Shielding assets with strong wills during COVID-19 era? Overlooking FHA, VA and USDA loans. First-time buyers might be cash-strapped in this environment of rising home prices. And if you have little saved for a down payment or your credit isn’t stellar, you might have a hard time qualifying for a conventional loan. How this affects you: You might assume you have no financing options and delay your home search. What to do instead: Look into one of the three government-insured loan programs backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA loans), U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA loans) and U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA loans). Here’s a brief overview of each: FHA loans require just 3.5 percent down with a minimum 580 credit score. FHA loans can fill the gap for borrowers who don’t have top-notch credit or little money saved up. The major drawback to these loans, though, is mandatory mortgage insurance, paid both annually and upfront at closing. VA loans are backed by the VA for eligible active-duty and veteran military service members and their spouses. These loans don’t require a down payment, but some borrowers may pay a funding fee. VA loans are offered through private lenders, and come with a cap on lender fees to keep borrowing costs affordable.

Many people make their home their personal sanctuary and decorate it with family photos, memorabilia, religious decor, personal keepsakes, among other items. You want to make sure to remove all of these items, pack them up, and put them in storage. A good way to do this is to pretend that you are moving out. De-personalizing your home is extremely important because the buyer wants to visualize your house as their own. It is difficult for a buyer to do so if all of your personal items appear as if you are marking your own territory.

For estate trustees and executors who are waiting for the issuance of letters probate and certificates of appointment, which are delayed by court shut downs, the volatile stock markets have created an added nightmare. Any trustee who is responsible for an investment portfolio in an estate or trust must be alert to the impact of the market volatility which has been far wilder during the past months than for many years before. Even if purchases cannot be made, the ability to make sales of securities in order to do as much as possible to protect capital values is something that the trustee needs to arrange with the brokers who hold the accounts. Discover more information at protect myself during coronavirus.

Advances in technology have been invaluable during the lockdown brought about by coronavirus but, until recently, making a Will could not be done digitally. The requirement for two independent witnesses to be physically present has caused difficulties with social distancing in place, particularly for those shielding or self-isolating. In recognition of this, the government are now introducing measures to relax the signing formalities for a limited period in England and Wales. These fall short of a fully digital process but new legislation will permit virtual witnessing of both Wills and Codicils via live video-link. This will be back-dated to 31 January 2020 and continue to apply until 31 January 2022 unless shortened or extended in line with other Covid-specific procedures.

Stay Out of Bad Debt: Debt means you owe someone money, and if I’ve learned anything from gangster movies, you NEVER want to owe someone money. However, not all debt is necessarily bad debt. So, what is bad debt? Bad debt is any debt that’s acquired through purchasing something that’s going to lose value and generate zero revenue. Some examples of bad debt would be credit card debt or an auto loan. What is good debt? Some people will say there’s no such thing as good debt, and while I mostly agree, I also can’t deny that some debt can be beneficial in the right circumstances. For example, if you are going to take out a loan to purchase something that will benefit you financially in the future, I’d say that debt is a lot more beneficial than credit card debt. Good debt usually has lower interest rates as well. Here are a few examples: Student loans. Since student loans typically have a very low-interest rate and going to school can increase your pay as an employee in the future, student loans can be considered good debt.

Examples include retail tenants requesting payment holidays from their landlords (landlords being the borrowers under loan agreements) which has in turn triggered potential breaches with respect to interest cover ratio covenants. Lenders and borrowers are generally seeking to stabilize their lending arrangements. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic we saw a large number of enquiries as to whether a material adverse effect (MAE) under a loan agreement could be invoked to refuse funding or in some cases to call an event of default. See additional info on https://techbullion.com/wills-and-covid-19-safeguarding-your-assets-during-a-global-pandemic/.