Got An Offer On Your House... How To Judge The Offer?

By Doc Schmyz

So you decided to sell your home, you have interviewed several real estate agents, picked the best agent, and have listed your home. There have been several open houses and some interest and you have finally received an offer. How do you tell if this is a good offer or not? Of course, your agent will help in that department, but, remember, they are there to sell your home they don't have any idea what will work for you and your family.

First thing you should look at is the buyer's financing. Are they able to get a loan or are they just hoping to qualify? The best case scenario would be that they are pre-approved which means that a bank/lender has taken a look at their income, credit, and down payment and has agreed that they would qualify for a certain amount of financing. This is a good indication that the loan will go through. As a seller, you or your agent has the right to contact the bank and make sure the information presented is correct and that the bank has verified income, employment, and down payment funds.

Next,consider if the buyer has put down a substantial down payment. The larger amount, the better for the sale to go through. The more money the seller has invested in the contract, the less likely they will be to back out. If the amount of money put down is not sufficient for your liking, then you have the right to ask for more.

Make sure to look for special conditions within the contract that you cannot meet or control. For example :If a buyer must sell his home first before purchasing your home.This condition requires you to factor in other questions. Does he have any offers on his home now or any approved buyers? He does have his house listed with an agent, doesn't he? If there are any clauses that you do not understand, you must clarify them in writing.

One other thing that you must realize in the real estate contract you will receive is there are dates and deadlines that must be reviewed. There is a certain rhythm for things to happen. For instance, there should be an inspection, appraisal, loan approval, and the closing date. These items should not have excessive time allotted to each by the buyer. For example, the closing date must allow time for the bank process to be completed including the underwriting, appraisal, and paperwork. The inspection date should be close to the contract date to allow time for any problems to be resolved quickly by the seller so the contract can be completed.

Any of the above mentioned items can void your contract. Be sure you understand all that is being asked of you, make sure the terms listed and set in all the documents make sense to you, before you complete the sale. - 23212

About the Author:

Doc Schmyz has worked with investors all over the US. His website shares Real estate investing information for all over the US. Find Real estate investing information by state

Overcoming Chart Overwhelm

By Dave Sumter

One of the biggest problems traders face is information overload. There is just so much data to crunch these days that it's easy to become overwhelmed. Coupled with ever changing strategies, and it's easy to see how confusion can strike.

We all know that the market is constantly changing, and that we need to adapt our strategies constantly to stay ahead of the pack. Coupled with this however is the fact that we should never change too many things at once.

From the beginning one should integrate into their trading, base practices that will span all strategies - behaviours and chart elements that will not change between strategies, and will become a familiar foundation for you to work on.

One of these practices is to ruthlessly make your charts more efficient through simplification. Always be looking for ways to make the information you see easier to process. There are a number of generic indicators available to do this these days.

One example here is to use color to convey information where you would usually use numbers or text. Humans process graphical information far better than text. If you only trade at certain times of the day, then use a background indicator to color the background of your chart at these times. This is far more effective that looking at the time axis.

Another area of optimization is the use of sound. This is especially effective for processing events. Need to know when a new 30 minute bar starts, or when a signal fires? Use an audio alert.

Look for ways to combine multiple indicators into one. If you have multiple filters, combine them into a single visual one. Reduce what you have to look at on each chart.

Always look for way to simplify. And focus on methods that can generically be used with any of your strategies. Whether you're using pivots, crossovers, divergence or whatever, the principles above can all be used to make your day to day trading easier on the brain. - 23212

About the Author:

About the author: Dave Sumter is the owner of ChartCandy.com, a site focused on Ninja Trader. He also writes about internet entrepreneur topics on his blog.

Which Mutual Fund?

By Bob Jones

For anyone who is interested in investing in the stock market, there are numerous mutual funds that can be worth investigating. When you are carrying out this sort of research, it is best to choose a few different mutual funds. To compare mutual funds you will have to keep various benchmarks in sight. The first one is the performance of the different companies that you have short-listed.

This entails looking to see how the company has weathered the ups and downs of the stock market over a previous period of years. While this is not an reliable indication of future success, it will inform you, whether the mutual fund company is capable of performing reasonably, even if there is no clear indication of the prices of stocks changing. You can find this information in several financial papers.

You will get an idea of how the stock market affects different forms of mutual funds from these various data sources and, once you have pondered these changes and the way your prospective portfolio is affected by them, you will know which funds are best avoided and which ones are alright to study further. However, it takes more than merely looking through financial reviews to compare mutual funds in a meaningful way.

You will also have to check what kinds of costs are booked by the different mutual companies on your list. These expenses will include administrative fees, advertising costs, buying and selling of stocks and bonds charges and also the sorts of load costs. As most of these expenses need to be borne by the customer, it is advisable for you to research this information thoroughly.

You can find this information in newspapers and on Internet sites. However, make sure that you understand all of the information that you read, as this makes investing in a mutual fund easier. In addition to these ideas on how to compare mutual funds, you will also discover lots of in-depth articles.

These articles will explain the various terms used in some mutual fund articles. You will also be provided with information about the types of mutual funds that are currently available on the stock exchange.

By looking at all of this information, you can make a well-informed decision about which mutual funds are worth investing with. Ensure that you examine all of these details when you are ready to start investing. The details gained from comparing the mutual funds will give you the best information for investing in the risky world of mutual funds. - 23212

About the Author:

If you are interested in Investing in Mutual Funds or investing in general, please go along to our website entitled Investing in Mutual Funds

How I Make Money in Stock

By Michael Swanson

I'm sure you have your own method to picking out what stocks you like to buy. You might be a value investor who buys based on fundamentals. Or you may be a growth investor who looks for companies that have big earnings growth. Whatever type of stock you buy you need a method to know when to buy and sell.

You see you have to do more than just get an idea from TV or read about a hot stock in a magazine to make money. You have to know basic trading tactics and fundamentals and put them to use. That is where understanding price action and stock charts comes in.

Three principles guide the beliefs of technical analysis. First is that market action (price movements and changes in trading volume) discounts everything. In other words all of the relevant information about a company's earnings and fundamentals are already known and incorporated into the price of its stock. Looking at a company's balance sheet will rarely give you an edge over other investors. Everyone else knows that information too.

The second principle is that asset prices move in trends. Predictable trends are essential to the success of technical analysis, because they enable traders to profit by buying assets when the price is rising, or as the popular saying goes, "the trend is your friend." Borrowing from Newton's Law of motion, technical analysis asserts that trends in motion tend to remain in motion unless acted upon by another force.

The reason why technical analysis works is because investors will never change. Throughout history they have been driven by fear and greed and always will be. There always will be people who buy at tops and sell at bottoms and you just need to know the patterns that show you when important turning points are at hand.

From these principles the technician attempts to identify trends in the market and reversals of trends. To distinguish trends from meaningless short-term fluctuations they use one of two types of analysis or a combination thereof: charting and mechanical trading systems. Chartists use graphs of stocks to identify meaningful patterns in the price and volume action of a stock.

There are also some basic mechanical trading rules that are helpful to apply. You want to get your own emotions out of your decision making process as much as possible, because that is where mistakes are made. That means coming up with some solid stock trading rules that you will stick with.

Money doesn't fall from the sky. Making money in the stock market requires guts, grits, and tough work. You need to educate yourself on technical analysis in order to use stock charts and make money off of price action in the stock market. - 23212

About the Author:

For more from Mike Swanson go to his stock trading blog at WallStreetWindow blog.

Why Not Swing Trading? (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

Knowing what type of a trader you are, can make or break your investment career. Take the analogy of a football team. All players are talented and super fit. Everyone can throw and catch the ball. Everyone is a hard hitter. However some are more skilled as receivers. Others are more skilled as kickers. If the receiver is going to do the job of the kicker, not many field goal points will be made.

Investing in the currency markets or stock markets is also the same. It depends on your personality makeup what type of trading is best suited to you. In general there are three type of trading styles: Position trading, swing trading and day trading. You need to know what type of trading style is best suited for you.

In currency trading, position trading means you are in a trade for many months trying to capitalize on a major long term move in the market. Position Trading is generally the buy and hold strategy of investing in stocks over a long haul. Usually positions traders are in a trade for a large long term move like when you carry trade AUD/JPY. Options traders can also be position traders through covered calls and other strategies.

Swing trading is possibly the most dynamic of the three types of trading as the swing trader is able to switch up holding times quickly as the market demands. Swing Trading means taking short term positions in anticipation of quick market movements over a series of days or weeks. Swing traders take advantage of technical and fundamental analysis.

Day trading is not easy and it is certainly not a hobby. Sometimes when the positions warrants holding for a longer period, day trading can become swing trading! In Day Trading, you attempt to capitalize on intraday movements with the markets often trading on momentum and news. Day traders are also known as Kings of Stress.

Day trading is ideal for those who are able to handle erratic market movements while actually also having time to monitor the positions throughout the day. You should note that if you dont have time to watch your trades every moment, you should not think of day trading. Day trading is the riskiest of the three trading styles.

Know That Swing Trading Is a Better Alternative to Day Trading Day trading hardly ever ends up well especially if the trader has no previous professional trading experience. Only 10% of the day traders succeed. Many people are attracted to the glamour and excitement of day trading. Most day trader usually blow up their accounts and fade away soon.

Swing trading can be on the other hand a much more effective trading style especially if you are a newer trader. By holding positions overnight and even for a few weeks, you can expose less money for larger moves. If you are a new trader, think about it for a moment. - 23212

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Know Swing Trading! Learn Forex Trading.