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Home » Hobbies Articles » A Gift Basket For Faraway Family Members

A Gift Basket for Faraway Family Members

I know very well what it's like to have family who live far away. When I was growing up, my grandparents and aunts/uncles and cousins lived across the ocean. When I had my own kids, their grandparents and aunts/ uncles lived on the other side of the country. Now that my sister has 2 small children, the youngest of whom I've never met, this being far away has hit me again. How can we show far away family, especially when children are involved, that we want to be close and stay connected?

We could design a gift basket for family members who live far away, just to say we care. We would put into it several mementos that make the distance between us seem smaller.

If we have young children, we could send grandparents a digital picture frame. In case you're wondering what a digital picture frame is; it is a device about the size and shape of a picture frame that has a LCD screen. The screen displays multiple photos in a slide show format, and it connects to the Internet via the phone line to download new pictures and information to display. You use your computer to upload photos to a website and every day the frame uses the phone line to connect to the website and download any new photos. This is an ideal way to send digital photos of the family to grandparents who lack a computer and/or the skills to use one.

We could also include a DVD, or a video depending on the equipment we and they have, of some recent activity; perhaps our child scoring a goal at soccer or performing in a recital, or even just a family picnic or something like that. Photos are great, certainly better than nothing, but they just don't show you what the child is really like as well as video does. They don't give you as much of a feeling of being there as a movie does. We could also include a tape (either audiotape or videotape) of our child giving the recipient a special message.

Of course we could always send regular photos too. One idea to make a photo special is to cut out the shape of the children (the important part) and have it glued onto a plastic block so that it stands upright by itself. Another idea is to frame the photo in a magnetic frame that is suitable for the holiday so that it is easy to put on the fridge. I have one on my fridge right now that is a heart frame for Valentines Day. You can often get these at places like Target. We could include a picture the child has drawn or painted, or even a small thing the child has made himself if the child likes to do crafts.

Of course, most of these ideas are not just for children and grandparents, although I know that the time when you feel the farthest away from your family is when either you are a child away from grandparents, or you are away from a small child, especially a grandchild. These ideas can be applied to any faraway family members. When family members move away is when they most need to know that we're thinking of them. A gift basket would be a great way to reassure them of this.

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

How Homeowner Can Save Their Home From Foreclosure

Drive around and see how many signs you see that says House for Sale. How many lease purchases do you see? How many abandon houses are on your street? Our country is up against the wall with delinquence mortgages. FHA mortgage lenders are filing claims in the millions from HUD. How do I know? I counsel homeowners every month concerning their mortgage and what they need to do to protect their property and communicate with their mortgage lender.

What is the cause of all these delinquence? There could be several reasons: Lost of a job, health issues, divorce, business failure & income reducing. Before the homeowner even tries to save his/her home, they move out or better yet file bankruptcy. If they only knew what options were available to them, they stood a better chance of saving their homes.

Some homeowners try to make an attempt to talk to their mortgage lender for a possible workout but here is the problem. They are taking to the wrong people and they do not have a plan. I know some mortgage lenders can make it very difficult to be reach and consider you for a workout. Some will tell you that all communication will be handle by their attorney. The only thing their attorney wants to know is whether or not you can reinstate the mortgage and if not, it goes to foreclosure.

Some homeowners even got to the right department to discuss a workout only to find out the lender denied their case. I am here to tell you that your home can be save from foreclosure.

There are some facts you need to know before you abandon your home or file bankruptcy.

Fact number one: Stay away from so-called investors. Why are you going to give your equity away when you can save your home yourself? Yes you can do it. Do not quit - claim your home, sale or sign any papers until you talk to your attorney.

Fact number two: If your home is FHA or VA insured, your mortgage lender must consider a workout before they can file a claim. If FHA or VA discovers you were not given the opportunity for a workout, then FHA or VA may deny the mortgage lender claim, they don't want that.

Fact number three: To be considered for a workout, you must have some money. At a minimum you must have the attorney & foreclosure fees payable to the mortgage company before the sale date. Reason: Your mortgage lender cannot put the attorney & foreclosure fees back into the loan. Their insurer will not permit it.

Note: If you don't have any money to pay attorney & foreclosure fees, get the money, have a yard sale, borrow from your 401K, life insurance cash values, mutual funds or stock holding; church and family, try getting an advance from your employer, refinance if you have enough equity.

Start getting busy!

Fact number four: The rules change if your loan is a conventional, because these loans are not FHA or VA insured and they normally do not have a loss mitigation department, you will need haft of the amount of your reinstatement to be considered for a workout.

These are investors type loans and it will take me more time to explain what it all means than I have room for in this article.

Early I mention you are probably talking to the wrong person when you contact your mortgage lender, you need to request the name & number of the representative in the loss mitigation or foreclosure department who is assign to your case. Do not talk to the collection department or you will surely lose your home.

When making the call, be aggressive until you get the right person, if you sound like a whimp and don't know what you are taking about, they will only react slow and put your case at the bottom of the pile. Note: Be tactful.

Request a loan workout package, complete and return the forms as instructed.

Secret: When completing the financial statement after all expenses are subtracted from the net, you must show at lease haft of your mortgage payment as a residual to qualify for a workout.

Secret: When giving your hardship statement, do not tell your mortgage lender that you mismanage your money, that is a sure case you will be deny.

Do not contact your lender's attorney, they work for your lender not you, they can't help you.

Tip: Give your lender all require documents. If any information is missing, it will only delay your case and their response is, why bother, if you don't care, why should I.

You have been given some value information here that will help your save your home from foreclosure. Before you move or file bankruptcy, use these strategies first and you will be surprised that you can save your home. Until your workout is approved, start saving your money.