Real Estate Pro of the Week: Matt Pernice, NW Real Estate Brokers

Matt Pernice?s career trajectory ? from biology major to commercial real estate agent to residential real estate ? exemplifies that of many Realtors?. Once they get a taste of the real estate business, all previous plans tend to fall by the wayside.

Pernice obtained his real estate license (at the urging of a buddy who was selling commercial real estate) while attending classes at Arizona State University. He found he had a fondness for the residential part of commercial sales (the income-producing residential properties), and felt a pull toward the luxury market as well. He found he could do both by switching to residential sales.

Currently, Pernice works with a team of four, which allows him to provide the customer service he feels is vital to today?s real estate consumer.

?To me, it?s more about the relationships that come with real estate than actually selling someone a house. My belief is that you are only as good as your team. Having a strong support team in both your business and your personal life is what enables me to succeed,? Pernice said.

Pernice and team produce about $25 million in annual transactions. ?I would rather do fewer transactions and be diligent and provide terrific service for my clients than be overloaded. In this business it?s all about the small details that can so readily fall through the cracks,? he explains.

Pernice says that marketing is the backbone of his real estate business. ?Without marketing your real estate business would be dead. You must evolve as the market changes and, trust me, it is always changing,? he says.

His websites are the cornerstone of Pernice?s marketing plan. ?I do HD property tours that give buyers a first-person perspective on listings. I keep up with new programming techniques so my websites continue to evolve.?

Pernice sells real estate in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, two of the most desirable locations in Southern California. So, how much money is the average homebuyer willing to plunk down for the opportunity to live near the sand, have views of the Pacific and be within walking distance to a last-minute beach volleyball game or cocktails on the pier?

The median sales price last month was over $1.5 million dollars and climbing.

Now, a couple of commission checks on those sales would be enough to make just about any real estate agent happy, and Pernice is no exception. Aside from the money, however, he likes the relationships that occur as a result of listing and selling real estate, and not just with his clients. ?In our town it?s all about relationships with other brokers and professionals, too.?

Pernice?s advice to the aspiring agent is simple: ?Eat, drink and sleep real estate. That?s what it takes ? a 24-hour a day, non-stop effort.?

Tagged as: agent, california, career, coast, hermosa beach, manhattan beach, real estate, southern

Source: http://www.realestate.com/advice/real-estate-pro-of-the-week-matt-pernice-nw-real-estate-brokers-35060

new york knicks president day lin j.r. smith espn jeremy lin sleigh bells meek

Circumcision pluses outweigh risks: Pediatricians

CHICAGO (AP) ? The nation's most influential pediatricians group says the health benefits of circumcision in newborn boys outweigh any risks and insurance companies should pay for it.

In its latest policy statement on circumcision, a procedure that has been declining nationwide, the American Academy of Pediatrics moves closer to an endorsement but says the decision should be up to parents.

"It's not a verdict from on high," said policy co-author Dr. Andrew Freedman. "There's not a one-size-fits-all-answer." But from a medical standpoint, circumcision's benefits in reducing risk of disease outweigh its small risks, said Freedman, a pediatric urologist in Los Angeles.

Recent research bolstering evidence that circumcision reduces chances of infection with HIV and other sexually spread diseases, urinary tract infections and penis cancer influenced the academy to update their 13-year-old policy.

Their old stance said potential medical benefits were not sufficient to warrant recommending routinely circumcising newborn boys. The new one says, "The benefits of newborn male circumcision justify access to this procedure for those families who choose it." The academy also says pain relief stronger than a sugar-coated pacifier is essential, usually an injection to numb the area.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Convention has estimated circumcision costs range from about $200 to $600 nationwide. Coverage varies among insurers and several states have stopped Medicaid funding for circumcisions.

The new policy was published online Monday in Pediatrics. It comes amid ongoing debate over whether circumcision is medically necessary or a cosmetic procedure that critics say amounts to genital mutilation. Activists favoring a circumcision ban made headway in putting it to a vote last year in San Francisco but a judge later knocked the measure off the city ballot, ruling that regulating medical procedures is up to the state, not city officials.

In Germany, Jewish and Muslim leaders have protested a regional court ruling in June that said circumcision amounts to bodily harm.

Meantime, a recent study projected that declining U.S. circumcision rates could add more than $4 billion in health care costs in coming years because of increased illness and infections.

Circumcision involves removing foreskin at the tip of the penis. The procedure can reduce germs that can grow underneath the foreskin, and complications, including bleeding and infection, are rare, the academy says.

Despite the U.S. decline, about half of baby boys nationwide still undergo circumcision, or roughly 1 million each year. The country's overall rate is much higher than in other developed nations, but U.S. rates vary by region and are higher in areas where it is a cultural or religious tradition, including among Jews and Muslims.

Psychologist Ronald Goldman, director of an anti-circumcision group, the Circumcision Resource Center, said studies show circumcision causes loss of sexual satisfaction ? a claim the academy said is not supported by the research it reviewed ? and can be psychologically harming. Goldman contends medical studies showing benefits are flawed and that the academy's new position is "out of step" with medical groups in other developed countries.

The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists took part in the research review that led to the new policy and has endorsed it. Circumcisions in hospitals are typically performed by obstetricians or pediatricians.

The CDC also participated in the review, and will consider the academy's updated policy in preparing its own recommendations, a CDC spokesman said. The agency has a fact sheet summarizing circumcision's potential health benefits and risks but no formal guidelines.

The American Medical Association and American Academy of Family Physicians have neutral policies similar to the pediatrics academy's previous position.

Philadelphia social worker Shannon Coyne examined medical research on circumcision before her son was born last September and had a tough time making a decision. She learned that a relative's boy needed reconstructive surgery after a botched circumcision, and that another's son who wasn't circumcised developed urinary infections.

Coyne said she and her husband ultimately decided against circumcision, because she didn't want her baby to have what she considers cosmetic surgery without being able to consent.

Her advice to other parents is "just make an informed decision. Do your research, be open-minded."

Some 18 states have eliminated Medicaid coverage for circumcision, a trend that could contribute to rising health care costs to treat infections if circumcision rates continue to decline, according to a study published Aug. 20 in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Dr. Aaron Tobian, a Johns Hopkins University assistant professor who co-authored the study, said the academy's updated policy "is a very good step."

___

Online:

American Academy of Pediatrics: http://www.aap.org

CDC: http://1.usa.gov/hJiQj

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/circumcision-pluses-outweigh-risks-pediatricians-040848697.html

wrestlemania 28 dierks bentley kenny chesney blake shelton academy of country music awards brad paisley zac brown band

Israeli rabbi calls for prayers for Iran's destruction

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - An influential Israeli rabbi has called for prayers for Iran's destruction, a week after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to court his support for a possible attack on a nuclear program Israel sees as an existential threat.

The sermon by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef added to a flurry of recent rhetoric from Israeli officials that has raised international concern that Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only atomic power, might attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

"(When) we ask God to 'bring an end to our enemies', we should be thinking about Iran, those evil ones who threaten Israel. May the Lord destroy them," Yosef was quoted as saying by Israeli media on Sunday.

Last week, Netanyahu sent his national security adviser to brief Yosef, 91, on Iran's nuclear activities in what was widely seen as an effort to win his backing for any future military strike, possibly before the U.S. presidential vote in November.

Yosef, a former Israeli chief rabbi, is the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, a key member of Netanyahu's governing coalition.

Netanyahu is frustrated that Western diplomacy to try to force Iran to rein in its program has so far proved fruitless.

He said on Friday that Iran, whose leaders have threatened Israel's destruction, had made "accelerated progress towards achieving nuclear weapons".

Yosef issued his call in a sermon late on Saturday in which he said Iran should be included in a traditional Jewish New Year blessing next month over food in which God is asked to strike down Israel's enemies.

Netanyahu's security cabinet, which Israeli officials have said is divided over the question of launching a go-it-alone attack on Iran, includes a Shas minister as one of its eight members. Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes.

Yosef wields significant influence over Shas's lawmakers, who seek his guidance on policy.

In the past, the Baghdad-born Yosef has stirred controversy by likening Palestinians to snakes, calling for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to "perish from this world" and describing non-Jews as "born only to serve us".

But he has also spoken out in favor of Israel ceding occupied land for peace with the Palestinians in order to end conflict and save Jewish lives.

(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; editing by Anna Willard)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-rabbi-calls-prayers-irans-destruction-112719079.html

slainte the quiet man yellow cab dropkick murphys guernsey nit colcannon

Storm lashes Florida, delaying Republican convention

Tropical Storm Isaac lashed southern Florida Sunday and was expected to become a hurricane, forcing a one-day delay of the US Republican convention, after killing seven people in Haiti.

With winds reaching 50 miles (85 kilometers) per hour, the storm brought heavy rain and choppy seas to the Florida Keys after battering Haiti and sweeping across Cuba late Saturday, the US National Hurricane Center said.

A hurricane warning was in effect for the Florida Keys and parts of the state's southwest coast, and the Republican Party announced that severe weather warnings had postponed the start of its four-day gathering in Tampa.

The gathering is now set to nominally open Monday and then immediately adjourn to reconvene on Tuesday, when the weather is expected to clear up.

Early Sunday, the eye of the storm was around 80 miles southeast of Key West, Florida, and it was moving northwest at 18 miles per hour, with forecasts suggesting it would strengthen over the next 48 hours, the NHC said.

In its 2:00 pm (1800 GMT) advisory, the Miami-based NHC said "hurricane" conditions" were possible in the Keys and southern Florida.

It predicted Isaac would become a hurricane as it moves back into the Gulf on a path that would have it make landfall Wednesday on the southern US coast.

Tens of thousands of Republicans will be in Tampa for speeches, parties and the formal nomination of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney as the candidate to take on President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

Officials said they did not fear a direct hit on the city but had acted out of concern that high winds, rain and possible coastal flooding could make travel dangerous, particularly for large buses packed with delegates.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told CNN the decision was motivated by concern for buses traveling over long bridges and the difficulty of erecting tents to shelter security lines at venue entrances.

He insisted, however, that the show would go on, saying: "We're 100 percent full steam ahead on Tuesday."

Thousands of convention delegates are to stay in hotels along a coastal barrier island, which is likely to bear the brunt of the storm, and a decision was to be made on Sunday over whether to move them to higher ground.

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, a Democrat, sought to calm jitters about the weather, saying the storm might bring heavy rain to Tampa on the first of the four-day convention but insisting that "Tuesday is going to be fine."

Governor Rick Scott told CNN his state was prepared for any scenario.

"We're a state that knows how to do hurricanes. We don't like them, but we know how to do them. We do hurricanes well," he told CNN.

The White House said Obama had been briefed on storm preparations and had spoken with Scott, offering federal support for "efforts to ensure the safety of those visiting the state for the Republican National Convention."

Vice President Joe Biden canceled a trip to Tampa and other Florida cities because of the approaching storm, Obama's Democratic campaign said.

And in the Gulf of Mexico, BP evacuated its Thunder Horse platform, the world's largest offshore production and drilling facility.

Isaac was near hurricane strength early Saturday when the eye of the storm passed over Haiti, where hundreds of thousands of people are still living in squalid, makeshift camps following a catastrophic 2010 earthquake.

An eight-year-old Haitian girl died when a wall collapsed at her home and a 51-year-old woman died when her roof collapsed, according to officials, who later said five other people had also died in the storm.

More than 5,000 families had been evacuated to temporary shelters ahead of Isaac as aid groups provided clean water and hygiene kits to try to limit the risk of contaminated water and the spread of disease.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/storm-lashes-florida-delaying-republican-convention-161810949.html

good friday f/a 18 f 18 crash virginia tenebrae the lake house petrino arkansas roy williams

entertainment news uk: Consider Calligraphy Wedding Invitations ...

August 25, 2012 on 10:08 pm | By admin | In Kids and Teens

If you want to get good wedding invations then you should consider calligraphy wedding invitations. Engraved invitations are generally applied to announce a extremely conventional style of wedding. This variety of invitation is pricey since an engraver ought to initially carve the image or message into a copper plate, ink the plate, and then push the plate down onto the paper. This creates the raised lettering on the paper. Mainly because of all the actions needed to make this kind of wedding invitation, this approach is time consuming and you will want to wait weeks for your invitations to be prepared.

Source: http://www.abouelnaga.com/kids-and-teens/consider-calligraphy-wedding-invitations/

built to last obama state of the union address 2012 obama speech terrell owens terrell owens mitt romney tax return flip saunders

Source: http://entertainment-news-uk.blogspot.com/2012/08/consider-calligraphy-wedding.html

saint louis university leprechaun night at the museum pope shenouda bolton muamba sxsw crystal cathedral

Mexican gangs block roads, torch vehicles in western Mexico

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Armed gangs blocked highways throughout Guadalajara, Mexico's second biggest city, on Saturday and vehicles were set on fire amid a surge in drug-war violence.

Police confirmed seven unauthorized roadblocks constructed with charred, smoldering cars and trucks within the Guadalajara city limits and 15 others in the surrounding Jalisco state, in western Mexico.

Luis Carlos Najera, police chief for Jalisco state, told reporters at a news conference late Saturday that one man was seriously wounded by gunfire, but no arrests had been made.

"We don't know who is behind this operation," said Najera.

He added that all of the roadblocks have since been cleared.

Guadalajara has not seen the level of drug cartel-related violence as other areas, but similar flaming roadblocks shook the city in early March as military forces successfully sought to arrest a prominent cartel leader.

Two people were killed during that operation.

Jalisco state has been a stronghold of the Sinaloa Cartel since the 1980s, when traffickers first started to use Mexico as a "trampoline" to bounce cocaine into the United States.

It has recently seen an upsurge in violence as Sinaloa Cartel gunmen battle rivals from the upstart Zetas cartel, which is displacing older trafficking groups in many parts of Mexico.

More than 55,000 Mexicans have been killed in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and launched his crackdown on cartels.

(Reporting By David Alire Garcia; editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mexican-gangs-block-roads-torch-vehicles-western-mexico-033423967.html

michael dyer bachmann bachmann iowa caucus results sickle cell trait michigan football michigan football

Refinery explosion kills 39 in Venezuela

An explosion at a oil refinery in Venezuela on Saturday caused a huge fire, killed at least 39 people, and injured dozens.

By Jorge Rueda,?Associated Press / August 26, 2012

Fire rises over the Amuay oil refinery near Punto Fijo, Venezuela, Saturday. A huge explosion rocked Venezuela's biggest oil refinery and unleashed a ferocious fire Saturday, killing 39 people and injuring dozens in the deadliest disaster in memory for the country's key oil industry.

Diario El Amanecer/AP

Enlarge

A huge explosion rocked Venezuela's biggest oil refinery and unleashed a ferocious fire on Saturday, killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 80 others in one of the deadliest disasters ever to hit the country's key oil industry.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

Balls of fire rose over the Amuay refinery, among the largest in the world, in video posted on the Internet by people who were nearby at the time. Government officials pledged to restart the refinery within two days and said the country has plenty of fuel supplies on hand to meet domestic needs as well as its export commitments.

The explosion shattered walls of nearby shops, ripped out windows from homes and left the surrounding streets covered with rubble and twisted scraps of metal.

President Hugo Chavez declared three days of mourning and ordered an investigation to determine the cause of the explosion. "This affects all of us," Chavez said by phone on state television. "It's very sad, very painful."

Vice President Elias Jaua, who traveled to the area in western Venezuela, said on state television late Saturday that at least 39 people were killed by the explosion, up from the earlier death toll of 26. He said that the dead included 18 National Guard troops and that six of the bodies had not yet been identified. Other officials said earlier that the dead included a 10-year-old boy.

In a neighborhood next to the refinery, shopkeeper Yolimar Romero said she was at her computer when a shock wave swept over the area shortly after 1 a.m.

"At that instant, the whole house shook as if it were an earthquake," she said. "The windows went flying off with their frames and everything."

Electricity was knocked out, leaving Romero in the dark and her house filled with smoke. She found a flashlight and started looking for her husband and three children.

Outside on the street, the family saw scattered hunks of brick walls and ruins of a National Guard post and about 20 other homes. Bodies were being pulled from buildings down the street.

At least 86 people were injured, nine of them seriously, Health Minister Eugenia Sader said at a hospital where the wounded were taken. She said 77 people suffered light injuries and were released.

Flames reaching nearly 100 feet into the night air still crackled almost 20 hours after the explosion occurred, giving off searing heat felt by the residents of the neighborhood located approximately 1,000 feet from the refinery.

"This does not seem to be getting any better, I see and feel more and more flames," said Francisco Rojas, a 29-year-old taxi driver from the neighborhood as he loaded some of his belongings into a truck.

"I have a young daughter and my wife, and we don't want to take the risk of dying here," Rojas added.

Officials said firefighters had largely controlled the fire at the refinery on the Paraguana Peninsula, where flames were still visible on Saturday night after billowing dark smoke all day.

The blast occurred about 1:15 a.m. when a natural gas leak created a cloud that ignited, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

"That gas generated a cloud that later exploded and has caused fires in at least two tanks of the refinery and surrounding areas," Ramirez said.

Images shortly after the explosion showed the flames casting an orange glow against the night sky, and injured survivors on a stretcher and in a wheelchair. The bloodied bodies of victims were loaded onto pickup trucks.

Ramirez said a panel of investigators was being formed to determine the cause of the gas leak. A prosecutor was appointed to lead the investigation and troops were deployed to the area.

While the cause of the disaster remains unclear, some oil workers and critics of Chavez's government have recently pointed to increasing numbers of smaller accidents and spills as an indication of problems within the state-run company.

"We warned that something was going to happen, a catastrophic event," said Ivan Freites, secretary general of a 1,200-member union of oil and natural gas industry workers in Falcon state where the refinery is located. He spoke in a telephone interview from an area near the refinery, where he could see the flames raging in the distance.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/oBbtV6H9e4A/Refinery-explosion-kills-39-in-Venezuela

norv turner jerry angelo work it amy chua iowa gop meteor shower tonight annie oakley