Who Is Eligible to Get a Mortgage With Zero Down?

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StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals Article |Mortgage With Zero Down|Who Is Eligible to Get a Mortgage With Zero DownBuying a home should be accessible to all, regardless of how much you can afford to put down on a mortgage. Fortunately, homebuyers don’t need 20 percent down anymore to qualify. Take advantage of one of the many programs designed to help get you into a home for less money down.

You can apply for a mortgage with zero down and move into your own home now. You don’t have to wait until you scrape together a sizable down payment to achieve this dream. But who is eligible for a mortgage with zero down? Let’s explore the options available to potential homebuyers seeking more affordable alternatives. Read on to learn if you qualify and start the process now.

What Is a Zero-Down Home Mortgage?

Lenders typically require down payments to offset the chances of defaulting on a loan. The idea is, the more up-front investment you have in the property, the less likely you are to default. This large down payment prevents many potential buyers from owning a home. Removing the obstacle of needing to put 20 percent down opens the door to more future buyers. Lenders who offer these programs understand that a mortgage with zero down makes homeownership accessible. Qualifying borrowers are now able to purchase a home without a down payment.

Often, borrowers who could not afford to put 20 percent down had to wait to purchase a home. Fortunately, with a zero-down payment loan, you can still qualify for a loan. Look for lenders that offer zero-down mortgages or government-backed loans.

Are There Options for No Down Payments?

One option is to take advantage of a government-backed loan and buy your house without a down payment. These loans are designed to make it easier to qualify for a mortgage, especially if you are struggling to save enough for a down payment. They are insured by an agency of the federal government, reducing the risks for a lender. The agency insures the loan amount. If a borrower cannot repay the loan, the lender is protected. Less risk frees up the lender to offer lower rates and low- to no-down payment options.

If you are a first-time homebuyer, you may be eligible for more options. What qualifies you as a first-time buyer? This varies from lender to lender, but if you haven’t bought property anywhere in the world, chances are you will qualify. Keep in mind these restrictions: if you have inherited property, your partner has bought property, or you own foreign property.

Apply directly to a private lender that offers these government-backed loans. They will help you better understand if you are eligible. Two of the more common loans offered by lenders are USDA and FHA loans. Let’s look at both to see if you are eligible for either.


USDA Loans

USDA loans are backed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). These loans are in place to encourage development in rural and suburban areas. There are several types of USDA loans available, but to qualify, you must meet both financial and regional requirements.

These loans are great for borrowers with low-to-moderate incomes who are looking to purchase in a rural area. The exact income requirements vary from loan to loan, so it’s important to check with your lender when applying. However, a typical gauge is as follows: a credit score of at least 640, household income not exceeding 115 percent of the county’s median income, and debt-to-income ratio no higher than 45 percent.

USDA loans are also subject to location. Meant to increase development in rural areas, the home must be located within a certain zone to be eligible. Check with the USDA Rural Development to see if the house you are considering is eligible. To qualify, you must also live in your home as a single-family primary residence.

If you qualify, a USDA loan offers reduced rates that may allow you to apply closing costs to the total loan amount. Additionally, no down payment is required, and both the mortgage insurance premium and the annual premium are lower than FHA loans. However, you cannot remove the mortgage insurance like you can with an FHA loan.

FHA Loans

FHA loans are insured by the Federal Housing Administration and have fewer restrictions to qualify. You may want to consider an FHA loan if you are a first-time homebuyer, though it’s not a requirement. These loans are considered low-down payment loans. Obtain an FHA loan with as little as 3.5 percent down.

What are the requirements for an FHA loan? You must plan on living in the house as your primary residence and be ready to move within 60 days of closing. You will also have to pay mortgage insurance for the life of the loan unless you put 10 percent or more down. Consider an FHA loan with plans to refinance to a conventional loan once you’ve built 20 percent equity.
A considerable advantage to this loan is allowances for anyone with financial issues in their credit history. If you have a bankruptcy or a lower credit score, you may still be able to qualify.

What If I Am Not Eligible for a Government-Backed Loan?

You can choose a lender that makes zero-down home loans available to all borrowers. These programs are designed especially for first-time buyers, anyone struggling to make a down payment, or current homeowners looking to purchase their next home without having to tap into their retirement or sell their homes first.

Not all lenders offer these programs, so shop around. Ask lenders what the options are for a mortgage with zero down.

Solarity Credit Union, based in Washington State, offers Home Now, a mortgage with zero-down, featuring waived lender fees and reduced private mortgage insurance (PMI). Or take advantage of a USDA home loan. Solarity Home Loan Guides will review your income and credit, and recommend the best loan for your circumstances.

The Hazards Every Workplace Has To Be Mindful Of

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article |Workplace Hazards|The Hazards Every Workplace Has To Be Mindful OfThere’s no responsibility more important to an employer than their responsibility to the health and safety of their business. A crucial part of ensuring that safety is being mindful and aware of the potential hazards in the workplace that can affect here. Here, we’re going to review some of those hazards and why it’s essential to audit the workplace for any you might otherwise miss.

Can you prevent falls?

Statistically, the most frequent type of injury across all workplaces is the fact that people can slip, trip, and fall, in a wide manner of ways. Take a look at some of the methods of preventing trip and slip hazards in your workplace, such as hiring a professional cleaner to ensure the best standards of floor cleanliness, preventing items from being stored on frequently trafficked walkways, and improving visibility in dark areas.

The risk of fire

Most workplaces have a number of connections to electrical supplies, as well as electrical appliances, combustible materials, and the like. Where any of these exist, there is always the risk for fire. Performing a complete fire risk assessment in your workplace can help you find and mitigate these risks, as well as ensure that you have the right equipment installed to deal with fires that break out. You may also need to ensure that you have a fire escape route at the ready at any moment.


Don’t be shocked by electrical hazards

Many of the causes of fire hazards, as mentioned above, can also be dangerous when it comes to the electrics. Ensuring the right electrical protections in your wiring, such as an IP rated junction box wherever two connections meet is crucial. Training employees to be careful around any manner of electrical feature or appliance is essential, too, such as making sure they don’t transport or carry liquids around them.

Be mindful of any chemicals

Not all workplaces are going to feature ready access to chemicals but those that do should make sure that they are always handled to the utmost standards of safety. Most industrial chemicals can be majorly harmful when people are exposed to them. To that end, you should make sure that your workplace invests in safe chemical storage, transport, and cleanup tools so that your team is ready and able to handle them in any situation.

Work well with your equipment

In warehouses, construction sites, manufacturing floors and more, it’s the machinery and vehicles that your team works with that can potentially be the most dangerous. Preventing machinery injuries requires a multi-pronged strategy. Training in the correct use of the equipment is vital, as is making sure that you have all of the personal protective equipment that you need and, most importantly, that it’s used when necessary. Of course, you should invest in the routine maintenance of each machine, as well.
The above list of potential hazards in the workplace is far from comprehensive. As mentioned, you should carry out a thorough safety audit of the workplace to ensure that you miss nothing that could pose a danger if left alone.

How Secure Is VoIP Compared to Landline Phone?

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StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | How Secure Is VoIP Compared to Landline Phone?When it comes to communication over long distances, there is no such thing as a system that is hacker-proof. Almost every form is at some risk of being hacked into or compromised. However, because more and more people are turning to VoIP systems, it has become much easier to install specific security features that can improve the experience. So is a VoIP actually more secure than a landline phone?

Are Landlines More Secure Than VoIPs?

Landlines alone are considered to be the most secure form of communication, although no one really uses them anymore. There is the ability to wiretap a landline, but the same thing can be performed on a VoIP line too. Hackers are also less likely to eavesdrop on a landline because there’s not as much information to acquire.

With a VoIP system or sip trunk, however, there is a lot more security features that are being developed and installed to combat hackers. The main reason is that once a VoIP line is hacked, there is a lot more information that a hacker could obtain.

Why Are VoIPs Easier To Hack?

Landline phones connect to each other through circuit switching. The sound from one phone is transmitted to the other once a circuit is created. Then, once the call has ended, there is no longer the transmission of any data.

With a VoIP, information is being transmitted over broadband Internet. The information is broken down into packets and bundles, transmitted to the other side, and then reassembled like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The moment that any of these packets are intercepted by hackers, then the information is lost.

Are Any VoIPs Secure?

There are some systems that are closed in nature that only connect one party to another with end-to-end encryption. However some of these systems can still be hacked in order to intercept the data before it has been encrypted. Even with this knowledge, however, it is not impossible to make secure calls with VoIP.


Encrypt Everything

It isn’t difficult to have a system that uses as much encryption as possible to keep information safe, especially if sensitive information is being shared between end-to-end users. Passwords should be strong and not shared with other people, and shouldn’t be a common word that would make it easy for people to guess.

Testing The Network

The network should be tested on a regular basis to ensure that there are no holes in the security and, if there are, that they are repaired as quickly as possible. Penetration testing serves the purpose of seeing how vulnerable the network really is.

Enabling Network Address Translation

Also called NAT, it is a feature on routers that provides a private IP address to phones, computers, and other Internet devices. By having a private IP, the network cannot be identified by a hacker and it cannot then be manipulated.

Despite the fact that there’s no such thing as an absolutely perfect VoIP system, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t security measures in place to make it as difficult as possible for hackers to get in. If you’re interested in having a VoIP system working for you, then contact your nearest provider immediately.

Why Learning How to Sell is a Must In This Day and Age

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StrategyDriven Professional Development Article | Why Learning How to Sell is a Must In This Day and AgeAnyone in a sales-oriented position will always be looking for ways to improve their technique and improve their ability to make more appointments and close more deals.

Using professional dealership phone training, for example, is an excellent way to try and improve sales conversion rates, but improve customer service and satisfaction levels at the same time.

The mindset of every consumer has dramatically changed in recent times and that is a compelling reason why it is essential that you learn how to sell in a way that is relevant for this day and age.

Developing the right skills and attributes

A fundamental aspect of learning how to sell successfully is being able and willing to develop the perfect skills and attributes required to achieve consistent positive results from your efforts.

One of the most important attributes to have is self-motivation.

Nobody can teach you to rise each morning with the desire to win and achieve success. You can definitely develop good sales skills with the right training and guidance, but you also have to want to be a successful salesperson to become one.

The modern sales environment is just as competitive and consumer attitudes might even have changed over time, but you still need the core attributes and skills to be able to close the right amount of deals.


Share your vision and ideas with others

Selling can often be viewed as a singular activity, especially when it is in a very competitive results-orientated environment.

However, it actually makes a lot of sense to seek out peers and mentors within your organization, and beyond if necessary.

If you have an idea of how you can improve the sales pitch by adding value to what you are offering the customer it would be a sensible strategy to talk these through with other members of your team and those connected with the sales process.

This approach can help you bring new ideas to fruition. Sharing your ideas can have the impact of improving your individual sales performance.

Do you have the basics to be a successful salesperson?

Even if you have a natural level of confidence in your own ability and a strong desire to succeed it still helps greatly to be able to channel that positivity and energy in the right way.

The best way of doing that is to have the basic sales skills in the bank that give you the blueprint for future success.

Learning how to be a good salesperson involves having good listening and communication skills. You develop these basic skills over a period of time through experience. But you can influence that upward trajectory in your sales performance and career prospects by committing to learning the basic sales skills needed by everyone in that sort of role.

Investing your time and effort into learning how to become a better version of yourself and improve your sales performance could turn out to be money well spent, especially when you start to see the results.

Top 6 Ways to Attract More Patients to Your Medical Practice

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StrategyDriven Marketing and Sales Article |Attract More Patients to Medical Practice|Top 6 Ways to Attract More Patients to Your Medical PracticePrivate practice owners often overlook the importance of a continuous flow of new patients. With so many other responsibilities to focus on and often full caseloads, it’s natural to put patient acquisition on the back burner.

However, things can change in an instant. Patient acquisition should always be happening in the background to prevent gaps and the feast-or-famine mentality.

Here are six ways to attract more patients to your medical practice.

Invest in SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the creation of content through the lens of search engine crawlers. When planning for medical SEO, it’s all about proactively answering questions and providing information for your patient demographic.

Before you can start researching keywords and competing with other practices, you must first understand your demographics. Take some time to analyze and clarify who your patients are and what they need to know. Consider their emotional state when looking at your offerings— someone searching for a cosmetic procedure may have a different mindset than someone treating an injury.

Once you have a better patient avatar, work with an SEO specialist to conduct keyword research and create a content plan.

Optimize Your Website

SEO is a major aspect of driving traffic to your website— but what the visitor does while there depends on several other factors.

Your website should be clear and easy to navigate. The goal is to reduce friction that deters someone from booking an appointment or clicking through for more information.

Websites with disorganized navigation or a lack of action buttons are examples of friction. In other words, if your visitors have to scroll back to the top of the page or click through several pages to contact you, they won’t.

Be Active on Social Media

Creating relevant social media content is another powerful way to connect with new patients. This visual medium provides an opportunity to share copious amounts of information in a short period of time. Create a strategy that reflects your patient demographic’s needs and interests.

Video social media marketing offers incredible potential for medical practitioners. Creating react videos to medical claims can help you establish yourself as an expert without creating content from scratch. Video content is also highly repurposable — TikToks can become Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. Transcriptions from long videos can become SEO-friendly blog posts for your website.

Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-woman-wearing-a-face-mask-getting-a-checkup-6285396/


Invest in Your Community

While digital marketing is the primary focus for many modern medical practices, there’s something to be said for connecting locally.

Getting involved in your community and giving back will promote word-of-mouth marketing. It’s also an opportunity to make connections and build a rapport with potential patients who require a personal touch.

Hosting community clinics is another effective strategy for acquiring new patients. Free sessions and seminars about relevant issues your patients face and partnerships with adajcent practices and organizations will help you extend your reach.

Create a Patient Feedback System

Traditional review and feedback systems are reactive rather than proactive. This means practice owners rarely capture valuable information they can use to shape their services.

Implement a proactive patient feedback system that asks patients for feedback at various points in the process, from booking an appointment to the overall experience. Incorporate a review request asking happy patients to share their feedback on Google.

Prioritize Your People

Finally, investing in your existing patients and team is essential for attracting new patients. Your people are your best form of marketing. The happier they are, the more likely they are to send new patients (or incredible employees) your way.

Create a safe workplace culture that empowers people to find a work-life balance, invests in continuous training, and makes people feel comfortable sharing their ideas and challenges.

Use these six strategies to create a sustainable patient acquisition plan, working with a marketing expert as needed.