Hard Money Loans

Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Legislation ending tax breaks for U.S. companies that outsource and providing tax incentives to those that move jobs back home failed in the Senate on Tuesday.

Democrats were short of the 60 votes required to overcome a Republican filibuster of the measure, Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act. By a vote of 53-45, the GOP blocked the bill with the help of three Democrats and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT).

“This is about as pure a political exercise as you can get,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a floor speech before the vote. “The way to get U.S. businesses to produce more here isn’t to tax them even further, it’s to stop punishing them with our high corporate tax rate.”

The legislation would have provided 24 months of payroll tax relief to businesses for each job brought back to the United States. The bill would have fixed tax loopholes that allowed employers to receive subsidies for ending their operations in the United States or expanding overseas.

Under the measure, the policy of deferral would be repealed. The policy allows companies to defer paying taxes on income of their foreign subsidies until this income is sent to the United States.

Democrats believe deferral put business with foreign counterparts at a competitive advantage over U.S. companies that employ Americans. But the ranking Republican in the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), argued, “There has been no finding that such income is often earned outside of the United States by a motivation to avoid U.S. tax.”

About 4.7 million manufacturing jobs were lost in the United States from 2001 through 2009, according to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), whose state accounted for 1 million of those jobs.

“For too long, we have had policies in place that create the wrong kind of incentives and encourage businesses to ship jobs overseas,” Stabenow said in a statement after the bill failed. “If we don’t make things and grow things in America, we will never rebuild our middle class in our country.”

Democrats were hoping to pass a jobs bill this last week of session before lawmakers leave the Capitol to campaign for the general election. They were pushing hard earlier this month to pass a measure that would extend tax cuts for the middle class implemented in 2001 and 2003 during the Bush administration, but not those for earning more than $250,000 a year.

Republicans want to extend all the tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire in January. But they have had a difficult time gaining support for their proposal of making these tax cuts permanent for all, which would cost $3.7 trillion over 10 years.

The Democratic plan, extending the cuts to middle class families earning less than $250,000 a year, would cost $3 trillion.

Debate on the issue has grown increasingly vitriolic, with the unemployment rate at 9.6 percent, the mid-term elections looming and Republicans threatening to regain the majority in Congress.

Congress is due to hold a lame-duck session in November, and lawmakers are expected to take up the tax extensions when they return.

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Charlotte, NC, United States (AHN) – Bank of America Merrill Lynch says its ePayables solution continues to post significant growth, with a compound annual growth rate of 43 percent over the last two years. More than $6.1 billion in payments were processed using ePayables in 2009. Since ePayables was first offered five years ago, payments processed through the card solution have grown significantly across all markets and segments, the firm noted.

With more than 700 clients making payments to more than 52,000 vendors, ePayables leverages the bank’s patented Active Card Control technology allowing clients to manage available funds in real-time, thus reducing risk and increasing control.

“Bank of America was one of first providers of ePayables and we have worked hard to become a trusted provider for our clients by helping them optimize their working capital, increase visibility into their cash flow and eliminate inefficiencies associated with paper,” Kevin Phalen, head of BofA Merrill’s Commercial Card, said in a statement.

By shifting from paper to electronic payments and consolidating payments, companies can see significant gains in liquidity and increase their working capital.

“Our proven solution which can be implemented by itself or as part of a comprehensive payments solution provides clients with working capital they need for their businesses to succeed,” Phalen said.

One of the world’s largest financial institutions, BofA Merrill provides an ePayables solution that integrates seamlessly with clients’ accounts payable processes with minimal impact on technical resources.

Recent enhancements to ePayables included expanding the enrollment efforts to a larger pool of vendors which enables clients to maximize check to card conversion.

As part of its ongoing commitment to being a leader in electronic payments, BofA Merrill also continues to provide enhanced straight-through processing capabilities with new enhancements to be installed early next year.

The huge revenues resulting from electronic payment solution demonstrated clients confidence placed in BofA Merrill as a provider of end-to-end payments services.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – President Barack Obama on Friday appointed Elizabeth Warren giving her charge of the creative process involved in the floating of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

At the Rose Garden, the president noted in his remarks to the journalists, “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was one of the central aspects of financial reform, will empower all Americans with the clear and concise information they need to make the best choices, the best financial decisions, for them and their families.”

With the new agency coming into existence, Obama promised to the American people, “Never again will folks be confused or misled by the pages of barely understandable fine print that you find in agreements for credit cards or mortgages or student loans.”

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) welcomed the appointment of Warren saying, “The President’s appointment of Elizabeth Warren to oversee the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a victory for America’s consumers.”

“Warren is one of the nation’s foremost experts on consumer protection and a fierce consumer advocate who will stand up to mortgage lenders, credit card companies and other financial institutions,” said the senator, cautioning, “This is big step forward, but the work is only beginning. We must ensure that the new Bureau is as strong as possible and that Warren receives a permanent appointment.” 


Earlier this year, Sen. Franken and 11 of his Senate colleagues had sent a letter to President Obama urging Warren’s appointment.

Later in the day, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs defended Obama’s decision to name Warren, arguing that the agency could have faced delays of months because Republicans would have put her nomination on the back-burner or outright rejected, if she had been nominated director of the agency.

Gibbs told journalists at the daily press briefing, “The president will nominate a director, and Elizabeth will be instrumental in helping the president fill that position,” but did not rule out her being one of the candidates for that position.

Gibbs, however added, “If she said she’s not interested in it, then there’s your answer,” when it was mentioned that she has expressed her unwillingness to take the job as a director.

On the question of the president bypassing rules, Gibbs said, “There’s no circumventing the law in any way of this,” explaining that, “the task of setting up and standing up that function rests in the law with the Treasury. Elizabeth Warren is an adviser to the secretary of Treasury to do exactly that.”

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Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States (AHN) – General Motors (GM) Ventures and Itochu Technology Ventures have poured in $4.2 million investment to strengthen manufacturing and sales of next-generation lithium-ion batteries by developer Sakti3, Inc.

The collaboration aims to push commercialization of Sakti3 battery cells as the two new strategic investors joined previous investors Khosla Ventures and Beringea.

Michigan officials welcomed the recent development citing continuing growth and huge potentials in manufacturing and auto sector.

“This investment is the latest piece of strong evidence that many U.S. companies and especially Michigan companies are thriving as the auto industry moves toward a future of technologically advanced energy-efficient vehicles,” Senator Carl Levin said in a statement.

The investment is a major additional step forward as Sakti3′s solid-state advanced battery technology offers tremendous potential for powering the next generation of electric drive vehicles in the U.S. and around the world, he said.

“Regrowth of manufacturing in Michigan is a high priority. As we grow America’s auto industry, Sakti3 is a great example of how we can bring together our expertise in manufacturing and academia to create new opportunities and new jobs,” Senator Debbie Stabenow stressed.

In 2009, Sakti3 was awarded a $3 million grant from Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and has been designated as a State of Michigan Center of Energy Excellence (CoEE) in partnership with University of Michigan.

“Sakti3 is an exciting, next-generation battery company with cutting-edge technology and a brilliant team. We’re thrilled that Sakti3, one of our CoEE has chosen Michigan as the place to bring its breakthrough technology to scale,” said Governor Jennifer M. Granholm.

“GM Ventures is making strategic investments in new technology to support our core automotive business. Our objective is to identify start-up companies that offer the best future technology for our vehicles, including next generation propulsion systems,” GM Ventures President Jon Lauckner said.

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Nothing is certain in our economy these days. Many people and businesses are still in quite good shape, but plenty of others haven’t been so lucky, and have had to close their businesses, and have filed bankruptcy or been foreclosed upon. And now, unfortunately, sub-prime mortgages aren’t available for assistance they way they used to be, due to the recent subprime mortgage crisis. It’s become much more difficult to know where to turn when it’s your financial future at stake.

If you’re one of the many, stuck between a financial rock and a hard place (or a foreclosure and a bankruptcy, as the case may be), it may be advantageous for you to look into taking out a hard money loan. Hard money loans are utilized by many people facing foreclosure or similar financial disaster, as the criteria for lending is more relaxed than a conventional loan. While your credit history is still taken into consideration by the lender, it’s typically not judged as harshly because the loan is given based on the value of real estate property you already own. Due to the slightly higher risk to the lender when dealing with hard money loans, they are not provided by banks but rather by private lenders, and as such, the interest rates of these loans aren’t based on bank rates. Typically the interest rate on a hard money loan will range from 15% – 25% (a little less for bridge loans, which are similar, but not necessarily used in times of financial hardship), which means that you probably don’t want to look to hard money loans as sources of long-term financing. The term is, in fact, often fairly short. Decide carefully if you’ll be able to afford the loan, as interest rates upon default may increase to the state limits, as high as 25% to 29%.

Typically the value of a hard money loan is about 65% – 70% of the value of the property. This is known as the LTV (Loan-To-Value). The LTV, on average used to be a bit higher than it currently is, but due to property value overestimation in the 1980s and 1990s, the LTV was lowered, and interest rates raised. Hard money lenders do usually want to be in “first lien” position (this means that their lien would take priority over any others) on a property, so if the value of that property isn’t enough to cover your existing mortgage, the loan would need to be cross-collateralized with another one of your properties. Often, these cases are called “blanket mortgages.”

It’s important to review your financial situation thoroughly when considering taking out a hard money loan, and it might benefit you to talk to a certified mortgage planner before you make the choice to do so. In the right circumstances however, a hard money loan may be what it takes to tide you over, and keep your business from going under.

America is going through tough financial times; it is no secret that many Americans have fallen victim to unscrupulous lending practices and that the most important terms and conditions were not disclosed during the negotiation of a home loan.  We are going through a financial bubble and because of reforms to lending practices home owners are desperate because they no longer qualify for readjustments with their current lender.

As the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures but, that measures that most people are taking are definitely not the best ones.  A few years ago property owners counted with their home equity to bail them out of any financial problem but because of the current situation properties have partially lost value and there might not be enough equity to refinance a loan; unfortunately for home and property owners, credit card companies know that the average American no longer counts with equity in their properties so they are constantly bombarding people with ephemeral offers which later on turn into enormous headaches.

But the solution to a tight financial situation is not to turn to credit cards because their interest rate can go as high as 30% (compounded daily) and they will just add to the problem.  Hard money loans on the other hand, are better financial instruments which provide affordable interest rates and terms that will help any property owner sail through this economic recession.

Hard money loans can go as high as 70% LTV (loan-to-value) but, the best case scenario would be to keep the LTV below 65% in non-owner occupied homes, hard money loans can also be issued on an owner occupied property to relieve financial stress.  These types of loans can be amortized over a period of 30 years according to the borrower needs

Stopping Foreclosures with Hard Money Loans

Because of the banking crisis more and more home owners are losing their properties to foreclosure, the sad part is that many of those foreclosures can be stopped or avoided only if the note holder deals with a knowledgeable hard money lender.  In California alone foreclosures have been up 260%, this figure is based on market analysis performed on July, 2008 by housing authorities.

Hard money loans can be used in order to salvage a property and avoid foreclosure.  However, a property owner needs to act as fast as possible in order to avoid interest and penalties from accruing and worsening the situation.

According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, nearly a quarter of a million home owners face foreclosures every three months, across America.

Sixty percent of the effected families wish that they knew better about the mortgage they were dealing with. Still, it’s never too late to understand your options in case of a foreclosure.

Hard Money Loans

Hector Milla Editor of the “Best Loan Modification Companies” website — http://www.BestLoanModificationCompanies.com — pointed out;

“…Typically the best option that most are unaware of is getting a hard loan. To many, it is possibly the simplest option to stop foreclosure and requisite. These hard money loans are never offered by the banks or financial institutions. In order to avail these, you will have to look in your local area for private lenders. A legal expert can easily locate such lenders but nowadays nearly every community has at least one private lender who specializes in hard money loans…”

Terms

The private lenders will provide up to 60 to 70 percent of the amount as collateral against the value of your home. A major drawback is that the interest rate will be on a higher side ranging from 11 to 19 percent, in most cases. Furthermore, to safeguard the interest of a lender, the appraised value of the home will be assessed lower than its original market value.

Nevertheless, getting a hard loan is sometimes very beneficial as the home owners not only get the financial help they require but it seldom entails any income or credit evaluation.

“…Before you embark on a journey to financial freedom with hard loans, make sure to consult an attorney. As hard loans are mostly unregulated, an attorney can easily assess the terms of the lender and protect you from any undue claims…” H. Milla added.

Further information about how to get professional assistance with a mortgage loan modification by http://www.BestLoanModificationCompanies.com

The price of housing is a major challenge in the United States. Some estimates note that more than 50% of the population cannot afford a median priced home. According to National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), of the total number of new and existing homes sold nationwide during the third quarter, only 40.4 percent were affordable for families earning the median U.S. income of $59,600.

But it is good news that housing affordability on the national level has not changed much in the third quarter in spite of a rise in the mortgage interest rates during the last quarter. This was because many markets saw a slight decrease in their home prices, which helped offset the rise in mortgage rates.

Indianapolis (Indiana) is the most affordable city for homes in America, based on the 2006 third quarter report of the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI). The city achieved this status for the fifth consecutive quarter.

Of the total number of housing units sold in Indianapolis during the third quarter, 86 percent of homes were priced at or below the U.S. median household income of $65,100. Homes in this metro area had a median sales price of $122,000, which is slightly higher from $120,000 of the previous quarter.

It is interesting to note that the most affordable U.S. cities for homes, condos and other real estate are largely from the northern industrial metro areas. The other larger cities that top the list for affordable homes in the third quarter after Indianapolis are Youngstown-Warren-Boardman (Ohio-Pennsylvania); Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn (Michigan); Buffalo-Niagara Falls (New York); and Grand Rapids and Wyoming (Michigan).

The report also lists the top seven smaller cities in America that have the most affordable housing markets. These are: Bay City in Michigan, Springfield in Ohio, Mansfield in Ohio, Lansing-East Lansing in Michigan, Lima in Ohio, Battle Creek in Michigan and Canton-Massillon in Ohio.

For both major metros and small metros, many of the least affordable cities are located in California. The least affordable major metro areas are Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, Modesto, Stockton, and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, in that order. The least affordable smaller metros (less than 500,000 people) include: Salinas, Merced, Madera, Napa, and Santa Barbara-Santa Maria.

The good news for homebuyers is that there are many affordable cities in the United States. Moreover, even for cities that rated poorly for affordability, there may be some communities within the larger city that have affordable housing. For example, although the San Diego metro in California rated poorly overall for affordability, there are some communities in San Diego priced to meet the needs of lower-income home buyers. A good real estate agent can help you choose a community where you want to live based on your housing budget and needs.

Eager to know the top cites in America where one can safely invest? Here are the best real estate markets in the entire country according to a recent report from Business 2.0 Magazine. The November 2006 edition of the magazine lists the top ten cities that are ideal to buy a home. These are – Panama City and Vero Beach in Florida, Bridgeport in Connecticut, Lakeland in Florida, McAllen in Texas, San Luis Obispo in California, Wilmington in North Carolina, Manchester in New Hampshire, Fort Collins in Colorado and Atlanta in Georgia. The report cites the appreciation rates of home prices projected over a period of five years.

Florida enjoys the status of having three of the top four cities to invest in. Panama City, which tops the list of best places to buy real estate is expected to have a real estate appreciation of 72% over the next five years. Major real estate development projects such as the building of a new airport and low property prices are expected to boost the economy and the housing market.

Vero Beach, projected to have an appreciation of 64%, comes second for its excellent weather, low property taxes and a lower cost of living. Lakeland, with a 59% projected gain in home prices is a tempting option with homes selling for a fifth less than the national median price.

Buying a home in Bridgeport, CT is a bargain now with median home prices at a very low $280,000 compared to the rest of the Fairfield County. Home prices in McAllen, TX which holds the fifth place, are expected to soar by 57%.

It is estimated that homes in the McAllen, TX area may appreciate 57 percent with an increase in the median home price from $70,000 to $109,000.

Homeowners making an investment in San Luis Obispo, California, today, are expected to get a good appreciation (40%) on their homes over the next five years.

The median home price in Wilmington, NC is expected to increase to $297,000 by 2011, up from the current price of $217,000, an increase by 37%.

Manchester, NH, which has twice been rated as the ‘best place to live’ in America by Money Magazine, sits at eighth place with an expected appreciation of 35%.

Fort Collins and Atlanta follow in the ninth and tenth places of top cities for real estate investment in the USA. Fort Collins, one of the most popular cities in America, has been ranked as the ‘No.1 small city’ this year by Money Magazine. Recent price reductions in the housing market makes ‘now’ the best time to buy a home or condo in this city with an estimated property appreciation of 28%. Atlanta is poised for a significant appreciation too with an expected rise of up to 24% in home prices over the next five years.

So, if you are a prospective homebuyer set to take a plunge into any of the top ten real estate markets, it is the right time to enlist the services of a good real estate agent who can guide you through the complicated home buying process.

It seems that the demographic for home ownership in America has drastically changed compared to what it used to buy. More and more you see younger individuals purchasing a home than what you would see many years ago. And the government is doing much to help such first time home buyers. If you look in the right place you can find many ways for government programs to work for you. There are programs to help with everything from closing costs to home improvements, you only have to be willing to look for such opportunities and follow through with the requirements necessary to receive the benefits of the particular program yo are applying for. Here are just a few of the many government programs that can help you obtain home ownership.

One of the most common grants from the government to aid in home ownership is the first time home buyers grant. This type of grant is meant to help individuals pay for closing costs, and/or down payments. Often the large down payment on home or the extravagant closing costs are the reason that many are unable to purchase a home. Most individuals already pay a monthly rent so the monthly payment on a mortgage are hardly the issue but coming up with a lump some for closing costs and a down payment is very difficult for many Americans. But first time home buyers grants can take the stress out of trying to come up with all that money.

Another area of home ownership in which the government comes to the aid of Americans is when it comes to taxes. Many state governments offer rebates and discounts on taxes if the home owner is willing to fill out a small amount of paperwork by the required deadline. Sometimes such programs can save home owners as much as $800 on their annual taxes. This is no small amount of money and the savings can be used elsewhere where they may be needed more. These programs may vary by state so anyone interested should look to their local government for more information on such programs.

Finally, one of the most common grants from the government regarding home ownership are grants that can be used for home improvement purposes. These type of grants may vary by state as well but in many cases are offered by local community development agencies, although there are federal programs out there as well. Some of these programs may offer to pay for a portion of the purchase price of energy efficient appliances for the home or for the addition of energy efficient products such as insulation. Other programs may give grants for any kind of home improvement involving the curb appeal of your home as this will increase property values and ultimately taxes that the government receives. You should check with you local community development agency to get more information on the kind of home improvement grants available in your specific area.

With the many programs offered by the government you can be on your way to not only home ownership but increasing the value of your home as well.

Cathy Lopez is a well-known business writer who has been active in the business community for more than thirty years. She is currently exploring Cleaning Out Your Condolence gift baskets . See more details about Birthday gift basketsHere.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/help-for-first-time-home-buyers-1313485.html