Reverse Mortgage Doesn't Work for All Properties

By Reverandmortgage Vanrock

I'm getting a ton of calls recently in regards to properties that in no way meet the standards for an FHA insured reverse mortgage.

FHA insures the vast majority of all reverse mortgages closed by lenders in the U.S. Lenders must follower their rules if they want the safety of the FHA mortgage insurance.

A quick background of FHA, it was set up in the 30's to as a way to facilitate the financing of residential housing. In other words, it was set up to increase homeownership.

It was and currently is not interested in investor loans on a small residential scale.

As such, reverse mortgages are first and foremost owner occupied properties. I get many questions about financing second homes and investment properties. Not happening.

This does not pertain to all investment properties. For instance, if the owner lives on the premises of a one to four unit property, with tenants, the property would still qualify for financing.

What if the owner lives in the property and it is used as a bed and breakfast? No. FHA will not allow for any commercial purpose even if the owner lives on site.

Some customers come to me with a home on large acreage. The lender will finance a home and land up to what is customary for the area.

A good scenario is a house on fifty acres. It's not hard to find this in the outskirts of Dallas or Houston. If many local homes have sold on this much land, it can fly otherwise it won't. I the norm is 2 acres, 48 acres will be survey off.

Manufactured housing is fairly misunderstood. It can work for a reverse mortgage but the home must have been built in 1977 or later, be a double or triple wide, and have permanent foundation.

Additional home types include townhomes, condos, and Co-ops.

Non-FHA insured reverse mortgages are out there with greater flexibility in terms of property types. Be careful of these. A system of checks and balances doesn't exist with these loans as it does with an FHA insured reverse mortgage.

About the Author:

Learn the ins and outs, low down, five big pitfalls to avoid for the California reverse mortgage. Many more answers and a good old fashioned education can be had about the California reverse mortgage by following this link.

Stock Market Running Seniors to Reverse Mortgage

By Rimj Vanrock

Well, I don't think I have to announce it at the top of my lungs, the stock market is down a ton since this time last year.

My money is in real estate. Doesn't that make me smart? That's sarcasm, case you are wondering.

Being a reverse mortgage loan officer you can imagine a bunch of older folks are calling me lately inquiring about the reverse mortgage as some sort of stopgap.

I'm a bit dumbfounded, because I simply can't understand how the reverse mortgage can be used to somehow change or plug up some financial hole.

Most of these folks are running scared and are in panic mode.

What really is to gain by accessing the equity to their homes, at this point, for a reverse mortgage? The equity is theirs already. Why crack open this can if it isn't absolutely necessary?

Most tell me they want it for security purposes. What does that mean? They've lost a bunch of money in the market. Is having a bunch of money in a line of credit really going to help them?

I have serious questions about this logic. Other, more panicked or more aggressive potential clients (I'm not sure which) believe the market has seen its worst days are looking to plant reinvest their home equity into the market.

Our 2nd group may be making a mathematical mistake. After all, how good can the investment actually be in these times? Just to take the money out it will more than like cost them six percent per year.

Okay, ten percent minus six percent equals four percent return. This is if they are doing really well.

The facts are that this is not a great time for investments. I suppose if you have real ringer that can work, but for the most part these are very precarious times for investors. Many of the big guys are sitting it out.

Please relax a bit with this shakeup in the market. Your equity in the home is important. Use it when you need it. Cooler heads prevail in times like these.

About the Author:

Prior to putting money into the market or elsewhere using a Texas reverse mortgage read this report. Also, learn details about the Texas reverse mortgage, click here.

SCAMS!! Credit Repair Law Firms Are Scams

By David Wada

There are hundreds of law firms out there that specialize in credit repair. I may get sued for writing this, but its my opinion that credit repair law firms like Lexington Law are scams.

Let's say you have a goal to have perfect credit, meaning no negative entries and the highest credit score possible. Keep in mind that often these law firms can do a great job, but there are couple major problems.

Problem #1: Price Is NOT Right

The most popular law firm charges a $99 set-up fee, and anywhere from $39 to $79 every month that they work on your file. The problem is since the law firms make their money from monthly charges, the longer they take to repair your credit the more money they make. That means that it will cost you between $567 and $2,000 to get your credit fixed. Which is why they're getting very, very rich.

But even that much would be worth it, wouldn't it? If they fix your credit for you? But how much sense does it make to pay $2000 or even $500, when you can get the same benefit from credit repair programs for less than a hundred bucks?! Well, you might say that your time is valuable and it's worth it to pay someone to do all the work.

Problem #2: You Do Most Of The Work Here's a dirty little secret with credit repair law firms. You still have to do most of the work yourself. More work, in fact, than when you use credible repair programs. Here's why:

First of all, you have to sign all kinds of paper work and Power of Attorney forms just to start the process. Some of these forms even require you to get your signature notarized. So the sign up process alone can take hours.

Then, you have to order your own credit reports from the credit bureaus.

Then, the credit bureaus are going to send the reports back to YOU, not to the law firm.

Of course, you then have to re-send the same letters to the law firms so that they have them for the records and making sure you make copies for your own file too.

Then, the law firm is going to scan your credit reports into a computer, and post it on their website.

Then, believe it or not, even with all the money you're paying the law firm, you still have to go to their website and choose for yourself which items you want to dispute and even how to challenge each negative credit item. You heard me right. When I hired a credit repair company, hoping they would take care of my credit, I had to choose which 'items to question' and know which items were errors. I wanted to protest, "How am I supposed to know? That's why I hired a professional!"

The law firm then takes the information you put on their website and create a standard dispute letters that they send to the credit bureaus.

Finally, the credit bureaus will still send all correspondence to your home address. So you will have to open every letter, read it, figure out if it's important, make copies of it for your records, and then put it in another envelope, address it, stamp it, and send it back to the law firm. You might have to do this five or six times every week.

So you can see how inefficient this process is. And because all of this takes so much time, the process drags on and on and the law firm just keeps making more and more money. In fact, credit repair law firms tell you that it can take a year, two years, or even three years before you reach your goal.

Problem #3: Forget about their crappy guarantee All they have to do is improve one item, such as a credit card inquiry, and they consider that they've done their job. Really! There's no money back even if 90% of your credit report is still negative after three years and $2000.

About the Author:

About The Author: David Wada, who has been improving credit in Northern California for thirty years, has written a very practical guide to de-mystify Credit Repair Companies. For a limited period, you can access a free copy by visiting his Credit Repair Companies

Using Guaranteed Student Loans To Pay For College

By Trinity Foster

If you would like to go to college and find it too expensive, there are a lot of different options available. Government guaranteed student loans can help you to get started the right way and are fantastic loans that almost anyone in need can qualify for.

As you review your options for student loans, you will discover there is one referred to as a government guaranteed student loan. Just what does the guarantee mean? It means that the government backs the loan for the lending institution who is offering the loan.

The loans have been issued for almost fifty years. With these types of loans, the federal government takes on the responsibility for making sure the loan is repaid by the borrower. This makes the loan less risky to the lender so they sometimes more flexible with who they are willing to lend to.

Stafford loans are especially advantageous. Your credit history is generally not a qualifying factor either since the government is assuming the responsibility for any default on the loan. The lending institution doesnt have to be as concerned with losing money on the loan.

Many students are able to stay in school simply because they don't have to make payments on these loans during school. Interest doesn't even compound because it's taken care of by the government.

The six months after school gives the student time to find a good job so there is a greater likelihood of being able to repay the loan in full. Historically, a subsidized Stafford loan was always called a guaranteed government loan.

But now, any loan which is guaranteed against default by the government is referred to as a government guaranteed loan. Subsidized Stafford loans are still the least expensive loans since there is the benefit of not accruing interest, but in order to qualify for one, you have to prove financial need.

So, if you dont qualify, there are still other government guaranteed student loans you can receive. They continue to be the safest way to borrow money for school.

About the Author:

Trinity helps people to find out about different types of guaranteed student loans including government guaranteed student loans.

A truly savvy investor can take advantage of these short sales

By Rem

Many hear about the phrase "real estate short sale" and do not fully grasp what it means. If you read the newspapers, or turn on the TV and the odds are high that you will come across stories about declining real estate market conditions and the increasing willingness of banks and other financial institutions to consider real estate short sales as an alternative to foreclosure.

In all parts of the country, real estate prices are down and the time it takes to sell properties has risen dramatically. It is no exaggeration to say that some regions are experiencing a virtual market meltdown (the Detroit market is one good example). A real estate market that is not doing so well is the giving the need for short sale real estate opportunities to grow.

A real estate short sale happens when a bank lets a property be sold for less than the amount owed on it. Since a short sale requires an significant financial situation for a bank, many institutions require two conditions before they will agree to a short sale. The first condition is that market values must be in a state that the property's sale price cannot cover the outstanding balance on the mortgage. An inability to make additional payments on the property is the second requirement.

Let's look at an example property that was bought five years ago for the rate of 217,000 dollars with an adjustable rate mortgage. Let's also expect that two years after purchasing the property, the owners took an additional mortgage of 10,000 dollars which brings their debt to 227,000 dollars. Also, we have to remember that in five years, the amount of time that the mortgages have been paid off is negligible. We'll also imagine that the property value has decreased to 215,000 dollars while the mortgage interest rate has increased from seven to eleven percent. Add in the additional problem of one of the owners having lost their job, and you end up with a very likely real estate short sale scenario.

For a bank, a foreclosure can mean a lot of time and money spent that a short sale would not. The reason for this is that the banks believe it is better to get the property off their books and accept a smaller amount of money they are guaranteed to get than to accept an unknown amount in the future. Those are the basics of a real estate short sale, though numerous complications can arise from having multiple owners and lenders not agreeing to a short sale terms.

A real estate short sale is an unpleasant experience for an owner, but it is not the worst thing in the world. The methods may not be flawless, but it will beat having a foreclosure on the credit report. On the positive side, it can represent a great buying opportunity for the smart real estate investor.

About the Author:

Also have a look at Cheaper Home Blog and Home For Less Blog

Do You Know What Prepaid Credit Cards Are?

By Steven J. Talrechi

Credit can be a touchy subject for many individuals. Often it can be quite difficult to be approved for a traditional credit card. Perhaps you have had a poor credit history in the past, or perhaps your problem is that you just haven't had any credit history yet. Whatever your circumstances are it can feel downright degrading to get rejected for a credit card. However, there is a way that you can start building your credit rating and give you the flexibility that a credit card affords you, and that is by getting yourself a prepaid credit card.

But how does a prepaid credit card actually work? It is essentially an account into which you can deposit money and access it by using the card to make purchases. You can use a prepaid credit card anywhere that credit cards are accepted. Unlike a traditional card, however, you can only make purchases after you have deposited money in your account. There is a spending limit just as with a traditional charge card, but with a prepaid card, this limit is the amount which you have put on your account.

There are a number of benefits to having a prepaid credit card. You'll have the same freedom that you would with any credit card. Your prepaid card can be used anywhere that credit cards of any kind are accepted.

Prepaid credit cards are also a great way to keep a handle on your spending habits. Since you can only buy what you have already deposited enough to afford, you are keeping yourself from overspending and getting into credit card debt. A prepaid credit card is also a good learning tool which can show you how to manage your finances.

Additionally, a prepaid credit card will give you the peace of mind that no one is going to be able to get a hold of your credit card numbers. This way, if you're purchasing things over the phone or internet you can rest assured that no one will have any way to access your other accounts and money.

How do you get a prepaid credit card? You'll have to pay a fee to set up the account; this is usually somewhere between $5-$10. There are also some small fees associated with deposits as well. These fees are small, but well worth it to control your spending and help build your credit.

There's no escaping it; our society runs on credit. You need a credit card to do just about anything these days. You need a credit card just to function these days. If you are working with bad credit, an insufficient credit history or just trying to manage your spending, then a prepaid credit card may be the answer for you.

About the Author:

Steven J. Talrechi is an expert on credit and finance for 12 years. He authors various topics on said field, including applying for a credit card, and different credit card offers.

Credit Repair Form Letter ??" Good to Use or Bad to Use?

By William Blake

There are form credit repair letters all over the internet. They can be helpful if you find yourself needing to correct an error on your credit report or you are being harassed by debt collectors who are constantly calling your house. It is a stressful thing to have to deal with credit report errors or debt collectors. You may not feel that you are able to write an effective letter under such a stressful situation. Should you turn to the form letters on the internet for help?

Warning Signs

There are thousands and thousands of form letters out there to choose from. There is also sample letter prepared by the government that can be found on the Federal Trade Commission website. Which is a better choice? How can you decide?

There are many clues as to what kind of credit repair letter templates or samples to avoid. These are the ones that threaten legal action in words such as, "I'll sue". You also don't want to follow any credit repair letter templates or samples that could in any way be construed as threatening. "You better pay attention to this letter, or else," is an example of just such a threat, even if you haven't expressly spelled out what the "or else" means.

Another warning sign is sentences in phrases written in all caps or sentences ending with an exclamation mark. This is not a professional way to write. It is like screaming at a person and that is anything but professional. If you send a letter like this you can expect that your letter will be ignored. It is disrespectful and therefore will earn you no respect.

When Worse Comes To Worse

If the form letters intimidate you and you just can't decide it may be best to write you own letter. If you are going to do this remember that you want to keep the letter short. Be direct and respectful. Briefly explain what the letter is and your purpose in writing it. If you have a friend, an accountant or other financial expert that you can talk to, get some advice about how to write the letter.

Write the letter as if you are writing it for someone else and you are not personally involved. You do not want to show any emotion ??" anger, fear or frustration. Just state the facts as clearly and briefly as possible.

About the Author:

Tire of struggling to keep up with your credit card debt? Get some simple credit card tips on the Debtopedia website. Get a free copy of my report "Secrets Of Credit Card Debt" at http://www.debtopedia.com

Gamma Scalping As A Safe Market Strategy

By Walter Fox

'Gamma scalping' and 'theta decay' are both terms that can confuse those new to the trading world. They may hear the phrases frequently, but donat have enough experience to really grasp their meaning. Since gamma scalping is almost exclusively used by professionals as an option trading strategy, this is quite understandable.

First, a few terms will have to be explained to properly understand this option trading tip. 'Delta' means the rate at which the value of an option changes. That change, when a positive number, is represented by 'Gamma'. To 'scalp' means to buy or sell with small gain.

Put it all together, and you have 'gamma scalping', a process in which the trader buys low and sells high. It sounds simple, but the main idea is to reduce risk and return the market to a fairly neutral zone, which can be hard if everyone is scalping too frequently.

What the gamma relies upon is the fact that the delta is constantly changing up and down. If it stayed level, there would be no loss or gain, and the option trading system would fall on its face. Another option trading tip is to look at how long youave had your options.

A state in which gamma is positive can create negative theta, in which case, your options' values decrease over time. Gamma scalping can earn you more, but only in the short term, as theta decay takes away value if you miss your window of opportunity.

There are those who posit that gamma scalping is trading actual market volatility against the market's implied volatility. In this case, if the actual volatility is at least matching the implied volatility, the trader turns a profit. If not, and the implied volatility falls short of the market's actual volatility, the trader takes a loss. For this reason, gamma scalping is much more geared towards working efficiently in the short term, but not the long.

While this method appeals to many for its seeming simplicity, the long term unpredictability makes many professional traders name it as a bad option trading tip. The harm in irresponsible gamma scalping can be seen in the current state of our economy.

Does this mean that this strategy is bad, unethical, or to be avoided? No, rather, care should be taken when considering this tactic. Used at its best and as it is intended, gamma scalping can be used to soothe the deltaas potentially flammable swings.

About the Author:

TheScienceOfTrading.com provides 90 free minutes of videos on stock option investing and provides a complete and detailed option trading course for beginners to experts.

Trades And Their Stock Options

By Walter Fox

Buyers have the right, but not an obligation, to buy or sell a stock at an agreed upon price within a decent period of time or on a date that they set. This privilege is known as stock option trades. These types of trades have grown into one of the fastest markets for the buying and selling of merchandise. There is loads of information on how to be taught the skill of trade options made available for anyone to read.

There are places were you can learn the trade options in the market education and trading systems. Stock and option trades offer expert trade alerts and stock market education for Trading Stock Option. The company is one of the fastest growing in serving individual investors or for corporate people for getting stock alerts from the money managers through ground-breaking trade.

Stock and Option Trades offers a revolutionary approach to stock market trading through its sophisticated trading system, as well as quality services such as Trade Alerts, Trade Updates, Market Educational Newsletter and Interactive Blog. It is used to produce consistent winners and learn how we can produce incredible trading results.

Many universities and individual experienced trade people use many different types of teaching and learning methods. Many marketing research companies provide courses that teach the stock option trading system. Advanced stock option trading courses can be taught through power options.

A benefit of stock options is making profits in any market. Making a profit when the prices are going up and even when the prices going down. This involves using the options to your advantage in a volatile market, with an up-and-down roller coaster market. The average person is good at rapidly turning a small amount of money into vast rewards, without the worry about the market trends.

There have been many changes to the way that the average investor can get involved with their own stocks. The information that companies provide have become so easy to obtain, this makes the exploring and educating yourself about what stocks to trade has become as easy as signing onto the computer.

The buying and selling of the same type of option contract creates an option spread trading strategy. A call spread is buying and selling calls and a put strategy is going long and short on two contracts. The market rising on this stock is what is needed for this trading position to be profitable going forward.

Many online option trading companies have developed and this makes more information available to people. The information can be able anything and example of some information is about existing market strategies. This makes it easier to get a hold of as much information as you would like. Having a single platform for multiple exchanges and everything in one place makes the information easier to obtain. There are many studies that can be found and just a few of these are Vertical, Horizontal, trends and free lines.

About the Author:

TheScienceOfTrading.com provides 90 free minutes of videos on option trading systems and provides a complete and detailed stock trading course for beginners to experts.

Take Over Payments, No Qualifying For Loans To Buy Properties

By Tomasheus Privetsky

One of the most powerful weapons of real estate investment is taking over payments of existing financing to purchase homes.

How many loans are really out there that you can take over payments on? Recently the American Bankers Association reported that in a single year there were close to one trillion dollars of new mortgages created from refinancing existing loans. Most of these loans were made at low 6%-8% fixed interest rates.

This indicates that there remains about a trillion dollars worth of real estate investment that is booked under homes owned by people around you. It would be of great profit if you were able to take over payments of these unpaid real estate loans from someone elses name to your own. You can do this by buying the real estate properties having such low interest rate mortgages attached to them.

You should be taking over payments instead of getting investor loans that are being given out mainly because investors are saddled with a high rate of interest on loans unlike home owners by mortgage lenders.

If you take over payments of an already existing real estate loan you are required to pay a lower interest rate than that by real estate investors. This obviously reduces your budget of loan payments considerably. You can resell the property later keeping the original loan as it is, the only difference being in such a case that you get a much more flexible choice of interest rate payment than what you had received while taking over from your buyer. This again enhances your monthly influx of cash.

Most of the money that you spend as loan payment expense will be for interest rate payment purpose. Only a fraction of this will be allotted to the principal reduction. Since the interest rate on the existing loan is lower, your interest payment will also be lower on the total real estate.

But that's just the beginning. If you're getting an investment property loan you'll be required to come up with a lot larger down payment amount than a home owner has to. You'll need to have at least 20% down while home owners often get away with as little as 3%-5% out of pocket.

As an investor you have to show around six months payments in advance unlike homeowners who show just 2 months payments in cash. Once you take over a property, you wont be required to put down a 20% down payment, and as an investor you can use that amount of money for other purposes.

But we're still not quite done yet. When you take over payments on an existing loan you benefit from all the loan payments previously made by the owner. Remember, the owner has originated the loan 2, 5 or even 10 years before you came along wanting to take over payments. The more payment the owner made on the loan you're taking over, the fewer months and years are left to pay on the loan until it is completely paid in full. So, taking over payments on existing loan speeds up the process and allows you to pay-off the loan balance and build up your equity a lot quicker.

This in turns means that you are free of handling any paperwork associated with taking the loan over, which has been taken care of by the homeowner.

This method of taking over payments is one of the most profitable means of sponsoring your real estate investment.

About the Author:

After you master the strategy to take over payments on existing loans your real estate investing career will explode.