Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'practices'
Advertising a Sold Property As Available on MLS
This really ticks me off. I just got done going around about this with a clueless Realtor. According to them, it's not available. It's simply pending contract signatures. But it's showing as "Active" in MLS. This is not a minor...
The Return of Portfolio Lending
For a long time, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a policy that they would not fund investment property (non-owner occupied) beyond 10 loans for a given investor. Although it did impact a certain number of investors, for most folks...
There Are No Schools That Teach What A Good Agent Needs to Know
I find it fascinating the number of people who will claim that because no college degree is required to become a real estate agent, that agents can't possibly be worth any significant amount of money. The reason no college...
What Does Escrow Do?
This is a question that gets asked a lot. Escrow is nothing more or less than a neutral third party that stands in the middle of a real estate transaction and makes certain all of the i's are dotted and...
Pocket Listings: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Every so often, you will see references to a "pocket" listing. These are usually bad for owners, and usually bad for buyers, but good for agents. A "pocket listing" is one where there agent keeps the listing "in his pocket"...
Can They Force You To Pay Off Your Car or Other Debts In Order To Get A Loan?
The short answer is not only "yes" but "damned straight" I refinanced my house, and the lender put as one of my payoffs my Acura lease that I have 3 years left, whick equals about $19,000. I told him that...
Conforming and Jumbo Only Apply to "A Paper" Conventional Financing
This is something that many folks don't understand about the loan market. The labels "conforming", "jumbo" or, more accurately, "non-conforming" (and "temporary conforming" when we had it) only apply to so-called "A paper" loans, largely underwritten through Fannie Mae...
Real Estate Purchase Negotiability
What's negotiable on a purchase? The short answer is everything. There may be standards and traditions in your area, whether they're the same in your area as there are in mine or quite different. That doesn't mean they are...
What Happens To Equity During and After Foreclosure?
"what happens to your equity when the bank forecloses" was a question I got. The answer is that most, if not all, will be dissipated by the foreclosure. Let's say you own a home currently valued at $500,000, that you...
Real Estate "Pig In a Poke"
Over five hundred years ago in Europe, there was a con game that was more practiced than any other con game in the history of the world. It was simply the thing to try on the new rube in...
Is The Good Faith Deposit At Risk?
Many agents seem to answer this question differently depending upon whether their client is the prospective buyer or seller, according to what they think will make the client most comfortable. When their client is making an offer, "No, your...
Why Buyers and Refinancers Should Think About a 5/1 ARM
Right now, due to the problems we had with unsustainable loans, nobody wants to consider anything but a thirty year fixed rate loan. I understand why, especially as I've been preaching the dangers of things like short term adjustable...
Shop Loans By The Bottom Line To You, Not By What the Provider Makes
When it comes to mortgage loans, people get distracted by the darnedest things. Let's look at Wal-Mart. You think they got to be the largest retailer in the world by making less money than their competition? I assure you...
Why Buyers Should Avoid Short Sales
I've been saying this for a long time: Short sales are poison for buyers. I don't know why people encourage buyers to look at short sales, because there is no advantage for buyers that I am aware of. In...
Real Estate: Giving Someone a Monopoly Does Not Encourage Top Performance
From an e-mail I've been talking to agents lately and I ask them about the things I've learned about from your site. I thought I would say things like "I want to apply for a backup loan" and they would...
The New, Allegedly Improved Good Faith Estimate (Page Three)
This is the conclusion of the series begun in Page One and continued in Page Two Page Three is where the most blatant lies of this whole piece take place, and the first part of page three is where...
The New, Allegedly Improved Good Faith Estimate (Page Two)
Continued from The 2010 Good Faith Estimate (Page One) The next section is on origination charges. Indeed it is titled "Your adjusted origination charges" It starts with "Our origination charges" saying this is the charge for doing the loan....
The New, Allegedly Improved Good Faith Estimate (Page One)
I had a great rant about the limitations of the Good Faith Estimate all planned out in my head when I when I was in the very first stages of planning this website in my head. It was the first...
My Thirty Second Public Service Announcement On Mortgage Loans (UPDATED)
I usually write medium-long articles, I try to write articles you can read in a few minutes, on break or lunch, but sometimes that's just not compatible with giving the readers an understanding of the subject. Part of that is...
Racial Gap In Home Loans
Racial Gap in Loans Is High in California. I can give a variety of reasons for this. First off, especially in Los Angeles but to a lesser extent throughout the state, there is a huge "Spanish speaking only" community. When...
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