Roberto Ribas's Discussions

Alpine, those kind of questions on feedback I dont mind. Or if i find something that the agent needs to be aware of, such as a green pool, water leak etc on a vacant home then I call them instantly. But usually, after a long day of showing home that all have 4br 2ba in a neighborhood that all look the same, someone calls for feedback, and you have no clue what home they are talking about. And they just won't give up. "its the home with 4br 2baths" ok all the ones that cleint saw had those features. Its in "prestigious subdivision" ok they were all there!, it was painted some variant of tan.... (in phx that is almost every home) Then they agent asks if your client has any interest in the home. (75% of the time) obviously no, or we would have written or be writing an offer! Newbies will then sometimes ask, do you think the house is fairly priced? Not a smart question, if my buyer is interested in this home, I get an opportunity to try for a discount right here and now, without bothering to commit to an offer. An answer like, "well, they like the house, but think the price is really too high compared to others..." may just may get the agent and seller to lower the price before we even start an offer... Thus I will stick to my original opinion: nothing good is likely to come from calling people for feedback... It doesn't really bother me, but I just don't see the poing

quite mature, you have used more and more profane words in your postings...

andrew! I concur completely! Actually making any money at this is much tougher! And realtors are the worst at pricing their own homes!!!!

You know I have been thinking about this alot...I have my homes paid off, but i was thinking of cashing out with 30yr fixed loans, 70%ltv or whatever on all of them, and just tossing the money in online banks. If the loans come out to say 6.5% and the online bank pays 5.5%, then I just lose 1% on the total amount. Interest against rentals writes off against income from the rental anyways, so the tax is a wash...Kinda seems to me like a safe bet for rising interest rates; Heck one percent more and I am breaking even, if, say in the next 10 years rates climb a lot, it would be a solid play even just buying bonds...If real estate truly tanks, I will have huge reserves to pick up properties when the rental values make sense...the reasons I thing ghennis might be on to interest rates climbing in the future:The chinese are sick of our bonds.social security will quit adding to its stockpile in about 6 years, give or take...

I am a greedy buyer! I would like to buy your house for $0, thats right nothing, and in fact I would like you to leave suitcases full of money in it!I am also a greedy seller, I would like someone to walk up and offer me several hundred thousand more than my house is worth!I am a greedy agent too! If you insist on paying me a really big commision I will take it!Why does none of this matter? Because the buyer and seller must have what is called a "meeting of the minds of competent parties" so each has to give up on the fantasy...

Jack: To heck with getting a commission on your own house!Instead, once you reach a price, cut the buyer brokers compensation to exactly your transaction charge at your brokerage, and take most of the 3% as a credit for closing costs, reduction in price whatever...That way, it isn't taxable income you get 1099'd for later!

Alpine:"banks aren't selling homes cheaply???" you ok there buddy? seriously??I just comped one foreclosure ... 100% loan at 605K in early 06 (and a fair comp at that price at that time) now REO on banks website and the MLS, They started at 585K (already a loss) now listed at 515K for 30 days still no action.... I will keep you posted...That is the effect of ONE house on setting price in an area... Next year will be as the chinese say, "interesting time" (which means really bad!)

Randy_H:You are a smart guy, and I have a question thats been sticking me and I don't have a good answer for it. I know, I have been called a "know it all" on here, but here goes:Why do banks bid all the way to their loan value? Is it just to protect their precious balance sheet? I mean so for one or two more quarters, they can not have to recognize the loss but still, with all the smart lawyers and finance people at banks, it would seem to me they could easily the folly in this action:Example: XYZ bank has a mortgage in foreclosure on a home, original loan value 600k, with late and laywer fees, now at 625K. Home with great luck, and in good condition (hardly likely) could maybe sell for 525K today. So why on earth would the bank send a minimum bid at 600K or so? Especially as bad as banks are at selling their inventory, and maintaing homes, they are taking a huge risk of turning a 100k loss into a 200K loss!Anyways, hope you check back; I just don't get it. seems kinda like cutting your whole foot off so nobody finds out your toe is bleeding!

Randy:I did not understand the blow up at "allah" the other day... but the light is starting to come on!Ok I'll bite:Lets say sellers all start paying $20000 incentives. THen yes, sales prices and comps will increase by $20000. However, that is it! once that 20K jump is added into prices, the increases would be over, and absent another change in the market dynamics, prices would stabalize. It would never set off a bubble like we have seen in many markets.

hmmm; as rentals I think the bank inspectors would have a big problem with that. They would be acting as real estate holding companies then, I think thats a nono. So, they would probably have to set up a subsidiary and sell en masse to the subsidiary, and even that would probably get duly examined...But, and here is the real reason I ask the question:In a large bank with a large home equity and mortgage department, it seems to me that, given the volumes and values of loans the lending department writes, when the department that sells the loans off or collatoralizes them or whatever begins having trouble (say 2 weeks ago) the bank could build up massive exposure long before management had any handle on the problem. So even a bank with a nice looking balance sheet one onth ago, could be sitting on top of tons of residential/commercial/home equity paper that it can no longer sell, on top of substantial unrecognized losses in their REO property department.And if that bank did most of its dollar volume business in say, california, and its stock had not come down much over this year, well enough said...