Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

Glen Craig

What is Better: A Foreclosure or a Short Sale?

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You want to buy a home for less than market value, or do you want to own a second home and are looking for a deal?  There are few active buyers in the real estate market nowadays but those who are seriously looking are considering short sales or foreclosures.  If you are one of these people then what is better for you – a short-sale or a foreclosure?

Is a short-sale best?

Short sale signs are popping up everywhere yet many people do not know what this means.  The seller who chooses a short sale is in a hurry to get out of their mortgage so the lender agrees to accept a mortgage payoff amount that’s less than what’s owed in order to help the seller get out fast.  The lender ultimately forgives the remaining balance of the mortgage loan.
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OneShare.com Review | Stocks as a Gift

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Ever get stuck looking for the perfect gift?  You know the person doesn’t need another “thing” and a gift-card seems too impersonal.  How about giving a stock certificate?  OneShare.com enables you to give the gift of a stock certificate for that special someone.  What’s cooler than buying someone a piece of a company they love?

OneShare.com is a privately-owned company that sells stocks one at a time. Lance Lee, a stock broker, came up with the idea in 1996 after years of being asked by parents how to go about buying stocks as presents for their children.  Based in San Francisco, OneShare has sold hundreds of thousands of stocks to satisfied customers all over the world. [Read more…] about OneShare.com Review | Stocks as a Gift

Where to Change Your Name After Marriage

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The most common reason people change their names outside of being in Witness Protection is a bride after her wedding. Taking on your husband’s last name is traditional of a bride, and what many girls have been dreaming of possibly since their first date with the man of their dreams.  Changing your last name is much more than scribbling it on your notebook; there’s actually a lot of work that goes into it.  You have to make sure to change your name after marriage on important accounts and documents.
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8 Reasons Why You Should Sell Your Home Before Buying a New One

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When it comes to buying a home, buyers try to engineer the ultimate balancing act of buying the new one first, THEN putting the current one up on the market before the ink is even dry on the purchase contract.

The object—and expectation—is to find that perfect home, then to put the old one on the market in the hope of selling it in the treasured but increasingly mythical simultaneous closing.

Just playing it out in your mind is exhausting, but making it actually happen is a truly massive undertaking.  What would make anyone think that such an effort is worth trying?

Fear! Fear that you might not be able to find the right home after selling your current home.  Fear of being homeless.  Fear of temporary housing.  Fear of the dreaded “double move” (moving from the old home to temporary housing, then again to the new home).

Those fears may be legitimate at some level, but there are even greater causes for concern if you plan to buy before selling.  Here are eight of them… [Read more…] about 8 Reasons Why You Should Sell Your Home Before Buying a New One

Should You Use Your Credit Card to Buy Gold or Silver?

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Gold and silver prices have been on the increase for many months and this is no surprise to Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, business consultant and publisher of the Trends Journal.

This “Trends Expert” stated that gold and silver prices would continuously increase almost two years ago.  As CNN Headline News stated, “When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.”  As per usual, Gerald Celente called it right.

Many financial experts are stating that gold and silver demands will continue to be high for quite some time to come.  According to the vice president of the RBC Capital Markets Global Futures George Gero, he stated at Forbes.com that worries about the US debt and tensions in the Middle East are a couple of reasons why investors like to turn to gold.

As of the posting of this blog, gold was $1548 per ounce and silver was $36.21 per ounce.  Compare that to one year ago, gold was about $1200 per ounce and silver was $18.50 per ounce.

So investing in gold and silver is still proving to be profitable.
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