Home Buyers Blog

Do We Need More Sites That Post House Listings?

I'm not an MLS apologist. I believe that information wants to be free and that agents should be good interpreters of information and not gatekeepers, but we're coming to a point where listing real estate is going to get much worse before it gets better.

While Zillow.com made the big splash in allowing people to list their homes for sale, the Merc announces that HomeGain and HouseValues are joining the fray. HouseValues (which, in full disclosure, I hold an ever shrinking stock position in) will make it easier to post on Google classifieds and Oodle, while HomeGain will be facilitating listings to its own web site.

Maze

What concerns me isn't the availability of this information, but that people looking at real estate will not be able to make decisions based on the highest quality information. Here's why.

Dec.15.2006 [ Filed under: Bay Area Real Estate, Home Buyers, Home Owners ] Comment Here »

Middle Ground Between Lies, Damn Lies, and Mary Poppins?

I read the San Jose Mercury News article today titled "Bay Area homes' price down 1.4% from a year ago" and pictured yet another heated discussion between the two propaganda crowds.

You know, the ones who want to make money and blindly say the sky isn't falling and the others who always carry around steel-reinforced umbrellas, not for protecting others, but to whack other people over the head with after they say, "I told you so."

Clearly there's some middle ground.

Recut Trailer of Mary Poppins

Data is open to interpretation, and just like you can turn Mary Poppins into a horror movie or The Ring into a love story, with a little music and some sound effects, you can move from lies, to damn lies, to statistics in just the same amount of time. So the key is to be able to think for yourself and make decisions that are based on your own requirements and risk tolerance.

Dec.15.2006 [ Filed under: Bay Area Real Estate, Home Buyers, Home Owners ] Comment Here »

Don’t Get Financially Drawn-and-Quartered

The good folks at The Digerati Life raise an interesting, realistic scenario about a family that is upgrading to a new house but the sale for the old one fell through. The question raised is: what would you do now?

Catch-22

Unfortunately, a great way of dealing with Catch-22 situations is to avoid them completely. It's a matter of clearly communicating what you need in your negotiations. Here are some ideas to help prevent this situation or help bail water if you're in it already.

Dec.13.2006 [ Filed under: Bay Area Real Estate, Home Buyers, Home Owners ] Comment Here »

How Much Should You Allocate as a Down Payment?

A long time ago, people put 20% of the purchase price as a down payment when buying a home. You would pay this 20% upfront as a "cash" down payment through a cashiers check or by wiring money to the seller, and get a mortgage to pay them the remaining 80% of the price of the house.

These days, very few people expect the optimal 20% down payment. As a borrower, you have choices that provide you greater financial flexibility, or more stability at a higher upfront cost.

Piggy Bank

Dec.11.2006 [ Filed under: Bay Area Real Estate, Home Buyers, Mortgages ] 1 Comment »

Home Buyers: 5 Costly Mistakes to Avoid

This article by the late Bob Bruss on costly mistakes home buyers should avoid illustrates some key points but it’s important to emphasize a couple subtleties.

The asking price of a home should be completely inconsequential to the price you offer. A common mistake both investors and first-time home buyers make is negotiating from the asking price.

Money