HELPFULFACTS.NET

Everything I’ve been reading is very suggestive of another big drop coming soon to the financial markets. It all started when Shanghai Index drop ~10% in one day and caused a skid on the stock markets around the world. Nearly 2 months later, they have recovered and hit record highs.

However, the story doesn’t end there. Shanghai is keenly interested in the sub prime mortgage market in the United States. Any signs that defaults and foreclosures will lead into a recession will cause a ripple effect throughout the world.

The state of the sub-prime market is pretty negative at the moment. It may be just gaining steam and can get a whole lot worse.

I would suggest watching the market carefully and determining the impact on your local economy. It’s obvious the real estate market is feeling the pain, but when it causes sales to slump in consumer goods watch out. Home Depot and Lowes have been feeling the pinch.

Recommendation: take some short positions and hedge your bets.

Capital Investment in Infrastructure is an interesting component affecting Real Estate investment. It can be one of the most positive influencing factors in property appreciation. Hence, it can never be taken for granted. Frequently, an investor will discover during the examination period of a poential investment that infrastructure improvements are planned. These improvements may be water and sewer expansion adjacent the property or new road to be constructed. In many of these instances, and without a great deal of consideration, the investor aquires as much of the surrounding property without regard to the timing of the purchase.

It is this investment timing that I am most interested in here today. To help determine the best timing of an investment I find it helpful to differentiate the type of infrastructure change. First, separate the target properties into Direct and Indirect Impact Investments. A direct impact investment is one that is immediately impacted by the announcement of an infrastructure project. An Indirect Impact Investment is one that is not immediately affected by the announcement or the early stages of the infrastructure but its value will be significantly improved by the completion of the project.

Lets compare two properties located outside Raleigh, NC, home of North Carolinas Research Triangle Park. The first property is a direct impact property located contiguous Interstate 85. The second property is approximately one-half mile away from the first and has frontage on a secondary road leading to the Interstate 85 intersection.

This area is considered a bedroom community for the greater Raleigh area and is in itself growing at a rate faster than Raleigh and Durham. The I-85 corridor had been developing well prior to the announcement by the North Carolina DOT regarding the re-construction of the highway from Raleigh north to the Virginia State Line, (40 miles of construction). This project would eventually take eight years, cause major delays, re-route traffic and have a major impact on the economy and expansion of the entire corridor.

The first response of most investors was to move out of the area and invest in other locations. However, for those who analyzed the potential and adjusted the price, timing and selection of properties in this area turned out to be a very profitable investment. Let me explain.

Direct Impact Sample Analysis

The first property is contiguous to I-85, was in a very active market and priced at about $100,000 per acre prior to the highway re-construction announcement. The value of the property was tied directly to the commerce generated by its access to I-85. The property value was evaluated as a Direct Impact Investment over the 8 year life of the infrastructure project determined by the duration from the project announcement until its completion.

Upon announcement of the project the value of the property dropped from $100,000 per acre to about $70,000 per acre and remained at that level for the first three years of the investment.. In the fourth year of the project life the property began to gain in value at about the same rate as other properties not aligned with the highway, still there was no positive influence caused by the highway project. The primary growth in value came toward the end of the highway project, eighteen to twenty-four months from its completion.

Indirect Impact Sample Analysis

The second property is well off Interstate 85 and has virtually no value associated with the interstate related commerce. When the project was first announced, its value was $12,000 per acre. This value continued to grow at approximately the same rate as the value other properties where the value was driven by non-interstate related factors. However, during the last two years of the highway project the property value grew substantially. The rapid escalation in value was attributed to the highways increased commerce generating capability. The transition from no impact to high impact was the much increased commerce generating capacity of the enhanced infrastructure improvement combined with the overall maturing of the area.

It is key to notice that the quality of the investment is higher for the land investor if the investment is made in the Indirect Impact Parcel and the timing of the investment can make a massive difference in the rate of return. In comparing indirect impact to direct impact properties, the compounded rate of value growth with respect to the year invested through to the end of the project showed substantially higher returns for the indirect impact property.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of these results is that for the indirect impact property, years four and five were outstanding; however, yer six fell to the lowest level of the project life. This is primarily due to finite limits of Interstate 85 to continue to drive value. Most of the growth in value was related to the investment in the highway capital improvement. The investment in Interstate 85 over the long haul created a gain in revenue generating capability which forced the property value upward. It is to be noted that growth in the interstate traffic after the completion of the project is slow and its ability to create additional value would accordingly be slow.

These properties will not see really strong growth until a commerce center is established at this intersection. With capital investment in a commerce center there will be value growth similar to the growth we saw with the highway, but it will occur in a shorter cycle time. I would therefore argue that the risk component would be higher and the timing would be more crucial.

Summary

In summary, for an investor to successfully select a high yielding land investment with changing infrastructure certain conditions are in play:

1. The target property must not be directly impacted by the announcement of the change in a negative way.

2. The investment property will increase in value at the local, not project, driven rate in the early years of the project.

3. There must be more than twenty-four months remaining life in the project.

4. The Indirect Impact Investment will yield higher creating less risk for the life of the project.

5. Timing is of utmost importance for the investment.

6. Direct Impact Investments offer both a higher risk and a lower yield during the project life.

We have been able to employ this thinking over the last five years and have found that the concept applies to any long term capital project.

By: Richard Stoyeck-2657 Stock Investing has told us here at StocksAtBottom.com that it has been more than 25 years since Japan’s automotive juggernaut served notice on Detroit that we are going to eat your automotive base for lunch. Each successive year since then, our domestic car manufacturers have given away market share to the Japanese. For General Motors, Ford and then Chrysler before the Daimler merger, the only question was how many car sales are we going to lose this year to the Japanese.

Each of the Big Three must put together 3 to 5 year budgets in order to project their cash flow needs. Ford for the next three years in their budget process is showing continued market share erosion in each of the next three years. It is likely that both General Motors and DaimlerChrysler are acting out the same scenario.

UAW Union Caving to Facts of Life

Jerry Sullivan is the head of the largest UAW car worker’s union at Ford. He has 36 years with Ford, and the last 10 years as head of UAW Local 600. Sullivan is urging his fellow workers to accept the present Ford buy-out agreement which is on the table for Ford workers to consider.

Ford lost almost $13 billion in the last 12 months. The union recognizes that Ford’s back is up against the wall, and it’s time to try to save the company. Ford is reorganizing the way it builds cars, more along the lines of Japanese manufacturing techniques. As an example, many of their employees are now working 4 day shifts of 10 hours. These shifts can include weekends. The workers are agreeing to work at regular wages as opposed to overtime rates.

This summer, the national Union will be negotiating health care benefits among other issues. Right now health care costs are at least 50% higher than overseas employees. It’s very tough for Ford, or anyone for that matter to make up the incremental difference in these costs, and still sell cars at a competitive price in view of world markets. The Japanese operating under a different pricing structure are in a position to simply put more goodies into the cars, and still sell them at a cheaper price than our domestic products, and then there’s the quality issue.

Let’s look at it this way. Our stock research shows that the average car Ford produces compared to Japan has about $2400 of additional profits built into the Japanese car compared to the American produced vehicle. About half of that gap is higher labor costs for the American product, and about half of the labor costs are higher medical care costs for retired automotive workers. The Japanese companies have -0- costs, that’s right, zero associated medical care costs for their RETIRED employees. This is because in Japan those medical care costs are picked up at the national level by the government, who picks up medical costs for all retired people.

General Motors Delays Filing

General Motors like all publicly traded companies must file its annual report with the Securities Exchange Commission on a timely basis. Would you believe that GM has asked the SEC for an extension for its filing to March 16th of this year? GM continues to be unable to act its financial act together. This coupled with an inability to manufacture cars that people want to buy makes the future not altogether too bright for America’s largest car producer.

GM has also expressed an interest in acquiring the Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler which is up for sale. This assumes there will be bids for the Chrysler unit. DaimlerChrysler in German has announced that if there are no bids, they will keep the unit, and continue to attempt to turn it around.

It’s seems that GM’s latest problem is their General Motor Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) subsidiary. The financing subsidiary was partially sold to a group of private equity players last April. The problem is when you do such a deal; you have to put in stipulations that everything is beautiful, or just as it should be. Apparently GMAC has quite a few creditors who are what you would call subprime borrowers.

If you have been reading the newspapers lately, subprime is not so prime anymore. With the housing market still on its back, borrowers with less than super credit seem to be in trouble. Translated, that means they are not paying their bills on a timely basis. This entire huge market is called the subprime market. When the economy has something of a downturn historically, these borrowers surface as individuals who just can’t keep up with their debt payments.

A number of companies who have been catering to them, all of a sudden start to take hits. If you are a company doing business with a subprime borrower, you have a certain reserve or cushion built into your numbers for the statistical number of people that you believe will default. It is becoming increasingly apparent in our stock research as stock investors that the subprime companies involved with such borrowers have FRANKLY lost control of their numbers. These companies simply have no idea where their borrowers stand today in their ability to service their debt.

Witness what is happening with Countrywide Financial Corp. which is the largest U.S. home mortgage lender. At the end of 2006, the number of people at least 30 days late is 2.9% of their prime home-equity loans. The number for 2005 was 1.6% and 0.8% for 2004. It is our opinion at StocksAtBottom.com based on stock market information that we use, and stock investing that we do that the subprime industry players RIGHT NOW have no idea where they stand in reference to their loans. The industry is hanging on by their thumbnails hoping that it gets better.

GMAC is in the same position as the subprime industry, and that is why in our opinion they have asked the SEC for a delayed filing authorization. They are literally trying to figure out where they stand. Assuming the situation is worse than what they told the private equity players who purchased a majority of GMAC last year, GM will be responsible depending upon the covenants in the agreement to ante up additional cash to the buyers.

This is just one more illustration of inept management at General Motors. They are a management team that lets things happen to them. They are in a reactive mode as opposed to being out in front of the problems trying to anticipate, and fix them before they get blown out of proportion. At our firm we have been observers of the American automotive adventure for several decades. We know there are Lee Iacocca type individuals out there that can turn around GM, Ford, and Chrysler. These guys just aren’t in the automobile industry anymore.

Investing money doesn’t need to be a big deal. As a child, you may possibly have sold lemonade on the front lawn in the summer. Your mommy bought the lemons, as well as the sugar. You made the lemonade and then you took your business outside onto the street.

Perchance you made a profit, maybe you didn’t. The point is, if you were dealing with a crowd of other lemonade vendors, you’d think of approaches to make yours more adept. Perhaps the best way to invest your money for this lemonade stand would be to buy the highest quality of lemons, maybe throw in a lot of ice plus get some bright streamers or balloons to make your lemonade stand stand-out from the rest.

As adults, most of us basically aren’t educated enough to be able to understand what our top techniques to invest cash should be. There are so many possibilities. You have the 401K and IRA funds, mutual funds, stocks as well as commodities, day trading, Certificates of Deposit as well as bonds. These are long-term investments with varied risks and payback amounts. These also call for loads of paperwork, tax reporting and the inevitable special schedule to fill out. If you can afford it, it’s probably best to employ a professional to keep up with all these different varieties of investments.

Your financial condition will decide the scope of your investment prospects. Starting up a small business on the internet probably only needs a little investment but it also needs loads of potential as a business idea. In this case, your top way to invest money in your business would be to start out with your business plan, your product or products and an advertising drive.

If there’s a market for your product and you manage to get a foothold in that market, you might well be able to give up your day job. Many individuals, with suitable planning as well as a quality product, have comfortably begun businesses that make a good living. And they’ve probably spent very little controlling the business once it’s off the ground. An online business allows you total freedom of movement. You may be holidaying in Greece while still advertising your products and receiving income.

Some persons believe the absolute best way to invest cash is in land or a house. It’s a difficult case to argue with, if you time your purchase to maximize your return.

If you explore real-estate market trends, you’ll uncover cycles of boom and bust markets. Remember the dot.com bust? While times were rich and interest rates were relatively low, dot-commers were purchasing mansions in Lake Tahoe for awfully high prices. A couple of years afterwards, house prices fell back into reality, and many people found themselves lumbered with a mortgage payment that didn’t match up to the current market value of the house. Many found themselves faced with foreclosure.

If you save your money and have some patience, you’ll be the one with cash in a buyer’s market. As a durable long-term investment, land may well prove to be your finest way to invest cash. Land often appreciates in value, over time. Given well thought-out lawful arrangements, you could pass the value of this investment on to your kids, tax free. Now that’s what I’d call the best way to invest cash!

By: Makabongwe Maseko

I bet you can’t tell me the detailed meaning of stocks. Well if that’s the case, I have compelled this good stock information list with brief descriptions for you.

Stock Classes

Although common stock usually entitles you to one vote for every share that you own, this is not always the case. Some companies have different “classes” of common stock that vary based on how many votes are attached to them. So, for example, one share of Class A stock in a certain company might give you 10 votes per share, while one share of Class B stock in the same company might only give you one vote per share. And sometimes it is the case that a certain class of common stock will have no voting rights attached to it at all.

So why would some companies choose to do this? Because it’s an easy way for the primary owners of the company (e.g. the founders) to retain a great deal of control over the business. The company will typically issue the class of shares with the fewest number of votes attached to it to the public, while reserving the class with the largest number of votes for the owners. Of course, this isn’t always the best arrangement for the common shareholder, so if voting rights are important to you, you should probably think carefully before buying stock that is split into different classes.

Large Cap, Mid Cap and Small Cap

Stocks can be classified according to the market capitalization of the company. The market capitalization of a company represents the total lilangeni value of the company’s outstanding shares. This is equal to the current market price of its stock multiplied by the number of shares of stock that it has outstanding. That number gives you the market value of the company, which is one measure of the company’s size. Roughly speaking, there are three basic categories of market capitalization: large cap, mid cap, and small cap. The definitions for each of these might vary somewhat depending on whom you’re talking to, but usually they are as follows:
• Large cap: market cap highest valued
• Mid cap: market cap mid range value
• Small cap: market cap lowest value
In general, the larger the cap size, the more established the company and the more stable the price of its stock. Small cap and mid cap companies usually have a higher potential for future growth than large cap companies, but their stock tends to fluctuate more in price.

Sector Stocks

Stocks are often grouped into different sectors depending upon the company’s business. Standard & Poor’s breaks the market into 11 different sectors. Two of these sectors, utilities and consumer staples, are said to be defensive sectors, while the rest tend to be more cyclical in nature. The other nine sectors are: transportation, technology, health care, financial, energy, consumer cyclical, basic materials, capital goods, and communications services. Of course, other groups break up the market into different sector categorizations, and sometimes break them down further into sub-sectors.

Cyclical Stocks

Stocks can be classified according to how they react to business cycles. Cyclical stocks are stocks of companies whose profits move up and down according to the business cycle. Cyclical companies tend to make products or provide services that are in lower demand during downturns in the economy and higher demand during upswings. The automobile, steel, and housing industries are all examples of cyclical businesses.

Defensive Stocks

Defensive stocks are the opposite of cyclical stocks: they tend to do well during poor economic conditions. They are issued by companies whose products and services enjoy a steady demand. Food and utilities stocks are defensive stocks since people typically do not cut back on their food or electricity consumption during a downturn in the economy. But although defensive stocks tend to hold up well during economic downturns, their performance during upswings in the economy tends to be lacklustre compared to that of cyclical stocks.

Tracking Stock

A tracking stock is a type of common stock that is tied to the performance of a specific subsidiary of the company. This means that the dividends and the capital gains for the stock depend upon the subsidiary rather than the company as a whole. Owning a tracking stock does not give the owner voting rights in the corporation, nor do owners of tracking stocks have a legal claim upon the general assets of the corporation. A company will sometimes issue a tracking stock when it has a very successful division that it feels is under appreciated by the market and not fully reflected in the company’s stock price.

The stock categories discussed apply to the two stock fundamental categories, common stock and preferred stock. And is of use no matter how small or big the company maybe and which is very useful information that you may apply on to your business or to expend your stocks knowledge.

When a modern new skyscraper goes up in Taiwan, the owners always hire a feng-shui geomancer or xiansheng to create the best position for the main entrance. Over the years, several major new buildings in downtown Taipei have remained unoccupied and their owners have gone broke because they failed to follow the dictates of Chinese geomancy during construction.

Geomancy (feng-shui) is the branch of classical cosmology, which gives a blue print for us to build our homes in splendid harmony with the elements of our natural environment. The Chinese exponents of Feng-Shui believe that where you live and how you allocate and arrange the elements of your home or workplace can significantly affect the harmony of your health, wealth, and happiness.

If you acknowledge and understand the all-pervasive life energy (Chi), you can affect the whole tenor of your well-being. Simple things like placing your furniture the wrong way, using wrong colours, and elemental conflicts (i.e. having the water ‘refrigerator’ next to the fire ’stove’, can create factors that impact negatively on your life.

The xiansheng considers four factors: the Chi or “breath of life” potential of the neighborhood; the site orientation or the importance of the direction in which the building faces; the five elements — fire, water, wood, metal, earth — and their mutual influence upon a location; the power of water and its significance in relation to the property.

While feng-shui is thousands of years old and has seemingly strange rules, it contains much common sense useful to understand by anyone. For example, Feng-Shui proposes that the best site for a home that will take advantage of the vital Chi is for that home to be on a south-facing slope - preferably between two hills of unequal size (the Azure Dragon and the White Tiger). Ideally, a river will be running along one side of the structure. The river should then turn in front of the building and then disappear.

Looked at another way, such a home on the south slope gets the maximum hours of sunlight, is shielded from the chilly, health-sapping north wind and has a good supply of water for drinking and cleaning. By then conveniently disappearing under the ground and gravel, the river carries away effluents and other “dirty” water.

So, just plain old common sense. Any BC builder will find it extremely useful - even necessary - to understand these concepts.

Some of the basic concepts as they relate to real estate are:

1. Avoid having a straight road leading directly to the home, with people coming and going it will dissipate the good influences.
2. Avoid building at the junction of a T-street or at the end of a cul-de-sac because these locations are on the receiving end of the straight-flowing Sha. A dead-end street traps the bad Sha.
3. The front entrance should not face the upstairs stairway.
4. The front door should not have a view of the back door. The through hallway is a no-no.
5. Heavy beams in the recreational room are a burden and interfere with Chi.
6. To have the right side low and the left side high are both unlucky. The hills to the left should be higher than those to the right.
7. Houses or buildings on triangular plots of land are ill-omened as the strange shape attracts Sha.
8. Water is very important and its positioning is vital to improving Chi and confounding Sha.

Fortunately (You knew it!) there are ways to rectify defects even if the defect is in the terrain. For example:

If the left is too low, plant trees to raise the height. If your neighbor builds a house higher than yours, add to the height of yours so your view of the stars in not obstructed. (Of course, you may have a problem with City Hall). If the plot is triangular, placing the door on the side of the triangle rather than on the point will counter the ill-omen. In properties which back onto a river or if the ground slopes upward from the front of a building, the entrance must be at the rear of allow Chi to gain entrance.

The Chinese also believe that a house with a front slightly lower than the back is useful in dispersing the influence of Sha. A pool of water (fishpond) is especially useful to conserve Chi. However, a large tree immediately opposite the front door is ill-omened as it d Sharp angles can be especially unlucky on an office or commercial building as these angles and straight edges drive off money, whereas curves attract money. Then again, the flat edges of buildings, which lead toward the front of your property, are fine conductors of Chi. But then again, if there is a road in front of the place, which turns at a sharp angle, this can bring about the same unhappy effect as a “secret arrow”. To counter this, a driveway leading up to a front door should always approach in a gentle sweep to help the entrance of wealth.

Superstition? It really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that if you are a builder it behooves you to know Feng-Shui as it relates to building. Whether you believe in it or not, feng-shui is seen by millions as an ancient science full of philosophy and practical wisdom.

If you drive through a predominantly Asian neighborhood and you find an empty lot in an otherwise fully developed cul-de-sac, you now know why. Bad fortune comes along the street and hits the last house in the cul-de-sac. Who would want to live there?

By: Jim Pretin

Most people consider penny stocks to be a poor investment. I, on the other hand, think that investing in a penny stock before that company becomes profitable company is the best way to invest, because you can make a lot more money with penny stocks than would ever be possible with blue-chip stocks. I will now outline for you what you need to know about penny stocks and how to find the best one in which to invest.

Penny stocks are defined differently depending on who you talk to. Stockbrokers define them as any stock that trades below $5 per share. Regulatory agencies sometimes classify them as a stock with a price below $2. But, generally speaking, a penny stock is any low-priced security that trades on one of two exchanges; the Pink Sheets or the OTC Bulletin Board.

The Pink Sheets are an exchange where most startup companies first get listed. There are no listing requirements to be traded on this exchange. A company does not have to have any sales, nor does it have to reveal how many shares outstanding it has to qualify for the Pink Sheets.

The reason why a company tries to get listed on the Pink Sheets, even though their stock will not go up in price because they have no sales to speak of, is because it gives their company more substance and credibility; it is typically easier to attract additional capital, obtain financing, and execute contracts and agreements if a company is publicly traded, even if it is on the Pink Sheets.

Also, it is easier to get transferred from the Pink Sheets to one of the larger exchanges than it is to go from being a private company to hopping directly on to one of the major exchanges, such as the NASDAQ or NYSE. Companies listed on the Pink Sheets trade as ridiculously low as $0.00001 per share, all the way up to $500 per share and sometimes beyond. Foreign companies often have some of their shares sold in the United States by listing them on the Pink Sheets.

The OTC (Over-The-Counter) Bulletin Board is similar to the Pink Sheets. This exchange consists of relatively young companies either with no sales or a small amount of sales. Companies listed on it are sometimes fully reporting (meaning that they reveal how many shares they have outstanding and what their balance sheet looks like). Often, companies go from the Pink Sheets to the Bulletin Board once they are ready to become fully or semi-reporting.

Most publicly traded companies that are now listed on one of the major exchanges (NASADAQ, AMEX, NYSE), at one time or another, were penny stocks listed on the Pink Sheets or Bulletin Board. Rarely does a company go from being private directly to one of the 3 major exchanges. Google is a rare example of a company that was able to do that, because they were so successful so quickly. But, most companies have to pay their dues and edge their way up from the penny stock exchanges to the bigger ones.

So, investing in penny stocks can be an excellent investment because some of these young companies will one day be worth a fortune. The hard part is finding the right company to invest in, because for every successful startup company, there is also one that fails within the first year or two.

To find the right company, there are a few things you need to look for. Number one, you need to do some research and try to find out how many shares the company has in its float. The float is the number of shares that are currently being traded. Companies listed on the Pink Sheets usually do not officially report this number to the public, but with a little research, you can usually find out. It is usually contained in articles written about the company, or in TV or radio interviews with company officials that are sometimes archived on certain websites.

You can also look for the information on message boards or forums where stock traders chat with each other. Simply do a search on Google and read every article ever written about the company, and you will likely find out about their float. This is important because you do not want to invest in a company that already has something like 500 million shares in its float. Companies with this kind of share count are likely having problems moving forward, so they have issued more and more shares to raise money just to stay alive. You want to look for companies that have approximately 5 to 100 million shares in their float.

Other things that you should look for in a new company are barriers to entry, patents, and consumer demand. Here are the questions you need to ask yourself when analyzing the probability that a company will be successful:

1) Barriers to Entry: Are there are obstacles that will make it difficult for the company to sell its products or services?

2) Patents: Is the product that the company is going to sell patented? A patent will prevent other companies from producing the exact same product.

3) Consumer Demand: Will there be a demand for what the company is selling? Sometimes a company has a great new invention or an exciting technology, but if it is not something practical that consumers are going to want or need, then it does not matter how great it is.

Try to set aside some money for investing in penny stocks and start while you are still young. The earlier you get started, the more money you can make in the long run. Just make sure you do your homework before you invest and you should do extremely well.

A bond is a debt obligation or security, where the the holder or buyer expects the holder to repay the principal and interest at maturity (a date in the future). The bond market is a financial market where these bonds are bought and sold. To get an estimate of the size of these debt securities markets you should bear in mind that the international bond market is approximately $45 trillion and the size of U.S. bond market debt is about $25.2 trillion.

How are these markets structured?

Quite different from the stock, futures and options markets, most of the trading volume in bond markets takes place between brokers and large financial institutions in an over-the-counter market. But, a couple of bonds, primarily corporate ones, are listed on exchanges. This is partly due to the differences in bonds.

What are the various types of bond markets?

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association(SIFMA) classifies the bond market into the following categories:

1) Corporate

In simple terms, corporate debt securities are IOU’s issued by corporations so that they can use this cash to support their day-to-day operations and generate greater profits in the future. All sorts of corporations issue corportate debt. These could range from industrial, financial companies to service-related ones.

2) Government and Agency

As the name suggests, government and agency debt is issued by different government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). These entities have been created by Congress to fund loans at affordable rates to certain kinds of borrowers (such as students, farmers and homeowners). GSEs mostly rely on debt financing for their daily operations. Some examples of GSEs in this regard - Fannie Mae, Sallie Mae, Federal Farm Credit System Banks etc.

3) Municipal

Municipal securities are debt securities issued by counties, cities, states, and other governmental entities to raise money to build/maintain infrastructure such as highways, schools, hospitals, and drainage systems. This is perhaps the the state and local governments in the United States finance their cash flow requirements. One great appeal of investing in municipal bonds is that the interest on these securities is exempt from the federal income taxes.

4) Mortgage Backed Securities and Asset-Backed Securities

Financial institutions issue mortgage debt securities to those interested in ownership of mortgage loans. These are loans that are used to finance the borrower’s purchase of homes or other real estate. As the underlying loans (mortgages) are being paid off, the investors receive interest payments in addition to their principal being paid off.

Some examples of agencies that issue these debt securities are - Ginnie Mae (Government National Mortgage Association), Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation).

Asset-backed securities (ABS) are similar in mortgage securities in that they represent an interest in a variety of assets such as auto loans, auto leases, home equity loans, or credit card receivables. The investors in these debt securities receive interest payments in addition to their principal as the underlying loan is being paid off.

In summary, you have learnt what bond markets are, the different types of bond markets and the different players in these markets.

If you want to buy a new home in place that is bustling, growing, and interesting, but a little off of the map too, then try Austin, Texas. Austin Texas homes are being built fast and. although the area is growing without a doubt; it is still early enough to get a good deal on a house.

Austin Texas homes are much cheaper, but still built to last, than houses in many other big cities because the heat and the dryness of the area, as well as the fact that it is in Texas, scare most people away.

You should not be scared away by any of these conditions. Go out and look at the new homes in Austin Texas; you’ll be surprised with weather and home quality. Although there is many things wrong Texas, Austin is very different from most of the rest of the state. In the first place, Austin Texas homes are often newly built, and benefit from superior water and city services, so even though it is dry around you, there is no worry about droughts.

The hot weather is another thing. Austin Texas homes are cooled by air conditioning, but when you are out of the house, you will just have to deal with the heat, and that is all that there is to it. But do not be scared away by the Texans at least.

If you are buying a home in Austin Texas, you are likely to be living next to some of the most interesting and progressive neighbors anywhere. This is because Austin is such a Mecca of culture and art. There is a great music scene, a pretty left wing political scene, and arts and literature are also not far behind.

Austin Texas homes are not located next to rednecks in El Paso, but in an area with an artistic community to rival New York City. The east coast snobs might scoff, but I say let them, they’ll lose out. Unlike Manhattan, Austin is still growing that no one but the very rich can flourish.

Austin Texas homes are within the reach of most middle or working class families, so it really does make a lot of sense for you to move there. The amount of home you can buy can not be bought else where for the same price. No matter what your economic background is, you really should think about owning a home in Austin, where you will benefit from one of the liveliest communities in America. After all, all of the cooler and less desolate places have already been settled, so where else do you think that you are going to go, anyway?

You could move to the southwest, New Mexico. New Mexico is primarily a large rural state that has much to offer in the way of real estate, year round outdoor activities, and cultural events and celebrations. Prices of New Mexico homes vary throughout the state and greatly depend on geographical location. Santa Fe is the capitol of New Mexico, which is located in the north central part of the state. Los Alamos, home of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, is just thirty minutes west of Santa Fe, and just forty-five minutes southwest on I-25 is Albuquerque, the largest city in the state.

Historic Route 66 passes directly through Albuquerque complete with nostalgic cafes and businesses along the way. Further south is Truth of Consequences, then Las Cruces, the second largest city in the state, where I-25 ends and I-10 begins, taking motorists forty-five miles south to El Paso, Texas, and the Mexico border? To the east is the infamous alien town of Roswell, and to the west is Silver City nestled in the Gila Mountains.

So you decide where you want to investigate buying a new home in Texas or New Mexico.

By: James Allen

If you’re investing in properties, then investing in some good real estate software may save you time and headaches. This type of software can make your complicated calculations for you, and help you plan your real estate investments.

Different real estate software has different features, and what kind of software is right for you depends on what kind of home or land investment you’re getting into. There are different programs for personal properties, income generating rental investments, or vacation homes.

The most basic feature most real estate software has allows you to input your expenses and investment data, and it will automatically give you a monthly payment. You can adjust the parameters to your individual finances, and the software will do all the calculating work for you.

Keeping track of expenses on all your rental properties can be a serious pain, so some software programs use spreadsheets that help you keep your finances organized. You can keep track of expenses such as utilities, so you can keep track of all your accounting. Especially if you have many rental properties that you have to manage and keep track of, a good software program can help you do it.

Some programs have features where you can put in the market rate and all your expenses, then the program will tell you how much you should charge for rent. You can adjust variables and it will automatically adjust the outcome. You can then use this as a guideline when deciding how much rent to charge tenants.

If you are buying a rental property for yourself and plan to turn it around sometime in the future, there are programs that can help. For example, some software programs allow you to do backwards calculations. This means that you can tell it what kind of return you would like to get on a particular investment, and it will tell you how much you should be paying initially. You can also plug in different factors, and it will take this into account as well.

Then, there’s our old friend - taxes! Once you start investing in real estate, you’ll see how complicated this can get. There are now software programs available where you can enter in all the information and it will calculate your taxes over a set period of time. This can help you with your long-term financial planning, and get rid of any surprises you might encounter along the way.

One great feature some software has is the ability to calculate hypothetical scenarios. We all know that property values can fluctuate. Some software allows you to experiment with different situations. You enter a “what if” situation and the software tells you how it will effect your investment. This can help you keep on top of changes in the market or the area where you own properties.

The best software programs have features where you can input different numbers and see what comes out. A mortgage calculator is a good feature to have; there are a variety of factors you can punch in, and it will tell you how much you can expect in the future.

At their simplest, real estate investment programs can help you keep track of your finances in an easy-to-use spreadsheet format. But, if you want special features, you can find just the right program for your specific needs.