CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The first week of October had the lowest levels of average mortgage rates on record according to LendingTree’s Weekly Mortgage Rate Pulse. The rate pulse shows the lowest and average mortgage rates that are available within the network of lenders.

The average home loan rates dropped week-over-week to 3.81 percent for 15 year fixed mortgages and to 4.35 percent for 30 year fixed rate on October 5, 2010. These rates were offered by lenders on the LendingTree.com network.

According to the Chief Economist on LendingTree.com, the Federal Reserve could possibly provide more quantitative easing causing mortgage rates to go even lower due to the continued weakening of current economic conditions. The Lending Tree Weekly Mortgage Rate Pulse is published every Wednesday. It provides home loan rates that reflect the actual rates offered by lenders to borrowers on the LendingTree.com network. Rates vary according to the borrower’s credit profile and loan details.

The nation’s leading online lender exchange and financial resource for personal use, Lending Tree, LLC, helps consumers to take charge of financial decisions. LendingTree offers resources on how to budget, money management, mortgages, credit cards and more. LendingTree provides a unique site that allows consumers to connect with multiple lenders. Lenders then compete for the consumer’s business. Also provided is a wide range of online tools that help consumers with financial decisions.

LendingTree, LLC has assisted with more than 27 million loan requests and over $207 billion in closed loan transactions since it was established. LendingTree gives access to lenders who offer mortgages, refinance loans, home equity loans and more.

The initiative by Rebuilding Together Oakland to restore the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park including the Antonio Peralta House occurred on Saturday, October 9 in Oakland, California. The Antonio Peralta House was built in 1870 and reflects the era of California after the Gold Rush. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This site is located in the Fruitvale community of Oakland and includes a local and state landmark, Antonio Peralta House, and its surroundings.

More than 300 volunteers planted a sustainable garden, restored the Peralta Creek bed, painted buildings and performed other general landscaping activities. Employees from The Clorax Company, Bank of America, Red Oak Realty, GCI Contractors and Blank and Cables employees made up the group of volunteers. A rich educational venue for the youth of Oakland, the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park is a haven away from the hectic activity of the city.

The park site is a very important community center which features courses in gardening, cooking, outdoor stewardship, the arts and early California history. One of the largest independent real estate brokerages within Oakland and Berkeley communities, Red Oak Reality, gives back four percent of their annual profits to local non-profit organizations through its charitable organization Red Oak Opportunity Foundation (ROOF). ROOF has given away more than $800,000 in charitable contributions to date.

Formerly known as Christmas in April, Rebuilding Together Oakland, is a non-profit organization that brings together volunteers and communities to repair low-income homes in Oakland. Rebuilding Together Oakland is an affiliate of Rebuilding Together, Inc. which is a leading non-profit that works to preserve affordable homeownership.

Rick Brooks had been fired from his job but a judge found that he had been wrongly dismissed. The Transportation Security Administration agreed to hire him back in 2005.

Only one problem, the Transportation Security Administration said that Brooks had to pass their background test. Brooks thought that there might be trouble ahead because he knew that he had missed child support payments in 2003 after losing his job at General Mitchell International Airport.

The Transportation Security Administration would not rehire him because he owed child support in the amount of $7.700. It was only due to his unfair dismissal that he had the financial problems that led him to miss the child support payments.

Brooks, who is 45 years old, has not been employed since a temporary job with the United Parcel Service came to a halt on January 1. During an interview, he shares his feelings about the absolutely ridiculous fact of the dismissal and rejection as that today as people lose their jobs they obviously don’t have income to pay for child support payment.

Then you get even further punished by not allowing you to work in a job that a judge said you could. This case gives you an idea of what kind of requirements that some employers make and particularly of their effect on people who are struggling emotionally and financially. The Transportation Administration Authority says that Brooks had a medical condition that make him unable to work as a screener but Brooks counteracts that saying that even if he did not have a medical condition they would not have given him his old job back because of problem of the child support payments.

Atlanta, GA- Investing in real estate comes with high sales fees and costs and it doesn’t always make a profit for the real estate investor. With the difficult economic situations being experienced, some real estate investment groups have halted withdrawals and difficulties in liquidating their present holdings and the slow down in selling property. Long term investment horizons should be the aim of real estate investors.

The current real estate market is not for persons who are looking to purchase property to flip quickly and make fast money. Current study reveals short term gains are not possible in this economic environment. The current economic climate indicates only good investment pertaining to real estate would be regarding specialty and mutual funds whose focus is on the real estate market.

Be advised these two types of funds, though highly diversified, are considered high risk investments and should be avoided by an investor who is poorly diversified or inexperienced. The financial markets meltdown especially, with real estate holdings, helps to underscore everyone’s need to have knowledge and to understand the risks involved with investing in real estate.

The trends in the market reveal the clear pattern that requires any form of real estate investment using a RRSP should be goal oriented. It needs a well planned strategy to build wealth so it can be used during the retirement years. With the real estate market being soft in the U.S. as everywhere else, it would not be wise to invest in the falling real estate market.

The SFN Group, a strategic workforce solution company, provides services and general staffing to assist businesses to efficiently source, deploy and manage people and the work they do. The SFN Group provides a report that measures workers’ confidence in their current employment situation as well as optimism in the current economic environment. The Employee Confidence Index revealed that the same amount of employees are optimistic in the number of jobs available even though there was a slight decrease in the number of people who believe the economy is getting stronger.

The index moved up 0.5 percent to a total of 48.7 percent in September of 2010. Yet at the same time, nearly 35 percent of workers said that they are likely to look for a new employer. Nineteen percent of workers in the United States believe that the economy is getting stronger. This is a decrease of 2% from August. Ten percent of workers think there are more jobs available now. Yet at the same time, 58% of workers believe there are fewer jobs available compared to 64% in August.

Sixty one percent of employees are confident in the future of their current employer. This shows no change from August. Thirty nine percent of workers are confident that they are able to find a new job which is down 1% from August. Employees who earned at least $75,000 were the most confident in the future of their employer with 70% reporting confidence. Whereas, employees earning less than $35,000 were the least confident at 50%. Employees who are making less than $35,000 are the most likely to switch employers within the next year.

The latest addition of Anthony & Co. to the Colliers International platform brings the number of markets added to Colliers International in 2010 to eight. Colliers International continues to grow its U.S. platform with the addition of this Raleigh-Durham market’s premier commercial real estate firm. Anthony & Co. will make the transition from a local top company to a key part of one of the world’s top tier real estate brands. There will be no changes in leadership or personnel of Anthony & Co. as a result of the move to Colliers International.

Colliers International has more than 15,000 employees who operate out of more than 480 offices in 61 countries. The revenues of Colliers International are nearly $2 billion. Colliers International announced earlier this year that it had combined operations and platforms with FirstService Real Estate Advisors.

FirstService Real Estate Advisors has embarked on an extensive effort in rebranding since then. All of its local operations have switched to the Colliers International branding and name. Anthony & Co. will adopt the name and branding as well. Anthony & Co., the oldest and more experienced commercial real estate services company in Eastern North Carolina, currently has offices in Raleigh and Durham.

Anthony & Co. was named one of the Top 10 of the Top 100 North Carolina Small Businesses in the past couple years by Triangle Business Leader. Colliers International has also expanded its platform into seven other markets in 2010 including: Chicago, Cincinnati, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Long Island and Nashville. Colliers International is the third largest commercial real estate company in the world and provides a full range of services to real estate users, owners and investors world wide.

The Tennessee valley Authority Board of Directors had four business and academic leaders, who were appointed by President Barack Obama, sworn into office recently. The board has now reached its full nine member capacity.

Those joining the board are William B. Sansom, Barbara S. Haskew, Marilyn A. Brown, and Neil McBride. The new members will join Chairman Dennis Bottorff, William Graves, Mike Duncan, Howard Thrailkill and Tom Gilliland.

The swearing in ceremony took place at the Tennessee Valley Authority headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee. Chairman Bottorff and the co-char of the TVA Congressional Caucus, U.S. Senator Lemar Alexander, spoke about TVA’s mission and legacy.

William Sansom served on the board from 2006 to 2009 and was chairman 2006 to 2008. Sansom is currently the chairman and CEO of The H.T. Hackney Company in Knoxville. His new term on the board will expire May 18, 2014.

Barbara Haskew, recently retired from Middle Tennessee State University, was a distinguished professor of economics for eight years. Haskew worked for TVA in the 1980s and helped to develop rate structures for power distributors and customers. Her term will also expire May 18, 2014.

Marilyn Brown, a professor of energy policy at Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Public Policy, is a distinguished visiting scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Her term will expire May 18, 2012.

Neil McBride, adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law, is general counsel with the non-profit agency Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. His term will expire May 18, 2013.

TVA, a provider of electricity for utility and business customers in most of Tennessee and parts of surrounding states, is a corporation owned by the U.S. government. TVA also provides land management, navigation, flood control and recreation for the Tennessee River system.

Oxford Finance Corporation, one of the subsidiaries of Sumitomo Corporation, announced it will once again be a sponsor of the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Bio Conference. The Mid-Atlantic Bio will take place this year from October 27 to October 29 in Bethesda, Maryland.

Oxford Finance Corporation will be the feature sponsor of the Life Sciences Investor section. Executives of Oxford also were involved with the Mid-Atlantic Bio by serving on the committee that selects the companies who will present at the conference.

This conference brings together industry leaders, investors, researchers, government representatives and professional services firms from around the world. This conference helps to promote networking, business expansion and technical-knowledge sharing between these groups which normally would not occur.

Since the first year of the Mid-Atlantic Bio in 2006, Oxford Finance Corporation has proudly been a sponsor the conference. The president and CEO of Oxford Finance Corporation, J. Alden Philbrick, stated that the conference has been and continues to be a valuable forum for information sharing and stimulating growth in the Mid-Atlantic region by drawing prominent leaders from all over the country.

The Mid Atlantic Bio Conference, co-hosted by the Tech Council of Maryland, the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association and the Virginia Biotechnology Association, benefits from regional support. Support comes from an extensive range of groups including: investor and greater business communities, government agencies, academic institutions and partnering regional associations. This conference is the only globally focused event to remain regionally based. More than 800 executives are expected to gather at this event.

The Oxford Finance Corporation, a specialty finance firm, has been in business for over 20 years. Oxford has provided flexible financing solutions which enable companies to maximize their equity by leveraging their assets.

RCC Associates, a South Florida-based general contractor, assisted Steve Ross, the Miami Dolphins, to complete his new night club. The night club, Club LIV, is a mix of football and South Beach at Sun Life Stadium.

Club LIV which opened on September 26th had a grand opening with a celebrity-filled gala at the Miami Dolphins home game against the New York Jets. The private night club is located on Sun Life Stadium’s 200 and 300 levels and spans 10,000 square feet. Celebrities that joined the gala included: James and Chris Bosh, Kim Kardashian, Fergie, Jennifer Lopez, Serena Williams, Marc Anthony and many others.

RCC Associates has earned a national reputation for its work with retailers and restaurants known internationally. RCC is accustomed to the tight schedule and high expectations that they had to deal with when working with Club LIV. The new night club was modeled on the Fontainebleau Hotel’s Club LIV on Miami Beach.

RCC has completed more than 1,500 projects in over 25 states since it began in 1971 in the construction business. Earlier this year, RCC completed another project which included renovating Beach Club at Fisher Island, a 5,872 square foot private island residential community.

According to Robyn Raphael, the construction manager of the Club LIV project, special features of the club included a stairway which connects the two levels, multiple bars, dance floor, DJ station, personal cabanas and a full, professional kitchen. And earlier this year, RCC completed another project for Sun Life Stadium which included the renovation of the owner’s suites and 60 concessions.

Effective delegation is probably the most important of the management skills but it is also the one that is least understood by many management personnel. A manager is responsible for and accountable for the quality and the quantity of the work being done under his direction. Responsibility for doing certain tasks can be delegated to others but accountability can not be delegated, it is the managers alone.

Delegation is an important and necessary part of a busy manager’s quiver of skills that needs to be implemented on a daily basis. It is impossible for a manger to accomplish all of the tasks that need to be done alone and it is not possible for workers to know what tasks they should accomplish without instructions and directions. A good manager will have an understanding of the personnel and other resources at his disposal. Using this information the manager can make informed decisions as to the tasks that should be allocated to the work staff.

The best manager’s delegate almost everything; their only job is to over see the overall success of the business venture. Many new, young managers find it very difficult to pass responsibility for completing tasks on to others. This is a skill that must be learned as it is the essential purpose of management level employees within a corporate structure.

Modern business school courses place a very heavy emphasis on learning how to effectively delegate responsibility to the people under you who are qualified to carry out the task efficiently. A manager task is to guide and direct, not to do.