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madison mortgage: Home Inspection Tips and Cautions - The Final Chapter - 08/08/07 12:08 AM
07 August 2007 - Madison, Wisconsin
In MovieLand, if a movie is good, a sequel is better - and a third is ALWAYS better. Oh sure. So, with that same fallible logic, I present the third installment of my mini-series on Home Inspections as perceived by me. Third time's a-charmin'.
In two previous blogs Home Inspection Tips and Cautions and For Your Vexation Get a Home Inspection I discussed my misadventures with the inspection process and invite participants to listen to a real pro from A-Pro. Now I take the counsel of Kimberly St. Louis of A-Pro Home Inspection Services and add it to my biased opinion and … (5 comments)
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madison mortgage: Changing Jobs is for Sissies - 08/04/07 11:56 PM
Madison Wisconsin
Don't bounce around the industry - stay put!
During a recent radio show Bill and I shared the preceding half hour with the host, Louise Googins of Googins and Anton. During our on-air discussion we got a call from a local mortgage broker who immersed himself in a too-lengthy monologue until we could cut him loose. He said nothing unusual or controversial, yet his comments fell upon empty ears and I couldn't figure it out. I inquired after we went off the air.
Strangely enough, two people in the studio both knew who the caller was and they hadn't engaged in business with him … (8 comments)
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madison mortgage: Home Inspection Tips and Cautions - 07/19/07 02:32 PM
19 July 2007 - Madison, Wisconsin
As exactly five of you may know (my commenting compliment), my home was recently inspected as a sales contingency and I reported my concerns in For Your Vexation Get a Home Inspection. While everything seems to have been rectified - it's amazing what throwing cash at a problem will accomplish - I still was a bit unsettled by the experience. In fact, in my own OCD way, I wouldn't let it go and even more questions came up.
Always one to willingly share my problems, I contacted our Friendly Neighborhood Home Inspector - Kimberly St. Louis - … (1 comments)
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madison mortgage: For Your Vexation Get a Home Inspection - 07/13/07 12:48 AM
12 July 2007 - Madison, Wisconsin
Can a person paid by one party perform a service involving a third non-paying party be totally objective?
I just don't know about Home Inspectors. I like them and believe they perform a valuable service, but what if the subject property were MINE and the inspector is hired by my Buyer?
The following is for example purposes only - I'm not saying it happened, Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. But it's food for thought:
My house is a ranch-style with a walkout basement. It's 15 years old, but well maintained - or so it seemed. Here we are sitting pretty with a solid contract, thinking all … (8 comments)
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madison mortgage: Shopping Your Mortgage Without Getting Burned - 12 Steps to Success - 06/06/07 11:00 AM
6 June 2007 - Madison, Wisconsin
Got a mortgage loan? Not sure it's the best deal? Think there's smoke and mirrors? You are not alone. But how do you scan the mortgage landscape without having your credit dinged to oblivion - or get lenders calling you the next two years (which is NOT an exaggeration!)?
Listen here as we relate a real life adventure of a client and friend as we explain how to compare-shop lenders and keep the credit unscathed. "Peter" followed these instructions (12 Steps) exactly and only gained, gained, gained.
Reality Radio at its useful best! We help when we can.
Art Blanchet
Bill … (1 comments)
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madison mortgage: Jenni the Bill Collector Part Two- Scott Bilker (de)Rides Again! - 06/02/07 03:11 PM
2 June 2007 - Madison, Wisconsin
Scott Bilker of DebtSmart gives his take on Jenni the Bill Collector - gotta love a guy who's into his work! He sent us an email and invited me to post this story - click on the link near the end to read the rest - nice mix of humor, opinion, and irony...
Be sure to read the ORIGINAL story about poor Jenni's life here first to get a feel for the story.
Art Blanchet
Bill Quigley
Your Home-Your Money
Follow up to "Jenni the Bill Collector"by Scott Bilker
I received many responses to the last article, Jenni the … (2 comments)
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madison mortgage: Jenni the Bill Collector - Part One - Her Sad, Sad Story - 06/02/07 03:04 PM
2 June 2007 - Madison, WisconsinBill Collectors - ya gotta love 'em. Some people pay their bills for no other reason than to avoid dealing with these misanthropes, the Ambassadors of Animosity.Scott Bilker from DebtSmart shares this story about Jenni the Bill Collector from his website - we'll share with you and then the follow-up, too Comments from Scott are in italics.We don't know if "Jenni" is representative of Bill Collectors in general, but read the article - she sure represented herself as a human quite poorly.Thanks Scott!Bill Quigley and Art BlanchetYour Home-Your Money__________________________________________________________________ Jenni the Bill Collectorby Scott BilkerI received … (4 comments)
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madison mortgage: National Licensing of Mortgage Brokers - Is it a Hoop, Funnel or Noose? - 05/17/07 12:40 PM
17 May 2007 - Madison, Wisconsin
Mortgage Brokers are out of control! They need to be reeled in and registered, like illegal aliens and sex offenders! They are a menace to American society and have caused more financial woes than the War in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina combined! So it is being spun in popular media...
An article in this week's Originator Times (it's FREE!) reported there is a movement to stem the tide of bad real estate loans by registering Mortgage Brokers and forcing (if you want to leave the industry, you can, so "forcing" may be a bad word here) national certification … (29 comments)
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madison mortgage: A Hallmark Classic (Humor) - 05/07/07 10:33 PM
7 May 2007 - Madison, Wisconsin
A few years ago I was attached to a large mortgage lending corporation - a Top Ten. At one point in my tenure there corporate decided to expand their market presence and set lofty growth goals (for the benefit of stockholders). And so began a period of rapid hiring, recruiting and buyouts of established brokers, and the incredible financial expenditure that went with it. Of course they started with employee benefit reductions, expense account eliminations, and a weakly disguised ugly ugly pay cut. They were just warming up.
They cut discounts to their key markets and ruined the … (9 comments)
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madison mortgage: RADON, ASBESTOS and LEAD, OH MY! - 05/04/07 02:52 PM
4 May 2007 - Madison, Wisconsin
The Mortgage Guys rip one from the podcasting archives in this favorite about Home Inspections.
#22 - RADON, ASBESTOS and LEAD, OH MY!
Nope. We're not in Kansas any more Toto - we're in Real Estate! Now it's time to find out what's more dangerous - the Wicked Witch of the West or Your House. To do that, you need a home inspection...
"I'm ALREADY paying for an appraisal - now you say I should pay for a Home Inspection?!?!" Welllll...after you listen to this this recorded interview with Kimberly St. Louis, a Certified Home Inspector with A-Pro Home … (3 comments)
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madison mortgage: Tune into "Your Home-Your Money" for Live and Local Wisconsin Real Estate Talk, Banter, and Great Information - 04/25/07 11:23 AM
25 April 2007 - Madison, Wisconsin
Real Estate Mortgage Radio Meets Podcasting!
Two middle-aged (one more aged than the other) finance guys share their expertise, opinions, and conversation with a truth-starved world. Tune in for the awesome info and some lively talk! Recorded live radio broadcasts from our weekly show in Madison, Wisconsin - the Hub of Midwestern Culture (we made that last part up).
Seasoned (decades) residential real estate lending specialists and co-Hosts of Your Home-Your Money Mortgage Talk Radio, Bill Quigley and Art Blanchet share their research, insights, and interviews with you here. Plenty of solid information and a smattering of humor … (3 comments)
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madison mortgage: Subprime is Really a MESS - and FREDDIE MAC Didn't Help - 03/24/07 12:13 AM
24 March 2007
The past few weeks in the residential mortgage lending industry has been shaken up, especially in the segment of the market known as "subprime lending." Subprime loans are loans for unusual circumstances, property types, and damaged credit borrowers. When either the borrower and/or the property don't qualify for conforming (mainstream loans), sometimes a special mortgage with creative terms can be made available. This loan has greater risk for the lender (and investor) and is more time-consuming to underwrite (approve), so it commands a higher interest rate and closing costs that the borrower must pay. Such a loan is a subprime loan.
Interestingly enough, the phrase "subprime" had … (6 comments)
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madison mortgage: Your Home-Your Money Mortgage Talk Radio - Saturday Simulcast at 9 am CDT - 03/23/07 11:31 PM
… (0 comments)
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madison mortgage: SELLER-PAID CLOSING COSTS - CAN THIS BE WIN-WIN? - 03/21/07 04:47 PM
21 MArch 2007
In his blog - ear-marked for "Members Only" - Darren Kittleson (http://activerain.com/blogs/dkittleson) of Madison, Wisconsin urges agents to be creative when working with Home Buyers and Sellers, especially in this adjusted 2007 market. He welcomes all ideas for creative marketing and asks readers for a flurry of inspired methods and/or workable techniques.
Darren's blog cites an example of how to use Seller-paid closing costs as a tool to sell homes, creating potentially more buyers and increased returns for Sellers as they separate themselves from the competition in this crowded inventory-heavy market. What follows are my comments to his blog, reprinted to illustrate a … (4 comments)
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Art Blanchet - Stranger in a Warm Land
Sebastian,
FL
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Office Phone: (608) 217-3252
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