tag:searchlightcrusade.net,2024:/mt//feed/transparency 2024-04-25T16:43:14Z Movable Type 4.21-en 28 1 28 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://3.4839 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://3.4831 2023-08-22T14:00:00Z 2023-08-22T15:10:03Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ If you read the papers and the congressional record on the housing crisis, you might think yield spread is the central culprit for the entire meltdown. You would be wrong. Yield spread is a beneficial tool, offered voluntarily by lenders,... 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,2009://3.4899 2020-11-05T15:00:00Z 2020-11-05T14:48:56Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ 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... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2011://3.4812 2014-12-30T15:00:00Z 2016-08-09T22:56:50Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Figures don't lie, but liars sure to figure - and filter, and slant, and just about anything else you can think of. Someone sent me a link to this article in the Wall Street Journal of all places. It... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2008://3.4398 2008-11-13T15:00:00Z 2008-11-13T14:56:57Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ HUD has announced a new Federal Good Faith Estimate and HUD 1 form. The regulations have been finalized, but as I write this, they have not yet been published, at least in their final form. They appear much superior... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2008://3.4005 2008-04-30T22:40:00Z 2008-04-30T22:39:56Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ I try not to do a lot of "business of real estate" posts. That's not what I'm about. But I figure that we (as agents) have got about a year to save the profession from the traditional brokerages that control... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2008://3.3977 2008-04-21T14:00:00Z 2009-12-10T14:57:10Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ 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... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2008://3.3759 2008-01-09T15:00:00Z 2009-09-07T15:48:47Z 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,2008://3.3600 2008-01-04T15:00:00Z 2009-09-03T13:42:44Z 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,2007://3.3728 2007-12-17T15:00:00Z 2022-10-03T16:55:43Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ If you read the papers and the congressional record on the current housing crisis, you might think yield spread is the central culprit for the entire meltdown. You would be wrong. Yield spread is a beneficial tool, offered voluntarily by... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2007://3.3719 2007-12-12T23:20:00Z 2007-12-12T23:20:04Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Carnival of the Capitalists ********** U.S. refuses `Any Wounded Soldier' mail "Are we going to forget our soldiers because we are running in fear?" Fena D'Ottavio asked. The suburban Chicago woman was using her blog to encourage friends to... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2007://3.3672 2007-11-19T15:00:00Z 2022-09-05T14:17:46Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ HR 3915 is not the answer. 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 we expect it to work this time? Among many... tag:www.searchlightcrusade.net,2007://3.3485 2007-10-08T14:00:00Z 2022-09-05T14:05:31Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ There's been a great deal of jawboning in the real estate community recently over "divorcing the commissions", changing the current practice of the seller paying the commission of the buyer's agent. Well, I've said my piece on that, why I... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2006:/~searchli//3.2225 2006-05-05T00:37:09Z 2007-09-15T22:28:29Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Asymmetric Information has an excellent article on what journalistic ethics are and are not, much to the chagrin of Juan Cole. As I stated a few days ago, I would not make it illegal for the press to publish anything,... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2006:/~searchli//3.2083 2006-01-18T03:28:22Z 2007-09-13T20:02:54Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Carnival of Liberty. Recommended: The Picket Line, Different River ********** The ACLU has sued to stop the government from wiretapping. I love the list of co-complainants - may Allah forbid we actually prevent any terrorist assaults! This has officially gone... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2006:/~searchli//3.2071 2006-01-08T22:11:05Z 2007-09-12T21:13:35Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Balloon Juice has a piece on how you can get anyone's phone records for just over $100. And this evidently surprises not only him but the place he got it. Since the 1970s, the technology has existed to monitor... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2005:/~searchli//3.2037 2005-12-15T18:01:43Z 2021-12-13T17:21:53Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Every once in a while I get someone who is unhappy with required paperwork for privacy reasons. There are three forms that are the driving force behind this. The first is the standard form for a mortgage loan application, known... tag:gockel.hmdnsgroup.com,2005:/~searchli//3.2012 2005-11-28T04:25:08Z 2007-09-11T21:37:05Z Dan Melson http://www.searchlightcrusade.net/ Here's the website: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/ Here's the news story: Couple Sues Operators of Evolution Site Three words: Get. Over. It. Evolution may not be scientific fact, but it is a scientific theory supported by as much evidence as relativity or quantum...