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The Future of Real Estate Agency is Expert Consultants, Not Controlling Market Access
Expertise and attitude, not control of an informational chokepoint, is the way that things are going. Let's analyze this from both sides of the problem. The current owner looking to sell really needs a marketer. For better or worse, most...
Facts Of Life On Buying and Selling "Without an Agent"
I saw your article on on Searchlight Crusade about exclusive buyers agents and I have a couple follow up questions pertaining to my own situation that I am hoping you could shed some light on. I don't have any...
Games Lenders Play, Part V - Selling a Low Payment
Hello, I've been reading your website for awhile now, and have found it very helpful as I'm learning to navigate this crazy loan process! I had a question I was wondering if you could write about/answer. We currently have...
What Do You Know That I Don't Know?
Whenever I go scouting in public forums, somebody is always asking, "What's the secret? How do you get rich in real estate?" The alternate to this question is "What do you know that I don't?" These people are sure there's...
Is Your Agent A Cheerleader Or An Analyst?
It's not difficult to see how some of the weakest agents and loan officers I know make lots of money. They work for an office of a well advertised chain, and when they get the walk-in traffic, no matter what...
Economics of Housing in High Density Areas
Here are the facts of the situation, whether you're talking about San Diego or Manhattan, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, or any of the other densely packed, high cost areas where all the employment and career opportunities are. Fact 1:...
Wanting a More Expensive Property Than You Can Really Afford
This is one of the biggest issues with my local real estate market. Because the San Diego market has very high demand and limited supply of property, prices are high. A reasonable two bedroom condo runs around $200,000. A 1200...
Full Circle: Back to More Traditional Lending Standards
When things went south in the real estate market, I saw more changes in the lending industry in a few months than the previous five years. But those changes mostly restored us to the place we were a few years...
Efforts to Rehabilitate the Negative Amortization Loan
The negative amortization loan is a very popular loan with certain kinds of real estate agents and loan officers. It has two great virtues as far as they are concerned. First, it has a low payment, and despite the fact...
Why the Real Estate Buyers Agent's Commission is Paid by the Seller
I have to admit I'm uncomfortable with it and don't like it. As a buyer's agent, here I am getting paid by someone who not only is not my client, but whose interests are aligned, in most issues, opposite to...
Down Payment At Purchase or Wait Until Later To Pay The Mortgage Down?
Got a search engine hit for do I make a big down payment on a home or should make a lump sum payment after the mortgage It's hard to construct a scenario where using it as "purchase money" doesn't come...
Discovering You've Got A Bad Loan - Don't Panic!
No, this isn't the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy But having written half a dozen articles roundly critical of the way in which these loans are generally sold, it's not unusual for me to get e-mail like this one: Hi,...
Option ARM and Pick a Pay - Negative Amortization Loans
(This is a republish of one of the first articles I wrote back in early summer of 2005. Everything I wrote then still applies. I am grateful that lenders have for the most part, stopped offering these, as they were...
Rental Fraud, Landlord Fraud, and Prospective Tenant Scams
I don't do rental agency, but I do I work with people to get them to the point where they are ready to buy. I recently got this email from a single mother I'm trying to get into a position...
The Tradeoff between Rate and Cost in Real Estate Loans
The question every good loan officer hates is "What is your lowest rate?", usually the first thing in a phone conversation. People think that this sort of rate shopping is going to help them. The fact is that it almost...
Financing Tricks and Calculating What You Can Really Afford in a Home Loan
(Note: the available loan options have shrunk since this was first written, and the rates are significantly lower right now, but the main point is calculating what you can and cannot really afford) Hi Dan, I am a first time...
Loan Fall-Out And The Effects Upon Consumers
This is going to be a long article and somewhat technical in places, but it needs to be covered and it's important to everyone who is thinking about getting a real estate loan. "Fall-Out" is very simple: The number...
Investment Risk and Paying off the Mortgage Early
An email: Hi Dan, I was reading your article on "should you pay off your mortgage faster?" (DM: link here DELETED It'll be a fresh 30 year loan and I'm 44 years old so this discussion has interest, I...
Military Housing Allowance and Loan Qualification
One of the things that is really helping military families afford good properties is the military housing allowance and the way that lenders treat it, making it much easier for them to qualify with regards to debt to income...
There Is Always A Reason For A Low Asking Price
One thing prospective home buyers need to understand and don't is that there is always a reason for a low asking price. To emphasize: There is always a reason for a low asking price. Sometimes that reason is something you...
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