DISQUS

How would it result in a negative interest rate?
The margin is either a positive number or zero, and it gets added to the Libor not subtracted, so you will always get a positive result. You will never get a negative interest, but you will get an interest that goes up and down through out the life of the loan. The blog Prosper Lending Review seems to see it the same way.
http://prosperlending.blogspot.com/2008/03/fyna...

I'll call them Monday and get it from the horse's mouth.

"My guess would be that as the LIBOR is adjusted up and down, the margin remains the same and the rates the investors receive remain the same as well."
I don't quite understand your meaning. If the Libor changes and the margin remains the same, the rate the lender is getting has to change.

I took it to mean that the margin is what is bid down during the bidding process, but when the loan is made, it remains fixed and the rate the lender receives changes as the base rate (the Libor) changes. In this way, it would act very much like a credit card or variable rate mortgage.
http://www.fynanz.com/help/faq/fynanz#q4

I just visited the site and discovered that their interest rates are variable!. They are linked to the Libor rate. So that provides some form of inflation protection, but also means that the rate could go down over the life of the loan.

I read an article recently that speculated that the credit crunch may hit the student loan market next and that student loans will be more difficult to find, with cash strapped banks no longer falling all over themselves to fund student loans. If that's the case, it may have a chance, but I definitely share the same concerns. How wants a 10 year loan with no way to get out of it.

It seems that at this point in time, it would be easier to find undervalued real estate than in the last few years. Real Estate, especially primary residences, are different from stocks because the sellers has a much greater emotional connection with his house than with his shares of Thornburg and selling stock doesn't require you to find another place to live,not are your stock losses as exposed to the whole world. Some buyers will take advantage of the sellers time limits and lack of experience in real estate (this may have been the seller's only experience in real estate ever).
I believe it's tough to look people in the eye and buy something they don't want to but are forced to sell and give them a price that's lower than what they wanted.

I recently read what was recommended as a classic book on the subject which despite it's name, "Make Big Money in Real Estate Foreclosures" by Ted Thomas, explains an ethical way of going about buying pre-foreclosure real estate.
Chief among his policies is that at any point before the actual sale, he assures the seller that they can back out at any time, if they get a better deal or have a way to pay the back mortgage themselves.

Looks good, will it port easily to MySql ? that's what I have access to (no pun intended...)