Best way to find a home loan
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
Mortgage shopping has never been more confusing. The secret is knowing whom to talk to, and when.
When the easy money was flowing, you could get a great deal on a mortgage from just about anyone. But in today’s credit-challenged world, all the avenues for finding a mortgage come with their own set of problems.
Many banks have tightened lending standards and scaled back offerings. Some banks are no longer working with mortgage brokers, who are under fire for pushing bad loans during the boom.
And while online lending sites hold the promise of one-stop shopping, some have developed a reputation for playing bait-and-switch on rates and not fully disclosing fees.
All this adds up to a major shopping hassle. If you want to get the best rate, you’ll need to tap at least two of the sources below.
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Tags: bank, Bankrate, best deal, Home Loan, housing stock, income, lend, loan, Mortgage, mortgage broker, Novice loan, Stock Market
Rent-to-own your home: Pro and con
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
It’s tough for buyers to find financing and hard for sellers to find buyers. A solution that can work well for both is renting with an option to buy.
With buyers scarce and financing tight, some home sellers are offering rent-to-buy options to potential buyers. In fact, there’s been enough of a spike in interest that ForSaleByOwner.com added it as a search option on the site, says spokesman Eric Mangan.
These deals, also called rent-to-own and lease-option, usually require buyers to pay extra rents each month plus up-front fees of about 5% of the purchase price. The regular rent then goes in owner’s pocket (presumably to pay the mortgage), but the additional payments are used to buy down the price of the home.
“Lease option agreements, if properly drafted, by and large are an effective way of enabling people to buy who are having trouble arranging financing or coming up with down payments,” said Lawrence Jacobson, a real estate attorney in Los Angeles.
The Advantages
Because the contract is typically written to close in 12 to 36 months, it gives buyers the chance to experience homes and neighborhoods without having to make major commitments.
But the biggest reasons buyers opt for rent-to-buy deals are to build up down payments and to improve their credit profiles so obtaining a mortgage is easier.
For example, if they buy a $200,000 home, paying $5,000 up-front and a rent premium of $400 a month on top of their $1,000 market rent, they’ll have $9,800 saved after one year and $19,400 after three.
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Tags: bank, Financial, Foreclosure, investment, loan, Mortgage, payment, Real Estate, Rent, Stock Market
Home prices drop, but at a slower rate
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
S&P/Case-Shiller index down 18.1% year over year, but monthly drop narrows to 0.6% in April.
Home prices continued to tumble in April, falling 18.1% from a year earlier — but the month-over-month change in a closely watched real estate gauge narrowed sharply, indicating that housing markets may be starting to turn.
The 20-city slice of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price index recorded a drop of 0.6% from March to April, compared with a 2.2% drop in the prior month. The index has declined every month since July 2006. The 10-city index fell 0.7%.
“The pace of decline in residential real estate slowed in April,” says David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s. “Thirteen of the 20 metro areas also saw improvement in their annual return compared to that of March.”
Not only that but every metro area save one — Charlotte, N.C. — reported improvement in their monthly return compared with March.
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Tags: Home price, Interest Rate, Real Estate, Stock Market
Hot Stocks
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
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6/29/2009 †
Company Name |
Price | Change / %Change | |||
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| BCS | Barclays PLC | Societe Generale upgraded the group to “hold” from “sell,” saying the sale of its fund business to BlackRock, along with other actions in the second quarter, significantly added to its capital position. | 18.35 | +0.39 / +2.17% | |
| BEAV | BE Aerospace Inc | The world’s largest maker of aircraft-cabin interiors may have its debt ratings reduced below investment grade by Standard & Poor’s as weak aircraft orders reduce the company’s sales and profit. | 14.18 | -0.03 / -0.21% | |
| LYG | Lloyds Banking Group PLC | Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral” and added the bank to its conviction list, saying it’s the least expensive large-cap bank in Europe. | 4.79 | +0.17 / +3.68% | |
| NYT | New York Times Co | The publisher may be looking to sell the Worcester Telegram & Gazette together with the Boston Globe and is interested in passing on $59M in pension liabilities to the buyer, The New York Times reported. | 5.56 | +0.14 / +2.58% | |
| PTEC | Phoenix Technologies Ltd | The software maker for the personal-computer industry agreed to sell 5.8M common shares at $2.25 each to current and new institutional investors. The deal price is 22% below the three-day volume-weighted average price of the stock. | 2.79 | -0.40 / -12.54% | |
| STT | State Street Corp | The banking company said its principal subsidiary, State Street Bank & Trust Co., has received a Wells notice from the SEC, informing the company it may face civil charges for possible violations of securities laws. | 48.50 | +0.17 / +0.35% | |
| TRW | TRW Automotive Holdings Corp | The automotive supplier announced Friday that it amended its $2.5B primary credit agreement and was upgraded by J.P. Morgan to “overweight” from “neutral.” | 11.35 | +2.35 / +26.11% | |
Tags: Aerospace, Automotive, bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Market, New York times, State Street, Stock, Stock Market
BIS remains concerned about economic prospects
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
One major financial organization is said to be suggesting that financial products could be regulated like drugs in order to reduce the chance of future bouts of market instability.
A Reuters report features a proposal from the Bank for International Settlements that would categorize various financial products by how accessible they should be to investors.
For example, the wire service cites four proposed categories which would start with the safest financial products that anybody could invest in. From there, a second tier would be imposed that would require investors to have authorization, comparable to prescription drugs, while a third tier would be open to certain pre-screened investors and institutional investors, while a fourth category of such products would be completely illegal. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bank for International Settlements, BIS, Bloomberg News, catastrophic crisis, central bank, Financial, Forex, Interest Rate, invest, prescription drugs, Stock
Bond yields fall: Prices for US debt advance as the economic outlook grows more cloudy
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Treasury prices rose Monday as investors brace for several key economic reports due out later in the week.
While the economy has shown some signs of stabilization, analysts say the outlook has become cloudy in recent weeks and the optimistic tone that boosted Wall Street earlier this year has been tempered.
“The economy appears to have lost some forward momentum, but the trajectory of growth is up and not down,” said MF Global analysts in a research one. “This week’s numbers will solidify the outlook.”
Reports on housing, manufacturing and the labor market are set to be released later this week, including the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report on Thursday.
Employers are expected to have cut 370,000 jobs from their payrolls after cutting a much smaller-than-expected 345,000 in the previous month. The unemployment rate is expected to rise to 9.6% from 9.4%, according to economists surveyed by Briefing.com.
U.S. Treasurys are considered one of the safest investments available, and demand for government bonds often rises when economic conditions are unstable.
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Tags: bank to bank, Bond prices, debt, Economics, Forex, Interbank Offered Rate, investor, Labor Department, Lending rate, loan, Price, Stock Market, US
Forex Trade: Europeans Absorb A Big Calendar. Usd Pressured Now
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
European markets have absorbed their calendar releases, that included U.K. GDP that came in lower than expected at -2.4% instead of -2.0%, which not only reduces growth forecasts but will now reveal the real strength behind the buying of the pound (if it rises after these numbers we will know that the Usd is in trouble). The U.K. house price index and Current Account numbers were mixed.
Reduced Euro-zone money supply M3 numbers indicate a reduced liquidity in the cash/deposit amounts, and there has been a slight reduction, although still better than expected, in CPI inflationary reads that printed at -0.1% instead of the -0.2% expected. In all, a session that offers a level view of European economics that may not impact the euro too much, but it does seem that the pound will now have its GDP (Growth)/Interest Rate ratios and valuations tested.
The commodity markets have held their value at eight month highs with oil pushing 73.50 overnight, and have seen positive gold trade that is testing 950.00. Asian equity trade was in the green, but only slightly higher in Europe, with U.S. futures numbers holding steady just under Monday’s Wall Street close. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Cash, commodity market, CPI, Deposit, Economics, Forex, GBP, GDP, Name.com, USD, Wall Street
Currency Pair Overview European Session Has The Dollar Cornered
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
Overall, the European session reversed some gains, with none of the major pairs able to sustain a trend set in Asian trade. The major pairs advanced strongly ahead of the London open, and appeared ready to have a day of strong dollar selling ahead of them, up until the European economic releases hit the wires. For now, traders will focus on the U.S. open, when the market might experience a surge in the implied momentum and volume.
The Euro (Eur/Usd) advanced relatively quickly up to TheLFB R1 (1.4125) during the fist part of the overnight session, but since then was unable to break higher, even though it had a small attempt during the London open. During the European session, a release showed that the year-over-year inflation read dropped to -0.1%, the lowest level on record, but higher than expected. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, Euro, Forex, GBP, Pound, Swissy, USD, Yen
European Equity Markets Flat. Commodity Trade Is Strong
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
European market advanced around the opening bell, but soon after the major indexes started retreating after a round of weaker than expected news reports hit the wires.
Currently, European shares are struggling to move around the break-even line, unable to add to the global theme of pushing higher this week. On Monday, the major European indexes finished the day up almost 2%, while the overnight Asian markets advanced 1.5%.
The European markets trimmed gains after a round of poor releases from the U.K. economy, including a report, which showed that the U.K. GDP contracted 2.4% in the first quarter, much more than expected. TheLFB-Forex.com Trade Team notes that the contraction seen in the U.K. economy in the first quarter is the strongest since 1958, while the U.K. economy contracted 4.9% in Q1 from one year earlier, the strongest pace on record. However, during the European session a release showed that U.K house prices rose in June for the third time in the last four months.
The German Dax and the U.K. FTSE traded on a relatively modest momentum during the overview session. Almost every sector traded within the range of the last few days, something that further confirms that the market is unable to expand into a strong trend at this point, TheLFB-Forex.com Trade Team commented.
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Tags: Crude Oil, Forex, GBP, GDP, German Dax, Gold, Trade, UK
WRAPUP 1-British Q1 GDP posts biggest fall since 1958
Jun 30, 2009 Make Money Online
By Sumeet Desai and Fiona Shaikh
LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) – The British economy shrank at its fastest pace in more than 50 years in the first three months of 2009 and has been in recession for a whole year, boosting expectations ultra-loose monetary policy could get even looser.
More timely surveys also out on Tuesday, however, suggested the worst is now over and the government, which desperately needs recovery before an election expected next May, said it still expected growth to return by year-end.
But economists said the revised official GDP data raised the chances the Bank of England would boost its 125 billion pounds quantitative easing programme to support the economy, especially as inflationary pressures were seen weaker now.
GDP fell by 2.4 percent in the first quarter, the biggest decline since Q2 1958 and much worse than the 1.9 percent decline published last month because of downward revisions to services and construction output.
On the year, it fell a record 4.9 percent and output in previous quarters was revised down, meaning Britain’s first recession since the early 1990s has been running longer and deeper than previously thought.
“‘You’ve never had it so bad’ seems the most apt summary of the state of the UK economy in Q1,” said Ross Walker, UK economist at RBS.
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Tags: British, British Pound, Capital Economics, Economics, Economy, Forex, GBP, GDP
