Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'value'
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...
Stupid Negotiating Tricks: Appeal to Pity (or Falling for Appeal to Pity)
A while ago, another agent in my office got an offer and brought it to me for feedback. The listing was range priced over a $30k range, and priced correctly, so there was a lot of activity on it. The...
How To Buy Bargain Real Estate
There are two main sources of bargain properties. The obvious one that everyone knows about is properties fresh on the market where the owner doesn't realize what they've got. This is the largest single reason why potential buyers obsess over...
How Do I Get Rid of Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI)?
"How do I remove PMI?" was a question that I got. First off, a definition. Private Mortgage Insurance, often abbreviated PMI, is an insurance policy that the bank may make you buy in order to get the loan. It is...
Did That Slap On The Back Leave a Knife?
One of the things the place I work does to attract clients is advertise foreclosure lists to our clients. Several times a week, people call and ask for the lists, and we say, "Great! Just come on down, fill out...
Is Remodeling Likely To Show A Profit?
My general rule of thumb is "Remodel for your own enjoyment. If you're lucky, you'll get some of your money back when you sell." The remodeling industry has made a very large amount of money seducing people into believing...
Top Ten Reasons You Bought The Wrong House
A while ago, I wrote Top Ten Reasons Your Home Isn't Selling. It was well received so I thought I'd take it from the buyer's perspective. Once again, I'll try to inject as much humor as I can. And...
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...
Who Does Creating Barriers to Growth Hurt?
For at least the last thirty years, I've been hearing "affordable housing" advocates yammer about the high cost of housing, and how working families can no longer afford "decent" housing, which they apparently consider to be the three or...
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...
What is Real Estate Worth?
One of the most common questions in real estate is "What is this property really worth?" The easy answer is the same as the deepest, most profound one I can come up with, "Whatever you can get someone to pay...
Trying to Buy Real Estate Below Market
This question: What real estate office can I trust to help buy below market house in (location) California? brought someone to the site and I have not previously written a real answer to the question. The short answer is "nobody."...
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