April 2008 Archives

Welcome to the Fifteenth Edition of The Carnival of Smarter Investing! We're back with our fifteenth edition of CoSI, so sit back, relax, and enjoy this supersized gathering of featured articles by investors and writers in the areas of business and real estate. And, as always, to submit your article for next week’s edition, you can do so here.

Day trading refers to trading, i.e., buying and selling the stocks within the same trading day in such a way that all trading positions are generally completed before the close of the market on the trading day. Day trading is opposite to after-hours trading which allows the investors to buy and sell shares and keep them for longer periods. Earlier, the day trading was done exclusively by the large financial companies, banks and professional investors. Of late, it has gained acceptance from the casual investors due to the advancement of trading technologies, changes in legislation and the advent of the computers and the internet.

Are you able to remain calm and unemotional and to look objectively at the criteria at hand when you are trading the currency exchange markets? If not, you may wish to look into Avi Frister's Forex Trading Machine system to help take the human error factor out of your trading pattern. Frister, who has been successfully trading for more than ten years now, has designed a forex trading strategy that uses only one major factor in its trading algorithm: that of price and where the price is headed.Actually, the name Frister chose for his strategy - Forex Trading Machine - is an apt description of the system itself, which is totally mechanical, meaning no interpretation, no confusion, no judgement, no tricks, and no vague chart formations. Combine that with principles which are easy to learn but extremely difficult to spot and interpret in real time, and you've got the essence of Frister's trading system.

It has been acknowledged that there is indeed an economic downturn occurring or impending in many regions. We are also seeing increasing volatility in the equity and financial markets. Added to this, is the inflationary pressures that are bearing down on investors. Given this situation, many investors are turning to safer investments. In this context, property or real estate is beginning to get much more attention from investors seeking to cushion the effects of inflation. In countries or locations where property prices have leveled off or fallen and the number of foreclosures is rising, investors have a great opportunity to invest their money in a sector that offers better returns.

Short sales are becoming more and more popular as more and more investors learn this creative technique which can create huge profits. A short sale is when a lender accepts a discount on a mortgage to avoid a possible foreclosure auction or bankruptcy. Instead of buying from a seller, you are purchasing the property directly from the lender for a discount. For example: A homeowner, who is facing foreclosure, has an existing first mortgage of $300,000. You write an offer to the lender for $220,000, which is accepted as full payment for the loan. This is a short sale. Why are they willing to take such a discount? Several reasons. First of all, banks do not like excess inventory and bad loans on their books; therefore, if they see an opportunity where they can sell the property without a huge loss, they will do it. Secondly, lenders know they could lose a lot more money if the property goes to auction. There are so many fees involved if the property goes to auction, that they would be better off taking the discount beforehand and be finished with the headache of it all.

Imagine if you were able to purchase your dream home at a fraction of its market value. The good news is, this is no longer a dream. If you want to get the best deals in the real estate market, the most popular option today is purchasing foreclosed properties. These properties are not only of high quality, they are even sold at less than their market value. This is because these properties are owned by the bank because the homeowner failed to pay for his mortgage. So in order to regain what has been owed to the bank, the bank sells the property at a cheap price, giving buyers a great opportunity to purchase real estate.

When you buy a home with a mortgage you promise to repay the loan and back up that promise in a contract by offering your property as collateral. Default on the loan and the lender can legally reclaim the property in order to offset losses that result from your non-payment. Most Americans think of foreclosure as an auction on the courthouse steps, but in reality the foreclosure process begins long before that happens. The auction is really the last event in a long line of legal steps that are all part of the foreclosure.