Recently in Carnivals Category

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

We have an editor's choice award! What If The Real Estate INDUSTRY Didn't Control The Real Estate Market? I have some disagreements with Brian about the demand side of the market and its disclosure, but he's got a valid point. Actually, the NAR controls the market for the benefit of the major chain brokerages, not sellers.

You host presents They Told Me Not To Make My Loan Payment

RECOMMENDED

11 things to ASK about when buying a new home in Colorado Springs The whole thing is worth reading no matter where you're thinking about buying, but 4, 6 10, and 11 need to be greatly expanded upon. You wouldn't believe the problems that come in those areas - unless you've dealt with aftermath a time or two.

Eight reasons why you should invest in residential real estate makes a couple of errors but is a good recap for those who came in on this reel.

Living In A Small Home: Pros and Cons of Downsizing Our House talks about living in a smaller home. Even her smaller 1600 foot square home is twice the size our grandparents raised large families in.

MET GUIDELINES

Save Money On Property Taxes With Appeal Very vague, but met guidelines

A Buyer's Guide to Home Security Camera Systems begs the question of why you would buy a home where you need them.

The One Main Reason Why This Bear Market In Stocks Is Not Over actually meets guidelines by talking about real estate and mortgages. Nonetheless, there are a lot of misunderstandings and omissions in his article.

Gold Investing Info submitted an article that barely mentioned real estate. I dug for gold in his article and only came up with Iron Pyrite.

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A site named Apply for Credit submitted an article called, "Your Monthly Credit Card Statements Are Not Junk Mail" Well, no. However, the article did not so much as mention real estate. If he wants credit for being correct, denied.

A site named Online Spyware Removal submitted something about online spyware removal that did not so much as mention real estate. His online spyware has been purged.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on July 30, 2009, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight July 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

There were no strongly recommended articles this time.

RECOMMENDED

Closing on Our First Rental Property is a decent overview of issues regarding rental properties.

8 Common Selling Mistakes Basic but some things cannot be repeated too often.

Help! My Home is going to tax sale This is far from universal. California's rules are completely different (for example it can take up to 5 years to condemn a property for unpaid taxes, but interest and penalties start accruing from the first day you're late).

Your host presents You Want an Agency That Can Pay ENOUGH Attention to YOU

MET GUIDELINES

Oswego Townhouse Nightmare about a developer folding midway through a project

Is Now The Time To Buy A House?

I usually don't include posts of this nature, but I'm making an exception for Killearn Lakes Unit 1 Home Prices Holding for one very worthwhile nugget of information: "The previous two real estate graphs are a classic example why most real estate reports are flawed. They lead you to believe that prices are going up or prices are going down, solely based upon the movement of the average sales price. As we saw in these graphs of home sales in Killearn Lakes Unit 1, it is possible for the average price to go up, while values are dropping."

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A clown named Jacques Groenewald submitted a post "Make Easy Money On Ebay" which did not so much as mention real estate. This joker cannot even handle easy to understand instructions on submitting to this carnival - and they're giving advice on Arbitrage between auction houses?

The same website submitted a second article called "Thinking Like a Millionare - 5 Steps To Understanding a Millionare's Mindset" All of the millionaires I know of have no trouble with easy things like submitting appropriate articles. Maybe he doesn't understand Millionaires as well as he thinks.

Finally, they submitted another article which just plain pimped a scam alleged to make money from twitter posts. After three strikes, anyone is out, let alone a multiple spammer. Back in with the rest of the slime. 'Tis the Blacklist for you, ya scurvy dog! Except that I think I just insulted scurvy dogs.

"Cheap ways to make your own online beats" was another spam article that was submitted. Well, spamster, you lost.

The same Clown, Ruoall Chapman, submitted more spam "Everything you need to know about how to Make Online Beats", beclowing himself in ignominy. I blacklisted him. You should probably do the same.

Someone named Raag Vamdatt couldn't afford a clue and so submitted "How to use a credit card the financially prudent way" which does not so much as mention real estate. If he can't follow directions - or even wonder if perhaps Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate is not the place to be submitting a credit card post, then perhaps there is a fundamental disconnect in his thinking on other subjects?

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on June 30, 2009, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight June 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

Jay Thompson beat me to writing this article! He submits Making an Offer on a Home. It's not all about the Benjamin's.... If you're thinking about buying or selling, please go read his article. It wins this carnival's Host's Choice Award

Your host presents Shopping For The Best Loan In The New Lending Environment

RECOMMENDED

Real Estate Options 101 - For the Unemployed. There are a lot of mistakes here, and things that may not apply in your state, but it's still worthwhile reading overall. Just don't take it as gospel without independent confirmation.

MET GUIDELINES

Red-Tag 50% Sale on Homes, Going On Now. Strange; I know this writer knows better than to try and time the market. People who bought at the peak did not overpay just because houses around them are now cheaper. That was the price then. This is the price now. Wait a bit and prices will be different.

Are real estate prices stickier in Central America? Well, yes. They don't have the financing opportunities we do. Nowhere else does. Check the interest rates and down payment requirements in Mexico or Europe sometime.

Property and Casualty Insurance - What You Should Know. Nothing really wrong with this article, simply not much useful information. A little bit more research would have gone a long way.

Solar Energy Tax Credit: Will You Install Solar Panels?

Owning Versus Renting is correct as far as it goes, but it needs a lot more work to be a recommended article. Nor would I recommend his choice of finding a provider.

Top 50 Real Estate Blogs

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

An illiterate named Ralph Jean-Paul submitted a post about self-discipline that did not so much as mention real estate. Ralph Jean-Paul needs the self discipline of learning to do things right. Ralph Jean-Paul needs the self discipline not to submit to carnivals in violation of guidelines. Ralph Jean-Paul needs to stop sending out spam in hopes of getting a link from a real website.

That and two people whom I won't publicly name who submitted twelve and eight articles respectively - all plagiarized.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on May 30, 2009, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight May 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival. There was an disproportionate amount of inappropriate material (pure spam and link spam) submitted this month, and another huge dollop of material that was just plain worthless or actively wrong and damaging to any who might have paid attention to it. Readers: Be careful who you trust out there.

Out of 55 submissions, I was only able to use nine in good conscience, and one of those was a dual submission. To be fair, three people submitted more than twenty submissions between them and have now been blacklisted, so it might not be quite as bad as first glance suggests, but 10/33 isn't a sterling ratio either. If you submitted and were not included, READ THE GUIDELINES before submitting again, put some thought and effort into it, and check your work with someone who knows what they're talking about in the field of real estate. If you can't write quality articles containing accurate information, don't bother. I will skip a month or cancel the carnival altogether before I link to the stuff I rejected. It does you no good to submit fecal matter. It wastes your time and mine. I would rather have one article or none at all than link to crap.

End rant.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

I don't like to toot my own horn, but this one is just that much better than the other stuff submitted Buyers: Stretching Your Budget Means Compromise

RECOMMENDED

The Asset Protection Misconception: Why Insurance Alone Isn't Enough Reads like an insurance post at first, but it evolves into an article telling you why you should have a limited liability or business entity taking title to an investment property because it protects your other assets in the event of a successful tenant lawsuit.

How to Respond to Late-Paying or No-Paying Tenants gives a pretty straightforward approach to the problem.

Is it Ethical to Re-Lock your Mortgage Deal when Rates Drop? He neglects to mention that the lender you locked with has already ordered your money and committed to paying for that money. A lock is a bargain you should not break without better reason than "I can do better now." You were happy with it or you wouldn't have locked in the first place. The lender has to deliver to you; contracts are not one sided. You should expect to live up to a lock you agree to. A better plan is to try renegotiating that lock with the same lender.

Housing Rebound "The last piece of the puzzle to a housing recovery is a lower inventory of homes available for sale. Once this equation returns to a more historical level, housing prices should start to rise." That is market specific. Here in San Diego, we've seen inventory levels drop over fifty percent from a year ago. Also, treasuries have no longer have direct impact upon mortgage rates. It's the rates on securitized mortgage bonds that you need to watch.

MET GUIDELINES

An Interesting Day Today. Yes, when banks are telling you they're not willing to loan money on a property, that's something to be careful about. What they're saying is that if you don't make your payments, the bank doesn't think they can sell it to someone else.

Why it's a Great Time to Remodel Your Home

location, location, location

Free Insulation - R Value

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS
I got a blortload of spam submissions this month. Uselessly vague, misinformed, and flat out wrong information. I don't know who posted the carnival to the spammeisters forum, but it's not doing you any good. However, most of them at least mentioned real estate, and it's vaguely possible that some of them were written in good faith by hydrocephalic six year olds who have no clue what they're talking about. Be careful about what you trust on the internet - ask yourself what assurance do you have that this writer has a clue about what they're writing on, because I got at least a dozen submissions that would cost you tens of thousands of dollars if you paid attention to their advice. Nonetheless, because they were real estate articles, I could not fairly put them in this section.

Someone named Bill Johnson submitted a post claiming to help people make money that was a recruiting pitch for a multi-level marketing scheme. No, it did not so much as mention real estate. What a scamming spamming moron.

A site named 401k Lookup submitted a completely worthless post about borrowing from your 401k that did not mention real estate. Not only did it not mention real estate, it didn't build any kind of a case for what it was proposing. You don't want to use a financial advisor that votes "present".

An idiot named Jack Schmidt submitted a whole bunch of articles having precisely nothing to do with real estate. By this evidence, he's either illiterate or feels that guidelines are for other people, if he even thinks there are other people on the planet. I'm not real certain he does. For multiple link spam submissions, this clown can join the Blacklist.

Another person who believes that he's too important to follow guidelines is Jim DeSantis, who submitted an irrelevant political post. I may agree with more of it than I disagree, but it should not have been submitted to this carnival.

Yet another imbecile named Steve wanted to tell us about how to buy mailing lists, submitting multiple posts for his loser site Mailing List Resources. Here's a couple of clues for this clearly challenged individual: This is the Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate. Marketing has no function here except enabling consumers to deal successfully with marketing. Second, even agents who use mailing lists don't buy them if they want to be successful. The only list relevant to this clown is the Blacklist.

Yet another boob named Jay submitting spam for his computer repair business. I wouldn't use him at all as he clearly is incapable of paying attention to even major information, and I definitely wouldn't trust him to deal with a spam, trojan horse, or virus problem as he's part of that problem, not the solution.

Damn, it's the Month of the Mailing List Zombies. If you ever do meet Mike Stevens from Biz Data List, I suggest you employ any anti-zombie measures you think appropriate. My first measure is placing his email and site on the Blacklist for the carnival.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on April 30, 2009, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight April 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

HOST'S CHOICE AWARD: An Excellent point from Reba Haas: Did you know that spot approvals can be used for FHA financing on condos?. Some people advise FHA loan property shoppers to start with the FHA approved list of condos. This is horrid advice, especially as those units usually know they're on the list and try to ask for a price premium. The rules have changed a bit (spot approval now requires 60% owner occupancy), but if the complex meets those requirements, you can get an FHA loan.

Your Host presents Finding a Good Buyer's Agent (And Eliminating Bad Ones)

RECOMMENDED

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit

From Australia comes House-hunting expenses and how to minimize them (part 2). They must do things really differently over there.

Should You Buy A House If You Are In Debt?. Tellingly, none of the people he asked are either Realtors or Loan Officers, but the answer is "almost certainly not". No money at all for a down payment, no room in the budget for increased home expenses, and payments on $36,000 of debt that eat up (at a guess) about $900 out of a total back end monthly allowance of $1425 for housing plus debt service. So $525 has to pay for the mortgage plus taxes and insurance and maintenance? Not anywhere I know of. But halve the debt and double the income (or even just increase it a little), and the answer becomes quite different.

MET GUIDELINES

50 Tools to Research Your New Home, Neighborhood, and Community Some of the tools are useful, but others are a waste of time or worse.

How Do You Lower Your Real Estate Taxes? suffers a mandatory one category downgrade for explicit solicitation, but actually gives some decent information for Minnesota. If you're in California, the property will be automatically reassessed to the purchase price. If your value has fallen since purchase, your county tax assessor has a simple form. The San Diego Assessment Appeals Board website is here

Home Mistake needs a lot more analysis to say whether it really was a mistake, but it met guidelines.

Lowest Mortgage Refinance Rate Comparison by the Readers! is an entry I'm going to include despite some basic misconceptions because it allows me to tell you some of what is wrong about it. If you want the lowest rate, you're always going to pay a lot of points because there is a tradeoff between rate and cost, one that varies every single day (and often, within a day) dependent upon the bond market. Furthermore, it relied upon allowing lenders to tell you what they have - with absolutely no assurance that the lender intends to actually deliver what they talk about. Lenders are permitted to lowball quotes shamelessly, and neither a Good Faith Estimate, an MLDS (the California equivalent) or any other standard form you get at the beginning of a loan prevents this. New regulations take effect at the end of 2009 that will make it a little harder for them to get away with lying - but not much. I could go on at length, but I think the point has been made.

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

I got a blortload of spam submissions this month. Uselessly vague, misinformed, and flat out wrong information. I don't know who posted the carnival to the spammeisters forum, but it's not doing you any good. However, most of them at least mentioned real estate, and it's vaguely possible that some of them were written in good faith by hydrocephalic six year olds who have no clue what they're talking about. Be careful about what you trust on the internet - ask yourself what assurance do you have that this writer has a clue about what they're writing on, because I got at least a dozen submissions that would cost you tens of thousands of dollars if you paid attention to their advice. Nonetheless, because they were real estate articles, I could not fairly put them in this section.

A site named Make Money Easy Online submitted a post called Why Making Money Online is NOT so Easy. But he's not helping matters - in fact, his advice in this article would make it noticeably harder to make money online (seriously, advising someone it's okay to join Multi-Level Marketing schemes? The drug addicts in rehab know better than that!)

A site named Recession Thoughts submitted a post entitled Obama's Stimulus Plan Is A Complete Joke. Well, yes, and I'll even go one further and say the "stimulus" he signed was simply pork mislabelled - worse than a total waste. Nonetheless, it's completely inappropriate for this carnival.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on March 30, 2009, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight March 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

We have an Editor's Choice Award!

"I Can't Pay The Rent" - A Landlords Take on What to Do. This is sane. This is intelligent. The only reason I can see not to do it this way is because you aren't.

Well done!

Your Host submits Fifteen Year Loans: Are They A Good Idea?

RECOMMENDED

10 Tips for Homeowners to Improve their home's value

Follow Real Housing Market Movements With Trend Analysis

Home, Mortgage, Landlords and Renters Insurance explained is aimed at Australia, not the United States, and several critical concepts are different here. Here in the US, liability is a part of all home insurance policies. Landlords (HO 5) and Renters (HO 4) are different forms of the standard homeowner's insurance policy here, mortgage insurance is utterly different, and there are many other differences.

Subsidence Insurance Risk Increases in the Year of the Ox

MET GUIDELINES

It's Time to Estimate the Market Value of Your Home. Um, the first question I would ask is "Why do you want to know?" Unless you have some planning type reason to know, or a reason why you want to sell, it just isn't important. The far more important observation I will make is that there isn't a single automated valuation service that is consistently within ten percent of sales price. Since even 5% off is enough to make them worse than useless, I would avoid automated value mechanisms. Don't confuse yourself with bad data.

Most Common Types Of Mortgage Loans is really talking about amortization types. He makes two mistakes: hybrids are more common than "pure ARMs" and also less dangerous in that there a period of some years where you know what the interest rate will be. Once a loan enters its adjustable phase (immediately in the case of "pure" ARMs) you have no idea what the next adjustment will be.

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A site named Cheapo Groovo submitted a post called "Why Muni Bonds Are A Bad Investment!" that did not so mention as real estate. Nor did it really say why muni bonds are a bad investment - only that some were. I think Cheapo Groovo needs to put the cheap dope down long enough to experience the same reality as everyone else.

A site named Information Marketing, Info Marketing, Blog Marketing, Internet Marketing sent a post that asks the question, "Can blogging kill you?" We can only hope that in his case, the answer is yes, so we don't have to endure his spam. It did not so much as mention real estate, among other sins.

In a "two strikes for one opportunity", he then submitted an article that asks "Will Microblogging (Twitter) kill Blogging?" From the evidence, it will only enable him to increase his spam level, because once again, he failed to so much as mention real estate.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on February 28, 2009, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight February 26th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

There were no strongly recommended articles submitted this time.

RECOMMENDED

Home prices to decline another 20% has a lot of data and is worth reading for the thought process, but see how many reasons you can spot for disagreeing with the conclusion as I do.

Don't let your dream house become a nightmare discusses rehabilitating "meth houses" and is specific to Colorado, but a lot of the information applies elsewhere.

New Home Staging Tips That Will Sell Your House You Can Do It Yourself This is only a small part of the battle, but an important one.

Your host presents The Hope (Dashed) For Homeowners Program

MET GUIDELINES

The Benefits of a Pre-Retirement Vacation Home

Spruce it Up - 25 DIY Tips to Improve your Home's Exterior Looks like link-trolling so they can sell engineering schools, but they did meet the guidelines.

Real Estate Supply And Demand gets the idea right but is very basic, to the point of wondering if you learned anything from the time you spend reading it. But it did meet guidelines.

Santa, All I Want for Christmas is a Decent-Sized, Decent-Priced House. Observation: if the properties are selling for those prices, then they're not overpriced, are they?

Getting a Second Mortgage Generic, and really no useful information, but it does meet guidelines.

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

The mental midget at NLP Marketing Blog sent a self improvement post that did not so much as mention real estate on the benefits of visualization. Visualization lacks the real world feedback of whether you're actually getting the skills correct - for instance, he probably visualized getting accepted and a link from this carnival, instead he is getting the real world feedback of a severe fail. Given this feedback, it's conceivable he'll will gain the skill of submitting to carnivals. Then again, maybe he'll just go visualize writing something on real estate. But if he'd better actually do so before submitting to this carnival again.

Campello Apartments is trolling a "get rich quick" scheme guaranteed to get him rich. Others, not so much. Very short on details, no concrete information whatsoever. Avoid this clown if you value your wallet.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on January 30, 2009, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight December 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

There were no strongly recommended articles this time, and therefore, no Host's Choice.

RECOMMENDED

Do neighbors really make good fences? talks about adverse possession, a real fact of the law that can cause you to lose title to part of your property.

Asheville, Anywhere: Costs of Heat and Utilities talks about how to take the cost of utilities into consideration when buying.

How To Calculate Blended Interest Rates. Please note that blended interest rates tend to rise slightly with time, as the lower interest loan gets paid off more quickly in most cases.

Save Money (and the Planet) While Remodeling Your Home talks about deconstruction. Keep in mind that for most people, a $4200 tax deduction does not offset $2500 in direct expenses, but it's it definitely something worth considering. Check with a tax professional, of course.

MET GUIDELINES

How To Stay Calm In The Real Estate Market

Investors & Landlords: What Kind of Car Should You Drive?

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A Site named Home Security Guru submitted an article called "A Buyers guide to Security Camera Systems", which failed to so much as mention real estate. He may call himself a home security guru, but he's a spamming nitwit.

A Site named The Quisani League submitted a purely political post The Future of Tomorrow which makes several factual errors, has no thought process, and fails to so much as mention real estate. Spam spam spam spam...

How Credit Rating Consequences Can Affect Your Life manages to mention real estate, but that's all. Furthermore, it gives no useful details, and despite this, what little information it tries to impart is mostly wrong. We have a triple crown loser!

DIY Home Security: 100 Essential Tips, Tools, and Resources uses a bullet point format for the entire article, and every single one of those bullet points is trying to sell you something. Spam trying unsuccessfully to masquerade as something useful. The entire site looks like a spam blog to me. Time for this site to join the Blacklist!

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on December 30, 2008, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight December 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

There were no strongly recommended articles this time.

RECOMMENDED

I disagree with some of what Brian Brady writes in San Diego Real Estate and Housing Outlook for 2009, but it is well reasoned and he makes a good case. Were it of broader area applicability, I would have put it in the "strongly recommended" section.

Fed Policy, Economics 101 & the Housing Market talks about some of what causes housing prices to rise or fall.

Dave McCormick On Restoring Global Stability has some good macro-economic information.

$7500 First Time Homebuyer Tax Credit is a good basic overview. It is called a tax credit, but it really is a tax loan, not a tax credit.

Your host presents Will I Qualify for the Loan to Buy Real Estate During The Market Meltdown?

MET GUIDELINES

How to Sell Your Home Fast in a Slow Housing Market gives several pieces of advice that I disagree with, some provably and objectively, but there's some good information there also.

10 Amazing, Beautiful Houses Built from Trash

Real Estate Investing Pros and Cons

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A site named Free Debt Consolidation: Qualified Financial Management submitted an article called "What Exactly Is Personal Debt Consolidation?" which failed to so much as mention real estate. Furthermore, the article was wrong about the process in several particulars, despite being vague to the point of uselessless. If that's the best thing they're written in the past month, that's really pathetic

In another violation of guidelines, they then followed up with another useless and incorrect article that doesn't so much as mention real estate called "How Can I Recover from Bankruptcy?" Two outs in one at bat. It takes talent to mess up that pathetically, and I don't mean "talent" in a good way.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on November 30, 2008, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight November 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

We Have an Editor's Choice!

Tallahassee Real Estate Blog: Bailing Out The Banks? Actually Bailing Out America! talks about what is going on, and what will happen if we do not pass a bailout plan. Repulsive as the idea of bailing out Wall Street is, if we do not do so, it's going to hurt Main Street to the tune of a lot more than the $300 billion (roughly 2.5% of GDP) they're now talking about. The country runs on credit, and right now, it is drying up, and not just mortgage credit, but commercial credit and even corporate credit (Caterpillar has some AA rated bonds they're trying to issue - the second highest possible rating, and they're paying prime plus four percent, when I'd expect something less than one. If they can't sell those bonds, they're going to have to contract, which means people will lose jobs, etcetera)

Gregg Swan submits Introduction to "A consumer's guide to the divorced real estate commission" -- the eBook. I disagree with Gregg as to the cure, but the problem does exist because people think they are getting something for "free". His entry is well thought out, and well argued. I was going to give this the Editor's Choice Award until the last minute submission above. Read It.

Your host submits The Return of Portfolio Lending

RECOMMENDED

Short Sale Blogger sends us Government Intervention to Cause Short Sale Boom. I disagree because if the government passes the bail out package like he stipulates, lenders will be in line for a government payout on bad loans, and therefore less likely to accept short sales. But read his reasoning.

Bigger Pockets: Gambling at the Foreclosure Auction: High Stakes. The man who inspired the story wasted $67,000. If you're going to play the foreclosure game, you have to get it right, and be careful, and have somebody who knows what they are doing.

MET GUIDELINES

Uncommon Advice suffers a mandatory one category penalty for commercial solicitation. He submits Increase the Chances of your Property Selling by 100%. It's geared towards the UK, not the US, but the first two pieces of advice are good anywhere that there is a market. The third suggestion is 180 degrees wrong in the US, but in the UK it might make sense.

Home For Sale: $1. The catch is that it is in Detroit.

College Student Bought Home Instead of Renting. Unfortunately, this kind of financing won't work many places besides Detroit.

I almost rejected Shopping for a Real Estate Agent because you should not sign any kind of exclusive buyer's representation. The only exception is is an agent is spending serious money on your behalf. A Non-exclusive Buyer's Agency Agreement gives the agent everything they really need - while reserving unto the prospective buyer the right to fire them or start working with other agents if they don't get the job done, or if they don't have the interests of the consumer foremost in their mind. I get hits every day for "breaking exclusive buyer agreement" But other than that one nearly unforgivable mistake, it's a decent article.

The American Dream Becomes a Nightmare

How Looks, Contracts, and Inspections Affect Real Estate Investments. Actually, in most cases neither the seller nor their agent should see the prospective buyer. And most of the sharpest investors I've met "dress down," at least when viewing a property. They're going to get at least a little bit dirty. I always do. But he's right about doing your homework.

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A Site named Future Nest Egg submitted a post about credit cards that had absolutely nothing to do with real estate. Not only did they submit off topic, but the information they did submit was mostly flat out wrong. Kind of like Jar-Jar Binks: Incompetent, wrong, and annoying.

A site named Word Press Hacker sent in a submission "Auto Create Navigation Tabs for New Pages" What that has do to with real estate is a mystery known but unto him. Just spam hoping for a link. Denied!

A site named Bankaholic submitted an article called "6 Safe Places to Invest Your Money", thus proving they have no clue as to money management. In fact, five of the six suggestions are all in serious trouble right now. Nor did the post so much as mention real estate. Doubly clueless.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on October 30, 2008, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be Midnight October 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

Last time, I said I needed to average twelve entries from the first two levels to return the carnival to every two weeks. This was not a cue to send or submit every piece of spam and irrelevant nonsense under the sun. One per author or website per carnival. Articles for consumers of real estate, not agents or loan officers, and ill-informed garbage containing more mistakes than good information will not be accepted, either. Commercial solicitation within the article is strongly frowned upon, and raises the bar for articles to qualify. The guidelines apply.

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, nor a request for duplicate submissions.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

There were no articles in this category this time.

RECOMMENDED

Behavioral Finance - Use The Investor Psychology To Your Advantage isn't aimed specifically at real estate, but it's something to keep in mind.

The Ten Commandments of Finding College Housing makes some mistakes, but is a decent primer for college students.

How To Dispute Your Property Taxes is market specific, but covers an important point: If the property is worth less than the assessed value, you can get the assessment reduced. Be aware that in most places, it's not risk free. If it is determined that the property is worth more than the assessment, your assessment can also be raised. California, thanks to Proposition 13, is mostly an exception to this.

How Do I Know If I've Been Lowballed on a Mortgage Quote?

MET GUIDELINES

You want to make money in real estate, Buy Low, Sell High. The way some people act, you'd think that was rocket science or something.

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A site called "Deposit Articles" solicited for people to write articles for them for free. The carnival wants expert articles for consumers in the subject of real estate, but they want experts to volunteer to write for free so they can get AdSense revenue. Definitely unclear on the concept, as well as being parasitic distractions from people who actually know what they're writing. How pathetic can you get?

A Site named "Discover Debt Freedom" submitted an article telling you to take a vacation in South America. The only mention of real estate in the entire article was a paid shill for a vacation rental site. How in the world vacationing abroad is going to help you pay down your debts is something I can't figure, and the whole thing is completely inappropriate spam.

A site named Credit Solutions submitted a worse than useless article that did not so much as mention real estate. Clueless, clueless, and more clueless.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

A little humor to top it off

Name your development carefully. Be careful how you pose, too.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on September 30, 2008, here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be September 28th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

There were no highly recommended articles submitted this time.

RECOMMENDED

On the slightly humorous side, Dothan Home Search gives us Three ways to avoid a hassle-free real estate closing. They really do work, and they really do waste money. Anyone want to try for the trifecta?

Your host submits Procuring Cause and Multiple Agents

MET GUIDELINES

Housing Prices Decline Slightly - A Clear Picture Is Forming is local information for Tallahassee, Florida.

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A site called "Deposit Articles" solicited for people to write articles for them for free. The carnival wants expert articles for consumers in the subject of real estate, but they want experts to volunteer to write for free so they can get AdSense revenue. Definitely unclear on the concept, as well as being parasitic distractions from people who actually know what they're writing. How pathetic can you get?

A Site named "Discover Debt Freedom" submitted an article telling you to take a vacation in South America. The only mention of real estate in the entire article was a paid shill for a vacation rental site. How in the world vacationing abroad is going to help you pay down your debts is something I can't figure, and the whole thing is completely inappropriate spam anyway.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in one month on August 31st, 2008), here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be August 29th.

I really would like to move the frequency back up to every two weeks or even every week - but I need to rely on getting about six good submissions per carnival to do that, which translates to about twelve per month to go back to bi-weekly. I'm not going to lower the standards. I want accurate articles worth reading. People will come back for quality.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

Folks, this was pathetic. I've got two usable articles this time. Everything else was a thinly disguised commercial solicitation - or even lacking the thin disguise. That's not what this carnival is about.

If this continues, the carnival will go monthly, or stop altogether.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

There were no strongly recommended articles this time.

RECOMMENDED

Silicon Valley discusses The Nuances of Real Estate Contingencies

An article taking a humorous approach to what goes wrong: Top Ten Reasons You Bought The Wrong House

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

What a post about Mommy's Medicine Bag has to do with real estate, I don't know. Some things are just beyond mortal ken - such as any possible excuse for submitting that post to a real estate carnival.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in two weeks (July 16th, 2008), here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be July 14th. If I do not get a minimum of six usable articles for that carnival, the carnival will go monthly.

UPDATE: Everything submitted as of July 14th was either vapid spam or contained errors too big to ignore. Therefore, the next carnival will be July 30th, and the carnival will thereafter be monthly.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

We have a Host's Choice Award! Yay!

Dothan Home Search sends us Five Ways to Generate a Low Ball Offer. Not only are they funny, I guarantee you these will work every time. Ergo, the Host's Choice Award.

My submission, Agents "Buying" Listings: Promising the Undeliverable and Hurting Their Clients was written independently and is less humorous.

RECOMMENDED

How to Get the Most for Your Home When it is Time to Sell by Making a Good Impression. Or how to sell, period, when other properties aren't. This can't be said too often.

For the humor value: You Know That You're a Real Estate Investor When . . .

My contribution to the list: "You read about a plan to help rescue homeowners in trouble and cry out "NO! THEY CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!"

MET GUIDELINES

Renting vs. Owning in Retirement neglects about a dozen obvious questions, such as future value of rents, future value of property, need for the cash flow, etcetera that accompany a reasonably intelligent answer. It's also reporting on what someone said, rather than saying anything of particular importance itself. But it meets guidelines.

Tallahassee Real Estate Blog discusses the expiring temporary loan limits (In the absence of new legislation, they go away December 31st, 2008)

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A site named "Goal Setting College" wanted me to advertise free magazines in the carnival. The only way to make that type of magazine useful is to print it upon toilet paper. Well, I suppose paper towels might work, also. And I suppose if you have a dog, even newsprint might be useful. But as far as actually reading this stuff, I have one word of advice: Don't.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in two weeks (July 2nd, 2008), here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be June 30th.

The guidelines for this carnival.

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.

STRONGLY RECOMMENDED

There were no strongly recommended submissions this time.

RECOMMENDED

Asheville Mountain Real Estate submits Four Essentials From the Eighth Grade for Buyers & Sellers. I disagree with point four, because the dollars for your loan are numerically constant and not subject to inflation. In other words, the table is factoring out something that should be left in. But it's a solid basic article otherwise.

How To Analyze Real Estate - The Real Estate Stack is a good, if basic, measurement of a property's likely cash flow. If net cash flow is positive, it's very hard to go wrong - it's really more a question of "How long until things go right?" On the other hand, many properties with negative cash flow are nonetheless excellent investments.

Your host presents Why Cost Is As Important As Rate For Mortgage Loans

MET GUIDELINES

Restoring Your Finances and Your Faith presents Baby Steps to Buying Real Estate

I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt, as it really seems aimed more at agents and professional photographers, but sellers could benefit from it: When Your Wife Stabs You With a Fork You Learn to Pay Attention.

Is it Better to Rent or Buy? That is The Question considers only one variable in determining the recommendation. Regulatory situation? New Housing Supply? Demand trends? Macroeconomic support levels? What's likely to happen with rents in the future? Interest rates? Paying attention only to rent ratio is a good way to get yourself into serious trouble. But it does meet guidelines.

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

"Building a Strong Financial Foundation" actually managed to mention real estate in passing. On the other hand, elementary mistakes and misunderstandings of financial planning principles indicate that the author of this piece is operating by luck. Not everyone has good luck.

"Are You Really Buying Domestic Goods?" Did not so much as mention real estate, or any problem solving whatsoever. Four paragraphs expanding upon one stupid question which is irrelevant to this carnival. Kind of like the idiots that keep asking "Why?" no matter how good the answer. At a certain point, it becomes justifiable homicide.

American Consumer News has decided to act like all the other spam bots on the internet. Despite the fact I've blacklisted their email, they start sending more irrelevant (and wrong) claptrap from other email addresses. Nice of them to label themselves as purveyors of spam.

To prove you can't keep a bad idea down, the also banned and blacklisted KC Lau also sent an article about from another email address. If he read the guidelines or the carnival, he'd stop the submission spam. Once again his submission was irrelevant to this carnival, once again it was bad information, and once again his email was added to carnival blacklist.

"The Quest for Making Money Online" has nothing to do with real estate whatsoever. They claim it's not easy to make money online, and if you're finding it difficult to read carnival guidelines, I have to agree. By the way, the information contained in the post was a waste of time to read.

For those who might object to the treatment their submission received, the relevant information has been in the guidelines since before submissions were being accepted for this carnival. Having been told to read the guidelines, you willingly submitted these posts. Live with it.

Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will return in two weeks (June 18th, 2008), here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be June 16th.