In recent years though, it seemed the only thing they ever had were what seemed to be over priced air purification systems. The numbers bore this out as recently. Those purification systems made up about 40% of their sales.

Only five days ago Sharper Image replaced their CEO again -the second replacement in the last twelve months. The new CEO, Robert Conway, is purported to be a turnaround specialist. The last CEO, Steven Lightman, a former Fingerhut executive couldn’t stem the 26% slide in same store sales.

With the internet and all the shopping options it must be difficult to come up with products that can truly be branded and recognized without fear of copy. Anytime you see something “cool” in The Sharper Image catalog, you can bet you’ll find something comparable on EBay; and with a softening economy, more consumers are becoming bargain hunters. Yet, that being said, Brookstone, a store similar in products to The Sharper Image, posted banner revenues and profits, with a same store sales increase around 9 percent.

If you are looking for investment information, here’s a heads up: Sharper Image’s five largest creditors are reported to be UPS 6.7mil, Quebecor 3.6mil, Tom Tom 2.1mil, Garmin 2.1mil and Novus Print Media 1.7mil. This was not a buy and hold. In February 2004, the stock (NASDAQ Symbol: SHRP) was two cents short of $40, today it’s around a buck. We wouldn’t be surprised to see such a strong name rising like a phoenix, but you won’t see our money flocking to this one. We’ll keep you informed of this and other entertaining news.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) endorses a website that is truly “free” it is called annualcreditreport.com When you use it, you are sent to the three individual credit reporting companies; Equifax, Experian, and Trans Union. They still try to get you to sign up for added services, but your credit report is available from each of the services once every twelve months at no cost to you.

But wait the free information does not stop there.

Your private information does not end at your credit score, and the same types of laws enacted to allow you to get your annual credit report, allow you to get other consumer information that is collected.

Choice Point is another company that collects information on consumers. Not necessarily credit, but also employment information, property ownership, criminal records, and judgements. If you go to ChoicePoint.com you can get access to the information that that company has collected. Further. If you are seeking employment, and your potential employer has requested a background check from Choicepoint, you can request a free copy of the information that was released about you.

Helpful Link:
This is the link at the FTC that will tell you about annualcreditreport.com and more services provided for consumer protection:

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/freereports.htm

Now Imagine the same scenario except the value of the property is less than the loan amount. That is the situation we are in today. The pressure is on the bank to take less than what they are owed by either the homeowner or investor in negotiation. What motivation does a bank have for doing that? They have their money tied up in a property that is losing value and has a cost of upkeep. They are happy (well not happy, let’s just say “satisfied”) if they can take a lesser amount of money out of a property and leave the game before they go bankrupt themselves..

Countrywide Financial Corp is the largest mortgage lender in the United States. They control over 9 million mortgages. Out of those loans, the foreclosure rate is now at 1.44%. A year ago it was at 0.70 percent -and it is accelerating, November’s rate was 1.28%. They also measure delinquency rate. This year it is at 7.2% which is up from 4.6% a year earlier. Their share value has dropped over 20%, they’ve lain off over 10,000 employees recently and bankruptcy rumors are in the air.

If you have available cash and you can weather the downturn, there may be foreclosure deals to be had. Even if the government bails out the mortgage industry, (another prevalent rumor) keeping a close eye on the foreclosure market can yield significant gains in the upcoming years. Finding a resource to help you monitor foreclosures is simple with the programs on the internet. Go with one that has a national reach and is well established.

Yes. We know. It’s: “Nationwide is on your side”

Rates and Percentages Source: Reuters