Rentometer Paves The Way For Smart Moves

Dec 1, 2008: One of the basic necessities for humans is shelter. It is often true that we pay around 15 to 35 percent of our take-home salaries in rent or mortgages. For those of us who are renting apartments, the rent-money is sheer waste since we are not building any home equity. So our aim should be to shell out as less rent dollars as possible. But how do we find out whether we have got a

Sub Prime Mortgage Fiasco - Credit Losses So Far

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).] While doing some research on the sub prime mortgage fiasco we came across some interesting data, courtesy Bloomberg and Company. These figures show the credit losses incurred so far by various financial giants. Citigroup heads the table of losses with a gigantic $40.7 billion dollars till date. Here is the

Is Your City Recession-Proof? These 10 Are!

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]Some American cities are doing fine irrespective of falling home prices (at national level), rising unemployment and an economy with a slow growth(?). To find America's top 10 recession proof cities Forbes conducted a study. They examined the country's 50 largest metros and looked at several key measures:

FREE Land & Handsome Living Allowances!

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]How often we think that there is no FREE lunch. But that is not really true! Says who? Says Uncle Sam, really we mean it.......North Dakota and Kansas are giving away free land. Alaska is offering handsome living allowances. Well if it sounds too good to be true, read on to find out for yourselves.Kansas -

Wild Fire Disaster Preparation - Part 2!

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]In Wild Fire Disaster Preparation - Part 1 we discussed immediate measures that need to be taken if we encounter a disastrous fire. Continuing from where we left off, today we discuss what our home insurance policies should cover to help us claim appropriate replacement costs for our damaged properties and

Wild Fire Disaster Preparation - Part 1!

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]The wildfires which are devastating California have already consumed hundreds of homes and burnt many thousands of acres of land. Most probably it is going to be one of the costliest natural calamities of the century. And the seven counties affected by this devastation have some of the most expensive real

Are Banks Safe In A Falling Market?

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]When the market is a roaring bull, everything is rosy and fine. But when we face a bear market it would perhaps be worthwhile to contemplate on the safety of our hard earned money deposited at various banks. Not all banks are same! Apart from comparing customer service, interest rates, account fees, and other

BNC Mortgage Unit Shut By Lehman - 1200 Job Cuts!

[This post is written and copyrighted by FIRE Finance (http://firefinance.blogspot.com).]Today Lehman Brothers said that it's shutting its subprime-mortgage unit BNC Mortgage LLC and firing 1,200 people, becoming the latest company to stop offering home loans to less-creditworthy borrowers. According to an industry publication Inside B&C Lending, BNC was a top-20 subprime mortgage lender in 2006