Personal Finance and Money Management

Lower priced foreclosure properties can be found in Gainesville, Florida, where foreclosures increased in the July-September quarter and where sales prices decreased in October.

Sales of pre-owned homes also rose in October by 32 percent in Gainesville, compared to sales in October last year. A total of 172 pre-owned single-family houses were sold in October, up from 130 units sold one year before. Total sales marked several consecutive months of year-over-year home sales increases in almost four years.

In September, home sales increased to 149 units, a big jump of 41 percent from 106 units in September last year.

According to records from Florida Realtors, the price median for pre-owned single-family houses sold in October in Gainesville dropped by 10 percent from the $173,300 median in October 2008 to $156,700.

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Statistics can be tricky. It all depends on who is doing the math and for what purpose. The latest report on how many jobs can be attributed to the workings of the stimulus package is a perfect case in point. The Obama Administration came out at the end of October with the announcement that the stimulus package has created 650,000 jobs.

To give the rule credit, it didn’t just pull that number out of a hat. The Recovery, Accountability, and Transparency Board (RATB) is an independent entity that has tracked the money being spent for the Recovery Act. E

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The U.S. Federal Reserve issued a report that indicated U.S. consumer credit fell for the month of September. This makes the eighth consecutive month of consumer credit declines. It would be good to know the debt is falling due to better money management but for many the falling sin is a reaction to unemployment and tight credit markets.

In fact, consumers who have had virtually no change in their financial status during the recession are unable to borrow money unless they have near-perfect credit. In joining, banks are reducing credit card lines and those actions are leading to falling debt levels.

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The third largest building society in the UK is offering a new mortgage loan to borrowers who have fallen into negative equity but need to move house . The Coventry Building Society will allow existing customers to borrow some 125% of their property value should they need to move. The fresh pledge deal is only available to those people with a good credit story who have not missed mortgage repayments .

The customers can transfer their existing mortgage to another property . However, the other property must be of an equal or lower value than their current home. These customers will not be efficient to increase the size of their mortgage, nor will they borrow a greater proportion of property value. Full Article