Leadpile’s Blog

With the struggling economy many people are facing unemployment and hard times. Gen Y, known to be possibly one of the better educated generations is struggling to float many not having enough experience to obtain or hold jobs in the state of the economy. Moving back in with their parents or family being the best option for many having challenges financially while fighting to get careers launched.

According to msnbc.com , “the Millennials” defined as those born in the 1980-90’s are the first generation of American work forces since World War II who have cloudier prospects than the generations that preceded them. Currently unemployment is at the highest it has been in decades for 18-29 year olds.

The average student debt as stated by College Board is $23,000 – facing these large debt amounts and the high unemployment rate among young Millennials can affect them financially and psychologically.

The current economy has brought many changes to personal, business and government financial standings and now is showing effects on Social Security payouts as well. This year Social Security will have a flip in it’s financial balances, as it will begin paying out more in benefits than receiving in payroll taxes.
With the poor economic status many jobs have disappeared having 2 large effects on Social Security taxes collected. With jobs disappearing, many people applied for the benefits sooner than they had planned, as well as without as many people currently employed there are less paychecks to tax.
With the US debt rising and less taxes being collected due to unemployment it raises concern. By law, Social Security cannot pay out more than it’s balance in any year given. The often referred to “trust fund” that Social Security has serves as a way to track pay-as-you-go revenue and outlays over time, the “balance” is actually a history of its vast cash flows (a total of all past revenue minus outlays). In a year such as this, the “paper gains” from the interest earned on the securities will more than cover the difference between what it takes in and pays out.
Projections show the effects of the recession easing in the next few years with possible small surpluses reappearing in 2014 and 2015. In the following years as the baby boomers leave the work force, and start collecting rather than contributing, outlays will exceed revenue every year regardless of the economic status.

Solutions to this problem are few including raising taxes, lowering benefits, or pulling funds for general revenue.

LeadPile hopes to see bigger and better things with the economy in the future months coming!

The home buyer credit which was expected to boost sales and encourage buying with an incentive of a $6,500 tax credit, is not performing like had been expected.
The tax credit which offered up to $8,000 for people who had not owned a home for three years, had increased sales in the summer and fall of 2009. This credit was extended past it’s initial limited time with a slightly lower credit of $6,500 in hopes of keeping the buying momentum going. Unfortunately, the new credit is not boosting sales as it was hoped to with the unemployment rate still high and the economy still uncertain. Many potential buyers also face the dilemma of selling the home they are currently in before being able to purchase a new home… and for many selling a home where they owe more on it than it is currently worth, this is not an option.
To qualify for the $6,500 credit:
*Buyers must have owned and lived in the same home for five consecutive years out of the past eight.
*Buyer must sign a contract by April 30, and close before June 30.
*The home’s purchase price can’t exceed $800,000 and it must be used as a main residence. *The income limit for single taxpayers is $125,000 and for a married couple $225,000.

House prices have not been on the rise for six straight months in a row. Fourteen out of twenty metro areas saw an increase in homes from the month before. As of November, 2009 was up 3.4 percent from its lowest back in May, 2009. Phoenix (Arizona) and San Francisco (California) have had the highest month over month increase in their housing markets. Both New York and Chicago had the largest declines in the nation. One of the largest reasons for the increase was the first time home buyer tax credit. With the original end date for the tax credit being in November of 2009, there was a rush to purchase a new home (the tax credit ended up being extended to the spring of 2010). The tax credit was a huge incentive to purchase a home, and with the home prices in Arizona being so low, it makes sense that Arizona saw one of the highest increases in their housing markets.
One of the big questions is if the trend is going to continue to increase? Some economists believe that there is going to be another dip in the housing market because of the the high rate of unemployment and foreclosures. It is expected that we will see these results in the beginning of this year. It goes without saying that now is the time to buy. Depending on the area, people are seeing move in ready houses for as low as $50,000. That is less than a college education!
If you find that you are one of the many who are having trouble keeping your home you may want to consider a loan modification or debt consolidation. Leadpile is trying to do it’s part by matching up the consumers with lenders on a daily basis! Heck, we want the economy to be better too!

Going a day or two without hearing something on the news about our unemployment rate or consumers buried in credit, has not really happened lately. So it really was not a surprise for me to see MSNBC.com reporting that, in the month of September, there were almost 125,000 bankruptcy filings. This is one of the highest months ever, since the bankruptcy laws had changed back in 2005. We are all waiting to see if the housing market is really starting to become more stable, and this then could help us to see this bankruptcy filing statistic go down, not up. It’s like a domino effect, once the housing market truly becomes stable, more people will hopefully be keeping their jobs because our nation’s consumers will begin to feel okay to spend money to keep our businesses open.
Leadpile will continue to monitor the legal industry, and will continue to try and connect some of these consumers needing legal help. Sometimes it is not a matter of filing bankruptcy, but just a case where someone needs to be connected with someone that can give them some much needed advice. Leadpile is generating bankruptcy leads, and will continue to do this as long as there is a need for these consumers to get help online.

To no surprise, job websites have seen an increase in traffic to their sites.  With the national unemployment rate above 7%, Americans are reaching to the internet to help find a new job.

According to DMNews, more than a half of a million jobs were lost last month, which is the most in a month in 35 years. Therefore, job websites are beefing up their ways to monetize this traffic. Some are incorporating newsletters, which contain helpful information about interviewing and other helpful tips. However, others are offering potential advice on starting a new business during these tough economic times. Leadpile Lead Exchange does not necessarily work with job websites, however we do work with lead types/services some of these consumers would be interested in obtaining. Home based business is a lead type that we are working with, which a perfect opportunity for consumers to try and be matched up with those that can help them start up that new business.

Some higher traffic job websites:

1. Snagajob.com
2. Careerbuilder.com
3. Monster.com
4. Simplyhired.com
5. Dice.com

Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com both are sites that also took advantage of the highly watched Super Bowl. This exposure is certainly going to help contribute to some increased traffic.

Today I was not surprised to read that CNNMONEY.COM reported that due to the housing markdowns, and the effects of the mortgage industry, GMAC Financial will close 200 retail offices and lay off about 5,000 employees.  According to the article, they anticipate the lay off to be about 3,000 employees by the end of this month, and another 2,000 by the end of the year.
Layoffs like this one, is one of the reasons why the unemployment rate is at the highest peak ever. More and more Americans are loosing their jobs and finding themselves more in debt.  The mortgage industry is facing a downturn, however at the same time I know there are still many companies that are doing well. These companies are trying to take advantage of the new “creative” programs to close loans.  Mortgages will always exist, therefore certain companies will make it through this period with a bumpy road and then be around another 20 years!

What do you think in regards to the Market?  How long do you anticipate it being before it gets better?

The U.S. lost jobs for a fifth month and the unemployment rate rose by the most in more than two decades, as an influx of students into the workforce drove the biggest jump in teenage joblessness since at least 1948. Payrolls fell by 49,000 in May, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The jobless rate increased by half a point to 5.5 percent, higher than every forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.

What does this mean to some online Companies? For Companies specializing in assisting consumers with Payday loans, Debt Consolidation Programs, BK Services, and services for the under banked may flourish as more and more people need more help.

Wallstreet reports that the economy unemployment rate jumped up to a 5.5% in May.  To top it off, gas prices has hit $4 a gallon!  So does this mean more people are starting to work from home to save money?  How is this affecting our economy but yet building up more home based business?

More and more people are starting to work from home.  They might not make as much money, but they are saving hundreds of dollars a month in gas.  And at the rate gas prices are rising its no suprise why people choose not to drive.   The number of work at home people are increasing everyday. The unemployment rate is also increasing.

Perfect time to get some quality real time leads.  With more people staying home and being part of some type of home based business or multi level marketing, leads are becoming an effective source for these consumers.  Its less expensive (in some lead marketplaces) to just buy leads and make sales from home or sign people up than to drive to work for a steady income.  I’m sure this is not the case for everyone but our unemployment has definately hit the highest its ever been since February, 1986 according to WallStreet.