Boom or Bust
For those looking to invest in the real estate marketkeep your eyes on the headlines. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), the number of areas across the U.S. with real estate booms shot to 55, increasing by nearly two-thirds last year. The FDIC warns, these booms may be ... more...

An Infinity Mortgage?
Here in Spain the concept of a mortgage period of 20 or 25 years is something new. The general feeling by the banks is that want their money back more quickly than banks in countries in which they are accustomed to longer periods. The borrowers are also accustomed to the idea that the guiding ... more...

Home A Loan
The number of homeowners taking out secured loans is set to slow down over the next five years according to analysts at Datamonitor. Over the past five years the market for secured loans has increased by over 50%, however predictions indicate that loans secured against property will only increase ... more...

Greenspan Legacy Fragile, Policy Predictable
There is structure to the policy Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has practiced during his tenure, announced William Poole, president of the St. Louis Fed on Friday. He went on to say that the practices of the chairman have been somewhat fragile as little has been institutionalized ... more...

Unsecured Loans: Route to Finance in the Absence of Guarantee
Does yours being a tenant or a homeowner with insufficient equity imply that loans and other methods of financing cash-shortages are not meant for you. Loan providers do not reveal such stark indifferences towards borrowers who come for unsecured loans. However, the terms on which unsecured loans ... more...

Banks and Monetary Policy: the Mechanics of Interest Rates Setting
We hear a lot about interest rates, and not only in my professional field of expertise. Interest rates are everywhere to be found in our daily lives: credit card interest, interest on deposits, car loan interest, personal loan interest, treasury bond interest. The other day I received a spam e-mail ... more...

Real Estate Remains A Strong Investment
Opportunities to make big, quick profits in residential real estate tend to come and go in cycles. When a local market is hot, families may find it possible to buy a house at an attractive price, fix it up, and watch its value rise in just a few years.When the same local market is at the low end ... more...

Hedging Foreign Exchange Risks
The exchange rate of the Macedonian Denar against the major hard currencies of the world has remained stable in the last few years. Because of the IMF restrictions, the local Narodna (Central) Bank does not print money and there are no physical Denars in the economy and in the local banks.Thus, ... more...

What is a Student Loan?
Not everyone is aware of what is a student loan? Student loans, as the name implies, are available to students who require help with living costs while studying.Student loans are part of the government's financial support package for degree only students embarking on a course of higher education. ... more...