Working With a Seller's Agent - What First Time Home Buyers Need to Know

By Alexandria P. Anderson

Seller's agents, as the name suggests, are hired by home sellers to represent them in real estate transactions. They are paid a fixed fee or a commission and are primarily concerned with bringing the seller and a buyer to a deal. Homebuyers often end up transacting with seller's agents. As a homebuyer, it is important for you to understand the duties of a seller's agent.

Real estate regulations vary across different states but there are federal laws that define common responsibilities, and limitations, of a seller's agent. Ilyce Glink, Author of '100 Questions Every Home Buyer Should Ask', advises home buyers to know the exact terms of service of an agent by reading the agency disclosure form. Clarify what each provisions mean with the agent; but if you really cannot understand the wordings, it is best not to sign the form. Below are the key obligations of a seller's agent:

A seller's agent can give you information regarding similar homes in the area. This information is called comparables or 'comps' and is a listing of homes that have similar price, size and area, and age. Comps can include homes that were recently sold or are currently in the market. This information allows a homebuyer to have a basis of comparison to ascertain the value of a home.

The seller's agent cannot tell you which home to choose when you are still deciding. Even though it's the seller's agent's job to sell you the home they are commissioned to sell, they do not have a right to 'push' their home over another in question. If you like two homes and the broker is working with both sellers, they cannot persuade you to purchase one over the other; the decision is ultimately yours to make.

A home's flaws or defects cannot be pointed out by a seller's agent. Basically, the seller's agent cannot influence your purchasing decision. This means that you have to make your own assessment to determine the condition of a home. But, hidden material defects can be disclosed to the buyer.

The seller's agent cannot make suggestions on the best offer for the home. It may be tempting to ask the seller what price you should pay for the property, but they cannot legally offer this information at any time during your communications. The seller broker has certain obligations to the seller, so this information may impede on that relationship.

A seller's agent has the right to ask you for referrals. Most sellers' agents run their own businesses and are likely to ask you for referrals. It is up to you to decide if a seller's agent is worth referring to your fiends and relatives.

When you are working with a seller's agent as a first time home buyer, it's important to remember that they are in the business to make the home buying process as easy as possible. This doesn't always mean that they have your best interests in mind, so it's important to do your own research about the property and work with a professional real estate agent in addition to the seller's agent. - 23221

About the Author:

Author and Realtor Alexandria P. Anderson helps clients to find and purchase Edina Minnesota real estate as well as Edina condos and houses in the Twin Cities.

Investing For Your Retirement

By Darek Smith

You have probably heard of the story of the hardworking ant and the well mannered grasshopper. The message of the story was that the ant worked hard all summer and arranged for the coming winter. While the grasshopper played all summer and had no food as soon as winter came. So the moral of the story was that you had to plan ahead and work on the plan. This moral is exactly the same when it comes to planning for ones retirement.

Planning for your retirement is something that should start very early in life. Saving a bit here and bit there will make a difference after a few years. You can start saving for your retirement from a young age and when you have saved enough you should consider investing that money.

With the interest rates being relatively low it is very important that you invest your savings so that you get some interest. At the same time you don't want to lose any money and thus your investments have to be risk free. Investing for ones retirement must be done by taking the least risk possible.

The investments for your retirement must be secure. The last thing you want to see is your hard earned and saved money disappear in a day due to market problems or bad choices. This has been a big problem for people recently with the financial crisis. Playing it safe and investing wisely is the best way to go.

A good investment choice might be mutual funds of low risk. There are several like these out there and you must do a certain amount of research in order to find them. You can also speak to a certified financial planner or an investment advisor so that you can get some advice with regards your investments.

Retirement planning is very important and everyone should at some point in their life sit down and formulate a plan. Whether on your own, with a financial planner, investment adviser or both planning is something you will have to do. - 23221

About the Author:

The greatest thing you must do before you start investing is to get go through your plan with a independent investment advisor Toronto . You need to consult someone in your area though. You should consult an financial advisor toronto that knows the specifics and laws of your country.

Growth Stocks Investment

By Ahmad Hassam

When you start looking for good stocks, you often come across these terms like large cap, mid cap, small cap, growth and value. Let's discuss these terms for a moment. Capitalization or cap refers to the combined value of all the share of a company's stocks. The division between large cap, mid cap and small cap are often blurry and not sharp.

However the following divisions are generally accepted: Large caps are companies with over $5 Billion in capitalization. Mid caps are companies with $1 to $5 Billion in capitalization and small caps are companies with $250 million to $1 Billion in capitalization. Anything below $250 million can be considered as micro cap. Now the most important term that you come across is growth stocks and value stocks. How do you determine this is a growth stock or a value stock? Perhaps the most important ratio is the Price to Earnings Ratio (P/E).

What is the P/E ratio? The P/E ratio divides the price of the stock by the earnings per share. Suppose, company ABC stock is presently selling for $50. Now suppose that last year company ABC earned $5 for every share of the stock outstanding. This means stock ABC P/E ratio is 50/5=10. So the higher the P/E ratio, the more investors are willing to pay for the stock.

Now the higher the P/E ratio, the more growth the company is supposed to have. So it can be either the company is growing real fast of the investor have high hopes of its growth. Now these hopes can be realistic or foolish, you never know! Now, if you follow financial news than you must know that the large growth companies always grab the headlines. But do the growth stocks really make best investment? The lower the P/E ratio, the more value the company has. Low P/E ratio companies are not considered to be the movers and shakers in the market.

Growth companies are usually adolescent companies usually in sectors like computers, technology, telecom while value companies are mature companies usually in sectors like insurance, banking, manufacturing. Now, if you follow financial news than you must know that the large growth companies always grab the headlines. But do the growth stocks really make best investment? The lower the P/E ratio, the more value the company has. Low P/E ratio companies are not considered to be the movers and shakers in the market. Is there any statistical study that can guide us as to the performance of these different categories of stocks? Eugene Fama did seminal research on stocks and stock market s in'70s. Most of his results were startling and broke many myths. According to Fama and French, two famous researchers who did ground breaking research on stocks, over the last 77 years, large growth stocks have only seen 9.9% annualized rate of return as compared to 11.5% for the large value stocks.

So most of these growth stocks become highly popular in a small period of time! Everyone rushes to buy these growth stocks thinking that they are great investments. The most probable cause seems to be their immense popularity. Since most of the headlines are captures by high growth companies, investors seem to think that they are the best investments. Now intuitively you might have thought that growth stocks are better. What can be the reason for their lower performance over the years?

Let's go back to the IPO of Google. Think about Google, how its stock price shot up within a matter of weeks after it hit the market. Weeks after that it began to cool off. In 2007, Google stock was selling something around $500. So large growth stocks tend to get overpriced before you are able to buy them! - 23221

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Try these cash printing Forex Signals from heaven. Discover a revolutionary Forex Robot System!

Developing Strategies in Forex Trade

By Bart Icles

Years ago, forex trade was only available to central banks, governments, commercial banks, investment banks, and other similar institutions like hedge funds. These days, the foreign exchange marketplace is now available to practically anyone who wants to participate in trading currencies. Even stay-at-home investors can now participate in foreign exchange trading. With the forex marketplace now open to both small and large investors, it is also presently offering a variety of venues for an investor to trade into. A forex trader can participate in the exchange of options for futures, currency futures, largely unregulated over the counter or OTC transactions, and many others.

With the rise in the popularity of foreign exchange trading, being able to participate in forex trade and ending up successful has become quite a challenge. As a forex trader, you must be able to determine which venue you would want to participate in and which instruments you would want to trade. Once you have done so, you will need to develop a well thought out trading strategy before you can even think about putting any of your trading capital at risk. You should also consider your exit strategies, as well as your other risk management tactics. You will be in great need for these once the trade has gone against you.

There are lots of strategies that you can potentially use and one way to organize them is through grouping them into directional and non-directional approaches. Directional strategies are those that take long and short positions in the market, while non-directional strategies are market-neutral strategies that you can use.

Most investors who participate in forex trade are familiar with directional or net long/net short approaches. Net long strategies are generally profitable in rising markets. On the other hand, net short strategies allow investors to realize profits in falling markets. There are lots of ways by which trading can be done using directional strategies, and they can be further summarized into trend-following strategies, moving average crossover systems, breakout systems, and pattern-recognition strategies.

There is not one strategy that will work for every investor. Forex trade is unpredictable in nature so it helps to learn how you can quickly adapt to changes. In this manner, you can minimize the risks that threaten your investments, and you will be able to increase your chances of ending up successful in trading currency pairs. At the end of the day, what is important is that you are able to learn how to understand the different signals going around the market so you can better develop the trading strategies you will use. - 23221

About the Author:

Managed forex trading accounts start with a desire to learn and a drive to become a great trader. Learning mini forex trading platform takes dedication and a good teacher. But once you learn how to trade and do so successfully your life will change and you have options and financial resources you never had before.

ETF Trading Strategies: Introduction For Beginners

By Patrick Deaton

One thing that a person who is just starting to get involved with ETF trading strategies is there are a lot of strategies for people that are designed for the sort of trading that will take place. One of the important things that a beginner must do before committing to a strategy is take some time to figure out which type of strategy will work best.

There are some safety nets that a person can establish that will keep them protected when first trying out an ETF strategy. By having a plan and a safety net in place a person will be able to experiment with ETF trading strategies and find the one that is best for them without committing to the strategy before they are ready.

In most cases, when a person finds the strategy and method that works effectively for them, they stick with it. This is the result of trying different strategies and discarding those that don't work. The strategy that will be most effective will depend in large part on the kind of trading that a person is going to do. The needs of a very active trades will be different than those needed by a person who is not regularly making trades.

ETFs are becoming a popular product to include in long term mixed portfolios. When an individual has ETFs in their long term portfolio, they may only evaluate the ETF on a yearly basis when they look at the rest of their portfolio. Changes and trades are usually managed by the portfolio manager or broker that is handling the portfolio. Individual who have these ETFs do not trade often and usually don't have a lot of knowledge about the possible advantages that can be made through a more proactive trading approach.

Knowing about ETF trading, the structure of ETF, and the methods for trading can make a significant impact on the returns that one sees from their ETF trades. Taking the time to research strategies before implementing them is critical to creating an effective strategy for an individual. There are many strategies that are advertised on the Internet. However, it is important to see how that strategy has performed from a historical perspective.

When a strategy is advertised that has been effective for only a few people, it does not have the history necessary to make it an effective trading strategy. The riskier the ETF trading that is being done, the more important it is to have a thorough knowledge of the strategy and confidence in its ability to provide consistent results.

One of most used ETF trading strategies for low risk trading is the Buy and Hold Strategy. This provides profit from many sectors and limits the overall portfolio risk. Many financial advisers recommend this strategy because it is designed for long term investing and fewer trades. The person using this strategy chooses a fixed income or steady portfolio growth that includes almost any financial product.

A more active role in trading occurs with the Active Long-Term Trading Strategy. This is a variation of the Buy and Hold Strategy and provides more opportunity of an individual to make trades. However, it is also designed for long-term, steady growth. An individual may choose the level of involvement they want to have in the trading activities that take place and can be more proactive with their portfolio.

When deciding on a strategy it is very helpful to discuss one's goals and objectives with an individual who is knowledgeable in ETF trading strategies and the structure of ETF trading. By effectively pairing the correct strategy with the trading style that one has, there is a greater possibility for success in the trading arena. - 23221

About the Author:

Learn how it's very possible to make 6% per month in your investment accounts using etf trading! "Big A" is a recognized expert in the world of etf trading system and reveals trading and investment secrets that have been kept under wraps by hedge traders for years. Get his free report and webinar today!