real estate investing: Fair Isaac: Fair Or Unfair? A Reprise - 09/29/11 12:46 PM
… (4 comments)
|
real estate investing: Fair Isaac: Fair Or Unfair? - 10/10/08 01:01 PM
Fair Isaac: Fair Or Unfair? By Bill Roberts
The Fair Isaac company rates everybody's credit.
They do it for the banks and mortgage companies.
It is called your FICO score. FICO stands for Fair Isaac COrporation.
Because of the turmoil in our economy many people are seeing their credit scores plummet.
Is that fair?
The banks can't manage their own affairs. A lot of them are BANKRUPT. Many more are in big trouble. They aren't credit worthy yet they have gotten over a TRILLION DOLLARS of credit from us. The U.S. Government (that's us) has bailed them out.
It is time … (31 comments)
|
real estate investing: Bailout Reprise - 10/05/08 06:30 PM
Bailout Reprise by Bill Roberts
This was inspired by my conversations with Jan Wood on her blog. You can read the run up to this here.
Duncan Hunter is MY Congressman. I live in his district. I am very disappointed in him. He is retiring this year. His son, also named Duncan Hunter is running for his seat. Early in the primary campaign Bill Cherry had a quiz on his blog that "matched" the respondent with the candidate that most closely reflected their values. Duncan Hunter was my closest match.
As a matter-of-fact 4 of the 5 Congress people in San Diego County … (17 comments)
|
real estate investing: Are Foreclosures Good For America? Part 4 - 09/30/08 11:26 AM
Are Foreclosures Good For America? Part 4 by Bill Roberts
Everyday there are more mortgage defaults filed. The banks are suffering. Congress can't get their act together. A solution seems to be elusive.
The Secretary of the Treasury went up the hill to ask Congress for 700 Billion dollars to solve the problem.
Congress said NO.
But we still need a solution so here is my contribution to the discussion:
We need a new Resolution Trust Corporation, but this time with a different imprimatur: SAVE THE HOUSE, not sell the house.
It is clear Congress doesn't want to give the $700B … (27 comments)
|
real estate investing: Are Foreclosures Good For America? Part 2 - 09/19/08 04:31 PM
Are Foreclosures Good For America? Part 2 by Bill Roberts
The whole mortgage mess can be laid at the feet of Alan Greenspan and his zero interest rates which caused a huge run up in real estate prices, but it was swamped by the tidal wave of foreclosures brought on by accelerating price decreases when the rates went back up.
We all remember the Hay Days of the real estate market in 2002 through 2005. Interest rates were coming down on a daily basis. House prices were going up by the minute. Sellers were getting multiple offers on their homes with … (15 comments)
|
real estate investing: Are Foreclosures Good For America? - 09/14/08 04:53 PM
Are Foreclosures Good For America? by Bill Roberts
A lot has been written about our financial crisis: How it started; Who is to blame; And how much has it cost us.
But I think that this entire discussion has missed the main point: Was it necessary?
Let's look at the foreclosure process: If you borrow money to buy something and then you don't repay, the lender can come and get what you bought. Their loan to you creates a lien on the purchased thing, whether a car, a couch, or a house.
If you stop making your car payments the bank … (6 comments)
|
real estate investing: My Sincere Apologies - 09/08/08 07:10 PM
My Sincere Apologies by Bill Roberts
I have been MIA for about six months. Rather than bore you with the trite details I just want to say I'm sorry for my neglect of so many good friends here on ActiveRain.
To those that called and left messages, thank you very much. I will call you back as soon as I can.
I see that there have been a few changes around here. It will undoubtedly take me a while to get back up to speed. Please feel free to offer your criticisms and advice.
We are now in the midst of … (34 comments)
|
real estate investing: Don't Go To Jail, Collect Your $200 - 03/25/08 10:56 AM
Don't Go To Jail, Collect Your $200 by Bill Roberts
I received an email the other day from an ActiveRain member asking about using his Self-Directed IRA to buy a house that he could "rent" to his son. I want to respond to this by saying that a Self-Directed IRA should be your very best investment vehicle for providing for your retirement BUT you need to follow the rules.
You may invest in just about anything from within your IRA but there are specific things that you CANNOT do:
Prohibited transaction. A prohibited transaction is any direct or indirect:
Sale or exchange, or leasing … (20 comments)
|
real estate investing: Timing the Market - 03/03/08 11:20 AM
Timing the Market by Bill Roberts
Qualcomm is a local high tech company here in San Diego. Owning their stock has made quite few of their employees and other local people Millionaires. I figured that everybody could understand making money this way. You simply bought Qualcomm stock in the beginning and sold it after the price went up (way up).
Last Friday it closed at $42.39 per share. Back in March of '03 you could have bought some Qualcomm stock for around $15.00. Now my question to you is, "Would it really have mattered to you if you had paid $14.50 or even … (15 comments)
|
real estate investing: Memories Or Just Getting Old - 02/29/08 11:39 AM
Memories Or Just Getting Old by Bill Roberts
My wife was off work today and she wanted to watch Rachael Ray. OK, I like to cook so I used to watch her on Food Network all the time so I said "sure, let's watch her."
Lara Spencer, another of my "faves" from the old days on Good Morning America was doing her regular visit with RR. During Lara's segment Frankie Valli came on. OMG is he short. I couldn't believe he was Rachael's size and shorter than Lara. Well, his height didn't matter when I was listening to him and The Four Seasons … (12 comments)
|
real estate investing: Money, Money Everywhere - 02/27/08 06:27 PM
Money, Money Everywhere by Bill Roberts
Every newscast talks about the economy, the mortgage meltdown, and what the government is doing about it.
I'm sure that by now you realize that the housing crisis was brought on by the Fed's actions vis-à-vis interest rates. They (specifically Greenspan and Bernanke) destabilized the mortgage market, the housing market in general, and the very economy by reducing rates to zero and then sharply raising the rates back to a normal level. This kind of action does not take place in a vacuum. These guys torpedoed us. Anybody making excuses for them is in denial of the … (8 comments)
|
real estate investing: The Big Money Mystery of 2008 - 02/27/08 12:45 PM
The Big Money Mystery of 2008 by Bill Roberts
Everybody has an opinion about the Mortgage Meltdown. Everybody has a suggestion about how to "fix" it or prevent another occurrence.
I have my doubts about all this.
My friend Bill Archambault writes extensively about all aspects of the mortgage industry. If you don't know him or read his blog, you should.
He recently posted about Why Are We Calling Lenders Predatory
This started as a comment on that post.
After "analyzing" the lending process Bill suggests that part of the problem is the federally mandated Truth in Lending disclosure (the TIL).
You can't legislate against stupidity. And disclosures … (2 comments)
|
real estate investing: Not Again! A Real Estate Market Update - 02/27/08 11:18 AM
Not Again! A Real Estate Market Update by Bill Roberts
This morning on the CBS Early Show Mark Zandy, the Chief Economist for Moody's economy.com said that he expects another 10% decline in real estate values over the next twelve months.
Why are they doing this? Haven't they fueled this market decline enough? Since markets are basically driven by psychological factors they are the problem. The mass media provides the information that most people use to make their decisions. If that information is faulty, then their decisions will probably also be faulty.
These so-called experts have a responsibility to all of us to stop … (17 comments)
|
real estate investing: Spiderwick Chronicles - Not Really A Review - 02/25/08 11:46 AM
Spiderwick Chronicles - Not Really A Review by Bill Roberts
Yesterday we went to see Spiderwick Chronicles. It is a Nickelodeon production so I thought it must be "kid friendly." It just goes to show how out-of-touch I am. The special effects were great. It is a combination of "live" actors and animation. I don't know how they do it but it's great. It was kind of like a Harry Potter movie, which is why Irene wanted to see it. It scared her, so I was satisfied.
When all was said and done it turned out to be a CHICK FLICK. It … (10 comments)
|
real estate investing: Hey Super Agent What Do You Want? - 02/23/08 02:34 PM
Hey Super Agent What Do You Want? by Bill Roberts
Lenn Harley recently posted HOW TO SUCCEED IN REAL ESTATE SALES. GET REINTERMEDIATED . It was "Featured" so you may have read it. If you haven't read it you should.
I read and then commented on her post:
Lenn, As we take back the business, we will probably have to deal with our pricing for our services. Technology allows a "Super Agent" to handle many more clients than the old ways in the old days. Competition should drive the price of services down.
If you still haven't read the full post please do so. The comments … (4 comments)
|
real estate investing: Suspend "Due On Sale," Fix The Problem - 02/22/08 04:27 PM
Suspend "Due On Sale," Fix The Problem by Bill Roberts
Back in the good ol' days when we could buy property subject to the existing financing and there was nothing the bank could do about it, anybody could buy real estate. Qualifying wasn't an issue.
If a seller was "in trouble" it was easy to get them out of trouble by simply selling the property "subject to" or with an AITD (an all inclusive trust deed or "wrap-around mortgage).
Then, in their infinite wisdom (or pressure from the banks) Congress enacted the Garn-St. Germaine Act in 1982. See The Don'ts Of Due On … (65 comments)
|
real estate investing: What This Country Needs Is A Good 5% Home Loan - 02/19/08 10:54 AM
What This Country Needs Is A Good 5% Home Loan by Bill Roberts
Here we are in the middle of a mortgage meltdown and a presidential campaign.
What good can come from all this?
One of the things that has really bugged me is all the negative comments made about people that couldn't qualify legitimately or afford the houses that they bought during the hot market of a couple of years ago. Why do you feel that these people are undeserving of sharing the American dream?
I would like to see them all get home loans.
Maybe we can come up with a new mortgage product … (27 comments)
|
real estate investing: What Do You Do During A Recession? - 02/11/08 12:21 PM
What Do You Do During A Recession? By Bill Roberts
For the most part economic activity slows down during a recession. That is actually the definition of a recession: two successive quarters of decreased economic activity. There are various technical descriptions but this is good enough for our purposes.
Recessions always lead to recoveries, usually about 18 months later.
So what do you do during the recession? Save your money? Get ready to "pounce" once the recovery is announced? Sleep? Or do you take positive action?
Whatever you might want to do once the recovery starts, you would be better off doing it while the … (15 comments)
|
real estate investing: How to Find Land - 02/08/08 12:03 PM
How to Find Land By Bill Roberts
Man has always had the urge to find new lands. It is what led to the discovery of the New World. It is what pushed us west from the Eastern Seaboard.
But just because all the land has been discovered doesn't mean that our thirst for new lands has been quenched. On the contrary, we seem even more inspired to find a piece of land that satisfies certain hungers within.
I'm one of those land pioneers. I like nothing more than going out into the sticks looking for that elusive parcel which will satisfy a hunger deep … (5 comments)
|
real estate investing: How Low Can You Go? - 01/31/08 06:29 PM
How Low Can You Go? By Bill Roberts
I've been hearing a lot of criticism of the NAR's campaign that now is a good time to buy real estate. It seems that these self-professed experts on economics and the real estate markets think that this campaign reflects badly on Realtor's® because they say the market is still heading south.
I'd like to know what makes them so expert on the actions of markets. Did they sell houses when the market was higher? Why did they do that if they are experts on real estate economics? Didn't they know the prices were going to … (23 comments)
|
;)
;)
;)
