Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans

Very Low to Moderate Income Housing Loans The following is a summary of information about low to moderate income housing loans available to individuals or families through the U.S. Department of Agricultures Rural Development program as listed in the  Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance  (CFDA). During the fiscal year 2015, a  total of $18.7 billion in loans were granted. The average direct loan granted was for $125,226 while the average guaranteed loan was for $136,360. Objectives To assist very low, low-income, and moderate-income households to obtain modest, decent, safe, and sanitary housing for use as a permanent residence in rural areas. Types of Assistance Direct Loans; Guaranteed/Insured Loans. Uses and Restrictions Direct and guaranteed loans may be used to buy, build, or improve the applicants permanent residence. New manufactured homes may be financed when they are on a permanent site, purchased from an approved dealer or contractor, and meet certain other requirements. Under very limited circumstances, homes may be re-financed with direct loans. Dwellings financed must be modest, decent, safe, and sanitary. The value of a home financed with a direct loan may not exceed the area limit. The property must be located in an eligible rural area. Assistance is available in the States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, and the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands. Direct loans are made at the interest rate specified in RD Instruction 440.1, Exhibit B (available in any Rural Development local office), and are repaid over 33 years or 38 years for applicants whose adjusted annual income does not exceed 60 percent o f the area median income, if necessary to show repayment ability. Payment assistance is granted on direct loans to reduce the installment to an effective interest rate as low as one percent, depending on adjusted family income. Payment assistance is subject to recapture by the government when the customer no longer resides in the dwelling. There is no funding provided for deferred mortgage authority or loans for deferred mortgage assumptions. Guaranteed loans may be made to refinance either existing RHS Guaranteed Housing loans or RHS Section 502 Direct Housing loans. Guaranteed loans are amortized over 30 years. The interest rate is negotiated with the lender. Eligibility Requirements Applicants must have very low-, low- or moderate incomes. Very low-income is defined as below 50 percent of the area median income (AMI), low-income is between 50 and 80 percent of AMI; moderate income is below 115 percent of AMI. Families must be without adequate housing, but able to afford the housing payments, including principal, interest, taxes, and insurance (PITI). Qualifying repayment ratios are 29 percent for PITI to 41 percent for total debt. In addition, applicants must be unable to obtain credit elsewhere, yet have an acceptable credit history. Beneficiary Eligibility Applicants must meet eligibility requirements. Guaranteed Loan Low and Moderate income eligible. Credentials/Documentation Applicants may need to submit evidence of inability to obtain credit elsewhere, verification of income, debts, and other information on the application; plans, specifications, and cost estimates. This program is excluded from coverage under 2 CFR 200, Subpart E - Cost Principles. Application Procedures This program is excluded from coverage under 2 CFR 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards. For direct loans, an application is made at the Rural Development field office serving the county where the dwelling is or will be located. For guaranteed loans, an application is made to a participating private lender. Award Procedure Rural Development field offices have authority to approve most Direct loan requests. Processing of guaranteed loans varies in each State. Consult your local telephone directory under U.S. Department of Agriculture for a Rural Development field office listing or visit the website http://offices.sc.egov.usda.gov/lcoator/app for a State Office listing. If no backlog exists, decisions on direct loan applications are made within 30 to 60 days. Requests for guarantee loans are acted upon in 3 days of receipt of the lenders request for guarantee. Range of Approval/Disapproval Time For direct loans, from 30 to 60 days subject to availability of funds, from the time the application is filed if no backlog of applications exists. A pre-qualification may be provided to potential direct loan applicants upon call or visit a Rural Development office, though results are not binding. For guarantees, a decision is required within 3 days of loan package submission by the approved lender. Information Contacts Regional or Local Office Consult your local telephone directory under United States Department of Agriculture for Rural Development field office number. If no listing, contact appropriate Rural Development State Office listed in Appendix IV of the Catalog or on the internet at rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html. Headquarters Office Director, Single Family Housing Direct Loan Division or Director Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Division, Rural Housing Service (RHS), Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250. Telephone: (202) 720-1474 (direct loans), (202) 720-1452 (guaranteed loans).

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Biography of Victoriano Huerta, President of Mexico

Biography of Victoriano Huerta, President of Mexico Victoriano Huerta (December 22, 1850–January 13, 1916) was a Mexican general who served as president and dictator of Mexico from February 1913 to July 1914. An important figure in the Mexican Revolution, he fought against Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, Fà ©lix Dà ­az and other rebels before and during his time in office. Fast Facts: Victoriano Huerta Known For: President and dictator of Mexico, February 1913–July 1914Born: December 22, 1850 in barrio of Agua Gorda within the municipality of Colotln, JaliscoParents: Jesà ºs Huerta Cà ³rdoba and Marà ­a Lzara del Refugio MrquezDied: January 13, 1916 in El Paso, TexasEducation: Military College of ChapultepecSpouse: Emilia guila Moya (m. November 21, 1880)Children: Nine A brutal, ruthless fighter, during his reign the alcoholic Huerta was widely feared and despised by his foes and supporters alike. Eventually driven from Mexico by a loose coalition of revolutionaries, he spent a year and a half in exile before dying of cirrhosis in a Texas prison. Early Life Victoriano Huerta was born Josà © Victoriano Huerta Mrquez on December 22, 1850, the only son and eldest of five children of peasant farmer Jesà ºs Huerta Cà ³rdoba and and his wife Marà ­a Lzara del Refugio Mrquez. They lived in the barrio of Agua Gorda within the municipality of Colotln, Jalisco. His parents were of Huichol (Wixritari) ethnicity, and although Jesà ºs Huerta was said to be partly of European descent (mestizo), Victoriano considered himself indigenous. Victoriano Huerta was taught to read and write by the village priest, and he was said to have been a good student. By the time he was a teenager, Huerta earned money as a bookkeeper in Colotln. He wanted to join the military, and sought admission to the Military College of Chapultepec. In 1871, General Donato Guerra, leader of the Mexican army at the time, led a garrison of troops into Colotln. Needing secretarial help, Guerra was introduced to Huerta who impressed him greatly. When Guerra left the city, he took Huerta with him, and at the age of 17, Huerta entered the military academy in January of 1872. There he took classes to become an artillery officer, specializing in mathematics, mountain gunnery, topography, and astronomy. He was an outstanding student, and made second lieutenant by December 1875. Early Military Career Huerra first saw military action while at the academy, when he participated in the Battle of Tecoac fought on November 16, 1876 between then-president Sebastin Lerdo de Tejada and Porfirio Diaz. As a member of the army, he fought for the president and was thus on the losing side, but the battle brought Porforio Diaz to power, the man who would he would serve for the next 35 years. When he graduated from the academy in 1877, Huerta was one of three men chosen to continuing his education in Germany, but his father died and he elected to stay in Mexico. He joined the engineering branch of the army and was given assignments for repairing military institutions in Veracruz and Puebla. By 1879 he was promoted to Captain, and acted as engineer and quartermaster. At the end of 1880, he was promoted to Major. While in Veracruz, Huerta had met Emilia guila Moya, and they married on November 21, 1880: they would eventually have nine children. In January 1881,Porfirio Dà ­az assigned Huerta special duty on the Geographic Survey Commission, headquartered in Jalapa, Veracruz. Huerta spent the next decade working with that commission, traveling all over the country on engineering assignments. In particular he was assigned to astronomical work, and one of the projects under his direct supervision was the observation of the Transit of Venus in December 1882. Huerta also supervised surveying work for the Mexican National Railway. A Military Force Huertas technological and intellectual uses in the army took on a more aggressive stance in the mid-1890s. In 1895, he was sent to Guerrero, where the military had risen against the governor. Diaz sent troops in, and among them was Victoriano Huerta, who there gained a reputation as an able field officer: but also as a man who gave no quarter, who continued to slaughter rebels after they had surrendered. Proving to be an effective leader of men and a ruthless fighter, he became a favorite of Porfirio Dà ­az. By the turn of the century, he rose to the rank of general. Dà ­az tasked him with the suppression of Indian uprisings, including a bloody campaign against the Maya in the Yucatan in which Huerta razed villages and destroyed crops. In 1901, he also fought the Yaquis in Sonora. Huerta was a heavy drinker who preferred brandy: according to Pancho Villa, Huerta would start drinking when he woke up and go all day. The Revolution Begins General Huerta was one of Dà ­az most trusted military leaders when hostilities broke out after the 1910 election. The opposition candidate, Francisco I. Madero, had been arrested and later fled into exile, proclaiming revolution from safety in the United States. Rebel leaders such as Pascual Orozco, Emiliano Zapata, and Pancho Villa heeded the call, capturing towns, destroying trains and attacking federal forces whenever and wherever they found them. Huerta was sent to reinforce the city of Cuernavaca, under attack by Zapata, but the old regime was under assault from all sides, and Dà ­az accepted Maderos offer to go into exile in May of 1911. Huerta escorted the old dictator to Veracruz, where a steamer was waiting to take Dà ­az into exile in Europe. Huerta and Madero Although Huerta was bitterly disappointed by the fall of Dà ­az, he signed up to serve under Madero. For a while in 1911–1912 things were relatively quiet as those around him took the measure of the new president. Things soon deteriorated, however, as Zapata and Orozco figured out that Madero was unlikely to keep certain promises he had made. Huerta was first sent south to deal with Zapata and then north to fight Orozco. Forced to work together against Orozco, Huerta and Pancho Villa found that they despised one another. To Villa, Huerta was a drunk and martinet with delusions of grandeur, and to Huerta, Villa was an illiterate, violent peasant who had no business leading an army. The Decena Trgica In late 1912 another player entered the scene: Fà ©lix Dà ­az, nephew of the deposed dictator, declared himself in Veracruz. He was quickly defeated and captured, but in secret, he entered into a conspiracy with Huerta and American ambassador Henry Lane Wilson to get rid of Madero. In February 1913 fighting broke out in Mexico City and Dà ­az was released from prison. This kicked off the Decena Trgica, or â€Å"tragic fortnight,† which saw horrible fighting in the streets of Mexico City as forces loyal to Dà ­az fought the federals. Madero holed up inside the national palace and foolishly accepted Huertas â€Å"protection† even when presented with evidence that Huerta would betray him. Huerta Rises to Power Huerta, who had been fighting with Madero, abruptly changed sides and arrested Madero on February 17. He made Madero and his vice president resign: the Mexican Constitution listed the Secretary of Foreign Relations as the next in succession. That man, Pedro Lasurain, took the reins, named Huerta as Minister of the Interior and then resigned, making Huerta Secretary of Foreign Relations. Madero and Vice-President Pino Suarez were killed on February 21, supposedly while â€Å"attempting to escape.† No one believed it: Huerta had obviously given the order and hadnt even gone to much trouble with his excuse. Once in power, Huerta disowned his fellow conspirators and attempted to make himself dictator in the mold of his old mentor, Porfirio Dà ­az. Carranza, Villa, Obregà ³n and Zapata Although Pascual Orozco quickly signed on, adding his forces to the federalists, the other revolutionary leaders were united in their hatred of Huerta. Two more revolutionaries appeared: Venustiano Carranza, governor of the State of Coahuila, and Alvaro Obregà ³n, an engineer who would become one of the revolutions best field generals. Carranza, Obregà ³n, Villa and Zapata could not agree on much, but they all despised Huerta. All of them opened fronts on the federalists: Zapata in Morelos, Carranza in Coahuila, Obregà ³n in Sonora and Villa in Chihuahua. Although they did not work together in the sense of coordinated attacks, they were still loosely united in their heartfelt desire that anyone but Huerta should rule Mexico. Even the United States got in on the action: sensing that Huerta was unstable, President Woodrow Wilson sent forces to occupy the important port of Veracruz. The Battle of Zacatecas In June 1914, Pancho Villa moved his massive force of 20,000 soldiers to attack the strategic city of Zacatecas. The Federals dug in on two hills overlooking the city. In a day of intense fighting, Villa captured both hills and the federal forces were forced to flee. What they didnt know was that Villa had stationed part of his army along the escape route. The fleeing federals were massacred. When the smoke had cleared, Pancho Villa had scored the most impressive military victory of his career and 6,000 federal soldiers were dead. Exile and Death Huerta knew his days were numbered after the crushing defeat at Zacatecas. When word of the battle spread, federal troops defected in droves to the rebels. On July 15, Huerta resigned and left for exile, leaving Francisco Carbajal in charge until Carranza and Villa could decide how to proceed with the government of Mexico. Huerta moved around while in exile, living in Spain, England, and the United States. He never gave up hope for a return to rule in Mexico, and when Carranza, Villa, Obregà ³n and Zapata turned their attention to one another, he thought he saw his chance. Reunited with Orozco in New Mexico in mid-1915, he began to plan his triumphant return to power. They were caught by US federal agents, however, and never even crossed the border. Orozco escaped only to be hunted down and shot by Texas rangers. Huerta was imprisoned for inciting rebellion. He died in prison at El Paso, Texas, on January 13, 1916, of cirrhosis, although there were rumors that the Americans had poisoned him.​ Legacy of Victoriano Huerta There is little to be said that is positive about Huerta. Even before the revolution, he was a widely despised figure for his ruthless repression of native populations all over Mexico. He consistently took the wrong side, defending the corrupt Porfirio Dà ­az regime before conspiring to bring down Madero, one of the few true visionaries of the revolution. He was an able commander, as his military victories prove, but his men did not like him and his enemies absolutely despised him. He did manage one thing that no one else ever did: he made Zapata, Villa, Obregà ³n and Carranza work together. These rebel commanders only ever agreed on one thing: Huerta should not be president. Once he was gone, they began fighting one another, leading to the worst years of the brutal revolution. Even today, Huerta is hated by Mexicans. The bloodshed of the revolution has been largely forgotten and the different commanders have taken on legendary status, much of it undeserved: Zapata is the ideological purist, Villa is the Robin Hood bandit, Carranza a quixotic chance for peace. Huerta, however, is still considered (accurately) to be a violent, drunk sociopath who needlessly lengthened the period of the revolution for his own ambition and is responsible for the death of thousands. Sources Coerver, Don M. Huerto, Victoriano (1845–1916). Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History. Eds. Coerver, Don M., Suzanne B. Pasztor and Robert Buffington. Santa Barbara, California: ABC Clio, 2004. 220–22. Print.Henderson, Peter V.N. Woodrow Wilson, Victoriano Huerta, and the Recognition Issue in Mexico. The Americas 41.2 (1984): 151–76. Print.Marley, David F. Huerta Marquez, Jose Victoriano (1850–1916). Mexico at War: From the Struggle for Independence to the 21st-Century Drug Wars. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2014. 174–176.McLynn, Frank. Villa and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution. New York: Basic Books, 2002.  Meyer, Michael C. Huerta: A Political Portrait. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 1972.Rausch, George J. The Early Career of Victoriano Huerta. The Americas 21.2 (1964): 136-45. Print..Richmond, Douglas W. Victoriano Huerta in Encyclopedia of Mexico. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997. 655–658.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Organizational Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organizational Behavior - Essay Example My personality assessment results define me as being emotionally intelligent, and socially responsive. My emotional intelligence allows me to accurately understand and express emotions effectively. My social responsiveness makes me excel in interpersonal and social relationships. On combining these personality traits, I stand a chance of making a successful entrepreneur. Part II â€Å"Working with Others† Individuals with different personality traits gather up to make organizations. These individuals may be rooting from diverse social backgrounds. Someone’s social background determines most part of his personality. Therefore, I acknowledge the fact that in any given social setting, one meets people from diverse backgrounds who should work together as one community. This brings up the issue of working with others within the same social setting. My assessment sheet shows that I am good at communication (Edward, 2009 p.82). This entails both my speaking and listening skill s. I am a good public speaker as well as well as an attentive listener. On the aspect of leading others, I learned that many could trust me. I also have the capability of coordinating task activities by being able to articulate matching individuals into work structures. I have a manipulative personality. I can persuade other members of a society to adopt my convictions and principles. When I encounter individuals with opposing beliefs, I accommodate their views and opinions. In a case where we demonstrate conflicting ideas with my colloquies, I am always ready to reach a compromise. All these traits help me to predict my outcome when working with individuals from a diverse background. I have learned that I can build good professional relationships with my... From this research it is clear that organizational behavior comprises of other academic fields, which include psychology, management, sociology, anthropology, and communication. The interrelationship of these independent disciplines constitutes organizational behavior. As one of the elemental disciplines making up organizational behavior, psychology involves the scientific study of individuals’ minds by studying their mode of social conduct. Psychology aims at establishing an understanding of individuals within a social context. It entails the major concepts of human behavior like emotions, perception, personality, and interpersonal relationships. One can comprehend that this aspect of psychology gives organizational behavior its’ typical characteristics. It is psychology that brings about the study and application of knowledge on how individuals and groups act within any given social setting. Apart from understanding individuals, organization behavior also analyses the concept of leadership in organizations. It highlights the typical characteristics of ideal leaders based on their personality and behavior. Organizational Behavior achieves its objective of understanding individuals with self-assessment inventories. It is through these inventories that individuals get to know their psychological and sociological make-up. The biblical scripture asserts the importance of understanding ourselves as individuals before starting to understand other members of the society.