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Guide: How to avoid mortgage arrears,,,

Read our steps for avoiding mortgage arrears if you feel you are about to fall into the red Homeowners struggling with their mortgages will be looking fearfully at reports that Britain's inflation problem may mean interest rates have to rise. The temptation may often be to ignore the problem, but those who feel that they could fall behind with their mortgage, into what is known as arrears, can save themselves pain by acting as soon as possible. Long-term arrears can lead to home repossession and so borrowers are urged to act fast if they think they are going to struggle with payments. Act now: If you feel yourself slipping into the red, do something before you have to sell your home Here are four tips on how to avoid mortgage arrears: 1. SWITCH MORTGAGES Finding a mortgage on a better rate is the simplest and the most effective way to cut outgoings - but you need to move quickly to get the best deals and weigh up whether it will help you. The crucial question is how mu

Our mortgage lender has told us to stop letting out our home,,,

> Living in the house right now is not an option, neither is selling as we would be in negative equity, but without the income from the holiday letting we cannot meet our mortgage and rental costs. I do not know what to do and would gratefully welcome your advice. MR Retirement dreams: But if your plans are put into disarray, mortgage lenders may not allow you to let a property you can't move into. David Hollingworth, of London & Country Mortgages, replies: A standard mortgage for owner-occupied residential properties will specify that the property should not be let. Therefore, letting the property without the lender's consent does mean you have breached the terms of the mortgage. The lender is under no obligation to give consent to you letting the property and even if they do they may charge a fee or a higher interest rate. I think you need to enter into further dialogue with your existing lender to see whether a compromise can be reached, ideally giving you con

Florida boat crash: Two-boats collided leaving 10 people injured near Elliott Key

The Florida boat crash news started trending ever-since the two boats collided near elliott key. The incident took a different turn as the Investigators said today that charges could be forthcoming in the two-boat collision in the Florida Keys that flung passengers into the water and sent nine people to the hospital. The crash happened around 6:30 p.m. Sunday near Sands Cut, a popular sandbar area near Elliott Key, Fla., said Officer Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which is spearheading the investigation. A 36-foot Carrera carrying 16 passengers was struck by a 28-foot vessel carrying two people, Pino said, throwing at least a dozen people into the water. The 28-foot vessel capsized after the collision. Of the nine people taken to the hospital, one person was hoisted from the water by a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue helicopter. Pino said the passenger was the most seriously injured of the group and appeared to have suffered a leg injury an

Sober man DUI: Old age Person passes Drunk-Analyzer, Arrested & Charged for appearing drunk

The Old Age Sober man DUI news is extremely unfair story broke-out on all the news sites. An elderly man passes the drinking analyzer but yet got arrested and charged with DUI as the person looked like drunk. Drunk driving checkpoints and cops on the lookout for those driving while drunk are thing that should never be taken lightly. They happen to keep everyone safe on the road. The only problem is that sometimes they don't pan out the right way. Such is the case reported by KDVR on June 10, 2013, that states of a sober man ending up with a DUI for appearing drunk. 64-year-old Jessie Thornton is a retired firefighter from Ohio and he was recently pulled over in Surprise, Arizona, and charged with a DUI. The only thing is that after being pulled over by police, he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.000 on his breathalyzer test. Cops apparently said they knew he was drunk just by looking at him. "I take my glasses off and he says, 'You’ve got bloodshot eyes.' I said, '

N.C. motel deaths: 11-year-old kid deceased in roadside hotel after couple spurs questions

N.C. motel deaths : N.Carolina Police Authorities said that an 11-year-old kid was found dead in the same Boone motel where two elderly people died several months ago. Police said they have launched an investigation into the incidents. Jeffrey Lee Williams and his mother, Jeannie, were found unresponsive on the second floor of the Best Western hotel on East King Street on Saturday afternoon. The boy was pronounced dead later, and the mother survived, reported WCNC-TV. Jeannie’s family said she woke from a coma on Sunday but has not yet learned of her son’s death. The son was found dead in the same room where the elderly couple was found dead. “It was actually the same room,” said Boone Police Sgt. Shane Robbins said. “But other than that, at this time, we don’t have any more links or correlation.” However, he stressed that it is unclear if the two cases are linked. “While no evidence has been discovered that these incidents are related, investigators continue to explore all possibilit

Sober man DUI: Former firefighter Gets charged with DUI for blood alcohol level of 0.000

A Sober man DUI story starts to trend on the most news site and is causing uproar. Getting a DUI for “D-W-B, driving while black," losing one’s license, and having one’s car impounded for a blood alcohol level of 0.000 is appalling. To top it off, the sober 64-year-old man who received the DUI was forced to undergo a painful examination on the side of the road despite having medical needs, and undergo a series of drug tests, reported 7 ABC Action News on June 9, 2013. The sober man who was arrested for DUI because a police officer told him that “you look like you are drunk” is 64-year-old Jessie Thornton from Surprise in Arizona. Jessie Thornton moved to a retirement community in Surprise after retiring as a firefighter. Jessie Thornton’s wife is an ER nurse and works, as many nurses do, three 12-hour shifts. In order to be able to spend time with his wife, Jessie Thornton sleeps during the day and takes care of errands during the night. "I've been stopped 10 times in S

Simple Property Marketing Solutions says it can sell my timeshare for an upfront fee - is it a con?

A.L.writes: I am sending you a copy of an email from Simple Property Marketing Solutions Limited, which has also been phoning me, saying that it has received a firm offer of more than £7,000 for my timeshare in Florida. It states that the deal can proceed only if I pay £995 upfront. My timeshare was bought in 1997 and I have always felt that it is now worth £1,500 to £2,000 maximum. Mix up: Salesman wanted an upfront fee to sell a timeshare in Malta (right), but it was in Florida This is very, very suspicious. For a start, after you asked Simple Property Marketing Solutions (SPMS) to put details in writing, the email that you received said the company was pleased to confirm the offer of £7,450 for your timeshare in Malta. It was left to you to point out that your apartment is actually in Florida. And SPMS never did explain whether the buyer it was supposed to have found wanted to spend his holidays in one place or the other. But even more alarm bells rang

First-time buyers: Shortcuts to a first mortgage and buying a house

This is Money's mortgages and property experts Simon Lambert and Lee Boyce set out the problem for first-time buyers - and presents the solutions... The biggest weapon in a first-time buyer's arsenal is knowledge about the homebuying process and an awareness of what's going on in the property market. This is Money's mortgages and homes section is packed with advice for first-time buyers and carries the latest news and up-to-date features, which can help you achieve the dream of owning your first home. Here we round up tools, expert advice, latest stories tips to give you a helping hand. Top tools - Calculator: Mortgage affordability - Calculator: Rate rise impact - Calculator: Stamp duty for first-time buyers Latest on the property market - What next for house prices - What next for mortgage rates? Latest stories >> Parents warned on perils of helping children get on the housing ladder with guarantor mortgages Increasing numbers of first-time

Are you a landlord? Then please fill out our buy-to-let survey

Financial Mail and This is Money are keen to find out more about the booming buy-to-let market from investors or potential investors. Landlords snapped up 73,600 houses last year, the highest number since the Credit Crunch began, with places such as Bootle in Merseyside and Dundee in Scotland highlighted as areas where investors are making good profits. We want to know how investors view buy-to-let and whether they intend to add to their property portfolios in the year ahead. I

Kensington and Chelsea still the most expensive place to live in Britain as £1million property sales rise 2% in 2012

The number of properties that sold for more than £1million in 2012 reached its highest level since the height of the housing boom but was still 10 per cent down on its 2007 peak, a new report published today has revealed. Lloyds TSB said the number of million pound plus properties rose two per cent from 7,270 in 2011 to 7,397 in 2012. However, million pound sales in 2012 were still 10 per cent lower than at the height of the property boom six years ago when 8,233 properties above the million pound mark were sold. Prime location: Kensington and Chelsea continued to be the most expensive place in Britain to live with more properties selling for over £1million than anywhere else in the UK. The million pound sector outperformed the rest of the market with sales under £1million falling by 3 per cent last year. Sales of property worth £1million or more accounted for 1.1 per cent of all national sales, the bank added.   More... Learn the new house rules: Finally estate agents ob

North-South divide widens as house prices surge 10% in London in a year but fall nearly 6% in North East

The divide in house prices between the North and South of the country grew more pronounced in the past year as property price falls in some Northern regions contrasted with 10 per cent average gains in the capital.  Average property prices in London have surged higher over the last year with the cost of the average property in the capital now 9.6 per cent higher than twelve months ago at £374,568. That compares to an increase across the country was a whole of just 0.9 per cent, while some areas suffered hefty falls. House prices in the North East during the same 12 months plummeted 5.5 per cent. Boom and bust: homeowners in different parts of England and Wales have seen wild variations in the value of their homes. The North East is now the only region in England and Wales where potential home owners could buy an average property for less than £100,000, with the typical home ion the region costing £97,033.   More... Kensington and Chelsea still the most expensive place to li

FCA warns a million mortgage borrowers face interest-only shortfalls

More than a million homeowners with interest-only mortgages will not be able to clear their loan at the end of its term and will be force to pay more or sell up if they don't act, the City watchdog has warned. Around half of the 2.6million homeowners with interest-only mortgages due to mature in the next 30 years will have not have enough money to repay the full loan amount based on their current behaviour, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said today. Interest-only borrowers clear the interest that builds on the loan amount, but do not repay any of the capital. Borrowers are supposed to have a repayment vehicle set aside so that they can clear the whole debt, such as the endowment investment policies that were sold as part of endowment mortgages. The graph, produced by the FCA, shows that the number of interest-only mortgage due to mature will climb steeply in the years to come. However, the FCA analysis, the most comprehensive yet of the interest-only problem, suggests

Don't let an interest-only mortgage cost you your home

Around 1.3 million families face losing their homes after taking out interest-only loans they have no hope of paying back. A probe unveiled by the City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, revealed that many face an average shortfall of £72,000, while 250,000 homeowners owe nearly double this. Now banks and building societies must write annually to customers and lay out their options. BEING FORCE TO SELL WOULD HAVE BEEN HEART-BREAKING Tony and Pam Hughes are typical of the tens of thousands of elderly homeowners who face being forced to take on costly extra borrowing because they face huge shortfalls when their interest-only loans become due. Despite making interest payments for 30 years, the couple were £40,000 short of paying off their mortgage when it ended. But they were determined not to lose their home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. They took out a £35,000 interest-only mortgage when they bought their three-bedroom home in 1981.  Later, Mr Hughes, 72, a retired Royal Navy

Home repossessions 'at levels lower than many anticipated' thanks to low interest rates

Home repossessions rose at the start of this year, but the figure was still a lot lower than the same period last year, according to new data. The Council of Mortgage Lenders said the upswing followed a usual seasonal pattern, with 8,000 properties repossessed between January and March, 300 more than in the final quarter of 2012. But it was the second-lowest quarterly figure since the winter of 2007, and compared to 9,600 homes taken back between January and March a year ago, as record-low interest rates are helping repossessions remain near five-year lows. Mortgage worries:  CML director Paul Smee assured that 'as long as people take steps early to address them, most problems can be contained' Around 20 per cent of repossessions were on buy-to-let rather than owner-occupier properties. The repossession rate remained at 0.07 per cent - meaning fewer than 1 in 4,000 mortgaged properties were taken into possession by lenders. 'Mortgage arrears and repossession

Buy-to-let mini-boom runs out of steam but landlords dash to remortgage as rates fall

Buy-to-let landlords are staging a dash to remortgage as interest rates fall but the recent mini-boom property investment is running out of steam, new figures show. The number of buy-to-let mortgages taken out in the first three months of the year was up 4 per cent annually, according to the latest Council of Mortgage Lenders statistics. In the same period last year buy-to-let mortgages were growing at 30 per cent annually, however, the rapid pace began to tail off last summer. Buy-to-let mortgage advances: The pace of the rise in the number of new buy-to-let mortgages being advanced has slowed, CML figures show. While the number of buy-to-let mortgages being taken out has risen substantially since the 2009 to 2010 slump, they running at less than half the level seen at the peak of the boom in 2007. The CML said that almost half of buy-to-let lending was currently remortgages and property investors now accounted for 13.4 per cent of outstanding mortgages in the UK. CML director g

Mortgage advert blunders making comparing home loans an even tougher task

Thanks to the complicated variety of rates and fees on offer it can be hard enough working out whether a mortgage is a good deal, but inaccurate adverts slipping through the net are making things worse. The adverts have prompted industry insiders to question whether the new financial regulator will clamp down. Since 6 April the Financial Conduct Authority, has been responsible for checking financial promotions are correct. However, lenders and homebuilders seem to be getting away with incorrect information. The Post Office has since corrected its advertising mistake. Inaccuracies have been spotted in several adverts. One was a Post Office advert promoting a five-year fixed rate mortgage at 2.63 per cent, available up to 60 per cent loan-to-value. After the fixed rate expires, the mortgage reverts to a tracker with the revert-to rate stated as 4.49 per cent, which is described as ‘Bank of England base rate plus 3.9 per cent’. The Post Office sells Bank of Ireland mortgage products

Nurses, police officers and teachers have best chance of owning a home in a decade

Key public sector workers have seen the ability to purchase their own home continue to improve and near a level last seen a decade ago, research has found. Those in the public sector, such as nurses, police officers and teachers, can now find affordable property in 38 per cent of towns, compared to 36 per cent in 2012. And while that may still exclude buying in most locations, it puts them in a far better position than near the peak of the property boom when just four per cent of towns were considered affordable for them. The Halifax research, based on the benchmark ratio of average house price to average earnings, where the property is considered affordable to buy if the ratio is below 4.0, says the improvement has come largely as a result of house price falls in northern areas.  Affordability still remains below the 2003 level when the average house was considered to be affordable in 43 per cent of towns.   More... The first-time buyer's guide to getting a mortg

French mortgage rates hit an all-time low - should you buy?

French mortgage costs are at historic lows and borrowers there can access rates far more stable than those available in the UK. But recent tax changes have created hazards for British buyers - so is now a good time to buy in France? According to property group Athena Advisors, competition between French banks to attract domestic borrowers has pushed mortgage rates to 0.25 points below those seen at the end of World War II. What's more, non-residents can access these historic low rates with a 20 year fixed rate mortgage at 3.35 per cent and 20 year tracker mortgages from just two per cent. French dream: Moving across the Channel is popular with Brits - with mortgage rates dropping, is now a good time to buy? Nicholas Leach, from Athena Advisors, says: ‘The European Central Bank has remained stable so these new rates are simply down to the fierce competition between the banks for the best applications. ‘These are the best rates investors have seen for over 65 years so it’s no

Sorry, your home's a dope farm so you're not insured

When landlord Luigi Gianino rented out a detached family house in a quiet residential area in Suffolk, he had little cause for concern. The tenant, a smart-suited Chinese businessman with a wife and son – and a BMW parked in the driveway – appeared to be the height of respectability.   The fact that he was able to put down a cash deposit and commit to a tenancy agreement only added to his credibility. But four months later, acting on a tip-off from a neighbour, police raided the four-bedroom house and Luigi discovered the investment property he had lovingly restored had been turned into a cannabis factory, growing plants with a street value of £150,000. ‘It was like a jungle,’ says the  41-year-old from Willingham, Cambridgeshire. ‘I’d spent thousands refurbishing the house only to find everything had been ripped out and replaced with cannabis plants. ‘There were huge ultraviolet lights in every room, each with a newly fitted power socket, bypassing the meter and drawing power straigh

Sellers cutting home asking prices falls to lowest level for three years

Homes for sale which have been reduced in price since first coming onto the market have fallen to the lowest level for almost three years, research has revealed. The proportion of homes for sale which have their asking price lowered at least once has fallen to 30.7 per cent, down from 34.3 per cent a year ago, according to property website Zoopla. It says this is a further sign that 'confidence and strength' is returning in the property market. It marks the third successive three-month period in which the proportion of reduced properties has fallen, indicating home sellers are more likely to get the asking price they have set. Yorkshire properties: According to research, homeowners in the Northern county are the most likely to have lowered prices to push through a sale The amount by which asking prices are being discounted on average has also been slimmed to 6.1 per cent – the lowest level of cuts since November 2010. But the North-South property divide has continued acco

Bank of Ireland's mortgage tracker increase 'may be illegal'

Under fire: Bank of Ireland The Bank of Ireland may have acted illegally when it increased tracker mortgage rates for 13,500 borrowers by up to 122 per cent. Trackers are supposed to rise and fall in line with the Bank of England base rate, which has been at 0.5 per cent since 2009. But Bank of Ireland, which is the banking partner of the UK Post Office, invoked a clause in contracts that it says allows it to scrap tracking and raise rates when it wants. Some landlords’ rates more than doubled. Rises are effective this month. Justin Selig, of the Law Department, a London firm specialising in commercial and property litigation, is acting for 100 borrowers. Rather than going direct to court, he wants to try other avenues such as the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Office of Fair Trading first.    More... JEFF PRESTRIDGE: These pension 'liberators' need to be put in jail 'I've been left to fight Bank of Ireland in court:' Financial watchdog rocked by recor

Could you green up your house and demolish your fuel bills at the same time?

Following the example set by the residents of Sinclair Meadows would be a tall order for most of us. In case you hadn’t heard, the eco-credentials of this housing development in South Shields are second to none.  Britain’s first carbon negative social housing street is in the news for producing more power than it needs (via solar panels and a communal biomass boiler which burns recycled wood pellets), and the Tyneside estate is a sign of things to come. Every home comes complete with shed, compost heap, allotment and toilets flushed with water from a rain harvesting system. Eco-friendly: Going green can save you money and the Government will lend a hand too. When it was launched last year, more than 500 applicants came forward hoping to live in its 21 rented three-bedroom houses and two-bedroom apartments. Developer Four Housing Group checked the green credentials of every applicant.   More... Revolutionary ‘Hobbit home’ costing £35,000 to build will be a fully functionin