Alliance Turning Towards the Financial Dark Side
Following in the footsteps of many of its high street competitors, Alliance and Leicester has announced that it will no longer accept new customers onto its Online Saver and Direct ISA accounts. The interest rate for the Online Savers account is also being cut from 5.35% to a straight 5%.Richard ... more...

What to Really Expect for Closing Costs
Closing on a property is a very challenging time for a would-be homeowner. Being informed, either through your mortgage broker, your real estate agent, or through self knowledge is the best thing you can be when going through this procedure.A good real estate agent can help you tremendously. They ... more...

How Much is that House in the Window?
With the recent release from the UK's biggest mortgage lender, the Halifax, of its latest house price report for May 2005, showing that prices fell by 0.6% last month, and prices falling just 0.1% since the start of the year, the bank said that the market is broadly flat. Nationwide however ... more...

Appraisal or Home Inspection?
People sometimes confuse a home inspection and an appraisal when they are in the process of buying a home.Most mortgage applications involve an appraisal, which can be a physical inspection of the property plus a written analysis of similar homes that have recently sold in the area. An appraisal ... more...

Investment Real Estate Done Right -- Your Quickest and Safest Path to Wealth
In investment real estate the quickest way to wealth is through owner financing, or lease optioning. So, let's take a look at one model transaction, involving the purchase and sale of two properties on lease-option contracts so you an apply it to your own investment real estate system.Assume you ... more...

Home Improvement Loans Transforming Brick and Mortar
There is no courage in living an existence where you are constantly dissatisfied. Accepting your current resident as package you cant exchange is a myth. On the contrary it is true that not everyone has available money to finance home improvement. Home improvement loans enable every resident to own ... more...

Financing Multifamily Rental Housing
Given the rising costs of homeownership, multifamily dwellingsincluding rental apartmentsincreasingly represent an accepted alternative to the detached single-family house. Lending on apartment security combines the skills of the residential lender with those of the income-property lender. ... more...

Home Equity Loans Beware of Appraisal Fraud
A new report by the independent Demos group has revealed what may not be a surprise to many people corruption is rampant in the home appraisal industry. The bust in the dot-com market of some five years ago has left would-be lenders with a surplus of cash to lend. This has led to a huge boom in ... more...

Second Mortgage Secrets
Everyone has heard of a 2nd mortgage at least once in their life! However, most people might not understand what a 2nd mortgage really is. A 2nd mortgage is one the more important tools in both commercial and residential real estate, and can raise much-needed funds for home owners.The reason ... more...

Finding the Right Commercial Mortgage Broker
Make no mistake, there's a lot involved in getting a mortgage loan. For a potential borrower, finding the right broker is paramount, so they can take care of the loan details, and you can concentrate on moving forward with your new investment. To help you prepare in your search for the right broker ... more...

Real Estate Stories that Show You How!
Lets begin easing you out of the pits. I mean, comfort zone! Im going to slowly and methodically give you as many little sparks and insights to the relatively simple ways that ordinary people use real estate to achieve extraordinary results.Stories are the best spark plugs. They let you casually ... more...

Rebuilding After Katrina: Smart Energy Choices
Energy efficiency has been part of the American lexicon since 1978 when the Energy Policy Act was first enacted. Since then, energy efficient homes and increased use of renewable energy resources have become the norm in states like New York and California. Policies and programs have supported these ... more...

How to Buy a Home When Your in Your Twenties
A Singles Game of Real Estate (Getting started in your twenties)Due to the fact that most of us grow up in either a rented apartment or our parents single family home, it stands to reason that most people, when beginning to ask themselves the question of purchasing their own dwelling, will come to ... more...