General Real Estate: March 2009 Archives

The new consumer article for today is Rental Fraud, Landlord Fraud, and Prospective Tenant Scams. As with everything else out there concerning larger amounts of money, there are rental frauds that renters need to be concerned about, more and more as things like online ads take over from more traditional alternatives of newspapers and rental agencies. To be fair, most of the online venues do as much as they reasonably can about fraud, but they can't do enough to prevent it; they can only ban the fraudster after the fact (and the fraudster can then get a new account). You need to be careful out there.

Newly Written Articles

Buyers: Stretching Your Budget Means Compromise talks about how to make your dollars go further, and the thin line between "challenging" and "not going to happen"

What Are The Note And Trust Deed And What Is The Difference? This is a basic article on these two loan documents of very different function.

The Home Valuation Code of Conduct (New Appraisal Standards) discusses the effects that the new appraisal standards will have on the loan market after May 1. I have been informed that NAMB, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, has filed suit to prevent it from becoming effective. On behalf of consumers and loan officers nationwide, here's hoping they are successful.

Updated Articles

One Spouse Qualifying For A Loan on Their Own

My Loan was Denied - What Fees Can I Recover?

Issues with Relocation Loans

Finally, I have just re-done The Tradeoff between Rate and Cost in Real Estate Loans. This is such a critical article that it really belongs in a category out by itself. You cannot understand real estate loans until you understand the subject matter of this article. Read it. Understand it. Remember it. Every interaction you have with a loan provider should center about this trade-off.

Newly Written Articles

The Difference Between a Reliable and Unreliable Prequalification or Preapproval Letter

Online Real Estate Photographs

Loan Fall-Out And The Effects Upon Consumers

Top Twelve Things That Help You Buy a Bargain Property

Updated Articles

Whatever the New Trick in Loans is, It's an Attempt to Keep From Really Competing On Price

You Must Be Willing To Act In Order to Get Any Benefit

What Are Your Options If You Can't Make Your Payment?

"We'll Beat Any Quote" in Mortgage Loans

Investment Property and Sophisticated Users

Preapproval and Driving off Qualified Potential Buyers

Financing Tricks and Calculating What You Can Really Afford

Why You Want A Buyers Agent To Deal With Developers

Pre-Payment Penalties Expiring and Rate Locks

What Can A Seller Do To Find Out if A Buyer Is Qualified

Sorry I didn't have time to do more entirely new articles. I'll try and improve the number this week.

Newly Written Articles

State of the San Diego Real Estate Market March 2009

Updated Articles

Investment Risk and Paying off the Mortgage Early

Special Restricted Loan Programs Means Potential For Special Problems

Loan Cosigners in Real Estate - A Lot of Risk For Not Much Gain

I'm Sorry, Did You Think Your Good Faith Estimate (Or Mortgage Loan Disclosure Statement) Meant Anything?

Zero Cost Real Estate Loans

Buyer's Appraisal versus Seller's Appraisal

Newly Written Articles

Finding a Good Buyer's Agent (And Eliminating Bad Ones).

Games with Mortgage Loan Rate Locks (Games Lenders Play Part 10) Talks about issues relating to the rate lock.

Barack Obama's "Help For Homeowners" Proposal Like President Bush's proposal before him, not much help for a high price.

Lipstick on a Pig: Selling the Property You Should Never Have Bought

Confusing Past Performance and the Present Situation with Future Planning talks about the housing market and why you shouldn't try to time it.

Title Deeds And The Form They Should Take talks about what the title deed needs to say.

Why It May Be Costly to Reject Paying Points goes over the facts and the math of getting loans done. Would you pay 1% of loan amount to cut your interest rate by 2% per year? If you're smart, you will

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate is a collection of the best articles submitted that help consumers.

Updated Articles

Real Estate is More Local Than Most People Think Make sure your agent makes a habit of working your area

Considering Condos, Townhomes, and PUDs The basics of common interest developments.

Loan Documents - Contracts of Adhesion. They're offering you a "take it or leave it" but you do have some protections.

Just Because Compensation for a Loan Isn't Disclosed Doesn't Mean It's Free, and just because you don't know what it is doesn't mean it's cheap. Evaluate loans by the bottom line to you.

Improving your Credit Score and Tradelines The credit score folks have taken steps against gaming the system.

Truth In Lending and APR is an update of one of the more important articles I've written. Don't evaluate loans by APR.

How Easy Scams Are talks about how easy it is for someone to get taken off their guard and scammed for tens of thousands of dollars.