Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'practices'
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...
Real Estate and the Four Levels of Competence
People who talk about learning skills tend to discuss a model for learning called the conscious competence learning model. It starts with unconscious incompetence. You not only don't know how to do something, you don't realize that it is...
Can a Lender Legally Stop Loan Funding After Signing?
That question brought someone to the site. The answer is "Yes, they can". As a matter of fact, just because they have you sign those documents does not in any way obligate that lender to actually fund your loan. There...
The Best Way To Solve Problems in Real Estate
The same as in every other area of life: Get out in front and stop it from becoming a problem. I do not understand why many people approach real estate transactions like a casual outing. Go window shopping, decide...
Real Estate Liquidation Auctions
Liquidation auctions were a big thing for a while there. They were just advertising one on all the stations around here. The other agents in my office asked if I was going, and I told them, "There will be...
Fixing A Bad Mortgage Sale
i was sold a bad home mortgage who do you talk to That was a search I got the other day. The answer depends upon where you are in the process. If you've just applied, not yet signed the...
Can You Get A Mortgage On a Condemned House?
The answer is a modified no. The same answer applies to property that is only structurally damaged, but not condemned. That condemnation is a matter of public record. I've seen any number of them while perusing title records. It shows...
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...
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