Hard Money Loans

A settlement in a class-action lawsuit will cost Fairway Independent Mortgage Corp. more than $1 million. At issue are alleged undisclosed yield spread premiums and claims of mortgage fraud by a Missouri originator. The lead plaintiffs claim that Fairway, as a mortgage broker, had a fiduciary duty to provide them with the least expensive loan and breached that duty by collecting yield spread premiums.

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Cleveland, OH, United States (AHN Sports) – Elton Brand and Lou Williams netted 16 points each to lead six players in double figures as the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 95-91 Sunday.

Philly fell behind by as many as 12 points early on before building a 73-58 lead, only to watch the Cavs storm back within 91-88 with 29 seconds left.

Jrue Holiday, who finished with 13 points, and Jodie Meeks (14) hit both of their respective free-throw attempts to seal the win for the Sixers.

Thaddeus Young scored 12 points and Evan Turner 10 for Philly, which is over .500 (30-29) for the first time this season.

J.J. Hickson scored 22 points and Ramon Sessions added 20 for Cleveland (11-48), which pits the worst record in the league against the team with the best record in the league when San Antonio comes to Quicken Loans Arena Wednesday.

Philadelphia has moved within one-half game of the Knicks for the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. The Sixers hosts Dallas Tuesday.

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Cleveland, OH, United States (AHN Sports) – Nick Young poured in a game-high 31 points, while John Wall added 19 points and 14 assists as the Washington Wizards notched their first road win of the year with a 115-100 over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena.

It snapped a 25-game road losing streak for the Wizards, who were coming off a 1-3 homestand with a loss to San Antonio Saturday, their ninth setback in 10 contests overall.

Washington bounced back by starting strong, shooting 61.5 percent from the field over the first 12 minutes to post a 35-23 margin.

It then raced to a 68-46 halftime advantage before taking a 25-point lead in the third period.

Cleveland, fresh off a burden-easing triumph that halted an NBA record 26-game overall skid, battled back in the third by outscoring the Wizards 33-27.

That surge drew the Cavaliers within 95-79 in the third, but Cleveland failed to get closer than 11 in the final stanza.

Andray Blatche and Kirk Hinrich each added 17 points for the victors.

Ex-Wizard Antawn Jamison paced the Cavs with 21 points in his first meeting with his former team. J.J. Hickson supplied 16 markers and 13 boards in the losing effort.

Turnovers were also key in the victory with Cleveland committing 17 errors that translated to 25 points, while the Wizards, who averaged about 15 turnovers per game, registered only 11.

The Wizards outshot the Cavs by converting 50-of-92 from the field for high 54.3 percent, while limiting Cleveland to 42 percent (35-of-83).

Dallas currently holds the NBA-worst road-game mark after posting a 0-29 start in 1992-93.

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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The decision by the United States Federal Reserve to pump $600 billion into the nation’s economy by buying U.S. Treasury Bonds has sparked international criticism led by Germany and China.

China and Germany represent the world’s second- and fourth-largest economies respectively. In addition, they were joined by Brazil and South Africa in criticizing the “quantitative easing.” Quantitative easing is the economic term for buying assets to attempt to boost the economy and lower unemployment.

However, Germany, China, Brazil and South Africa allege that the scheme will not help the U.S. economy and will instead create more problems in the rest of the world. Quantitative easing is expected to lower the value of the dollar, which will make U.S. exports cheaper in world markets.

That means that U.S. exports would be more competitive against German and Chinese exports.

Indeed, the dollar did plunge in value against several of the world’s currencies on Thursday.

Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on Friday said the U.S. Federal Reserve’s move would undermine efforts to create a level playing field in the currency markets.

China Central Bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan said the U.S. should focus on reforming the international currency system. He argued that if the U.S. central banking policy is good for the U.S., but not good for the rest of the world that it might have a negative impact on the rest of the world.

The U.S. has criticized China for artificially keeping its currency devalued for many years to make its exports cheaper. But China made that move when its country had full employment and a budget surplus. The U.S. central bank is not buying U.S. Treasury bonds to deflate the value of the dollar abroad but rather to try to pour money into the American economy – which currently has a budget deficit – and to stimulate the weak economy to encourage American businesses to hire unemployed American workers at a time of continued high unemployment.

Germany also criticized the move because they said it would add to America’s deficit.

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – In a bid to overcome his rival’s lead in the upcoming Toronto mayoral elections, poll second-player and former Ontario Deputy Premier George Smitherman disclosed on Thursday plans to open a green Silicon Valley for Toronto.

Smitherman’s proposal, aimed at chipping away votes from leading mayoral candidate Councilor Rob Ford, envisions the creation of an incubator area expected to bring in environmental NGOs, green energy establishments and research and technology firms.

To help promote the green tech center, Smitherman said he would tap members of different ethnic chambers of commerce to come up with a team of 500 members who would promote the center as well as the city during their travel overseas for business.

On Wednesday, Smitherman also tried to court the votes from poll third-placer and Toronto Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone by citing the A-plus he and Pantalone got from the Toronto Environmental Alliance for their green platforms.

Ford, in turn, painted Smitherman – who was also former Ontario Health Minister – as not trustworthy because of the latter’s involvement in the eHealth funding and contract scandal. eHealth attempted to digitize medical records in Ontario, but an audit revealed the province has produced little results. The project is also mired in dubious contracts and excessive consultant fees.

The Toronto election is scheduled for Monday.

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How do HomeGain, Realtor.com, Service Magic and other companies like this make money? These companies are called lead generation companies. They spend vast amounts of money advertising on TV, the Internet, radio, and in print so that you’ll go to their website to find information about real estate. When you click on a property and request information the company then either sells the lead at a fee ranging from $20-$50 for an unqualified lead or up to a 35% referral fee for leads that are more valuable.
What does the company do for the fee charged? The answer might be pretty surprising. They don’t do anything, but forward the lead to a service provider. Yep, that’s right. You can search the MLS on any number of free websites so the website they provide is little more than a mechanism to get your information. Some people think agents, contractors, or other service providers are overpaid for what they do. Take a look at these companies and ask yourself if forwarding an email is worth $1500 (That’s the commission split they would receive on the sale of a $150,000 home.).
Who pays the fees that these companies charge? For the most part, the Realtor, mortgage broker or other service provider pays for these leads. The laws of business provide that you can’t get something for nothing. This is very true. So by adding no value to the transaction and taking up to 35% of the payment for service, the middle-man is taking value from both the consumer and the service provider.
Why is this bad for consumers? In real estate like many other service industries, the best Realtors obtain their business through referrals. The weaker, newer, less experienced agents typically buy leads from sources such as these. The next time you visit a site like these lead generators, think twice about giving them your information and go directly to the source. You’ll cut out the middle-man and get a better agent for your hard earned dollar.