http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog United First Financial reducing debt and building equity Wed, 19 May 2010 22:10:27 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Well, in Phoenix, at least. When I read this, I had to double check what year it was written. It's amazing that there could be any housing market that can be considered a "sellers' market", let alone one that is more of a sellers' market than any time since 2005 (see ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/06/24/surprise-real-estate-statistics-show-its-a-sellers-market/ Whether it's at a macro/government level or at the level of the individual or business, there are principles that must be adhered to for successful financial outcomes. This is a long, complex article that's well worth the read, even if you skip along it to find points that are ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/05/18/the-end-game-draws-nigh-the-future-evolution-of-the-debt-to-gdp-ratio/ The Publisher's Letter in the March-April 2008 issue of Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine was titled Un-Mortgaging America. It's focus was on the acceleration of mortgage pay down. In this issue, an award was given to a leading company in this industry. These extracts from the letter give a ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/05/05/personal-real-estate-investor-magazines-publisher-writes-about-mortgage-acceleration/ To introduce you to Broker Banker Magazine, I'll quote from their "About Us" page. "Broker Banker Magazine and BrokerBanker.com were designed with the intention of bringing mortgage industry insight, sales education, motivation and product information to mortgage originators on behalf of the affiliates who serve them. Each month Broker Banker Magazine and ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/04/29/what-broker-banker-magazine-says-about-the-money-merge-account/ This subject deserves a full analysis and report, something that will be forthcoming. In the interim, this will serve as a high level lesson why the statement "I don't want to pay my mortgage off quicker because I'll lose my tax deduction" is made without proper thought. I'm not a ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/04/14/why-pay-x-in-interest-just-so-i-can-stop-paying/ The title really should be "does it make any significant difference whether the PMI is paid by the lender or the borrower?". Firstly, what is PMI? It is the insurance required by lenders when a borrower does not put down 20% or more of the purchase price as a down ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/04/13/private-mortgage-insurance-when-is-lender-paid-better/ Well, this is at least one area where money, stolen by our government, was put to good use. A great overview with details just a click away, of all the banks that have received TARP funds. Click on the map. ----------------------------------- UPDATE ----------------------------------- I guess the powers that be decided this ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/04/09/google-maps-makes-it-easy-to-find-bank-getting-tarp/ There's statistics, statistics and damn statistics. In the latter category are those where you say, damn, I wish I'd known that before. Well here are two that I've just heard. Starting a home based or small business triggers on average $10,000 in tax deductions, and a significant portion of this is ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/04/01/are-you-paying-too-much-tax-if-youre-not-in-business-for-yourself/ Not able to refinance, or it's not worth even trying to do so? What's the reason? One or a combination of negative equity, excessive debt ratio, credit score. What to do? Maybe increasing your income is not under your control, though there's nothing wrong with asking for a raise or ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/03/29/build-equity-and-improve-your-credit-score-fast/ For a 30 year mortgage, it takes an interest rate of just over 5.3% for the total interest to be paid to exceed the value of the loan itself. Halving the term of the loan doubles the interest rate that is required to duplicate this, but it also tends towards ... http://www.drawbridgeleaders.com/blog/2009/03/16/do-you-know-how-much-you-pay-in-interest/