Hamilton's Property

Encouraging homeowners to opt for short sales as an alternative to walking away from their mortgages is a new tactic banks, like Wells Fargo and Bank of America are using to get homeowners to avoid foreclosure in neighborhoods already spilling over with empty properties. To convince borrowers that selling the home is the right route to take, banks are offering hefty cash incentives that many homeowners won’t want to pass up.

Short Sales Help Avoid Foreclosure

Short sale involves the homeowner sells their house for less than what is owed and the bank forgives the excess debt. Some homeowners are dead set against the short sale, because it means they’re likely taking a loss on their investment.

Even in this troubled housing market, many steer away from this option despite being underwater mortgages or financial troubles that make keeping up with payments difficult.

For some, the only alternative to this type of sale is foreclosure. Both homeowner

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For several sessions in a row, have moved in the opposite direction from the previous session, although even the bigger examples of these movements haven’t been enough to nudge 3.875% out of the “best-execution” position.  The same back-and-forth movement continued today as rates improved ever so slightly after rising slightly yesterday.  Keep in mind, that the term “rates” in this context refers to the combination of the interest rate itself and the closing/borrowing costs required to obtain that rate.  We explain more about Best-Execution calculations in .

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The Bank of Canada announced this morning that interest rates will remain unchanged for the 11th consecutive time over the past 15 months.  The last time the BOC made a change to the overnight lending rate was in September 2010 with a moderate increase of 0.25 per cent.

The overnight rate currently sits at 1 per cent. The Bank Rate is  1.25 per cent and the deposit rate is 0.75 per cent.

The news is really no news at all, given that nearly all industry professionals and top economists were anticipating no change. But what should be of interest to consumers is the justification behind the decision.  Heres why the Bank of Canada is keeping interest rates where they are.

• The outlook for the global economy is getting worse.
• The recession in Europe is expected to be deeper and last longer than originally anticipated.
• The BOC was coy in suggesting they had faith Europe could get a handle on the situation: although this assumption is clearly subject to downside risks.

• The U.S. gr

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Risky mortgage lending played a significant role in the credit crunch that started the financial meltdown of the past 4 years.

The housing boom saw 100% plus mortgages and ‘pile-em high sell-em cheap’ supermarket style mortgage pricing.

When the market peaked in 2007 just about anyone could walk in to a high street mortgage lenders branch and apply for a 125% loan to value mortgage.

Although the mortgage market seems to have almost corrected itself, the Financial Service Authority (FSA) has published its recommendations for reform. The

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I have previously dabbled in share trading and operated an online account through one of the now-defunct traders. I have always been sceptical of the sharemarket and the speculative (as opposed to basic fundamentals) nature of the industry, but after selling a business thought it might be time to re-enter the trade.

I made online contact with one brokering house with a view to setting up an account and taking some shares in Trade Me. After a week or so, I had an email back indicating the offer was fully subscribed and no public pool shares were available.

That’s why the sharemarket is so unattractive for New Zealand investors. I have upwards of $1 million to invest, but because I was not part of the “inner sanctum”, missed out.

The unfortunate perception of the New Zealand market is of a small club run for the benefit of a few.

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