Posted 1 year, 1 month ago at 4:30 pm. 0 comments
By definition, Bridging Finance or Bridging Loan is a short-term loan used to purchase commercial property. This is something that can come in very handy, depending on your particular situation. There are two main points that you need to consider before you opt for a Bridging Finance package, your needs and the state of the property market.
One of the major benefits of Bridging Finance is that it will allow you to close on a property and purchase a new property before you sell your existing one. You will need to evaluate your current situation to determine if your needs justify taking on this type of finance. Will you lose the new property if you can’t offer a deposit? Would you be eligible for a discount on the purchase price if you can come up with the cash fast?
What are the existing market conditions in regard to the sale of your existing property? Is it going to be possible to sell your existing property in the time frame set out in your finance package? Most Bridging Finance typically runs for one year and will need to be paid in full at the end of the term unless it is possible to convert it into a Commercial Loan. You will also need to be aware that the interest rates will be higher on a Bridging Finance package.
If the market is slow and you do not have an urgent need for the new property, it may not be in the best interest of your business to take on this type of loan. On the other hand if the property market conditions are good, you can be out from under a Bridging Loan fast. However, it is still something that will need to make sense for your business.
If you feel taking on this type of loan is the right thing to do, you will be far better off going through a specialist Commercial Lender.
They will shorten the entire process as a specialist will know the market and they can quickly make a judgment on the best loan for you, based on your particular circumstances. Be sure to check that the loan can be converted into a conventional Commercial Finance package. You will also want to check on the type of interest rate and the costs you will entail if you do have to convert.
Most Commercial Lenders will be willing to extend the terms of your Bridging Finance package. Let’s say, for example, you have a buyer and you are waiting for the sale to close. Bridging Finance in general is much more flexible and accommodating than you might expect in this respect.
Paying back your Bridging Loan at the end of the loan term more often than not depends on your ability to sell your existing property. If it does not sell in the required time, you will be paying the existing loan on your current property, your new property and the newly converted Bridge Finance as well. If you believe this may be a possibility be sure to take a package that can be converted to a Commercial Loan if the need arises. Otherwise you may have to come up with the full Loan sum at the end of the finance term.
Need Bridging Finance in the UK? Commercial Lifeline are Bridging Finance and Commercial Mortgage specialists.
This article comes with reprint rights. Feel free to reprint and distribute as you like. All that we ask is that you do not make any changes, that this resource text is include, and that the links above are intact.
Posted 1 year, 3 months ago at 3:09 pm. 0 comments
By definition, Bridging Finance or Bridging Loan is a short-term loan used to purchase commercial property. This is something that can come in very handy, depending on your particular situation. There are two main points that you need to consider before you opt for a Bridging Finance package, your needs and the state of the property market.
One of the major benefits of Bridging Finance is that it will allow you to close on a property and purchase a new property before you sell your existing one. You will need to evaluate your current situation to determine if your needs justify taking on this type of finance. Will you lose the new property if you can’t offer a deposit? Would you be eligible for a discount on the purchase price if you can come up with the cash fast?
What are the existing market conditions in regard to the sale of your existing property? Is it going to be possible to sell your existing property in the time frame set out in your finance package? Most Bridging Finance typically runs for one year and will need to be paid in full at the end of the term unless it is possible to convert it into a Commercial Loan. You will also need to be aware that the interest rates will be higher on a Bridging Finance package.
If the market is slow and you do not have an urgent need for the new property, it may not be in the best interest of your business to take on this type of loan. On the other hand if the property market conditions are good, you can be out from under a Bridging Loan fast. However, it is still something that will need to make sense for your business.
If you feel taking on this type of loan is the right thing to do, you will be far better off going through a specialist Commercial Lender.
They will shorten the entire process as a specialist will know the market and they can quickly make a judgment on the best loan for you, based on your particular circumstances. Be sure to check that the loan can be converted into a conventional Commercial Finance package. You will also want to check on the type of interest rate and the costs you will entail if you do have to convert.
Most Commercial Lenders will be willing to extend the terms of your Bridging Finance package. Let’s say, for example, you have a buyer and you are waiting for the sale to close. Bridging Finance in general is much more flexible and accommodating than you might expect in this respect.
Paying back your Bridging Loan at the end of the loan term more often than not depends on your ability to sell your existing property. If it does not sell in the required time, you will be paying the existing loan on your current property, your new property and the newly converted Bridge Finance as well. If you believe this may be a possibility be sure to take a package that can be converted to a Commercial Loan if the need arises. Otherwise you may have to come up with the full Loan sum at the end of the finance term.
Need Bridging Finance in the UK? Commercial Lifeline are Bridging Finance and Commercial Mortgage specialists.
This article comes with reprint rights. Feel free to reprint and distribute as you like. All that we ask is that you do not make any changes, that this resource text is include, and that the links above are intact.
Posted 1 year, 4 months ago at 8:08 am. 0 comments
This investigation like all research started with an idea gathered tax anecdotes heard from many young women around Shanghai who were, good looking, successful, had money and were confident. However they all had one thing in common - they were not in a relationship of any kind. The hypothesis for this paper was simple: were girls here in Shanghai alone because the men wanted to find sub-dominant women who they did not feel threatened by in term of social status? The results clearly show that in fact men sought out partnership of a lower social status to have a relationship with and so leaving the vast majority of successful girls alone and unfulfilled.
Introduction:
In order to substantiate the hypothesis a model of relationship symbiosis was devised in order to test women and men’s attitudes to the model and if they agreed with the proposal. This model was a simple correlation of social status to symbiosis between couples. In China many men seek a lower status woman as a way of feeling in control of the relationship through money, status, family and intelligence. Therefore they tend to seek and relate to women one step below them on the social scale. Women on the other hand are looking for a man for, security, status, home-making and propagation i.e. one step at least up from their social status.
If a woman earns more income than the man, has a higher social status or property then he feels he will lose face in front of his family, work colleagues and friends. They will feel he cannot provide for her or show a higher level of achievement. They also cannot cope with a woman of more intelligence, often leading to arguments that they cannot win against a better educated opponent. China is a highly judgemental society were social comparison not only thrives here but positively rules peoples lives in trying to live up to and match social expectations of others.
Brown (1986) suggested that social equity theory shows that people in general look for rewards, exchanges and most of all the amount of investment in a partnership This is the situation where couples add up what they invest in a relationship such as, who does what tasks, who is the more caring, loving, sensitive, who takes care of things, financially, family or domestic. In this situation couples are looking for a reward over the cost of the relationship in the form of profit. Thibaut and Kelley (1959) went further than Brown to suggest that couples also compare themselves to others in relationships to see how they measure up and so decide if you would be better off in a different relationship somewhere else. In China this is certainly the way things appear to the outsider looking inward at the society and its credo. Although both of the above theories seem to suggest people as basically selfish, in that they are only interested in their immediate rewards, there are those who make sacrifices in the hope of future rewards, such as the daughter who looks after her aging parents in the thought that when they are gone she can have her own life. This is as Eric Berne (1960’s T.A.) would say an After-Script, that a person will wait for happiness in the future by a sacrifice today. The alternative as Berne sees it is the Until-Script in which until you do something you cannot be happy. For example until you have a successful career you cannot spend time being in a loving relationship.
The Model:
The model that was shown to Chinese participants, the research was straight forward and kept very simple. The model was shown to adult classes of Chinese students learning business English in many areas around Shanghai. Almost all were single men and women of ages 20 through to 35. After a short introduction to the concept the model was drawn on the white-board in simple format as shown below:
Step 1
MEN WOMEN
A A
B B
C C
Step 2
An explanation was given then as to the scenario in the model as follows;
“A” men look for “B” women because they can control them, dominate them and have a higher social status.
“B” men do the same thing looking for “C” women.
“C” men have a hard time finding suitable women and often looked for uneducated country girls or poor family city girls.
“B” women seek “A” men in order to find social status, security and support for her family in the future through marriage to the “A” man.
“C” women seek “B” men for the same reasons. However a “C” woman dreams of an “A” man but is unlikely to attract them.
“A” woman finds “A” men too weak, unsupportive of their ambitions and afraid of their power and social status - and therefore end up alone with few suitable possible mates. “A” women can be attracted to foreign men who do not have the same social worries as Chinese men. The Chinese women being highly educated mostly speaking English well are able to communicate with foreigners in Shanghai, who are often businessmen or highly educated teachers or professors.
Step 3
The participants where then asked to discuss the merits of the model, give examples from their own lives and whether they agreed with the over-all concept bearing in mind people are individuals and that the model is merely a reflection of traditional values, Chinese culture and social mores of the current situation in Shanghai as of 2008.
Step 4
Free voting was then encouraged as to the validity of the model from the participant’s perspective. (There is of course through the explanation in step two some leading of the participants in the model’s view, however the researcher believes this was not enough for the participants to be mis-led when asked to vote from their own opinion as to whether they agreed with the model’s concepts.)
The Results:
At the end of each presentation most of the participants voted in support of the model (95%) - those who objected did so not because they thought the model wrong but in fact from personal experience of not having been in a relationship or that they hoped the model was in fact wrong and sought hope in that their own future relationships would be based on more romantic sentiments than the model suggested. In fact the model ignored “love” as a variable as in Chinese society this is considered unimportant when choosing a possible mate or marital partner for the future. The women who participated identified most closely with the model but the men often found that they wanted to disagree but when thinking about their own relationships found the model in fact had predicted their own current situation.
Discussion:
The results clearly show how difficult it is for an “A” girl, educated, successful, and glamorous in Shanghai to attract a suitable man to offer her support, equal status and long term commitment. The “B” and “C” girls are in fact more likely to have boyfriends and to attracted suitable husbands in the short term. According to Winch (1958) happy marriages are about fulfilling each others needs, even if this means an unequal partnership where one dominates and the other is dependent in nature. This complementary view of relationships was seen clearly by Berne (1960’s) in the theory of Transactional Analysis in which symbiosis in relationships was the most common factor. That is women are looking for a man to look after them and men want a woman to look after. Therefore “A” women in particular in China lose out to this idea. Chinese men do not want a more successful woman than themselves or one that has a higher social status that may embarrass them to their family and friends.
Many of the “A” girls that saw the model identified with the sentiments expressed in the model and often quoted anecdotal evidence to support the model from their own failed relationships where social status was the major issue in the break-up of the romance. Also many agreed that foreign men were a good choice for them sometimes, in the fact they are less concerned with social status and encouraged success and ambition in the woman’s career and life. This non-judgemental approach gave the women the support they feel they needed in their high pressure jobs and lifestyle.
Those who identified themselves as possible “B” women agreed they sought high social males as mates and looked first for security and a good future for themselves and their families. Under the one-baby policy of China this has created a great fear amongst young women that they must find a suitable husband to support their families in old age.
There were few “C” women in the participants mainly due to their lower status and education and are not likely to turn up in business English classes. Most “C” girls work as waitresses, shop-girls, cleaners and similar low-paid, low-status work.
There is a tendency to marry a person of a similar age in China, much more so than in Western countries where women more often seek men a few years older than themselves. This could in China be a contributory factor in the failure of relationships as the men are often less mature, socially and empathetically than the girls they are with. In this variable the likelihood of symbiosis is low and eventually leading to unhappy relationships based on unequal maturity between the couples.
Summery:
The sad part of this ABC model in Shanghai is that it may be seen in other big cities in China from Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou to Hong Kong in that successful, powerful and dominant women find it hard to find suitable men to encourage, support and love them for who they are; that is modern women with their sites set on ambition and wealth. The “A” girl’s social status is assured through her education, dedication and fashionable demeanour.
Many of the “A” girls admitted loneliness, frustration and disappointment in many of their failed relationships with men who are only interested in their own social status and saving face in Chinese society and culture. While we may think of this situation as sad, many of the actual woman took a positive view in that they had freedom to pursue their career, could determine their own life-style and enjoy autonomy without a man telling them what they should do and should not do in their daily lives.
In the future the model will be continued to be shown in classes and see if over time the results change in line with more modern thinking about success in women in China and a more mature attitude change in the men in seeing a woman successful and ambitious is a thing to be proud of not embarrassed by.
References:
Gross R. (2005) Psychology 4th Ed. The Science of Mind & Behaviour. Pgs. 412/413. Hodder & Stoughton Publishers.
Brown R. (1986) Social Psychology 2nd Ed. New York Free Press Publishers.
Thibaut JW & Kelley HH (1959) The Social Psychology of Groups. New York, Wiley Publishers.
Winch RF (1958) Mate Selection, A Study of Complimentary Needs. New York Harper Publishers.
Berne E. (1960’s) Various publications for Transactional Analysis.
Dr. Stephen Myler is from Leicester in England, an industrial town in the Midlands of the United Kingdom. He holds a B.Sc (Honours) in Psychology from the UK’s Open University the largest in the UK; he also has an M.Sc and Ph.D in Psychology from Knightsbridge University in Denmark. In addition to this Stephen holds many diplomas and awards in a variety of academic areas including journalism, finance, teaching and advanced therapy for mental health. Stephen has as a Professor of Psychology many years teaching experience in colleges and universities in England and China to post 16 young adults, instructing in psychology, sociology, English, marketing and business. He has been fortunate to travel extensively from Australia to Africa to the United Sates, South America, Borneo, most of Europe and Russia. Stephen’s favourite hobby is the study of primates and likes to play badminton. He believes that students who enjoy classes with humour and enthusiasm from the teacher always come back eager to learn more.
Posted 1 year, 5 months ago at 5:34 am. 0 comments
This investigation like all research started with an idea gathered from anecdotes heard from many young women around Shanghai who were, good looking, successful, had money and were confident. However they all had one thing in common - they were not in a relationship of any kind. The hypothesis for this paper was simple: were girls here in Shanghai alone because the men wanted to find sub-dominant women who they did not feel threatened by in term of social status? The results clearly show that in fact men sought out woman of a lower social status to have a relationship with and so leaving the vast majority of successful girls alone and unfulfilled.
Introduction:
In order to substantiate the hypothesis a model of relationship symbiosis was devised in order to test women and men’s attitudes to the model and if they agreed with the proposal. This model was a simple correlation of social status to symbiosis between couples. In China many men seek a lower status woman as a way of feeling in control of the relationship through money, status, family and intelligence. Therefore they tend to seek and relate to women one step below them on the social scale. Women on the other hand are looking for a man for, security, status, home-making and propagation i.e. one step at least up from their social status.
If a woman earns more income than the man, has a higher social status or property then he feels he will lose face in front of his family, work colleagues and friends. They will feel he cannot provide for her or show a higher level of achievement. They also cannot cope with a woman of more intelligence, often leading to arguments that they cannot win against a better educated opponent. China is a highly judgemental society were social comparison not only thrives here but positively rules peoples lives in trying to live up to and match social expectations of others.
Brown (1986) suggested that social equity theory shows that people in general look for rewards, exchanges and most of all the amount of investment in a relationship. This is the situation where couples add up what they invest in a relationship such as, who does what tasks, who is the more caring, loving, sensitive, who takes care of things, financially, family or domestic. In this situation couples are looking for a reward over the cost of the relationship in the form of profit. Thibaut and Kelley business went further than Brown to suggest that couples also compare themselves to others in relationships to see how they measure up and so decide if you would be better off in a different relationship somewhere else. In China this is certainly the way things appear to the outsider looking inward at the society and its credo. Although both of the above theories seem to suggest people as basically selfish, in that they are only interested in their immediate rewards, there are those who make sacrifices in the hope of partnership rewards, such as the daughter who looks after her aging parents in the thought that when they are gone she can have her own life. This is as Eric Berne (1960’s T.A.) would say an After-Script, that a person will wait for happiness in the future by a sacrifice today. The alternative as Berne sees it is the Until-Script in which until you do something you cannot be happy. For example until you have a successful career you cannot spend time being in a loving relationship.
The Model:
The model that was shown to Chinese participants, the research was straight forward and kept very simple. The model was shown to adult classes of Chinese students learning business English in many areas around Shanghai. Almost all were single men and women of ages 20 through to 35. After a short introduction to the concept the model was drawn on the white-board in simple format as shown below:
Step 1
MEN WOMEN
A A
B B
C C
Step 2
An explanation was given then as to the scenario in the model as follows;
“A” men look for “B” women because they can control them, dominate them and have a higher social status.
“B” men do the same thing looking for “C” women.
“C” men have a hard time finding suitable women and often looked for uneducated country girls or poor family city girls.
“B” women seek “A” men in order to find social status, security and tax for her family in the future through marriage to the “A” man.
“C” women seek “B” men for the same reasons. However a “C” woman dreams of an “A” man but is unlikely to attract them.
“A” woman finds “A” men too weak, unsupportive of their ambitions and afraid of their power and social status - and therefore end up alone with few suitable possible mates. “A” women can be attracted to foreign men who do not have the same social worries as Chinese men. The Chinese women being highly educated mostly speaking English well are able to communicate with foreigners in Shanghai, who are often businessmen or highly educated teachers or professors.
Step 3
The participants where then asked to discuss the merits of the model, give examples from their own lives and whether they agreed with the over-all concept bearing in mind people are individuals and that the model is merely a reflection of traditional values, Chinese culture and social mores of the current situation in Shanghai as of 2008.
Step 4
Free voting was then encouraged as to the validity of the model from the participant’s perspective. (There is of course through the explanation in step two some leading of the participants in the model’s view, however the researcher believes this was not enough for the participants to be mis-led when asked to vote from their own opinion as to whether they agreed with the model’s concepts.)
The Results:
At the end of each presentation most of the participants voted in support of the model (95%) - those who objected did so not because they thought the model wrong but in fact from personal experience of not having been in a relationship or that they hoped the model was in fact wrong and sought hope in that their own future relationships would be based on more romantic sentiments than the model suggested. In fact the model ignored “love” as a variable as in Chinese society this is considered unimportant when choosing a possible mate or marital partner for the future. The women who participated identified most closely with the model but the men often found that they wanted to disagree but when thinking about their own relationships found the model in fact had predicted their own current situation.
Discussion:
The results clearly show how difficult it is for an “A” girl, educated, successful, and glamorous in Shanghai to attract a suitable man to offer her support, equal status and long term commitment. The “B” and “C” girls are in fact more likely to have boyfriends and to attracted suitable husbands in the short term. According to Winch (1958) happy marriages are about fulfilling each others needs, even if this means an unequal partnership where one dominates and the other is dependent in nature. This complementary view of relationships was seen clearly by Berne (1960’s) in the theory of Transactional Analysis in which symbiosis in relationships was the most common factor. That is women are looking for a man to look after them and men want a woman to look after. Therefore “A” women in particular in China lose out to this idea. Chinese men do not want a more successful woman than themselves or one that has a higher social status that may embarrass them to their family and friends.
Many of the “A” girls that saw the model identified with the sentiments expressed in the model and often quoted anecdotal evidence to support the model from their own failed relationships where social status was the major issue in the break-up of the romance. Also many agreed that foreign men were a good choice for them sometimes, in the fact they are less concerned with social status and encouraged success and ambition in the woman’s career and life. This non-judgemental approach gave the women the support they feel they needed in their high pressure jobs and lifestyle.
Those who identified themselves as possible “B” women agreed they sought high social males as mates and looked first for security and a good future for themselves and their families. Under the one-baby policy of China this has created a great fear amongst young women that they must find a suitable husband to support their families in old age.
There were few “C” women in the participants mainly due to their lower status and education and are not likely to turn up in business English classes. Most “C” girls work as waitresses, shop-girls, cleaners and similar low-paid, low-status work.
There is a tendency to marry a person of a similar age in China, much more so than in Western countries where women more often seek men a few years older than themselves. This could in China be a contributory factor in the failure of relationships as the men are often less mature, socially and empathetically than the girls they are with. In this variable the likelihood of symbiosis is low and eventually leading to unhappy relationships based on unequal maturity between the couples.
Summery:
The sad part of this ABC model in Shanghai is that it may be seen in other big cities in China from Beijing, Wuhan, Guangzhou to Hong Kong in that successful, powerful and dominant women find it hard to find suitable men to encourage, support and love them for who they are; that is modern women with their sites set on ambition and wealth. The “A” girl’s social status is assured through her education, dedication and fashionable demeanour.
Many of the “A” girls admitted loneliness, frustration and disappointment in many of their failed relationships with men who are only interested in their own social status and saving face in Chinese society and culture. While we may think of this situation as sad, many of the actual woman took a positive view in that they had freedom to pursue their career, could determine their own life-style and enjoy autonomy without a man telling them what they should do and should not do in their daily lives.
In the future the model will be continued to be shown in classes and see if over time the results change in line with more modern thinking about success in women in China and a more mature attitude change in the men in seeing a woman successful and ambitious is a thing to be proud of not embarrassed by.
References:
Gross R. (2005) Psychology 4th Ed. The Science of Mind & Behaviour. Pgs. 412/413. Hodder & Stoughton Publishers.
Brown R. (1986) Social Psychology 2nd Ed. New York Free Press Publishers.
Thibaut JW & Kelley HH (1959) The Social Psychology of Groups. New York, Wiley Publishers.
Winch RF (1958) Mate Selection, A Study of Complimentary Needs. New York Harper Publishers.
Berne E. (1960’s) Various publications for Transactional Analysis.
Dr. Stephen Myler is from Leicester in England, an industrial town in the Midlands of the United Kingdom. He holds a B.Sc (Honours) in Psychology from the UK’s Open University the largest in the UK; he also has an M.Sc and Ph.D in Psychology from Knightsbridge University in Denmark. In addition to this Stephen holds many diplomas and awards in a variety of academic areas including journalism, finance, teaching and advanced therapy for mental health. Stephen has as a Professor of Psychology many years teaching experience in colleges and universities in England and China to post 16 young adults, instructing in psychology, sociology, English, marketing and business. He has been fortunate to travel extensively from Australia to Africa to the United Sates, South America, Borneo, most of Europe and Russia. Stephen’s favourite hobby is the study of primates and likes to play badminton. He believes that students who enjoy classes with humour and enthusiasm from the teacher always come back eager to learn more.
Posted 1 year, 9 months ago at 11:13 am. 0 comments
The sky is falling and dooms day is near according to the news media. What has fallen are American home prices, the value of the dollar and the rest of you know what rolled down hill with the declining real estate market. With all the news media is reporting about a soon upon us recession, a yo yo stock market, and the millions of unsold homes in the nation, it creates nothing but public panic and hysteria. It reminds me of the old song, “Where have all the flowers gone?” This one should go “where has all the money gone?” Or should we sing “where have all the qualified buyers gone?” What has increased are foreclosures, builder inventory, and resale houses. The only dooms day that hit the planet was the crashing of the sub prime market which was inevitable. Now the public is blaming the lenders for the great big economic pit we are in. When I say we, it includes the whole planet. (When America gets into trouble, so does the rest of the world.) Now the lenders are striking back with stricter parameters for buyers to qualify for home loans. This reduces the number of potential buyers while the the housing inventory on the market continues to increase. Lenders are eating lots of unwanted vacant standing inventory and collecting no revenue. That puts them in the real estate business. No, No! No!
Is it really dooms day? Are there no creative solutions beyond Bush’s exceptionally stupid plan of giving every American earning under $80,000 a year $600? When American economy found itself in quick sand beginning in the early ’90’s, real estate sales came to a near halt. Interest rates were around 13% in those bad old days. Property values dropped below the dollar amount of the loans on the properties. The news media was reporting then was the sky is falling and dooms day was upon us. Ha! Ha! Something magical happened. The lenders became original thinkers for a change and created short pay mortgage. It was a very simple idea that helped prevent some foreclosures and got the market moving a little. Lenders simply made their choice based upon which was more economically beneficial for them. Would they lose less money in a short pay deal or a foreclosure was their criteria. Then, the lenders lowered their qualification standards for home loans. They got real creative and came up with all kinds of tricky, clever interest only or choose your payment plan loans. The sub prime market became a feeding frenzy. Good old Greenspan began boldly moving the interest rate digits downward. The first time in almost forty years the interest rates were are low as 5%. Once again real estate was booming. Builders were building and selling first phase homes at very affordable prices. America was, once again saved by real estate. Happy days were here again!
In the shadows of those happy days were the soothsayers and goats chanting; “The bubble is going to burst, the bubble is going to burst, the bubble is going to burst.” The optimists just kept on claiming there is no bubble and this is the standard for real estate hence forward. Happy days are here to stay. What happened? The bubble burst! Now, American people are facing one of the toughest economic times since the great depression. (I know, I shouldn’t say the “D” word.) The worst part of the problem today is, the bubble burst with the interest rates already at an historical low. The bubble burst at a time loan qualifying was so easy even a homeless could qualify for a loan. Now housing prices have dropped in some areas by as much as 40%. Housing prices are lower than they have been in the last five years. This means the solutions that used to work to motivate buyers and get the market moving again don’t seem to be working in today’s current situation. In spite of the recent drops in the interest rates by the Feds, the market continues to remain stagnant. What now? Why are the buyers not rushing to take advantage of the this amazing buyers market with the lowest possible interest rates? Literally, this is the greatest market the buyers are ever going to see. When the market returns with a vengeance, buyers will never again see buying opportunities like there are now!
There are plenty of qualified buyers hiding under the rocks likes eels. The only reason they are not buying now is because they believe if they wait long enough the prices will go down substantially more. Being the clever buyers they consider themselves to be, they are determined to wait it out. It reminds me of the old Mexican stand off. “You go first. No you go first.” This has got to stop! Housing prices are very low, the interest rates are at their lowest, and sellers will negotiate. Good loans are still available. The challenge is to get the qualified buyers off their reclining chairs and into the real estate offices making offers. Since the already low interest rates and housing prices haven’t moved them, the lenders will have to go to the next level. What can be done now to get the market moving again? First of all let’s first understand, this is a fantastic buyer’s market. The way to get the economy moving again is to stop buyers from waiting for prices to go lower and start buying. Once the real estate market becomes active again, the rest of the economy will follow. The answer to do this can be given in one word; incentives. INCENTIVES! Though the amount, and details will be debated in the lenders’ board rooms, here are my suggestions to move the buyers to move the market. Lenders can set up an emergency program offering anywhere from a 5% to 8% rebate on the purchase price of the home to all qualified buyers who buy a home between March 2008 and April 2009. The buyers will receive their rebate two years after the close of escrow providing they have made their monthly payments on time for two years in a row. The lenders could stipulate 5% rebate on all homes $500,000 or more. The lender could vary the rebate on lesser priced homes. For example a $150,000 purchase price might get an 8% rebate and a $300,000 price might get a 6% rebate. While this suggestion is no more than a thumbnail sketch, it is a plan that lenders can use and refine. This plan will motivate buyers to buy now. This will get the market moving now. This would begin to diminish the excessive amount of vacant standing inventory. Resale houses will begin to sell after the foreclosure inventory is sold. It would begin revenue flow to the lenders again. It would get cash flowing into the American economy again. In two years all the buyers who purchased in 2008 would get a sizeable chunk of money to reinvest in a vacation home or some other challenge. The two years the buyers have been paying their mortgages on time would give lenders enough money to pay for the rebate. During these two years, people who are border line qualifiers for home loans would have time to clean up their credit and qualify for a home loan. The beginning of the third year would enjoy the first signs of the return of happy days are here again! People might be singing; “Where have all the houses gone?”
Therese Daniels
Posted 1 year, 10 months ago at 11:26 am. 0 comments
If there’s an available market as big as the whole world that would be forex. Forex is a large market where big corporation and financial institutions trade. It’s a sure market with the odds standing at 1:1. It’s either you loose it or win it. Well, that’s how it’s supposed to be, at least. But trading schemes make this market a little complicated. The chances of winning becomes smaller because a lot of people who are trading in it have developed strategies that makes the chances favorable for them. You need to work hard in order to be competitive. This business is not for the faint-hearted or lazy people. Forex is a lot of work. Some people may make you believe that forex is as easy as counting from one to ten and backwards but that is not the truth. Forex is as complicated as how other people is making it to be.
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Steve Comet is a pseudonym for a group of experienced forex traders. Our team has reviewed all the different forex auto programs that exist, and found out the ones with make money. Check out our forex automated trading reviews
Posted 2 years, 7 months ago at 8:20 am. 0 comments
Fact: The world is facing an unprecedented rise in price of food, including rice.
Myth: World is not producing enough rice.
Fact: There is no danger of insufficient rice supply, but the poor are suffering because they have inadequate income to buy sufficient rice.
Now is not the time to point fingers at one another and play the blame game; that will not help. Instead, let’s focus on how to salvage the current situation.
Implications of curbing rice exports
Egypt says it will ban all rice exports for 6 months. Cambodia has stopped all private exports of rice. India and Vietnam have also imposed restrictions to protect domestic consumption.
At first glance, imposing export controls on rice may look like a good solution. After all, so long as the government forces the rice suppliers to increase domestic rice supply, the people will be able to buy more rice. Thus, problem is hopefully solved.
However, what will be the likely, realistic long time scenario if countries really impose export restrictions on rice supply?
Even if rice suppliers are forced to cut down on exports and supply only to the domestic market, the truth is the poor will still find rice unaffordable.
This is because the people, especially those from the lower-income group, are not suffering because of a deficient rice shortage. Instead, what really deters them is the hyper-inflated price of rice. High price, not low supply is therefore the root of the problem. From the start it was never a supply-side problem, and thus curbing exports is already tackling the problem in the wrong direction.
Rice is a traditional and popular staple in many countries, especially in the region of South-East Asia. In the people’s eyes, it is not a luxury but a necessity instead.
Thus, to maximise profits rice producers can take advantage of this situation to either inflate prices, or maintain it at the current level. Even then, the increase in price will still not significantly dent the demand for rice. This is also a significant factor to why until now price of rice has still not fallen - There is very little incentive for rice producers to reduce price now, since profit and not social equity drives their bottom line.
In short, unless price of rice falls to acceptable levels, otherwise an increase in supply alone is also unlikely to salvage the situation effectively.
Supporters of populist and welfare policies may suggest that the government impose a price ceiling on rice (i.e. the maximum price where rice can be sold) so that social equity is achieved. The measure sounds good, but it would be better if it could work instead.
On the government’s part, it will have to draw the required sum from the past years; budget surpluses or existing foreign reserves to pay for the incurred debts. This is still feasible in the short run, but if price inflation continues to persist, the government’s coffers may be so heavily depleted out that the country cannot cope with other emergencies (e.g. natural disasters, increase in crime rate.) Thus, the government will never risk financing the debt at the risk of emptying its coffers.
By then, the only sustainable way to continue financing the debt will be to tax the people heavier. Eventually, the people will still have to pay the same inflated price for rice, but just under a different guise.
Furthermore, imposing export restrictions will likely encourage people to visit black markets. If the price inflation situation persists, people may also lose faith in the government’s ability to help them tackle bread-and-butter issues as such. As a result, people who can’t afford to buy sufficient food may resort to riots and cause social unrest to voice out their unhappiness. The 2007 food riots in West Bengal are classic examples.
Thus, curbing rice exports is only feasible in the short run, but then it has too many adverse side effects (social unrest, heavier tax etc.) to be even considered in the first place.
What should be done then?
Since it is not effective to subsidise the price of the good directly, it may be more effective to subsidise the income of the consumer instead.
For price to act as a rational mechanism of allocating goods and services in the economy there should never be too much government intervention in the economy. At all times, the price of the good should always reflect the true value of the good as determined by the equilibrium of demand and supply forces. Any external attempt to massage the prices will only create chaos and confusion.
With an increase in income however, the lower-income group will then be able to afford to buy rice. This means the people must continue to upgrade their working skills so that they remain employable and thus able to maintain current standard of living.
What to do, for now?
The most direct approach to be effective in the short run would be for households and individuals to reduce and ration their consumption of rice. It will be painful and hard to accept initially, but after all desperate situations warrant desperate measures.
Alternatively, households could introduce temporary substitutes. For instance, the United Nations have officially declared the year 2008 the International Year of the Potato in order to increase awareness of the importance of the potato as a food in developing nations. Potatoes, anyone?
Countries with rice surpluses could also help out, by lending or donating an affordable portion of the surplus to their neighbours who are facing a severe lack of rice in their population.
On the government’s side, rice exports must also resume as soon as possible. This is to ensure that there is still a steady flow of income into the country, and thus the country has more financial resources to cope with the current situation.
What to do later?
The government should also spare no time and effort in continuing agricultural research and development (R&D) projects. This is to ensure a viable and more self-reliant food supply to the country when such a situation surfaces again in the future. With the emergence of the green revolution and genetically modified food (GMF), using technology to increase crop yields is considered a norm.
Help yourself by helping others
Individuals also play an important role in salvaging the current situation. If the individual does not do anything and just wait for the government to help him settle the problem, it is almost a sure way to backfire. For now, the government needs all the support it can get from the local population. Start by being more actively involved in helping to reduce domestic household consumption. Pay close attention to government policies implemented to be able to gauge better what has been done. Fewer complaints from the population equals to more time and effort the government can spare to deal with the situation. In short, help yourself by helping others.
Conclusion
Once again, it should be emphasised that the world is not facing a rice supply crunch, but an issue of income inequality on hand instead. People must accept that inflation will eventually happen, and be prepared at all times to cope with sudden developments.
Article by Yeo Teck Wei, who is a freelance writer based in Singapore. If you like me to write a free, customised article for your own use, please email me @ yeoteckwei@yahoo.co.uk, and i’ll reply ASAP. Thanks.