An old favorite turns 40! Sesame Street had it’s 40 anniversary this week and was celebrated all over including Google’s homepage which changed images daily from one Sesame Street resident to another. Sesame Street has been teaching and entertaining children for 4 decades now, and is probably to thank for a large percentage of the US population under 40 learning how to count to 10.
Sesame Street not only teaches the ABC’s and 123’s, but also teaches acceptance and sets examples for children to follow. According to Newsweek, Sesame Street is now in 16 countries across the world including South Africa were the show features an HIV positive Muppet and in the Palestinian where coexistence and cooperation were displayed. Topics such as death and 9/11 have also been acknowledged by Sesame Street and children with illnesses and conditions are often regularly included on the show as well.
Newsweek states that not only is “Sesame Street no ordinary nonprofit. It is, arguably, the most important children’s program in the history of television. No show has effected the way we think about education, parenting, childhood development and cultural diversity, both in the United States and abroad, more than Big Bird and friends. You might even say that Sesame Street changed the world, one letter at a time”.
It seems too simple that a children’s program created 40 years ago could still be one of the best, but it is and nothing I have seen comes close to comparing. Leadpile wishes Sesame Street a Happy Anniversary!!!!!

September was the eight month in a row that the number of home sales rose. It is common knowledge that if you are planning to buy a home, now is the time. The rock bottom house prices and low finance rates are not the only reason that there have been a month over month increase in the market. The first time home buyer tax credit programs had a large influence in the matter. This program gives up to an $8,000 tax refund to the new buyers. Originally the tax break was supposed to end the first of December, but has been extended through the end of June 2010. The plan will also now help current home owners who have lived in a home for at least five years and want to move into a larger home. These individuals will receive up to a $6,500 tax refund. In addition, the income level has also increased. In order to be eligible, a single individual now can make up to $125, 000 and a couple up to $225, 000 per year.
So will this continue to keep the housing market on the rise and help the economy? Personally, I think it could both help and hurt. If the new home owners are smart and are buying houses that are well within their budget, then the increase in sales/increase in house value will be great for the economy. However, there could be a down side. If people are rushing into buying the houses and bite off more than they can chew, they might end up realizing they can not fully afford their house purchase and the foreclosures could start happening again.
For all you eager beavers out there, just remember that prices are still expected to decrease. With the home owner tax break now extended, you can wait for prices to drop a little more and save some money. Want to know if the housing market is supposed to increase or decrease in value where you live? Check out this link from CNNMoney.com

There seems to be some more positive news in the automobile industry. A recent report is stating the number of people that are going online to search for a car is up in 2009 versus 2008. This is great news considering the industry came to a screeching hault with the falling economy. Webpronews reports that people who depend on the internet to locate a vehicle rose from 40% in 2008 to 46% in 2009. More and more people are starting to bounce back from the struggling economy, therefore they are turning to the internet to tackle a lot of ground work at their fingertips.
The good news for companies like Leadpile and other auto loan lead generators, is that used car buyers visited third party website more frequently than other types of sites, including dealer websites. A large percentage (91%) of those that were searching say they visited at least one third-party website during their shopping process. So if people are doing their homework online first, then we all need to focus on providing as much information as we can to these consumers. I think this auto industry is coming back!

We all know that there are great deals to be had in automotive market right now. Many car dealers are willing to cut their prices and haggle much more than in the past. So buying a new car as a steal should be simple, right? Car dealers may be willing to work with you on price, but when it comes to giving you a loan, not so much.
Unless you are very money savvy or have a great job, buying a car with cash is not always possible. This day in age it is very common for the majority of people to take out a car loan and finance their car. With the market how it is, getting a car loan can be easier said than done. Its not that lenders do not want to give out loans, they are just being much more picky on who they will approve. Also, interest rates are very high at the moment and your credit can make a difference on if you are approved and what interest rate you receive. According to U.S.News, when trying to finance or get a loan for your new car there are a few key facts you should know.
1. Basics of Car Loans – know that you will have to pay an interest rate which includes principal and interest.
2. Car Loan Term – This is the amount of time that you have agreed on to pay the lender back. The car is not yours until you pay back the WHOLE loan and interest.
3. Credit Score – As stated above, interest rate is normally based on an individuals credit score. Usually, the lower the credit score the higher the interest rate.
4. Apply Several Times – Consumers normally apply to several different companies to get their loans. This will give you a better chance to get a loan that suits your exact needs.
At the end of the day it is by no means impossible to get a auto finance loans. LeadPile is also here to help. We match up consumers and lenders who meet each others needs. Hopefully, this helped you realize that with the right knowledge and steps, buying a new car with great financing is not as far out of reach as you may think.

Twitter has made changes to make keeping up to the minute information on your friends even easier! This week Twitter gave it’s users the ability to create public or private lists keeping track of people and their latest 140 character tweets.
This new feature allows you to create your own lists of other users, while also allowing you to follow other people’s lists and view what lists you make it on to. The ability to create lists now adds an entirely new aspect to the “numbers game”.
According to SocialMediaInsider lists are another form of popularity contests through social media. “Say you’re a large company, or a smaller but tech-savvy one, with 100 people on Twitter, and these employees all add your main corporate account to 10 different lists. You’re instantly on 1,000 Twitter Lists, which for now will probably put you well in the top 1% of the most popular listed brands on Twitter. Meanwhile, if I’m on 100 lists through 50 people each adding me to two lists, and you’re on 75 lists but added by 75 different people, who’s more popular? The allure of gamesmanship over this will be short-lived. I hope.”
All of the lists, counting the number of followers you have, and tweeting things interesting enough for people to read is hard work! For LeadPile, I have a Twitter account with 99 current followers… How many of them actually are following me because they are interested in LeadPile news, or they are following me because I am following them and that’s the “twitter etiquette”, I can’t answer.

In recent news, there are new payday lending laws in British Coumbia Canada. With these new regulations there are caps on interest rates and rules prohibiting predatory lending.

B.C.’s Business Practices and Consumer Protection (Payday Loans) Amendment Act and the Payday Loans regulation prohibit lenders, including phone and Internet lenders, from:

· Practices that unreasonably increase the borrower’s debt load, including rollovers that require borrowers to pay significant extra fees for extending the time to pay a loan.

· Requesting an assignment of wages, or collecting from a borrower’s employer.

· Operating unless licensed by Consumer Protection B.C.

Leadpile Lead Exchange has recently started generating payday loan leads in Canada, and is very much concerned with any legislation that is going on there. Just like US payday loans, we know that payday loans can be a much needed loan for many consumers. We will continue to try and match these consumers that need these short term loans, with those that can provide it to the consumer.

We are all used to typing in the URL of the domain that we want to go to, however there has been some recent changes to the “dot com” world. For many people writing an email in another language is common, but typing in a website name in another language was not anything that you could do. However, with the recent standard changes this could be a thing of the past. NPR reports that, “Over half of the 1.6 billion users of the Internet today are born in a language group that does not use Latin scripts.” By mid 2010, people will be able to have URLs in their native language, and not have to be in the standard Latin. This is exciting for many that are wanting to expand the URLs that are used, and create more opportunity for those that are not using the standard language in the URLs. We shall see how this change goes, considering the last change to domains was way back in 1996!