tag:searchlightcrusade.net,2024:/mt//feed/prevention 2024-04-20T01:37:04Z Movable Type 4.21-en 222 1 222 tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4853 2024-04-01T14:00:00Z 2024-04-01T12:38:30Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Somebody sent me this story via e-mail: Feeling Misled on Home Price, Buyers Sue Agent Marty Ummel feels she paid too much for her house. So do millions of other people who bought at the peak of the housing... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4852 2024-03-25T14:00:00Z 2024-03-25T17:03:30Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ The first piece of advice I have for buyers who want to get a fantastic bargain is to find a good buyer's agent. Nothing else will make as much difference as a good buyer's agent who is dedicated to... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2008://3.3789 2024-03-12T14:00:00Z 2024-03-12T13:52:41Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Is there any problems with having all your money in only real estate? That was a question I saw. The answer is YES there are problems! 1) No diversification. The real estate market tanks and you are hosed. The... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4846 2024-02-26T15:00:00Z 2024-02-26T15:03:35Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ There's really nothing mysterious about this. There are some subsidiary tricks and issues, but the most important thing is obvious. The economic games theory is crystal clear, as is the research into what really happens. But most people don't like... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4845 2024-02-19T15:00:00Z 2024-02-19T12:58:57Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ It's the same reason the phone company doesn't want to compete, General Motors doesn't want to compete, Wal-Mart doesn't want to compete, Disney doesn't want to compete, and Microsoft will do everything in its power to appear as if it... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2008://3.3774 2024-02-12T15:00:00Z 2024-02-12T16:30:00Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Hi--I just found your site today. The best I've ever seen/read, etc. Thank You!! I do have a question I didn't see addressed regarding our current situation/dilemma: Our present home, which we've lived in for 8 years, is worth... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4841 2024-01-01T15:00:00Z 2024-01-01T17:01:17Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Expertise and attitude, not control of an informational chokepoint, is the way that things are going. Let's analyze this from both sides of the problem. The current owner looking to sell really needs a marketer. For better or worse, most... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4840 2023-12-25T15:00:00Z 2023-12-25T16:27:37Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ I have said repeatedly that buyer's markets are not the time to be selling a property if you have any choice. There is one exception: People looking to turn around and buy a more expensive property. If you're looking to... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4839 2023-11-27T15:00:00Z 2023-11-27T13:22:45Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ There is no such thing as a free lunch, but lots of people will pretend there is. It seems to me that many people consider compensation earned by real estate agents as paying some kind of toll. They think of... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4836 2023-11-08T15:00:00Z 2023-11-08T15:23:14Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ At a very young age, my parents bought me a book of Aesop's Tales. Aesop has gone out of style, probably because these are stories with a moral lesson, and it seems the modern society is actively averse to moral... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2006:/~searchli//3.2423 2023-07-10T14:00:00Z 2023-07-17T16:09:26Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Continued from Part 1: Preparation I am considering buying a home, although I have not made up my mind on the subject. This is not due to indecision, but rather due to a lack of necessary information. There are many... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4824 2023-06-12T14:00:00Z 2023-06-12T14:04:45Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Having done both, there's no question in my mind. For the average person and the average transaction, the buyer's agent makes a lot more difference. In the aggregate, a good buyer's agent has the opportunity to make a lot more... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4823 2023-06-05T14:00:00Z 2023-06-05T15:41:49Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ This article started with another one of those desperate consumer fishing calls a while ago. Loan standards have tightened since then (In my considered opinion, over-tightened and the lenders and Wall Street will figure it out within a couple years).... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4805 2023-01-31T15:00:00Z 2023-01-31T16:41:28Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Scapegoating mortgage brokers or anyone else is not the answer, nor is prohibiting yield spread. We've been here before (in the early 1990s), congress did something remarkably similar except a little bit more sane. It didn't work then. Why would... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2007://3.3657 2022-10-24T14:00:00Z 2022-10-24T15:54:38Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Every so often, someone who thinks they're a wit sends me a copy of The Rules For Relationships According To Women. Unlike those rules, which might have been funny around the time Nefertiti was a debutante, there are very few... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2011://3.5038 2022-10-10T14:00:00Z 2022-10-10T14:41:04Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ It's very easy for loan providers to talk about a much better loan when you're shopping than they have any intention of delivering. Then you give them thirty to sixty days after you sign up, and you're put into a... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2010://3.5036 2022-10-03T14:00:00Z 2022-10-03T16:32:57Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ This is a real, major and pervasive problem in the industry. For a while, it mostly went away as listing agents were desperate for any offer, but it has come back. At least two properties my buyer clients have... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2010://3.5031 2022-07-12T14:00:00Z 2022-07-12T11:21:30Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ The stock market has a phenomenon where a company's stock is "Priced for perfection." It may sound nice, but "priced for perfection" is emphatically not a good thing. It's where the stock price of a company has been bid... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2009://3.4762 2022-06-13T14:00:00Z 2022-06-13T16:48:24Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Over the last couple of decades, there's been a rising movement, mostly on the part of those who want a piece of real estate agents business, to sell agents as a toll booth. Tollbooths sit there, guarding the entry to... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2010://3.5029 2022-06-07T14:00:00Z 2022-06-07T10:14:36Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Really. I know that most people who read that title are replying "no kidding" but you would be amazed at how many people act like there is such a fairy godmother. I got an email yesterday that said, basically, "Help...