Mommy, how much is a million?

These days I hear millions, billions and trillions mentioned repeatedly.

How much are these amounts? It's hard for me to comprehend the differences.

I just read good illustration that gave me an idea of the scope if difference between the three amounts, on the Time.com website:

"My favorite way to think of it is in terms of seconds," says David Schwartz, a children's book author whose How Much Is a Million? tries to wrap young minds around the concept. "One million seconds comes out to be about 11½ days. A billion seconds is 32 years. And a trillion seconds is 32,000 years. I like to say that I have a pretty good idea what I'll be doing a million seconds from now, no idea what I'll be doing a billion seconds from now, and an excellent idea of what I'll be doing a trillion seconds from now."

The full article is here.

Scout Out Home Deals

For prospective home buyers, it's hard to ignore the sales pitch: Home values nationwide have fallen on average some 20%, while mortgage rates recently plumbed record lows below 5%.

According to the latest Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, prices for existing single-family homes were down 23% from their 2006 peak in 20 cities as of October.

Read entire article here:Wall Street Journal Online.

Why Most People Who Owe More Than a Property's Worth Will Still Keep Their Homes

From the Wall Street Journal

What does being "underwater" in your house really mean? Probably not that you're drowning.

The number of underwater homeowners -- those who owe more on their mortgages than their home is now worth -- has been growing sharply since 2006 as real-estate prices have tumbled. By some estimates, between one in six and one in eight homeowners are in that position, most of them people who bought homes in the past few years or who put down small or no down payments.

This worries economists and policy makers, since owing more than your home is worth is the first step toward foreclosure. And it's a concern to the rest of us because foreclosures are roiling the financial markets and, closer to home, they drag down our neighborhoods. (Most people who still have equity, by contrast, would rather sell their houses at a loss than lose what's left of their investment.) Read entire article

Help for People Behind On Their Mortgage Payments

An incredible 10% of homeowners in the USA are behind their mortgage payments. Fortunately there is help for people in the form of loan modification.

What is a loan modification?

A loan modification is a process where the borrower that is behind on their mortgage payments re-negotiates the terms of their mortgage with their existing lender.

I have recently made a career decision to work with a company that negotiates on behalf of the borrower to get them the best terms possible. Since we have a staff of attorneys that have done numerous modifications successfully, we are better equipped than a homeowner at negotiating.

Our goal is to help people stay in their homes.