mortgages: Building Wealth By Owning Real Estate: Five Lessons for Us All - 05/06/13 03:02 AM
"Building Wealth By Owning Real Estate: Five Lessons for Us All" is the blog series I just completed.   These tidbits and antecdotal stories are the stories of my life, but they have served me well, and I am on the way to where I want to be financially; despite enduring some trying times financially as a family (which we've done without too much suffering).  I hope you'll read the short stories, and commit the lessons to memory.  Let them guide you in your real estate decisions.  You won't be sorry.
Lesson #1: Real Estate Always Has Value:  It was 1975, … (0 comments)

mortgages: You Might Not Need A REALTOR IF....Reason #5 - 01/30/10 02:31 PM
You Might Not Need A REALTOR IF.....
you understand the financing your buyer will need to purchase your property.
In today's market this is critical.  The lending environment is changing daily, and it is hard for even those of us who work in this day in and day out to keep abreast of the changes in programs, laws and the variances between the different types of lenders and brokers. First of all, the basics... Do you know the difference of the varying loan programs available?  Do you know the difference between VHDA, VA, Rural Housing and FHA loans?  Can you do … (0 comments)

mortgages: Demystifying Credit Scores - 10/03/09 01:18 PM
Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a conference call with Dave Wheeler from Credit Plus. Credit Plus is a credit scoring company that supplies information to mortgage lenders. In other words, Dave is "the man" (or one of them) that creates, interprets and manipulates the credit scoring model. During our conference call, he demystified many things for me, that I would like to pass along to you... it was a lot of information, so I have broken up these topics into a series of mini-posts for your easy reference.Part 1:  All Credit Scores Are Not Created Equal - now availablePart 2:  How Inquiries Affect Your … (0 comments)

mortgages: Professionals, Your Input Needed - 07/30/08 03:33 AM
Lenders and Agents, you are on the front lines, so I NEED your input here.  Tell me of situations that you see that result in foreclosure.  Don't get into blame... I want to know what the situations of the homeowners are, why it is their only choice.  I don't (for purposes of this question) want to know who caused the situation, just what the situation is, and how we could/should be keeping it from getting worse.  Things that are of interest to me....
1. Was there a hardship that caused the home to become unaffordable, and if so, what?
2. Was there … (5 comments)