Home Equity Loans – Beware of Appraisal Fraud

Written by Charles Essmeier


A new report byrepparttar independent Demos group has revealed what may not be a surprise to many people – corruption is rampant inrepparttar 136008 home appraisal industry. The bust inrepparttar 136009 dot-com market of some five years ago has left would-be lenders with a surplus of cash to lend. This has led to a huge boom in both mortgage and home equity loan lending. That’s not a bad thing; a record 69% of Americans now own their own homes. Owning a home is easier than ever; in 2004repparttar 136010 average down payment was a record low of only three percent.

So if everyone is buying a home, and loans are easier to obtain than ever, what isrepparttar 136011 problem? The problem is that nearly 55% ofrepparttar 136012 appraisers polled inrepparttar 136013 survey said that they had been pressured by lenders to deliver appraisals that met a “target” value. The appraisers said that failure to meetrepparttar 136014 “target” value resulted in either their not being paid, or not being hired again. Since most appraisers want to keep working, they have had a tendency to meetrepparttar 136015 target value, even if it means that they have overestimatedrepparttar 136016 value ofrepparttar 136017 property. This drives prices artificially higher and leaves many homeowners with mortgages that may be worth more thanrepparttar 136018 homes they were meant to finance. This problem becomes acute shouldrepparttar 136019 owner need to sellrepparttar 136020 home, only to discover that it isn’t worth as much as he or she owes on it.

The worst-case scenario to result from this would be a burst inrepparttar 136021 current real estate “bubble” and a nationwide collapse in home

How to Get Out of Debt

Written by John Mussi


If you have found yourself in a position where you are in serious debt and cannot think of a way out ofrepparttar situation, then take a few minutes to read these few tips. Some may seem obvious but do put them into practise as they will help.

I am assuming that you are in a situation whereby your income for example; is £2,500 per month and your expenditure is £3,500. This is not a good position to find oneself in. A better position would be if you were earning £2,500 per month and your expenditure was only £1,800!!

It is so easy to despair when you encounter your first financial crisis. You're not alone. Many people face a financial crisis some time in their lives. Whetherrepparttar 136007 crisis is caused by personal or family illness,repparttar 136008 loss of a job, or overspending, it can seem overwhelming. But often, it can be overcome. The important thing to bear in mind is, not to panic! We have all done it. We have all succumbed torepparttar 136009 temptation of freely available credit. We have all signed onrepparttar 136010 dotted line for items based purely on self- gratification only to regretrepparttar 136011 decision at a later date. Of course, once it starts it tends to spiral out of control and you then find yourself in this current predicament.

The first thing you have to do is take stock of your debt. At this point you should be very realistic with yourself and itemise every expense no matter how trivial it may seem. Most people fail at this hurdle because they lie to themselves aboutrepparttar 136012 expenditure. They conveniently forget about certain items, make excuses about other bills or blamerepparttar 136013 problem onto someone else. Anything in fact, except facing up torepparttar 136014 reality check. I must stress again, that in order to stoprepparttar 136015 downward spiral of debt you must be brutal in your approach. If you really cannot facerepparttar 136016 breakdown of your expenses then get someone you know to help you.

The most obvious first step is to prepare a budget and although it may not be everyone's idea of fun it is nevertheless necessary if you are to takerepparttar 136017 first step towards overcoming your financial situation. Have you seriously considered preparing a budget? Not just a mental note but a written exercise taking a long, cold, hard and truthful look at your predicament. It may sound a very obvious statement to make butrepparttar 136018 first step toward taking control of your financial situation, is to do a realistic assessment of how much money you earn and how much money you spend. The operative word here being “realistic.” It may not be pleasant to be so forthright about your own circumstances but if you choose to ignore certain aspects then you are just deceiving yourself andrepparttar 136019 whole exercise would become a complete waste of your time.

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