Wednesday, September 23, 2009

“Check out these 6 different home loans (rediff.com)” plus 2 more

“Check out these 6 different home loans (rediff.com)” plus 2 more

Check out these 6 different home loans (rediff.com)

Posted: 23 Sep 2009 04:12 AM PDT

Nowadays, every product and service comes in different packages customised to suit the different needs of the customers. These customised products and solutions are often designed backed by intense research on the common criteria adopted by the customers while buying a product or service and the demand for it. The criteria are wholly made up of the necessity for the product or service, the cost involved, features, and other differentiating factors.

The success of any customised product and service is also dependent on the demand created based on strong marketing.

Take for instance the home loan market in India. Of late there is a glimmer of hope for the ailing property market in the country thanks to the slashing of interest rates, more awareness and the availability of more customised packages that cater to specific needs.

From buying a new home or property to renovating or extending an existing home or property, the home loans market has been witness to the arrival of more customised packages to suit the different needs of the home loan buyers. A look into the different home loans that is up for grabs.

Home improvement loans

Today, the most sought after loans after new home loans is perhaps the home improvement loans. You can take this loan if you want to go in for a complete or partial renovation of your home. You can replace your old furniture with new trendy ones or change your tiling and flooring, apply a new coat of paint or simply take up carpentry works all of which will give your home a new refurbished look.

You can also take this loan to carry out partial repair work in your home like structural repairs, waterproofing, plumbing, or electrical work. All that is required is to meet the required conditions from the lender and the prior approvals.

Home extension loans

These types of loans are intended to meet the expenses of utilising the free residential space on your property by extending your existing home with additional rooms or service spaces. This might also require alteration or modification of the existing building.

Short term bridging loans

At times you might want to sell your existing home and want to buy another one but the shortage of funds could play spoilsport. In this situation you might need a short term bridge loan which is designed for these kinds of projects, usually for a maximum of two years.

This short term bridge loan will help you with finance to buy a new home until the time a new buyer is found for the old home. Till then, your new property will be made the mortgaged security for the loan to your lender.

Land purchase loan

As the name implies, this type of loan is available for purchase of land, whether for constructing a house or for investment purposes. Usually, you might get upto 85 per cent of the cost as your loan amount provided you meet the conditions of the lender.

Loan against property

Now this could be the most secured form of loan that you could lay your hands on as it comes with attractive lower interest rates compared to a personal loan or a loan from your credit card, which carry with them a significant level of risk.

A bank might consider giving you a LAP provided you have an existing property that you own. The loan amount is usually up to around 60 per cent of the current value of that property.

Top up loan

This is something you can opt for if you have a property for which you are still paying for. Let us understand this with an example. Mr A purchased a property worth Rs 25 lakh in the year 2002. He wanted to take a loan of Rs 18 lakh to buy this property and subsequently approached a bank who took his property as mortgaged security and sanctioned the loan amount.

After five years, in 2007, Mr A still owes an outstanding loan amount say of Rs 14 lakh. Meanwhile the mortgaged property's worth has gone up to Rs 35 lakh.

Simply put, Mr A now owes Rs 14 lakh to the bank but at the same time has a mortgaged property worth Rs 35 lakh. For the bank this is a good margin and a valid reason to lend Mr A more money against his existing mortgage. Usually, the interest rate for the top up loan is calculated on the current interest rate prevailing in the market, that is, the Prime Lending Rate.

Most banks offer a maximum top-up amount of 60 per cent of the market value of the mortgaged home minus the present loan outstanding.

Today, you can choose from an array of attractive home loan offers depending on your necessity, cost and convenience.

Whatever the type of loan you take, remember to calculate the total cost of the loan which depends on the type of loan, the type of interest rate (floating or fixed), processing fee, service charges and any other cost that you need to factor in.

This exercise will help you make the most cost effective choice, when comparing the loan offers in hand.



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Recession makes personal loans a big factor in Miami Beach commission election (Miami Herald)

Posted: 22 Sep 2009 02:13 PM PDT

Not even Miami Beach's politicians seem to have escaped a sluggish economy.

With just six weeks left until residents hit the polls to cast their votes for three Miami Beach city commissioners and mayor, the dozen candidates are finding political donations aren't flowing as freely as they did in previous election seasons.

The fattest campaign account as of the most recent campaign finance reports, filed Sept. 18, belonged to commission candidate Alex Fernandez, who had amassed $105,000 -- all but $1,500 are funds he lent to himself. No other candidate had passed the $100,000 mark.

Compare that with two years ago when, by June 30, mayoral candidate Simon Cruz had already amassed more than $280,000.

At the time, three other candidates had raised at least $118,000 and another seven had raised at least $40,000.

``Everybody is having problems raising money this year,'' said Sherry Roberts, a real estate agent who has outraised her two opponents in the race to replace termed-out Commissioner Saul Gross.

And with donors writing fewer checks, the candidates' own finances are poised to play a large part in the race up to the Nov. 3 election.

Roberts listed $90,500 in campaign contributions, with $60,000 coming from her own pocket.

``Where the money comes from isn't the big issue,'' she said. ``It's what your message is, what you're about and what you've done in the past that matters.''

Roberts has an account more than four times that of Jorge Exposito, an insurance executive who donated $10,000 of his own money to amass a $23,500 account.

``Money has not been as easy to raise as in the past, said Exposito, who called a candidate's decision to donate their own money ``a personal choice.''

Maria Mayer, an attorney who entered the Group II race at the last minute, hasn't raised any money outside of a $2,000 self-loan. Like Roberts, Fernandez has fueled his campaign with his own money, though he says it isn't because he has been unable to raise donations.

``I think money and power corrupts sometimes and when you get money from certain people, sometimes, not always, it changes the way you're going to vote on issues,'' said Fernandez, who says he's not heavily courting potential donors.

``I don't want to be put in that situation.''

Fernandez, who according to his qualifying documents owns 50 percent of New Star Media Productions, said that if elected he would propose a limit on campaign war chests to encourage parity among commission candidates. He didn't say what limit he would propose, but ``$100,000 is too much for the city of Miami Beach.''

Both his opponents, attorney Michael Góngora and property manager Gabrielle Redfern, have loaned themselves $50,000, though Redfern repaid herself. She has since thrown another $2,000 into her campaign, bringing her total war chest to $7,000.

Góngora listed an account of $68,000 in late June, though it is unclear how much money he has raised or spent to date because City Clerk Robert Parcher had not received the latest financial disclosure as Monday. Parcher said Góngora usually mails in his form and would only be fined if his letter was postmarked after Sept. 18.

The race for Group I has been lopsided, with incumbent Jerry Libbin raising $97,200. Libbin, a financial advisor, donated $1,500 to his campaign but has since reimbursed himself.

His opponent, Oddy Segui, has raised $7,350, the bulk of which came from a $5,000 self-loan on Sept. 3. Segui, a businessman, says he doesn't plan on donating much more money to his campaign.

Meanwhile, the race for Miami Beach mayor has opened with a yawn.

Mayor Matti Bower led the field with $5,500. Challenger Raphael Herman, who listed his primary source of income as his Bank United accounts, loaned himself $100,000 -- but he paid himself back $99,000 the same day.

Laura Rivero Levey, who listed her attorney husband's income as her main source of financial support, trailed with $2,800 and economist Joshua LaRose with $2,000 -- of their own money.



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Students repaying loans at high rate (Tulsa World)

Posted: 23 Sep 2009 12:28 AM PDT

More than 90 percent of Oklahoma borrowers are repaying their federal students loans, according to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.

The 2007 default rate for the Federal Family Education Loan Program was 7.5 percent, up from 5.9 percent the year before, according to the regents, who oversee the Oklahoma Guaranteed Student Loan Program.

The default rate is determined by the number of borrowers who default on their federal loans at the end of the fiscal year after the year they enter repayment.

"Early assistance, financial literacy and default prevention are important parts of our mission as a FFEL Program guarantor," said Mary Mowdy, the student loan program's executive director.

"We work closely with the Oklahoma financial aid community to reduce the cohort default rate by building personal finance skills and emphasizing the importance of loan repayment."

President Barack Obama has advocated an overhaul of federal students loans, ending the FFEL Program and shifting the money to Pell Grants.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation last week to start the process of moving all universities to a direct loan system.

Mowdy announced Tuesday that she will be retiring at the end of the month, having spent 30 years in higher education.



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Posted by Rakhma at 5:46 PM

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