For all that’s been said about the proposed Bank of America-Countrywide merger, what’s not getting talked about is how the merger will impact existing Countrywide customers.

The short answer is that it won’t.

A mortgage (and its corresponding note) is a legal contract between the lender and the lendee, signed on the date [...]

(Pronounced: NEGH-ah-tive am-ohr-tih-ZAY-shun)

Negative amortization is the process by which a loan’s principal balance increases on a month-over-month basis.

This is in contrast to a “typical” amortization schedule in which the principal balance decreases.

Negative amortization is an optional feature on some home loans.

These mortgages are usually referred to by the brand [...]

Clipped from NBC’s Today Show, real estate maven Barbara Corcoran talks about preparing your home for sale. As usual, her remarks are spot-on.

Some highlights from the 5-minute video:

Go online and shop for your own home first Empty your home of two-thirds of the “stuff” Keep your home immaculately clean

Corcoran [...]

Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) is an insurance policy paid to a lender in the event that a homeowner defaults on his home loan.

These defaults are up 35 percent over last year, according to an industry group — bad news for all homeowners requiring PMI with their mortgage.

Much like home insurers adjust premiums [...]

Some quick statistics:

13% of Americans will die before age 65 28% of Americans will face a long-term disability before age 65 and be unable to work and/or earn an income

Despite these facts, Americans are twice as likely to be insured on their lives as on their long-term health.

Life insurance is important, but [...]

Since September 2007, the Federal Reserve has lowered the Fed Funds Rate by 1.000%.

This has caused Prime Rate to fall by 1.000%, too. This is because the Fed Funds Rate and Prime Rate are directly related.

In mathematical terms, the relationship looks like this:

(Prime Rate) = (Fed Funds Rate) + [...]

After demonstrationg tremendous resiliency since the summer, the U.S. economy finally showed signs of breaking last week.

Oil touched $100 per barrel igniting fears of a consumer spending slowdown Unemployment rates reached 5.0% nationwide Housing weakness nationwide is dragging on retailers’ sales figures

Markets appear to have abandoned the notion of runaway growth and are [...]

On the first Friday of each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases key data about the American workforce.

The report is officially called “Non-Farm Payrolls” but most people refer to it as the “jobs report”.

The jobs report’s influence on markets is palpable for two major reasons:

Consumer spending makes up two-thirds of [...]

Courtesy of HomeGain.com, a clever tool that helps homeowners preparing to sell their homes.

The Home Sale Maximizer asks 10 basic questions about the home’s condition and then recommends which home improvements to make prior to listing the home for sale.

The quiz results provide:

The average cost for improvements (by zip code) [...]

Real estate is a local phenomenon. Each home in each neighborhood is unique and has its own selling points.

This is the biggest reason why national home sales data is useless to a home buyer or home seller — “national” has nothing to do with you or your street.

Despite that separation, one of the [...]