Invest

My Money Blog:

Continued from Part 1, where you should have figured out what type of loan you want to get, gathered copies of your important paperwork, and gathered a list of potential lenders. Now to narrow things down to one final lender.

III. Narrowing Down The List
To trim down your list, you may want to call some of them up and ask them a few questions.

1) What type of loans do they specialize in? (Don’t tell them what you’re looking for yet.)
2) What do you need for a rate quote and Good Faith Estimate? What is your quote? Many will give you a rate quite easily, but the GFE is sometimes harder without submitting private information. Just remember, any such quote is only as good as the information you provide.
3) How fast can they lock their quoted rate/points if you choose them? Can I lock this quote you just gave me today? Will they provide written lock confirmation? Will they guarantee their lender fees? (See below.)

Some other people throw in some quiz questions that relate to guessing future mortgage rates, but I don’t really care about that. Your final list might look something like this:

A few Upfront Mortgage Lenders. These lenders have agreed to disclose accurate rates/points for the market niche they service, as well as guarantee their lender fees. At the very least, you should be able to get a good idea of a competitive current rate.
First-time homeowner programs in your area, or perhaps you have a preferred…

My Money Blog:

The strategy of Buy & Hold Investing has a lot of followers (including me), and one of it’s touted benefits is that it is a simple way to invest. In the case of passive investors, it primarily involves picking and maintaining an asset allocation plan for the next 10-50 years of your life. No need to monitor stock prices or decipher financial statements. However, “simple” and “easy to execute” aren’t the same thing. For example, “spend less than you earn” is simple. “Always save for a rainy day” is simple. But how many people actually do this?

So why don’t I think it will be easy?
The picture above is the cover of the August 1979 issue of BusinessWeek magazine. In case you can’t make it out, the picture is of a stock certificate folded into a paper airplane that has crashed, surrounded by many other crumpled airplanes. (No Photoshop back then…)

The title of the cover story is “The death of equities: How inflation is destroying the stock market.” I haven’t been able to find the full text of the article noted, but I did find some snippets at TheFiendBear. He notes that the article “was published at a time when the Dow was languishing at 875 and had been trading in a see-saw fashion ever since topping out 6 1/2 years earlier in January of 1973. Inflation was a persistent nag on the economy and the Federal Reserve and US fiscal policies were held in low regard.“

Sound familiar?…

Yielding Wealth | Personal Finance:

This is a guest post by Heather Johnson.

You’ve heard the success stories probably more times than you can count. People always talk about how they built their own personal wealth and had excellent success in their financial endeavors. Unfortunately, no matter what people say, there’s no perfect way to build wealth, and for every far-fetched success story, there are probably many more stories of failed attempts at making cash. That being said, I’ve decided to offer some practical advice on building personal wealth, and obtaining personal financial security. It’s not some get-rich-quick scheme, but rather five ways one can help work to build his or her own wealth and achieve financial stability.

1. Get an Education – The fact remains that with increased education; one’s earning potential drastically increases. If you took college courses, but never finished the degree, you should seriously consider doing so. Some have stereotypical views concerning online education or finishing a degree in an on-campus setting after a certain age, but that shouldn’t dishearten you. The bottom line is that education is one of the best ways to drastically increase wealth in the long run. While it can sometimes get costly in the short-term, if you are able to take out loans, earn scholarships, or finance your education in another way, the benefits can really pay off.

2. Manage Your Money Well – Managing finances is one of the most challenging things for many people in their daily lives. It’s no secret that…

WalletPop:

Filed under: Real Estate

Some real estate and mortgage experts say that the mortgage industry hasn’t hit bottom yet, because here’s what’s up next: Consumers with prime mortgages bailing out on their financial obligations. If these consumers with good credit and the ability to pay their mortgages don’t make good on their loans, there could be a whole new wave of financial problems in our economy.

California is probably in the worst shape of any state. Real estate prices surged there in recent years, but then the values of homes also fell very quickly. The California real estate market was hit hard as subprime borrowers defaulted. But there is a belief that prime borrowers will soon decide to stop paying their mortgages as they see their real estate values dropping.

This makes no sense to me, because in my world, people pay their debts regardless of whether it’s a “good deal” for them or not. Simply put, these homeowners purchased properties at prices they agreed to. They signed papers agreeing to pay back the bank for the money loaned to purchase the house. If the house has now lost value, it’s not the bank’s fault, and it doesn’t do away with the fact that the consumer promised to pay!Consumers who decide to be dishonest and ditch out on their mortgages will be happy to know that there are even companies that will help you make the most out of your planned foreclosure. They’ll advise you on how long you can still live…