What about using vinegar in dog's drinking water to prevent fleas? Is this another old wives tale, or is it true? (My vet says it's not true...but then, he wants to sell the expensive medicines, of course.)
SIMPLE SOLUTION to this nationwide foreclosure issue: This seems to me to be the way to begin a reasonable solution to solving our countries housing and foreclosure crisis.
The Mortgage Companies and Banks and Wall Street all made a “business decision” a few years ago to lend money to Borrowers who were NOT qualified to borrow the amounts of money that were being given. This “free” money policy began an extreme case of real estate inflation that lasted through 2008. By making this “business decision” to give out what was essentially “free money” to unqualified Borrowers, our country’s lending institutions started what ended up to be the total destruction of the real industry as we knew it prior to the relaxing and doing away with all of standard underwriting rules and policies that were utilized for many successful years.
Yes, the Borrowers also decided to take the money and now we are in a total quagmire with a completely destroyed real estate and lending industry, with NO leadership for solutions seeming to be coming out of Congress or from our President.
To me, the solution seems very simple…. Make the Banks and Wall Street participate in the losses with the Borrowers by forcing the Investors (Mortgagors) to write down the Principal amounts of all of the Mortgages by the loss in values that have occurred since the peak of the real estate values in 2007/2008. Interest Rates should also be automatically reduced to “current market levels”, this could be done by making all new interest rate and principal write down loans to be a 10 years fixed rate, with options at the end of 10years to become either fixed rate loans and the then current market rates or some type of adjustable rate loan that makes sense to both the Borrowers and the Lenders. This would then allow the property owners to stay in their homes and keep their investments in-tact and begin a new period of payments to the Lenders-Banks-Investors-Wall Street.
All of the lenders, bankers etc. are going to lose that amount of money or more by going through the Foreclosure Process anyway, so why not let the homeowners start over in lieu of forcing them out their properties and having all of this housing inventory on the market to sell to someone else at a very large discount.
The way things have been going with the Lenders not even cooperating or talking with the Borrowers is an INSANE policy that MUST BE CHANGED IMMEDIATELY!!!!!! I would be more than happy to meet you with you in person to talk further about this current mortgage and real estate crisis that we have been in since 2008 with no end insight.
Thank You – Thomas R. Monge, MAI – Real Estate Broker/Consultant
I used to dine out 3-4 times a week, but have since cut that down to around 2. It saves me a ton of money when I cook at home and use it on fresh groceries.
NEVER take a realtor's word on costs of construction/renovation/upgrades. Most of them have little to no experience in this field, and are just throwing numbers out there that have no basis in reality. You as the potential homebuyer have to do your due diligence if you are considering purchasing a home that needs some upgrades or major repairs. In your case, I think it would have been better for you to work with someone that you didn't know personally. Perhaps you could have salvaged the friendship if you at least spoke to him directly and confronted him with his "half-truths" rather than not saying anything. The constructive criticism could have actually helped him better serve his future clients.
There is no way that #3 is true...people have tried holistic approaches in determining child gender for too many years...quite simply, there is nothing to determine this.
I have people I refer my clients to but it in the end it is their decision. The only time I really warn them to be careful is with online mortgage companies who don't have local offices. Who are you going to get in front of if something goes wrong?
Realtors should not be guessing the price to fix things because they aren't contractors. They should tell you about a similar experience they have had but you should verify what the cost of repairs is everytime. What if the previous experience was a repair done by a friend? I have seen enough roofs done to guess what the price is but I still get contractors out there to do written bids. What if they find something else that has to be repaired to finish the job?
The reason I suggest you work with people I know is because of my past experiences. I have seen things go horribly sideways specifically with mortgage professionals. It is amazing how bad they can be. In the Oregon we have went from 15000 loan officers to 3500 in just a few years. A lot of the bad ones are gone.
There are some inspectors who some call "Deal Killers". The inspector I have writes up the most meticulous reports and every house, including the one he said was built well, had pages of things that could be or should be done and I wonder if they will still want it. It does me no good to have unhappy clients. And if someone wants to skip the home inspection I would have them sign a paper saying they decided against my advice to get the inspection. It is the best insurance policy. Also, always have a new home inspected.
Interest rates are worse than guessing the weather in the Pacific NW. Even a buddy, who is a higher-up at one of the banks and sets the rates they offer clients, won't guess where they will be. I am constantly annoyed at how economist predict our turn around as always three quarters away which they have said since 2007.
2500 sf plus a basement? The Osmond's don't need a house bigger than that.
Before 2005 I could pinpoint what price a home would sell for. It hasn't been the same since the run up. Right now the market is so soft I see homes selling for higher and lower than I understand. Pricing is tough.
Every profession has people who don't do the profession justice so please don't judge us all on the bad ones. I have told people they shouldn't buy a house and were better off renting for the time. One person just looked at me for about thirty seconds trying to comprehend what I was saying. "But you're a Realtor. Why would you tell me to rent?" In my opinion that was what he should do for his circumstance.
I tell every client this. In the end it is your money. I am like a presidential advisor. I have my expertise but you have the final say.
WOW! That was way off base. We made no down payment, BUT there was a constant barrage once we found the house; $1000 here, $500 there, another $600 to someone else. Money we didn't have, so we were continually borrowing from one or another parent, or letting bills go in hopes that we would be closing "in the next two weeks."
And that was another thing that was way off base. It was almost 3 months between our offer and closing. We were almost homeless, but for the generosity of my landlord and my husband's willingness to store his things in a moving truck for almost three weeks.
I was told, when negotiating on price, "You've got to understand that the seller is upside down! They bought this place at xxx". Since sale records & loans are public record, I had looked it up. They originally had 2 loans, and had paid off the smaller loan. So, they were not upside down (meaning they owed more than they were selling for), they would be selling at a loss, but not anywhere close upside down.
I was pretty upset, considering this was MY agent, not the seller's agent.
The premium that is paid is for immediacy. If you want something NOW, and can't wait a few days, then the comes with a price. (Why does no one question why plumbers charge a premium for coming out on a Sunday? The work is not actually any different than the work you would do on a Monday.)
As much as we would like to, we can't tell someone else how to run their business.
Be especially careful if you are buying vacant land, or any property that you will want to improve and go to the city yourself to check the zoning. You don't want to show up at City Hall with a bunch of plans only to be told that what you want to do isn't an allowable use in that zone. When I worked in a planning/building dept., I can't tell you how many times I heard "but my realtor said I could build this here." There are a lot of reputable agents, but you should always check things out for yourself.
The online prices are for those people who look for coupons, if you're aware of the price difference, you save money.
One reason they might not want to adjust the price is that there's a chance they may lose money. If they only had four copies in the store, and they sold all four at the online prices, it's a potential loss of $80 in sales since they could've sold all four for $60 each. (Assuming four potential customers came in looking for the same item before they had a chance to restock)
"Use My Mortgage Guy", is what we're going through now. She said that her mortgage lady has done fha 203k loans, so we figured that it was best to go with someone who knows the ropes. Even BEFORE putting an offer on the house my hubby spoke to the mortgage lady and told him our plan of using our electrician as our licensed contractor. She said it was OK and we made an offer on the home. Weeks go by and the bank accepts our offer. After our electrician looked over the packet she sent over, he questioned if he was still OK to do the job. Hubby calls her and asks. She gets back to my hubby a few hours later and now says NO, that we need to use a general contractor, not just any licensed contractor. Now we're so far into the deal that we are STILL looking for a general contractor who can work within our budget. If this mortgage lady would have actually known that we couldn't use any licensed contractor, then we would have NEVER submitted an offer on the house.
And the mortgage company that this lady works for is actually supposed to be one of the top companies to work on fha 203k loans. Apparently she was not as informed on these loans as we were told she was.
The reason is because there is a surplus of those items in the Wal-Mart Warehouse - not at the store. When you place an order and do site to store shipping Wal-Mart does not go and pick the item off of the shelf and put it aside for you. The item is actually shipped from the warehouse to the store.
As an avid reader of your blog and a constant bargain hunter myself, I am a little surprised at your reaction to this experience.
I had same situation with a product at Target about six months ago. I don't remember details, but I do remember forgoing the purchase altogether in frustration. The store should honor the online price. Period.
I have a friend that's a RE agent, she wouldn't even comment on the houses I was looking at or the areas. Afterwards she told me she avoids helping friends because it never works out well.
Walmart stores are locally owned franchises. They do not "compete" with each other. If you find something at a different Walmart for a lesser price, they will not lower the price for you at the store you are in. The same goes for online. I imagine the reasoning for the "not available in stores" label is simply that that particular price is not available in stores. I think it is stupid, too. I also think it is pretty dumb the employee had no understanding of the pricing structure of the store he is working at.
About a year ago, my husband and I were planning to purchase a wide screen TV. We'd checked out Sam's in person and on-line (prices the same for the same product) and several online stores. We found the TV we wanted, almost identical to one at Sam's that we liked, at Wal-Mart's online store for $20 less. We thought we'd save time and buy it at the Wal-Mart in town, except when we went there, it was $20 more than the online price. The explanation was that Wal-Mart online is basically it's own store, separate from the physical stores, and many times the price was cheaper. We were annoyed enough by the shenanigans that we drove 30 miles to Sam's and bought the TV there. I didn't feel like rewarding the local Wal-Mart owner; he lost a sale over a $20 difference on an $800 TV. I know his profit margin had to be higher than $20, but his complete lack of concern over the stupidity of it all was more than I could take!
They must make more money shipping (on trucks already coming to the store) an already paid for copy than for you to go there and pick up one off the floor. They'd rather have definitely sold copies for less, than ones sitting on the shelf for more. This kind of discrepancy has been going on for a while with them, it's nothing new.
Regarding question # 23, from my understanding, the interview process is also for the potential employee. Would it be advisable to ask questions like the following:
1- Can you tell me how many people have left your company in the last couple of years?
2- How do you choose your managers/supervisors? Is it by length of time they have been with the company or is it because you see true leadership qualities in them?
3- Based on your experience with several employees, what were the specific qualities of the employees that you truly enjoyed having worked and hopefully continue to work for your company?
These questions to me says a lot about the organization.
What do you think?
Hi
I think the best advice for you is to join www.toastmasters.org near you. Toastmasters will help you relax, and by being able to relax your greatness will come through during interviews. It is the stress that usually kills us.
A "aloof"? Never heard that one. I think in Chicago we call that a kickback.
What about using vinegar in dog's drinking water to prevent fleas? Is this another old wives tale, or is it true? (My vet says it's not true...but then, he wants to sell the expensive medicines, of course.)
SIMPLE SOLUTION to this nationwide foreclosure issue: This seems to me to be the way to begin a reasonable solution to solving our countries housing and foreclosure crisis.
The Mortgage Companies and Banks and Wall Street all made a “business decision” a few years ago to lend money to Borrowers who were NOT qualified to borrow the amounts of money that were being given. This “free” money policy began an extreme case of real estate inflation that lasted through 2008. By making this “business decision” to give out what was essentially “free money” to unqualified Borrowers, our country’s lending institutions started what ended up to be the total destruction of the real industry as we knew it prior to the relaxing and doing away with all of standard underwriting rules and policies that were utilized for many successful years.
Yes, the Borrowers also decided to take the money and now we are in a total quagmire with a completely destroyed real estate and lending industry, with NO leadership for solutions seeming to be coming out of Congress or from our President.
To me, the solution seems very simple…. Make the Banks and Wall Street participate in the losses with the Borrowers by forcing the Investors (Mortgagors) to write down the Principal amounts of all of the Mortgages by the loss in values that have occurred since the peak of the real estate values in 2007/2008. Interest Rates should also be automatically reduced to “current market levels”, this could be done by making all new interest rate and principal write down loans to be a 10 years fixed rate, with options at the end of 10years to become either fixed rate loans and the then current market rates or some type of adjustable rate loan that makes sense to both the Borrowers and the Lenders. This would then allow the property owners to stay in their homes and keep their investments in-tact and begin a new period of payments to the Lenders-Banks-Investors-Wall Street.
All of the lenders, bankers etc. are going to lose that amount of money or more by going through the Foreclosure Process anyway, so why not let the homeowners start over in lieu of forcing them out their properties and having all of this housing inventory on the market to sell to someone else at a very large discount.
The way things have been going with the Lenders not even cooperating or talking with the Borrowers is an INSANE policy that MUST BE CHANGED IMMEDIATELY!!!!!! I would be more than happy to meet you with you in person to talk further about this current mortgage and real estate crisis that we have been in since 2008 with no end insight.
Thank You – Thomas R. Monge, MAI – Real Estate Broker/Consultant
I used to dine out 3-4 times a week, but have since cut that down to around 2. It saves me a ton of money when I cook at home and use it on fresh groceries.
NEVER take a realtor's word on costs of construction/renovation/upgrades. Most of them have little to no experience in this field, and are just throwing numbers out there that have no basis in reality. You as the potential homebuyer have to do your due diligence if you are considering purchasing a home that needs some upgrades or major repairs. In your case, I think it would have been better for you to work with someone that you didn't know personally. Perhaps you could have salvaged the friendship if you at least spoke to him directly and confronted him with his "half-truths" rather than not saying anything. The constructive criticism could have actually helped him better serve his future clients.
There is no way that #3 is true...people have tried holistic approaches in determining child gender for too many years...quite simply, there is nothing to determine this.
Wouldn't there be the same chance to overlook something if that inspector thinks he could get the business of a new agent?
What if they are the best mortgage broker? Why automatically exclude them? Check with three different mortgage brokers and compare.
I have people I refer my clients to but it in the end it is their decision. The only time I really warn them to be careful is with online mortgage companies who don't have local offices. Who are you going to get in front of if something goes wrong?
Realtors should not be guessing the price to fix things because they aren't contractors. They should tell you about a similar experience they have had but you should verify what the cost of repairs is everytime. What if the previous experience was a repair done by a friend? I have seen enough roofs done to guess what the price is but I still get contractors out there to do written bids. What if they find something else that has to be repaired to finish the job?
The reason I suggest you work with people I know is because of my past experiences. I have seen things go horribly sideways specifically with mortgage professionals. It is amazing how bad they can be. In the Oregon we have went from 15000 loan officers to 3500 in just a few years. A lot of the bad ones are gone.
There are some inspectors who some call "Deal Killers". The inspector I have writes up the most meticulous reports and every house, including the one he said was built well, had pages of things that could be or should be done and I wonder if they will still want it. It does me no good to have unhappy clients. And if someone wants to skip the home inspection I would have them sign a paper saying they decided against my advice to get the inspection. It is the best insurance policy. Also, always have a new home inspected.
Interest rates are worse than guessing the weather in the Pacific NW. Even a buddy, who is a higher-up at one of the banks and sets the rates they offer clients, won't guess where they will be. I am constantly annoyed at how economist predict our turn around as always three quarters away which they have said since 2007.
2500 sf plus a basement? The Osmond's don't need a house bigger than that.
Before 2005 I could pinpoint what price a home would sell for. It hasn't been the same since the run up. Right now the market is so soft I see homes selling for higher and lower than I understand. Pricing is tough.
Every profession has people who don't do the profession justice so please don't judge us all on the bad ones. I have told people they shouldn't buy a house and were better off renting for the time. One person just looked at me for about thirty seconds trying to comprehend what I was saying. "But you're a Realtor. Why would you tell me to rent?" In my opinion that was what he should do for his circumstance.
I tell every client this. In the end it is your money. I am like a presidential advisor. I have my expertise but you have the final say.
"I can get you in with no money down."
WOW! That was way off base. We made no down payment, BUT there was a constant barrage once we found the house; $1000 here, $500 there, another $600 to someone else. Money we didn't have, so we were continually borrowing from one or another parent, or letting bills go in hopes that we would be closing "in the next two weeks."
And that was another thing that was way off base. It was almost 3 months between our offer and closing. We were almost homeless, but for the generosity of my landlord and my husband's willingness to store his things in a moving truck for almost three weeks.
Oh, yes! I will never use the mortgage broker that is recommended by an agent! Never, ever ever.
I was told, when negotiating on price, "You've got to understand that the seller is upside down! They bought this place at xxx". Since sale records & loans are public record, I had looked it up. They originally had 2 loans, and had paid off the smaller loan. So, they were not upside down (meaning they owed more than they were selling for), they would be selling at a loss, but not anywhere close upside down.
I was pretty upset, considering this was MY agent, not the seller's agent.
The premium that is paid is for immediacy. If you want something NOW, and can't wait a few days, then the comes with a price. (Why does no one question why plumbers charge a premium for coming out on a Sunday? The work is not actually any different than the work you would do on a Monday.)
As much as we would like to, we can't tell someone else how to run their business.
Be especially careful if you are buying vacant land, or any property that you will want to improve and go to the city yourself to check the zoning. You don't want to show up at City Hall with a bunch of plans only to be told that what you want to do isn't an allowable use in that zone. When I worked in a planning/building dept., I can't tell you how many times I heard "but my realtor said I could build this here." There are a lot of reputable agents, but you should always check things out for yourself.
The online prices are for those people who look for coupons, if you're aware of the price difference, you save money.
One reason they might not want to adjust the price is that there's a chance they may lose money. If they only had four copies in the store, and they sold all four at the online prices, it's a potential loss of $80 in sales since they could've sold all four for $60 each. (Assuming four potential customers came in looking for the same item before they had a chance to restock)
"Use My Mortgage Guy", is what we're going through now. She said that her mortgage lady has done fha 203k loans, so we figured that it was best to go with someone who knows the ropes. Even BEFORE putting an offer on the house my hubby spoke to the mortgage lady and told him our plan of using our electrician as our licensed contractor. She said it was OK and we made an offer on the home. Weeks go by and the bank accepts our offer. After our electrician looked over the packet she sent over, he questioned if he was still OK to do the job. Hubby calls her and asks. She gets back to my hubby a few hours later and now says NO, that we need to use a general contractor, not just any licensed contractor. Now we're so far into the deal that we are STILL looking for a general contractor who can work within our budget. If this mortgage lady would have actually known that we couldn't use any licensed contractor, then we would have NEVER submitted an offer on the house.
And the mortgage company that this lady works for is actually supposed to be one of the top companies to work on fha 203k loans. Apparently she was not as informed on these loans as we were told she was.
The reason is because there is a surplus of those items in the Wal-Mart Warehouse - not at the store. When you place an order and do site to store shipping Wal-Mart does not go and pick the item off of the shelf and put it aside for you. The item is actually shipped from the warehouse to the store.
As an avid reader of your blog and a constant bargain hunter myself, I am a little surprised at your reaction to this experience.
I had same situation with a product at Target about six months ago. I don't remember details, but I do remember forgoing the purchase altogether in frustration. The store should honor the online price. Period.
I have a friend that's a RE agent, she wouldn't even comment on the houses I was looking at or the areas. Afterwards she told me she avoids helping friends because it never works out well.
My Realtor got really upset when I didn't use his home insurance guy or his mortgage guy.
I'm sure he was getting a aloof from both of them.
Walmart stores are locally owned franchises. They do not "compete" with each other. If you find something at a different Walmart for a lesser price, they will not lower the price for you at the store you are in. The same goes for online. I imagine the reasoning for the "not available in stores" label is simply that that particular price is not available in stores. I think it is stupid, too. I also think it is pretty dumb the employee had no understanding of the pricing structure of the store he is working at.
About a year ago, my husband and I were planning to purchase a wide screen TV. We'd checked out Sam's in person and on-line (prices the same for the same product) and several online stores. We found the TV we wanted, almost identical to one at Sam's that we liked, at Wal-Mart's online store for $20 less. We thought we'd save time and buy it at the Wal-Mart in town, except when we went there, it was $20 more than the online price. The explanation was that Wal-Mart online is basically it's own store, separate from the physical stores, and many times the price was cheaper. We were annoyed enough by the shenanigans that we drove 30 miles to Sam's and bought the TV there. I didn't feel like rewarding the local Wal-Mart owner; he lost a sale over a $20 difference on an $800 TV. I know his profit margin had to be higher than $20, but his complete lack of concern over the stupidity of it all was more than I could take!
They must make more money shipping (on trucks already coming to the store) an already paid for copy than for you to go there and pick up one off the floor. They'd rather have definitely sold copies for less, than ones sitting on the shelf for more. This kind of discrepancy has been going on for a while with them, it's nothing new.
Paul,
Regarding question # 23, from my understanding, the interview process is also for the potential employee. Would it be advisable to ask questions like the following:
1- Can you tell me how many people have left your company in the last couple of years?
2- How do you choose your managers/supervisors? Is it by length of time they have been with the company or is it because you see true leadership qualities in them?
3- Based on your experience with several employees, what were the specific qualities of the employees that you truly enjoyed having worked and hopefully continue to work for your company?
These questions to me says a lot about the organization.
What do you think?
L
Hi
I think the best advice for you is to join www.toastmasters.org near you. Toastmasters will help you relax, and by being able to relax your greatness will come through during interviews. It is the stress that usually kills us.
Enjoy