by Mark Walters
The real estate foreclosure process has become all too familiar to millions of homeowners. Did many of them make mistakes when they bought homes they could not afford? Did they find themselves upside down and were they forced to use credit cards to meet their monthly mortgage payments? Sadly, the answer for many of them was yes.
On the other hand, thousands of those middles class homeowners tried their best to find a way to head off a foreclosure. They made attempts to contact their mortgage holder to try to workout an extended payoff period. The problem was that thousands of other homeowners were trying to do the same thing and bank's loan mitigation departments were overwhelmed with requests for help.
Many facing foreclosure actually were able to find buyers for their homes if they could get the bank to agree to a short sale. Here again, the lender was so backed up with similar requests that the homes often went to foreclosure auction before a reply was received from the bank.
Lenders were forced to make business decisions that led to a complete breakdown of the real estate finance system. We won't waste time here pointing out that the genesis of the crisis was centered in Washington DC and a certain group of politicians.
With no where to turn who can blame many of the home owners facing foreclosure for just walking away from their homes. Some had the courtesy to drop their house keys into an envelope and send them back to the lender. That was so widespread that it became known as "jingle mail".
We would never advise anyone to walk away from a home just because they couldn't make the mortgage payment. Why do it? There are tens of thousands of foreclosed homes sitting vacant in the U.S. How many months do you think it will take lenders to begin asking people to vacate those homes?
There are not an army of buyers eager to buy homes. Banks don't have enough people employed to even make one visit to many of the homes they have acquired through the foreclosure auction process.
My advice is to stay in the home until you are asked to leave. Even then stall as long as you can. Congress is considering all kinds of giveaway programs and you might find that some type of rescue plan falls right into your lap. During the time you remain in the home you will be free of monthly payments. Begin saving every nickel for a fresh start when you are asked to move.
What about investing in foreclosure homes? There are plenty to choose from and prices have come so far down from peak-of-the-bubble prices that they all seem to be bargains. Recent figures show that home sales have risen slightly, but prices are still trending down… and there's the danger. Exactly what is the true value of a house today?
The U.S. is in for a few years of serious financial problems. What seems like a bargain today could be a buying disaster a few months from now. The long uptrend in home prices has been broken and it could be years before it is reestablished.
If you can buy banked owned homes by the dozen you may be able to get them so far below market value that you will be protected from any further drop in price, at least for awhile.
Another tactic is to have a plan that will allow the houses you buy to produce profitable income no matter what happens to values. One way to do that is to revert to the old fashioned idea of room rentals. Many workers will be losing jobs or taking employment at a greatly reduced earning level. They will need a place to live. You can generate more income by renting rooms rather than renting the home to one person or family.
The world is now living in a "bail out" economy. You must adjust to prosper.
About the Author
Mark Walters is a third generation real estate investor and founder of CreatingWealthClub.com. For a limited time Mark is offering his big guide to finding hard money loans for real estate investing free. Free guide to private money loans. http://www.FindPrivateMoney.info
2008/10/30
A New Take on Bank Home Foreclosures
2008/10/15
Have You Lost All Your Money Yet? You May Soon!
by: Lance Wallach
In the past few months many of us have received updates regarding the current state of our investments. Sticker shock would be an understatement. Thousands have been lost as a direct result of the fiasco occurring as of this writing. Savings that would not only enhance our future but in many cases investments that we would use for our children's educations are gone. The downward spiral will continue as the shrapnel from these events moves through out our failing economy. It won't stop in the foreseeable future.
And it won't stop with just obvious monetary losses. No not at all. The watchdog agencies will now have to redeem themselves at the expense of us being scrutinized in every manner imaginable. Trust me that no stone will be left unturned.
Treading water in the tide of an ebbing economy is not a solution. It would seem that the seemingly indestructible giants of Wall Street have begun to crumble. Lehman Brothers is no more, Merrill Lynch has been taken down a peg or two, and now, disaster is apparently looming over Morgan-Stanley like the Sword of Damocles. That's not to mention the looming threat to the consumer banking industry. As industry insiders, we've seen the writing on the wall for quite some time. Now everybody else can see it too.
The hopes of many investors in the stock market have been shaken to the core. A number of individuals are suffering potentially substantial losses of their hard-earned money in a volatile market. Consumers need advisors who can guide them toward a safe harbor. A good place to look for expert advice is http://FinanceExperts.org - The leading authorities in tax, law, finance, pensions and insurance are members of that organization, and you can be certain you will get the honest & educated advice you need right now.
Consumers are fearful, and if they say they aren't, it's probable that they aren't being honest. For most Americans today, a stress-free retirement is looking more and more impossible. But it doesn't have to look that way. A good first step to taking control of your financial future is to stay informed of the important tax, retirement & financial issues that affect you. You can read many published articles by financial experts for free at http://TaxLibrary.us
As previously mentioned, the veil has been pulled back on the stock market's heavy hitters. Consumers now know there is indeed no "wizard" behind the curtain, just a few individuals in designer suits pulling down astronomical sums of money for the advice they send down from on high. Who can forget the images of the Lehman Bros. employees in New York City , emptying their offices into boxes and carrying them down 7th Avenue ? As sad as a sight it was to see, it was a day we all had the feeling was coming, right? But now that it's here, why don't we feel any better?
In a word... we feel compassion. I know, to many in this industry, that is an incredibly dirty word. But we all feel it to some degree; be it for the out-of-work traders and brokers, or the investors who are wondering what is going to happen to their future, we all feel some concern. But when it comes to who will receive most of our compassion, my money is on the investors. We hate to have an "I told you so" attitude, but at times it is hard to avoid. But rather than dwell on this compassion, why not capitalize on it? Now is the time to circle the wagons around those struggling consumers, and save the day after all.
Lance Wallach, CLU, ChFC, speaks and writes extensively about VEBAs, retirement plans, and tax reduction strategies. He speaks at more than seventy conventions a year and writes for over fifty national publications. For more information and additional articles on these subjects, call 516-938-5007/935-7346, or visit Mr. Wallachs website http://VebaPlan.com
The information provided herein is not intended as legal, accounting, financial or any other type of advice for any specific individual or other entity. You should contact an appropriate professional for any such advice.
2008/10/04
How Does Credit Card Debt Affect You
By:Steve Wilson
The statistics are overwhelming and continue to get worse each and every year. In today’s tough economic times it is anticipated that at least 1% or one in a hundred American families will be forced to declare bankruptcy at some point and that over 90% of an average family’s disposable income will be spent paying back debts.
While definitely not a positive picture, as bleak as that sounds running won't change it but knowledge may and so, let's take a quick snapshot at a few of the current credit card debt statistics facing so many Americans today.
American consumers spend over 1 trillion dollars per year on credit card purchases. The problem is not how much people spend using their credit cards but the fact that nearly 57% of all Americans do not pay off their balance monthly. Even more disturbing is the fact that 12% of all credit card holders only make the minimum payment on their credit cards.
This means that consumers end up carry and paying interest on about $500 billion dollars in credit card debt. This translates into an average credit card balance of $4,000 to $6,000 per family, who pay about $1,000 per year in interest. In reality many people owe considerably more.
On average many Americans receive at least one new credit card offer in the mail every week. The amount of money being spent by the banks and credit card companies to sign up new cardholders is immense Card issuers spend billions of dollars administering, and marketing the various aspects of the credit card industry.
There are very few individuals or companies who can escape the consequences of large amounts of debt. The burden place on the court system by record bankruptcy filings and the cost to government of providing subsidized credit counseling, are just a two examples of how unsecured credit card debt affects the country and economy.
Debt is becoming increasingly more common; consumers with excessive debt loads have far less disposable income. The more money that is used to pay off outstanding debts means less money is being spent which causes the economy to slow or stall.
It wasn’t very long ago that carrying any type of debt was considered unacceptable. The general view was if you wanted something you paid cash for it and only used your credit cards for emergencies. If you had bad credit it was almost impossible to get a credit card and your only option was to save up to make your purchase.
There are a number of reasons why consumer debt levels have reached dangerous levels, overspending is only a very small part of the problem. In reality, many people get over their heads in debt due to the loss of a job or using their credit cards to cover medical expense as result of an illness. As a result, many people end up trapped in a downward spiral of making payments on huge credit card debt levels.
Most people understand what they can afford and how important it is not to use credit cards to buy any and everything. High credit card debt is usually a combination of many things but the biggest problems result from leaving balances on their credit cards and not realizing just how quickly compounding interest and other service fees really affects their financial well-being.
Steveis a editor for Debt Assistance, A leading unsecured credit card debt consolidationwebsite that provides consumers with credit card debt and tax debt help and information. For more information please visit http://www.debtassistance.biz/
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_655395_19.html
2008/10/01
Frequent travellers now have no short term cash deficit
By: Lilly Lydia
In the past several years,due to the credit crunch, the number of payday loan lenders has sky rocketed. More lenders are active in this segment because of the profitable return rate on their short term loans. Since the service is so convenient, many companies have cashed in on the idea of payday to payday lending and accruing a huge return. However, the rapid growth in lenders has caused a stiff competition and the terms and conditions are now being relaxed.
Now, the borrowers just have to fill in an obligation free application form, preferably through the online mode. They are not required to send any of their documents through fax which thereby reduces their problems a great short term loan deal. With the online application for these loans the borrowers do not face any bulky paper work associated with the loan approval.
The people who need to go out of town very often for their work very often face the problem of shortage of funds. Funds may get exhausted for them and obviously they will not be carrying their documents with them to avail the short term loans when on the move. These borrowers can now take up the money they need through no fax payday loans. The people who are in urgent need of money and are interested in borrowing it can easily fetch it on the fulfillment of certain criteria like a regular job since the last 6 months, a regular place of employment since the last 3 months, a checking bank account since the last 6months, age of over 18 years and permanent citizenship of the UK.
Money is available to the borrowers in a range of 100- 1200 for the needs of the borrowers through the faxless payday loans. The money approved varies according to the monthly cash inflow of the borrower and his repayment ability. The borrower is required to repay the money with in a time period of 14-31 days. The day the salary cheque of the borrower arrives, the due amount is deducted from his account. Any personal needs of the borrowers can be fulfilled like urgent car or home repairs, gas or grocery bills, credit card bills, etc with the faxless payday loans. The borrowers with bad credit can also fulfill any of their personal needs easily as there is no credit check associated with the loan approval. Low rate deals can be obtained through online researching for these loans and comparing them. Comparison of multiple loan deals offered plays a great part in choosing the affordable deal.
With faxless payday loans, the borrowers can get the freedom of borrowing money even when they are on the move for business purpose. Money is approved very easily for them through online mode. These loans have grown in popularity ladder for years, and now this is the main short term financial tool of assistance to get you out of that sticky situation or get you that new luxury toy. Your transaction information is completely private in the online mode. What you provide to us stays with the lender only and none will ever know you took out a loan.
For more information about loans: Faxless payday loans , Debt Management , Obtain instant loans with ease
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com
