I got this email the other day, responding to one of my <a href=”http://www.danmelson.com/properties_worth_checking_out/”target=”_blank”>Hot Bargain Properties posts on my other site: I am currently working with a coworker with no agreement. However, she has offered to rebate 50% of her commission. Are you negotiable with your commission? I am very ready to buy a place …
Continue reading “Choosing Buyer’s Agents By Commission Rebate: Penny Wise, Pound Foolish”
A while ago I wrote an article called, “What Happens When You Can’t Make Your Real Estate Loan Payment.” This is kind of a continuation of that, as I got a search that asked, “What is necessary to persuade a bank to accept a short payoff on a mortgage” Poverty. In a word, poverty. You …
Continue reading “Short Sales of Real Estate, aka Short Payoffs”
In many transactions when I originally wrote this, the buyer has absolutely no money, or an amount that was not sufficient to pay the costs that they would traditionally be expected to pay in order to close the transaction. Today, unless they’re eligible for a VA loan, there is no such thing as a “no …
Continue reading “Seller Paid Closing Costs (or, When Your Prospective Buyer Has No Money)”
An email I got Tuesday November 28, 2006: My husband and I are not specifically on the market at the moment for a property but are always on the lookout for a great bargain. We have children, so school district is a big factor, but if the right place for the right price comes around, …
Continue reading “Solicitation for Fraud and Conspiracy, or Entrapment?”
Found this on a public forum I need help to stop foreclosure on my home. I need to sell quickly? I am a couple months behind on my payments and want to sell now. I am not looking to make a profit just need to get what i owe. Boy, did the sharks swarm over …
Continue reading “Selling to Avoid Foreclosure in a Buyer’s Market”
One of the things that sticks out about buyer’s markets is that there are two sorts of listings: Those who are willing to do whatever it takes, anything it takes, to get the property sold, and the other who apparently just likes having the property in MLS. Many listing agents have made a habit of …
Continue reading “Selling In Buyer’s Markets: Do You Need to Sell Or Are You Part of The Problem?”
(This was originally published March 18th, 2006. I’ve added a couple updates, but otherwise it’s as published. It’s still very relevant, and if there’s anyone that wants to tell me I didn’t nail it, please speak up) Somebody wrote a comment about going upside-down on their mortgage: What happens if the property value falls and …
Continue reading “Losing Property Value with Highly Leveraged Properties”
One of the consumer attitudes I encounter constantly is the feeling that if you cannot afford the loan, the lender will not loan you the money. This safety zone common sense sort of reliance upon lender policy as a backstop is not only false, but one of the best ways to get in trouble with …
Continue reading “Changes in Lender Attitudes: The Push Towards Bigger Loans”
You see it all the time at open houses and elsewhere. People who desperately need buyer’s agents, but think of Buyer’s Agents in the same way they think of automobile sales folk, and that’s the complete opposite of the way it is. They don’t want to deal with an agent, because an agent will use …
I refinanced my house and an existing lien was not discovered Now the important question: Is it a valid lien, or has it really been paid, and just not released of record? If it has been paid, you don’t owe money simply because the lien on your property was not properly paid off. If you …
