The 5 Mistakes Homeowners Make When Stopping Foreclosure.

The 5 Mistakes Homeowners Make When Stopping Foreclosure.
As of May 1st 2008, tens of thousands of homeowners are
facing foreclosure. The reason so many homeowners are
facing foreclosure is varied: loss of job, medical
problems, adjustable rate mortgage (ARMs) doubling their
monthly mortgage payments. Most homeowners have never faced
this problem before and they are receiving bad advice from
friends and family on what to do next. This whole process
seems so overwhelming that they make many mistakes and just
quit fighting for their home, and when you stop fighting
for you home you can't stop foreclosure and devastating
your credit. Are you one of these homeowners? These 5
mistakes and how to overcome them will allow you to either
stop the foreclosure or at least save your credit rating.

1. DOING NOTHING. This is the biggest mistake. If you don't
start fixing the problem, you won't determine a solution
that works in your favor. Many homeowners facing
foreclosure are paralyzed in fear of the calls from the
collection department and just let the foreclosure process
take over, giving up their homes without a fight. You need
to study up on your options, make a plan and follow it up.
There are many options for you which will make life easier
in the long run if you do some research yourself and then
approach a professional to assist them in stopping a
foreclosure.

2. TALK TO LOSS MITIGATION, NOT JUST COLLECTIONS
DEPARTMENT. Talking only to the Debt Collectors of the
mortgage company is another common mistake. The collections
call you received from the bank are from operators trained
in collections only and departments are not in
communication with each other. They will ask you things
like "Can you borrow money from somewhere else?" Guess
what? No, you are already stretched to the last penny, so
no, there are no more options! The collectors are only
looking at bringing your loan current. If you borrow more
to make a payment you can't afford you'll only end up that
owing more people money you cannot pay back. You need to
tell the collectors that you need the number to Loss
Mitigation Department, they might be hesitant, but keep
politely insisting for the number to Loss Mitigation.

3. NOT RESEARCHING CHOICES BESIDES A FORECLOSURE. DO NOT
leave your foreclosure process or workout completely in
somebody else hands. There comes a point you might hire a
professional to help you with the process. It might be an
attorney, real estate agent or some other type
professional. This is where your research and study is
very important. That real estate agent might tell you they
handle short sales, but if you researched and asked the
agent a few key questions you will know right away. So
research and study, the effort could save you tens of
thousands of dollars and up to 300 points on your credit
score.

4. DO NOT MOVE FROM YOUR PROPERTY WHEN FACING FORECLOSURE.
There are so many houses in foreclosures right now that the
mortgage companies cannot keep up with them. The mortgage
companies are not landlords, they know how to give out
loans, but they are not land owners. When you leave your
home the yard overgrows, a sure sign to vandals that the
house is empty or if a water pipe burst who going to stop
the water. Staying in the house until a solution is found
could save you thousands of dollars in monthly mortgage
payments. If you are not paying the mortgage you are at
least being a caretaker of the property. Sometimes the
process of foreclosure could take 12 months saving you
$18,000 at $1500 a month payments. In fact one of the
first questions two questions mortgage companies ask you
almost immediately are: do you plan to keep the property?
Are you living in the property?

5. THINKING YOUR HOME IS WORTH WHAT YOU PAID FOR IT.
Because your mortgage company paid for the assessment, it
undoubtedly came in as worth the asking price or above.
But that is not an indication the home is worth what you
paid for it two years ago or four years ago. Guess what?
The Mortgage lenders and the subprime folks are part of the
reason we are in this mess right now. They overinflated
the market, handed out money like candy and promised you
that a home is your best investment and never goes down.
WRONG. We had this same problem back in the early 1980's,
which is why some of these current protection methods for
home owners are in place now. Take the hit on the value and
save your credit so that you can buy an affordable a house
in a year or so versus seven years from now when filing
bankruptcy or paying 2 to 5 interest points higher after
going through foreclosure.

In conclusion, Act now, research the foreclosure process,
spends a few dollars on books and materials that will coach
you on how to stop foreclosure, know your rights. Then
make a plan. Do you save your home or look at a short
sale? Then put your plan in action. Just taking these
steps alone will relieve some of the stress your feeling
right now. The process will take time, but then the hard
part of stopping foreclosure is finished in a day or two,
then it's a waiting game for the bank to process it and
keep track of the process.

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MJ Jensen has studied Real Estate from the Homeowners
perspective for over 20 years. Most recently due to the
nature of the Mortgage crisis, he has turned his focus to
techniques to keep homeowners out of Foreclosure. Go here
for more tips
http://www.stopbankforeclosurestips.com/free_report
You can visit his blog at
http://www.stopbankforeclosurestips.com/blog

Need To Refinance?

Need To Refinance?
If you have a rather large debt, or are finding it
difficult to get your payments dealt with on time, you may
be thinking about refinancing. There are both positive and
negative aspects in refinancing, so it is important for you
to assess all of the relevant factors involved before you
reach a decision as to whether or not it is the most
appropriate option for your needs.

Refinancing can help you by lowering your interest rates.
If you have a large debt, and especially if your payments
have extended for a considerable period of time, you
probably know how fast interest can build up. This in turn
makes the total amount which you are obligated to pay quite
high. A simple, basic check of your paperwork will give
you this information in a clear manner. When you check the
percentage, you will see how much your total debt is
affected by interest. Refinancing can help you with this!

It can also be a positive solution if you are having
difficulty making your payments in full and on time.
Depending upon the specific terms of your lender, the terms
of your new agreement can be much less of a burden.

If you are considering refinancing, the main point to keep
in mind is to make sure in advance that it will put you in
a better position than you are currently in. This means
ensuring that the terms of the agreement are reasonable,
and that they will meet your specific needs. One example
is to make sure the new interest rate will be beneficial to
you in the longrun. You do not want to end up paying more
than you would have on the intial schedule. Another
important factor to consider is whether this particular
lender will charge you a penalty in the event that you wish
to pay off your loan sooner than you are required to do so.
While many lenders do charge such a penalty, it is
generally better if you can find a lender who does not. As
no one can be completely assured of their future financial
circumstances, provisions which will allow you to repay
your loan ahead of time if you are able to do so can be an
asset.

Refinancing can be a very useful tool in resolving your
financial difficulties. However, in addition to
determining that it is the best option for your needs, in
order to produce the best results without any unnecessary
problems, it is essential to find both the lender and the
agreement which are the most appropriate to your situation.
Although your lender may be a professional, this does not
mean that it is either wise or safe to enter into such an
agreement without completely discussing the terms and
examining it in its written form beforehand. As the entire
purpose of refinancing is to make the financial obligations
that you have easier to deal with, you need to know that it
will not only provide short-term benefits, but will not
have a negative impact on your financial situation for the
duration of the loan.

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http://refinancingrightarticles.com
Gary Giardina

The Best Forex Trading Strategy

The Best Forex Trading Strategy
So, you've done your homework, researched your favorite
currency pair, found the perfect setup and executed your
trade according to your forex trading strategy. You know
this is one of the best forex trading strategies you've
seen because you've been paper trading and back-testing it
for weeks. Now it's time to go live. You're ready to start
trading your hard earned cash with this puppy.

You feel confident because you've seen this setup before
and know the odds are in your favor. You execute the trade
and let it run. After a few hours, you get stopped out for
a loss. No big deal. You knew the risks. You're a little
surprised this trade didn't work out, but you look forward
to the next trade. You know losses are a part of this
business and part of the overall winning process. Your next
trade is sure to make up for this loss.

You're still very confident in your forex trading strategy
so you make your next trade and you rack up another loss.
This one made you feel a little worse than last time
because you were sure this would be a winning trade. Moving
on, you find another trade setup and get into a new trade.
It's going great and you're moving your stop loss more into
profit. You're 20 pips from your ultimate take profit
price, but out of nowhere, the Euro zone makes a surprise
news announcement that they may cut interest rates earlier
than expected. Just like that, your trade moves in the
other direction and stops you out for a measly 5 pip gain!

You feel the trading gods are against you. Worse than that,
you start getting down on yourself and second guessing your
forex trading strategy. You know this trading strategy
works. You tested it and tested it again. You promised
yourself you would trade at least 10 trades, but since
things haven't been working out as you planned, you decide
to sit the next trade out and just watch it. Sure enough,
it's the winner you've been waiting for. It would have
easily made up for your previous losses, but you weren't
along for the ride.

So what's going on? Your emotions are starting to get the
best of you and you're out of control. Almost every trader
has gone thru this at one time or another.

The winning trader takes control. They start working on
their discipline and stop letting their emotions get the
better of them. They stick to their forex trading
strategies because in the long term, they know they make
more money than they lose. They don't focus on one single
trade. They focus on weeks and months of successful trades.
Losing traders give up too easily and let their emotions
rule them. They jump from one forex trading system to
another, wondering why they can't make profitable trades.
They're destined for failure. What kind of trader do you
want to be?

----------------------------------------------------
Andrew Daigle is the creator and author of many successful
websites including ForexBoost at http://www.ForexBoost.com
and http://forex-trading-system.typepad.com , Free Forex
Training Resource for the Novice and Advanced Forex trader.

Hedging Strategies Can Reduce Investment Losses

Hedging Strategies Can Reduce Investment Losses
Financial losses suffered by investors because their broker
failed to recommend an appropriate hedging strategy can be
recovered. There are literally thousands of "typical" or
traditional hedging strategies that stockbrokers utilize,
or in some cases fail to use. There have also been numerous
reports that brokers at times misuse hedging strategies.

In general, hedging strategies look for a "spread" between
market value and theoretical or "true" value and attempt to
extract profits when the values converge. As hedging is a
strategy designed to minimize exposure to unwanted risks,
while still allowing a portfolio to profit from investment
activity, it is an important aspect to investing. It is
highly recommended that investors discuss the use of
hedging strategies with their stockbroker from the onset of
any investment.

One common hedging strategy is the investment in a security
a broker believes is under-priced relative to its "fair
value". This investment is then combined with the short
sale of a related security or securities. By "playing both
sides", it does not matter whether the market as a whole
goes up or down in value, only whether the under-priced
security appreciates relative to the market. This strategy
is often referred to as a "speculation in the basis," where
the basis is the difference between the security's
theoretical value and its actual value.

Some stockbrokers fear that by suggesting a hedging
strategy to a client the concept will tarnish their
professional reputation. However, it has been proven over
time that if the basic strategies are fully explained to a
client that most clients want to minimize their risk, not
add risk.

Given that appreciation rates for equities, the last twenty
years have been well above long-term averages, most
investors are open to the concept of transferring price
decline risks to others, if the strategies, including costs
and fees are appropriate.

Many brokers who have clients with taxable portfolios do
not consider hedging strategies for several reasons.
Concerns include the time commitment, the complexity of the
issue, and the fear of what other people, including the
client or other advisors, might think of a stockbroker who
recommends hedging strategies.

Some brokers believe that many clients are not financially
sophisticated enough to make informed decisions about
hedging strategies and therefore claim those concerns are
the reason they did not recommend a risk management
approach.

Ignorance on the part of the broker and inaccurate
perceptions by others are not valid reasons for
stockbrokers to not recommend that their clients include
these legitimate risk management tools as a part of their
portfolio strategy. Investment losses that occur because a
broker failed to recommend an appropriate hedging strategy
to a client may be able to be recovered.

Under defined duties and regulations, stockbrokers or
dealers are required to recommend "suitable" investments
and strategies to clients. In addition, investment
advisors, who have more stringent fiduciary duties and
standards, are obligated to seek investments and strategies
that are in the best interest of the client. Risk
management is a key component of investment strategies.

----------------------------------------------------
Visit LegalView's homepage at http://www.LegalView.com to
learn about other legal issues such as the Chantix recall
or the Baxter Heparin controversy. Or, for more information
on failure to hedge, visit http://hedge.legalview.com/ .