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Financial advice for women that goes beyond the basics

By Tara-Nicholle Nelson, Monday, May 7, 2012.
Image courtesy of <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/thesevenpearlsoffinancialwisdom/CarolPepper" target=blank>Macmillan</a>.

Book Review
Title: "The Seven Pearls of Financial Wisdom: A Woman's Guide to Enjoying Wealth and Power"
Author: Carol Pepper and Camilla Webster
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2012; 352 pages; $25.99

A number of notable personal finance experts have made attempts to share their knowledge, insights and experiences on money matters with women-friendly money books and courses. However, many of these are relatively narrowly focused on subjects like budgeting, investing, getting out of debt, real estate, or building a career or business.  more...

Agents, there's gold in calling cold

By Bernice Ross, Monday, May 7, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=77111491" target=blank>Businessman and phone</a> image via Shutterstock.

Do you know how much you earn per hour in your real estate business? Assuming that you made $100,000 last year by working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks, your hourly rate would be $50. What would it take to make more than seven times that amount per hour? The answer may surprise you.

What would you be willing to do to increase your hourly rate up to $386.75? Assuming that your average commission per transaction is $4,641, would you be willing to repeat the same monotonous task for 15 hours per week in order to earn $290,693? What if the task were as simple as picking up the phone and repeating the same script over and over?  more...

Let borrowers order their own appraisals

By Jack Guttentag, Monday, May 7, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=51970594" target=blank>3-D man inspecting houses</a> image via Shutterstock.

The two most important pieces of information mortgage applicants should have in entering the market is their credit score and the appraised value of the property they are interested in buying. The first is easy; they can get free estimates on the Web, or buy their score for $25 or so. When they apply to a lender, one of the first things the loan officer will do is pull their credit online, which takes only a few minutes.

Appraised value is another matter entirely. It has to be ordered by the lender after the borrower has applied for the loan. In most cases, the order goes to an appraisal management company (AMC), which selects the individual appraiser who does the work and delivers the appraisal report to the AMC, who delivers it to the lender, who delivers it to the applicant.  more...

Timeline for closing a home sale

By Dian Hymer, Monday, May 7, 2012.
<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=54222883" target=blank>Keys to new home</a> image via Shutterstock.

Some home-sale transactions close quickly, while others can take months. Two significant factors that affect most home sales are inspections of the property and financing the purchase.

Inspections should be done within the first couple of weeks after the offer is ratified, i.e., accepted by both buyer and seller. Usually, the day after ratification is day one of the contingency and closing time periods. This may vary from one location to the next.  more...