Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'cost of money'
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...
Developers and Incentive Money to Use Their Lender
Good Evening! My name is DELETED and my wife and I recently signed papers to purchase a property from DELETED in DELETED, CA. After our options, their lot premium, and the elevation charge, the house is listed at 425,000....
Why Renting Really Is For Suckers (And What To Do About It)
(This article was originally written in August 2006. The market and loan rate figures have changed, but the basic information is the same, as is the conclusion) Okay, you might expect a Real Estate Agent to have a post with...
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...
What Are Your Options If You Can't Make Your Mortgage Loan Payment?
I found you on the Web after doing some research for my parents regarding short sales and foreclosures. I appreciate your straight talk regarding the whole loan and real estate process which I know they find incredibly intimidating. Right...
Whatever the New Trick in Loans is, It's an Always Attempt to Keep From Really Competing On Price
It seems every week I get asked about some new or revived trick that loan providers are pulling. The one thing they all have in common is that they are methods to avoid competing on price. What the basic terms...
Truth In Lending and APR
(Note: This article is a reprint of one of the earliest articles I wrote, from a time when rates were higher. The principles, however, are quite valid - and even reinforced by the fact that rates now are much lower)...
Why It May Be Costly to Reject Paying Points
I hear it and read it all the time - advice that says to pre-emptively reject the possibility of paying points. People that talk to me about loan rates that tell me they will not consider any loan that...
Confusing Past Performance and the Present Situation with Future Planning
The most common mistake in real estate (and every other aspect of financial planning, for that matter) is to assume the situation now is going to continue indefinitely. In the stock market, people chase last year's returns. They "wait for...
Why The Higher Rate Loan Is Often Better
The short answer is "Because it costs less". It costs more money to get a lower rate - simple fact. It takes time to recover the extra money you spend to get a lower rate via that lowered cost of...
Fifteen Year Loans: Are They A Good Idea?
My take on the matter is "mostly no", but they do have some uses. The one advantage that they usually carry a lower interest rate. There have been exceptions to this, just as there have been exceptions to the...
Weighted Average Cost of Capital Doesn't Include Everything
Or: Figures don't lie, but Liars Sure do Figure! NOTE: At this update, rates on first trust deed loans are about as low as they have ever been while rates on second mortgages aren't particularly low. However, that won't...
Refinancing When You Owe More Than The Home Is Worth
I've been looking around for an answer to this but my searches haven't returned anything useful. Say you buy a house and with that house you finance in a pool. House was $210,000 and pool is $40k. $250k mortgage....
Real Estate Numbers: Calculators and Spreadsheets Are Your Friend But They Have Limits
On a fairly regular basis I get email asking what I think of this or that loan calculator on the web, this or that predictive model for real estate prices or loan rates, etcetera. Loan calculators are pretty simple when...
What Are Points and How Do They Work?
That was a question I got. One point, either discount or origination, is one percent of the final loan amount. After all of the loan amounts and fees and what have you are added, for a loan with one point,...
Second Trust Deeds: Home Equity Loans and Home Equity Lines of Credit
A Home Equity Loan, or HEL (pronounced "heel") is a one time loan, much like a car loan. You get the money all at once, pay it back so many dollars per month, and when it's paid, it's over....
Cash Flow Versus Balance Sheet Accounting in Real Estate
An email: Greetings, I've recently been pitched the idea of refinancing my home and investing in apartments, or more precise, a four-plex. The idea is to refinance and get a negative amortization loan on my house. With the money I...
Questions You Should Ask Prospective Loan Providers
Mortgage - Questions you must ask every provider about every loan when you are shopping. Permission is hereby granted to print this out and use it for non-commercial purposes so long as no alterations are made and copyright is preserved....
What Types of Mortgages Are Available?
So what else is available, besides the thirty year fixed rate loan? There are many kinds of loan out there. Here's a quick overview: A Paper In addition to the thirty year fixed, there are several other varieties of fixed...
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