How To Negotiate The Best Price For Your First Home

By Alexandria P. Anderson

After you've spent enough time doing all of the research about your prospective home and are comfortable with working with the seller, it's time to make the offer. However, the home buying offer isn't the end of the sales process; you may be involved with negotiating a price after making the offer if the seller refuses to accept it, so you'll need a plan to get the price you want - or close to it - well before you extend your initial offer.

Studying the contract in detail and having a back-up plan are just two ways to prepare for the negotiation process. Barron's 'Consumer's Guide to Home Buying' explains that it is best to be prepared for price negotiations even before submitting an offer by creating a checklist of items to consider when negotiating. Here are some items you need to take into account when negotiating for the price of your new home:

1. Knowing who are involved in the decision making process. Sellers usually employ the services of agents, lawyers, accountants and other third parties to transact with buyers. Knowing whom you'll be dealing with beforehand will help you devise a specific method for negotiating.

2. Have a back-up plan. It is possible for you and the seller to reach a stalemate when negotiating. Consider developing a back-up plan just in case no agreements are reached during negotiations. Define your maximum offer and do not go over it; just look for other homes to buy.

3. Have you looked over all of the details of the contract? It's important to fully understand all of the terms of the contract so you're not left with any surprises at closing. Take the time to review the contract in as much detail as possible and note down any questions you have. Set up a meeting with the seller to go over anything that doesn't seem clear to you so you don't have any reservations about signing if you do get an accepted offer.

4. Be comfortable with your agent. Agents can provide sound advice regarding the home buying process. Develop a positive relationship with them and learn how to trust them. Share your thoughts and worries regarding the property as early as possible. All your inputs will be taken by your agent in giving you expert opinion that will allow you to make the best decision possible.

5.Are you ready to handle setbacks? Poor communication skills from the seller's agent, hostility from the seller and other negative communications that occur during the buying and selling process can make it difficult to negotiate fairly. You need to keep your cool and make sure that you are ready to stop the deal if you don't feel like it's going down the right path. - 23217

About the Author:

About the Author: Alexandria P. Anderson is an Saint Louis Park real estate agent that helps people to find and purchase Saint Louis Park Homes and properties in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

What Exactly Does A Title Company Do?

By Lisa Nelia

You do not generally buy more than a single property in your lifetime. It is a high value transaction involving legal risks. Besides using a professional home inspector for pre-inspection of the home, the buyer has to rely on a number of other professionals such as real estate attorney and a title company.

The title company performs the necessary role of checking all aspects relating to the title of a property right from the legal ownership to title insurance. The buyer and title company have a common goal of avoiding any legal disputes which might emerge later in case the title of the property is not clear.

It would be title company's prime responsibility to provide the necessary comfort and assurance to the buyer that the property he intends to buy is free from any legal trouble and would not lead to any ownership dispute once the buyer closes the transaction.

The title company starts playing its role as soon as the sales agreement is signed between the buyer and the seller until the time that the title is transferred from the seller to the buyer. They have to ensure compliance to the necessary real estate laws and regulations of the state in which the transaction takes place. The primary role and responsibilities of a title company is covered in the sections below

Verification of the seller

Their main role is to establish the seller in whose name the property is registered as per the legal documents submitted with the State. The title companies find out the legal owner of the property by examining and verifying the public land record held by state.

The property title can be legally transferred

The title company also takes steps to help real estate buyers in that they confirm that the title company ensures that there are no liens preventing the buyer from taking title cleanly. Any and all liens and encumbrances must be settled at the point of title transfer.

Insuring the title

In many instances, the title company also organizes for title insurance to the buyer against any legal risks that might surface in the future. This would insure the buyer against any ownership issue emerging in future and costs involved in litigation and other matters related to settling any dispute regarding the sale being made by the actual owner of the property. Though the buyer has the right to choose his title insurer, the buyer usually prefers the same company with whom the lender takes tile insurance cover.

The "Commitment of Title Insurance" is issued once the title company has certified the title of the property. All parties and participants in the transaction receive a copy.

You have to gather all the information regarding the property your are purchasing a you spread out the liability for this step by hiring the appropriate entities to do so. - 23217

About the Author:

Gavin King is the Designated Broker of Realty In Idaho and enjoys writing articles on boise idaho homes and homes for sale in boise idaho

The Golden Years

By James Pynn

In these trying times it's important to start branching off and learn more about the factors that affect us financially. Economics was a class that I glazed over and put the bare minimum of effort in order to pass. But now that the recession is over a year old and the number of unemployed Americans is in double digits, learning at least the economic essentials is a must. The first issue I decided to learn about was the gold standard. I use the past tense because Richard Nixon discarded the standard on August 15, 1971.

The gold standard is defined as, "A commitment by participating countries to fix the prices of their domestic currencies in terms of a specified amount of gold. National money and other forms of money (bank deposits and notes) were freely converted into gold at the fixed price." Basically, the gold standard was embraced in an effort create an even playing field across all national economies. This common standard, then, could be used to value and devalue currencies.

In its past, the United States has embraced two precious metals in turn: gold and silver. Both metals were used to peg the value of the dollar thanks to the Standard Act of 1900. Now it's important to also know that whenever there is a recession or depression, central banks hate having such a shiny standard. What they like doing in such dire times is print more money giving the immediate illusion that markets are holding fast and steady. They don't like having to worry about a standard to uphold because that only slows the printing presses. But that's not how it works.

Governments, and the central banks that rule their economic policies, are fond of printing more money. When one powerful economy, like that of the United States, begins to print more money, so too, in most cases, do the banks of foreign nations. This had and still has -- a tremendous affect on the Forex (or Foreign Currency) markets. To keep parity with the dollar, they must print more or less money.

The gold standard has not been used to peg any major currency since 1971. As a result, every major currency is a fiat currency, that is, it has no intrinsic value and is only as valuable as it is accepted for services rendered or goods created. The hidden danger involved is in the inflation that arbitrary printing causes. It has been estimated that the buying power of a 1971 dollar is now roughly eight cents to the dollar. Without a peg to the dollar, the Fed can print as much as it wants, thereby causing a massive tide of inflation that has the potential to flood our everyday lives. - 23217

About the Author:

Understand how world currencies can be bought and sold with an accredited Forex course. As the dollar begins to lose its value, it is imperative investors look to foreign currencies to offset potential losses.

Understanding Forex Trading Sessions

By Ahmad Hassam

Currency trading volumes in the Asia Pacific session account for about 21% of the total daily global volume. The financial centers active during the Asia Pacific session are Wellington, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. The currency pairs traded are USD/JPY, EUR/JPY and AUD/JPY.

News and data reports from Australia, New Zealand and Japan are going to be hitting the market during the session. In terms of the move actively traded currency pairs during the Asia Pacific trading session this news and data affects their price action.

Because of the size of the Japanese market and the importance of Japanese data to the market much of the action during this session is focused on the Japanese Yen currency pairs. The Japanese financial centers are most active during this session so you can get a sense of what the Japanese market is doing based on price movements.

About midway through the Asian trading day, European financial centers begin to open up and the market gets to its full swing. European financial centers and London represent over 50% of the total global trading volume.

London, Bonn, Paris, Zurich and Geneva are important financial centers that are active during the European trading session. The forex market interest and liquidity is at its peak during the European session The European session overlaps with half of the Asian trading day and half of the North American trading day.

As a result some the biggest moves and the most active trading takes place in the European currencies (EUR, GBP and CHF) and the euro cross currency pairs (EUR/CHF and EUR/GBP).

Because of the overlap between the North American and European trading sessions, the trading volumes are much bigger. Some of the biggest and most meaningful directional price movements take place during this crossover period.

The most important financial markets in North America and US are located at New York and Chicago. The North American Session basically comprises New York and Chicago as financial centers. The North American trading session accounts for roughly the same share of the global trading volume as the Asia Pacific market, or about 22% of the daily global trading volume.

Most US data reports are released around 8:30 AM EST with others coming out later at around 9 AM and 10:00 AM EST. The North American morning is when US key economic data are released and the forex market makes many of its significant decisions on the value of USD.

There are some US economic reports that come out at noon or at 2:00 PM EST livening up the New York afternoon market. Canadian economic data reports are also released between 7 and 9 AM EST.

The London or European close can bring volatile flurries of activity. London and European financial centers begin to wind down their daily trading operations around noon eastern time each day.

On most trading days, market liquidity and interest falls off significantly in the New York afternoon this can make for challenging trading conditions. On quiet days, the generally lower market interest typically leads to stagnating price action. - 23217

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try These 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signals From Heaven. Know Forex Rebellion!

British Pound Currency Profile (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

GBP/USD is the most liquid currency pair in the world and is highly popular with the currency traders. 90% of the global currency trading is pure speculation by the market players. Why is GBP so popular with the currency traders? What are the strength and weakness of GBP? Lets discuss the currency profile of GBP. Another name for the British Pound (GBP) is Pound Sterling. GBP is also known as the Cable. This name most probably struck in the early part of the twentieth century when most of the global trading used to be done through GBP via telex machines run on the cables. GBP used to be the international reserve currency of choice in those days. United Kingdom (UK) is the fourth largest economy in the world. UK has a service oriented economy with manufacturing representing a small part of GDP. Manufacturing is only equivalent to one fifth of GDP.

London is still the forex center of the world. New York comes after London in the daily market turnover in forex. The main reasons that London has a higher percentage of trade is that it has always been a financial center and also because of time zones. The London market starts between 7am and 8am, which is the end of the trading day for Asia. Just as the Banks in London are beginning to open at 8am they can deal with other traders in Tokyo, Hong Kong or Singapore whose trading day is just coming to a close. During the later part of the trading day in London, the US market opens up and so catches a healthy portion of that market as well. London Stock Exchange is still the second most important stock exchange in the world after the New York Stock Exchange. The British capital market systems are one of the most developed in the world and as a result finance and banking has become a strong contributor to the GDP.

UK has large reserves of oil and gas in its North Sea. Offshore drilling has made the energy production industry account for 10% of GDP which is one of the highest shares of any industrialized nation. UK is the largest producer and exporter of natural gas to EU although majority of UK GDP is from services.

Increases in energy prices such as oil will significantly benefit the large number of UK oil exporters. This is important for forex traders as energy prices are positively correlated with GBP. Overall, UK is a net importer of goods with a consistent trade deficit.

The two main trading partners for UK are the EU and the US. The United States on an individual basis still remains UKs largest trading partner. However, the largest trading partner of UK is the EU. Trade between UK and EU accounts for almost 50% of UK imports and exports activities!

Trade surplus or the trade deficit is determined by the difference between the exports and the imports of a particular country. The leading import sources for UK are France, United States, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The leading exports markets for UK exporters are the France, Germany, Ireland, United States and the Netherlands.

UK had rejected adopting Euro as its currency in June 2003. However, the possibility of Euro adoption will still be in the backs of minds of pound traders for many years to come. Now, if UK decides to join EMU, it will have significant ramifications for its economy.

One of the primary arguments used against adopting the Euro is that UK has sound macroeconomic policies that have worked very well for the country. The most important of these ramifications is the adjustment of UK interest rate with the Eurozone interest rate in case UK decides to join EMU.

There are many arguments in favor of Euro entry and many against.UK is a highly political country with government officials highly concerned about the voter approval ratings. Right now Brits are not in favor of a Euro entry. The voter opinion can change overtime. However, if the voters do not support Euro entry, the likelihood of EMU entry will decline.

Bank of England: The monetary policy of UK is under the control of The Bank of England (BOE). BOE is the UKs central bank. BOE is one of the oldest central banks in the world. The Monetary Policy Committee is the nine member committee that sets the monetary policy for UK. The committee was granted operational independence in 1997. It consists of a governor, two deputy governor, two executive directors of the central bank and four outside experts. - 23217

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try These 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signals From Heaven. Know Forex Rebellion!