Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'loans'

Real Estate Agents and Mortgage Loan Officers Don't Want to Compete

It's the same reason the phone company doesn't want to compete, General Motors doesn't want to compete, Wal-Mart doesn't want to compete, Disney doesn't want to compete, and Microsoft will do everything in its power to appear as if it...

Low Asking Price on Unfinanceable Properties

At any given time, I will usually have at least one set of clients who really need to consider a condo or townhome who nonetheless have their hearts set on a single family residence. I agree to include single...

What Do You Mean Back To Basics?

For a period of several months when the market started imploding, I got mass messages from basically every lender I do business with, saying it's time to "get back to basics". My favorite A paper lender became the last to...

Real Estate and the Tale of Aesop's Dog (Greed Envy)

At a very young age, my parents bought me a book of Aesop's Tales. Aesop has gone out of style, probably because these are stories with a moral lesson, and it seems the modern society is actively averse to moral...

Mortgage Loan Rate Locks

One of the most true sayings in the mortgage business is, "If you can't lock it right now, it's not real." But many mortgage providers will play a game of wait and hope. They tell you they have a certain...

Quitclaiming Property with a Mortgage

I am currently living with my parents and they wish to deed of gift their house to me but they still have a remaining mortgage on it. Is it possible to do this or do they have to pay off...

Straw Buyers and Straw Purchases are Always Fraud

I've gotten several emails to articles recently having to do with straw buyers, and more search hits. Straw buyer fraud is popular because people want a better loan and many don't see anything wrong with it since "we intend to...

Forty and Fifty Year Mortgages

For a while there, the forty year mortgage had started to make a comeback, and a few lenders started introducing the fifty year mortgage. The reason, straight from the horse's mouth, the lender's representatives, is lowered payments. In an uncertain...

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,...

Should I Buy A Home? Part 1: Preparation

I am considering buying a home, although I have not made up my mind on the subject. This is not due to indecision, but rather due to a lack of necessary information. There are many factors to be considered...

Nightmare Mortgages and Self-Destructive Behavior

This article started with another one of those desperate consumer fishing calls a while ago. Loan standards have tightened since then (In my considered opinion, over-tightened and the lenders and Wall Street will figure it out within a couple years)....

Mortgage Protection Insurance - The Worst Life Insurance Policy You Can Waste Your Money On

One of a long series of emails about this horrid product: (identifying details redacted) Learn How To Make More Money Per Client ($500-$1000) In This Workshop You Will Learn Why The Most Successful Mortgage & Real Estate Professionals Across The...

What Do I Do If My Loan Falls Through?

"What do I do when the loan falls through" That depends upon when it falls through and what situation you're in. If you're in a refinance situation, you generally keep making payments on your old loan until and unless...

Why All The Fuss Over Real Estate Transactions?

Why doesn't real estate just sell for the asking price instead of having to go thru all the paper work...? Wouldn't it be easier to just put a price on it and sell it for that price? We don't...

Lender Paid Mortgage Insurance or Regular PMI?

If I am buying a foreclosed home for 220k of which 200k is being financed, and the home comes back at being valued at 285k from my mortgage company, am I still required to pay PMI? If so, how in...

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...

Mortgage Transaction Case Study

Note: This article was originally published November 2007, when rates were higher than currently I had been corresponding irregularly with this gentleman during his hunt. It happens he lives outside of California, and I only work inside California, so...

Payment, Interest Rate and Up Front Costs: Choosing a loan intelligently

Most people tend to shop for a mortgage based upon the payment. They figure the lowest payment will be the cheapest loan. This is the way most people make banks rich. Because they are looking for the loan with the...

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...

The Loan Shopping Koan

It's very easy for loan providers to talk about a much better loan when you're shopping than they have any intention of delivering. Then you give them thirty to sixty days after you sign up, and you're put into a...