Hard money loans are very similar to bridge loans. Bridge loans typically have similar criteria for lending. They also have similar costs to the borrower. The primary difference between a hard money commercial loan and a bridge loan is that a bridge loan frequently refers to a commercial property or investment property that is in transition. The property may not fully qualify for traditional financing yet. Hard money commercial loans refer not only to asset-based loans with a high interest rate but also loans for a financial situation that is possible distressed. Examples of this include cases where someone is arrears on an existing mortgage or where bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings are already in process.

Hard money mortgages, both commercial and residential, are made by private investors. They typically make loans only in their local areas. The credit score of the borrower is not important because the loan is secured by the value of the collateral property. The maximum loan to value ratio is 65-70%. This means that if a piece of property is worth $100,000, the lender would give the borrower $65,000 to $70,000. This low LTV (loan-to-value) ratio gives the lender added security in the event that the borrower cannot pay and the lender has to foreclose on the property.

Commercial hard money lender programs are similar to traditional hard money loans in terms of the LTV requirements and interest rates. A commercial hard money lender is typically a strong financial institution with the deposits and abilities to make discretionary decisions on loans that are non-conforming. These borrowers do not conform to the standards of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or other residential conforming credit guidelines. Since it’s a commercial property in question, the loan does not generally conform to a standard commercial loan guideline either.

Traditional commercial hard money loans are very high risk and have a higher than average default rate. Just like in a normal commercial loan, when a property owner defaults on a commercial hard money loan, he or she can potentially lose the property to foreclosure.

For more information on hard money lending, please visit http://www.pitbullmortgageschool.com.

Joseph Devine

Concerned citizens listed a number of reasons for their displeasure for the bill, among them:

• The bill is seen as a reward for firms that engaged in deceptive lending practices, or that encouraged speculation in the Real Estate market

• The bill would allow executives in companies that made bad decisions to collect excessive salaries and bonuses for their poor performance

• The legislation would come at the taxpayer’s expense, and would force ordinary citizens to subsidize practices that they neither condoned nor benefitted from

• Passing this legislation offers no guarantees that the underlying economy will recover

A number of these points are valid, but generally, they point to a desire to assign blame or fault for the current economic situation facing the country, and do not address the issue of how to restore confidence in our banking system. For this reason, I believe that Congress should focus on two separate bills to address the crisis.

The first bill should seek to correct the issues facing the liquidity crisis. This legislation needs to be passed quickly, to prevent a crisis of confidence which we witnessed on Monday, September 29, 2008. It should provide relief for mortgages that had turned bad, and should also provide relief for individual homeowners. A lending fund should be established that would allow homeowners to re-finance balloon loans with affordable fixed-rate loans, homeowners whose houses are facing foreclosure to obtain loans at more reasonable rates, and finally provide an effective auction-style processing of homes already in foreclosure, and returning the proceeds to a governmental agency. This agency should be empowered to re-sell these mortgages, when viable, at rates that produce a long-term profit for the agency.

These funds should then be returned to taxpayers as the mortgages are sold off at a profit. New mortgage funding practices should be drafted into the legislation which would require licensing of mortgage lenders, in much the same way as licensing is required for real estate agents, CPAs, Certified Financial Planners, etc. Effective licensing of mortgage lenders, along with stricter lending rules, would prevent the types of abuses that allowed anyone to become a “mortgage lender.”
The second piece of legislation that Congress should consider could be done in a more reflective manner. This piece of legislation should consider how to limit excessive executive compensation for firms that were involved in the “bailout.” Similarly, legislation should address abuses that can be shown to have occurred and appropriate fines and penalties enacted for the firms that contributed to abusive practices. Thirdly, where executives at abusive firms contributed or profited from abusive behavior, they should face the prospect of fines, penalties and jail-time for the abuses. Finally, a separate agency, similar to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) should be established that would be charged with developing best practices, guidelines, and oversight for the mortgage industry.

By separating out the legislation into two separate pieces, Congress can provide quick relief to the credit markets, provide assistance to taxpayers, and enact legislation at a later date that will address taxpayer concerns about accountability, regulation, and governance.

Author Biography

Peter Ponzio, the author of Children of the Night, is a CPA with over 30 years experience in Corporate Finance, holding positions as divergent as Treasurer, VP of Sales Administration, Vice President of IT, and General Manager of an internet start-up company in the late 1990s, and CFO at a subsidiary of a Fortune 100 company.

Mr. Ponzio graduated with a degree in English literature from Loyola University of Chicago, and an MA in Literature from Northwestern University.

Peter’s website can be reached at http://www.peterjponzio.com

It turns out that consumer credit reports alone are not the best indicator for a successful mortgage loan. What happened to underwriting? Did financial institutions failed to verify income and the ability to pay before they approved home loans?

It seems nobody was worried about verifying income in the mortgage loan sector. During the past years it was very common to get a mortgage loan without any proof of income. Loan brokers would often help tweak the numbers to make a no income check loan work. This has caused many unqualified borrowers acquired homes they couldn’t afford. Even when a bank wanted to verify these borrower’s documents there were not validity certainty. Many risky mortgages in the “suprime” subsector were approved during the past years without any proof of income and without checking the ability to pay for it. For a topic to be discussed later there was quite a bit of document manufacturing that was occurring. This at the same time that documentation hurdles were being lowered almost everyday.

Unfortunately, banks that originated loans were not too concerned with borrower’s ability to pay because they would sell off the loans quickly. These bad mortgages ultimately became the reason why many financial institutions holding this paper are now facing bankruptcy. There is a moral hazard that exists to this day because originators are not holding the paper. The U.S. financial industry now needs stricter regulation regarding income verification for all mortgages. This lack of honest underwriting actually fueled the rapid housing boom in Florida and California. Now 60% of all foreclosures in the U.S can be traced back to those two states.

Everyone knows that 90% of consumer credit files are inaccurate. If you want to read more about how to fix this mortgage mess please click here to check out abilipay.com to learn what important Americans have to say about toughening income verification and the ability to pay for all in the United States.

Tax line properties are best used to your advantage when the homeowners don’t pull the fancy little trick where they cement up the pipes. Most properties don’t do it anyways, so it’s good and safe. Spotting these properties are hard, but hard to a certain degree. There’s research going and that research has been revolutionizing the process of locating properties that aren’t messed up for buyers.

The research has been compiled into a short sweet system called Tax Liens Made Easy. It simplifies every step from location to purchase to straight flip back into the market. Those are the key processes of managing and profiting from foreclosures. Profits will be so much easier with the Tax Liens Made Easy system.

Taking advantage of tax lien properties has become a whole lot easier. That’s the exact secret to the mass profits using foreclosures. The systematical process to buying and flipping foreclosures has simply become so automated and so easy that people are now reporting millions of dollars in profit because they know how to take advantage of these situations. Tax lien properties are more than one would think. They’re a great resource and can unlock the mass profits.

And you know that system? Tax Liens Made Easy simply provides the best instruction for flipping foreclosures and massing profit. Read my review here:

– http://taxliensmadeeasy.info –

Actually, Tax Liens Made Easy does more than just instruction. It walks you through the process to success. Again, here’s my review:

– Tax Liens Made Easy –

Now the government is going to give Wall Street a 700 Billion dollar bailout plan. Now this plan is suppose to help the homeowner. It does not address unemployment and loss of jobs, the adjusting of mortgage rates that are the root causes.

Let us think about this:

• Gas prices are higher than ever
• We spend billions of dollars per month in Iraq
• Unemployment is high
• Food Prices have increased
• Most homes have lost value leaving little to no equity
• Utilities such as gas and electric are higher
• Credit is scarce and refinance market is dead
• Average family income is down
• Bankruptcies are high

Who wins?

• Oil companies recording record profits
• Brokers, who have taken money from the stock and equity markets
• Retiring executives from most markets with golden parachutes
• Those who are operating the banks and brokerage firms

Those responsible will not suffer; the good old taxpayer is coming to the rescue. Okay, so we bail them out and have our government, buy the homes that have lost their value in many ways. Now the government will also have to absorb the cost in foreclosure. That is an additional expense.

Here is the major question, with banks and other institutions having dumped all their bad paper on the government, what is next? The answer to that is who knows.

Here is a solution, when you wean a baby off the bottle; you just take it away from the baby. That is what we have to do to the financial institutions. This has to be fixed in part by government but with a ground floor view.

If you want to help those homeowners and reverse the economy here is the plan

• A 6-month freeze on all foreclosures and those up coming for the next year
• A $ 10,000.00 grant to all unemployed homeowners that need to get back on their feet
• An audit on all mortgage companies that financed the sub-prime market
• Allow modification of mortgage contracts on all distressed property
• Allow 6 months for homeowners to get gainful employment (if they are unemployed)
• Invest 100 billion for new “green” energy jobs
• Invest 100 billion in full scholarships in community colleges for new high tech or “green” jobs
• Financial Institutions that hold vacated property will keep them
• Those pending foreclosures will be turned over to the government
• The government will then administrate the process of implementing the above points.
• The mortgagee when employed will modify their contract with the governmental agency.
• Let the private sector sell the vacated properties through auction or other means

This is what I call trickle up economics. The intention is to assist those who are facing financial distress in most cases this will allow the homeowner to pay off their real estate taxes, allow them to find gainful employment. They will also buy food, pay utility bills, and help offset the price of gas. It is a terrible thing when you must commute 20 to 30 miles and do not have any money for gas. You must go to where the jobs are.

There are three types of people affected here, the employed, the unemployed and the multiple dwelling homeowners. The employed would need a modified contract. The unemployed would need a moratorium and financial aid if not eligible for unemployment. Then there are those who have multiple dwelling units which the economy does not directly effect their primary residence.

Implementation can be administered by HUD, the first action that needs to be taken is an instant moratorium on all forecloses and real estate tax liens.

• Set Up Special Temporary Branch under HUD to implement program
• HUD takes all the recorded default notices
• This program will be voluntary to homeowners
• Residents affected will contact a 1-800 number for the financial grant
• HUD will verify the information given
• Homeowner will fill out application and send to HUD via internet, fax or mail.
• HUD will release half of the $ 10,000.00 grant and in 30 days release the other half.
• If Homeowner is collecting unemployment benefits HUD will reduce the scheduled unemployment benefit amount from the HUD payments for the 6 month period
• Homeowner has 6 months to find gainful employment.
• Within the 4 month period Homeowner will contact HUD for mortgage contract modification
• Homeowners who are employed will contact HUD for assistance in mortgage modification
• When mortgage modification is approved by HUD then the Homeowner will start making payments to the mortgage holder of record.

Mortgage holders are not bailed out, but will be allowed have the distressed properties temporarily moved off their balance sheets into a holding company account. This will relieve their balance sheet on a temporary basis, which will allow them to qualify for appropriate credit. They will report to the SEC (if a public company) and HUD the information on the holding company, with complete details. No other transactions other than that of distressed real estate are to be post to this holding company.

When a homeowner starts to make payments on the modified mortgage contract the mortgage holder will transfer from the holding account the original value back to the mortgage holder’s original balance sheet.

In this way everybody wins, the mortgage holder, the homeowner and the government. This plan will result in more jobs; mortgage holders’ credit restored and distressed properties relieved. Of course, there are more details to work out but overall I believe my plan can be implemented in very little time.

John Tebar Certified Life Coach, Author and Entrepreneur sign up for weekly Ezine at http://holisticlifeplanningandresearch.com

Now the government is going to give Wall Street a 700 Billion dollar bailout plan. Now this plan is suppose to help the homeowner. It does not address unemployment and loss of jobs, the adjusting of mortgage rates that are the root causes.

Let us think about this:

• Gas prices are higher than ever
• We spend billions of dollars per month in Iraq
• Unemployment is high
• Food Prices have increased
• Most homes have lost value leaving little to no equity
• Utilities such as gas and electric are higher
• Credit is scarce and refinance market is dead
• Average family income is down
• Bankruptcies are high

Who wins?

• Oil companies recording record profits
• Brokers, who have taken money from the stock and equity markets
• Retiring executives from most markets with golden parachutes
• Those who are operating the banks and brokerage firms

Those responsible will not suffer; the good old taxpayer is coming to the rescue. Okay, so we bail them out and have our government, buy the homes that have lost their value in many ways. Now the government will also have to absorb the cost in foreclosure. That is an additional expense.

Here is the major question, with banks and other institutions having dumped all their bad paper on the government, what is next? The answer to that is who knows.

Here is a solution, when you wean a baby off the bottle; you just take it away from the baby. That is what we have to do to the financial institutions. This has to be fixed in part by government but with a ground floor view.

If you want to help those homeowners and reverse the economy here is the plan

• A 6-month freeze on all foreclosures and those up coming for the next year
• A $ 10,000.00 grant to all unemployed homeowners that need to get back on their feet
• An audit on all mortgage companies that financed the sub-prime market
• Allow modification of mortgage contracts on all distressed property
• Allow 6 months for homeowners to get gainful employment (if they are unemployed)
• Invest 100 billion for new “green” energy jobs
• Invest 100 billion in full scholarships in community colleges for new high tech or “green” jobs
• Financial Institutions that hold vacated property will keep them
• Those pending foreclosures will be turned over to the government
• The government will then administrate the process of implementing the above points.
• The mortgagee when employed will modify their contract with the governmental agency.
• Let the private sector sell the vacated properties through auction or other means

This is what I call trickle up economics. The intention is to assist those who are facing financial distress in most cases this will allow the homeowner to pay off their real estate taxes, allow them to find gainful employment. They will also buy food, pay utility bills, and help offset the price of gas. It is a terrible thing when you must commute 20 to 30 miles and do not have any money for gas. You must go to where the jobs are.

There are three types of people affected here, the employed, the unemployed and the multiple dwelling homeowners. The employed would need a modified contract. The unemployed would need a moratorium and financial aid if not eligible for unemployment. Then there are those who have multiple dwelling units which the economy does not directly effect their primary residence.

Implementation can be administered by HUD, the first action that needs to be taken is an instant moratorium on all forecloses and real estate tax liens.

• Set Up Special Temporary Branch under HUD to implement program
• HUD takes all the recorded default notices
• This program will be voluntary to homeowners
• Residents affected will contact a 1-800 number for the financial grant
• HUD will verify the information given
• Homeowner will fill out application and send to HUD via internet, fax or mail.
• HUD will release half of the $ 10,000.00 grant and in 30 days release the other half.
• If Homeowner is collecting unemployment benefits HUD will reduce the scheduled unemployment benefit amount from the HUD payments for the 6 month period
• Homeowner has 6 months to find gainful employment.
• Within the 4 month period Homeowner will contact HUD for mortgage contract modification
• Homeowners who are employed will contact HUD for assistance in mortgage modification
• When mortgage modification is approved by HUD then the Homeowner will start making payments to the mortgage holder of record.

Mortgage holders are not bailed out, but will be allowed have the distressed properties temporarily moved off their balance sheets into a holding company account. This will relieve their balance sheet on a temporary basis, which will allow them to qualify for appropriate credit. They will report to the SEC (if a public company) and HUD the information on the holding company, with complete details. No other transactions other than that of distressed real estate are to be post to this holding company.

When a homeowner starts to make payments on the modified mortgage contract the mortgage holder will transfer from the holding account the original value back to the mortgage holder’s original balance sheet.

In this way everybody wins, the mortgage holder, the homeowner and the government. This plan will result in more jobs; mortgage holders’ credit restored and distressed properties relieved. Of course, there are more details to work out but overall I believe my plan can be implemented in very little time.

John Tebar Certified Life Coach, Author and Entrepreneur sign up for weekly Ezine at http://holisticlifeplanningandresearch.com

You are not alone in this Nationwide financial crisis. Times are extremely tough for millions of homeowners like you and thankfully there many active laws and consumer groups to protect you. If you are having trouble paying your bills, your income can not support monthly expenses and ultimately are unable to make your mortgage payment(s), the good news is the Federal Government and Credit Industry established Loan Modification Services that will provide relief needed to keep your home. The main goal of a Loan Modification is to stop the foreclosure of your home. Foreclosures do not help or benefit anyone, not even your bank. An Attorney and/or Law office that specializes in loan modifications and debt negotiations is your best option to assist you in this process. An Attorney can make your Lender act on your case in your favor, and a forensic loan audit can only help to successfully restructure your loan.

What is included in my Forensic Loan Audit Report?:

• Results report of all factual findings of the forensic audit

• Ant and all applicable federal law violations

• The real terms of your loan

• Outline of hidden fees and/or commission earned by your broker and/or lender

• A complete assessment so you can pursue possible legal claims against your broker and/or lender

Loans with illegal terms or conditions are not enforceable. Foreclosures resulting from illegal loans are also not enforceable. The foreclosure process is stopped when litigation on a questionable loan begins. Mortgage payments are not required during the foreclosure or litigation process. Lenders will choose the most rational and fiscally sensible response when presented with the legal facts. When facing their legal options: modifying your loan, foreclosing your home, paying some high-priced attorneys to litigate, or risk stiff federal fines and penalties, many lenders will choose Loan Modification as the most financially sensible option.

Nikki Vaughn is a seasoned professional concentrating her studies and education within the personal finance and mortgage verticals. Paying close attention to consumer driven products and personal/national issues, she’s driven to alert and educate by delivering industry news and hot topics to her fan base. She currently writes for http://www.consumerdebtadvocate.net on consumer education pieces and freelance for client’s websites.

One of the clearest signs of predatory lending may be when homeowners or buyers are asked to sign documents that are completely blank or told to leave off the date. This gives criminals the opportunity to backdate, forward-date, or fill in incorrect information on a mortgage application or disclosure forms, keeping important notices from the borrowers. When the time comes to close the loan, the buyers may receive a completely different loan than they originally were sold, but which curiously has what appears to be their signatures on all the required documents.

Closely related is the issue of being asked to sign documents that have blatantly misleading or false information on them. Inflating a family’s monthly income to qualify for a higher mortgage payment is nothing more than a set-up for failure down the road. Of course, some borrowers did this voluntarily and lied on their loan applications without the knowledge of their broker, but being asked by a loan originator to sign off on incorrect figures will lead to unintended consequences and possible foreclosure or prosecution for mortgage fraud.

Loan originators were also guilty during the bubble of putting homeowners in inappropriate loans with high interest rates or deadly interest rate adjustments. They persuaded the borrowers to go along with the loan in the hopes of refinancing in a year or two when their credit had improved. As is now known, however, most people did not qualify for the mortgages in the first place and were unable to qualify for a refinance once interest rates were raised and credit started becoming scarce. This helped lead directly to the foreclosure crisis now facing the economy, as subprime borrowers never became prime; they just became sub-subprime.

Also, it is vitally important that homeowners, at the time of closing, carefully read the sales agreement and loan documents, especially the sales contract and Truth in Lending disclosures. If there are any discrepancies, or the borrowers are being asked to sign for a loan that is different than the one they were promised, predatory lending may be being committed. In fact, borrowers should have copies of the closing documents at least 24 hours before the closing, and have reviewed them thoroughly and be ready to have any questions answered.

Realtors and mortgage brokers who relied on corrupt appraisers were also complicit in predatory mortgage schemes designed to boost their own profits at the expense of borrowers’ abilities to pay their loans. Although homeowners want some appreciation of their properties, if they were originally sold a house at the top of an artificial market, an inflated appraisal may have been used. Home values should reflect the current market conditions — not be inflated to the very highest amount that can be borrowed, putting the owners into a loan on a house that is not worth even close to what they pay for it.

Unfortunately, the amount of greed in the real estate markets facilitated by the Federal Reserve and the banks have led directly to a foreclosure crisis of epic proportions. So many first time buyers and uneducated owners were taken advantage of by mortgage lender misconduct and predatory loans that it is difficult to separate the unqualified borrowers who got in over their heads from the truly criminal mortgage companies that fraudulently induced this toxic debt. But if homeowners suspect they are a victim of mortgage fraud in any way, they should contact the appropriate regulatory agencies and make sure to fight their foreclosure in court for as long as it takes.

The ForeclosureFish website has been created to help homeowners research ways they can stop mortgage foreclosure and defend against their bank’s attempts to sell the house out from under them. The site describes various methods to use, including foreclosure refinancing and mortgage modifications, along with more information about predatory lending and other mortgage lender misconduct. Visit ForeclosureFish to read more about various aspects of the foreclosure process, as well as how to recover from a financial hardship: http://www.foreclosurefish.com

In most cases, though, the first thing homeowners may wish to do is consult with a local attorney to make sure that they are accurately following all of the local and state Rules of Procedure. It may be as good an idea to read the rules on their own and begin to formulate their answer to the complaint based on them. If the rules of procedure are not followed to the letter, there is a good chance the bank’s lawyers will attempt to have the answer discounted or thrown out altogether.

The bank, in its original complaint, must lay out a number of issues and prove certain elements of its case to the court. For example, the bank must show that it has a legally binding contract with the homeowners, that the bank performed its end of the contract as agreed, the homeowners breached the contract, and that because of this breach the bank has suffered actual damages. If the bank fails to make its case on any one of these points, it may not be able to prove it is entitled to foreclosure of the house.

Recently, one defense against a certain element of the bank’s case has becoming increasingly popular. Since the bank must prove that it has a contract between itself and the homeowners, some borrowers have used this to challenge the lender’s ownership of the mortgage loan. If the lender can not show that it owns the loan, there exists no contract between the two parties, and the bank can not sue for foreclosure. The fact that many prime and subprime mortgages were packed up and sold off in slices and never had individual owners assigned to them from the huge pool of investors means that many mortgage are floating around with no real party to the contract who is due the monthly payments and has standing to sue the owners.

Rules of procedure also apply to the mortgage company and its attorneys when attempting to sue homeowners. If the borrowers can show blatant disregard or breaking of certain rules, the court may have no choice but to throw the case out of court for the time being. The bank may be able to start over from square one and bring the suit back into court, but at least the attorneys will be a little more careful next time and the homeowners will have bought more time to find a longer-term solution to foreclosure.

Certain jurisdictional issues may also come up, if the owners do not believe that the court in which the bank brought its lawsuit has the power to compel them to answer the complaint. In fact, it may be very difficult for any plaintiff to prove that the court has jurisdiction over the defendant, for the simple fact that the entire issue is based more on legal opinions than concrete facts. Proving jurisdiction factually, if the owners really want to stick the issue, may create problems for the lender’s attorneys.

Of course, no legal defense may be good enough in the presence of a corrupt judge who railroads every homeowner through the system and throws out objections on any grounds possible. County courts, through the filing fees paid by lenders seeking foreclosure judgments, have a financial incentive to keep their clients, the banks, happy and get in and out as many cases as the court can reasonably handle, regardless of the economic health of the area’s homeownership community. In such cases, homeowners should make their case but also know when to appeal bad decisions and when to give up and simply move on.

For borrowers who really want to stop foreclosure any way possible, answering the foreclosure complaint is a virtual necessity. Even if it just drags on the process for a few extra months, the additional time may present a final solution to the mortgage. But homeowners can also make a strong case in the courts and may have a good chance of having the bank’s lawsuit thrown out for now. There are various ways to go about filing an answer, and borrowers should consult their county and states rules of procedure, but the widespread corruption and deception in the mortgage markets over the past years may make it somewhat easier to shoot down a bank’s arguments.

The ForeclosureFish website has been created to help homeowners stop foreclosure on their properties while they still have time and resources available, as well as defend against the bank’s lawsuit against them. The site examines various methods to use, such as short sales, stopping a sheriff sale, contesting ownership of the mortgage, and more. Visit the site to read more about how foreclosure works and the best ways to begin recovering afterwards: http://www.foreclosurefish.net/

Canseco made millions in his prime. To most middle- and low-income Americans that kind of money means you’re set for life. No more worries about paying bills or sending your children to college.

So it would be understandable if those same people – you and me? – scoffed when Canseco explained to the media that a $35 million career gross doesn’t necessarily stretch all that far. The government took 41 percent, he said, and former wives – two – demanded another $15 million between them. That doesn’t leave much when “you’re taking care of your whole family.”

To his credit, Canseco admitted that his situation “was a little more different than most.” Or was it? The former MLB slugger is walking away from a nice home because it didn’t make financial sense to keep paying the mortgage. Many Americans who make far less money are now doing the same. Banks throughout the nation now have a surplus of foreclosure properties, and bus loads of would-be investors are taking a tour of the damage seeking a diamond in the rough. I bet they’ll have a lot to choose from. But buyer beware: Jose can you see the moral of the story?

Money management matters. Not the amount, though I assume most of us wish we had more, and not the manner in which it was accumulated. Management matters even for those lucky enough to make millions. In fact, sorry to say, it may matter even more as your income increases, despite the sense among the uninitiated that a windfall is like a big new jar of Smucker’s blueberry jam – there’s plenty to spread around.

Living large becomes a loser’s game when lack of cash flow results in too many scoreless innings. In a sense, the subprime loan crisis is the story of minor leagues players – all those good people who technically could not qualify for loans – suddenly being allowed to join The Big Game, the majors. No one seemed to care that they lacked the skills to hit one out of the park: i.e., their income was basically fixed and not substantial enough to cover all the bases.

You may say, what’s done is done. Easy to look over your shoulder, see the mess, then philosophize about how it could have been avoided: like a player who swings and misses when the count is 3-2, then kicks himself for not doing the opposite. What purpose does it serve?

Lessons learned are money in the bank. Swinging for the fences sometimes works but mostly fails. Stretching a double into a triple sometimes works but mostly fails. Next time some financial statistician suggests that playing with the numbers will suddenly make you a viable candidate for the major leagues, do your own math. Canseco can afford to walk away from his real estate. He has other irons in the fire. But your home is not an investment. It’s that special place you return to every day after rounding the bases in whatever league you choose to compete in. It’s not just a house, it’s home plate. Hold onto it.

Copyright 2008

Douglas Glenn Clark is the author of The Mini-Dow Jones Picture Book and The Mortgage Liberator Guidebook. and writes for http://AfterTheNoise.blogspot.com