Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate

Guidelines for the Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate.

As always, I arranged the entries that met guidelines into three levels, based upon originality, usefulness to the consumer, and how much thought and effort and research went into an entry.

Last time, I was very happy at the quality of the articles I received in submission. This time, quite a bit less so.

The Highly Recommended Category:

I almost didn't award a Host's Choice Award this time, but upon reflection, it goes to Loose Lips Sink Ships (or The Strategy of Silence in REI). I'm not certain if this was intended partially or even completely tongue-in-cheek, but the underlying advice is good: Don't let ignoramuses talk you out of a properly vetted investment. On the other hand, do talk to experts - as many as you can. If one of them voices a valid concern you can't answer, that's the proverbial horse of a different color.

Your host submits Which Makes More Difference - Buyer's Agent or Listing Agent?

Recommended articles

Full Doc, Stated Doc, and All The Other Mortgage Doc Types makes a couple of errors, as noted in comments, but is good information and worth reading.

Cool Gifts For The Real Estate Lover, Investor, Homeowner: A Photo Gallery is kind of commercial, but not in a self-promoting way, and also interesting.

Met guidelines

Student Housing - A Niche Market - The "Echo Boomers" are off to College is an good overview of issues, and would have made the "recommended" category had it been less explicitly a commercial. But even with the mandatory deduction, I still think it merits inclusion.

Are Subprime Loans Worth It For Your Mortgage? is a basic wide category article that offers very little in the way of useful information. In reality, the reasons for going subprime vary, and are most often a combination of credit score, low equity/down payment, and ability to document income. Furthermore, very few sub-prime lenders maintain public branches, unless they're a branch of a lender that also does A paper, and the actual profit margins are higher for sub-prime lenders. But it met guidelines for inclusion.

Ameriquest Compensates Victimized Mortgage Borrowers is only worth reading if you're one of their victims. But it met guidelines for inclusion.

Sam Zell says Subprime Crisis "Manageable" seems to be a classic "appeal to authority". But it met guidelines for inclusion.

Buying a Home near campus is a good investment is a very basic "think about this" article. But it met guidelines for inclusion.

I was looking for an excuse to exclude Rent Back House Tips To Avoid Home Loss, as it provided almost no useful information and made absolutely no mention of the fact that a very large fraction of these deals are scams with one purpose or another (most often to purchase a sucker's home for a below market price under terms they'll never meet for repurchase). But it met guidelines for inclusion.

Please, can we do better next time?

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in two weeks (January 2nd, 2008), here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be December 31st. And please Read the Guidelines before submitting.