Carnivals: April 2008 Archives

I'm happy this time. The submissions I get were mostly pretty good, and I only had to make fun of one submission down in the Spam section. Short carnival, but I've said I'd rather have a short one that people will think is worth reading so they come back.

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 even have a Host's Choice Award this time! Selling Your Home - Single Most Import Fact You Must Know talks about the a cold hard fact in any real estate market: The property is only worth what someone will pay you for it.

Your host presents Pretending the Service Equation is Simpler Than It Is, a cautionary tale about money and oversimplification.

RECOMMENDED

House Stealing: Identity Theft + Mortgage Fraud = Big Problems This is why notaries are requiring thumbprints in California now, among other things.

Preserve Your Credit discourages people from acting irresponsibly and torpedoing their own future.

MET GUIDELINES

How I Saved Over 3,000$ In One Hour talks about taking action in a timely fashion while the rates to help him were available.

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A site named Life Money Development is evidently stuck in some pre-adult developmental cul-de-sac, as their post "The 7 Attributes of Leadership" did not so much as mention real estate. Did they violate their own guidelines as well as the carnival's? Survey says Yes! Is "Herrera" going to fire himself and go away? Somehow I doubt it.

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 (May 7th, 2008), here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be May 5th.

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

The Host's Choice Award: Texas: The Next Real Estate Boom? takes a look at the market in parts of the Lone Star State from the point of view of where it's going, not where it's been. PS Fort Worth was just rated one of the top five places to get a job in the country by Forbes, and it was joined by another couple Texas cities. What do you think happens next in an economy like that?

Gosh it's nice to have someone submit an article like that! Makes a great change from all the spam and shill stuff! Thank You!

Your host submits The Difference Between Note Rate (APY) and APR

RECOMMENDED

Why Buying a Home is More Important than You Think is a basic post that cannot be repeated too often, and it makes some very valid points. The answer to his ending question is, in general, "no."

MET GUIDELINES

Mortgage Brokers Not Happy With U.K. Interest Rates Decision is really nothing worth reading, but it did meet guidelines, talking about how it effects consumers.

How And Why To Consider A Purchase Money Mortgage fails to note the drawbacks, but does meet guidelines.

How to dodge stamp duty talks about some peculiarities of Australian tax code. I have no idea how correct they are, so I'm just going to pass it along without a recommendation. Nothing like reading something brain damaged to let you know how good we have it in the US!

To float or not to float, that is the question! considers the situation in India. What I said about the previous article goes here as well. Nothing like seeing something this brain damaged to let you know how good we have it here in the US

SPAM AND OTHER RIDICULOUS SUBMISSIONS

A site named Pasadena Financial Planner submitted a shill post called "Your family financial planning process" All kinds of credentials and buzzwords to make himself appear knowledgeable, but not one word about real estate. If he can't be bothered to read the guidelines, how professionally is he likely to behave towards you? How much due diligence do you think he might leave undone? In my opinion, prudence calls for giving this alleged professional's advice a pass.

A site named Best No Load Mutual Funds (with a very similar design to the previous) submitted a post entitled "The Best Mutual Funds Have NO Sales Loads and NO 12b-1 Fees" He's not only wrong, he's willfully ignorant if not actively lying, as those who have read the seminal DALBAR reports can attest. Somebody revoke his internet access, please ("Box it up and ship the whole thing back. You're too stupid to own a computer" to quote a popular joke). He's actively dangerous to innocent bystanders, not to mention clueless of the fact that submissions to this carnival should write about real estate.

Skilled Investor's skills do not extend to due diligence, failing to read either the guidelines or to consider the title of the carnival, which is really quite instructive. His submission fails to mention real estate at all, contains lots of meaningless buzzwords, and the fact is that financial planning has a certain amount of Art to it as well as hard numbers. Not to mention that this was a duplicate submission from the same author as the first post in the category. Mr. Larry Russell, you're negative 2 for two this time. (Actually, he's negative three for three, because he just submitted another irrelevant buzzword laden article, and guidelines say one post per author per carnival, so he should really be negative three for one - like he went up to the free throw line, and somehow managed to dock his team three points. How bad do you have to be to do that?)

KC Lau's Money Tips is evidently unable to afford a clue. Post fails to mention real estate at all. His comprehension is so endemically bad that he wins the race to be the first person whose e-mail is banned from submission to this carnival, and whose URL will no longer be considered.

Money Blue Book's Post did not so much as mention Real Estate, and he had some significant inaccuracies about credit scores, as well as trying to sell or recommend credit check services. Kind of like using a shotgun to shoot that apple off your kid's head - William Tell he's not, and his advice could well do significant damage.

American Consumer News not only resubmitted an article I made fun of last time ("submitted a straight shill post. This is not consumer news, except by how many people you can sucker into making a major financial mistake. Absolutely no understanding of the business model of the business they're pitching, or even just the basic facts of the situation. These people have about as much concern for American consumers as Osama bin Laden.") but they submitted a blatantly wrong post called, "Five Ways to Increase the Value of Your Home - For Under $100" and only one of them can plausibly be done for under $100, and that one ends up costing way more once you've actually done what was recommended. Do yourself a favor and just stay away from this website. Consider them second place in the race to get banned and blacklisted - which makes them double losers.

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 (April 23rd, 2008), here at Searchlight Crusade, unless someone else wants to host. Deadline for submissions will be April 21st.