Posts Tagged ‘m’
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
by Harry M. Rather
There are many home buyers who get confused when they are quoted home loan rates with points. The basic explanation of paying discount points is that you are paying part of your interest to the bank in the beginning in order to lower your mortgage payments later on, during the course of the loan. When the rate is lowered, so will the monthly loan payment.
One point equals 1% of the loan, and it is remitted to the bank at the closing of the mortgage. If you are obtaining a $200,000 loan, one point would cost you $2,000 at closing. A borrower has the choice of paying one or more points on the loan.
Your mortgage loan rate is calculated primarily by your credit worthiness, but whatever the rate on the loan, paying points will make it lower. If you are quoted 6% on your $200,000 mortgage, you may receive another quote for your loan if you were paying points. Each bank has its own way of figuring this, but they fall within the same limits, and the norm is that 1 point lowers a fixed rate mortgage by .25% and an adjustable rate mortgage by .375%. If we use the $200,000 loan in the above paragraph, and we pay one point, we can reduce the rate to 5.75% on a fixed rate and 5.625% on an adjustable rate loan.
If you inquire about a loan rate, you will most likely see the rate quoted along with points. For example, the lender may list the rate as 6%, no points, 5.75%, one point, 5.5%, two points, etc. Then the table would show 7% with the relevant reductions. This is why it is necessary to know your original rate and then calculate the reduction for points.
Obviously, your mortgage payment is going to be lower on a loan with 5.75% or 5.625% than it will be on a loan with a 6% rate. This sounds like it would always be a good investment, but you must keep in mind that you are really paying interest up front. If you only held onto the mortgage for a short while, after you sell the house or negotiate a new mortgage, you will have paid this interest for a loan you no longer have. In other words, you have to amortize the payment amount for the points over how long you plan to have the loan.
Since a home buyer is going to have a lower mortgage payment, this usually means that he can afford to pay more for a home. For this reason, sellers frequently offer to give points as a sales pitch. But keep in mind that this may raise the price of the house by the amount of the points.
There is no obligation on the part of the buyer to pay points. It is merely his decision to reduce the interest rate of the loan.
Tags: a, advice, e, F, Finance, h, home, home;improvement, i, Insurance, Life Insurance, m, mortgage, mortgage life insurance, o, personal finance, property insurance, r, real estate
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Monday, July 27th, 2009
by Shenita Dovel
The great thing about buying a used manufactured home is that, unlike a traditional home, it can be moved wherever you need it.
Used manufactured homes can be found in many places. Websites like Craigslist, as well as classified ads in your local paper are both good places to start.
Another great website to investigate is Ebay or specific websites pertaining to the sale of used manufactured homes. Mobile home companies often also sell used manufactured homes and new homes, so browse your area’s yellow pages.
Looking for your used manufactured home is only one aspect of the process. You need to be certain that you’re buying a quality used manufactured home.
Determine the value of the mobile home of your choice. The value of a manufactured home goes down swiftly, therefore, the asking price may not be the value of the home.
Use your local library’s reference center and ask for Kelley’s Blue Book, which lists vehicle values by brand, year and style; if they don’t have the Blue Book, they can obtain the information from another library also. This information can sometimes be found at your local manufactured home dealership, or at the local bank.
The value of each used manufactured home can be raised by features like added-on garages, decks and additional rooms. Check with the local county appraisers offer to find out how the manufactured home property has been appraised for tax purposes.
You must carefully look into the overall structure of the home. Older manufactured homes are not immune to the same where and tear of conventional homes such as electrical wiring and plumbing.
Hire an appraiser who knows about manufactured homes to determine the condition and value of the home you want. To find an appraiser, inquire at your bank or yellow pages.
If the manufactured home you want is in an area that you wish to be in, you will need to be pre-approved by the park managers in order to stay. This is a step that must be done before acquiring the manufactured home or you might be required to move the home elsewhere. More importantly, be sure to investigate the mobile park thoroughly, as it might not be the dream location you thought it would be.
Tags: b, broker, h, home loans, home;improvement, i, Insurance, l, lender, loans, loans for manufactured homes, m, manufactured home loan, manufactured home loans, manufactured home mortgage loan, manufactured homes, mortgage, property insurance, real estate, real;estate
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Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009
by Joseph Q. Jeffries
One of the things many homeowners should look into is how they pay their mortgage each month to make it as easy as possible for them. The more you can tailor your mortgage to your personal needs, the better the chance that you will pay your mortgage on time.
Suppose you are one of those who never pays the mortgage on time simply because you are too busy; you could get online bill pay or you could have an automatic loan deduction. This is not an option if you are just barely paying the mortgage, only if you are struggling to find the time to pay it because your life is so busy.
You might even find an added benefit, since many banks will lower the interest rate on a mortgage if the loan is automatically deducted. Their processing costs are lower, and they are guaranteed that the loan is paid, so they can pass some of those savings on to the borrower.
Another problem many homeowners have is coming up with the full mortgage amount at once. If you are like most consumers, money sitting in the checking account gets used up on other things and when the home loan is due, there is not enough there. Many homeowners would rather to pay half their home loan at the beginning of the month, and the other half at the middle of the month.
Matching the due dates of their home loans with the receipt dates of their salary helps many people budget their mortgage better. In addition, they ar able to save money over the life of the loan since they are lowering the loan balance more quickly than they would with the usual monthly payment.
Another product that lenders offer is an option mortgage, which means the borrower can pay just what he wants to on his mortgage. Although this is very convenient, it is important to manage this option carefully. The bank will have a minimum payment, usually the interest only, and the borrower can pay any additional amount he desires. Making the minimum payment all the time will mean that you will never have the opportunity to lower your loan.
Those homeowners who have unstable income patterns, for instance a contractor, may choose to keep payments down until a big project is finished and then catch up. So long as you have the discipline to put the extra money towards the mortgage when you have them, this option can be ideal.
Tags: b, business;finance, e, F, Finance, h, home, i, Insurance, Life Insurance, m, mortgage, mortgage life insurance, o, personal finance, property insurance, r, real estate, real;estate
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Sunday, July 19th, 2009
by Guiscard Mathurin
This best summarizes the facts about affordable auto insurance. A lot of people think that they can get affordable auto insurance policy easily, and while this may be true, some underlying factors influence the final outcome. The key for you is to understand each of these factors to see if you qualify for a discount auto insurance plan. Remember, before you get quotes for these plans, you need to supply some information.
Needless to say, the fact that an affordable auto insurance plan could be offered to you would be sensitive to the inputs you provide. Now, that does not mean you should tamper with the inputs just for you to get discount auto insurance. Insurance companies have a stringent check mechanism, and your application for a discount auto insurance might as well get rejected, if it is found you have tampered with the information you have provided.
Worse still, some insurance companies may even offer you discount auto insurance plans. Everything may seem to go smooth for people, and when something unforeseen happens, you would rush to the company to file your claims. This is when things turn sour on the affordable auto insurance policy. You might see that the company either delays the settling of claims inordinately, or worse still, even reject the claim outright.
About 40% of people who apply for affordable auto insurance coverage do not know that their claims can get rejected if the inputs provided by them are misrepresented. Unknowing of this fact, people apply for discount auto insurance, only to find that their request has been denied.
Once you provide inputs to the best of your knowledge, it is on the discretion of the insurance company to give you a affordable auto insurance plan. Remember, insurance companies play it safe by automating the entire exercise online, so you can be sure there would be no bias at all. Importantly, what you need to judge for yourself is if the affordable auto insurance policy is really affordable for you or not. Understanding whether the discount auto insurance policy still meets your financial standings is important for you to decide!
Simply put, a combination of having a good driving history and the place where you stay in are considered the best bets for you to get an affordable auto insurance plan. Though, you cannot do much to influence the place you stay in to get a discount auto insurance, but you can definitely keep a watch on your driving record. If it is good enough, you will surely get a affordable auto insurance policy.
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Tags: a, auto, auto parts, automotive, b, blogs, business, business;finance, e, F, Finance, financial, forex, i, Insurance, investing, investment, l, m, money, n, o, online, property insurance, r, real estate
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Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
by Amber E. Schaller
Things have changed drastically in the world of home loans because of recent occurances. What will happen? It is important to make an intelligent guess about how interest rates will go.
Tight conditions in the lending world should normally lead to lower rates, since lenders would have to lower rates in order to attract customers with good credit ratings. However, the banks are doing the reverse, and raising rates in an attempt to build revenue.
This seems like a poor business decision; normally a business will lower prices when business is bad in order to get whatever business they can. But it seems that in today’s topsy-turvy financial world, the old choices do not apply and banks are getting their cue from credit card companies to raise instead of lower rates.
In prior times, a slower economy normally meant lower interest rates which would bring in more customers. Today, however, the financial industry is so disrupted that things that were considered normal before are no longer.
So what is the solution for a potential homebuyer with the right credit score to borrow? Take a wait and see approach and hope that the situation will return to normal, with lower interest rates, or take advantage of any credit that can be obtained, no matter what the rate?
Some economists are not only forecasting a recession, but even a depression, accompanied by deflation instead of inflation. Normally, deflation will in turn lead to lower interest rates, so this indicates a wait and see attitude is the best to take right now.
Some lenders are still actively soliciting borrowers. Many small lenders never had the capital to delve into the massive home loan programs that many of the larger banks did. This was because a lot of them were too small to expand into this highflying arena of subprime loans.
Another argument for waiting is that home prices are also most likely not at the bottom and may fall an additional 10% over the 25% drop seen over the last year. The Case-Schiller study that came out in November of 2008 reported year on year decreases of 17% nationally, with 25% in some locales. If the scenario is set not only for lower rates, but also for lower home prices, it would seem wise to wait until more of the credit crisis fallout can be judged.
Tags: e, F, Finance, h, home, home;improvement, Insurance, Life Insurance, m, mortgage, mortgage life insurance, o, property insurance, r, real estate, real;estate
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Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
by Helen P. Tillman
Many people are often concerned about obtaining health insurance. They are confused about their options or about how to obtain the best health insurance for them or their family. There are several ways to obtain health insurance, though, and some of them are not always obvious, but can be quite easy in the end.
Traditional health insurance is the one that most people think of when they think of health insurance. You pay the insurance company a premium every month, and if you have an accident or need for health coverage, you have a deductible amount you must pay and then the insurance company picks up the rest of the bill. You often have an inexpensive office and/or prescription co-pay with traditional health insurance.
Covering more than just yourself obviously increases your monthly premium, but the ability to cover your family inexpensively is a huge benefit. To obtain group health insurance through your employer, you should contact your human resources department or whoever is in charge of benefits in your company. You should be able to buy into the group health insurance plan at any time during your employment.
If you leave an employer who offers group health insurance without first finding other coverage, you can also use the COBRA law with your previous employer’s health insurance coverage. COBRA is a government act that allows you to continue coverage under your previous employer, though at a more expensive rate. If you had coverage for your entire family, COBRA will allow you to continue this full coverage for a certain period of time.
There are several million people in the United States who are unable to participate in any group health insurance plans, however. Health insurance companies do offer individual plans for those who do not have coverage through their employer, are self-employed, or are ineligible for government health insurance assistance, such as Medicare or Medicaid. Individual health insurance plans are more often than not very expensive in relation to group health insurance plans. These plans can also cover family members and spouses for additional costs. Finding individual health plans is not difficult. Almost all health insurance companies offer individual plans; you can now search online for individual health insurance plans. Some Web sites even allow you to compare pricing and details of plans offered in your area – much like shopping for car insurance.
Again, it is important to carefully consider each option before choosing a single health insurance plan. Your health is important-make sure it is protected in the best way possible.
Tags: a, auto insurance, car insurance, F, Finance, h, health, home insurance, i, Insurance, insurance quote, Life Insurance, m, medical insurance, n, u
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Sunday, June 28th, 2009
by John Wolfe
The purpose of an outdoor security camera is to monitor an area that is prone to criminal activity or otherwise undesired activity. For this reason the camera itself is put at risk of physical destruction from the very vandals we are protecting ourselves from. There are, however, a few things we can control to minimize the risks.
We must take into consideration the design of the camera or the housing the camera will be encased in. Then how the camera is mounted, where it is mounted, and the very placement of the camera are factors that will determine the amount of risk the camera is in. We can also use intelligent video alarms to deter vandals.
When it comes to the physical toughness of the camera or housing, something made of metal can offer much stronger protection than something made of plastic. Also, a traditional fixed camera that sticks out of a wall or ceiling is more prone to physical destruction than a dome PTZ camera or a dome shaped housing. Also, how it is hidden amongst its environment has a lot to do with whether it is a target for vandalism.
How the camera is mounted also will determine the level of protection from physical abuse. Mounting the camera or housing flush with a wall or ceiling is much more effective than simply mounting it on the wall or ceiling. If most of the camera is mounted inside with only the transparent part showing, it is much better protected from different angles. We also want the cables to be pulled directly through the wall or ceiling but if that can’t be then at least run the cables through a metal conduit tube to protect the cables.
Camera placement is also an important factor in deterring vandalism. By placing a camera out of reach on high walls or in the ceiling, many spur-of-the-moment attacks can be prevented. The downside may be the angle of view, which to some extent can be compensated by selecting a different lens.
Active tampering alarms can detect if a camera is being tampered with and alert the control center or operators. Especially for large systems with many cameras, it is useful as a way of monitoring each camera and making sure they are all working properly. When there is no person to monitor the surveillance live, it is a useful way to notify operators if there is any tampering to the camera.
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Visit Outdoor Security Camera Resource for more information on outdoor security cameras, network cameras, home security cameras, entire
security camera systems and more.
Tags: business, c, camera, electronics, g, gadgets, home, home insurance, home security, home security camera, home;improvement, Insurance, m, monitoring security video, network camera, outdoor camera, s, security, surveillance, technology, v, video camera, w, wireless camera
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Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
by Michelle C. Forshee
There is a lot to consider about when you purchase a house. In an instant, you are responsible for an asset probably worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. You have probably already started considered protecting it via mortgage life insurance.
This is a great protection for your family in the case of your death, but in the more likely instance of your disability, neither you nor your family will be protected.
The first place to begin to look for a disability insurance policy is an insurance broker. This professional will do a complete analysis of your income and housing needs; don’t forget that your home loan is only a part of the whole cost of living in your home.
Even if you already possess disability insurance from a government program or from your place of work, this is normally based on a “maximum qualifying” debt to income ratio of 36 to 50. This means that the entirety of your debt, not just your home related debt, should be included. This can mean car payment, your credit cards, your other insurance policies, etc. Your disability policy will be unlikely to cover all of those costs and your mortgage expenses as well.
Make sure you are clear on the basics before you go shopping for mortgage disability insurance, such as what the benefit period is, how long the elimination period is and what riders are available.
The benefit period is the how long the benefit will be paid. In most policies, the benefit period extends to age 65, but if you can shorten it because you can count on some supplementary income before then, you can save a lot of money. For example, if your spouse starts to collect retirement benefits before then, or if you can start taking out your own retirement benefits without penalty.
The next area of interest is the elimination period, how long your disability must exist before you can collect. Needless to say, the longer the waiting period, the less the premiums. If you have saved for a rainy day, this may be it, and you can save a lot of premium costs if you have these funds to cover you for a period of time.
A rider is an added coverage that you may choose to add onto your policy. One of the most common is an inflation rider, that increases the amount of the benefit as the cost of living goes up.
understanding all of these options can be difficult, but it is important to be conscious of what exists. This is the only way you can choose the right policy for you.
Tags: a, advice, b, business;finance, d, e, F, fianance, Finance, h, home, i, Insurance, Life Insurance, m, mortgage, mortgage life insurance, o, property insurance, r, real estate
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Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
by Ethan Kalvin
With money being the main stresses in everyone’s lives, there are the concerns about what to forgo and living a frugal life. So some this means giving up extravagant vacations, meals out at restaurants, and shopping sprees. For others it means cutting back on grocery spending and maybe even the amount spent on their insurance premiums each month.
There is a different mentality between wealthier people and those with less money. Wealthier people believe in insurance as a key to their financial security even in times of financial crisis, however the more impoverished see insurance as a luxury; a monthly expense that when compared to food, clothing and shelter, is just flat out unnecessary. This misconception can be very costly.
Insurance should not be considered and extra, instead it should be looked at as an important part of keeping themselves and there family’s safe. Without insurance you may be leaving a bigger hole in your families financial security should a medical situation arise.
Many times, the individuals who believe that there is no need for health insurance, have little to nothing. Realistically these are the individuals who need the insurance the most. Insurance coverage, like health insurance, can cover many unforeseen circumstances. If you become ill and pass away your insurance plan pays all your medical bills leaving your family free of the responsibility. Also, what if your home burns down, will you be able to afford to go and buy a new one right away, could you replace every item in your home? Most likely the answer is no, this is where insurance plays a crucial role in everyone’s life.
To sum up, insurance coverage, such as life, health, car and homeowners policies, are there to protect all that you have accumulated including you family. Please do not over look the importance of this monthly expense. It is better to eat noodles ever night then to not be insured.
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Tags: a, auto, auto insurance, c, car insurance, co pays, d, doctors visit, e, F, family, Finance, financial security, h, health, health care, health insurance, home care, home insurance, homeowners insurance, i, Insurance, m, medical, medical bills, n, o
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Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
by Chris Channing
Auto insurance is expensive, but with good reason. Should you be in an accident, paying for a new car would not be something that the average citizen could do. Instead of agreeing to do without some services or accepting a high deductible, first consider certain tactics in reducing costs.
What makes the life of an auto insurance company easier will often result in a discount for you. One such method is the act of paying your premiums with an EFT, or what is known as an electronic fund transfer. Doing so will cut down on paperwork associated with payment, be more reliable, and result in less costs to the auto insurance agency. With the right insurer, a discount will result.
Since students aren’t of age to get the full benefit of discounts auto insurance companies offer, there are some discounts that are targeted solely to them. Students who maintain a high GPA will be able to get a moderate discount each month. Holding a GPA of 4.0 on the 4.0 scale will show an auto insurance agency that you are responsible both in school and while on the road.
If you know that you are a good driver, and that you deserve extra reward for being so, you can opt for a program such as that Progressive agencies offer. Progressive has a MyRate plan that allows a device to be installed that monitors your speeds and driving times. Those who drive less and drive well can get a high discount on their premiums- sometimes as much as a third. Otherwise, it could result in being more costly to drivers.
Installing a security system for your vehicle is a marvelous idea. First, you won’t have to pay a deductible on a theft if it never happens. Second, auto insurance agencies will sometimes reward you for doing so since they exhibit less risk if you have such devices. The deduction in premiums will pay for itself in as little as a year, so you can think of it as a free upgrade. Check with your insurer to be positive they allow for such discounts.
Auto insurance companies will not insure drivers they deem too irresponsible. If you have multiple speeding tickets or have been charged with a major traffic violation, do expect to pay a lot more for coverage or even get denied altogether. Once auto insurance companies start denying you coverage, you will have less choices and you may not even end up being able to afford auto insurance.
Final Thoughts
You won’t be able to get around paying for auto insurance if you want to be able to drive legally. But you can help your wallet out by trying out the discounts mentioned above. Even if it costs money initially, it will pay for itself over time.
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