Terry Xiao Blog

A loan modification reduces monthly mortgage payments and makes them more affordable for you. Loan modifications can be done whether or not a person is behind in the loan payments, based on his or her financial situation, current hardship, and ability to make smaller payments. Loan modification is a permanent change to the terms of your mortgage or home loan. A loan modification can result in a lower monthly payment through an interest rate reduction, increasing the length of the loan, lowering of the principal balance, setting up payments for back-interest owed, or a combination of these options, lowering or fixing interest rates.

Loan modifications avoid foreclosure and this option is gaining in popularity as lenders realize that keeping homeowners in their home actually might save them money. Foreclosure is an expensive process for banks, and with the current downturn in real estate values, lenders do not want millions of dollars getting into foreclosures. Since the cost of modification can be much less than the cost of foreclosure, banks and lenders are often willing to negotiate reasonable terms and modify existing mortgage payment terms.  Read more...

As we hit the downturn in the economy, many people who have lost their jobs will be thinking “What next?” and feeling pretty depressed about the whole ordeal they are facing in finding stability once again. Well you may have seen reports recently aboyt people getting started with home based businesses with a great new money making tool – the computer.

Not only that you can choose the type of business you are interested in, for example budding digital photographers can make money from their very own photos. Imagine that – being able to start a business from scratch and using one of you hobbies to set up your own online business.

Digital photographers are receiving a regular salary from stock photography sites as well as receiving hundreds of dollars by selling photos to magazines and other media publications. Stock photography is defined as a batch of existing digital photos which can be licensed for use. There are so many businesses that use stock photography sites to find photos they use for their publicity campains including Publishers, magazines, advertising agencies, filmmakers, web designers, and graphic artists. Instead of paying huge fees to a professional photographer they just purchase online stock photography.  Read more...

It is important to understand that good investment strategy is ownership of a stock which represents ownership in a business, not just a ticker symbol and a price. It is the same as owning a stake in any business and you must act like an owner.

Your stock buying and selling decisions should be based on the fundamentals of the company and not how you think the market will perform in the future. If you focus on the companies strengths and weaknesses, you can remove all other unimportant information and simplify the investing process.

One of the keys to making money and good investments is in understanding the businesses and industries in which you invest. You should be sticking with your investments long term. Many studies have shown that if you had been out of the market for just a few of the highest returning days of the year, your overall return would be significantly smaller. This shows why it is important to stay invested for the long term and not attempt to time the market.  Read more...

Judging by the number of enquiries coming through for CeMAP training courses, whether for CeMAP 1 or the combined CeMAP 2 & 3 course, there are still many people interested in getting into the financial industry and particularly in becoming a mortgage advisor. In the long run, we have all seen that house prices rise and in the British way of life, we all want to own our own property.

However, thanks to the credit crunch and the recession we find ourselves in it is perfectly natural that people are questioning whether taking CeMAP training right now is a good idea or not.

House prices have fallen over the last year or two, however, people still want mortgages. The reasons why people want a mortgage have varied slightly because there are more people wanting to sell because they cannot afford their current mortgage, there are property developers trying to release equity from their homes and there are remortgages everywhere as people search to find the best deal for their circumstances.  Read more...