By Don Dunning | May 22, 2010
I have always counseled my buyers to be careful not to take on additional debt, or to even apply for more credit, right before they purchase a home or during the escrow period. This is because banks use ratios of borrowers’ debt to income to grant or refuse loans. In an effort to tighten up […]
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | May 14, 2010
In the overheated real estate market of 2004 to 2005, many buyers paid outrageously high prices for properties that were not special in quality or location. This included numerous ones that were decidedly underwhelming. Now, a plethora of purchasers are either victims of foreclosure, have sold for large losses or are paying mortgages on houses worth a lot less than their total loans.
Conversely, in today’s much weaker market, where prices have softened substantially, we see some homes listed at unrealistic amounts. These are the ones that sit unsold. In a number of situations, overpriced properties that did not sell were taken off the market and are now back on at equally improbable figures.
We can ask: “What advice, if any, did the agent give his or her buyer or seller?”
Read MoreBy Don Dunning | May 1, 2010
One casualty of the mortgage meltdown was the disappearance, especially in California and other “declining markets,” of private mortgage insurance (PMI) companies. These were the ones that handled the majority of home loans where the borrower put down less than 20%. With PMI companies no longer backstopping these low-down mortgages, borrowers flocked to FHA loans, […]
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