Life Insurance – Proper Prior Planning Prevents…

Life Insurance is something that nearly every adult should have, and almost every adult who buys goes about purchasing it the wrong way, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons, and buys the wrong policy. Is that an indictment of the system or what? Let’s start with what life insurance is. Life insurance is …

Lenders and Insurance Proceeds

The question that inspired this was can a mortgage company use the flood insurance claim money towards homeowners mortgage loans? This is equally applicable to every other form of insurance on your home – earthquake, regular homeowner’s insurance, and any others that you may have or require. The short answer is yes. The reason that …

If Your Loan Falls Through

“What do I do when the loan falls through” That depends upon when it falls through and what situation you’re in. If you’re in a refinance situation, you generally keep making payments on your old loan until and unless you can find a refinance that is better that you qualify for. There is one exception …

Games Lenders Play, Part V – Selling a Low Payment

Hello, I’ve been reading your website for awhile now, and have found it very helpful as I’m learning to navigate this crazy loan process! I had a question I was wondering if you could write about/answer. We currently have a mortgage and a secondary line of credit on our condo (we didn’t have a down …

Flipping vs Fixing vs Investing

I get occasional questions about the difference between these three kinds of activity. Well, there are subjective parts to the answer, but here are some general guidelines: A true flipper is looking for a quick turn on the property, usually without much work done to really improve the property. They don’t typically keep the property …

Recourse Loans and Non-Recourse Loans

do mortgage company’s usually seek a deficiency judgment on home foreclosures Depends upon whether it is a recourse loan or not. A recourse loan is one where the lender can come after you for any excess amount of money you owe. Whether a loan is recourse or non-recourse varies with the state you are in, …

Why Do I Have to Pay For The Appraisal When I Cancelled Escrow?

I got an ill-mannered complaint email about how an evil loan officer from another company ordered the appraisal without waiting for the inspection to be done, and it turned out there was a minor problem that the seller likely could have had repaired, but this clown chose to walk away, and as a result is …

Why All The Fuss Over Real Estate Transactions?

Why doesn’t real estate just sell for the asking price instead of having to go thru all the paper work…? Wouldn’t it be easier to just put a price on it and sell it for that price? We don’t go thru all of that when purchasing cars or anything else. Where did this practice start? …

What Do You Know That I Don’t Know?

Whenever I go scouting in public forums, somebody is always asking, “What’s the secret? How do you get rich in real estate?” The alternate to this question is “What do you know that I don’t?” These people are sure there’s some magic formula for getting rich quick in real estate, but nobody is willing to …

Thoughts on Abolishing Estate Tax

I have never liked or favored the estate tax, and yet I am very much of two minds about actually abolishing it. I’m glad of the benefits to the individuals involved, and yet it is only one of the issues involved in planning for what happens to all of us eventually, and abolishing it removes …