lonestaralpha.org

John Nazareno asked:




A judgment lien is a court ordered lien that is placed against the home or property when the homeowner simply fails to pay a debt. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when the homeowner has a judgment lien against his or her home and wants to sell it, the judgment lien has to be paid in full before the home or property can be sold. Judgment liens can be placed against the property for a variety of reasons such as unpaid credit card bills, utility bills, department store bills, landscaping or home improvement bills, and just about any bill that the homeowner has failed to pay in a reasonable amount of time. Any bill that can cause one to end up in court can result in a judgment lien.

A judgment lien is different than a trust, in that the judgment lien holder cannot foreclose on the home or the property as trust holder can. Judgment lien holders can demand payment, but ultimately they must wait for the homeowner to sell the property before they can expect to be paid the money that they are owed according to the judgment. Luckily for the judgment lien holder, the court will typically assign an interest rate to these liens so that the lien holder is compensated for their waiting as the interest will continue to accrue until the debt is paid in full. Because the majority of people will live in their home for quite some time, the interest can make a judgment lien grow, and grow, and grow over the years so that it is quite large. Imagine what a lien of just $3,000 would grow to over the years if the interest rate were 15% annually and that would be an even bigger amount if the debt were $5,000 or $10,000!

Of course, judgment liens require court action. A creditor will take the homeowner to court where the judge will determine if the homeowner does in fact owe the creditor any money. If the court decides that the creditor is owed the money, and the homeowner will not or cannot make payment, the judge will order that a judgment lien be placed against the property. The judgment lien will then be entered into land records offices for the city or county so that the home cannot be sold without repayment of the debt. Once the lien is filed with the land records office, the judgment lien is said to be attached to the property, meaning that it cannot legally be sold without paying off that lien. If the judgment lien is not listed at the land records office, then it means that the debt or lien is not legally attached to the property and does not need to be paid off to sell the home.

A home or property can have numerous liens against it, which may present a problem when the home is to be sold. Fortunately, the law says that liens will be paid off in the order that they were attached to the property, meaning the first lien will be paid first, the second will be paid second, and so on. This is a law that was basically developed for when a home is foreclosed on. If a foreclosed home is auctioned it will first pay off the first lien, then the second, and the third until there is no money left to pay the debts that are still attached or associated with the home. Of course, all trusts against the house, such as mortgages and home equity loans, would be paid off before the judgment liens, so it’s not uncommon for these liens to simply go unpaid because there is no money remaining to pay these debts after the trusts are paid. If there is not enough money to pay for all of the judgment liens and trusts on the home or property, they are then wiped out and can no longer be collected on. Of course, the auction will usually attempt to pay for all of these debts, and they are paid for until there is no money. The reason for this is that the new owner will not be able to get any home equity loans or second mortgages with judgment liens already on the home. If there is money left over after everything is paid off, the remaining amount would go to the foreclosed homeowner as all debts are paid.

You can look for judgment liens at the land records office, though you will typically not find them listed with trusts. Investors or homeowners looking to sell their home will have to look into both trusts and judgments, as they are listed in different areas. Investors can often be caught off guard when they realize how much debt is attached to the home, and sellers are often startled at old judgment liens that they had forgotten about and don’t want to afford to pay off in order to sell their home. It’s a good idea to go over all of this information before one bids on a home or attempts to sell it or put it on the market.

Judgment liens are not something that anyone wants put against their home, but they are common enough. There comes a time for many people when they simply cannot pay a bill, and a judgment lien is ordered. Making a continued effort to pay down the debt is a great idea so that you don’t acquire large interest fees in addition to the initial dollar amount of the lien. The homeowner does not have to wait until the home is sold to pay off the lien, instead they can be paid off as soon as possible. The judgment lien is simply put in place so that the home cannot be sold without the debt being paid, and when you look at it from the creditors point of view, this is a great tool to ensure that you’ll eventually be paid the amount you are owed in addition to an interest fee that will pay you for waiting.

Dean Forster asked:




Personal finance software is also known as home finance software. This is because it is simply personal finance software that you use in your home. You can use different applications under the category for different purposes.

Some of the applications cater to money management and accounting, whereas others concentrate on expense, income, and investment tracking. You can also use some of the applications for calculating mortgage payments, loan rescheduling, and loan prepayments. This you can do because the applications are equipped with a built-in mortgage calculator.

You can also use home finance software applications for budgeting purposes. They can help you prepare the monthly budget based on calculations involving the family’s income and the expected monthly expenses. The software will churn out a budget report at the click of a mouse. The important advantage of budgeting using home finance software is that you do not need to manually track your monthly budget.

Home finance applications maintain accurate account balances. However, for this you need to enter all purchases, credits, and payments in the application’s database through the checking account built into the application’s user interface. You are spared the hassle of making calculations as the application does this for you.

This is why reconciling of your personal finance accounts becomes easy with the burden of doing the math without making any errors whatsoever is taken over by the software. This keeps your mind relaxed and then you are able to concentrate on other important tasks that require your immediate attention.

Tax tracking becomes easier if you are in the habit of using home finance software. This is because tax categories are part of the software. Even if some of the tax categories are not included, all you have to do is to set them up. Such categorization of tax transactions helps you in saving time when the time comes for filing your annual tax returns. A decision on whether you need to make adjustment of tax with holdings can be done throughout the whole year through such categorization.

Some of the sophisticated home finance software packages allow you the facility of downloading data and transactions from banks. This helps integrate your checking account with those maintained by your bank. This convenient feature also helps you avoid manual data entry to a significant extent and thereby saves time.

Online bill payments become very much possible through most home finance applications. Although you may have to pay a nominal fee to access the service, it is still worth the convenience.

Another advantage of using personal finance applications in homes is that you can track all your investment transactions through online updates. This helps keep your investment account balances always updated.

All in all home finance software is a boon to families. The greatest advantage of using it is the sense of mental relaxation that you get by being fully dependent on it to make your finances become systematic.

Alan Lim asked:




Owning a home is not that easy. Financially, the implications are not very simple. A significant amount of money must be available before one even makes the first move to attain this kind of a dream.

Everything must begin with the identification of what one can really afford. This involves scrutiny of savings and other existing funds as well as the entry of income in the coming years. If one intends to get a home loan, a clear forecast of income in the future must be in place.

A lot of people, so far, prefer to avail of home loans. These types of loans seem to be the lightest way to purchase a home since available funds are not squeezed out at once. The entire amount is being stretched for years in affordable terms, thus, achieving one’s dream of having a home does not become so much of a burden.

However, although home loans lessen the burden, it remains very important that the owner specifically matches his criteria for a home and income potential. It is true that getting the best home is the most fulfilling. However, in reality, the best may not be appropriate for everyone.

One’s housing affordability is strongly dependent on money available for down payment, costs for closing a certain deal, and needs for a cash reserve. Normally, the greater the existing amount, the less that one has to file for a home loan which is much better.

Agents of home loans normally go through an intensive consultation with the potential home buyers. These discussions cover preferences as well as possible trade-offs given some budget constraints. These also aim to organize all factors involved at the very start of the transaction to avoid problems along the way.

At such stage, the buyer realistically asks himself, “What do I want in a home which I can afford?” Indeed, searching for the right home is both subjective and objective. It is subjective because choices are strongly dependent on one’s personal taste and objective because a lot of tangible factors must be taken into serious consideration.

As soon as preferences have been laid down well in the light of a realistic budget, one is ready to search for the actual home. There are realtors who can help in this stage as well as other service providers who can give an honest evaluation of the target neighbourhood. However, this stage poses the temptation to go over the set budget so one must be very focused on what has been previously planned.

Getting the help of a real estate professional is indeed beneficial as they can help save time as well as effort as they know the ins and outs of the business. Proper communication of actual financial status and preferences should be in place. They can also suggest which loan providers are best in the industry.

On the other hand, having budget constraints does not automatically mean availing of a home of poor quality. One still needs to be very critical as he inspects each of the homes that he visits. There are so many choices out there and quality must not sacrifice with amount.

There are online loan calculators that one can easily use to regularly monitor the price range against what one can actually afford. These tools are updated and make use of current interest rates. Thus, one can immediately see how much the monthly amortization will be.

Indeed, in availing any home loans, a realistic evaluation is very important. Loan companies will not grant a home loan if finances and income potential are obviously not sufficient. This explains why an intensive credit investigation is being conducted first. This is a standard procedure in any loan provider.

Indeed, proper planning here is very essential. It is not enough that one simply wants a home. One’s dreams of owning a home can become a reality if and only if all factors involved have been well considered. Otherwise, the dream may turn out to be a nightmare.

Peter Kenny asked:




Having some knowledge of how to calculate finance charges is always a good thing. Most lenders, as you know, will do this for you, but it can helpful to be able to check the math yourself. It is important, however, to understand that what is presented here is a basic procedure for calculating finance charges and your lender may be using a more complicated method. There may also be other issues attached with your loan which may affect the charges.

The first thing to understand is that there are two basic parts to a loan. The first issue is called the principal. This is the amount of money that is borrowed. The lender wants to make a profit for his services (lending you the money) and this is called interest. There are many types of interest from simple to variable. This article will examine simple interest calculations.

In simple interest deals, the amount of the interest (expressed as a percentage) does not change over the life of the loan. This is often called flat rate or fixed interest.

The simple interest formula is as follows:

Interest = Principal ? Rate ? Time

Interest is the total amount of interest paid.

Principal is the amount lent or borrowed.

Rate is the percentage of the principal charged as interest each year.

To do your math, the rate must be expressed as a decimal, so percentages must be divided by 100. For example, if the rate is 18%, then use 18/100 or 0.18 in the formula.

Time is the time in years of the loan.

The simple interest formula is often abbreviated:

I = P R T

Simple interest math problems can be used for borrowing or for lending. The same formulas are used in both cases.

When money is borrowed, the total amount to be paid back equals the principal borrowed plus the interest charge:

Total repayments = principal + interest

Usually the money is paid back in regular installments, either monthly or weekly. To calculate the regular payment amount, you divide the total amount to be repaid by the number of months (or weeks) of the loan.

To convert the loan period, ‘T’, from years to months, you multiply it by 12. To convert ‘T’ to weeks, you multiply by 52, since there are 52 weeks in a year.

Here is an example problem to illustrate how this works.

Example:

A single mother purchases a used car by obtaining a simple interest loan. The car costs $1500, and the interest rate that she is being charged on the loan is 12%. The car loan is to be paid back in weekly installments over a period of 2 years. Here is how you answer these questions:

1. What is the amount of interest paid over the 2 years?

2. What is the total amount to be paid back?

3. What is the weekly payment amount?

You were given: principal: ‘P’ = $1500, interest rate: ‘R’ = 12% = 0.12, repayment time: ‘T’ = 2 years.

Step 1: Find the amount of interest paid.

Interest: ‘I’ = PRT

= 1500 ? 0.12 ? 2

= $360

Step 2: Find the total amount to be paid back.

Total repayments = principal + interest

= $1500 + $360

= $1860

Step 3: Calculate the weekly payment amount.

Weekly payment amount = total repayments divided by loan period, T, in weeks. In this case, $1860 divided by 104 weeks equals $17.88 per week.

Calculating simple finance charges is easy once you have done some practice with the formulas.

Bruce Owens asked:




Construction loan mortgages can turn a vacant piece of land – whether in a not-as-yet developed suburban tract, or the wilds of a favourite rural escape – into a person’s dream home, chalet or vacation retreat. Because these loans are the vehicles that turn a person’s vision of where they would like to live, or where they would like to vacation or retire, they are sometimes referred to as “dream loans’. And everybody has to have a dream.

Construction loan mortgages are typically designed to start as an interest-only loan under which funds are released to the homebuilder in stages as construction progresses. So much is released to purchase the property, so much when the foundation is built, when the structure of the home is enclosed etc. Ultimately, when construction is completed and an occupancy permit is issued, the interest-only construction loan is then rolled into a home mortgage with the standard amortization terms and payment structures etc. of a normal home mortgage.

During the construction phase of building such a “dream home”, the construction loan that funds the project will typically be an interest-only loan with variable rate interest. After all, in most instances the person who financing construction of his or her dream will most often be living off property in a second home, or otherwise renting or paying for accommodation. Upon completion, the construction loan is paid off, and a regular mortgage is drawn up on the property. The advantage of a construction loan mortgage is that the same lender can often be found to complete the financing of the homeowner/builder’s project: funding short-term construction coasts, and funding the long term mortgage on the property.

Most lenders will offer one or many varieties of such loan/mortgages. Working with a lender that will finance both ends of the transaction cuts down the application and its incidental costs and allows the homeowner/builder to negotiate favourable mortgage terms for the long haul.

A mortgage broker with experience in handling construction loan mortgages can guide the person building his or her dream home with the advice and expertise that will guide a first time builder through the process. Lenders will not typically finance all of the costs for the construction project – although, generally, a mortgage broker can help arrange financing for up to 95% of the project.

An experienced mortgage broker will be able to provide expertise and guidance with respect to (i) acquisition of the land and arranging servicing of the building lot, (ii) construction financing and planning when and in what amounts to draw down funds from the construction loan, as well as (iii) assistanc with converting the construction loan into a regularized mortgage when construction is complete and your dream home is ready for occupancy.

Comparison shop when looking for the best terms for your construction loan mortgage. Enlist the help of a mortgage broker who will be able to connect you to a host of different lenders. Compare their terms. Note that it could be worthwhile to pay a slightly higher interest rate during the construction phase, as this will be a relatively short-term cost, if you can get better mortgage terms later from the same lender, versus going to other lenders. Shop around, work with a broker, and do not be afraid to ask the question that will help you turn your dreams into your reality.