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Bethany St. James: Flawed Inspiration

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Detroit Rape Kits Found In Storage Facility To Be Reviewed, Tested For Crimes Dating To The 1980s

APPRAISAL
Before you make an offer or apply for a loan, make sure that the house you are buying is valued according to the market comps. The banks value homes based on comparison (comps) of recent houses sold in the area. A good real estate broker could provide you such comps or you could use sites like zillow.com, which may give you very close estimated values. Most banks will not consider improvements to the house in their appraisal evaluations, or may give it 1/10th of what the actual value of the improvement is. So if the house you are buying is in a much better shape than the neigborhood houses and has extras, you are out of luck, becuase the bank may not consider that in their appraisals. If a house appraisal comes back below what you paid for, it does not mean that you would not qualify for a loan, but it may just mean that you may have to put additional down payment.

THE APPLICATION
Your loan application is often your only communication with those who may be willing to invest a lot of money in you. The longer it takes for you to be approved for a loan, the more likely something may go wrong such as interest rates going up or the property being damaged. so you will want to do everything you can to make the process speedy.

HOW MUCH CASH?
Mortgage lenders require home buyer to prove they have enough cash to cover the down payment , closing costs, fees, and any moving expenses there may be. Gone are days were you could purchase a house with no down. At best, with the government programs you may be go as low as 10% down. You may need to provide the lender with the past three to six months of every:
- Bank statement
- Brokerage account.
Then lenders will verify your current and average balances for the last two to six months.
The lenders may also require to see 1 to 3 years of personal and business tax returns.

HOW MUCH INCOME?
You will need to prove your ability to repay what you borrow by proving the lender with your last two pay stubs. The lender will verify your employment within the last two years and will ask your current employer about:
- Any time you may have spent unemployed during that period;
- The likelihood of any pay raises;
- Consistency of bonuses, commissions, or overtime, if applicable;
- Likelihood of continued employment.
Other income. You will want to provide your lender with year-end statements and other documents that prove:
- Income from securities or trust for which you will need to prove two years’ tax returns;
- Social Security, disability, alimony, or child support only if you want it to be considered;
- A lease agreement to prove rental income, if applicable.

CREDIT SCORE?
Very bad credit scores may mean that you may not qualify for a loan. Scores of below 620 will have very little luck, unless you bring in a co-signer or a spouse with better credit. Average credit scores (620-680) may qualify you, but your rate may be higher. Typically a score of 700 or above will be cosnidered good and may give you good rates. If your score is average, but you have had many late payments and bad credit history, it may help to explain why this happend and assure lenders that you are on top of your finances and that it will not happen again.

HOW MUCH INCOME?
Lenders will be looking at how you handle debt, and you will need to prove you’ve been a trustworthy borrower in the past. Your credit report will provide them with at least the following information.
- Your credit card statements;
- Any open credit lines from lenders such as your bank;
- Any loans such aas school or car loans and what you owe;
- Any legal judgment against you.

OTHER THINGS TO KNOW
- Typically, you’re allowed to borrow up to 50% of amount vested in your 401(k) to buy a home. Amounts vary, however, from plan to plan. There’s no set rule.
- A credit report fee and the appraisal fee are usually required when you submit the mortgage application.
- Relatives and close friends may give you cash gift for you down payment, but you may need to prove that it’s in your account and not a loan (because a loan would add to your debt).

Article Submitted by Life as a Pet Blog

Whether you’ve always wanted a cat or you’ve recently fallen in love with these wonderful animals and would love to become an owner, there are a number of things to consider before you decide to rush out and pick up the most adorable kitten you can find. Choosing a cat (or any pet, for that matter) should always involve plenty of thought and research. A pet chosen on impulse will quite often result in a bad experience for you and a worse one for an innocent animal.

One of the biggest factors when taking on a pet is time. Do you have time each day to spend with a cat? Contrary to popular belief, cats aren’t solitary, aloof creatures. They are social animals and will be very unhappy if left alone all the time. It is recommended that you be able to spend at least fifteen minutes each day playing with your cat. Not only will you have a happier pet, you will be able to fully enjoy the benefits of being a pet owner. After all, what’s the point of having a cat if you’re never around to enjoy their company? Of course, you’ll also need time to perform cat care chores such as cleaning the litter box regularly.

The other important factor to consider is money. Can you afford to pay all of the expenses of caring for a cat? This includes high-quality cat food, a litter box and litter, spaying or neutering, shots, an annual vet visit, and emergency vet care if needed.

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Christian Nwachukwu, Jr.: All At Once: Remembering Whitney

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Howard Kissel: Merrily We Roll Along

Hardly anyone could have conceived of a real dramatic faceoff between Britney Spears and Larry Page. Nevertheless, the two found themselves in just such a situation right before Thanksgiving as both were vying for the top spot on Google+’s popularity rankings. Who would end up as the most followed person on the still-recently launched social network?

The pre-Feast jour brought in the results: for now, Britney Spears would dominate that arena. As of this writing, her lead over Larry Page is of approximately 70 thousand followers. That will probably grow or Larry Page may make a comeback, if Snoop Dog or Tyra Banks, number three and number four, respectively, don’t manage to overthrow the once-princess of pop themselves. To stave off any lost momentum, Britney’s team has taken some initiative: upon opening the singer’s official website, you’ll find the lower-right corner occupied by the gigantic lowercase “g” of Google+, and an imploration to add Brit to your Circles.

Google+’s rankings are completely different from the rankings of Facebook and Twitter, where mainstream popularity is pretty much on par with social network following. Without a doubt, the difference is that social media users are still settling into Google+ — the network is just still too new.

For now, smart money is on Tyra Banks making her way up — she has interesting and interactive content on her Google+ page.

read more: http://blog.iclimber.com/britney-spears-bests-larry-page-as-googles-most-followed-person/

I love it when I find a new purse to buy. By far purses are my favorite type of wardrobe purchase and when I started looking online to try and find some ideas for what I should get this fall. I found some really great inspiration for some bags for fall on several of my favorite fashion blogs. But out of all of that stuff, I decided that the thing that I wanted to go and get the most is a daytime, oversized clutch. I saw so many pictures of fashion editors carrying them during fashion week and they looked so adorable!

When I started shopping online for my ideal daytime clutch for fall, I ran across some Clear Internet Reviews. I showed them to my roommates and after that we decided to change over our apartment’s internet service over to it.

I did hunt down this really adorable brown leather oversized clutch bag that’s just perfect for my everyday errands. I can even carry around a book to read in there, which is really important to me because I read whenever I get the chance.

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Scott White: Sic Transit Gloria Mundi — Steve Jobs

Counting the calories of the food that one eats can be a daunting task.  But creating a food diary to help remember what one is eating along with recording this information can play a big role in helping to start weight loss.  By recording what is eaten each day creates a viewable record of the food that one is putting in one’s body.  This diary helps to create a sense of accountability.  Now each person automatically burns so many calories a day from their typical daily activities.  To create weight loss, simply a deficit of calories needs to be created.  Now, the catch is that creating an extreme calorie deficit will cause the body to start storing food as fat and slowing down the metabolism because it fears starvation.  A good way to achieve this is to count all of your calories – even calories in a banana. One wants to still eat a decent amount of food but have a cheat day each week.  On this day one can eat anything one wants and this helps to keep one’s metabolism from not slow down and going into fat storage mode.