Since the 1970s, parties have sought to create mortgage instruments that would enable elderly homeowners to obtain loans to convert their equity into income, while providing that no repayments would be due for a specified period, or ideally, for the lifetime of the borrower. These instruments have been referred to as reverse mortgages, reverse annuity mortgages, and home equity conversion loans. Reverse mortgages are the opposite of traditional mortgages in the sense that the borrower receives payments from the lender instead of making such payments to the lender. Reverse mortgages are designed to enable elderly homeowners to remain in their homes while using the equity in their homes as a form of income. Now, when used properly, reverse mortgages can be an effective way for seniors to tap into equity in their house as a means to bolster their retirement security. This book illustrates the increase in reverse mortgages and their advantages, as well as the frequently glossed-over issues. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.

Find The Home Mortgage That’s Right For You

Finding the right mortgage can be complex, confusing, and frustrating. But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for anything other than the terms you want. This indispensable and newly updated second edition of How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Your Home Mortgage spells out everything mortgage hunters need to know in clear and accessible terms. It covers more loan alternatives than any other book and examines the importance of discount points. It offers complete details on virtually every mortgage option currently available, what advantages each option offers, how to choose the right one for your needs, and how to save money in the process. New information in this edition will help you use the Internet to find a home and get a mortgage, examine automated underwriting models and conforming loan limits, and weigh new shopping strategies. Easy-to-read charts and graphs, helpful sample forms, and numerous examples will help you understand:

• First-time buyers programs
• APR, buy-downs, reverse mortgages, accelerated payoffs, and zero point loans
• Refinancing strategies
• Closing costs, lender fees, and other expenses
• How to dispute credit report errors and fix credit problems
• How to use the Internet for loan analysis

The Foreclosure Echo tells the story of the ordinary people whose quest for the American dream was crushed in the foreclosure crisis when they were threatened with losing their homes. The authors, Linda E. Fisher and Judith Fox - each with decades of experience defending low-to-moderate-income people from foreclosure and predatory lending practices - have employed a range of legal, economic, and social-science research to document these stories, showing not only how people experienced the crisis, but also how lenders and public institutions failed to protect them. The book also describes the ongoing effects of the crisis - including vacant land and abandoned buildings - and how these conditions have exacerbated the economic plight of millions of people who lost their homes and have increased inequality across the country. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand the fallout of the last financial crisis and learn what we can do now to avoid another one.

Home ownership is a cornerstone of the American dream, but it's a complex process that, without the right guidance, can seem like a nightmare. This "Missing Manual" takes you through the process of buying a home, from start to finish. Along the way, you'll use the book's expert advice and fill-in forms to identify the house you want, figure out what kind of neighborhood you want to live in, determine what a target home is really worth, make an offer, and close the deal. Throughout the process, this book helps you: realistically determine how much house you can afford; assemble a real estate team that's looking after your interests and not the seller's; understand the different ways to finance your house, and which is best for you; create an attractive offer with the best chance of acceptance; learn what lenders look for so you can get your mortgage approved; inspect your new home to uncover potential problems; and, prepare all the right paperwork for a smooth closing.

The challenges of establishing a successful and sustainable property tax in Latin American countries are numerous and varied, yet many jurisdictions are implementing viable reforms. Public officials responsible for its administration often face intense political pressure because the property tax is universal and highly visible. Public dissatisfaction arises because the property tax requires payment independent of a property transaction. Moreover, equitable property tax assessment depends on a variety of factors, including operational efficiency, technical expertise, available data, administrative capacity, and political will.
Certain conditions in Latin America compound these difficulties. Large disparities in income and wealth complicate the setting of equitable property tax rates, and as a result some municipalities are under-resourced to support efficient property tax collection. Limited access to data on property sales prices hampers accurate valuations, as does the great diversity in land tenure and occupation patterns in the region. An added difficulty is the distrust of public authorities by many taxpayers in view of weak governance and corruption.
Widespread informal land occupation also complicates matters. Excluding informal properties limits the universality of the tax and its ability to generate revenue, but including such properties requires significant efforts to update cadastral records (a comprehensive register of real property location, ownership and value). How residents of informal areas perceive the tax is another concern.
Reports on property tax revenues in Latin America are not consistent, the quality of the data is less than satisfactory, and collections vary greatly across jurisdictions and countries. The available evidence indicates that the property tax is of limited importance as a source of revenue to support local expenditures. As a result, it is easy to understand why using fees and charges instead of reforming the property tax might be less influenced by political factors, easier to administer, more efficient, and more capable of generating revenue.
Nevertheless, property taxation remains the best way to support local public expenditures for several reasons, including its familiarity to taxpayers, its progressivity relative to taxes on consumption, and the difficulty of tax avoidance. Indeed, a growing number of municipalities demonstrate the feasibility of operating efficient property tax systems. Based on their experiences, this report presents a comprehensive framework that could help overcome many of the traditional roadblocks to successful property taxation in Latin America. Recommended reforms focus on three areas: Fiscal policy, Tax policies, Assessment practices and collection procedures.

The Foreclosure Echo tells the story of the ordinary people whose quest for the American dream was crushed in the foreclosure crisis when they were threatened with losing their homes. The authors, Linda E. Fisher and Judith Fox - each with decades of experience defending low-to-moderate-income people from foreclosure and predatory lending practices - have employed a range of legal, economic, and social-science research to document these stories, showing not only how people experienced the crisis, but also how lenders and public institutions failed to protect them. The book also describes the ongoing effects of the crisis - including vacant land and abandoned buildings - and how these conditions have exacerbated the economic plight of millions of people who lost their homes and have increased inequality across the country. This book should be read by anyone who wants to understand the fallout of the last financial crisis and learn what we can do now to avoid another one.

Just as championship sports teams and successful global companies seek to gain and maximize any slight advantage they have over their competition (while competing ethically and with established rules and law, so too can homeowners maximize their profits when they transition to being home sellers. In Full Value: Proven Methods to Price and Sell Your Home for Maximum Profits author Jack Richards helps homeowners get more for their property. The insights he shares can help readers sell houses more quickly or at a higher price than otherwise would be possible using otherwise easy, everyday methods

Phil Spencer, property expert and co-presenter of hit series Location, Location, Location, provides everything you need to know to help you buy (and sell) your first home Want to own your own home, but not sure where to start? Need some friendly advice from a property professional? In How to Buy Your First Home, property expert Phil Spencer takes the worry out of the property market. Breaking everything down into simple and achievable steps, he makes this daunting process easy. Learn how to: - Find your perfect pad - Choose which mortgage is right for you - Negotiate with estate agents and sellers - Organise exchange and completion Including indispensable advice, money-saving tips and an essential trouble-shooting section, this guide covers everything a first-time buyer needs to know. And when it's time to move on again, this book will show you how to sell your home too. Phil Spencer is one the best-known faces on British television, co-presenting the hit Channel 4 series Location, Location, Location and Relocation, Relocation. Phil has written regularly columns in The Sunday Times and Country Life, and is contracted to Archant publishing to write columns that are syndicated in the group's numerous local glossy magazines which are distributed nationwide. Recent TV appearances include on The One Show, Children in Need and The Friday Night Project, and Phil also regularly appears on the radio to discuss property issues.