Monday, April 29, 2013

Buying Properties during Recession: Do's and Don’ts


Purchasing real estate is no laughing matter - whether the economy's doing well or it's experiencing recession. It's a well-known fact that buyers are in a better position to purchase real estate during a recession. However, there are still some risks involved. So how do you make sure you're still getting the best real estate deal during the recession times? Here are some tips that you can make use of:

Don't come undone with your own expectations.

Determining whether you have gotten yourself a good deal in buying real estate, or simply just about anything, depends on your priorities. We all differ in priorities and that is a fact. So if you'd like to make sure you satisfy yourself, get your own expectations in check. Creating a checklist can help you here. Finding a property to buy with a checklist handy can greatly facilitate the process.

Don't be too you-you-you.

Sure, you were advised to know your priorities and to create a checklist to boot. However, flexibility can also get you a long way. Be objective with your judgments and take a hard look at the property you are planning to buy. Think hard and see if you are actually being too choosy to the point of being impractical. Would you like fancy or functional? Is it comfy or uber-elegant? How about trying to meet in the middle? Have you asked for suggestions from experts of family or friends with experience? Do they agree with you? Although you do not need to wipe your slate clean and accommodate all their opinions, are your expectations realistic enough and what about your budget? Remember it is recession.
Don't be over-confident during a real estate recession.

Many think that since it is recession, they can just buy and buy and buy properties. Although many property sellers are usually on the lower part of the scale during these times, not all deals are the best ones. You still need to be as careful as ever in purchasing real estate.

Before pursuing a short sale...

Many would pursue a short sale trying to grab a good deal. However, before you buy a property with a price that seems too low for the location, asking your agent to investigate if it is a short sale won't hurt. This is important since you should not just make an offer on a pre-foreclosure, short sale property.

Beware during recession since there are not too many fish in the sea Er, properties to buy. Home sellers do know that during a recession, they may not be able to sell their properties for a better price. This means that they would have to wait longer to put their home out on the market. There may be properties for sale, but they get bought quicker, too. It would be helpful if you are prepared enough to make a purchase without dilly-dallying if you really are into it.

Recession or not...

Your decision should not be clouded in buying a property. Always shop for the lowest price, which fortunately is more attainable during recession for buyers. However, do not forget that the lowest-priced property is not necessarily the best one. 
In summary, there are some advantages to buying a home during recession. However, if you do not really have the budget or are not that well-educated in the real estate industry, do not feel pressured to jump in.


Other articles you may find interesting:
·         Budgeting Without Guilt

What Can You Get from Debt Management?


Debt Management Gives the Comfort of a Debt Free Life

Everyone borrows money from the financial market at one or the other time to meet some urgent needs. But, at that time we don’t realize that taking various debts from different lenders may become a burden one day. If you too are facing the same circumstances then debt management can prove to be the best solution to all your worries.

Debt management can be defined as an informal process of negotiations with the creditor to obtain a reduction in the interest rate levied or to reduce contractual repayment. The negotiation process involves giving proof to the creditors that the debtor has insufficient funds to meet all the debt obligations.

Debt management is a fair and growing service in the US. Debt problems usually occur due to circumstances which are beyond a person’s control. Debt management not only helps in reducing a borrower’s monthly payment but aims at eliminating all his debts. Borrowers get the benefit to consolidate their debts that are as low $3000 to a maximum of $250,000. Some lenders may even help in eliminating a higher amount of borrower’s debt.

Debt management is open to all. Good credit people, bad credit people or people with bankruptcy. Managing debts of a debtor can help in improving his credit score by making him accountable to a single low monthly payment.

Debt management on a smaller scale is known as debt counseling. The idea is to offer knowledge to the individuals. It involves various debt management techniques, like:

·         Expenditure should be restricted proportionately to the income
·         In case a debt has incurred, proper arrangements must be made for its repayment

Another important tool for debt management is debt consolidation loans. The loan provider helps in the settlement of debts. This loan helps in consolidating the existing debts of borrower. It aims to make the repayments affordable by lowering the interest rates.

Borrowers can make efficient use of the expertise of the debt management agencies which they have gained through years of work in this field. Debt management representatives give borrower’s the power to get out of debt. They negotiate with the creditors on behalf of the borrower.

Debt management plans are formulated by the debt management representatives or consultants. It can help a debtor to repay the debts at an amount that is affordable. Debt management plan consolidates all the unsecured debts of an individual into a single monthly repayment which is then paid to the creditors on a pro rate basis over an agreed period of time often 4 years or more by the agency which is managing your debts. Trained debt management consultants calculate this amount in assistance with the debtor by thoroughly reviewing his financial position.

There is one more aspect of debt management you need to look at. Most of the debt managers charge hefty fee for this service. But there are debt managers who can do this job for you at a low fee or for free. So you need to keep your eyes and ears open before you decide to opt for debt management.  

There are various debt management agencies in the finance market. Look for debt managers who can offer you this service at low cost with maximum benefits. Borrowers can search for debt managing agencies online too. The internet can help you access infinite number of debt management agencies from your home or office computer. The online process saves your time and efforts.

Debt management can make you debt free. But you need to maintain discipline in your life so that you do not fall again into the same debt trap in the future.

Check out www.adamscapgroup.com for more Information on personal debt management.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Take Full Advantage of Debt Management Services


A person who has taken loans or who is in debt must be aware of all the outcomes and must be prepared for them when a loan is borrowed. With the help of debt management services an individual will find himself at ease with how to deal with his debts without putting too much stress on himself.  And in this process debt management services play a crucial role along with many other things.

That is where the concept of debt management services comes in useful. With this, the borrowers get useful advices and tips to deal with management of individual’s debts. Debt management services, in fact are well thought of and properly geared techniques for a person to clear up his debt and straighten out his creditworthiness.

It is a service that puts the emphasis on providing a check of feasibility on a borrower’s future endeavors and a review of debt capabilities as well as settlement options. It aims to provide borrowers a clearer and a much easier means to work through their debts, which by the way is not as easy as it may seem at the first glance.

Many organizations provide Debt Management Services. Here are a few of them:
·         The Citizen’s Advice Bureau
·         National debtline
·         Insolvency helpline

These organizations help the borrowers in their own different ways, so providing many options, each different to other for solving the debt related issues.

Along with these, there are other organizations that will be willing to provide you with debt management services organizations like National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC), which will help the borrowers seeking advice. This will only benefit the borrowers.

Another thing that the borrowers must know about debt management service organizations is that not all the organizations work on the similar terms. Some offer it for free and some charge money; some are available 24 hours a day and some only in working hours. This means the borrowers have to make a choice in terms of what their debts are and how they intend to resolve the issue.

To get more lucid information, the borrowers can also go online, get a detailed explanation of the matter, and then make their decision.

One thing that every borrower must understand that any advice a person can get must be listened to carefully and then only the person should make his final decision.


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How Liquidation Works


Bankruptcy is a legal process that entails following certain steps and schedules. It is best done with the assistance of a bankruptcy attorney although you are allowed to go through it on your own. If you choose the latter, you will save a lot on lawyer’s fees but you risk committing errors that can get your case dismissed. 

If you are contemplating bankruptcy, you should obtain credit counseling from a government-approved organization within 180 days or 6 months before the date of your actual filing. A credit counseling session usually lasts 60 to 90 minutes and involves an evaluation of your financial situation, a discussion of the alternatives, and the creation of a personal budget plan. This is the first step you need to take and hopefully might shed some insight on alternatives other than bankruptcy. 

In a liquidation proceeding, you will need to prepare certain documents. Together with the certificate that you have already obtained for pre-bankruptcy counseling, you will have to submit the following documents together with your bankruptcy petition: Schedules of assets and liabilities; current income and expenditures; statement of financial affairs; schedule of executory contracts and unexpired leases; and copies of the tax return or transcripts for the most recent tax year as well as tax returns filed during the case. Most important, you will have to fill out the Official Bankruptcy Forms which will list the creditors and the amount and nature of their loans as well as other information. You will also have to include a schedule of the exemptions in your petition. Since you will have to choose between a Federal package of exemptions and the state exemptions, consulting a lawyer will be important.

As soon as the petition for bankruptcy is filed, the “automatic stay” begins to be enforced. Your creditors and debt collectors are not anymore allowed to contact you to demand payment. They are also prevented from filing lawsuits, garnishing wages, or conducting any other action regarding your obligations.

Around 21 to 40 days after the petition is filed, a meeting of creditors will be held with the case trustee or bankruptcy administrator. Of course, you must attend the meeting and answer questions that the trustee and the creditors (if they choose to attend) may have for you. It’s imperative that you provide the trustee documents that may be requested of you and answer all questions truthfully as this will be done under oath. It is the role of the bankruptcy trustee to liquidate the nonexempt assets and use the proceeds to pay off the unsecured debts.

A couple of months or so after the creditors meeting (for as long as there are no lawsuits from your creditors to challenge your petition), you will be able to receive your discharge. This means that you will no longer be liable for your debts and your creditors do not anymore have the right to collect them from you.

After receiving your discharge from Chapter 7, it’s now time to start anew so you are sure that you will never have to go through the same grueling and stressful process again.


Find more articles on debt management by just clicking on this link: http://consolidatedebtguide.org/

Here are more interesting articles:
·         Understanding Debt Settlement

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Debt Negotiation for a Better Tomorrow


Debt negotiation or settlement is negotiating a debt reduction with the creditor. Working on your debt problems, a debt negotiator can make you pay 50% or less of the principal on your debt.

Modern day living and plastic money makes it easy to fall prey to debt. There have been rising number of bankruptcy in developed countries compared to the Third World. Blame it on the lifestyle! Everybody wants relief from debt problems, but few address their problem to a debt negotiator until they go bankrupt. Bankruptcy gives immediate relief from the debt problem. But its ill effects last for years in procuring new loan.

So, debt negotiation is the best way out. You can step into debt negotiation plans on your own resource (if you are in such a position) or can take financial help from debt consolidation loan. There is no easy answer to bad debt. You must take advice from a debt counselor. For future benefits you should ask service of a reliable negotiator in order to resolve unpaid and unsecured debt, because successful debt negotiation enables a business to continue trading.

Contemplating Debt Negotiation Service

On a debt management program, it's important for people to know that there might be dire results of contemplating the agreed settlement plan. So, one must consider the negotiation fees and penalty for leaving the negotiation program. Though after entering a debt negotiation program you transfer some amount of legal action to the third party, still your creditor can take legal action against you.

How to Negotiate the Payoff Terms?

Taking the help of a debt negotiator is not the last word. If you have it in you can directly contact your creditor, address your problem and ask for reducing the payment. But professional debt negotiators will make you job much easier, and may come up with much reduction on principal.

You can make lump sum payoff and this will save much of your interests and principal payments. But give second not to decrease your credit rating.  Make debt settlement an economical affair.

Professional debt negotiator program offers you plans, similar to debt consolidation services and negotiates with your creditors if you have saved the minimum balance to settle the debt. You can reduce your debt with savings up to 60%.

Your debt negotiator will suggest you to discharge higher interest rates first to eliminate the delinquency. They can easily understand the bottom line of your debt problem. They can also tell you “which creditors settle at 30% of what you owe, and which one will demand 70%”.

Using debt negotiation can trim your payoff time down from 7 to 5 years or less, through consolidation and or counseling. You can get new lease of life once all your debt is eliminated.

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Debt Management for Effective Debt Control


Many people today are facing problem of excessive credit card debt. They take credit card for granted and tend to make purchases which they cannot afford. It’s very important to follow the principle of debt management in order to get rid of debt problem and become debt free.

Falling into debt is very easy but it is very difficult to get out of it. It’s true that managing debt is a big challenge. But effective debt management plans can always help you overcome this challenge.

4 Ways to Effective Debt Management

·         Prepare an effective budget plan: Your first step towards managing your credit should be preparing an effective budget plan. A budget plan can help you to be updated about your expenses and incomes. It can help you decide where you have to start and end.

·         Debt Consolidation: Debt consolidation is nothing but merging of different loans into one simple payment method. For instance suppose you owe lots of loans to different creditors. Debt consolidation is nothing but merging of all those loans into one total amount. Debt consolidation helps in reducing the rate of interest than what you were actually paying.

·         Check Credit report: Though credit score is just a three digit number, it has great importance in today business world. Credit report directly reflects the credit worthiness of a person. This makes it very much important that you have a regular check of your credit report. A credit report can contain some errors and flaws which need to be rectified immediately. A small error in your credit report can affect your credit score greatly and thereby reduce your chances of getting a loan.

·         Credit counseling: If you are unable to prepare an effective budget plan or reduce your debt you need to contact a reputable credit counseling agency. Credit counseling can help you solve your problem on budget planning, debt consolidation, credit score repair, credit management and so on. A credit counseling agency negotiates on your behalf with your creditors and help to reduce the margin of total payment.

Check out www.adamscapgroup.com for more Information on personal debt management.
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Debt Management | Basics of Bankruptcy


Bankruptcy Defined

Bankruptcy is a legal right that individuals and businesses can resort to when they are not anymore able to pay off their debts. The debtor begins the process by filing a petition in bankruptcy court. Depending on the type of bankruptcy filed, the non-exempt assets of the debtor can be liquidated to pay off the debts or a payment plan can be created to allow the individual to repay his or her debts in a period of 3 to 5 years. Once the proceedings are finished, the debtor will receive a court order— commonly known as a discharge—that will free him or her from the obligation to pay certain debts.

Bankruptcy is considered only as a last resort for those who are knee-deep in debt because of the long-term repercussions it has on one’s credit report (more on this in the next section). However, it also gives debtors the chance for a fresh start. Although there is no doubt that life after bankruptcy is going to be tough, it also gives the opportunity to individuals to straighten their finances and make themselves more responsible about money and credit.

As a legal remedy to free the debtor from financial obligations, bankruptcy has powers that other solutions to debt do not have. If you are considering this option, you need to have a clear understanding of what it can and cannot do. This way, you have a clear idea of what to expect should you finally take this route.

First of all, filing for bankruptcy can wipe out some or all of your credit card and unsecured debts. This is one of the top reasons why most people file for bankruptcy. Any debt that is not secured by a collateral or lien can be eliminated in a bankruptcy petition. Other common debts that can be discharged in a bankruptcy petition include collection agency accounts, medical bills, personal bills, past due utility bills, business debts, civil court judgments, and dishonored checks that are not based on fraud. 

Bankruptcy also has the power of automatic stay. Once you have filed your petition, debt collectors may not anymore contact you about your debts or continue collection activities. It also stops a pending foreclosure.             

However, bankruptcy offers no protection from liens. If you have a secured debt where your property serves as the collateral, the debt can be eliminated but the creditor has the right to repossess the property. It will also not eliminate child support payments and alimony obligations. Student loans also survive bankruptcy except in very limited circumstances when you can convince the court that doing so would cause you “undue hardship.” Tax debts are also not eliminated in a bankruptcy filing although it is possible to have tax penalties and unpaid taxes past a certain number of years taken care of.

It will also not be possible to discharge debts that you forgot to include in your petition as well as fines and penalties you may have incurred for violating the law. Debts related to injuries and/or deaths caused by driving under the influence are also not eliminated in a bankruptcy filing. If the creditor also convinces the bankruptcy court that some of the debts you have with them should not be discharged (especially those that were obtained through fraud) then they will also survive your petition and will have to be repaid.

Find more articles on debt management  by just clicking on this link: http://consolidatedebtguide.org/

Here are more interesting articles:
·         Understanding Debt Settlement