Credit cards companies sweeten the bait of their advertisements with offers to transfer already existing credit card debt to their card at lowered interest. Financial groups offer home refinancing at lowered interest rates, low down payments and no closing costs. If your credit card debt is high or you are struggling to make your house payments, this might save some money in the short term, but this can be risky to both your credit rating and the balance of your debt. Some of these rates are temporary and increase in a few months or a year. So, when is refinancing a good idea? Dallas bankruptcy attorneys can advise you further on this, but for now, here are some standard guidelines:

Refinancing Your Home
? If you can refinance your house for the same amount of time left on your original mortgage or a lower interest rate and without huge additional fees, then do it.
? If you have a bank loan and can refinance with another bank loan with all of the above conditions met, then do it.
? If you can refinance your home for substantially less than its market value and come out with substantial cash to apply in other areas, then do it.

Refinancing Your Credit Cards
? If you can refinance your credit card balances for a lower interest rate and all the other terms of the loan are comparable, then do it.
? If you are not in default on your mortgage or in financial disorder and a refinance on your house to pay off high interest credit card debt has tax advantages, a lower interest rate on the mortgage and the loan is for the same or less than the length of time remaining on the original loan, then do it. A word of warning though, DO NOT refinance your home only to pay off credit card debt unless there are advantages for the cost of the mortgage as well.
? If you can transfer your credit card debt to another company for less interest and no fees associated with the transfer, then go for it.

Some Don’ts:

Don’t let a persistent creditor talk you into refinancing to satisfy their debt. These folks are trained in the art of intimidation and they are very good at it. However, their parent company is often reluctant to pursue debt through the court system and they are left only with the option to intimidate. This debt can be negotiated better through a credit counselor or by getting in touch with the debtor directly.

Don’t refinance your credit card debit with a loan you’ve secured with tangible property, such as your house or vehicles. You may be putting these previously unencumbered assets into jeopardy if you have to default on the credit card balances or declare bankruptcy.

Dallas bankruptcy attorneys can offer you more advice and suggestions than are listed here, so contact one of them for more complete information. Even if bankruptcy seems to be an alternative on your horizon, contact Dallas bankruptcy advocates before you make any major changes to your present financial situation.

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A commercial I made about my passion for fighting foreclosure. It’s an awful thing that has hit me close to home and I believe it’s one of the worst problems in our economy today.

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Governor’s Island doesn’t open for the season for most of us until June 5, but the Governors Island blog reports that the island has just gotten its first permanent residents, artists who have work space in Building 110 through a new Lower Manhattan Cultural Council program. The artists will be working on “site specific work” during their residencies. Hopefully that means more comic books. [GI Blog]

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All bids are in, and the 56 Leonard model put up for sale on eBay last week has gone for $1,136.11. That’s still less than half of what the building was originally hoping to get per square foot, which might explain why it only exists in the 20-inch lucite version. [eBay; previously]

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It’s been exactly two years since the controversial rezoning of 125th Street ushered in a new era of balls-to-the-wall gentrification for the famed Harlem artery, or so we were told. It played out a bit differently, at least in the short term, as the credit crunch deflated a number of high-profile projects—like Harlem Park on the east side, and a long six-story office/retail development on the west side, the stalling of which gets broken down by the Wall Street Journal today. Shopping mall developer Kimco snapped up a strip of buildings on the corner of 125th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard, home to many longtime retail tenants, and served up evictions to make way for demolition. Tenants sued and settled for more than $1 million, but they still had to clear out. The empty stores are still standing, and Kimco has invited at least one old tenant back. Wha happen?

Kimco “declined to elaborate on why it is exploring alternatives or to discuss its current plans for the site,” the Journal writes, but brokers say there just isn’t demand from “solid retailers,” making financing an improbability. No one wants to join other nearby newbies like American Apparel? For shame, Forever 21, for shame! Meanwhile, back over on the east side, an update on the huge East Harlem Media, Entertainment and Cultural Center. We recently noted new signs springing up on one of the lots, and the Journal says the city’s official groundbreaking on the first phase of the mixed-use megaproject will happen in the spring. So maybe not all is frozen along ol’ 125th?
· Developers Back Off on Grand Harlem Plans [WSJ]

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The listing claims this house at 351 Riverside Drive is the only freestanding single-family mansion remaining in Manhattan. True? We do know that it’s had a tough few years on the market: it was asking $31 million in 2006, $30 million in 2007, and $25 million last year. It’s now up for sale again for the slightly tweaked $24.9 million. The 41′ wide house (with 12,000 square feet of interior space) was built in 1909 by Carnegie Hall designer William Tuthill, and current owner Hans Smit has been restoring it ever since picking it up from Columbia University for $325,000 in 1979. Smit doesn’t live there, but it’s been the location for film shoots (including Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway) and the pizza parties Smit holds for his law students. Nothin’ like eating a slice in style!

· Listing: 351 Riverside Drive [BHS]
· 351 Riverside Drive [StreetEasy]

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