The confusion of choosing between a 15 year mortgage and 30 year has been a common one prevailing among borrowers. Today i am going to throw some light on why a 15 year mortgage is better even if you have to increase your monthly installments and suffer for a few years.

When we have 30 years to pay a loan why should we take the trouble of paying it off in 15 years by increasing our monthly interest and suffering to make the ends meet every month? Well here is the reason.

One of the major advantages of opting for a 15 year mortgage is the lesser amount of total interest paid apart from its rate of interest being typically lower compared to the 30 year mortgage.Initially the money you pay is accounted only for the interest. As years go by the interest you pay on a monthly basis is allotted to compensate for the principal.

Imagine a person has taken a FRM for 15 years at the rate of 5% and another person for 30 years at the rate of 5.25% for a principal of  $200,000, lets see what happens:

15 year    30 year

Monthly Payment                     $1581        $1104

Interest Paid                               $84,686       $197,587

Total                                                $284,686     $397,587

With a 15 year mortgage you save about $112,901 which can be used for a constructive purpose.

Bored of searching for properties from the endless amount of listings on newspapers and websites? Fed up of not finding your dream home in spite of investing a lot of time and money? Then i have a solution for you.

Applying the concept of dating websites, Sellmestraight.com has come up with a fabulous idea where you can list your requirements and a list of homes and contact info of the sellers matching your criteria would appear. You can contact the seller and start the process of buying your dream home.

Doesn’t this sound simple? The system doesn’t not only benefit the buyers but also the sellers by saving them the cost of middle men. I think its a revolutionary idea that is going to save a lot of trouble as well as time for many.

If you have used this service, or if you are going to use it, tell us how you liked it.

Are you fed up of adjusting to the rule of landlords? Longing for the freedom which you might get at your own place? Then why not buy a home for yourself? Oh I see, the problem is that you do have saved up a little for making that dream of yours come true but the skyrocketing rates of the properties are de-motivating you, isn’t it? Then why not go for a foreclosed property?

Although you might hear radio commercials like houses for $12000, such is not the case. The truth is that, you can get a 20-40% off on the actual value of the home. Still as its much more affordable than a new home, its a pretty good option to explore.

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Where do Big time investors or Great Business people come from? Do they appear out of thin air? They begin a scale business and develop gradually their field of expertise. Such investors contribute to the economic welfare of our country. So, what does the Government do to improve the growth of business men? How does it help? It allocates $15 Billion dollars to help Small Business Owners. But are we under the inkling that it reaches the owners of the Small Businesses? We are all fundamentally wrong! The plans have been modified.

The investment plans of the Government will come along with a package of SBA Guaranteed loans. This is quite alike to the:

“Collateralized Mortgage Obligation (CMO)” and

“Collateralized Bond Obligation (CBO)” in the home finance industry. Such CMOs and CBOs act as the main incentive for the current economical catastrophe.

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People below the age of 21 years are going to find it rather difficult to get a credit card since the introduction of the CARD Act which has been forward in 2009. The CARD Act stands for Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure.

From the beginning of the year 2010, individuals below the age of 21 years will not be permitted the issue for a credit card unless they provide with proof or evidence to suggest that they will cash out their loans and leave no unclear debts.

Several blogs have started protesting against this Act already because in a way people below the age of 21 years are being singled out and treated unfairly from the rest as legally they do qualify as adults.

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If you are one among those people who haven’t received the full payment of the economic stimulus last year, you may be eligible now for a part or full of the portion unpaid because of the change in certain circumstances. For such people, recovery rebate credit can be a one-time benefit. A credit normally adds to your tax refund and at times it lowers the tax amount owed by you. This makes the amount you got in the recovery rebate credit amount will be added as be treated as a refund in your tax return.

There are certain categories which makes you eligible for recovery rebate credit. The ones who didn’t receive economic stimulus payment will form one category. People who got economic stimulus less than the highest quantity will also be eligible. Recovery rebate can also be availed by those families who had an extra qualifying child in the year 2008.

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The United States President Barack Obama seems to have gone wiser by the day and has brought in the ‘PAYGO’ legislation. This legislation aims to reduce the government spending by a considerable amount.

The legislation says that all the new congress tax cuts or increase in the government expenditure will result in higher taxes and lesser spending in some other department of the government so that the excess spending is offset.

The statutory “Pay as you go” legislation has been submitted with the aim of curbing government expenditure and preventing it from going over board. If this legislation were to work, the fiscal deficit in the United States could slightly bee soothed. Touted to hit a whopping 1.8 trillion mark this fiscal, the mood of the US economy still remains gloomy.

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On what seems to be a preventive move, the federal government has announced a loan program starting this week in order to help small businesses that are feeling the heat due to the ongoing recession.

Phillip Silva, district director for the SBA (Small Business Administration) which is currently overseeing the American Recovery Capital Loan Program said that this would aid small businesses, which are experiencing sales erosion due to the recession and are finding it difficult to pay back their financial indebtednesses.

Eligible companies are entitled for $35,000 interest free and SBA guaranteed loans for a period of five years, provided they apply to their area banks that would decide which of the two would be granted. SBA is currently paying the interest on loan costs charged by the area banks.

Around $225 million of the $700 odd billion-stimulus package bill that was passed by the Congress was meant for the payment of interest charges on loans that were granted to small enterprises nationwide by the SBA.

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President Obama’s program for making homes affordable got a further thrust with Freddie Mac’s last week announcement of changes aplenty in its offer for refinancing.

Mortgage plan which is known as Freddie Mac relief refinance has been contrived to aid home owners who are currently paying out on their the mortgages but would gain by refinancing the mortgage under plans that would encourage their long term ownership.

Borrowers could now refinance their Freddie Mac guaranteed/owned mortgage with lenders who are affiliated to Freddie Mac. Borrowers previously had no choice other than using the services of the lender who they approached initially. In a move to maximize their reach among borrowers, Freddie Mac has increased the sum of closing cost which could be incorporated into the refinanced mortgage.

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Starting June 1 one in four homes in the market would sell at a lower price after a price slash. Backed by its data, real estate online firm Trulia.com confirmed this last week.

Houses on sale underwent a whopping 23.6% price cut with an average reduction of 10.6% on the sale price. This would bring down the average price of a house to $43,650 says Trulia.com in its exclusive report sourced from Reuters.

Pete Flint, Co Founder and CEO of Trulia.com in an interview with Reuters opined that such price cuts would work like an effective bailout for the real estate market.

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