of exchanging gifts with each other, my Dad’s side of the family chooses to adopt a needy family. We each select one of our adopted family members to purchase gifts for.
In Baltimore, where I grew up, we use My Sisters Circle (mysisterscircle.org), but there are many, many such organizations across the country. It makes you feel good to know that you can offer a kid the chance to wake up on Christmas morning and still believe in Santa Claus.
The Only Three Ways to Grow a Business
Did you know that there are only three ways to grow a business?
- Increase the number of customers.
- Increase the average transaction value.
- Increase the frequency of repurchase.
Find a way to maximize each one, and your business will experience an
astonishing rate of growth.
In his "9 Pillars of Business Growth" program, acclaimed consultant Jay Abraham outlines hundreds of proven, frequently unrecognized, and almost totally
underutilized ways to grow these three key areas of your business. If you own a business (or would like to), be sure to take a look at Jay’s program.
- Patrick Coffey
Word to the Wise: Tutelary
“Tutelary” (TOO-tuh-lair-ee) - from the Latin for “guardianship” - means being or serving as a protector.
Example (as used in an article by Charlotte Weber in Feminist Studies): “In its twentieth-century incarnation, then, Western imperialism assumed a tutelary capacity: Its benevolent mission was to teach formerly subject peoples the Western art of self-government.”
Michael Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2006