Tampa, Florida, December 17, 2007 – Online property auction site FastHomesolutions.com is reporting a record number of foreign investors visiting its web site in search of real estate bargains, especially in the Sunbelt area of the United States. The current weakness of the dollar against foreign currencies is a key contributor to the trend, which works to the advantage of lenders anxious to sell their REO (real estate owned) inventories of defaulted properties to foreign investors.

“It’s a huge opportunity for REO asset managers,” said Jim Case, CEO of Fast Home Solutions, which recently launched its online property auction website at www.FastHomesolutions.com. “We’re seeing investors from all over, especially France, Germany and Belgium, as well as from the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. They are eager to buy U.S. homes, villas, properties now, while their own currencies are strong against our dollar.”

The British pound is particularly strong, currently trading at over two to one against the dollar. “This trend means that private investors and investment groups are highly motivated to buy,” Case said. “There will be more millionaires coming out of this downswing than ever before.” Foreign investors often use a group strategy when they acquire properties, pooling buying power and distributing risk. They buy multiple properties in targeted areas, then hire local property managers to oversee them and keep them rented. “Canadians are very active right now, especially in the Sunbelt areas like Florida,” Case explained. “Likewise, people from the UK are very familiar with Florida as a vacation spot, so when they see bargains on our website, they are quick to seize the opportunity to purchase.”

This is good news for loan servicers and loss mitigation professionals charged with disposing of owned real estate. The online auction concept, while not new, is experiencing a surge of popularity because of the ease with which properties can be vetted by potential buyers, whether for investment or owner occupancy. “Asset managers are getting slammed right now by the sheer volume of properties they must sell,” observed Case. “Online auctions are the best way to get properties in front of the most people, but REO people are so busy at the moment, it is difficult to consider new methods.” Fast Home Solutions approach to attract REO listings is to avoid the negatives buyers and sellers have seen in the past with online auctions. “Buyers hate paying premiums to buy properties online, so we’ve eliminated them,” said Case. “At the same time, investors want research on areas and values, as well as finding local property managers, so we’re adding content to make those available at minimal or no cost,” he added.

The “Half-back” Phenomenon

Further complicating things for REO asset managers desiring sell property in Sunbelt areas is the increase of people leaving places like Florida for financially more hospitable climes. Their properties are competing with REO sales for buyer attention, and keeping prices low. These are people who have been whipsawed by rising insurance rates caused by the hurricanes and sinkholes of recent years, as well as increased property taxes. Rather than moving all the way back up north, they are going half way, to places like Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee, hence the term “half-back.” “These neighboring states have much more attractive scenarios for these sellers,” explains Jim Case. “And they still don’t have to put up with harsh winters.” With these additional properties cluttering up the inventory, REO sellers are finding their work cut out for them.

This new wave of foreign investors may be the key to keeping the market moving, said Case. “We send out over a million opt-in emails to investors every week and I can tell you that the demand for property listings is getting stronger every day,” he said. “The dollar’s weakness right now may work out to be a blessing for the REO asset managers, especially since these foreign investors like to buy more than one.”



Sell and Rent Back

If you want to make money in real estate you can do so even if you have no experience.

All you need to do is fix houses up to a set formula. Here are your 3 simple steps to make money fixing houses even if house prices crash.

1. Buy only in areas you can turn a profit quickly,

You want to be able to sell the home you have bought and get out quickly and bank your profit.

Go for areas that are in demand in any market. You will pay a bit more, but there is less risk when you come to want to sell and move onto the next house.

2. Lock in The Value of the property

In a bull market of course you don’t need to do this but with property prices on the slide (don’t listen to estate agents look at the fundamentals) and interest rates biting, you don’t want your house to fall from its current market rate.

The current market value of the property is what you are basing your profit projection on.

Today, there are many companies who will lock in your property value at the current market rate.

If you paid $250,000 and the market value drops to $180,000, they will give you the full $250,000, or the rate you locked it in at.

In a bull market you don’t need to take up the option, in a bear market it can be lucrative as you get the full price paid and then can buy your next property cheaper and start all over again.

3. Improvements To Add Value

Now you have a base rate to work off lets look at the obvious improvements you can make to flip your home for profit.

Start by Improving The outside

Landscaping or “curb appeal” is a huge selling point.

Keep in mind:

First impressions often sell a house.

Kitchen remodeling

Can get more cash value and is an excellent upgrade, as to are bathrooms.

Replacing windows or doors don’t add much unless they are in an obvious state of disrepair

Make sure the style of the home is up to date and is Change the carpeting and walls into a neutral color scheme for wide appeal.

Fixing up your home on the outside offers more value for improving your homes value than on the inside in terms of expense.

Inside make the home as broadly appealing as possible and Make it look like it has been well cared for.

Keep in mind only fix up the items that can be seen by prospective buyers.

Don’t do electrical upgrades or plumbing fixtures that look fine.

Simply, make sure that the house looks well cared for. Start on the outside first and then make the upgrades suggested internally and make the decor have a neutral look for wide appeal.

Don’t bother with things that people cant see, they wont add much value.

The upgrades above can be done by anyone and are both easy and quick to do.

You can move onto more complex jobs later, when you have some profit in the bank.

So get the right location, lock in a profit base by, locking in the property value and make essential upgrades and you will be on the road to make a tidy profit.



Quick Property Sale

Are you thinking about buying at a foreclosure or bankruptcy auction? This article is designed to provide you with the details on how bankruptcy auctions work and how they can get you the best deal on foreclosed property. Specifics may vary from auction to auction; however, the following information includes helpful and important guidelines from which everyone can benefit.

Bankruptcy auctions can be a good place to find assets or property at a value lower than the appraised value. Property that goes to auction as a result of foreclosure or bankruptcy can be anything from a home, land or commercial business. Here’s how it works:

In addition to the auctioneer, there are usually several people involved in bankruptcy auctions. The person who currently owns the property up for auction (the property owner) is usually there at the auction. Any lien holders that have loaned money to the property owner to secure the asset(s) will also be present. Other interested parties (that would be you) who are interested in buying the asset being auctioned are also there to place bids.

When the asset being auctioned goes up, anyone present can bid on it, including the owner. Let’s say, for instance, that the asset is a home. The original owner secured it through a lending company (the first lien holder) for $500,000. A few years later, the owner took out a second mortgage through another lending company (the second lien holder) for $100,000. Now, the unpaid balance of the asset is around $550,000 including both liens. The property goes to auction when the owner can no longer make payments or cannot afford the loans.

Most property owners who are present do not bid in the auction. The lending companies are looking to receive the amount owed to them for the property but the owner is not willing to or cannot pay that amount. The property owner is allowed to bid but it would not make sense for them to bid the full amount, especially if it’s more than they can pay.

The lien holders will probably bid in the auction. Why? They are trying to recover the amount owed to them! If the value of the property is less than what they are owed, the lien holders should bid up the asset. However, if the only other bidder present is the property owner, there is no point in bidding above the value to the lien holder. This, of course, is different if there are other bidders who are not the property owner.

Interested parties can bid as they wish – they’re there for one purpose and that’s to get the property at the right price, whatever that may be. Sometimes a bidder can get an asset, like a home, at a great price! So, even though foreclosures and bankruptcy auctions can seem daunting at first, once you understand the process and are familiar with who the bidders are and what they’re trying to achieve, you’ll be able to seek out good deals and capitalize on them.



Quick Property Sale

There are many situations when you have to come up with a large amount of cash in a short time. If you take action in due time, you are presented with a lot of options, but if your situation gets critical your options narrow down considerably, and you may find yourself at a point of no return, where you stand to lose everything. Fortunately for you, there are solutions that you have probably never thought of. When your financial problems are overwhelming, when you are going through legal separation, when you go bankrupt, or find yourself in any other situation of the kind, your best option is to sell your house. The problem is that things can be a lot more complicated than they seem, because house sale can be a complex and lengthy process. Getting all the required documentation can lead to months of waiting before you actually manage to sell your house and get the amount of cash that you need in a matter of weeks or even days. If you need to sell your house quickly for whatever reason, your best option is that of contacting investors who are willing and able to buy your property in a few weeks rather than months.

The process is not complicated at all. The Internet is the best place to find such property investors. It is also the most convenient way for you, as it saves a lot of time and money. You have to do no more than fill out an application form, giving detailed information about your property. Based on the information you provide, the investor will make an offer in principle. If you find this offer satisfactory, you will then be made an offer in writing, and the sale process will commence. The best part about this way of selling your house quickly is that it allows you to continue to live in your home as a tenant. In other words, if you are forced to sell your house quickly, as it represents the only solution to the problems that you are experiencing, you don’t have to evict the house, which would definitely be the case if you were to be repossessed. In some circumstances, fast house sale is followed by rent back and even buy back, after three or five years.

There are times when fast house sale is a must, not necessarily as a result of bankruptcy or other financial problems. If you have already found a buyer but you have lost him at the last minute, there are investors who will come to your rescue and enable you to sell your house quickly for cash. Losing a buyer is all the more upsetting when you have already found another property that you want to purchase. But you no longer have to worry about losing your dream home, because fast house sale for cash is now an option. Or if your property chain collapses and you are left with nothing but legal and survey fees to pay, fast house sale is once again your best and most convenient option. Fast house sale is also a very good option for homeowners who have arranged to move abroad and need a guarantee that the sale process will be completed before a given date.

For more resources about Sell your house quickly or even about fast house sale, please review this web page http://www.igtsolutions.co.uk



Sell and Rent Back

Do you know how to sell your house that has no equity with zero costs to you? If not, then it’s time for you to learn the little known secrets that Realtors hope you never learn. Also learn how to keep or repair your credit and most of all avoid the 5 cardinal sins sellers regularly make.

 

Little Known Secrets Revealed!

 

Repair nightmare, tenant terrors, back payments, taxes, foreclosure, fire damaged house, probated or inherited houses – These are common problems that can happen to anyone. What can you do? Wait for a real estate agent to sell your home? And, if you do not have much equity in your house, your options are even more limited. You may have to come to closing with a great big check. But that is even worse than losing equity.

 

Sometimes the homeowner just wants to get away and start over. The fact is nobody wants to deal with a lot of hassles when it comes to selling house. If you do not wish to have Realtors tying up your house for 6 months, which is time you don’t have or run ads or place For Sale signs everywhere, or worse avoiding to answer the phone for fear of it being the bank… again, then all you need to do is find the right buyer and be sure to make a good deal. For sure you would not wish to have strangers coming through your home for an open house, constantly answer the door or the phone from investors looking to “Buy” your house and clean up in a mad whirlwind frenzy to get the house ready for a showing.

 

We Buy Houses!

 

Fortunately, there are a lot of options available just around the corner. You may even see a number of signage such as “We Buy Houses in Houston, Kingwood, Humble and Atascocita”, “We Buy Houses,” and so on and so forth. When you’ve finally found the right deal then you can start selling your property. You can relax and pay no Realtor commissions or fees, close when you are ready, and move when you are ready.

 

On the other hand, you may simply need a little FREE advice on how to deal with your lender and work out a reinstatement program that does not require refinancing. Remember that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by just taking a few minutes for a FREE consultation. You do have a lot to lose by doing nothing: your home, your credit, your peace of mind and your future.

 



Quick House Sale

Everyday we watch as the rising number of bank owned properties increases. Every neighborhood is flooding with these unmaintained eye soar properties. The majority of lenders out there are not willing to negotiate on the price. I bet they just don’t want to comprehend they are on the losing side this battle. There are not too many ways out there to get these properties sold to home buyers or investors. One of the biggest ways to come to my mind is live auctions.

Live auctions have general y been a great way to sale that overstocked inventory. Everything from junk to real estate can be sold at auction. They can be held almost anywhere that a microphone can be setup. The mobility of theses auctioneers makes these live auctions very popular today. They are able to setup a whole auction in front of a house in less than twenty minutes.

A great deal of the foreclosure properties all around are going to your local auction house. The lenders believe that they will be able to get everyone hyped out to bid up their devaluating properties. I have personally seen this number of times. Surprisingly people do bid up these properties significantly higher than they could purchase normally without the auction house fees included.

The majority of auction houses have a fixed percentage of the final selling price of the auctioned products or homes to be received as their payment. I have seen the typical amounts to be around three to five percent to be added to the winning bid. Always remember when bidding that you have to calculate the auction house’s commission in the price. Just imagine purchasing a house at $200,000 and having to pay 5% commission now your actual purchase price is $210,000. It will amaze you how fast everything adds up.

The problem with a significant number of auction houses today is their rules and guidelines. Usually rules and guidelines are to protect the buyer and the seller but I wish that was true. Be very careful and read all of the small print pertaining to the auction you are interested in attending. Make sure you read the sections pertaining to bidding and buying at auction. You would think that the minimal bid would be the lowest acceptable price for the seller, but no it is only a teaser. In the minds of these lenders they would not sell their properties at that low of a price. The best part is they do not have to sell it for that price even if you bid up the property in question over its reserve amount. The lenders setup minimum reserve amounts for each property they are auctioning off. In the past whatever the property price was bid up to in the end was it. That was the price the property was sold for and on to the next. Did you know that if you win an auction the seller typically has seven days to accept or deny your bid? Even if you win and your bid is higher than their reserve that does not mean that you have won. The most frustrating part is that they made you pre-qualify to bid at the auction. You could have just spent your own time making offers. In the end the lenders decide either way!



Repossession

Nobody wants to experience foreclosure because it is a painful and traumatic event. Homeowners are forced to move out from the homes where they have stayed for a long time. Unfortunately, when the economy is unhealthy, people will lose their job, which will lead to the increased in the number of foreclosure. However, not all foreclosure related things are bad. Foreclosure provides an opportunity for investors to make a profitable investment in the property market. This is because foreclosed properties are sold cheaper than their actual market value.

If you are thinking to start investing in property, then you should start by finding house foreclosure listings. This is a good strategy to buy properties with discounted prices. The internet is the easiest place where you can find these listings. You will easily find many foreclosure listings around your area.

Other than the internet, you can get information on house foreclosure listings from public notices, financial institutions, and real estate agencies. Public notices should be the most practical and it is a normal process for the government to announce to public for any foreclosure listings. Financial institutions like banks usually are willing to help you with these house foreclosure listings because they want to get rid of these empty properties themselves. The last one is through real estate agencies, but you may need to pay a small fee to get the listings.

Once you find a suitable house from the listings, you have to do further research. Do not jump directly and buy the house without thinking or you may face problems later on. First, you should think how you can come up with enough money to buy the house. If you do not have enough money, you should consider getting a loan to finance it. It is also important to understand the local laws related with foreclosure before you buy any property to make sure that you do not get any surprises in the future. Furthermore, you should always check the house yourself. You can even bring an expert appraiser that can evaluate the value of the house. Make sure that the house is in an acceptable condition. If you need to spend a lot of money to make repairs, then it may not be a good investment opportunity. If everything looks satisfactorily, you can buy the house.

The next thing to do is to do essential repairs and improvements. Before you make the deal, you need to know roughly how much money that you have to spend for this refurbishment. Basically the total cost to buy and repair the house should still be lower than the actual value of the house. This is the reason why you have to check the house beforehand. During the refurbishment, you have to set a certain amount of budget and try your utmost to stick with the number. Otherwise your spending will blow up and the investment becomes unprofitable.



Quick Property Sale

Attending an auction can result in some terrific bargains but also can be quite an entertaining day out too. It has been said that the difference between attending an auction and having a flutter at the ‘bookies’ (betting shop) is that with an auction, if you walk away empty handed you’re not out of pocket. The excitement of bidding is as thrilling as having a bet on the horses!

To ensure that you have a great day out, you should prepare yourself first. I have outlined a few things you might like to bear in mind first before you to attend any auction,

Before travelling any great distance to the auction, make sure you know exactly where the auction is being held and also it would be a good idea to take a copy of the catalogue with you. Contacting the auction by phone well before the auction normally ensures that you get a catalogue well in advance. However, some of the auctioneers don’t produce the catalogue until a couple of days before.

Always have a back up plan. If you don’t have a catalogue and somehow the auctioneers are not selling the sort of stuff that you want, make sure your day isn’t wasted and do some sightseeing instead. It is always a good idea in case the auction is cancelled for whatever reason or you even get the auction dates wrong (it does happen, believe me!). It would be prudent to phone up on the day of the auction to make sure so a contact telephone number is always handy. There are a number of places where you can get hold of Auctioneer listings from the internet and just print them out or even visit the Yellow Pages website.

When you arrive at the auction, make sure you’re early. This will give you time to inspect the items closely and see if there are any defects. If so, are these acceptable, can they be easily fixed or will the item be totally useless.

When bidding for an item, make sure you set yourself an upper limit as to what you are willing to pay and don’t go over it. This is where there’s a similarity between auctions and gambling. If you don’t set yourself a limit and just keep bidding until you ‘win’ then you may find that you have paid too much for the item and would have been better buying it from a local shop. I can’t stress this important factor strongly enough. Set yourself an upper limit as to the maximum you are willing to pay and then stick to it.

When setting this upper limit you will need to allow for what is called a ‘Buyers Premium’ and any VAT. Your catalogue should state this clearly. If not, speak to the auctioneer and find out before the auction.

The other thing to note is that the catalogues can vary. For example, certain items may be withdrawn from the sale at moments notice or other items can be included at the last minute.



Quick House Sale

 

Fighting Internet Auction Fraud

By Ulf Wolf

Cybercrime is up again for 2007. Hardly news, of course; it is no secret that this plague is spreading farther and deeper by the hour.

And here’s another unsurprising piece of news: at the head of the pack, same as last year: Internet Auction Fraud.

The FBI Numbers

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NWC3), recently released its 2007 figures on cybercrime complaints received and referred to law enforcement.

Again, the numbers showed that Internet Auction Fraud was by far the most reported offense in 2007, comprising at it did 35.7% of all complaints. In addition, during the same period, the non-delivery of merchandise and/or payment from non-auction internet transactions represented another 24.9%, pegging the combined total of on-line sales related fraud complaints at 60.6% of all Internet fraud.

Internet Auction Fraud

What far too many users fail to realize is that when something is purchased via an Internet auction, it is not bought from the auction house (say eBay, or Yahoo) but from an individual or company. The auction site-acting as a go-between-merely provides a forum where individuals can trade with one another, and it usually adopts-and prominently displays-a firm policy of washing their hands of legal responsibility for any loss suffered from using their service.

Once the bidding has concluded the payment for and delivery of the goods bought and sold is negotiated between the purchaser and seller. If the item is not delivered after it is paid for or is not what was represented on the auction site, the auction house will not refund any money. It is up to the buyer to approach the seller to negotiate a fair and proper settlement.

The statutory warranties that normally cover trade do not cover goods bought at on-line auction. The seller’s only obligation is to give clear title.

Therefore, keep the following in mind when dealing with on-line auctions, or whenever you buy anything online, especially from a private party:

Understand how the auction works, what your obligations are as a buyer, and what the seller’s obligations are before you bid; Find out what actions the auction house will take if a problem occurs, and consider insuring the transaction and shipment; Be aware that if a problem does occur with an auction transaction, it will be more difficult to resolve if the seller is located outside the United States-laws can differ widely country to country; Learn as much as possible about the seller, especially if the only information you have is an e-mail address; Before you make a payment for an auction purchase, you should verify the seller’s identity and contact details in case there is a problem with the delivery of the item; Ask the seller when delivery can be expected and whether the merchandise is covered by warranty if you need to exchange it; Use registered or certified mail to enable tracing; this will eliminate claims that the parcel was sent but must have been “lost in the mail;” Check that the auction account information matches email, phone number and any bank account and location information; Use auction house feedback forums to check out the seller’s history before agreeing to pay any money. Please note however, that sellers sometimes post positive feedback on themselves or organize other people to do so on their behalf.

And here is the most important advice of all:

If you have any doubts about the integrity of an on-line auction seller-and even if you’re not: use an escrow agent. An escrow agent or company is an independent third party which holds payment in trust until the buyer receives and accepts the item from the seller. While this service does incur a fee, it protects the buyer because the third party will hold the money until the goods have been received in good condition, inspected, and accepted; and only then released to the seller.

Internet Escrow

The principle and process of Internet escrow is the same as with buying and selling real estate-where, of course, the escrow company is deemed indispensible due to the amounts involved.

The buyer or seller opens an account with the online escrow company; The prospective buyer of an item sends payment by wire transfer, check or credit card to the escrow company; The escrow company verifies that the funds indeed do exist, or that the buyer is who he represents himself to be and is in possession of the credit card used; Once this checks out, the escrow company asks the seller to ship the merchandise; Merchandise is shipped, and seller submits tracking information; Once the shipping site shows the merchandise as delivered the escrow company double checks to ensure the buyer has the goods in hand; The buyer now has an agreed-upon amount of time to either accept the goods or return it to the seller; Once accepted by the buyer, the escrow company releases the funds to the seller, less any processing fees and commissions.

Straightforward enough. If, that is, you are dealing with a legitimate online escrow company.

Fighting the Fighter

But the world, as we know, likes to throw us curves; and in this instance in the curve comes in the guise of escrow fraud.

Handling, as it does, substantial amounts of money, the escrow company is often itself a target of fraud-where look-alike phishing sites try to con you into using them rather than the bona fide site; and the escrow company concept itself is also flagrantly abused by criminals who set up fraudulent escrow sites where money will only travel one-way: you guessed it, away from you.

In fact, the problem of fake on-line escrow sites is so substantial that some reputable and legitimate escrow sites have simply thrown in the towel.

Buyer Guardian, for example, recently shut its doors due to Internet fraud stealing their business, and posted the following note on their site: “We are sad to report that after careful and lengthy consideration we have made the decision to cease operations at BuyerGuardian.com. This is a very difficult decision, and one that is made primarily due to the rapid growth of online escrow fraud.”

Many of these apparently bona fide escrow companies, established for the sole purpose of enriching the criminal, are set up off-shore-predominantly in Russia or China-where lax cyber crime laws (and sometimes questionable cooperation with U.S. Authorities) makes it more difficult to shut the sites down and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Enter: Escrow.com

Actually, Escrow.com entered this fray nearly ten years ago during the dot-com boom and has over the years shown itself to be the online escrow company to turn to for secure and fraud-less auction and other online sales/purchase transactions-with the credentials and staying power to prove it.

Licensed by the state of California-as well as by the States of Idaho and Arizona, who require separate licenses-Escrow.com is the only on-line escrow company credentialed to serve every state of the Union, and who indeed does so 24/7.

While Escrow.com will handle transactions of any size, it may not make financial sense to turn to them for low cost items since their transaction fee is $25, and their commission is $63 per $1,000 value of the transaction if payment is by credit card and $32.50 per $1,000 for wire transfers.

But, if you value your sleep, Escrow.com would be indispensible for any transaction of $250 on up.

Peace of Mind

Michigan-based telecomclassifiedads.com, which buys and sells expensive telecommunication switching equipment concurs, would not, according to Mickey Fivenson, complete any online transactions without Escrow.com.

“I use Escrow.com for all my equipment transactions, and without them I would not be in business. It’s as simple as that.

“I deal with buyers and sellers on a daily basis who do not know each other and who live in different parts of the world. Escrow.com is the only way I can complete a transaction between them.

“As a result, after five years of doing business through Escrow.com I have never had anything but satisfied customers.”

Dave Kurko of RPM Auto Wholesale in Pleasant Hill, CA could not agree more:

“Escrow.com provides a safety net for both seller and buyer, delivering certainty in an uncertain world.

“Most people understand the concept of escrow, particularly if they have bought and sold real estate in a jurisdiction that uses an escrow company rather than an attorney to settle a real estate transaction; in fact, we have modeled our transaction on the real estate transaction. Escrow.com has made this approach not only possible but also very effective.

“They are also very customer centric, and thanks to their tech support we have been able to integrate opening an escrow account with them into our own web-hosted application, allowing our CRM software to talk directly to their database over a secure link.

“Really, they’re the only game in town. We’ve searched other companies, and nobody else measures up.”

Escrow.com-The Detective

While Escrow.com is gaining increasing recognition as the Internet escrow company to turn to for peace of e-commerce mind, their staff, on a daily basis, also hunt and diligently work to shut down fraudulent impostors, which are encountered daily.

And they spring up like mushrooms, these impostors: there are days that Escrow.com staff discovers as many as ten new such sites.

A couple of clever fraud specimens can be found (if they are still up at time of print) at safe-wayonline.com and escrow-holdings.net, both of which have been confirmed as unlawful. You certainly cannot fault these criminals for lack of professional design.

The good news is that as these sites are tracked down, authorities are alerted and the sites are soon off the air.

eBay Weighs In

To quote the biggest auction site of them all, eBay:

Pay safely – beware of fake escrow services when you consider using them to pay for your eBay item.

For eBay transactions, you should use eBay’s only approved Escrow Company: Escrow.com.

To avoid being deceived by fraudulent email from a fake escrow service, you should visit the escrow service’s Web site to verify information you received via email.

Make sure you type the entire Web address (for example, www.escrow.com) into your Web browser. Don’t let your Web browser auto-complete the Web address for you. It could mistakenly auto-complete a fraudulent Web address.

Learn more about escrow: http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/payment-escrow.html

Escrow.com-The Household Name

More importantly, however, as Escrow.com gains further and further recognition on its way to become a household name, it gets harder and harder for impostors to defraud the public for the excellent reason that they are not Escrow.com-the only name you know you can trust.

Here’s to peace of mind and a good night’s sleep.

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho-based Ulf Wolf writes about cybercrime for Words & Images (ulf@words-images.com)

 



Quick House Sale

Very low mortgage rates have been instrumental in increasing the purchasing power of millions in the US, Europe and around the world. For one year mortgage rates are on the rise and home prices leveling out. Foreclosures are becoming more common, especially in the American Midwest, but it is still on a low level. We can now expect a gradual rise in mortgage rates the coming year. The 30-year rates will likely continue to rise in the upcoming months, but should not go past 7% in the US. In Europe the 5 year interest rate is around 5-6%. So if you plan to get a fixed rate loan, you should act quickly because mortgage rates are predicted to push past 7% in the US over the next few weeks.

The second mortgage rates on high loans to value loans above 90% on real estate investment properties can come close to 20%, even if you have a very good score. It might be a good time now to refinance your home or get a mortgage loan with attractive rates. Search the Internet and you will find a lot of online companies offering low mortgage rates all over the country.

A survey that was performed recently shows that there is a increase of foreclosure rates and delinquent mortgage payments across the country. Also lenders, just like consumers, feel the effects of a slowing economy and rising mortgage interest rates. No wonder we hear lots of discussions about rising mortgage interest rates.

A forty-year mortgage rates offer lower monthly installments, which suits the needs of first time home buyers as well as borrower who otherwise do not qualify for any other option. Of course there are many factors that can affect the mortgage rates but mortgage rates should be relatively stable for the foreseeable future.

Some persons prefer to have a fixed mortgage payment to maintain their peace of mind. Then you should have it and if you took the loan a couple of years ago you certainly made the right choice. For others there are a wide range of options currently available.

With an adjustable rate, the rate of interest is linked to factors like the Prime Rate. There are also other variations of the adjustable interest rate. As said before, if the market appears to be on a longer rise, locking in a fixed rate now can save you money in the future.

It is impossible to mention the rates individually, as there are a wide number of factors and statistics involved and they vary from day to day. It also depends on when you happen to read this article. Often the credit companies are also skeptical in offering the forty-year mortgage rate option to their customers as there are other existing ways of reducing monthly payments.

Searching on the Internet, using lowest mortgage rates as keyword, will provide you detailed information on Compare Low Mortgage Rates, Lowest Commercial Mortgage Rates, Lowest First Mortgage Rates, Lowest Fixed Mortgage Rates and more. That is an excellent way to get the basic facts for the time being and will give you a better understanding of which plan to choose.



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