Despite the recent headlines, bank failures are extremely uncommon. But if you’re concerned, here’s what you need to know.
Question: If you have $100,000 in a checking account and also have a $200,000 CD with the same bank how much of your money is protected by federal deposit insurance? How much would you receive if the bank failed? –Walter Matthews, Savannah, Georgia
Answer: Talk about déjà vu all over again. When hundreds of customers lined up to pull their money out of IndyMac, the failed bank that federal regulators seized last week, my mind instinctively flashed back to the S&L crisis of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when at one point banks were dropping at a rate of more than one a day.
I don’t think anyone envisions a replay of that era. So far only five banks have failed this year and only three went belly up last year.
Still, given the weakness of the economy overall and the financial sector in particular - not to mention the still very much unresolved problems in the housing and mortgage markets - you want to be sure that the money you put in a bank to keep it safe doesn’t take a hit should that bank happen to fail.
So here’s a rundown on what’s covered - what’s not covered - by the FDIC, or Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Read the rest of this entry »
Here is a very good compilation on debt advise i’ve seen so far:
Things to Know
Good debt vs bad debt
Examples of good debt
Borrowing for other expenses
Loans to pay credit cards
Managing debt
Getting your credit reports
1. Americans are loaded with credit card debt.
The average American household with at least one credit card has nearly $9,200 in credit card debt, according to CardWeb.com, and the average interest rate runs in the mid- to high teens at any given time.
A consultant breaks out SEO tricks and other Web marketing tactics to help an online lamps retailer bring more traffic to her site.
Fortune Small Business) — In our new feature, “Website remedies,” Fortune Small Business enlists Web marketing and search-engine optimization specialists to analyze small-business Web sites in need of an overhaul.
Dear FSB: I do not get traffic coming to my Web site. On a very stringent budget, what can I do to improve in these tough times?
Nationally, there’s still a dark cloud hanging over housing. But to check the health of your local region, look for a few key clues.
(Money Magazine) — This is already one of the worst national housing downturns in half a century. But what’s really scary is that judging from the still-huge overhang of unsold homes - one of the key indicators of the market’s prospects - things could get worse. In fact, much worse if the economy slips into recession. Read the rest of this entry »
Between higher fees and and larger down payment requirements, buyers have to pony up more money than ever these days just to land a loan.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Are you ready to buy a house in this crazy market? Better bring a boatload of money to the closing.
In a brutal real estate market where all the players want to hedge against the tremendous risks, down payment requirements and up-front fees have soared, shutting many potential home buyers out of the market.
“I have as many people calling me for financing as ever,” said George Hanzimanolis, a Pennsylvania mortgage broker, “but I’m putting less than half of them into loans.”
That’s happening all over the country, and may slow the housing market’s recovery. Indeed, in a Realtor.com survey released today, potential home buyers said high down payments were the second biggest obstacle, after high home prices, to buying a home.
These days, home buyers almost always have to make a substantial down payment, at least 5%, according to Rich Wordman, president of the Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers. The days of no-down loans are over. Read the rest of this entry »
How big a burden taxpayers would bear if Uncle Sam lends a hand to the two mortgage finance giants depends on a lot of hard-to-estimate variables.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Saving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could cost the U.S. taxpayer. But so could letting the two mortgage giants collapse.
A rescue plan that uses federal dollars would risk increasing the deficit and possibly lowering the U.S. debt rating, making it more expensive for the government to borrow in the future. A decision not to intervene could lead to deep pain in the mortgage market and the parts of the economy tied to it.
The Bush administration is betting the first option is preferable to the second.
A proposal outlined by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson - if approved by Congress - would offer explicit backing for the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). It has three main elements.
Increase each company’s $2.25 billion line of credit with the Treasury by an unlimited amount for the next 18 months.
Let the Treasury have the option of buying an unlimited amount of Fannie and Freddie stock over the next 18 months.
Give the Federal Reserve a consultative role with the GSEs’ regulator to assess the companies’ capital requirements.
In any rescue, Treasury would likely have to borrow billions of dollars. Exactly how much it would cost taxpayers is impossible to gauge because of several unknowns. Among them are extreme volatility in the companies’ stock prices coupled with falling home values and rising mortgage default rates, which affect the value of the GSEs’ assets and debt.
“Stuff’s happening to the portfolio that we don’t know about,” said Lee Sheppard, a contributing editor at Tax Analysts. “It’s a fluid situation.” Read the rest of this entry »
In spite of the dwindling economy, any real estate investors are actually cheering on the plunge of real state markets throughout North America. This is a philosophy that is shared by a small group of real estate investors who some may call vultures,” but other individual homeowners, builders, and even banning institutions in crises, these investors become “saviors.” Unfortunately, there may not be enough of those saviors to go around …
The problem? Many part-time investors who are feeling burned from a revious investment deal are letting the fear of the economic downturn keep them on the sidelines, when they might be letting the opportunity of a lifetime pass them by. Read the rest of this entry »
I received this email and video clip and thought to share it with all…
It reminds us that if humans can love their son this much, how much more could God love his children….
What a father wouldn’t do for his son, with God’s divine interference..
A son asked his father, ‘Dad, will you take part in a
marathon with me?’ The father who, despite having a
heart condition, says ‘Yes’.
They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and
son went on to join other marathons,the father always
saying ‘Yes’ to his son’s request of going
through the race together.
One day, the son asked his
father, ‘Dad, let’s join the Iron man together.’
To which, his father said ‘Yes’ too.
For those who don’t know, Iron man is the toughest
triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile
(3.86 kilometer) ocean swim,followed by a 112 mile (180.2
kilometer) bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195
kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island .
Father and son went on to complete the race together.
You can learn many different ways for Real Estate Financing options available on Real Estate Investing. There are several sources for financing in Real Estate, lenders, cash partners, institutions, seller’s financing and hard money.
There’s a lot of institutions and lenders that will give you what ever amount of cash you need to complete any transaction. Most of these lenders require a percentage of the purchase price as down payment. Read the rest of this entry »
FSB scoured the country for towns that combine a great business environment with alluring leisure offerings. They looked at economic conditions such as local tax rates alongside natural beauty - and easy access to museums, hungry gamefish, and more.
