Yesterday, I checked my referral logs and found an article where somebody was essentially saying “If you want to be depressed, go read this site and then go rent somewhere for the rest of your life”. I can understand where the sentiment is coming from, particularly if they were of the sort of person who …
Author Archives: admin
Exclusive versus Non-Exclusive Buyer’s Agent Agreement
From an email: I was in the process of buying and selling the house when we saw a FSBO house we liked was for sale. But sale fell through, which is a good thing anyway because of contigency on our house. But I also suspected it failed ecause the seller refuses to pay commission to …
Continue reading “Exclusive versus Non-Exclusive Buyer’s Agent Agreement”
Able Danger, Databases, and the Right to Privacy
While I was reading up on the Able Danger controversy this morning, I ran across some side information on a recurring theme of mine. I want to bring this to the attention of my readers: From the CNN interview of Colenel Shaffer What I did was I married the land information warfare activity, LIMA, at …
Continue reading “Able Danger, Databases, and the Right to Privacy”
Saving Money by Being Realistic About Your Mortgage
If you haven’t heard about the thirty year fixed rate mortgage, welcome to planet earth and I hope we can be friends. The thirty year fixed rate loan seems to be the holy grail of all mortgages. It’s what everyone wants, and what they’re calling about when they call me to talk about refinancing a …
Continue reading “Saving Money by Being Realistic About Your Mortgage”
Mortgage and Housing Market Virtues
The scope of the problems that exist in the United States Mortgage market are huge. Enormously, mind-bogglingly, “How Big Is Space?” type huge. Yet, the problems are almost entirely on a retail level, when one provider works with one consumer. The system works, and it works extremely well. Consider: Most consumers in Europe or any …
Estate Tax
I have never liked or favored the estate tax, and yet I was very much of two minds about actually abolishing it. It actually did die for a year, before the legislation sunsetted and things reverted to the previous status quo, although it’s to be admitted the exemption amounts are now significantly larger. Estate tax …
Let us Disagree Without Being Disagreeable
Scott Kirwin of Dean’s World directs us to Harry Stein column in City Journal, and then amplifies on one aspect, saying that he, too has a mixed marriage, and that it works very well and helps make him and his wife better people. He quotes Gerald Ford, “We can disagree without being disagreeable.” First off, …
Continue reading “Let us Disagree Without Being Disagreeable”
The 2006-8 Housing Bubble
“Housing Bubbles” were invented by stock brokers, and real estate remains, and will almost assuredly remain, your absolute best investment.” (me again) Actually, California pricing has reliably gone through cycles within my lifetime. We have hit the peak of the fifth one I remember (1991 was the last peak, which makes this the longest period …
For Sale By Owner
I’ve been taking a long look at the world of For Sale By Owner and similar concepts lately. With the digital revolution, you always want to be watching the tide to figure out if you’re in a business that’s about to go the way of milk delivery and diaper service – a few left, but …
What can I do to Qualify for a House or Mortage?
There are a fair number of specific helpful suggestions to make in helping you purchase a home. All of them revolve around the loan. Let’s face it, the loan is far and away the most hypothetical and uncertain part about most real estate transactions. If there is a non-loan related problem, chances are that you …
Continue reading “What can I do to Qualify for a House or Mortage?”