You Can Cut Your Investment Losses And Save Your Credit Rating

By Sarah Bentley

When a lot of people think of investment properties they seem to assume that they are treated much differently from the home that you live in, but that's not true, especially where issues like payments and foreclosures are concerned. Any investment property that's facing foreclosure is a serious problem because that will go on a person's credit like any other foreclosure. The payments on the investment property have to be kept current and that can be hard to do in a recession and a tight credit market where an investor might not know from month to month whether the money to make the payment will be available.

When the property market was going so strong there were all kinds of people buying investment properties. They were renting them out or flipping them and re-selling them for a lot more than they had paid. It was working well because people were eager to rent or buy them and sometimes there were waiting lists or 'highest bidder' scenarios.

Now, though, there are some properties that are almost impossible to even give away. Cities like Detroit and others are allowing people to buy property that nobody else wants for amounts only in the hundreds of dollars, not thousands or tens of thousands. If you picked up a lot of investment properties when the market for them was really hot you probably did very well, but what happened when the bottom fell out of the market and you suddenly weren't doing so well anymore?

When people find themselves in those kinds of situations they might feel as though they are all alone, but they definitely are not, since there are many people who tried to make a lot of money in the market only to have it crash down around them. A lot of them were left stuck with investment properties that they didn't know what to do with, since they couldn't seem to get them sold and they couldn't get them rented either - and this started to put them behind on the mortgage payments that they had to make. There are very few choices open to these people, and they are mostly limited to trying to get out from under the property before it destroys their credit or trying to hang on until the market improves - which might not be feasible for people in dire financial straits.

Even if there's already been some damage to your credit, the less damage there is and the shorter the period of time where late payments and other issues show up the less costly it will be to you in the long run when your credit is checked by a company that you're trying to use to finance something. The main thing is to avoid the damage, but if you're not able to do that the next best thing is to cut your losses and do some damage control in the form of getting rid of your investment properties before they can harm your credit and/or your financial future any more than they already have. To do that you have to know what's owed on them, what they're worth, and how you can most easily and quickly get rid of them - either by a deed to the bank in lieu of foreclosure, a short sale, or some other method.

When you're honest about the financial problems that you're having, your lender will be more likely to try to work with you on them, and it's a very smart thing to do where an investment property is concerned. It's really better to talk to a lender before any problems get started but a lot of people are embarrassed about financial troubles or don't want anyone to know, so they just don't say anything until it's too late and they're really stuck. If you want to save your credit rating and your financial future, don't let your pride get in the way of talking to your lender at the first sign of trouble making your investment property payments.

If you're up front about things, a lender that's handling your investment properties will be more likely to work with you and try to help you renegotiate your way to a better rate, a longer term, or something that can help you continue your investment. If it becomes clear that you won't be able to keep the property, though, talk to your bank about the options you have. You really want to keep a foreclosure off of your credit if at all possible, so check out the possible options that you have and pick the one that's the least damaging to your credit rating. - 23208

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Does it pay for me to refinance my mortgage?

Bull Market Magic

By Mike Swanson

The terminology Bull market and bear markets are generally used to describe the direction of the market either up or down. Stock prices up and down both during a trading day, and from one day to the next. But terms such as bull and bear describe the trend over the long term. Many analysts use a minimum analysis period of two years to determine if a change is a trend or just a change. They also feel the market needs to move at least 20%.

A Bull Market is one where the overall stock market in rising in value. The swing to a rising market occurs after it has fallen a long way and things were looking rather negative. Take a look at gold stock picks for example. When the bull market comes after such a period investors feel they can make money.

When a bear markets occurs there is a period of constant stock price decline. The decline is not in one stock but in the bulk of the market.

Probably the most well known bear market was the decline after the 1929 stock market crash. Following this 90% of share values were wiped in less than five years.

The patterns seen in a bear market tend to be a very big initial drop in values, which pushes a lot of the speculators out of the market. This is followed by a temporary period of stock price increases before the market starts to decline again over a longer period.

But after bear market comes a bull market. In a bull market there tends to be higher levels of trading. The key to making money is to buy a stock at lower price and sell it as it rises. But no one has a crystal ball and doing so is easier said than done.

For many people the idea that markets have cycle is forgotten. One can make money in both a bear and a bull market. - 23208

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Five Simple Tax Tips for Your Personal Taxes

By Doeren Mayhew

Your Home Is A Tax Saving Tool Deduct interest on up to a compounded total of $1 million of mortgage debt incurred to purchase, build or improve your top act and a second residence. And you can deduct points related to purchasing or rising your top residence. Also keep in mind these deductions and exclusions, including: concept set deduction, bag equity debt welfare deduction, rental income exclusion, and bag sale gain exclusion.

Save With Education Expenses If you've paid for your or someone else's education this past year (such as children or grandchildren), you may be able to apply for the following tax breaks: 529 Plans, ESAs, and Education Credits. Taxes advisor can help you select the most advantageous credit mix, depending on the amount of tuition paid and the number of students in your family. Student loan interest deduction. If you're paying off student loans, you may be able to deduct up to $2,500 of interest.

Give to Charity to Save More on tax Donations to qualified charities are generally fully tax deductible. For large donations, discuss with your taxadvisor both the types of assets to give and the best ways to give them. Charity assets include appreciated assets and CRTs.

Time Spent On Gains and Losses While time, not timing, is mostly the key to long-terminvestment success, timing hit a hammy impact on the set consequences of your investment activities. The 15% long-term top gains rate is 20 percentage points modify than the highest regular income set rate of 35%--and it mostly applies to investments held for more than 12 months. Don't permit set reasons stop you back from selling at a loss. If you're ready to divest your portfolio of a poorly performing security but don't hit enough gains to absorb the expiration you'll realize, advert that top gains distributions from mutual funds crapper also be equilibrize with losses. If you end up with a net top loss, you crapper claim up to $3,000 of the expiration against ordinary income this year and carry nervy any excess to future years.

Save Tax-Deferred First Because of the tax advantages, contributing to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 401(k), 403(b), 457, SIMPLE or SARSEP, is usually the best first step in retirement planning: Contributions are generally pretax, so they reduce your taxable income. Plan assets can grow tax-deferred-- meaning that you pay no income tax until you take distributions. Your employer may match some or all of your contributions--also on a pretax basis. At minimum, contribute the amount necessary to get the maximum employer match.

You have until April 15, 2010 to make 2009 deductions. - 23208

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Doeren Mayhew provides accounting, audit, tax, and business consulting services to middle-market, closely held companies and non-profit institutions. For more information, please visit the Doeren Mayhew website.

Woodstock, GA Has Great Homes For Sale

By Jennifer Giraldi

About 30 miles north of Downtown Atlanta resides a wonderful city named Woodstock. Not to be confused with the legendary music festival which recently celebrated it's 40th anniversary, this Woodstock is the thriving suburban city with a small town feel located in the Northern Atlanta metropolitan area. This city was once just a small town that had a pretty simple real estate market that just serviced first time home buyers and middle class families. However over the last decade things began to change. There are now Woodstock homes for sale to entice just about any type of home buyer.

Today, Woodstock real estate is partitioned out into three main categories. First we have the younger home buyers, who are usually single, newly married, or mainly first time home buyers. Second would be the largest real estate demographic, which includes families with children, and middle aged couples who desire to live in homes that are medium to large sized. And last would be the retirees who seek active adult communities.

Over the last 5 years Woodstock has had an appealing real estate market for first new home buyers. Adults who grew up in neighboring suburbs such as Dunwoody, Kennesaw and Marietta, figured out really fast that their money could go much farther. Over the last decade, lower property tax, sales tax, and association dues have helped fuel the growth within this demographic.

Offering plenty of quality, affordable housing, first time home buyers have flocked to this city.Subdivisions like Brookshire, Weatherstone, and The Woodlands, offer a great example of Woodstock homes for sale. With the City's own new "Downtown Woodstock" development completed, the city now has even greater appeal to the younger crowd. Complete with lofts, condos, and town homes, downtown living has been finally brought to the suburbs.

Families of all sizes also love Woodstock, Ga real estate. Subdivisions such as Eagle Watch and Woodlands off amenity rich living. Eagle Watch offers homes price for the mid 200s to the low 800s and sits on a beautiful designed 18 hole golf course. The Woodlands provide many homes priced from the low 200s to the high 300s. Great shopping and entertainment also add to these great attributes.

The empty nesters and retirees now have a solid stake in the area's real estate market. Communities such as The Cottages of Woodstock offer much amenity rich living. These 55 and older communities, although new to Cherokee County, have received many positive praises. Modeled after the prestigious Florida retirement communities, these Woodstock goergia homes are sure to please. Why move to Florida, when you can stay in Woodstock near your family and friends? - 23208

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For more information about the wonderful city of Woodstock, GA please visit our site. Atlanta real estate Woodstock homes

Triangle Formations In Forex Trading (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

What is the crowd psychology behind a descending triangle? Every time the currency price goes down to a certain level that forms the support there are buyers who want to hold that level stubbornly for their own reasons. Buyers thus push the price up each time the support level is tested. Spotting a descending triangle in a downtrend signals the downside breakout of the support level.

Sellers are quite anxious to sell as they feel that the currency price should fall over time. Thus when the price bounces off the support level, the bears take the opportunity to short again.

If it is a down trend, spotting a descending triangle should allow you to be prepared for a downside breakout from the support level. Bulls and bears face a skirmish with both camps not feeling confident of the next market move as with an ascending triangle. This is the transition period from low volatility to high volatility.

When the support level is broken many of those long positions which have been placed above that level soon get stopped out. Prices tend to break in the middle or the final third part of the triangle formation.

Unless you have reversal signals in the form of technicals or turn around of the market sentiment, you should always assume the continuation of the prevailing trend. It tends to give off even more bearish vibes than if it is formed during an uptrend if the descending triangle is formed during an existing downtrend.

With that said, prices also sometimes breakout from above the descending triangle successfully in a burst of bullish momentum.

Symmetrical Triangles: A symmetrical triangle consists of two converging trendlines that join a series of lower highs and higher lows. A symmetrical triangle has some resemblance to a wedge pattern. There are no horizontal lines in symmetrical triangles. This differentiates it from the ascending and the descending triangles.

The higher lows are formed when buyers of the currency pair are willing to pay a bit more to get a piece of action. As they are willing to accept less and less of the price over time, the lower highs reflect the mildly bearish conviction of the sellers.

There is no way to predict the future breakout direction until one of the symmetrical triangle lines is penetrated. A symmetrical triangle tends to be less reliable as compared to an ascending or descending triangle. Breakouts usually occur in the middle or the final third of the triangle as with the other sloping triangles.

Decreased volatility can also be detected with the exponential moving averages and the Bollinger bands besides the triangle formation. You should always consider other pieces of information so that you can better pinpoint a higher probability trade set up when trading triangle breakouts. - 23208

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Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Know These Forex Charts. Learn Forex Trading!