When you choose to pursue your Cisco Certified Network Professional certification, you’ve got some decisions to make right at the beginning. Cisco offers a three-exam path and a four-exam path, and you select the order in which you’ll take and pass the exams.

While every CCNP candidate has to make their own decision, I’d like to share some thoughts based on my personal experience and the experiences of CCNPs worldwide.

The solid foundation of networking knowledge you built as a CCNA will help you a great deal on your BSCI (Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks, 642-801) exam. This is the most common exam to take first, and I’d recommend you do so as well. While there are some topics that will be new to you, such as BGP, many of the BSCI topics will be familiar to you from your CCNA studies.

The “middle” exams are the BCMSN (Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks, 642-811) and BCRAN (Building Cisco Remote Access Networks, 642-821). There is no real advantage in taking one of these before the other, although most candidates take the switching exam, then the remote access exam.

I do recommend you take the CIT (Cisco Internetwork Troubleshooting) exam last. This exam will demand you put into action the skills you have learned while earning your CCNA and passing the first three exams. Again, it’s not written in stone and there are always exceptions, but CCNP candidates do seem to have more success on this exam when they take it last.

Should you choose the three-exam path, you’ll be taking a Composite exam (642-891). This exam combines the BSCI and BCMSN exams, and it’s best to take this one first. It builds nicely with your CCNA skills.

Again, I would take the BCRAN exam after the Composite, and t
he Troubleshooting exam last.

Whichever path you choose, you’ve chosen wisely in which certification to pursue. The CCNP is a true test of your networking skills, and when you make the decision to go after the CCIE, you’ll be glad to have the solid foundation of networking skills your CCNA and CCNP studies gave you.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. Video courses and training, binary and subnetting help, and corporate training are also available.

For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” or “How To Pass The CCNP”, send a request to chris@thebryantadvantage.com today !

A mortgage is a device used to create a lien on real estate by contract. It is used as a method by which individuals or businesses can buy residential or commercial property without paying the full value upfront. In legal terms, the creation of a mortgage gives the legal title of the land to the mortgager and an equitable title (called “equity of redemption”) to the mortgagor. The legal title, however, only exists as a security for a debt and does not convey any title or powers associated real property.

In Houston, like other states, to protect the lender, a mortgage is recorded in the public records creating a lien (when there are multiple liens, order of recording determines priority). Since mortgage debt is often the largest debt owed by the debtor, banks and other mortgage lenders run title searches of the real property to make certain that the lien of the mortgage is prior to anyone else’s claim. Tax liens, in some cases, will come ahead of mortgages. For this reason, if a borrower has delinquent property taxes, the bank will often pay them to prevent the lien holder from foreclosing and wiping out the mortgage.

Something to consider in mortgage lending is the process. In the USA, the process by which a mortgage is secured by a borrower is called origination. This involves the submission of an application and documentation related to the customer’s financial history. An underwriter then reviews this information.

Lenders may charge various fees when giving a mortgage to a mortgagor. These include entry fees, exit fees, administration fees and lenders mortgage insurance. There are also settlement fees (closing costs) the settlement company will charge. In addition, if a third party handles the loan, it may charge other fees as well.

Houston Mortgages provides detailed information about Houston mortgages, Houston mortgage companies, Houston mortgage brokers, Houston mortgage lenders and more. Houston Mortgages is the sister site of Atlanta Interest Only Mortgages.

Mortgage underwriters can be a suspicious bunch. If you have bruised or even bad credit, you have your work cut out for you. Many loan programs have guidelines that set a minimum FICO score of 620. FHA does not allow lenders to reject a loan based solely on FICO scores, but if yours is less than 620, there are probably other reasons the underwriter will find in your file to say no.

How do you prove to the underwriter that you’re ready to buy a house?

• Budget your income and start cleaning up the old dings on your credit report.
• Payoff the minor collections, even the medical ones, unless you have a valid dispute.
• Make arrangements to pay any judgement you might have and get 6 months worth of payments under your belt.
• Formalize any credit dispute so your credit report reflects the dispute or you have copies of letters you have sent out.
• Pay your rent on time and be able to prove it. Cancelled checks are the best proof. Letters from family members or sellers saying you’re a good guy just aren’t going to cut it. If you don’t get your cancelled checks, then save the statements with the check numbers and the carbons.
• Be able to explain what happened to your credit. Mortgage underwriters understand all about “life events”. They can also do math pretty well. If you make enough money to pay your bills and you don’t pay your bills, there better be a very good reason. A sincere explanation that indicates you take credit seriously works wonders.

And now, what’s the number one way to prove to an underwriter that you are ready and able to afford your first house? There are four steps:

• Figure out what you can afford in the way of a total Housing Expense payment. Principal, interest, mortgage insurance, property taxes and homeowner’s hazard and fire insurance all add up. What’s your letter to Santa Claus for a monthly outlay?
• Set up a savings account if you don’t already have one.
• Each month, pay your rent on time and subtract the amount of your rent from the figure you came up with for your future house payment. Save the exact amount of the difference or more.
• When it’s time to apply for an FHA mortgage or any other type of mortgage, make a point of bringing your savings records to show that you have been “making” the payment already by placing the difference between it and your rent into your savings account each month and still paying your other bills on time.

Judi Moore authors Ask The Underwriter at 2rHouse.org and personally answers questions from readers about FHA mortgages and mortgage advice in general.

Let’s start by taking a look at 7 key elements of an adjustable rate mortgage:

1) ARM defined: While a fixed rate loan is constant and never changes throughout the life of the loan, an adjustable rate mortgage changes periodically. The interest rate of an ARM goes up and down based on whatever external index it is tied to. Add the lender’s “margin” to that, and you’ve got the rate. Add costs to that, and you’ve got the APR.

Other considerations include the fixed period, the adjustment date, and the adjustment interval. There are built in risk management devices such as caps, conversion clauses, rate ceilings, rate floors, periodic payment caps, and periodic rate caps.

So, while fixed rate loans stay constant and are fairly straightforward, future payments on ARMS is an unknown, and they go up and down depending on a variety of variables.

2) Index: An adjustable rate mortgage is tied to an external index. If you look in the financial section of the paper today, you might see a chart posted for the 1 year constant maturity treasury index, also called the CMT, otherwise known as the 1-year “T-bills”. You might see a graph, showing the T-Bills rising and falling in value over time.

About 50% of all ARM loans are tied to the 1 year T-Bills. If this is the index used on your loan, then your house payment will rise and fall alongside the T-Bill index (basically).

This is just one example of an index used for ARMs. There are indeed several, and some are more volatile than others. The point is that if that index goes up, the ARM can go up. If that index goes down, the ARM can go down.

3) Margin: Lenders’ add a specific percentage to the index. This is called “margin”. Put another way, the adjustable rate equals the interest rate tied to the index plus the lenders’ margin. For example, if the T-bills are going for 1.5%, and the margin is 2.5%, then the ARM interest rate is basically 4%.

What’s important to know is that different lenders charge different margin, and margin is different from one index to the next. So, just because the margin is cheaper on an ARM tied to T-bills, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best deal. What if the interest rate on a different index, say the LIBOR, is lower? Maybe the margin is higher? Keep your eyes open, and compare the combination of both margin and index, when looking to compare ARMs.

4) Fixed Period: The terms of the loan typically begins with a fixed period of anywhere from 1 month to 5 years or more, where the rate is not adjusted and stays constant (like a fixed rate loan). A 1 month ARM, for example, has a starting fixed period of 1 month, whereas a 1 year ARM has a starting fixed period of 1 year.

5) Adjustment Interval: After the fixed period has elapsed, then there will be an adjustment date in which the rate is modified to conform to the index within the terms of the loan. This interval is typically 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years, but a wide variety of intervals exists.

In other words, you start with a fixed period and the rate is fixed. Then you get to the adjustment date, and the rate goes up or down depending on the index and the terms of the loan. Then you go into the adjustment period, let’s say the interval is 1 year, so for 1 year the rate stays the same. Then you get to the next adjustment date, and the whole process repeats itself.

6) Caps: There are built in devices to the ARM that helps manage the risk. For example, most loans incorporate an interest rate ceiling into their terms. The interest rate charged can never exceed the agreed upon ceiling. There is also usually a corresponding interest rate floor (the rate can never drop below this). There is usually a periodic rate cap, that limits the amount the rate can go up or down (during the adjustment period), irrespective of the index. There may be more in the terms of your loan worth exploring, but the important point here is that Caps help control risk. They make the ARM manageable.

7) Conversion Clause: What if 5 years go by, and the rates are still low, and now you’re fairly certain you’ll be living in your home for the next 10 years. In this instance, it might be wise to switch over from an ARM to a fixed rate. Many loans contain a conversion clause allowing you to convert the loan to a fixed rate mortgage. There is sometimes a fee associated with this provision. Also, the terms of the conversion clause may require a period of time to elapse before it becomes available.

So, is an ARM is right for you?

Of course, that’s a question that only you can decide. However, here a few possibilities:

1. Buying Power: – Adjustable Rate Mortgages, in the right market, can allow buyers to purchase higher valued homes with a lower, initial, monthly payment.

2. Short Term Home Ownership: – The average home owner lives in one residence 7 to 8 years (not 30 years). Do you know how long you’ll be there? If you have confidence that you’re only there for the short term, then an ARM could save you money.

3. Risk versus Reward: – What is your level of comfort with risk and how prepared are you to adjust your finances accordingly? If rates stay steady or decline over the long term, an ARM could offer you the greatest possible savings.

Needless to say, a word of caution is appropriate here. Let’s not forget the tried and true warhorse of the fixed rate loan. Fixed rate offers the least amount of risk to the borrower over the long term. There are many unknowns, many variables, and many terms and conditions that need to be considered when looking into an ARM.

The best place to start is always to evaluate fixed rate loans, as a benchmark, and then branch out your options from there. Know the current rates and get a feel for the “trend”. Compare several loan offers before signing on the bottom line, and explore all the variables that go into these loans, including the 7 mentioned in this article. Talk to 3 or 4 lenders during this process, to see who you like doing business with. Above all, don’t just fixate on the monthly payment. Shop rate, and review the terms of the loan offers.

We provide a free rate-watch at our website, along with a directory of lenders and resources, or you can go to any search engine on the internet and find other useful sites and tools out there.

We’ve enjoyed providing this information to you, and we wish you the best of luck in your pursuits. Remember to always seek out good advice from those you trust, and never turn your back on your own common sense.

Sincerely, Tom Levine

Copyright 2004, by LoanResources.Net

Publisher’s Directions: This article may be freely distributed so long as the copyright, author’s information, disclaimer, and an active link (where possible) are included.

About The Author

Tom Levine provides a solid, common sense approach to solving problems and answering questions relating to consumer loan products. His website seeks to provide free online resources for the consumer, including rate-watch, tips and articles, financial communication, news, and links to products and services. You can check out Tom’s website here: http://loanresources.net, or you can email Tom at info@loanresources.net

Before mortgage interest rates begin to rise, homeowners should consider the advantages of refinancing now. Although we’re witnessing record low rates, these rates will not last forever. Unfortunately, many homeowners will delay refinancing and miss out on the savings. There are many reasons to refinance. Here are the top three reasons to refinance while rates are low.

Reduce Your Monthly Mortgage Payment

Interest rates greatly effect mortgage payments. Individuals with poor credit can get approved for home loans. However, the lender will charge higher fees or interest. If you receive a high interest rate, you may pay a couple of hundred dollars more than a good credit applicant who applied for the same mortgage amount.

If you purchased your existing home with poor credit, refinancing for a lower rate may decrease your monthly payments, especially if your credit has improved. Obtaining a home loan is a great way to boost your credit rating. In fact, many homeowners notice an increase in their credit score after establishing a good payment history with their mortgage lender. Thus, if you received a bad credit mortgage, make an effort to better your credit, and then refinance for a low rate.

Get a Fixed Rate Mortgage Loan

Furthermore, many homeowners choose to refinance their existing mortgage to take advantage of a low fixed rate. When interest rates were higher, many home buyers opted for adjustable rate mortgages because they carried lower rates. Although homeowners with an adjustable rate mortgage also benefit from decreases in interest rates, these low rates are not promised.

Every so often, mortgage rates rise and fall. If rates begin to climb, so do the rates for an adjustable mortgage. Hence, mortgage payments will increase. To avoid increased payments, refinance and secure a low fixed rate that will remain the same throughout the duration of the loan.

Take Advantage of Cash-Out Refinancing

Cash-out refinancing is a very attractive feature to refinancing your current home loan. With this option, you can refinance for a better rate, and borrow from your home’s equity. At closing, you will be given a lump sum of cash. Funds may be used to consolidate debts, remodel your home, take a nice vacation, or pay for a child’s education expense.

Carrie Reeder offers advice about
Refinance Home Loan Companies Online. View our Recommended Lowest Rate Mtg Refinan

To pass your BSCI exam and earn your CCNP certification, you’ve got to master route summarization. When you get to the BSCI level, actually breaking the routes down into binary strings and performing summarization is second nature to you. (If it isn’t, get some more practice!) What makes CCNP / BSCI route summarization more difficult is just keeping the different protocol summarization commands straight!

RIP and EIGRP both perform route summarization at the interface level with the ip summary-address command. In the following example, R2 is running RIP and was sending four routes to R3, R3’s table looked like this before summarization:

R3#show ip route rip

172.16.0.0/24 is subnetted, 4 subnets

R 172.16.8.0 [120/1] via 172.23.23.2, 00:00:02, Ethernet0

R 172.16.9.0 [120/1] via 172.23.23.2, 00:00:02, Ethernet0

R 172.16.10.0 [120/1] via 172.23.23.2, 00:00:02, Ethernet0

R 172.16.11.0 [120/1] via 172.23.23.2, 00:00:02, Ethernet0

By summarizing the routes and using the ip summary-address command, RIP advertises only the summary route to the downstream neighbor.

R2(config)#int ethernet0

R2(config-if)#ip summary-address rip 172.16.8.0 255.255.252.0

R3#clear ip route *

R3#show ip route rip

172.16.0.0/22 is subnetted, 1 subnets

R 172.16.8.0 [120/1] via 172.23.23.2, 00:01:24, Ethernet0

EIGRP works much the same way, except that the EIGRP AS number must be named in the ip summary-address command.

In the following example, R2 was advertising four separate routes to R3 via EIGRP 100: 100.0.0.0, 101.0.0.0, 102.0.0.0, and 103.0.0.0, all with an eight-bit mask. What summary route can be used here?

The summary is 100.0.0.0 252.0.0.0. To send that route to downstream routers, configure the following on R2:

R2(config)#interface ethernet0

R2(config-if)#ip summary-address eigrp 100 100.0.0.0 252.0.0.0

R3 will then have only one route in its EIGRP table – the summary route.

R3#show ip route eigrp

D 100.0.0.0/6 [90/2297856] via 172.23.23.2, 00:02:33, Ethernet0

By mastering basic binary skills and keeping in mind that RIP and EIGRP perform route summarization at the interface level, you’re one step closer to passing your BSCI exam and earning your CCNP certification!

In the next part of this tutorial, we’ll take a detailed look at the different methods OSPF uses for route summarization.

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of free CCNP and CCNA tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, just visit the website! You can also get FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNP exam with The Bryant Advantage!

Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics / eEnterprise was introduced in 1993 as first Microsoft Windows and Macintosh based graphical accounting/ERP application for Mid-Size businesses. Considering the history of furniture retailer and custom assembly lines – they showed up on the market about five decades ago and they have automated their business operations with Unix-based businesses in the late 1960th and earlier 1970th. You can find such furniture resale systems as Storis, which is Unidata based application, automating furniture retail outlets. Let’s consider the options.

• General Ledger. There is no need to immediate replacement of legacy retail stores automation software. It is reliable and proved to work over years. They usually sit in very reliable Unix hardware such as IBM AS/400 or RS6000. You would need just import General Ledger transaction to the system, where you would have flexible and quick financial reporting. In this case you need Unidata export and feed it into Great Plains General Ledger. Use Great Plains Integration Manager or heterogeneous SQL queries.

• Payroll. Great Plains would be reasonably priced payroll solution if you process payroll inhouse. If you have less then 500 employees – then Great Plains Standard douse excellent job and software price would be around k$10. You will have to pay annual maintenance program and receive Payroll taxes and federal magnetic media updates to keep you safe from the payroll taxation errors and miscalculation. If you cross over 500 employees line – Great Plains software price will be around k$30 and you could find cheaper solutions with unlimited number of employees – look at Accpac.

• eCommerce. If you are replacing your legacy system, then you could build eCommerce upon Microsoft Great Plains Inventory Control (IV) and Sales Order Processing modules. Looking into the future you should expect increasing portion of you business to come from eCommerce ordering. Here you deploy eConnect and have your or contracting developers do the job. If eConnect is too expensive – you could appeal to experienced developers, who has set of custom stored procedures to work with SOP10100, SOP10200 and IV00100 tables

• Commission Reporting. In Furniture outlet shift manager commission is based on her/his employees-salespersons performance. And it is usually tiered. We saw very complex and proprietary formulas. Our suggestion is to realize it in SQL Stored Procedure and then you could create Crystal Report with parameters to calculate and report commission amounts

We encourage you to analyze your alternatives. You can always appeal to our help, give us a call: 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies (http://www.albaspectrum.com), serving Microsoft Great Plains, CRM, Navision to mid-size and large clients in California, Illinois, New York, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan

Many first-time home shoppers have been discouraged by the high prices in the housing market, and many people wonder if putting the purchase off a few years would be a smart strategy. Many people are waiting for a drop in housing prices, but the chances of a significant drop in home prices is actually quite remote.

While there are certainly pockets of the country where real estate can be said to be overvalued, in most areas of the country the average house is actually priced quite fairly. That means that putting off the purchase of a home may simply mean throwing away more money in rent, and losing out on the significant tax benefits homeownership can bring.

Many people plan to save their money waiting for home prices to come down to a lower level, but this is generally not a winning strategy. While it is true that the housing market is cyclical in nature, housing prices seldom go down for very long, and there have been extended periods in which home prices did not retreat at all. Saving even significant amounts of money may not be enough to cover the appreciation of home prices, even if that appreciation slows down from its current high rate.

The best strategy may be to simply bite the bullet now and buy a home whose payments you can afford. This will allow you to participate in, and benefit from, any future appreciation in home prices.

Let’s look at an example – using a home valued at $300,000 in today’s market. In many areas of the country this would be the average home. If that home appreciated at a 5% rate over the next year, its value would rise by $15,000. Few potential home buyers would be able to sock away enough in a savings account to offset that much of a gain. And that $15,000 figure does not include any potential tax savings the buyer could have gained through deducting mortgage interest.

Many potential home buyers have thought that rising interest rates would serve to cool off the hot housing market, but so far that has not happened. Even as short term interest rates have continued to rise, mortgage interest rates remain near their all time lows. In addition, waiting for high interest rates to kill the housing market and lower prices will also mean that you will have to take out a mortgage at a higher interest rate, and that alone could negate any savings you achieve through a lower purchase price.

While it is true that there have been several instances of boom and bust real estate markets, this situation is not in place in most areas of the country. While there certainly are overheated housing markets out there, it is important to remember that real estate is not the same as the stock market. There is a real intrinsic value to real estate, and a limited supply. That means that even if home values fall, they are unlikely to fall as significantly as stocks did in the last bear market. In order to trigger a significant decline in housing prices, there would need to be a significant negative event, and at the time no such event seems to be on the horizon.

There are plenty of anecdotal evidences that the housing market remains strong, and that it is likely to remain quite strong for some time to come. Even though many people think that the market for real estate may have peaked, there remain plenty of stories of homes that sold for more than their asking price, and bidding wars continue to break out at many open houses around the country.

In addition, there is little evidence to indicate that the prices of homes are likely to suffer a decline in the near future, and the number of homes that sell for less than their asking price is still very small. With all these indications of a still strong housing market, and still low interest rates on mortgage loans, it is easy to see why waiting to buy a home may not be the best strategy.

There are many pitfalls and perils to using the Internet for even the
simplest things. Considering the dangers of supplying personal information over
the Internet, it is important to be cautious when using it for something as
important as refinancing your home. Although the Internet can be a playground
for scammers and criminals, it can also be a major tool to a homeowner when they
need to refinance their home. Here are some things to keep in mind when using
the Internet to refinance your home:

The Internet Simplifies Your Research
The Internet houses tons of information on mortgage companies, banks, brokers,
and interest rates. Almost every bank has a web presence that can be accessed 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, and, if the bank doesn’t have one, there is more
than likely a plan to have one in the near future. If you are looking to
refinance your home, then you can use the internet to research these banks,
mortgage companies, etc., and their rates by giving them little to know personal
information. There are plenty of websites that offer their current rates by
selecting the state that you live in.

You Can Get Multiple Rate Quotes from One Source
The Internet allows you to find places where you can fill out one application
and have it seen by multiple lenders without all of these lenders pulling your
credit. It is advisable to find one of these websites as it will save you tons
of time. Local mortgage brokers often provide this service; however, the
Internet allows you to research these brokers before you allow them to run your
credit report. It is not a good idea to have multiple companies run your credit
report within a short period of time as this can lower your credit score and
result in unfavorable interest rates. Homeowners should make it a priority to
know their own credit scores when starting the refinancing research process.

Be Wary of Unsolicited Offers
The Internet is vulnerable and can be compromised. As with anything that
requires personal information, such as your social security number, you should
always be cautious when giving this information out. As a rule of thumb, if you
haven’t solicited a refinance but you receive information about refinancing via
email or some other means, it is recommended that you either not respond or that
you conduct your own research on the company that sent it to you.

For a list of recommended lenders for
home mortgage refinancing
online or
bad
credit mortgage refinancing online, visit ABC Loan Guide.

If you are a martial artist, boxer, wrestler or any other type of combat athlete you have probably learned this a long time ago… or should have.

Keep your ego out of physical training!

Now don’t get me wrong… combat athletes are some of the proudest, most competitive and driven people you will ever meet.

Winning and losing is taken very seriously, because after all… it is personal.

But in order to get good at these sports… the ego must be left at the training room door.

The same is true for physical training for performance improvement of any kind.

Why?

Because if you are not willing to work on your weaknesses, and humble yourself in the process, you will never realize great improvements.

Let me ask you a question about your neighborhood gym…

Is there a guy there with a huge chest and arms with skinny, toothpick legs?

Yea, you know the guy.

Well, he got that way because he spends his training time working on his strengths and ignoring his weaknesses… and this is no way to improve over-all fitness.

Ok, another question…

Is there a gal there that spends almost all her time doing aerobic type endurance activities while completely ignoring all other types of physical training?

Yea, that’s her with the spandex body-suit and designer water bottle.

Well, she trains this way because she is focusing on her strengths and ignoring her weaknesses… and this is no way to improve over-all fitness.

If you were to ask either one of these individuals if they were fit… they would most likely say yes and then explain themselves by giving examples of their competence in the one physical ability they are strongest performing.

But I propose that fitness is not the ability to maximize one physical skill… but rather the ability to optimize all the physical skills of cardiorespiratory endurance, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy and toughness.

Exhibiting excellence in any one particular skill at the expense of all others is not fitness.

You must be willing to work on the physical skills that need the most improvement in order to realize the greatest increase in over-all fitness.

Let’s face it… some people are better than others at certain aspects of physical training.

But if you only perform the physical training for which you are naturally gifted… you are limiting your over-all fitness gains.

Leave you ego at the gym door… make it your safe haven from embarrassment.

After all… it is the place you go to get better, not show off.

Concentrate on your weaknesses even if you feel foolish and clumsy at first… you might even be surprised at how quickly those weaknesses become newfound strengths.

Do yourself a favor and learn a lesson from combat athletes… Leave your ego at the training room door.