Volatility: A Regular Investor’s Best Friend

Wall Street loves fear and greed. Every time some bad news hits, a lot of benighted investors sell investments that were basically solid. Causing the price they can get for their investments to drop (higher supply, lower demand). Every time a piece of unexpected good news hits, you can expect stock price to take a …

The Issue With Eminent Domain is MONEY

A little over one year ago, the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Kelo, which held that the city of New London could condemn land to sell it to private developers in order to increase the tax base. At the time, it generated huge amounts of outrage – the formation of Life Liberty Property, …

Foreclosures – A Good Investment?

Well, sometimes. Okay, most of the time. But not always. Foreclosures: Bargain hunters beware! Myth no. 1: A big spike in foreclosures is right around the corner… …That’s because in most of the country, anyone who has owned a home for even a year or two is likely sitting on enough equity to sell or …

Dissecting the “Lending Game”

Right now lender X is offering me a loan that looks something like this: 80/20 No down paymentOn the /80: 6.5% FIXED interest for 30 years, interest-only payment option for 15 yearsOn the /20: 8.75% FIXED interest for 25 years (amortized to 30) 6-month lock for 1-point ($3800) refundable fee with float-down option My response: …

Agents Refusing to Make an Offer on Real Estate

“buyers agent refuses to make offer” was a search hit I got recently. This is yet another reason not to sign exclusive buyer’s agent agreements. My guess is that the CBB is lower than the agent would like. The CBB is the “cooperating brokers” payment – that share of the selling agent’s commission that will …

Let Me Tell You About The Loan You Could Have Had

Not interested? Most people aren’t when it’s talking about how they got taken advantage of in the past. First off, it’s in the past so it is over and done with, and there’s no use dwelling on it, right? Second, there’s the ego thing. Nobody who’s been bragging about what a great deal they got …

Buying Investment Property – An Example of the Issues

My aunt is going to move to a new condo and wants to sell her old one. I would like to buy her old condo as an investment and rent it out (as I am already a home-owner). This whole investment/rental buying is all new to me. She has lived there about 5 years and …

Practical Examples – Refinance or Prepayment Penalty?

Hi Dan wondering if you could help me out I’m getting a lot of different answers from a lot of people and I’m really searching for help I bought my house brand new (three years ago) for 550,000, and (the next year) I refinanced into a mta loan. which at that time was around 4.25% …