Entries from Dan Melson's La Mesa Real Estate and Mortgage Website tagged with 'buyers'
New Consumer Article: Low Asking Price on Unfinanceable Properties
The new consumer article for today is Low Asking Price on Unfinanceable Properties. Almost always, the reason for an asking price well below other equivalent properties is the presence of some factor that means you cannot obtain a regular real...
New Consumer Article: Automated Underwriting In Pre-Qualification or Pre-Approval Letters
The new consumer article for today is Automated Underwriting In Pre-Qualification or Pre-Approval Letters. Not to put too fine a point on it, automated underwriting is useless until all details of the transaction have been finalized. If you're selling a...
New Consumer Article: Two Things Sellers Need To Understand About Buyers
The new consumer article for today is Two Things Sellers Need To Understand About Buyers, a discussion of two things both important and basic that sellers do not seem to understand about buyers, and judging by the available evidence, most...
New Consumer Article: Asking Price Versus Sales Price
The new consumer article for today is Asking Price Versus Sales Price, a short discussion of what they are and the relationship between them. Many agents have forgotten this stuff, but it really is very basic stuff everyone should keep...
New Consumer Article: Some Offers Are More Equal Than Others
The new consumer article for today is Some Offers Are More Equal Than Others, talking about how to evaluate two different purchase offers even though they may be for the same or similar amounts of money. This is primarily important...
New Consumer Article: Short Sale Negotiators and the Interests of Potential Buyers
The new consumer article for today is Short Sale Negotiators and the Interests of Potential Buyers. An awful lot of nonsense gets tried with short sales, most of it for the benefit of lazy listing agents who shouldn't have taken...
New Consumer Article: Why Sellers Should Counter All Reasonable Offers
The new consumer article for today is Why Sellers Should Counter All Reasonable Offers. It really isn't rocket science. If your agent advises you otherwise, something is wrong....
New Consumer Article: Real Estate and "Priced for Perfection"
The new consumer article for today is Real Estate and "Priced for Perfection" talks about the house that is too beautiful to pass up - but that you should....
New Consumer Article: "I'm Working With Someone Else, But Could You Just Help Me With..."
The new consumer article for today is "I'm Working With Someone Else, But Could You Just Help Me With..." talking about requests for free work from real estate agents. I'm perfectly happy to give general information to non-clients and...
New Consumer Article: The Sperm Donor Theory of Buyer's Agents
The new consumer article for today is The Sperm Donor Theory of Buyer's Agents. The real estate industry is built around the listing of property. Okay, it's actually built around the care and feeding of real estate brokerages, but...
New Consumer Article: Segmented Real Estate Markets And Taking Advantage of Them
The new consumer article for today is Segmented Real Estate Markets And Taking Advantage of Them. I've written about how hot the current market is in San Diego. But if you break it down into market segments and micro...
New Consumer Article: I'm Competing Against Multiple Offers. How Do I Proceed?
The new consumer article for today is I'm Competing Against Multiple Offers. How Do I Proceed?. It's an article directed at consumers, not real estate professionals, so it doesn't go over some things such as alternatives to money that are...
New Consumer Article: The Measurement Unit For Desirability Is Dollars
The new consumer article for today is The Measurement Unit For Desirability Is Dollars. It really is that simple. A good agent can make a difference, but a property that has more will cost more. It isn't rocket science, but...
New Consumer Article: Buying Real Estate Isn't Simple
The new consumer article for today is Buying Real Estate Isn't Simple. You can pretend it's simple, and hope you get outrageously lucky. Or you can prepare and do the work, and come out reliably enough better to more than...
New Consumer Article: Restricted Sale Property: Very Difficult to Find A Loan
The new consumer article for today is Restricted Sale Property: Very Difficult to Find A Loan. Before you make an offer on restricted sale property, know that your financing options are going to be very limited, and being able to...
New Consumer Article: You Want an Agency That Can Pay ENOUGH Attention to YOU
The new consumer article for today is You Want an Agency That Can Pay ENOUGH Attention to YOU. It really doesn't benefit you to list with an agency that is too busy to pay proper attention to your property, nor...
State of the La Mesa and East County Real Estate Market April 2009
We were ready for a strong turn in the market, but the strength of what we've gotten in the last six weeks is amazing. It has been, if anything, worse that a few years ago. What caused it? People...
New Consumer Article: Who Has A Legitimate Interest In A Real Estate Transaction?
The new consumer article for today is Who Has A Legitimate Interest In A Real Estate Transaction?. This article goes all the way back to first principles to determine who has an interest worth getting hot and bothered over, and...
New Consumer Article: How Agents Should Respond To An Appraisal Below Purchase Price
The new consumer article for today is How Agents Should Respond To An Appraisal Below Purchase Price. The appraisal is a significant client protection, and trying to manipulate the appraisal to make the transaction happen is not in a buyer's...
New Consumer Article: The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (New Appraisal Standards)
The new consumer article for today is The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (New Appraisal Standards) that are going to be taking effect (appropriately enough) on May 1 ("May Day" or "MAYDAY"). It is going to be almost impossible for...
New Consumer Article: Stretching Your Budget Means Compromise
The new consumer article for today is Buyers: Stretching Your Budget Means Compromise. It's something too rarely covered by the press, and by real estate agents. There are tradeoffs in every choice a buyer makes, and unless they have a...
New Consumer Article: Top Twelve Things That Help You Buy a Bargain Property
The new consumer article for today is Top Twelve Things That Help You Buy a Bargain Property. If you're looking to buy a good property at a bargain price, put as many of these on your side as possible....
New Consumer Article: Online Real Estate Photographs
The new consumer article for today is Online Real Estate Photographs. I know why people want to see online photographs, but I don't understand why they obsess about them to the degree they do, even after they assure me that...
New Consumer Article: The Difference Between a Reliable and Unreliable Prequalification or Preapproval Letter
The new consumer article for today is The Difference Between a Reliable and Unreliable Prequalification or Preapproval Letter. Whether you're a buyer or a seller, having the right lender letter is a good thing. If you're a seller, you know...
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...
New Consumer Article: Title Deeds And The Form They Should Take
The new consumer article for today is Title Deeds And The Form They Should Take, which discusses the mechanism of the title transfer deed and the form it should take....
New Consumer Article: Confusing Past Performance and the Present Situation with Future Planning
The new consumer article for today is Confusing Past Performance and the Present Situation with Future Planning. If you are sitting on the sidelines thinking about buying property, you need to read it. If you have a property you're thinking...
New Consumer Article: Finding a Good Buyer's Agent (And Eliminating Bad Ones)
The new consumer article for today is Finding a Good Buyer's Agent (And Eliminating Bad Ones). It really is easy to get yourself a good buyer's agent, but many people don't know how important it is, or won't make the...
New Consumer Article: Transaction Coordinator: For The Agent's Benefit, Not The Consumers
The new consumer article for today is Transaction Coordinator: For The Agent's Benefit, Not The Consumers. Transaction coordinators are mostly a good thing, helping agents ensure compliance and coordinating between various parties to the transaction. But asking consumers to pay...
New Consumer Article: Getting A Loan In A Paranoid Lending Environment
The new consumer article for today is Getting A Loan In A Paranoid Lending Environment. Lenders today are over-tightening lending standards in over-reaction to the losses they have taken (which were their own fault), effectively nuking the barn after one...
New Consumer Article: Military Housing Allowance and Loan Qualification
The new consumer article for today is Military Housing Allowance and Loan Qualification. For all the nonsense the military puts up with, this is one instance where the government treats them better than just about any other employer....
New Consumer Article: Reasons Why You Want A Buyer's Agent
The new consumer article for today is Reasons Why You Want A Buyer's Agent. Lots of people don't believe how much difference it makes, but it does. My goal on every transaction is to make a difference of ten percent...
New Consumer Article: There Is Always A Reason For A Low Asking Price
The new consumer article for today is There Is Always A Reason For A Low Asking Price. Sellers are not looking for people to sell their property to below market price. Usually, low asking prices should be even lower than...
New Consumer Article:"Quantity Has A Quality All Its Own"
The new consumer article for today is "Quantity Has A Quality All Its Own": Low Price. When people can get a good for less than previously, then not surprisingly they will buy more of it in the aggregate. It all...
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...
New Consumer Article: Why You Don't Want A "Top Producer" Listing Your Property
The new consumer article for today is Why You Don't Want A "Top Producer" Listing Your Property. The agent makes money hand over fist, but they haven't got the attention to spare for getting the best price on your property,...
New Consumer Article: It Is Illegal Under RESPA to Require Even Prequalification With a Particular Lender
The new consumer article for today is It Is Illegal Under RESPA to Require Even Prequalification With a Particular Lender, debunks the legality of a practice that listing agents are trying to bring back or institute with the increase in...
New Consumer Article: Multiple Offers: Weak But Increasingly Common, And It's Your Listing Agent's Fault
The new consumer article for today is Multiple Offers: Weak But Increasingly Common, And It's Your Listing Agent's Fault, talks about multiple offer situations, what they mean to buyers, and what they mean to sellers....
New Consumer Article: Buyer's Agents Presenting An Offer In Person
The new consumer article for today is Buyer's Agents Presenting An Offer In Person, where I cover the ins and outs of presenting an offer in person, why buyer's agents should do it, why listing agents should prefer it, and...
New Consumer Article: Adverse Possession
The new consumer article for today is Adverse Possession, discussing a method whereby property owners can lose part of their property by failing to defend their rights against squatters....
New Consumer Article: Fake Agent Scams
The new consumer article for today is Fake Agent Scams. Despite how many people get burned by trying to Buy Without an Agent, most of them don't realize how badly they have been taken. In this case, it appears that...
New Consumer Article: Cash to Close - A Basic Primer
The new consumer article for today is Cash to Close - A Basic Primer. The article discusses how much cash a buyer of real estate has to have in order to make the transaction happen. Proving that you have this...
New Consumer Article: Stop Short Sale Bait and Switch
The new consumer article for the day is Stop Short Sale Bait and Switch. I am sick and tired of the fraudulent way that lazy incompetent agents have taken to marketing short sale properties - and it's going to start...
New Consumer Article: You've Got a Great Offer, But Can The Buyer Consummate It? (Cash to Close)
The new consumer article for the day is You've Got a Great Offer, But Can The Buyer Consummate It? (Cash to Close). These days, you have to pay attention to details like the limits of how much lenders are willing...
New Consumer Article: Mortgage Fraud Is Still Happening - What To Do About It
The new consumer article for the day is Mortgage Fraud Is Still Happening - What To Do About It. There are still tricks that the less scrupulous agents and loan officers are pulling that are just as fraudulent as at...
New Consumer Article: How Much Down Payment Do I Need and How Do I Get It?
The new consumer article for the day is How Much Down Payment Do I Need and How Do I Get It?. The title says it all: How much do you need, and ways of coming up with it in a...
New Consumer Article: Will I Qualify for the Loan to Buy Real Estate During The Market Meltdown?
Today's new consumer article is Will I Qualify for the Loan to Buy Real Estate During The Market Meltdown?, which helps people answer the question of whether they will qualify for and be able to get a loan during the...
New Consumer Article: Advertising a Sold Property As Available on MLS
Today's new consumer article is Advertising a Sold Property As Available on MLS, talking about the basics of what forms that these loans take, the Home Equity Loan and Home Equity Line of Credit. Had some kind of stomach flu...
New Consumer Article: "Buy and Bail" or Buying One Home Before Foreclosure on Another
Today's new consumer article is "Buy and Bail" or Buying One Home Before Foreclosure on Another, describing lender response to what has become a widespread phenomenon, as people think they are somehow saving themselves money try to defraud lenders in...
New Consumer Article September 17, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Listings Not Sourced on MLS, in which I discuss the limits that a system checked for facts imposes upon those claiming to have a property for sale, and why it is good to have those...
New Consumer Article September 16th, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Wells and Community Water Systems, which talks about some basic issues having to do with one of the classic reasons for real estate fights: Water....
New Consumer Article September 10, 2008
Today's new consumer article is The Are No Schools That Teach What A Good Agent Needs to Know, which directly takes on the canard that since being an agent doesn't require a college degree, therefore there's nothing special about it...
New Consumer Article September 8, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Negotiation Requires More Than Dueling Ultimatums, which discusses and suggests improvements to the common model of faxing over bare offers and counter-offers. I don't understand why anyone who wants a transaction to succeed would do...
New Consumer Article September 5, 2008
Today's new consumer article is The State of the Loan Market and How Much You Can Borrow September 2008 (Part II), which discusses the loan market and the state of lender paranoia that currently prevails, and the possible solutions to...
New Consumer Article September 4, 2008
Today's new consumer article is The State of the Loan Market and How Much You Can Borrow September 2008 (Part I), which discusses the loan market and the state of lender paranoia that currently prevails. If you are one of...
New Consumer Article August 28th, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Rent to Own and Lease With Option to Buy, which talks about one alternative to the traditional sale that usually gets a seller a higher price, while not requiring a buyer to come up with...
New Consumer Article August 26th, 2008
Today's new consumer article is What If You Cannot Refinance Later?, which addresses a very real concern that there are many reasons why people may not be able to refinance their property at a later date, so even though the...
New Consumer Article August 25th, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Negotiation Basics: On What to Offer and Whether to Offer, Which talks about the process of putting in an offer and negotiation, and what effects a couple of common things have upon the process....
New Consumer Article August 18th, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Finding or Creating a "Green" or Eco-Friendly House, a short discussion of some of the issues involved in creating a dwelling that's less stressful to the environment....
New Consumer Article August 12, 2008
Today's new consumer article is What Buyers Need: What Sellers Should Want to Supply, a companion article to yesterday's, helping sellers to be successful by thinking like buyers....
New Consumer Article August 11, 2008
Today's new consumer article is What Sellers Need: What Buyers Should Want to Supply, which talks about thinking like a seller for buyers....
Is San Diego Market Underpriced or Overpriced? - A Thought Experiment for August 2008
Let's do a thought experiment. Any market in any commodity has two components: The demand, or willingness and ability to pay for that good, and the supply of that good. Let's consider the demand half of that first. Specifically, ability...
New Consumer Article July 23, 3008
Today's new consumer article is Procuring Cause and Multiple Agents, which talks about multiple agents and which one gets the commission....
New Consumer Article July 22, 2008
Today's new consumer article is What Does It Mean To Fall Out Of Escrow?, which talks about the process of escrow and what really causes escrows to fall apart - and that it is not something to fear....
New Consumer Article July 21, 2008
Today's new consumer article is Buying Teardown Properties and Condemned Buildings, a discussion of the basic issues of buying property with condemned buildings, or ones that you just don't like and want to replace. There's another article set to...
Updated Consumer Article July 16th, 2008
Today's is only an update of a previously written article - but it's an update of one of the most important articles I've ever done, The High Cost of Waiting To Buy A Home. This article looks strictly at...
New Consumer Article July 14, 2008
Today's new consumer article is If You Don't Think Agents Are Valuable, Do It Yourself, which discusses people trying to get real estate agents to do our core work for free, and how what their actions say overshadows whatever...
What Happens After You Buy A Vampire Property?
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...
Real Estate: Getting From Where You Are To Where You Want To Be
When I'm driving, and get to busy main streets, I hate turning left unless there's a light there. Traffic is coming hard both ways, usually at high speeds, and with only intermittent breaks in each direction. If you're turning left,...
Vampire Properties
I just went out doing some general market scouting. Looked at ten properties, and at least three were of a sort that I've started calling "vampire properties." One more reason you want a good buyer's agent. Like a mythical vampire,...
Top Ten Reasons You Bought The Wrong House
About a month 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....
Save For A Down Payment or Buy Now? (Part 2 of 2)
(click for Part 1 of Save For A Down Payment or Buy Now?, which deals with the basic question of how well saving for a down payment increases affordability) But suppose, instead of waiting because you can't afford the payments...
Save For A Down Payment or Buy Now? (Part 1 of 2)
An email asked a question I should have thought to answer a long time ago, and the answer may surprise a lot of folks. I've been vaguely aware of this for a couple of years, but I was amazed how...
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...
San Diego Real Estate Market: June 2008 Advice
My advice to sellers is very simple: Hold off if you can. Things have already improved, but better times are coming once more inventory clears. The prognosis for this is very good. I'm seeing fewer short sales, at least...
Unsustainable Loans You Should Not Use to Purchase a Property
You've probably heard the horror stories, and I've mentioned the possibility more than once. Some unsuspecting person is looking at properties beyond their price range, and it therefore has all kinds of attractive features that properties which are in their...
Protecting My Buyer Clients Good Faith Deposit
As I wrote a few days ago, the buyer's deposit is always at risk. This is just a fact of real estate transactions. I could pretend it's not so, but that wouldn't keep the deposit from being at risk...
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. When their client is making an offer, "No, your deposit could never possibly be at risk," while when their client...
Top Ten Reasons Your Home Isn't Selling
No, I'm not a David Letterman watcher, for reasons having to do with turning into a pumpkin before his show starts. I'm going to treat it a little more seriously than he does, as this is a serious subject,...
How to Use Internet Based Real Estate Sites
As with anything you find on the internet, the critical thing to keep in mind with internet real estate is that it is subject to input control. In plain English, you only see what they want you to see....
Dangers of a Poorly Written Real Estate Purchase Offer
There's an old literary tradition that cautions the reader to "Be careful what you ask for. You may get it." Many real estate purchase offers are good illustrations of that principle. The rule followed by good agents is, "Never...
The Perfect Time To Buy
There is no such thing, of course. The perfect time to buy would mean that you have all kinds of leverage, and can make sellers give you pretty much the deal you want, but prices are nonetheless rising rapidly so...
Listing Agents Who Want Both Halves of The Commission
I went out previewing properties a couple days ago. That particular client's situation being what it is, I was concentrating on vacant properties. But over half the vacant properties in that area had restricted showing instructions. "Call agent first," or...
Writing Real Estate Purchase Offers to Beat Higher Competing Offers
I just last week closed a transaction where my clients did not make the high bid (or even close), but did get the fully negotiated purchase contract and the property. By building an airtight case that this client was...
Consult a Loan Officer to Make a Purchase Offer
I don't know how many people have told me the story of the Purchase Offer That Was Accepted But Couldn't Be Done. They come to me because they lost their deposit or are about to and they want some way...
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...
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...
What $5 (and Higher) Gas Means to Suburban and Exurban Real Estate
Most of the articles and things I read about the price of gas seems to be based upon an implicit assumption that the price of gas is only as high as it is temporarily. This is not the case....
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...
Pretending the Service Equation is Simpler Than It Is
Way back when I was just out of high school, I was doing a lot of things with my time. Working, dating, competing on the fencing team, gaming of various sorts. But every once in a while, I dropped...
My Sixty Second Public Service Announcement about Buying Real Estate
Here was an idea I had: Pack a list of the most important things consumers need to know about buying real estate, as packed into the words I can say in sixty seconds without sounding like an over-clocked squirrel. Here...
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...
Non-Exclusive Buyer's Agency Contract - A Bet Consumers Can't Lose
There are two sorts of buyer's agency contracts, exclusive and non-exclusive. Note that this has nothing to do with Exclusive Buyer's Agents, who do not accept property for listing. I disagree with their reasoning on the virtues of doing...
When Should A Buyer's Agent Ask You To Sign a Contract?
The answer depends upon what they're doing for you. If you contact them because they're the listing agent for a property, they shouldn't ask you to sign an agreement at all. They have a fiduciary duty to that seller...
Finding Bargain Real Estate: Work With the Buyer's Agent Who Actually Finds The Bargain!
Several times a month I get calls and emails. Sometimes, it's even people stopping in. "I've heard you're good at finding bargains." Well, yes I am. "Please tell me the addresses of some bargains so I can drive by."...
What Do I Really Need To Know To Buy a House and Get A Loan?
While I have been reading the site for about a year, I have tended to gloss over or completely ignore the posts regarding real estate and purchasing a home. That is, until about two weeks ago when I had...
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...
The Mortgage Loan Market Controls the Real Estate Market
One of the things I keep telling folks about the real estate market, whatever area you live in, is that it is controlled by the loan market. If you want to understand where real estate in general is headed, look...
Down Payment Assistance: Buying FHA With No Money Down Doesn't Require 100% Financing!
Somebody who's only looked at the specifications for the FHA purchase program will ask me if I'm on drugs. The answer is yes, I have taken my allergy medication today, but there really are ways to purchase a property...
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