Here are some tips that will help you become a better steward of your finances this year:

Tip #1 – Focus on taking baby steps at first. My advice is to spend one hour per night for 3 nights a week for the next 3 months (90days). I promise that if you do, you will be well on your way to setting up some good systems for 2010 that will give you more confidence and peace towards your finances.  Most people never even get started with organizing their finances because they look at the task in it’s entirety and feel completely overwhelmed.

Tip #2 – Use Quicken or a another software product to track and analyze your spending. A great first step to taking control of your spending is actually spending some time looking at what you are spending money on. (big revelation right!) You would be surprised how helpful it can be to download your checking account transactions into a software program and label each item. For example, you may set up categories for groceries, household items, gas just to name a few. In a matter of a few months, you will start see patterns of spending and make decisions with your money. I started doing this myself two years ago. At first, the software program seemed complex and confusing. I made it a goal to learn one new aspect of the program each month. After 12 months, I have learned quite a bit and set up several budgeting and reporting features. I used to hate looking at this information. Now I love it.  Mint.com has a great free service if you want to start budgeting and tracking.

Tip #3 – Get mobile – Most banks now a days have software you can download to your cell phone to get your bank balances and even transfer funds.

Tip #4 – Go paperless – Most major banks, mortgage companies and utility companies will allow you to set up an online account. This has many more benefits than just saving trees. You can make payments online, see your current obligations and have right at your finger tips access to months of history of your transactions with that company.

Tip #5 – Work with good professionals. A good accountant and financial planner can save you thousands with their advice and guidance. I think it’s smart to do your own budgeting but I still want guidance on tax advice and investment and insurance strategies. I rely on people who do those things everyday versus trying to figure out everything on my own.

I hope these ideas are helpful to you. May your 2010 be prosperous and fruitful!

Rob Bonahoom – Mortgage Coach – 651-485-3710

Here are some of the stipulations and highlights:

* No Mortgage lates in the last 12 months.

* No limit on the number of financed properties you currently have – This is really nice!

* Your current mortgage cannot have mortgage insurance on it or you have to contact your current servicer for the refinance.  

To get a quick estimate of your property’s current value, I like to go to www.zillow.com

This program will benefit only a small handful of the investors out there looking for low long-term rates, however, maybe your one of the lucky ones who will fit.

For an analysis of your property, please give me a call at 651-485-3710.

I really like this new outline and I believe it will encourage banks to finally standardize their processes which should really help a lot of people save their home. Right now, participation by banks in this program is not mandatory but highly encouraged unless the lender received or is going to be receiving bailout funds from the government. (Then they have to participate)

To get a complete outline of the plan, you can view the website at:  Obama’s New Mortgage Plan

If you have further questions about your personal situation, you can call us at 952-808-2820 and as we start to learn which lenders are offering what, we will be happy to let you know.

Rob Bonahoom

Mortgage Coach

So where to do you go from here? Do you convert all your money to cash or CD’s and never trust anything else? Do you buy real estate or stocks at these low prices or will they just continue to fall? I don’t have a crystal ball and don’t pretend to know what the future will bring but I believe that 2009 will be a come back year for many.  I see three major categories of people out there and for each of them, there is a much different approach they will need to take in order to build their wealth this year. First the folks that crashed and burned in 2008. Many people lost their jobs or their income streams dried up. For them, building wealth this year means getting the debts under control and getting a steady flow of predictable income going again.  I have an excellent recommendation for this group. It’s a software product called the money merge account. This program manages all of your income and debts, shows you how long it will take to pay everything off and when to pay it.  You can learn more about it here DEBT FREE. For this group, it probably won’t be a big year for new acquisitions of investment properties. The current mortgage guidelines will most likely rule them out.

The second group was very near retirement but watched their retirement accounts decrease to a level where now retirement in the near future is out of the question. Worse yet, some of them are now fearing the loss of their jobs as their company continues to lay people off. The best advice I can get this folks to keep their noses to the grind stone, keep their overhead as low as possible and plan on adding another 5 years to their retirement plans. I wouldn’t recommend doing anything drastic like getting aggressive in the stock or real estate market. Things just aren’t going to happen on the time line they were hoping for.

The last group is going to have an opportunity to have some fun and be rewarded for having some extra cash right now. Regardless of whether or not we have reached the bottom of the market yet. If you buy based on good fundamentals, your risk of losing money long term is very low. These folks have a buffet table of options available for themselves that could dramatically increase their wealth. Now is the moment for this group to shine and make their move. Whether it’s a new home, investment properties, or stocks, with a little homework right now, they could do quite well for themselves.  

Regardless of which group your in, I believe in my heart that this is going to be a great year! Let’s hope I’m right!

Rob Bonahoom

Mortgage Coach

Mortgage modifcation companies have been popping up all over the country. Many of them are ran by mortgage orignators that got out of lending the business. (be careful) Although I fully believe that there are plenty of these companies out their that have great intentions of helping people successfully modify their mortgages, I worry that some of these compannies are just going to exploite people further by taking up front money and then aren’t able to do anything for the client.  Do you homework about who you choose to work with.

I have helped many people successfully get their mortgage modified. Most lenders have a simillar process that has to be followed to successfully get a mortgage modified. The first step to a successful loan modification is that you will be required to be late on your mortgage. This is a very hard step (emotionally) especially if you have always been on time with your bills in the past. Lenders know this and it sets an important bar for them and tells them that you are serious about the need to modify your loan.

Secondly, you need to determine if a 30-year fixed fully amortized rate at 5% will help your situation. (this is not always the package you get but it is most common) For some people, that just isn’t gong to lower their payment enough. If a term like this won’t help you, a short sale or foreclosure may be a better option for you.

Finally, You need to be prequalified. You have to prove that you have the income required to be able to afford the new payments. 51% of all current loan modfications are failing because people still can’t make their payments. Lenders are going to make sure you can pay them back if they are going to agree to modify your loan.

If all three of these hurdles seem feasable to you, a loan modification may be a great way to save you thousands of dollars in interest over the life of your loan. You can definately take this on with your lender on your own however some poeple would prefer to pay us a $1500 fee (only upon successful modfication) and have us handle things for them.  To learn more about our company, check out www.modmanagers.com.

I hope this article gives you a better idea about how the process works. Feel free to call me for more questions 952-808-2820.

Rob Bonahoom Mortgage Coach

The biggest key in using real estate to build wealth is utilizing the power of using other people’s money to purchase income producing assets, however, the exit strategy has to evolve around a reduction or elimination of your debt. Investment properties that are debt free allow you to receive the cash flow which can serve as a income stream that could last for the rest of your life.

I have found a tool out there that seems to work very well to help guide you to the quickest route to paying off all your debt as well as  give you a moment by moment snap shot the exact date you will be debt free.

A company called United First Financial out of Salt Lake City, Utah has designed an incredible program that I believe every investor needs to own and utilize on a regular basis. In most cases, It will show the real estate investor how to pay off their properties in half the time. You can obtain a free analysis of your personal situation by clicking on the link below and filling out the appropriate information. There are also two very interesting video’s on the following link. Take 10 minutes to watch and learn more about this phenominal program.  I started the program myself two weeks ago and I am thrilled with the results.

Click on Link Here to View

I hope you take a hard look at this.

Rob Bonahoom

Mortgage Coach