If you are purchasing a home or planning to refinance your current mortgage your lender may offer you the option to pay "points" at the time of closing. The lender will send you a good faith estimate and you may notice that your down payment will be higher when you pay points. Before simply tossing the idea of paying points aside because of the higher down payment, you need to be sure that you understand what exactly points are before you make that decision. It's a decision that could save you thousands of dollars in the long run.
One thing to consider when getting a home mortgage loan are points. Points are also known as "mortgage points", "loan origination fees", or "discount points". Points are up-front mortgage interest fees paid on a loan to reduce the initial interest rate. At the simplest form, paying points is a trade off between paying money now versus paying money later.

One point is equal to 1 percent of the loan amount. So, say you purchase a home and your mortgage amount would be $250,000. If you paid one point, you would pay $2,500 up front.

Lenders are often willing to reduce the interest rate on your mortgage in exchange for you paying points. When you apply for a loan, ask the lenders how much they are willing to reduce your rate in exchange for paying 1 point.

Is it smart to take points? Well, the answer depends. The number of years you stay in your house can help determine if paying points at closing in exchange for paying a lower rate is a better deal than paying zero points at a higher interest rate level. So what is a good time horizon you ask? That depends on the situation but as a general rule if you plan on staying in your house over a short time frame, less than 5 years for example; paying points wouldn't make sense because you will be paying more in points than you will save in interest. You need to be sure you will keep the loan long enough to recoup these costs through your lower monthly mortgage payment. If, however, you plan on staying in your house for 10 years or longer, points will pay off over time.

The IRS considers points to be a form of prepaid interest. This means they are tax deductible (as long as you itemize your deductions). If you are purchasing a home the points are generally deductible in the year you purchase your property. This is true even if the seller pays for your points. If you are refinancing your mortgage, points must be amortized over the life of the loan.

Rata Penuh
So just what is a niche?

If you want the long answer, you can buy any one of the thousands of e-books being sold online about niche markets. You can go to a dictionary and see what the definition of niche is. But the short answer of niche simply means distinct or individual.

Everyone wants to start a business based on Internet Marketing. This is how the big guys are making all of their money, so it must be the way to go. There is a problem with that statement. The market is so saturated with people who have years of experience in this area. A new person trying to compete in such a broad market will watch their business die a quick death.

Susan Ward defines Internet Marketing as "the strategies that are used to market a product or service online, marketing strategies that include search engine optimization and search engine submission, copywriting that encourages site visitors to take action, web site design strategies, online promotions, reciprocal linking, and email marketing". A new person coming online to start a business has little chance of knowing enough about all the these areas to be able to compete.


Thing Smaller - Think Niche!

Just from the above definition you can come up with the following niches:

Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Copywriting
Web Site Design
Promotion
Linking
Email Marketing

Even if you are extremely experienced already in one of the above niches, you will still have a lot of competition in such broad niches. This may be what you decide to do in the end, but at least be willing to explore niches within the broader areas. You may find a niche you are much better suited to.

When it comes to finding a niche market, the best resource available online is Wordtracker. You can find pieces of this program on different sites and software programs but Wordtracker brings everything together in one place for those trying to find a good niche to go into.

Using Wordtracker is a breeze. If you want to break Internet Marketing down to many more niche markets, just type in Internet Marketing and look at all the ideas that pop up. Each of these can become keywords that you decide you want to focus your niche on. Or you can pop in those keywords and keep defining your niche.

Using Wordtracker, what you will end with is a list of niche keywords that you can focus your Internet business on. Having a smaller niche will give you a much better shot at being successful then trying to build a site around a broad topic like Internet Marketing.

Remember, success in any business always comes back to supplying a product that the public has a demand for and that the market has room for. Find the right niche and you are on the right path.

In an effort to shed some light on the marketing guidelines, I've put together 10 "commandments" that dispel many marketing myths and help the owner to stay on track. To the degree that companies adopt and live by these commandments, their businesses will flourish-

I. Marketing is defined as getting someone who has a need to know, like and trust you...in that order. You can't circumvent that process.

II. There is no mystery in marketing. The more people you communicate with and appeal to in a compelling way, the more business you'll generate.

III. Unless you operate a monopoly, it generally takes 6 to 9 contacts with a prospect before they're ready to buy from you.

IV. Building an effective marketing program is like building a house. Planning is the foundation and marketing activities are the bricks. Marketing contacts are never wasted...they're small investments in a foundation that will eventually lead to business.

V. The most important aspect of effective marketing by far is follow-through. If you're doing something, then half of the battle is won.

VI. You should be investing at least 5% of your ongoing revenues back into the business through marketing. It takes money to make money.

VII. If the business you're generating is only as good as your last advertising dollar, then you're not branding (differentiating) yourself. Effective branding is essential to taking your business to the next level.

VIII. Marketing today is an integral part of a small business. If you're not devoting time and/or resources to it continually, then you're at the mercy of the cycles and pitfalls of the marketplace.

IX. Due to its creative and reflective nature, marketing can and should be fun.

X. Marketing is not sales. Sales can have more immediate results. Marketing generally has a longer return on investment but because you're communicating with the masses, has a much broader impact.