In years past, it was commonplace for real estate agents to tell their sellers at listing appointments that the home would be listed in the classified section of the local paper, and perhaps have a color ad in a local real estate guide. These print ads worked two ways – 1) they showed the seller [...]
Entries from January 2009
Why Print Ads Don’t Work For Real Estate in South Maui
Jan. 25th, 2009
House Prices Are Supported By Fundamentals… Not!
Jan. 25th, 2009
In every asset bubble people will claim the prices are supported by fundamentals even at the peak of the mania. During the Great Housing Bubble, people believed everyone was making two-times their actual income, and that the unstable loan programs developed during the time were innovations that changed the fundamentals. It was all nonsense. Stock [...]
Great Reasons To Invest In Pre-Foreclosures
Jan. 24th, 2009
The current sub-prime crisis has resulted in many losing control over their homes, while presenting savvy investors with opportunities to pick up property at prices significantly less than the market rate and then flipping to earn a tidy profit. Buying property through the normal route would require a healthy down payment with an outstanding credit [...]
Lies Realtors Tell – Ten of Their Favorites
Jan. 24th, 2009
Realtors are agents of sellers. It is their job to obtain the highest possible sale price for a piece of real estate. By law they cannot misrepresent any facts about the property, but when it comes to opinions about the investment potential of the property, or the state of the real estate market, Realtors can [...]
The Interest-Only, Adjustable-Rate Mortgage is Very Risky
Jan. 23rd, 2009
The interest-only, adjustable-rate mortgage (IO ARM) became popular early in the housing bubble. When fixed-rate mortgage payments were too large for buyers to afford, they turned to IO ARMs as an affordability product. Unfortunately, these mortgage products are not stable because at some point, payments increase, and the borrowers often default. A fixed-rate conventionally-amortized mortgage [...]
Reverse Mortgage: Do You Really Need One?
Jan. 23rd, 2009
It can be very nerve racking trying to decide if you should move forward with taking out a loan. Borrowing money is a decision that most people do not take lightly and it is a decision that can be life changing, for both good and bad. If loans are taken out responsibly, people are usually [...]
Pick-a-Pay Option ARM Loans – What Are They?
Jan. 23rd, 2009
The Negative Amortization mortgage (aka, Option ARM or Neg Am) is the riskiest loan imaginable. It has all the risks of an interest-only, adjustable-rate mortgage, but with the added risk of an increasing loan balance. Using this loan, there is the risk of not being able to make the payment at reset, and the borrower [...]
Conducting A London Property Search In A Slow Market
Jan. 22nd, 2009
The credit crunch has been a mixed blessing for Property Search Agents. Some Clients who are keen to buy, have postponed their London property search as they can’t sell their existing home for an agreeable price. Other Clients who are in a position to buy, are keen to do so, since they feel confident of [...]
Reverse Mortgage: Important Information
Jan. 22nd, 2009
Taking out a loan can be a scary thing to do. If you are the typical person, you probably have several thoughts racing through your mind each time you apply for a loan such as whether or not you will qualify, if you are taking out too much or little, and if you can truly [...]
Pre Construction Investments and Lending
Jan. 22nd, 2009
When deciding to make the move to real estate investments, you may immediately think houses and buildings as property. But what about making a pre construction investment? A pre construction investment is one that involves a raw piece of property that doesn’t already have a building on it. A pre construction investor takes the raw [...]