Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'disclosure'
Yield Spread is a Beneficial Tool That Can Be Misused
If you read the papers and the congressional record on the housing crisis, you might think yield spread is the central culprit for the entire meltdown. You would be wrong. Yield spread is a beneficial tool, offered voluntarily by lenders,...
Condominium HOA and Other Common Interest Assessments
I bought a condo in DELETED, CA. Zero down. For 7 months I paid every bill on time - mortgages, HOA and taxes until... The Homeowner's Association told us that we MUST pay a $20,500 special assessment. My realtor...
How to Avoid A Repeat of the Housing Market Mess
Scapegoating mortgage brokers or anyone else is not the answer, nor is prohibiting yield spread. We've been here before (in the early 1990s), congress did something remarkably similar except a little bit more sane. It didn't work then. Why would...
Can You Cancel After You Sign Mortgage Loan or Purchase Documents?
what if i sign all the paper work for a house at a title agency, can i back off the house? Depends upon the laws in your state. The Federal three day right of rescission only applies to refinancing your...
Failure to Disclose a Known Material Fact to Buyers
My husband and I bought a golf course-view house in DELETED. We closed 5 days ago; moved-in 4 days ago; and 2 days ago found out that the golf course is scheduled to close. It was announced by the golf...
The Tollbooth Model of Real Estate Agency
Over the last couple of decades, there's been a rising movement, mostly on the part of those who want a piece of real estate agents business, to sell agents as a toll booth. Tollbooths sit there, guarding the entry to...
Seller's Failure to Disclose a Pending Assessment
I am about to close on a condo unit. At the last minute, we received the resale document from the management company. All units are being assessed a one time charge of $3000 due in full Nov. 1 for roof...
Should Negative Amortization Loans Be Banned?
Having written several articles on Negative Amortization Loans, telling of the details of what is wrong with them, and even destroying the myth of Option ARM cash flow, I sometimes get asked if I would like to see them banned...
Just Because Compensation for a Loan Isn't Disclosed Doesn't Mean It's Free
I am continually confirming that a large percentage of people can't handle negotiations like an adult. They focus in on garbage and ignore what's really important. I recently was going to deliver a loan that cost less, as well as...
Straw Buyers and Their Liabilities
During the Era of Make Believe Loans, a lot of folks got used to zero real scrutiny of transactions. With values increasing rapidly, it was hard to lose money on real estate, whether you were purchaser or lender. One of...
FSBO Horror and Failure to Disclose Property Defects
I keep getting search result hits for the string "fsbo horror." It's an amalgamation because I haven't done any postings on this specific subject. Both buyers and sellers have problems relating to For Sale By Owner issues. For sellers, the...
Buying Teardown Properties and Condemned Buildings
Dear Mr. Melson: My husband and I are great fans of your Searchlight Crusade essays. Excellent work! In today's mortgage-mess market, will lenders reject loan applications from average buyers (not investors) wanting to purchase acreage with a teardown outside the...
Vampire Properties (aka Money Pits)
I just went out doing some general market scouting. Looked at ten properties, and at least three were of a sort that I've started calling "vampire properties." Vampire properties are one more reason you want a good buyer's agent, and...
Lenders Adding A Prepayment Penalty After Funding
I recently closed a mortgage loan. The loan officer told me there would be no prepayment penalty. When the documents came there was none and the loan funded and closed. Two weeks later I got an e-mail stating some...
Full Service Agent For Discount Price? Demand Specifics!
There is no such thing as a free lunch, but lots of people will pretend there is. It seems to me that many people consider compensation earned by real estate agents as paying some kind of toll. They think of...
"Fixes" for the Mortgage Meltdown - Seems You Can't Keep A Bad Idea Down
Scapegoating, anyone? Brian Brady notes Barney Frank's misplaced quest for one. 1- Prohibition of "yield spread premium" as compensation to originators. 2- Mandatory licensing of mortgage originators by a Federal registry or state regulator. This Bill does direct the...
The Doctrine of Delaying The Moment Of Truth
One of the worst things about the loan process, and indeed, found throughout the whole real estate industry, is the idea that if you can just delay telling the client about something they won't like, it's more likely they'll continue...
The Last Time I'm Going to Write About Blame for the Housing Market Mess
I originally wrote this over 3 years ago. Congress has done precisely nothing to fix the real problems, instead indulging in scapegoating of brokers so that their campaign contributor banks could pretend that they do not bear the largest...
Buying Teardown Properties and Condemned Buildings
Dear Mr. Melson: My husband and I are great fans of your Searchlight Crusade essays. Excellent work! In today's mortgage-mess market, will lenders reject loan applications from average buyers (not investors) wanting to purchase acreage with a teardown outside the...
Bundling Agent Services: What Services Do You Want and Need?
There is no such thing as a free lunch, but lots of people will pretend there is. It seems to me that many people consider compensation earned by real estate agents as paying some kind of toll. They think of...
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