Hard Money Loans

LA, CA, United States (AHN Entertainment) – Queen Latifah’s new show on VH1 “Single Ladies” focuses on a group of three girlfriends trying to work their way through the world of men in very different ways. The shows stars Stacey Dash, LisaRaye McCoy, and Charity Shea.

On a recent episode of “Big Morning Buzz Live,” Latifah and McCoy were all smiles during their appearance.

The host invited them to play a game called “nasty and unacceptable nasty.” The name of the game itself was sure to lead to laughs and McCoy’s quick response of “acceptable nasty” about sex on the first date had the audience in hysterics. Adding to the humor was Latifah who was adimant about unacceptable foot fetishes.

Things weren’t all laughs, however, during McCoy’s appearance on “The Wendy Williams Show.” The host and guest first talked about the show, comparing McCoy’s character to Samantha Jones from “Sex and the City.” When Williams breached the topic of possible fights on set, McCoy’s demeanor shifted.

McCoy said, “I am too grown to put myself in that position.” She added that there were no physical altercations between herself and castmember Dash, but when “filming 13-15 hours a day, there’s going to be creative differences, there’s going to be some words exchanged.” She then noted, “At the end of the day, we’re making a great product.

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Tel Aviv, Israel (TML) – Western powers and their allies in the Middle East hope to grease the wheels of democracy and political stability as they begin to release billions of dollars in loans and other financial aid to the region’s Arab Spring economies.

The economies of countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan are facing a near-perfect storm of political unrest combined with negative growth and rising prices for imported energy and food. But the emerging aid pipeline may be clogged by domestic opposition inside donor countries. Recipients may balk at the conditions placed on much of the aid.

Aid could ease the way for Egypt and Tunisia to evolve into Western-friendly democracies as well as give a boost to beleaguered friends like Jordan’s King Abdullah. Without it, deteriorating economic conditions risk strengthening the hand of already powerful Islamic movements and undermining public confidence in the free markets and private business that economists say are needed to ensure long-term prosperity.

“These countries, particularly Egypt, face a financial hole and their economies have come to a standstill. The way out is to spend money which their governments don’t have,” said Paul Rivlin, author of Arab Economies in the Twenty-First Century. But the recipients will have to show they are taking the right political and economic measures. “The U.S wants to draw them back into a Western orientation. But the political systems in these countries may draw them elsewhere.”

Egypt, as the biggest of the Middle East’s troubled economies and the country most likely to set the direction of the region political, is the focus of the aid.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) kicked off the effort May 12, saying it would respond to Egypt’s request for as much as $12 billion. That amount has since has been lowered to $4 billion. But in the meantime, U.S. President Barack Obama last week offered to forgive some $1 billion in Egyptian debt and. Egypt is reportedly close to an agreement with the World Bank to receive loans worth $2.2 billion.

But the biggest largesse of them all may come from Saudi Arabia, which on Saturday pledged $4 billion in the form of soft loans, deposits and grants, the Egyptian Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported, citing Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt’s ruling military council, as saying.

Egypt won’t be the only beneficiary of international aid.

On Saturday, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which was formed to smooth eastern Europe’s transition to free market democracies, is working on a program that may eventually lead to investment of as much as 2.5 billion euros ($3.5 billion) a year in the Middle East. The EBRD said it is considering a request by Egypt to become a country of operations. Morocco, another EBRD shareholder, has also expressed an interest in qualifying, it said.

On Monday, the Group of Eight (G-8) – a forum for many of the world’s biggest economies – will discuss how they can contribute to modernizing the economies of the Middle East, without pledging dollar amounts for assistance. A special session will be devoted to Tunisia and Egypt.

Tunisia plans to attract $5 billion a year in foreign aid, loans and private investments over the next five years during meetings at the G-8 summit, Finance Minister Jelloul Ayed said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Friday. Tunisia would apply for a $500 million standby loan, possibly from the World Bank.

Obama told a visiting King Abdullah that he would provide Jordan with several hundred millions of dollars in aid, channeled through the Overseas Private Investment Corp. (OPIC). Obama said the funds would “leverage ultimately about $1 billion for economic development in Jordan.”

Rivlin said Washington will lead the aid drive and should America judge that the Arab Spring economies aren’t meeting its conditions it “will be difficult” for Europe and international institutions to provide it either.

The Arab Spring economies are in bad shape by almost every measure. The five countries hit hardest by turmoil will show a combined drop in economic output of about 2.3% this year, according to figures based on a forecast by the Institute for International Finance (IIF) released in early May.

Egyptian Finance Minister Samir Radwan estimates his country’s budget deficit will top 10% of gross domestic product in the coming fiscal year, up from a previous forecast of 7.9% and has to borrow to cover the gap. Its official foreign currency reserves have fallen to $28 billion, but some economists think the drop is bigger than being report.

Uri Dadush and Marwan Muasher, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, expressed concern that it will be difficult to convince the leaders of Egypt and other recipient countries to undertake the economic reforms needed to rekindle economic growth and enable them to eventually get off aid.

So far, the transitional governments of the region, as well as veteran leaders trying to retain power, have increased subsidies for consumer goods and promised to create jobs, all at a cost to badly strained budgets and economic efficiency. But Dadush and Muasher add that the bigger problem may be convincing Arab public opinion that free markets are beneficial.

“Change in the Middle East is about refusing an autocratic political system and calling for democracy – without a clear vision for what economic system should be put in place,” they wrote in the National Interest on April 13. “There is a significant possibility that the governments that ultimately emerge out of this crisis will renounce previous economic reforms as misguided.”

Indeed, many analysts think Egypt won’t agree to the economic reforms the IMF typically demands in exchange for its aid, such as subsidy cuts, for fear that they will spark another round of mass protests like the kind that brought down President Husni Mubarak in February.

“For understandable political reasons, the Egyptian government says that it is unthinkable to cut subsidies for food or energy. But can the IMF simply extend a loan without any conditionality? I doubt it,” Gideon Rachman wrote in the Financial Times last week.

Back at home, both American and European leaders will have to make a case for sending billions of dollars overseas at a time when they are experiencing severe economic difficulties of their own. Europe is trying to put out debt fires in Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

In the U.S., President Barack Obama is battling Congress over increasing the country’s debt ceiling. He faces opposition from a Republic-controlled House of Representatives to helping countries whose allegiance to America is more in doubt as long-time pro-Western despots are replaced by governments whose views are yet to be fully articulated.

The U.S. budget is weighed down by $14 trillion in debt as the White House and Congress fight over raising the national debt ceiling.

“Considering our own national debt, we cannot afford to forgive up to $1 billion of Egypt’s debt,” Elena Ros-Lehtinen, the chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said last Thursday. “The U.S. should only provide assistance to Egypt after we know that Egypt’s new government will not include the Muslim Brotherhood and will be democratic, pro-American and committed to abiding by peace agreements with Israel.”

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Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – In past years, a student’s graduation could mean leaving behind not only the classroom but also health insurance coverage, since family plans often stopped covering dependent children once they left school.

The health-care overhaul has changed that: Adult children can now remain on their parents’ plan until age 26, with few exceptions. (More on that later.) But even if coverage under a family plan isn’t an option, the new law has helped ensure that some of the other choices available to young adults offer better protection than they have in the past.

For many graduates, staying on their parents’ plan is likely to be the best option. “Most employer plans have good benefit packages,” says Sara Collins, a vice president at the Commonwealth Fund, a private organization that studies health-care issues. Keeping an adult child on the family policy probably won’t significantly affect the premium, his or her existing conditions continue to be covered and the new graduate can keep using the same doctors.

Rochelle O’Sullivan is relieved that she can stay on her mother’s plan after she graduates from Boston University this spring. The 22-year-old is on crutches after breaking her hip when she slipped at the airport on her way home to San Francisco for spring break in March. Having health insurance while she mends is critical. But once she kicks her job search into high gear, O’Sullivan doesn’t want health insurance concerns to get in the way.

“I’m worried about getting a job, getting experience,” says the mass communications major. “And if that means taking a job without insurance, I’d do that.”

The law applies to adult children whether or not they live at home or are financially independent. Even married children can stay on their parents’ health policy until age 26.

The biggest wrinkle for young adults: If they take a job whose benefits include health insurance, they can’t choose to stay on their parents’ plan.

If that job offers good coverage, that’s not a problem. But new grads often take entry-level or part-time jobs, which can come with limited-benefit plans that offer low coverage limits providing little protection if they actually get sick. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, however, even inadequate, so-called “mini-med” policies count as insurance, and if young adults are offered such coverage, they can’t be covered under their parents’ plans. Once the health-care law is fully implemented in 2014, mini-med plans will be phased out.

The Bryant family has been negotiating this tricky period. Kelli and Kirk Bryant’s oldest son, Dylan, 21, graduated last September and was working part time at a retailer while looking for a full-time job. The retailer offers a limited-benefit policy with $50,000 in coverage annually, not nearly as good as the comprehensive plan the family has through Kirk’s job at a hospital in Lincoln, Neb.

The retailer said Dylan wasn’t eligible for its insurance, but Kelli was worried that that was a mistake and that he might be on thin ice if questions arose.

That’s no longer a concern. Recently Dylan took a new part-time job as a security specialist at a mental health facility. The new job doesn’t offer health insurance, leaving no doubt that Dylan is free to be covered under the family plan. Ironically, being offered a job without health insurance is, in this instance, a good thing, says Kelli, who says she has contacted one of her U.S. senators about tightening up the definition of on-the-job insurance for young adults.

Of course, many adult children don’t have access to a family health plan. Their parents may not have coverage on the job. Or if the parents are on Medicare or are part of a retiree-only health plan through a previous employer, the new provisions extending coverage up to age 26 don’t apply. But there are other options for young adults.

If they’re healthy, an individual insurance policy may be a reasonable choice. Although coverage is often not as comprehensive as it is with a group plan, individual policies can no longer impose lifetime coverage limits or, in most cases, annual limits, and they must provide a range of preventive services for free. Premiums for young, healthy people may be very affordable, say experts.

Uninsured young people with preexisting medical conditions can consider special state-based insurance plans created under the health-care law. But they can be pricey, and you have to have been uninsured for six months to qualify.

Although the family policy is likely to be the best option, high school graduates going on to college should consider their college’s health plans, say experts. Some are good plans, and recent proposed regulations would require many of them to be classified as individual health insurance plans, with similar protections and standards. That should result in many of the worst student plans shutting down, says Stephen Beckley, a health-care management consultant for colleges and universities in Fort Collins, Colo. “We expect many plans to drop off between 2012 and 2014,” he says.

Still wondering what to do? Young Invincibles, a health-care advocacy group for young adults, has developed a toolkit to help grads assess the options.

“When you graduate, you get an exit interview to discuss your student loans,” says Aaron Smith, the organization’s co-founder and executive director. “There’s nothing like that for health insurance.”

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.

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Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – My ZIP code is a black hole for individual health insurance.

That’s what I recently discovered when I tried to find the coverage I want at an affordable price. What hubris I had.

My story started in 2009, when my position as a journalism professor at a small college was eliminated, and I lost my health benefits along with the job. In the ensuing months, as the clock ticked on my COBRA extension, I began to focus on finding a new health plan. I thought it would be a matter of dealing with mild sticker shock and doing comparative shopping. I was wrong.

As an experienced writer and researcher, I am used to making calls, asking questions and digging through hard-to-understand details. But it never occurred to me that the answers I uncovered about Tompkins County, N.Y. — a paradise of farmland, lakes and waterfalls close to the cultural attractions of Ithaca, home for me and Cornell University — would be so frustrating. It turns out it’s one of the state’s worst places to find good individual health coverage.

When I tell people about my dilemma, they get curious — even participatory. “Did you try a professional group?” they ask. “Did you try an online broker?” (Yes and yes.) Maybe they get caught up in my story because, unlike many people with tales of insurance woes, I’m in my fifties and healthy. My story doesn’t involve a medical condition that’s unsolvable or hard to talk about. Or maybe it’s just that my experience lights a path, however convoluted, through the insurance gobbledygook.

I started my quest with Aetna, my COBRA insurer. Under New York state law, I thought I had “conversion rights” — meaning I could convert my former employer’s group coverage, the basis for my COBRA plan, to individual coverage. Though the full monthly cost was already $565, and I worried I wouldn’t be able to afford any increases that kicked in when it became an individual plan, it was great insurance — providing excellent benefits and the ability to choose my own doctors. But it turned out my cost concerns were not even relevant. There is a caveat in the law: self-insured employers are subject to federal, not state, regulation. And because my former employer is self insured — meaning Aetna administers the plan but the college assumes all the financial risk — the conversion option did not exist.

After this idea evaporated, I explored possibilities on the website of The Freelancers Union, a professional association that offers its own health insurance in New York. Five plan choices popped up. Great, I thought. Then I clicked further to read about the plans’ residency requirements and up came a map. The right side of the state — covering 34 counties that share borders with New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and Canada — was colored in blue. These counties are the lucky ones. Those on the left — 28 counties that border more of Pennsylvania and Canada, extending all the way to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario — were white, meaning no Freelancers Union health insurance. That’s where Tompkins County is.

This development was crushing. Somewhere along the way, the notion had lodged in my head that if I ever turned to freelance writing as my full-time job, I could get benefits through this type of organization. But — at least as far as I could tell — there are no such groups with health plans in my area.

I felt stupid. I also was getting curious, which happens whenever I feel stupid. The reporter in me wanted to know what the heck was going on. But the consumer in me needed a health plan. So I kept looking.

I tried other websites, starting with AARP. The site directs consumers to an AARP-branded Aetna plan. I entered my ZIP code and got the same response: the plan was “not available in your area.” Next, at a top-rated insurance broker site, my ZIP code brought up one result. The $561-a-month GHI policy covered annual physical and gynecologic exams, prescription drugs with a co-pay, hospitalization and outpatient surgery. But it did not cover, among other things, any other office visits; inpatient physical therapy; ER professional charges; diagnostic admissions; and diagnostic lab tests. To me, that seems like too much money to spend for what amounts to catastrophic coverage.

Curiosity was getting the better of me, so I did some random comparisons on the same website. Zip codes in the District of Columbia; Seattle; Fairbanks, Alaska; and New York City offered 80, 45, 56 and 16 insurance choices, respectively. I also tried random rural areas. Residents of Aladdin, Wyo., had 27 plan choices, starting at $380 a month. Residents of Amelia, Neb., had 87, starting at $133.05.

In search of clarity, I visited the New York state insurance website and discovered a whole new possibility: Healthy NY, a subsidized program for low-income people. Several different insurers offer the same basic menu of coverage through different regional HMOs, which charge different rates.

At first I ruled it out because I wouldn’t be able to choose my own doctors, which has always been very important to me. But I was starting to feel desperate. And I qualified for the plan because it just so happens that in January, I made less than $2,269. I never imagined I would be glad to have a dry spell with my freelancing.

I was not surprised to discover that, although New Yorkers in many other parts of the state can choose a Healthy NY insurer from several options, I only had one: Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. I was just glad to learn that I could get insurance. A phone call led to an additional choice, through the same insurer, that would let me see my own doctors. But it would have cost around $1,400 a month, which is the same as my mortgage. There was also a plan for sole proprietors, but I didn’t qualify.

At this point I went into full reporter mode. I called Troy Oechsner, New York state deputy superintendent for health, and asked him about my scarcity of coverage options and the high costs associated with them. He told me that some other rural areas in the state are in a similar fix, and he said, “For an insurer to get into the area of Tompkins County, where Excellus has such a large hold on the commercial market, is really difficult.”

Ah. That rings a bell. I remembered reading a very similar conclusion in a 2009 United Hospital Fund report: “Entering Central New York is entering the Excellus zone” — a 15-county region where “the region’s nonprofit BCBS plans vigorously defend their turf.” Who do they defend it against? Mostly for-profit insurers, which have a much stronger foothold in downstate areas, including greater New York City. Nonprofits have historically claimed upstate markets (which include Central New York). In my region, Excellus in particular dominates, with a strong record of well-established health-provider relationships.

Not only am I in the Excellus zone, said Oechsner, but I’ve stumbled into “the plight of the individual market in New York.” It’s a decades-long saga in which the state “traded the problem of a group of people who can’t get insurance at any price for another problem, which is that our individual rates are out-of-control expensive,” he said. In other words, the state gave up some of its power to regulate rate increases in exchange for guarantees of access to quality coverage for everyone — although as recently enacted legislation is phased in, the state is regaining more control over the increases.

I still didn’t get why the Freelancers Union insurance isn’t available to me. So I called Chief Operating Officer Ann Boger, who explained that the group’s plan in New York is linked to the service area of Empire BlueCross BlueShield. I knew from my other research that Empire can’t operate in Excellus territory without giving up the BlueCross BlueShield brand. Boger also said that offering insurance in rural areas is a challenge. “The nature of insurance is that it works best organized is around large numbers,” she added.

What about those rural areas I randomly sampled on the broker website? My answer came from Peter Newell, director of the United Hospital Fund’s Health Insurance Project. It’s simple: I didn’t compare the coverage. He talked of plans that have limited benefits, ratings for gender and age that push costs much higher than advertised, and exclusions for people with preexisting conditions. Broker websites, for all their ease of use, don’t instantly compare apples to apples. “If you compare my neighborhood to someone else’s neighborhood, you’ve got to think about those things,” said Newell.

Newell told me the federal health care reform should help me eventually — particularly with the establishment of health insurance exchanges that should yield more choices.

But for now, time has run out. I have signed up for the high deductible option in Healthy NY, with a drug benefit, for $296.48 a month. The deductible is $1,200 a year. I’m approaching this choice as a stop-gap measure, although, as I told Oechsner, I now have a strong incentive for limiting my income.

His response: “There’s no way to sugar coat it: You’re right. If you make too much money, individual health insurance in New York gets very expensive.”

I also have one foot out the door as I weigh my professional prospects. If I move, especially if I’m making a living as a freelancer, my first criterion in choosing a location will be something I’ve never before considered: the availability of good health insurance.

– Provided by Kaiser Health News.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The U.S. Supreme Court heard Monday a patent lawsuit involving small Canadian technology firm i4i and IT giant Microsoft.

Toronto-based i4i filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in 2007. Lower courts favored i4i over Microsoft in the Canadian company’s charges that Microsoft willfully infringed on its Canadian patent for an editing tool it co-opted for Microsoft Word. The patent provided users of Word 2003 and Word 2007 a better way to edit XML, a computer code that tells the program how to interpret and display a document’s contents.

The courts ordered Microsoft to pay i4i a record $290 million in damages and issued an injunction to prevent Microsoft from selling versions of Word that have the i4i technology.

Microsoft elevated the case to the Supreme Court to decide if juries should be able to question if a patent should have been issued because of patent infringement cases.

Other large IT companies such as Apple, Google and Cisco Systems backed up Microsoft in the case, while small tech firms and venture capital companies favored i4i.

Justice Antonin Scalia presided over the hearing after Chief Justice John Roberts excused himself because he owns more than $100,000 of Microsoft stock.

The Supreme Court will issue a decision on the case in June.

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Atlanta, GA, United States (AHN) – The Drug Enforcement Administration confiscated Georgia’s supply of a substance used in lethal injections on Tuesday amid allegations the drug, sodium thiopental, is expired and was illegally imported by the state.

The DEA has not released details of the seizure but a spokesman for the federal agency, Chuvalo Truesdell, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution they “did take control of the controlled substances… [over] questions about the way the drugs were imported. “

Sodium thiopental is one of three drugs administered to inmates during executions. It acts as a sedative that causes unconsciousness before a muscle relaxant is injected to cause paralysis, and then a compound that induces cardiac arrest is given.

The only U.S. manufacturer of the drug, Illinois-based Hospira, stopped production in January, citing export regulations in Italy, where its plant is located, and reiterating that it “never condoned” the use of the product for capital punishment.

Before its announcement, Hospira had suspended production of the thiopental for a year because of difficulties in procuring an ingredient for production. This led to delays in executions in several of the 33 states that use the drug.

Early this year, attorneys for death row inmates in Georgia sent a letter to the U.S. Justice Department accusing the state of illegally importing the drug. They said the state Department of Corrections was not registered to import substances and had not provided the DEA with documents when it bought thiopental from overseas last year.

The Southern Center for Human Rights also sued the state on behalf of an inmate who has since been executed, Emanuel Hammond, after discovering that officials had purchased thiopental from Dream Pharma, “an unlicensed company operating from a back room within Elgone Driving School in London, England.”

The boxes of the drug sold by Dream are labeled with the name Link Pharmaceuticals, according to the human rights group. Link was acquired by another company in 2006, which raises questions if the products sold in 2010 “are real and/or expired.”

Following the seizure on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Corrections, Kristen Stancil, told FOX5 the state requested DEA assistance after a letter was sent to the U.S. Justice Department.

“We are working with the DEA to see if we are in compliance for the way we handle controlled substances,” she said.

The shortage of thiopental has forced Oklahoma and Ohio to use an animal sedative, pentobarbital, for lethal injections despite questions whether the drug is safe and effectively eliminates pain among humans.

A Copenhagen-based maker, Lundbeck, has also objected, saying, “Use of our products to end lives contradicts everything we’re in business to do.”

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A hard money loan is a very singular type of mortgage in which the loan is secured by a valuable asset such as real estate. This type of loan is most often used for the purchase of business real estate, but in some cases it can be used for private funding. The money itself usually comes from private sources, most often from the area in which the property in question is located.

A hard money loan can be collateralized against the property that the borrower is purchasing. If the structure of the loan is set up this way, the cash value of the loan is usually for about 70% of the quick sale value of the property itself. Because the loan is secured against real property, a borrower usually opts for a hard money loan as a last resort in times of financial distress. Sometimes it is the only form of financing possible, since credit score isn’t a huge factor in qualifying for the loan.

Private capital investors rarely take a look at a person’s credit rating, more often paying attention to the money making capabilities of the venture they are financing. Due to the structure of the loan as it relates to the value of the collateral, it is rarely the whole source of financing for any given project. Interest rates for hard loans are usually a bit higher than a standard mortgage. While the interest rate may be somewhat regulated by government agencies so it doesn’t get too high, hard money loans are not very tightly regulated. The rules of the industry are so different from the standard financing field that normal rules don’t apply. In an almost comical turn of events, the nearly complete deregulation of the industry has allowed hard loans to be incredibly speedy and efficient, now that government has been taken out of the equation.

A hard money loan, therefore is often a good source of quick capital for ailing businessmen. Unfortunately, predatory lending tactics aren’t uncommon, driving up the price of the loan. If you see yourself in the market for a this type of loan, make sure you use a professional real estate attorney, or you could become a victim yourself.

Mike Finley has been a title abstractor for over 10 years in the real estate housing industry. He now gives you his incite into home foreclosures so you can benefit from them and help take them off the market. For more information on how you can take advantage of his experience visit: http://www.forclosedhomestoday.com

Author: Mike Finley
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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While commercial hard money loans might sound as if they come out of a Mafia movie, there is nothing dangerous or especially risky about being granted one of the many commercial loans that are on offer by the different independent financial institutions.

What are Commercial Hard Money Loans?

The word ‘hard’ can be misleading for many people who are applying for this sort of financing. All that it means is that the loan is guaranteed by an asset or a piece of immovable property. The loan will be granted on the strength of the value of the asset in question. Many developers use these type of loans when they are attempting to develop a piece of land into a commercial property that has investment potential as well as the potential of future earnings that will more than cover the loan amount.

The value of these loans is that they are usually funded by private investors. It is worthwhile finding a company who is able to match up potential investors to loan applicants. They will ensure that the loan is completely legal as well as being secured by the property itself and not the personal assets of the owner. Most of the private investors in America today are likely to be private firms who consider that issuing commercial hard money loans is a way of doing business that guarantees them a substantial return on investment. These loans are not usually granted over an extended loan term.

This type of loan is not like a conventional mortgage that is repaid over 30 years. The term is usually between 1 and 5 years and the interest rates are much higher than a conventional loan. While the top end of the scale of interest rates can reach up to 15 % it is still a way of obtaining finance for an investment without having to wait for months or go through an extensive process of paperwork and credit checks.

It is always wise to remember that commercial hard money loans will not cover the full value of the property and it is unusual to find any commercial hard money lender that will over about 60% of the value of the property. If you are buying property then you will have to fund the difference from another source or be prepared to fund it yourself. Commercial hard money loans are granted based on a logical and achievable plan to pay the money back on time and most commercial hard money lenders will need to see a considerable amount of property related experience.

They will not be inclined to lend money to first time investors, unless the risk is very low. Commercial hard money loans are a solution to investment opportunities that many banks have refused due to the economy.

To know more information about Commercial Hard Money Loans and Commercial Financing Services visit ICPFinancial.com

Author: Claire Geonzon
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Beverly Hills, CA, United States (CNS) – Cedric Martinez, the former best friend of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Lisa Vanderpump, is not happy with the way their friendship ended and now he’s fighting back.

During an interview with E! News, which will air Wednesday night, the Parisian-born model said he’s known Vanderpump and her husband, Ken Todd, for almost 15 years before moving in with the couple.

“Lisa was well-liked, but then she turned into a, can I say, bitch,” he said.

Martinez clams he moved into the couple’s Beverly Hills mansion in 2009 for just six months. He adds that the couple asked him to move back in after Bravo asked if Martinez still lived there, and Vanderpump said yes.

Although he says Bravo never paid him for his participation on the show, Martinez thought moving in with the couple “could be an opportunity that opens doors.”

“Things turned sour the last day of shooting,” Martinez told E! News. “Ken and Lisa changed. When I moved in, I noticed a difference… They were talking to me like…I was an accessory to Lisa. I said, ‘I don’t like who you’ve become.’ “

But during a recent appearance on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens,” Vanderpump said Martinez followed her to California and her husband kept telling Martinez that it was time to go.

During the second part of the “Real Housewives” reunion special, which is set to air Thursday, Vanderpump revealed that she had filed a police report against Martinez after he contacted her husband.

“What he wanted, we weren’t prepared to give him,” she said, although she didn’t divulge what exactly what he wanted.

“I have no respect for him whatsoever. I hope he makes better choices in the future,” she said during the reunion special. “But as far as I’m concerned, he’s a lying, egotistical, narcissistic, vindictive, vile piece of—I’ll stop right there.”

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When weighed down by excessive debt, it can sometimes feel like bankruptcy is the only way to finally get back on your feet. Yet many people fail to realize just how serious bankruptcy is. A bankruptcy stays on your credit report for a full decade, severely hurting you chances of acquiring a loan and securing reasonably priced insurance. With more and more employers checking the credit or their employees, it can even harm your chances of getting a good job. For this reason, many homeowners are increasingly choosing to consolidate their debts with the assistance of a private party loan.

Hard money loans are derived from the funds of private lenders, and as a result homeowners typically have a much easier time securing one to consolidate their debts. One of the best and more attractive features of hard money loans is that they are based upon your assets, typically your home, so your credit plays a much smaller role in determining whether or not you are qualified. These private lenders don’t have to adhere to banks’ underwriting guidelines, which gives them the freedom to loan to whomever they choose.

But what, exactly, are the primary advantages of consolidating your debts with a hard money loan over bankruptcy?

Brings Debt Relief Much Faster – While everyone’s personal situation is different, for most people debt consolidation with hard money loans may enable you to be relieved of most of your debt within a matter of a few years. By bringing down your overall interest rate of your debt to a much more manageable level, you are able to pay more of the principal every month, just helping speed your way to debt relief. Compare this to bankruptcy, which stays on your credit report for a full decade, and will probably still affect you for years afterwards. While paying off your debts with the assistance of a private money loan may require a few years of belt-tightening, it hardly compares to the financial frustration you will have to endure if you file for bankruptcy.

Better for Your Credit – Of all the negative marks that can appear on your credit report, bankruptcy is the worst. Financial organizations, insurance companies, and even potential employers approach people with bankruptcy with an extreme degree of caution, and may even refuse to do business with them at all. It’s a tough situation to be in, especially considering for how long it lasts. Consolidating your loans into a single hard money loan and paying it off as quickly as you can is a much better long-term credit strategy.

Saves You Money – Consolidating your hard money loans can save you money on two major fronts. First of all, it typically lowers your overall interest rate, which can save you a ton of money on credit cards, which can easily have interest rate that hover around twenty five or thirty percent. But it also saves you money on future loans if you choose to forgo bankruptcy. If in the future you are able to secure a loan after bankruptcy, it will probably come with an extremely steep interest rate, which can be extremely costly in the long run.

Allows You to Take Control of Your Finances – Filing bankruptcy means that you have totally let your financial situation slip away from you, to the point that there is no way that you can get it under control. But most people can take control of their own life if they simply explore alternatives, such as consolidation with a hard money loan. Consolidating your debts gives you the power to get your life back in order without resorting to bankruptcy.

After a career in financial services and four years in lending, Peter L. Brady co-founded D.P.S. Financial Services, Inc., doing business as One Touch Lending. Since 1996 his companies have made loans in California as well as arranging financing in fifteen other states across the country, including Nevada, Arizona and Florida. Mr. Brady has been responsible for the development of marketing programs, the supervision of mortgage production, the supervision compliance, and the supervision of more than 25 employees and 2 branches.

Peter L. Brady also operates Brady Family Financial, a family owned business that originates, funds and services private loans on commercial and residential Real Estate – typically when banks say no.

[http://www.onetouchlending.com/private-party-loans.html]

Author: Peter L. Brady
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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