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It’s not very often that a borrower takes into heavy consideration what his loan to value is when shopping for a loan.  In fact, if the subject is brought up by the customer, it’s mostly in relation to avoiding paying monthly mortgage insurance.  But sometimes, a loan to value can affect even more aspects of your loan – like pricing and approval!

What is loan to value?  Well, it’s exactly what it says.  The loan amount compared to the value of the home you are buying or refinancing.  For example, if you are buying a $100,000 home, and your loan amount is only $50,000, your loan to value or “LTV” is 50%.  It’s also very common to refinance a home to obtain a lower LTV and drop mortgage insurance that was before required.

Different types of loans have different minimum requirements for LTV’s.   With primary residence purchases, for instance, an FHA loan can have as high as a 97.75% LTV (soon to change to 96.5% in 2009).  A conventional loan can have as high as a 97% LTV (but more common is 95% LTV).  VA and Rural Housing loans can have 100% LTV’s.  People who have cash to put down on the property they are buying and financing with a conventional loan oftentimes try to amass 20% of the purchase price in order to avoid mortgage insurance.  Mortgage insurance is required when your LTV for a primary residence is above 80% and is issued by independent mortgage insuring companies like Genworth Financial or PMI.  Fannie and Freddie, the big purchasers of conventional loans, will require one of these or other approved companies issue mortgage insurance unless the loan has an 80% LTV.  And if you’re refinancing the home you live in?  The whole grid of acceptable LTV’s changes for the most part, with a few exceptions.  And furthermore, if you’re talking about investment properties, it’s another can of worms.

But when else does LTV mean something?  Consider when a loan specialist prices your loan.  Oftentimes there are pricing differentials based upon the loan to value.  For instance, if you carry mortgage insurance and your LTV is 85.01% or higher, you might actually get a better interest rate than if you had an 85% LTV (but don’t get too excited because your monthly mortgage insurance will be higher).  Or if your LTV is 60% or lower, you might also get a better interest rate.  If you are close to tipping the scales on one of these ratios, it may be to your benefit to ask your loan specialist how close you are to a pricing break one way or another.  You’d be surprised to find out it might change your mind as to how much money you decide to put down on your loan. 

And guess what else?  A low loan to value may be the difference between loan approval and loan denial.  Why is that?  Because if you are investing enough of your own money into the equity of a property, chances are you won’t default on the loan.  And if you do, it’s probably a last recourse.  Not to mention, the lender who holds the note won’t lose money because there is enough equity in the property to cover foreclosure costs, re-sale costs and any value loss from an upside down market.  The lender is covered.  So, the lender will consider the loan less risky and a higher debt to income ratio is tolerated when reviewed with a high credit score. 

If you have a car, then you must need a car insurance. Although you are paying money for the insurance, you are actually saving money for your car. You can protect yourself in case your car have an accident. It does not only protects you, but the insurance also covers your vehicle. So if you don’t have an insurance and have an accident, it will cost you a lot for hospital cost and car repair.

When you buy an insurance can purchase it depending on what you want to cover. For example, you can choose to guard yourself against accidental or burglary. Your insurance agent can help you to choose the policy that suits you.

There are many insurance companies to choose from. To save money, you can compare auto insurance provider online to find the affordable auto insurance. Do your research online to find a car insurance company that offer low rates with better coverage. By using the internet you can save money because you don’t need to come to the company and spend money on transportation. You can also read reviews about those company so you know which company is good and which company is bad.

While talking to the insurance companies salespeople, make sure you get information about discounts. Insurance companies can give discounts for a good driving record, and safety equipment on your car. If they think you have lower risk for an accident they can give you discount. So it is important to have a clean driver’s record and have an antilock brakes on your car.

By Ian Sani

• Selling at the right time
  Consider this, you are my best friend who works as a life insurance salesman. I am your prospect client and still single. When you ask me to buy your life insurance, I will say “Sorry, although you are my best friend, I’m not going to buy the insurance. Who will inherit my wealth if something happen to me?”. This is an example of selling at the wrong time. It’s just like selling ice cream in winter. Before you sell, you have to know your customer first. Do they really need the product NOW?
• By giving free sample
  By giving freebies, you can increase sales in so many ways. As the customer who bought the original product, If you like the sample then you might buy the product. Or If you pass the sample to someone else and they like it, they will buy the products from the company.
  For example if you write an ebook on a topic, give them the Table of Content, and one or two chapters as a sample. If they like the topics or like the way you write the topic, they will buy the ebook from you. By giving free sample, we are minimizing their risk. They don’t have to worry spending money for something they don’t like.
• Redesign your website
  What do you think will happen if a prospect arrives at you bad designed website? They might hesitate to buy. One reason that they want to buy is because they trust you. If you have a poor website design, they might think that you are not professional, thus they will not trust you.
  Change your website design, and you might see sales increase. Try adding images and videos to your website, because this will make it more attractive. You might want to consider putting some flash for your website. Don’t forget to remember usability. It’s useless to have beautiful design but the website is hard to use.
• Reward Programs
  Big companies often gives their customer rewards programs. But there’s no reason that a small business can’t have a customer rewards program too. It can be as simple as a discount for the customer’s birthday or as complex as a reward points system. If you have an online book store, you can do a reward program. For each book they bought you can give them one point. If they reach ten points you can give them $10 voucher. Remember that rewards programs can also help build your customer loyalty.
• Giving Incentives
  Give your customer a reason to buy. You can offer your customer price discount, or special offer by giving free complimentary products. Ask your self as a customer “Will I buy it? It’s having 20% discount”. If you answer yes, then the incentive will work. Try giving discount for your product and mention it on your home page, and newsletter.
  The idea is to give them more value with lower price. if a product is $100 and you give it 20% discount to $80, this will make them think they got a $100 worth of product for just $80. Wow a great offer.

The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly fell last week to the lowest level in three months, a sign the worst of the job cuts may be over.

Initial jobless claims decreased by 34,000 to 601,000 in the week ended May 2, the fewest since late January, from a revised 635,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The number of people collecting benefits climbed to 6.35 million the prior week, the 14th consecutive record, showing companies are still not hiring even as staff reductions abate.

No matter how avidly you take care of your health, there are unexpected circumstances that can land you a day or two in the hospital. If you are not prepared and you do not have enough health insurance coverage, this can cut a great deal with your savings. Thus, it is very important that you choose the best health insurance plan that can help you in case of an emergency.

First, check out all the health insurance options that you have. Consider your family’s health needs as well when signing-up for an insurance plan. There are two types of health insurance plan that you can sign-up for: private and government health insurance options. The private health insurance is personally signed-up for by an individual. You will also have a health insurance plan when you are employed. The company will provide you with coverage as part of your employee benefits.

The health insurance coverage provided by the government may be offered on a local, state or national level. Medicare is an example of a health insurance plan offered on a national level. Medicare benefits are available for people who are over 65 years of age, and to persons with disabilities. Other government-initiated health insurance programs include: Medicaid, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, health care benefits for the veterans and military, as well as eligible American Indians.

If you want to sign-up for a private health insurance plan, learn everything that you need to know about the coverage stipulated on your contract. Read the coverage information and check the sections stating the exclusions. Avoid signing up for one which has a long list of exclusions that would not cover much of anything. More importantly, make sure that you have a copy of every contract that you will sign. See to it that your personal information is correct and make a note of the coverage period. All in all, make sure that you have ample health insurance coverage for you to use whenever you need it.