Comments on: Another Great Real Estate Blog http://www.freethedrones.com/blog/2006/10/26/another-great-real-estate-blog/ A personal finance blog dedicated to achieving financial freedom for those drones slaving away in jobs they hate. Mon, 24 May 2010 01:48:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: kneukm03 http://www.freethedrones.com/blog/2006/10/26/another-great-real-estate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-230 kneukm03 Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:37:18 +0000 http://www.freethedrones.com/blog/2006/10/26/another-great-real-estate-blog/#comment-230 Hopefully it won't be all that bad - although I guess a lot of it depends on the random people I end up near. I've mostly lived in apartments before, and having a bad neighbor is even worse there. I've never figured out a way to avoid that. As far as the homeowner's associations, check this out: http://widelawns.blogspot.com/ Hopefully it won’t be all that bad – although I guess a lot of it depends on the random people I end up near. I’ve mostly lived in apartments before, and having a bad neighbor is even worse there. I’ve never figured out a way to avoid that. As far as the homeowner’s associations, check this out:

http://widelawns.blogspot.com/

]]> By: fin_indie http://www.freethedrones.com/blog/2006/10/26/another-great-real-estate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-229 fin_indie Fri, 27 Oct 2006 17:31:40 +0000 http://www.freethedrones.com/blog/2006/10/26/another-great-real-estate-blog/#comment-229 I think anything that arms the consumer with more information and more knowledge is ultimately a good thing. Your point about learning the agent's personality is a great one. Looking back, some of us wished we had that insight before working with one agent or another. I track the bloodhound site as well. It's a bit thick and verbose, but it's entertaining and well informed. I think anything that arms the consumer with more information and more knowledge is ultimately a good thing. Your point about learning the agent’s personality is a great one. Looking back, some of us wished we had that insight before working with one agent or another. I track the bloodhound site as well. It’s a bit thick and verbose, but it’s entertaining and well informed.

]]> By: Anonymous http://www.freethedrones.com/blog/2006/10/26/another-great-real-estate-blog/comment-page-1/#comment-226 Anonymous Fri, 27 Oct 2006 00:21:15 +0000 http://www.freethedrones.com/blog/2006/10/26/another-great-real-estate-blog/#comment-226 Thinking about buying a house? Choose carefully - you're going to live there. Find something comfortable that you like, close to work, the people you care about and the amenities you like. Don't think about resale - there is nothing more tedious than a co-worker talking about the apprciation in the value of their little tract home. Physcologists call this cognitive dissonance. Despite the publicity about a housing bubble, interest rates are near an historic low making home buying attractive. There is a large government supported industry out there that facilitates home mortages - use it and shop your rate. Beware: realtors are there to make the deal happen and are not always looking out for you. Home inspectors are usually honest - if you select them yourself and make sure they know who they are working for. Prepare yourself mentally at closing to signing a bunch of disclosures that even the closing agent (who is not a lawyer) cannot adequately explain. Last minute fees and charges are common ("oh, buy the way you're buying a house in a neighborhood that has a homeowners association" - never attend a homeowners association meeting - politics on the local level is always educational and disheartening). Movers are gap-toothed imbciles who will tear up your shit. If you notice that the guy next door is wearing either jungle or desert camo or has a camper trailer or RV parked in the driveway, you may have made a bad choice, unless you like to drink beer and watch the Military Channel - you have to related to fit in. You will suddenly find that the green-ness of your lawn has taken on unusual importance - you neighbor will use this as conversation opener to gain access to your beer. Politely ask about his under-achieving children and feign interest in his office job. Be prepared to buy Girl Scout cookies and make up excuses in advance to you won't have to be volunteer for God knows what they'll throw at you. Thinking about buying a house? Choose carefully – you’re going to live there. Find something comfortable that you like, close to work, the people you care about and the amenities you like. Don’t think about resale – there is nothing more tedious than a co-worker talking about the apprciation in the value of their little tract home. Physcologists call this cognitive dissonance. Despite the publicity about a housing bubble, interest rates are near an historic low making home buying attractive. There is a large government supported industry out there that facilitates home mortages – use it and shop your rate. Beware: realtors are there to make the deal happen and are not always looking out for you. Home inspectors are usually honest – if you select them yourself and make sure they know who they are working for. Prepare yourself mentally at closing to signing a bunch of disclosures that even the closing agent (who is not a lawyer) cannot adequately explain. Last minute fees and charges are common (“oh, buy the way you’re buying a house in a neighborhood that has a homeowners association” – never attend a homeowners association meeting – politics on the local level is always educational and disheartening). Movers are gap-toothed imbciles who will tear up your shit. If you notice that the guy next door is wearing either jungle or desert camo or has a camper trailer or RV parked in the driveway, you may have made a bad choice, unless you like to drink beer and watch the Military Channel – you have to related to fit in. You will suddenly find that the green-ness of your lawn has taken on unusual importance – you neighbor will use this as conversation opener to gain access to your beer. Politely ask about his under-achieving children and feign interest in his office job. Be prepared to buy Girl Scout cookies and make up excuses in advance to you won’t have to be volunteer for God knows what they’ll throw at you.

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