What is a foreclosure and how does it occur? When a homeowner (borrower) is unable to make his/her house payments for a certain period of time the foreclosure process kicks in. Being in this status means the borrower has now lost ownership of the property and the lending company is able to sell the property to the highest bidder at a Public auction.

With the economy the way it is, one of the devastating results has been a massive amount of foreclosures nationwide. Which if you are an investor, this can be a great thing to take advantage of.

If you live near the Seattle area, ForeclosurePlatform.com has available resources detailing every foreclosure in all of Western Washington. On a continuous basis, properties are updated with any changes that may occur from auction sale dates to opening bid amounts and even postponed properties and cancellations. If you are looking for Seattle short sales, it is the best website to keep you up to date.

Read why foreclosures are undervalued and why they create great investments to buyers. There are many reasons to purchase foreclosed properties and the greatest advantage is the price reduction! If you want to learn more about foreclosures click here.

1. Panama City, Florida - Coming in at number one with a 72% predicted gain in the next 5 years! With housing prices that are still reasonably low it is considered the next place waiting to break out.

2. Vero Beach, Florida - At number two it is predicted to grow 64% in the next 5 years. With low property taxes, the cost of living 3% less then surrounding areas and the best surfing on the east coast - you can’t go wrong with this choice.

3. Bridgeport, Connecticut -For number three it is predicted to grow 63% in the next 5 years pretty close to our runner two area above. You can thank New York for sending over all the young working professionals.

4. Lakeland, Florida - Yes Florida again! This time coming it at number 4 with 59% growth expected over the next 5 years. With houses going to for a fifth less then the national average - you can’t help but want to jump on this area.

5. McAllen, Texas - Coming in at number 5 with 57% expected growth.

One thing is for sure Hawaii is a sure bet. Hawaii has beautiful weather year round so you cannot go wrong. My fiancé and I are going to Maui. We are staying in Kihei for 10 days and I am really looking forward to it! But what if you want to go somewhere else for your honeymoon?

Depending on the atmosphere you are after there are many good choices. If you are looking for hot tropical weather Aruba, Barbados and Tahiti are great places to escape. Places to avoid include Jamaica and the Bahamas the reason is because these times of year are known for hurricanes in these areas.

If you are looking to escape somewhere with cooler weather Canada, Iceland and Alaska are all good choices. If I were to choose a cooler place to go I would say an Alaskan cruise would be amazing! That was my second choice when it came to our honeymoon destination.

If you wanted to travel internationally Europe unfortunately is a place to avoid. It is crowded, hot and full of tourists. It is best to wait to go there during January and February when it is cool and less crowded.

Best of Luck where ever you go!

Another thing that is great about San Francisco is the deco skyscrapers and my personal favorite Golden Gate Park. Where else in the world can you go and experience funky neighborhoods and museums along with the greatest dining around?

Now I live in Portland so if I choose to get married in San Francisco I am going to need to find someone that does San Francisco wedding photography. Choosing a destination wedding can be a lot of fun but make sure to do your research. As I bride I know how important it is to have all of the details – especially if you a re choosing a destination wedding.

Some things I recommend you look at before choosing your location are cost, availability and resources available in that location. To create the perfect wedding you have to have the right budget and resources available!

Syracuse New York is one of the best real estate areas with an estimated growth of 1.2%

Rochester New York comes in at number two with .03% growth

Buffalo New York comes in at number 4 with .01% growth

As for the real estate markets to stay away from - check out the list below.

Providence Massachusetts is expected to have -2.1%

Nassau-Suffolk New York is expected to have  -5.7%

Edison New Jersey is expected to have -3.1%

I would defiantly stay away from the last three places I just listed. If you can aim for the top three places listed if you are going to attempt to purchase a home in this economy. My advice is to hold on to your money until we see greater positive changes

Chicago comes in at number two with a 9.4% metro area unemployment rate and the cost of living trailing only Los Angeles and New York. But you do not get to enjoy sunny beaches like you can in Los Angles - this is the windy city! Chicago has both extreme summers and winters.

Coming in at number three is Miami. Which again at least this city can offer sunny beaches and warm weather.

Number four is New York City… you guessed it! With New York’s high costs and an 8.8% unemployment rate the odds are not in anyone’s favor. Even people with the earning power of a bachelor’s degrees–$69,200 per year, on average, according to PayScale.com–still not enough income to bridge the gap.

Cleveland comes in at number five with high unemployment rates and low average salaries.

If you have the choice be sure to steer clear of these areas…unless you make enough money to live happily anywhere you choose ☺

As for the rest of the banks they are playing it cool. “A lot of banks got caught with their pants down,” said Dave Rovelli, managing director of U.S. equity trading with Canaccord Adams. But with the improved economic data, government plans to aid help and positive comments about the stock market many people do not expect the economy to recover as fast as they would like.

Unemployment is still down which reflects that it is still difficult to find work for the unemployed. Hopefully better news is right around the corner for many and with the government’s help the big banks can get back on track! I guess only time will tell and hopefully it will tell positive news sooner then later ☺

Some economists are saying recovery could be as close to four months away! Such as economist Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute. He says his firm’s readings on long-term and short-term economic indicators give him significantly more hope that the economy is closer to a turnaround than he had thought even a month ago! Among the more than dozen different things his firm looks at are home prices, the jobs picture and stock prices.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, also believes that a recovery could be closer than most people think. However, he said an end to the recession would largely depend on improvement in the labor markets. His first concern is getting job losses under control. He says if we can help improve job losses that will help build consumer confidence back into the economy and stocks.

I say the sooner the better! I love reading good news…

Is it really fair to compare today to 1873? James Kolari, an economist disagrees with this comparison. His argument is that it is unfair to compare now to then because the federal government was fair more passive then they are today. Back then the federal government let 15,000 out of 30,000 banks fall!

But Nelson, a historian who has studied the panic of 1873, says today’s economy might even be worse than the American economy in 1873! It took America four years to recover in 1873 and current predictions for the current economy recovery is around 5 years!

Either way you look at it, it is not a good situation. My feeling is Obama brings hope. I am all for his $787 billion stimulation plan if it could possible helps the current situation! We are living in scary times and the best thing to do is have hope.

So what comes in at number two you may ask? Well remember Detroit known as the backbone for the American industry? You guessed it, it is the number two most abandoned city. Detroit is suffering from the great economic decline because of the role the city played in the past.

While Las Vegas and Detroit were neck in neck for the title, Las Vegas pulled ahead with all of the vacant houses. According to Forbes abandoned cities were determined by pulling a combination of rental and homeowner vacancy rates, with Las Vegas suffering the most because of bad loans and decreasing property value.

So what is to come for these two troubled cities? Time will only tell…