Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'value'
Reasons Why You Want A Buyer's Agent
There's an awful lot of nonsense out there that advises people to do without an agent. Quite often, first time buyers of real estate get seduced into not having an agent by this stuff before they get into the market,...
The Division of Labor Between Buyers and Their Agents
During the initial interview with prospects, I like to cover the division of the labor that goes into a purchase that makes the buyers happy. I have to know what's important to the buyers, how important it is, and what...
When The Appraisal Is Below The Purchase Price for Real Estate
what happens when house doesn't appraise? I presume this question meant "for the necessary value according to the lender's guidelines". Lenders base their evaluation of a property upon the standard accountant's "Lower of Cost or Market." This is intentionally...
There Is Always A Reason For A Low Asking Price
One thing prospective home buyers need to understand and don't is that there is always a reason for a low asking price. To emphasize: There is always a reason for a low asking price. Sometimes that reason is something you...
Builder Upgrades: Pro and Con
What I still am unclear on is the pool and how (in my opinion) it's crazy to finance $40,000 into a mortgage when you *plan* on refinancing in a few years. By *plan* I mean you take out a...
Refinancing When You Owe More Than The Home Is Worth
I've been looking around for an answer to this but my searches haven't returned anything useful. Say you buy a house and with that house you finance in a pool. House was $210,000 and pool is $40k. $250k mortgage....
Real Estate Numbers: Calculators and Spreadsheets Are Your Friend But They Have Limits
On a fairly regular basis I get email asking what I think of this or that loan calculator on the web, this or that predictive model for real estate prices or loan rates, etcetera. Loan calculators are pretty simple when...
Things to Consider If You Can't Afford Your Payment
I read a lot of the info. you have on your web page ... thank you. I don't live in San Diego so I'm not looking for a home. What I am trying to decide is whether to sell...
Gravity Is Not a Major Determinant Of Housing Prices
A while ago now, I saw a rather clever video someone did called, "That Last Dip's a Doozy!" Someone took housing prices 1890 to present and graphed them to a roller coaster ride. Just before the end, he turned the...
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 A Testimonial Told Them How It Could...
Some Risks of Lender Owned Properties (REO)
I have found your blog to be very informative. I was out riding my bike and rode past a house for sale. In a few minutes of Internet research I've found out a bit about it. The property is...
Misplaced Improvements in Real Estate
Every so often I'll say something about misplaced improvements. You may be wondering what a misplaced improvement is. Simply put, it's something that stands out above the surrounding properties so far that they pull it down. Like having a mansion...
When The Buyer And Seller Can't Agree On A Price For Real Estate
"overpriced house offer rejected what next" (Before I get started, I want to make it clear that I am using the same definition of worth found in this article. The property is worth what the seller can actually get a...
With The Tightening of Loan Standards, Will You Qualify For The Loan To Buy Real Estate?
With a lot of people running around like Chicken Little screaming about the sky falling, a lot of folks who would like to buy property due to the much-lowered prices are wondering if there is any way they can...
Picking an Agent: Production Metrics versus Consumer Metrics
This is a reprint from an older article that talks about a very important distinction between an agent doing well for themselves versus doing well for their clients. It originally ran in August 2005. Every day I pass by another...
How to Effectively Shop For A Listing Agent (Part I)
This is the final article in this series, and the most difficult. The reason is very simple: Unlike shopping for buyer's agents or shopping for loans, you have to make a binding choice - it is in your best interest...
How to Succeed at Low Balling on Real Estate
A while ago now, I spent several hours showing properties I had found to a couple of investors. One was a lender owned fixer, fairly priced at $440k. It needed carpet, paint, landscaping, and some facade work. The last comparable...
"All of the Good Properties Get Offers So Fast!"
That's way up there on the list of complaints buyer's agents get. Probably number one, definitely no lower than number three, and it's only going to get worse when the markets recover. There's really only one honest response: "Well,...
What Can You Do If You've Bought A Vampire Property or Money Pit?
Dear Mr. Melson, I was wondering if you could offer some insight re: the other side of the equation: what to do *after* you've bought a vampire property. We bought one, quite by accident, despite a house inspection by...
Timeshares, Pro and Con (mostly Con)
I realized that I hadn't covered timeshares, and decided it was time. I suppose I should define what a timeshare is, just in case. A timeshare is a property where you buy the rights to use it for a certain...
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