The Real Estate Forum

What Exactly Does "Green Building" Mean?

2007-04-19T20:42:00.000-07:00

LEED certification is a great marketing tool, but what does it mean?“Green building” is the growing buzzword in construction and real estate these days. The concept of green building has gained favor with the general public, who perceive value in a building’s longevity and reduced maintenance costs. As more and more homes and commercial buildings tout their “green building” status, few

Foreclosure Roundup

2007-04-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

There were a number of submissions to the Foreclosure Central roundup. I can only assume that most people were tied up with taxes, as very few of the submissions had anything at all to do with foreclosure.The most insightful blog author regarding foreclosure was Andrea Dickson at Wise Bread. In her article "How to Avoid Foreclosure" she gives homeowners who might be facing foreclosure some real

Lowest Common Denominator LawsAnd the Subprime Lending Market

2007-03-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

In the United States, laws are typically written for and around the very small percentage of the population who, for some reason, need to be told very basic things. It’s truly unfortunate that some in our society do need laws and penalties to prevent or punish them for things the rest of us would simply never think of doing. And I truly think that the majority should not accept this any

Blog Carnival "Foreclosure Central" #1

2007-03-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

This month the news has been packed with doomsday talk about subprime loans, mortgage fraud, and market correction. It seemed like a logical time to start a "Foreclosure Central" blog carnival.The reality is, foreclosure rates have been steadily rising over the past six months. Many Americans are looking to the originators of these

FBI Issues Mortgage Fraud Warning

2007-03-12T09:29:00.000-07:00

Last week, the FBI issued a strong statement regarding mortgage fraud. The announcement confirmed that the agency is working with the Mortgage Bankers Association to prevent and prosecute mortgage fraud. The action is reminiscent of the early whistleblower channels that were established in order to more effectively prosecute corporate misdeeds. It also sounds like the warning shot to offenders

The Media's Mishandling of the Casey Serin Story

2007-03-09T21:03:00.000-08:00

If you missed our previous primer on Casey and Galina Serin, I would encourage you to go back and read "Mortgage Fraud: Why Lenders Need to Know Casey Serin." My friend Aspeth and I are trading off blog posts on this story, and she picked up today's meme. I've cleaned up the content a tad, as Aspeth has been known to make sailors blush. For this portion of the thread, Aspeth wanted to focus on

Mortgage Fraud Why Lenders Need to Know the Name"Casey Serin"

2007-03-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

Real estate practitioners are often slow in adapting to new technologies. I understand why--most successful real estate professionals spend very little time in an office, much less say in front of a computer.But this is a compelling reason why you should keep up to date with basic technologies: SAFETY. Real estate practitioners have

Call For Carnival Submissions"Foreclosure Central"

2007-03-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, we've had a significant amount of request for foreclosure information. With that in mind, we are opening the floor to submissions from homeowners, investors, and real estate/mortgage professionals to share what they know on this topic.This will be an ongoing carnival, with submission deadlines at midnight (Eastern) on

Innovative Marketing Ideas

2007-03-04T08:07:00.000-08:00

Since there are plenty of real estate agents and investors who come to this page, I thought I'd include a great marketing story I found this week. It struck me as an opportunity to remind ourselves to continually reinvent the way we do business.Against all standard business advice, an Atlanta woman has generated an incredible buzz

PMI Explained

2007-02-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

PMI, or Private Mortgage Insurance, has been around for a while. But it used to be reserved for people with less-than-stellar credit ratings. In its early days, PMI was a mark of shame of sorts, the scarlet letter that home buyers carried with them and averted their eyes when discussing the topic.WHO HAS PMI?In recent years, The 2006 Real Estate Year in Review

2007-02-23T13:37:00.000-08:00

The 2006 numbers have been tallied, and it turns out that it was a bit of a cool year. Overall, real estate prices continued to trend upward, but at a much slower rate than in previous years.What will 2007 hold? Of course, real estate agents and brokers are nervous. They and the folks in the mortgage industry will be watching Fed rates closely in the coming year. The days of easy refinances and

A Common Myth of Home Buying

2007-02-22T01:15:00.000-08:00

Piggybacking off of my last post, Hiring Real Estate Agents, What's Your Method of Choice? I'd like to address a common misconception among home buyers.Every couple of months, it seems, I have to talk a friend or family member out of doing this, so I thought I'd share this common myth with the rest of the world.hire a real estate agent?Personally, I'm one of those highly-strung researchers who spends ages of time

The Changing Face of Homeowners Insurance

2007-02-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

Two states to watch in 2007 will certainly be Mississippi and Florida. The real estate markets in these two states have traditionally withstood natural disasters such as hurricaines. But insurers are fleeing the disaster-prone areas, leaving homeowners, and states, with no safety net.State Farm made a huge round of news stories when

Homestead Exemptions

2007-02-19T16:44:00.001-08:00

Many homeowners have never heard the term "Homestead Exemption." There are three possible reasons for this. First, you live in a state that does not require an Exemption Declaration, such as Texas, meaning that your Homestead Exemption is automatic. Second, you might live in one of the small number of states that do not offer their residents the protection of a Homestead Exemption. Third, your

Hot Real Estate News, Feb. 15, 2007

2007-02-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

Hot Real Estate NewsFebruary 15, 2007The Wall Street Journal reports that 100% loans are losing favor with lenders. Typically referred to as an 80-20 loan, the second mortgage rounds out the loan amount to a full 100% for buyers without a down payment. Lenders are having a difficult time reselling these loans on the secondary market, and are wary of upcoming foreclosure rates from the already

Refuting "Facts" at RealtyTimes.com

2007-02-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

It looks like we get to kick things off with a piece that proves the need for our website's very existence. The well respected site Realtytimes.com posted an interesting article on its homepage today. Interesting, because if you try to follow the advice within, you'll wind up committing tax fraud.Today, Diane Kennedy writes about the generous $250,000/$500,000 capital gains exclusion that

Welcome to The RE Forum - The Real Estate Forum

2007-02-19T16:36:00.000-08:00

The idea for this site came from the hundreds of hours I've spent in research and conversations with friends and family about real estate. The fact is, there are a lot of myths and urban legends out there about real estate. And we're here to provide solid facts for homeowners, home buyers, and home sellers. Heck, we'll even let real estate agents, brokers, and other industry folks play with us.