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According to a recent report by High Street banking giant HSBC, more than 350,000 homeowners are now in negative equity, as the property market continues experiencing turbulence. It is thought that up to 360,000 homeowners who purchased their homes in 2007 are now stuck in their homes to due being in negative equity. Plummeting property prices and restrictive lending have taken their toll on those who purchased homes just prior to the global financial crisis.

Officials from HSBC said that although not all of these homeowners were in negative equity as such, many were in a situation where they did not have enough equity in their homes to pay a 10 percent deposit on a new mortgage or home, pay stamp duty and deal with other moving costs.

First time buyers are said to have been affected particularly badly. Figures show that in 2007 the average deposit put down by first time buyers was 10 percent and with the average property price at that time being £160,000 this gave equity of £16,000. H

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Alleged victim loses everything The trial starts Thursday of a down-on-his-luck businessman Norman Glass, who stole another mans identity and made millions selling his victims assets to unsuspecting buyers.   Get-rich-quick scheme About six months ago Glass cooked up a get-rich-quick scheme after hearing about an American living in the UK, who owned a building lot as well as an apartment on 14^th Street. He began by assuming the identity of the property owner, a man named Kalev. Glass grew a beard and acquired a cane, a cap and the gait of a man 26 years his senior. He then created the documents that would enable Glass to present himself as Kalev. He began spending time outside the latters apartment building, where he collected Kalevs mail and absorbed whatever information he could find. He used a computer to create a high-quality forgery of Kalevs official identity card using Kalevs personal information and his own photograph. Read more…

According to Halifax, the average house price in the UK fell by 1.3% in the UK between November and December. This is higher than the previous decline of 0.9%, which was seen in previous months. As the prices have remained steady throughout 2011, the banks are reporting that they are predicting that the same thing will happen this year. This is obviously dependent on the UK being able to avoid recession.

The report showed that towards the end of 2011, the average house price in the UK was £160,063. It also showed that there were 6 monthly falls, 5 increases and one month where the average prices didn’t change. This is a positive step for the housing market, as it managed to hold its own even though the economic climate wasn’t exactly desirable.

So, what does this mean for people who are intending to buy in 2012? Well, hopefully it means that houses will be a bit more affordable, meaning it’s more likely the market will get going again. Now might be just the time to do a bit of window shopping!

Dear Dr. Don, I just inherited $100,000 from my dad’s estate. I would like to invest it in mutual funds, but will I always have to pay an annual fee of 1.25 percent for a management fee? Where do I invest, or can I invest so I’m not paying this out every year?

Dear Sandy, Inheritances often come at a steep price: the loss of a loved one. I’m sorry for your loss. Trying to reduce the drag that fees and expenses have on investment returns is a smart move, and there are ways to manage them when investing in mutual funds.

There are different types of asset management fees. If you’re working with a financial services professional, they may have a compensation model called assets under management, or AUM, in which you pay a percentage fee based on the size of the portfolio. It’s important to realize that your financial services professional needs to be compensated for his or her work, and that there are different compensation models besides AUM, and these models may be more or less expensive than AUM. T

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The 0% balance transfer credit card is designed for those with existing credit card balances on which they are being charged high rates of interest. These cards enable borrowers to transfer these existing balances, thus benefiting from having just one credit card debt to deal with and more importantly avoiding interest charges on the balance for a specified period of time.

You should bear in mind that most 0% balance transfer credit card providers do charge a transfer fee, and the average fee is around 2.5% of the balance being transferred, often with a minimum charge in place. You will have a limited time within which you will have to transfer your balance, and once you have done this you will be able to enjoy a specified period of time within which to repay the balance without incurring any interest charges.

You should make sure that you avoid making purchases on a 0% balance transfer card, as not only will you be charged interest on purchases unless otherwise specified but your purchase balance will get trapped behind the transferred balance, where it will continue to accrue interest at a high rate.

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How to save on banking costs Whatever you do in or with the bank costs you money, from talking to a teller to withdrawing a large amount of cash. Agreed they are all petty charges but add them up and you will see the big picture. Even getting your statement printed on a sheet of paper costs you these days. Sometimes I think the bank has forgotten that it is in business because its customers keep their cash there!   New fees Thinking up new fees is the bank’s money-raising strategy which brings in an estimated $12 billion a year. Yep, the banks are having a rough time but that doesn’t mean that you have to pay for it. Bank fees are here to stay, but heres how to avoid some of them:   Understand the fees A study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that disclosure documents averaged 111 pages long. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is being pressed to require banks to publish a one-page disclosure of all fees. But d Read more…

For a good time, call … Dr. Luis Gomez-Mejia, management professor at Texas A&M University.

Drawing on 30 years of travels and research, Gomez-Mejia wraps fun around the seriousness of concepts relating to management trends and executive compensation. His equally engaging research seminars examine organizational theory, various perspectives of organizations and decision-making.

Those are research focuses for Gomez-Mejia, who has been published more than 100 times. Two of his recent studies identified subtle factors that reduce pollution: stock-option incentives (rather than cash) that encourage management to take a long view of consequences and family ownership of businesses, in which personal reputations and community status are at stake. While theoretical information frequently dominates class discussions, the tone is conversational with real examples thrown in, he said, “just to keep it interesting.”

As part of his management-class shtick, Luis Gomez-Mejia stays on the move, uses props and shares anecdotes.

Students find the approach lively and refreshing.

Mark Gibson ’11, whose final semester included a class under Gomez-Mejia, said his teaching style was a surprise. “Most o

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