Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'planning'

In Real Estate, You're Better Off Doing One Thing At A Time

Hi--I just found your site today. The best I've ever seen/read, etc. Thank You!! I do have a question I didn't see addressed regarding our current situation/dilemma: Our present home, which we've lived in for 8 years, is worth...

Buyer's Markets Are A Great Time For Moving Up

I have said repeatedly that buyer's markets are not the time to be selling a property if you have any choice. There is one exception: People looking to turn around and buy a more expensive property. If you're looking to...

Should I Buy A Home? Part 3: Consequences

Continued from Part 1: Preparation and Part 2: Process This is about the long term consequences of the decision to buy or not to buy a home, and economic benefits analysis into whether you should want to buy. In order...

Which Makes More Difference To Your Future - Buyer's Agent or Listing Agent?

Having done both, there's no question in my mind. For the average person and the average transaction, the buyer's agent makes a lot more difference. In the aggregate, a good buyer's agent has the opportunity to make a lot more...

Buying Without An Agent - My Own Experience

I had the idea for this article some time ago. It took me a long time to decide to share it publicly, because quite frankly, knowing what I know now, I was an idiot. I was still young enough to...

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...

Flipping vs Fixing vs Investing

I get occasional questions about the difference between these three kinds of activity. Well, there are subjective parts to the answer, but here are some general guidelines: A true flipper is looking for a quick turn on the property, usually...

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...

Deficiency Judgments: Recourse Loans vs. Non-Recourse Loans

do mortgage companies usually seek a deficiency judgment on home foreclosures Depends upon whether it is a recourse loan or not. A recourse loan is one where the lender can come after you for any excess amount of money you...

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...

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...

Working with Multiple Agents While Searching for a Purchase

If you have three real estate companies sending you emails with multi-listings, if you want to see one of the properties, who gets the commission? There five properties that I want to see the inside of the houses. Company A,...

Where Would I Invest A Million Dollars?

Somebody asked me that. Well, I'd want to set some aside for liquidity and reserves, in case something happened where I needed money now. invest those funds in a diversified mutual fund and money market portfolio. Once that's done, I'd...

Short Sale Negotiators and the Interests of Potential Buyers

I am seeing a very disturbing trend these past few months. Rather than do the work they should be doing, listing agents are treating the entire short sale process as a kind of "Black Box", delegating the negotiations with the...

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:...

100% Financing or Low Down Payment or Low Equity: PMI May Be The Only Option

One of the casualties of the lending meltdown is the high loan to value second mortgage. With many properties locally having lost twenty percent or more of their value, a second mortgage on a property that ends up in default...

Top Twelve Things That Help You Buy Property At A Bargain Price

Quite a while ago, I wrote Top Ten Reasons You Bought The Wrong House and Top Ten Reasons Your Home Isn't Selling. In that vein, I'm going to write a list of the most important things when you're shopping for...

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...

Money You Will Spend Before Your Real Estate Purchase Is Consummated

Before you even make an offer, you should be aware that you're going to spend a significant amount of money in the process of buying a property before the transaction is consummated. This will largely be money that you will...