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Matching entries from Dan Melson's Website
Excerpt from What Consumers Need To Know About Buying Real Estate
On Getting Rich Quick in Real Estate I keep running into people who paid money for a get rich quick seminar and are looking to buy property for zero down and immediately sell it for a $50,000 profit. Somebody With...
State of the San Diego Real Estate Market March 2009
Reminds me of this gold rush movie (one that I recommend watching if you have a chance) Okay, it's not quite like that, but correctly priced properties are flying into "Pending". It has to do with supply and demand. At...
General Consumer Articles:Week in Review December 29, 2008 - January 4, 2009
Newly Written Articles Termite Work, Wood Destroying Pest Agreements, and Lender Requirements Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate Updated Articles There's No Such Thing as Full Service Agency for a Discount Price Real Estate Numbers: Calculators and Spreadsheets Are...
New Consumer Article: Termite Work, Wood Destroying Pest Agreements, and Lender Requirements
The new consumer article for today is Termite Work, Wood Destroying Pest Agreements, and Lender Requirements. If you know about work that needs to be done, concealing it from the buyer's lender is fraud. Lots of agents are putting their...
General Consumer Articles:Weeks in Review December 8-21, 2008
Newly Written Articles Buyer's Agents Presenting An Offer In Person talks about the advantages of agents presenting an offer in person. Multiple Offers: Weak But Increasingly Common, And It's Your Listing Agent's Fault talks about how to discourage strong...
Stand Alone versus Piggyback Second Trust Deeds
Second Trust Deeds are something few real estate loan officers really understand well, mostly because the good ones don't make much money on them. Predatory lending laws in most states, limiting total compensation and total expenses to a given percentage...
Pre-Payment Penalties and Second Trust Deeds
Hello Mr. Melson, Let me start off by saying that I am a big fan of your "Searchlight Crusade" website. I happened upon it a while back after I had already purchased my house. I've found a lot of...
How Can I Lower The Down Payment Requirements So I Can Buy Real Estate?
With a few lenders starting to loosen their requirements slightly in San Diego, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the bottom is behind us. However, the issue has now become, "I don't have much of a down payment. How do...
Deferred Payment Mortgages - Not As Bad As I Expected
(Note: As of the time I updated this, the website of the company was off-line. I do not know why and a casual perusal of search engine results is uninformative) If that title seems to be damning with faint praise,...
Why Do Purchase Escrows Fall Apart? (And Why Is It Happening More Often?)
There have always been real estate transactions that fall apart. The reasons why they fall apart are as varied as the people who enter into the transaction in the first place. Let's get back to the very basics for...
Time in Line of Work for Mortgage Qualification - What Counts?
Question from an e-mail: Hi, I have a question about mortgages. My boyfriend and I are looking to buy a home, and since I have recently quit my job he would be the primary applicant. He makes $44k and we...
Sellers Lending to Buyers and Selling the Note
I am seeking to sell my properties to my tenants. I want to create a mortgage and then sell the mortgages. Properties are undervalued in this area as they have been historically fixer-uppers. Ours are in very good condition...
First Time Home Buyer Assistance Programs: Locally Based
One of the things people keep asking about is first time buyer programs. They exist, but lenders are not the first place to ask. Why? Because many, if not most lenders, actually charge a quarter of a point or so...
Retirement Account Contributions and Mortgage Loan Qualification
I know 401k contributions impact a persons Adjusted Gross Income, thus would it also affect the amount a person could qualify for? If so, I will delay enrollment for a few months... This depends upon what documentation you use to...
Another Scam: "Negative Equity? Sell and Get Cash!"
Notice that it doesn't claim that you can do so legally. I saw another of these signs on the way to the office this morning. When things are going sour, there are any number of scam artists who will...
How to Tell A Good Real Estate Market Article From A Bad One
Don Henley has a fun song off his second solo album called "Driving With Your Eyes Closed". I can't find a video performance, but here's an MP3. It's got a chorus that ends with the line, "You're gonna hit something...
Steering: The Most Violated Law In Real Estate
I just picked a random ZIP code in my local MLS, and out of the first twenty listings I came to, ten had explicit violations of one or more of the sections of RESPA regarding steering right there in the...
Manufactured, Modular, and Site-Built Homes: How Lending Practices Drive the Sales Market
Many people are unaware how profoundly lending policies influence the market for residential property. So I am going to go over the various gradations in available loans for various types of property. Pretty much everyone is familiar with the standard...
Undisclosed Short Sales
What happens if a home you signed to purchase goes into foreclosure before the closing date? We were supposed to close on a home four months ago. On the day of closing we get a call from the seller's...
The FHA Secure Program - Saving Some Homeowners From Foreclosure
This is a temporary program, launched by President Bush and Congress a few months ago. Its goal is to prevent as many homeowners as is reasonable from losing their homes through foreclosure. It won't help you if you bought...
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