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Thanksgiving Food!

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Ingredients

• 1 package refrigerated pie crusts
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Mix pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs and pumpkin pie spice in large bowl until smooth. Pour into pastry lined muffin cups to the top. Top with a pastry leaf if desired.

 

Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs sweet potatoes (about 5 medium), peeled
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 tsp agave
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch nutmeg
• pinch allspice
• 8 oz can unsweetened crushed pineapple, drained
• 2 tbsp chopped pecans
• 1 cup mini marshmallows

Directions:

Cut sweet potatoes into large chunks; boil potatoes in a large pot covered with water until potatoes are soft if pierced with a fork. Drain and return to the pot.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Mash the sweet potatoes and add in raisins, agave, spices and pineapple

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries, picked and rinsed
• 
2 apples, peeled and diced

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 
1/2 cup orange juice

• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 
pinch salt

• 1 orange
  

Instructions

1. Stir together cranberries, apples, brown sugar, orange juice, allspice and salt in a large saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer, stirring often. Continue cooking, stirring often until the cranberries have popped and the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Meanwhile, zest orange. To supreme the orange: Cut skin and white pith off the orange. Cut between membranes to remove individual segments, working all the way around the orange. Gently stir the zest and orange segments into the compote. Discard orange membrane and peel. Cool compote completely, about 2 hours.
   

Different Loan Programs:

VA loan

A VA loan offers the following benefits to service members looking to purchase or refinance a home:

• Low- or no-down-payment options
• Financing of VA funding fee¹
• Unlimited seller contribution to buyer's closing costs
• Gift funds allowed
• Allows for limited income and credit history
  

Recommended For
A VA loan might be right for you if you are:

• A retired veteran, active duty military, National Guard or reservist buying or refinancing a home
• Would like to make a low down payment
• Are interested in 100% financing¹
• Lack credit history
• Have income limitations
  
  

Affordable Housing loans

Affordable Housing loans offer first-time home buyers, buyers with limited credit history, and buyers with lower incomes the ability to own their own homes.

Benefits

Affordable Housing loans offer home buyers the following benefits:

• Low down payment
• Alternate credit histories acceptable
• Down payment can be combined with gifts or grants
  

Recommended For

An Affordable Housing loan may be right for you if you:

• Are a first-time home buyer
• Have limited employment history
• Have limited or alternative credit history
• Are concerned about qualifying income or earn less than the median income
  
  
  Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans are offered in conjunction with the U.S. Government to help home buyers overcome many of the obstacles to owning their own homes.

Benefits

FHA loans offer home buyers the following benefits:

• Low down payment
• Closing costs can be funded by gifts or grants
• No cash reserves needed
• Non-occupying co-borrowers are allowed
• Loan may be fully assumable depending on loan program
  

Recommended For

An FHA loan may be right for you if you:

• Are a first-time homebuyer
• Lack a sufficient down payment, or plan to use gift or grant monies for down payment assistance
• Lack credit history
• Are concerned about qualifying income
  

Property Types

The following property types are eligible for an FHA loan:

• Single family homes
• Townhomes
• Condos
• Doublewide manufactured homes on permanent foundations
  

Rural Housing loans

Rural Housing loans are designed to assist borrowers in qualifying rural areas to become homeowners. These loans offer a variety of unique and attractive features for qualifying borrowers.

Benefits

Rural Housing loans offer the following features to home owners:

• 102% financing options
• First-time home buyers and previous homeowners eligible
  

Recommended For
A Rural Housing loan may be right for you if you are:

• Purchasing a residence located in a qualifying rural area that may be attached to limited multiple acreage
• Concerned about qualifying income*
• Concerned about funding a down payment
  

Property Types

The following types of property are eligible for Rural Housing Loans:

• Single family homes
• Townhomes
• Condos
• Doublewide manufactured homes on permanent foundations
  

What Are My Loan Options?

The two most common types of mortgages are fixed-rate mortgages and adjustable-rate mortgages, known as ARMs.

A fixed-rated mortgage comes with an interest rate that remains the same for the life of the loan.

The life or term of a mortgage is 30 years by industry standards, but 15 and 20-year term loans are also available.Shorter term loans come with cheaper interest rates. A 15-year mortgage's interest rate is typically one-quarter to one-half percent lower than a 30-year mortgage. Both the cheaper rate and the shorter term mean you'll also pay less over the life of the loan than you would if you borrowed the same amount of money with a long term loan.Monthly payments of a shorter term loan, however, are generally higher than the same loan for a long term because the larger payments of

the short term loan are necessary to repay the debt sooner.A long term loan with smaller monthly payments can be easier to budget, but if you have a stable salary that allows you to afford the larger monthly outlay, the shorter term loan could be to your advantage.

Whatever term you choose, fixed rate mortgages protect you from the risk of rising interest rates. Of course, since you are locked in to a given rate, you could end up with a rate higher than the going rate should rates fall.The second major category of mortgages are ARMs. They come with interest rates that adjust up or down, depending upon current economic trends.An ARM's rate is based on a money market index. The one-year U.S. Treasury bill is commonly used because its yield is similar to the 30-year U.S. Treasury bill used to set rates on 30-year fixed mortgages. ARMs might also be tied to other indexes, including certificates of deposit (CDs) or the London Inter-Bank Offer Rate (LIBOR) rates, among other regularly published indexes.To come up with the ARM rate, the lender will add a "margin," usually two to four percentage points, to the index.Initially, the ARM rate is lower than the fixed rate, from about a quarter point to two points or more, depending upon the economy. When the first adjustment occurs (from six months to many years) and how often the rate adjusts, depends upon the terms of the loan. After the first adjustment occurs, subsequent adjustments can occur every six months, once a year, or during larger periods. The adjustment period is disclosed in the loan.

ARMs generally have limits or "caps" on how high it can adjust during each adjustment period as well as over the life of the loan.The caps protect you from drastic market changes, but ARMS don't offer the stability of a fixed rate loan.ARMs' lower initial rate, however, can help you qualify for a larger loan or start you off with smaller payments than you'd have to pay for the same mortgage with a higher fixed rate. And if index rates fall with an ARM, of course, so does your monthly mortgage. ARMs could also be a good choice for someone who knows his or her income will rise and at least keep pace with the loan rate's periodic adjustment cap. If you plan to move in a few years and are not concerned about the possibility of a higher rate, an ARM also could be a good choice.

Why Invest in Real Estate?

1. Gain more leverage. Real estate is one of the few investment vehicles where using the bank's money couldn't be easier. The ability to make a down payment, leverage your capital, and thus increase your overall return on investment is incredible.

2. Grow, tax-free. Buying rental property based on speculation of its value is a dangerous tactic since cash flow is the key. However, appreciation over the long-run is certainly realistic and at the least you should be considering a tax-deferred strategy. In the future, you may even consider a 1031 exchange, charitable trust, or an installment sale to lesson your tax liability further.

3. Tax free cash flow. It's no secret that because of depreciation and mortgage interest deductions (if you leverage your capital), your cash flow should be tax-free. That's right! The far majority of the time an investor will never pay taxes on their cash flow and can wait for capital gains on the sale of the property in the future.

4. The tax write-offs against your other income. Depending on your classification as an Active Investor or Real Estate Professional and your income level, there is a good chance your rental property will not only give you tax-free cash flow, but an overage of tax deductions you can use against your other income. With that said, this is something you want to discuss with your tax professional before investing so your expectations are realistic.

5. Increased tax deduction strategies. Rental property affords investors with another incredible opportunity to convert personal expenses to potentially valid business deductions. Don't forget that rental real estate is a business. This means that travel expenses to check on your properties and payments to family members who manage your properties (such as students away at college) can be deductible and increase the tax benefits when it comes to cash flow and the future sale of the property.

6. Rental real estate is a forced retirement plan. Americans are terrible savers. We lack the self-discipline to put a monthly deposit into our IRA, SEP or 401k as small-business owners. However, buying a rental property is a significant commitment that you are required to commit to and maintain. You will always be grateful in the long-run when you don't give up on it and build future cash flow and wealth.

How to Invest in Real Estate

 

 

1.  Build up your start-up capital by speaking to your bank about a savings or personal investment plan. Find ways to save your money, keeping in mind that you should have enough to put a 25 percent down payment on your first residential real estate investment. 2.  Take a reputable real estate investment training seminar. As a general rule, bigger is better: trust professionals who offer courses at well-known convention centers or training institutions. In general, it's also a good rule of thumb to head to your bookstore rather than the Internet if you want to read about real estate investing, as there are many websites that don't deliver what they promise. 3.  Learn to identify motivated sellers. A motivated seller is a person who, for one reason or another, has to sell her home relatively quickly. Often, you can buy a home for thousands less than its market value from a motivated seller, making what amounts to an instant profit. 4.  Make sure you have enough knowledge to be able to make your own assessment of a house's structural soundness. If not, bring along someone who does when you go house-hunting, or consider hiring an appraiser if you're serious about a particular property and want an independent evaluation of its value. 5.  Make a down payment on the home of your choice and rent it out as soon as possible, at as long a term as you can get at a rate that at least covers (if not exceeds) the sum of your monthly mortgage, fees and property taxes. 6.  Build up equity in the home by having your renters pay down the mortgage for you, making sure you keep a cash float fund available for contingency purposes. 7.  Use the equity you've built up in your investment property to put a down payment on another house, if you want to build your own mini-real estate empire. You can continue to buy and rent out homes in this manner to whatever degree you consider manageable in your present situation. 8.  Remember that buying, renting out then selling or using a home's equity for further investing is but one of many real estate investing strategies. You can also flip houses by buying them at below-market rates, having improvements made then selling them at a profit. You can also invest in commercial real estate, such as apartment buildings, mobile home parks, strip malls and other lands that businesses use.

Avoiding Foreclosure

Are you facing foreclosure? Avoid Foreclosure can provide the foreclosure help you need. We assist homeowners nationwide with just about any foreclosure related service you can think of. After years of research in the foreclosure market we have put together the very best list of resources can help you stop foreclosure.

Your Bank Won’t Help You Avoid Foreclosure

So you’ve missed a payment or two on your house. You have hit a roadblock in your personal finances and struggle to keep up with the bills that you receive each month. Your bank is calling everyday and demanding full payment and threatening foreclosure. You have never had a problem paying your house payment until now. Surely your bank will understand your situation and let you slide another month or two while you find a way to keep your head above water. Your bank had enough trust in you to help you finance your home. Shouldn’t they help you when you are struggling?

It is this way of thinking that traps homeowners and accelerates the process of foreclosure. Banks do not help you avoid foreclosure. You have a signed loan agreement that gives your bank the right to take back your home if you fail to keep up with the mortgage payments. Your bank is waiting to take your home away from you and sell it to someone else that is able to pay the payment each month. The cycle of selling, foreclosure and reselling will continue until your bank receives back its original investment plus two to three times that amount in interest.

You Have Limited Time to Avoid Foreclosure

No news is never good news when you are behind on your mortgage payments. Your bank could be starting the foreclosure process and completing the necessary documents to take your home away from you. You might have already received notification that your home is entering the first phase of the foreclosure process. This does not mean that you will lose your home forever. Many homeowners give up prematurely and do not try to avoid foreclosure because they are not informed of their foreclosure law rights. There is help available. You do have options to save your home. Every day that you wait to seek help reduces your chances of staying in your home.

We Help You Avoid Foreclosure and Penalty Fees

The first step to defeating foreclosure is learning about your rights as a homeowner. I have helped many people in Idaho in foreclosure stop the process and stay in their homes or find another alternative. You cannot sweep foreclosure letters under the rug and forget about them. Banks are vicious and know that you do not understand the foreclosure process or how to stop it. Let me, an experienced foreclosure expert go to work to help you avoid foreclosure and eliminate the penalty fees assessed to your mortgage. There are helpful programs that will be offered to you to stop the foreclosure process no matter what your personal situation is right now. Gain the peace of mind that you have a partner fighting for you instead of against you.